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Holborn.. At the eng of the year 775 houses were registered, 439 in the Bloomsbury, and
336 in the Holborn division; 296 houses, all in the Holborn division, were added to the register
during the year. All have been inspected from time to time and the by.law enforced New by.
laws were enforced by the Local Government Board in August, 1903. The Board assented to
the omission of the exemption clause.
Finsbury.— During 1903 170 houses were inspected and placed on the register, making a
total of 1,109 on the register. Houses in 120 streets and courts are now registered. The usual
inspections were made and a number of notices served. In the spring, registered houses were
cleansed. "Overcrowding has also been reduced in many registered houses, and there is a
substantial improvement in their general sanitation." There are still a number of houses which
ought to be registered, and these will be proceeded with in due course. Twenty.one summonses
were issued for failure to cleanse; two were withdrawn; in fourteen there were convictions, and
in five cases the summonses were dismissed. In these five cases the magistrate took the view
that the by.law, which required the cleansing of houses in one and the same month, was unreasonable,
but another magistrate shortly afterwards, who had his attention drawn to this
decision, convicted for breach of the same by.law. In seven instances summonses were taken
out for overcrowding; one was withdrawn, and in six there were convic'tions. Altogether in
98 cases, overcrowding was abated, a notice sufficing for the other cases.
City of London.— The houses let in lodgings were re.surveyed; there were 366 on the
register, comprising 1,175 tenements inhabited by 2,876 persons, or 2.45 persons per tenement.
The notices served in respect of these houses numbered 419.
Shoreditch.— The number of houses on the register was 233, 42 having been added during
the year. Referring to correspondence between the County Council and borough council as to
the administration of by.laws under section 94 of the Public Health (London) Act, Dr. Bryett
points out that the number of tenements under five rooms shown in the Census Report contains
many in blocks of artizans' dwellings which are, to all intents and purposes, blocks of separate
houses, and could not, therefore, be registered, but that the borough council had informed the
County Council that special instructions had been given to the sanitary staff with a view to
securing the speedy registration of such houses as required to be brought under the by.laws. Dr.
Bryett writes—
In connection wiih the correspondence above referred to, it may be mentioned that the London
County Council have been advised by Mr. C.A. Cripps, K,C., that section 94 of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, which requires by.laws to be made and enforced, is imperative, and that there is no
provision as to a power to exempt from the operation of the by.laws such houses as come within the
definition of a lodging.house. When the Shoreditch by.laws were made, in 1891, an exemption clause
was allowed by the Local Government Board. By this clause a lodging.house is exempt from the operation
of the by.laws until the landlord of such lodging.house shall have been required to furnish the
statement of particulars which is set forth in the fifth by.law. These particulars have to be furnished by
the landlord within fourteen days of the receipt of a notice in writing from the clerk to the sanitary
authority.
This notice is sent only when it has been decided by the borough council to register a lodging.house.
In view of the exemption clause, there appears to be a discretionary power as to what lodging.houses are
to be registered in Shoreditch. The subject of the registrat ion of lodging.houses was considered by the
late Shoreditch Vestry in 1896, and after a good deal of discussion it was decided to register houses
which are occupied by members of more than one family in which the landlord doss not reside on the
premises, and which are not kept in a proper sanitary condition, and the inspectors were accordingly
instructed to report such houses for registration.
In carrying out their instructions the attention of the sanitary inspectors is more especially directed
to those houses which are observed to be recurrent sources of sanitary trouble.
Bethnal.green.— From a report by the chief inspector it appears that the number of houses
on the register was 365, comprising 922 tenements, the average number of persons to a tenement
being 3.76. Since the appointment of an inspector "the regulations have been steadily enforced,
and the most gross cases of overcrowding and indecent occupation dealt with." Night inspections
were made to 41 houses, 11 cases of overcrowding and 18 of indecent occupation were discovered,
chiefly among the alien population. Altogether there have been 2,429 inspections. The visits
to tenement houses numbered 1,747; 299 were visited with a view to registration, and 296 were
found suitable. The number of summonses issued was 39. Some defendants escaped conviction on a
technicality, but in the main the proceedings were successful, and fines amounting to £21, with
costs £15, were imposed. Of this total of £36 there was recovered £27 9s.; the other defendants
either went to prison in default of payment or absconded.
Stepney.— At the end of the year 2,649 houses were on the register. Two special inspectors
devote the whole of their time to the administration of the by.laws. No other inspectors
are thus employed except in the district of St. George, where the areas allotted for other purposes
to each inspector are so small that it was thought advisable to allow the registered houses to
be under their supervision. The two special inspectors made 8,802 visits during the year and
served 2,096 notices for the abatement of nuisances. Overcrowding was abated in 613 tenements.
Poplar.— The number of houses registered during the year was 207, making a total of
580 on the register. The number of houses registered and re.registemi during the year was
329. The number of rooms measured was 200. There were 153 night inspections. In 51
instances overcrowding was found and abated either by rearrangement of occupation_o_f the rooms
or by removal of tenants from the premises. The number of rooms cleansed was 774, and the
number of yard walls and waterclosets cleansed was 235. A temporary assistant inspector employed
in these duties was re.appointed for a period of twelve months. The borough council desired to
amend their by.laws so that thev should require cleansing of houses in April and November,
instead of in April only. The Local Government Board were of opinion this might be