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A decision has been given in the Court of Appeal, in a case in which the Council was not a
party, which it is claimed has the effect of exempting from the Common Lodging House Acts all
institutions in which no charge is made to the lodgers. The matter is continuing to receive the consideration
of the County Council.
The accommodation of aliens newly arriving in or passing through London.
In dealing with the question of the accommodation of aliens newly arriving in London, much
difficulty has been caused owing to the fact that these people are often received in houses not suitable
for the purpose, and occupy such houses, it may be, under overcrowded or otherwise objectionable
and insanitary conditions. I have reported upon such cases from time to time, and prosecutions have
been instituted for contravention of the Common Lodging Houses Acts.
The Aliens Act of 1905, which came into force on the 1st January, 1906, while excluding
transmigrants from the definition of "immigrants" [section 8 (1) a] provides that in the case of such
transmigrants, i.e., of passengers holding prepaid through tickets to some destination out of the
United Kingdom, the master or owner of the ship in which they are brought shall give security to the
satisfaction of a Secretary of State that they will be properly maintained and controlled during their
transit [section 8 (1) b].
In connection with this provision the Council has addressed a letter to the Home Secretary pointing
out the difficulties experienced in dealing with transmigrants, and suggesting that they should be
accommodated in houses approved and licensed by the Council as common lodging houses.
Seamen's lodging houses.
Under the provisions of section 214 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, the Council has made bylaws
for the regulation of houses accommodating seamen. These by-laws came into force on the
1st October, 1901. At the end of 1903, there were 133 houses on the register ; in 1904 and 1905 houses
were added to and removed from the register, and on 31st December, 1905, the total number of seamen's
lodging houses under supervision was 77, situated in the following metropolitan boroughs :—
Metropolitan Borough.
Houses.
Lodgers.
Poplar 18 360
Stepney 58 1,123
Woolwich 1 26
Total 77 1,509
During the year 1,509 visits were made to these houses by the Council's inspectors, and
in eight instances notices were served for the remedying of dirty or defective conditions.
Proceedings before the magistrate were instituted in five instances, the fines amounting to
£5 5s. 6d., with costs amounting to £4 8s.
Only one case of notifiable infectious disease was reported in seamen's lodging houses during the
year, viz., one case of scarlet fever.
Revenue Act.
The annual reports show the large amount of work which devolves upon many medical officers
of health under the Revenue Act. All premises concerning which application is made for exemption
from inhabited house duty are inspected and in a great number of instances alterations are required
to be made and work to be done before the certificate is granted, while in some others the certificate
is refused.
A point deserving of note is mentioned by Dr. Reginald Dudfield, medical officer of health
of Paddington. He writes c " In the course of the inspection a number of bed rooms were found
to have no open fireplaces, warming being provided for by gas stoves. The flue pipes from the stoves
are connected to one vertical shaft of small dimensions, the chimney being thus common to all the
floors. The top of the flue has a small iron grating—not a chimney pot. There is no provision
for the ventilation of the rooms except the doors and windows. When a stove is lighted in one of the
lower rooms, the fumes escape into the upper—usually the room on the top floor—and complaints of
the nuisance have been received. The issue of the certificate has been suspended until satisfactory
steps have been taken to provide for the escape of the fumes, and the attention of the County Council
(Architect's Department) has been directed to the case. The present Building Acts do not provide
the necessary powers to prohibit this defective construction."
The following table, showing the number of applications for certificates and other particulars,
is compiled from information contained in the reports of medical officers of health. The reports for
Holborn, Shoreditch and Poplar show that no applications were received in 1905. The reports for
the other districts not shown in the table do not eupply information on this point—