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G2
Since the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1890, came into force no Inhabited House
Duty has been paid in respect of a house originally built or adapted by additions or alterations
and used for the sole purpose of providing separate dwellings where the annual value was under
£20, provided a certificate of the medical officer of health was obtained to the effect that the
house was so constructed as to afford suitable accommodation for the occupiers, and that due
provision was made for their sanitary requirements.
By the Revenue Act, 1903, the provisions above mentioned were repealed (except as
regards the certificate of the medical officer of health) and instead, where a house, so far as it
is used as a dwelling.house, is used for the sole purpose of providing separate dwellings; (a) the
value of any dwelling in the house not exceeding £20 is to be excluded from the annual value
of the house for the purposes of Inhabited House Duty, (b) any dwelling in the nouse of the
annual value of £20 and not exceeding £40 is reduced to 3d., and (c) any dwelling in the house
exceeding £40 and not exceeding £60 is reduced to 6d.
The exemption and reduction under (a) and (b) cannot be obtained unless the certificate
of the medical officer of health as mentioned in the Act of 1890 is obtained. This provision,
however, does not apply to (c).
Underground Rooms.
At the close of 1903 the Public Health Committee reported to the Council on the occupation
of underground rooms in St. Pancras, and stated that enquiry made by the Council's medical
officer had shown that upwards of 400 such rooms were illegally occupied which did not comply
with the requirements of the Metropolis Local Management Act of 1855, and that these rooms
were inhabited by over 1,000 persons. As the result of subsequent inquiry by the medical officer
of health of the borough he found there were 640 rooms in which the conditions were practically
irremediable, and he suggested that these rooms should be dealt with consecutively, " so as to
avoid the serious effects of suddenly displacing a large population." Notices in respect of
50 rooms had been served on the 7th August, and it was proposed in December that 58 further
notices should be served. The Council, on the recommendation of the Committee, decided to
suggest to the borough council that it was desirable notices should be served at more frequent
intervals so as to secure compliance with the law as soon as practicable.
The annual reports of medical officers of health show that the illegal occupation of underground
dwellings was discontinued in their boroughs as follows— Fulham, 4; Chelsea, 7; Westminster,
28; Hampstead, 3; St. Pancras, 36; Islington, 40; Holborn, 21; Finsbury, 27;
Shoreditch, 2; Bethnal.green, 14; Stepney, 121; Southwark, 1; Lambeth, 72; Battersea, 55;
Woolwich, 1.
The Administration of the Factory and Workshop Act.
In the last annual report I endeavoured to show the action taken in each London
district under this Act, and I pointed out the need for some uniform method of statement
which would enable the facts to be presented in such a way that estimate could be formed of the
extent to which, and efficiency with which, this Act is administered in the several sanitary
areas of London. With this object, in conference with H.M. Chief Inspector of Factories and
the Metropolitan Branch of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, forms for statistical purposes
were prepared. It was not felt that these forms could be regarded as finally complete, but rather
that they might provisionally, and until experience had been gained of their use, serve the purpose
in view. These forms were not, however, settled until the early part of the present year, and hence
while some medical officers of health have been able to use them in the preparation of their
annual reports, others were unable to do so. In some instances, however, these officers subsequently
communicated to me the results of tabulation of their statistics in the manner which the forms
indicated, and these have been used in this report. It need hardly be said that the use of forms
for statistical statement is limited to those facts which lend themselves to such treatment, and does
not in any way obviate the necessity for a full statement in the annual reports of the work done
and of the experience of each officer in the administration of the Act.
The record of the year shows on the whole satisfactory progress, when consideration is
had for the very large number of premises which have thus come under the supervision of the
sanitary authorities, and when it is recollected that every workroom in each workshop has to be
measured in order that its cubic space may be ascertained, and that every year a number of workshops
are disused, while others come into occupation. The amount of work which is involved in
these preliminary steps is obviously very considerable, and when the subsequent routine inspection
of the premises, remedy of defects, dealing with outworkers' premises, and other duties which
have to be performed are taken into consideration, the need for the recognition by the sanitary
authorities, of the magnitude of the work which devolves upon them and the provision of a staff of
officers sufficient for the purpose, is evident.
Evidence of the fact that success is attending the efforts of a number of sanitary authorities
is found in several of the reports, and the following extract from the report of the medical
officer of health of Islington may be quoted. Dr. Harris writes :— "It may safely be asserted that
the administration of this Act in Islington has been satisfactory, and that all its requirements have
been faithfully carried out. Formerly it was the rule that hardly a day passed that anonymous
or signed complaints were not received from workers, now it is the exception, and, indeed,
they are practically unknown; while on the other hand, testimony has been given of the great
improvement that has been effected in every direction." Nevertheless, Dr. Harris
feels it necessary to point out that the two inspectors, one male and one female,
cannot, with the increase of the work, "much longer give the premises, which it
is their duty to inspect, that adequate supervision which is so necessary, if inspection is to be