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of houses have been registered, thus in Clerkenwell there are six such houses, but the by-laws have
only recently come into operation, in Fulham twenty-four, in Plumstead three, in Rotherhithe eighteen,
in St. George-in-the-East seventeen, in St. James, Westminster eighteen, in St. Luke sixteen,
in St. Olave eleven, and in Greenwich nine, these being in the parish of Greenwich while in the two
parishes of Deptford, no houses have been registered.
In some other districts better but still insufficient progress has been made, in some cases the
inadequacy of the sanitary staff appears to be an explanation of this laxity. In a few districts, the rent of
tenements, which excludes the houses from being subject to the by-laws, is so low as to militate against
the usefulness of the by-laws. Camberwell, Hammersmith, Poplar, Rotherhithe, St. George-inthe-East,
St. Luke, Stoke Newington, and Whitechapel, may be mentioned in this respect.
Indeed, in one or two of these districts, if the rental had been actually considered with this object, it
would have been unnecessary to have adopted other than that incorporated in the by-laws. In this
connection may be mentioned St. Luke, Poplar and Stoke Newington. Recent inquiry by Dr.
Young into the sanitary condition and administration of St. Luke, has led him to the conclusion
that the majority of tenements needing regulation are exempted by the limits of rental specified in the
by-laws, an opinion which is evidently shared by the medical officer of health of the district. In
Poplar and Stoke Newington, for the same reason, comparatively few houses could be regulated.
St. Giles, Hampstead, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields may be cited as districts having experience
of the use of by-laws extending over a number of years, and encouraged by this experience to
persevere in their efforts. St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster, is illustrative of a district which
has seriously addressed itself to the work within recent years. The results in Westminster are particularly
striking, and should serve to encourage other authorities. Dr. Hamer's report shows that in
several other districts the work is progressing. Kensington, on the other hand, is now less efficiently
using its powers than formerly.
Dr. Hamer has especially made inquiry as to experience gained in dealing with over-crowding,
and has found that only exceptionally has inspection of registered houses been made at unusual hours.
When, however, such inspection has been made it has resulted in discovery of overcrowding which
was not previously known. It is obviously desirable to keep within limits domiciliary visits to
dwelling-rooms at night-time, but it is evident that visits at unusual hours are in some cases
necessary. The legal hours of inspection under the general provisions of the Public Health Act are
from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is deserving of observation that inspections at the beginning and end of
this period have led to the detection of overcrowding not discoverable at other times. In illustration
of the grouping of overcrowded rooms Dr. Hamer has especially cited the experience of Camberwell in a
particular area. If overcrowding be permitted in a single tenement, the conditions which are
introduced into the house with it soon render the house unacceptable to other than persons of the
same class as in the overcrowded tenement, and thus houses come to be devoted, and intentionally
devoted, to the accommodation of a class of tenants who appear to be indifferent to conditions of dirt
and overcrowding. The absence of control by the landlord renders control by the sanitary authority
more necessary, and just as the Council controls the conditions in common lodging houses to prevent
the standard sinking too low, so similar control of the conditions in tenemented houses by the sanitary
authority is needed.
Shirley F. Murphy,
Medical Officer of Health.
Dr. Hamer's Report.
Battersea.—No regulations or by-laws dealing with houses let in lodgings existed in this district
prior to 1893, in which year by-laws under the Act of 1891 were confirmed by the Local Government
Board. Up to the present time no use has apparently been made of these by-laws. Particulars have
been obtained with regard to 8,046 houses in the parish occupied by members of more than one family,
and these particulars, which include measurements of the cubic capacity of rooms, have been entered
in a register. The steps necessary to make premises subject to the by-laws have not, however, been
taken with regard to any single house. I inspected a few houses in several streets in this parish, and
found a number of instances of houses which could be dealt with under the by-laws, and in the case of
which the need of supervision and regulation was apparent. In one of these streets I found in the
houses which I visited extreme instances of neglect to remedy evils which can be dealt with by by-law.
The rooms were exceedingly dirty, the plaster of the walls often deficient, and honeycombed to an
altogether exceptional extent by vermin. One particularly dirty room had not been " done up," I was
informed, for eight years. I found, moreover, several instances of overcrowding. Other streets
presented like defects, but in less marked degree. There can be no doubt that there are many houses
in Battersea to which the by-laws should be applied.
Bermondsey.—Regulations under the Sanitary Act, 1866, were adopted in 1885, and 289
houses were under regulation in 1889. New by-laws were made in 1895, and at the present time 307
houses are on the register. I visited several of these houses and found them in a satisfactory condition.
I did not find evidence of overcrowding, and the by-laws appear to be specially useful in checking the
tendency to the development of this condition in the poorer parts of Bermondsey. Careful inquiry is
made as to the extent of occupation of rooms in the parish, and if the limits specified in the by-laws
are exceeded a notice is served, and such notices are, I am informed, invariably complied with. In
several instances it has been necessary to take proceedings for overcrowding under the Public Health
Act in respect of houses not on the register, but in the case of registered houses the like necessity has
not, at all events recently, arisen. It should be noted, however, that inspections of registered houses
at unusual hours have not been made ; such inspections might of course reveal the existence of over-