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Death.rates of persons resident in the County Council's dwellings.
The death.rates among tenants of the Council's dwellings for the year 1903 were calculated
in the Public Health department and presented to the Council in March, 1904. The
following death.rates relate to buildings which were occupied during the whole of the year 1903.
The population thus dealt with comprised 12,835 persons, and the death.rate at all ages, after
correction for age and sex distribution, was 118 per 1,000 compared with 15.2 per 1,000 for
London. The following table enables the death.rates in these buildings, at several ages, to be
compared with those of London. The death.rates from certain causes are also shown—
Death rate per 1,000 living in
Cause of death.
Council's dwellings. London.
All causes— All ages 11.8 15.2
Do. Ages 0.1 1497 152.6
Do. „ 0.5 37.2 49.5
Do. „ 5.20 1.2 2.6
Do. „ 20 and upwards 9.9 14.9
Principal epidemic diseases 1.64 l.75
Phthisis 1.48 1.55
Tubercular diseases other than phthisis 0.55 0.60
Bronchitis 0.55 1.13
Pneumonia 1.25 1.28
Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1903.
The principal alterations of the law effected by this Act are—
(a) The maximum period which may be sanctioned as the period for which money
may be borrowed by a local authority is extended from sixty to eighty years.
(b) Obligation is imposed upon any authority, company, or other person acquiring
land under any Act or Order to comply with the provisions in the Schedule as to the
provision of dwelling accommodation where 30 or more persons of the working classes
may be displaced from occupation, and not to enter upon the dwellings so occupied until
the Local Government Board have approved of a housing scheme, or have decided that
such a scheme is not necessary.
(c) Power is given to the confirming authority to enforce by mandamus the making
and carrying out of a scheme after an inquiry directed by them under section 10 of
the principal act.
(d) The requirement for calling upon the owner to place the premises in repair
before proceeding for a closing order is made unnecessary where the local authority is
of opinion that the dwelling.house is not reasonably capable of being made fit for human
habitation, or is in such a state that the occupation thereof should be immediately
discontinued.
Houses let in Lodgings.
During the year magisterial decisions were given on various points affecting the application
of by.laws relating to the regulation of houses let in lodgings. At the South.Western
Police Court the magistrate held that an ordinary dwelling.house which had been altered by
the addition of a kitchen and water.closet to each floor was subject to the by.laws. In the Court
of Appeal in February, 1904, two cases were heard in which the question was considered of the
validity of the by.law requiring the landlord to annually cleanse the house. The Court decided
that this by.law was unreasonable on the ground that it did not provide for notice of the required
cleansing to be given to the landlord. The County Council's by.law, which requires the provision
of a water.closet for every twelve persons, was in December declared invalid by the High Court
for a like reason. Hence the by.laws of London sanitary authorities will have to be amended
in this particular, and the Council has taken the necessary steps for the amendment of its own
by.law.
In Appendix IV. will be found a statement showing the number of houses on the register
in each metropolitan borough in the early part of 1904. Particulars of the steps taken in the
several districts in connection with the regulation of houses let in lodgings are given in many of
the annual reports, from which the following details are extracted—
Paddington.— At the close of 1902, 586 houses were on the register, and 265 houses were
added during 1903, the number of houses on the register at the end of that year being 851.
Originally the work of supervising these houses was entrusted to district inspectors, but it
has been found necessary to transfer this duty to two special inspectors. In three instances it
was necessary to summon the landlord for not supplying the information required. In the
851 houses were 1,246 one.room tenements, 1,437 tenements of two rooms, 271 of three, 25 of
four, 8 of five, and 1 tenement of six rooms. The number of families found to be overcrowded
was 293, occupying 332 rooms, and comprising 1,281 persons, 754 aged ten years and
upwards, and 527 below ten years of age. In 161 cases the overcrowding was abated by
rearrangement of the sleeping accommodation, 37 families voluntarily removed to other rooms
on being informed of the overcrowding, and 17 did so on service of notice. The remaining
78 families were under observation at the end of the year. The annual cleansing in April