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77
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Deaths
among
inmates of
common
lodging-
houses.
The following table shows the proportion of deaths from several causes per 1,000 deaths
among males in common lodging houses, the corresponding figures for London being shown for comparative
purposes. The deaths of persons removed from common lodging-houses to public
institutions have been included. The total number of deaths among lodgers (males and females)
in common-lodging houses during the year was 812; the large maioritv of these deaths occurred in
public institutions.

Seaman's lodging-houses.
By an Order in Council dated 19th February, 1910, powers were conferred on the London County
Council for the licensing of seamen's lodging-houses. The text of the Order wras as follows:—
"Whereas by Section 214 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, it is provided that a local authority, whose
district includes a seaport, may, with the approval of the Board of Trade, make byelaws relating to seamen's
lodging-houses in their district, and that those byelaws shall be binding upon all persons keeping houses in which
seamen are lodged, and upon the owners thereof and persons employed therein : and further, that such byelaws
shall, amongst other things, provide for the licensing, inspection, and sanitary conditions of seamen's lodging-houses,
for the publication of the fact of a house being licensed, for the due execution of the byelaws, for preventing the
obstruction of persons engaged in securing that execution, for the preventing of persons not duly licensed holding
themselves out as keeping or purporting to keep licensed houses, and for the exclusion from licensed houses of
persons of improper character, and shall impose sufficient fines, not exceeding fifty pounds, for the breach of any
byelaw : and further, that whenever His Majesty in Council orders that in any district, or any part thereof, none
but persons duly licensed in pursuance of byelaws under the said Section shall keep seamen's lodging-houses or
let lodgings to seamen from a date therein named, a person acting in contravention of that order shall for each
offence be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds:
"And whereas the London County Council is the local authority in the Administrative County of London and
a local authority within the meaning of the said Section:
"And whereas the said County Council have, with the approval of the Board of Trade, made the byelaws
and regulations contained in the Schedule hereto:
"Now therefore, His Majesty in Council, by virtue of the powers vested in Him by the said Act, doth order
that, from and after the date hereof, none but persons duly licensed in pursuance of the said byelaws and regulations
shall keep seamen's lodging-houses or let lodgings to seamen in the district of the Administrative County of
London or in any part thereof."
As to what constitutes a seamen's lodging-house, the Board of Trade have been advised by the Law
Officers of the Crown as follows:—
"We do not think the reception of a single seaman constitutes the house a seamen's
lodging-house within the meaning of the Act. There must be something in the nature of a
course of business, and whether a particular house is a seamen's lodging-house is a question
of fact in each case."
An amended series of bylaws made under section 214 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894,
came into force on the 1st January, 1910.
The first licensing meeting was held on 30th May, when 57 applications were considered and
licences granted in 53 cases, subject to compliance with any requirements the Council might deem
necessary with regard to the sanitary condition of the premises, and to the means of escape in case
of fire. Of the four applications refused, two were in respect of beer houses, and the remaining two
on the ground that the premises were unsuitable. In all cases the licences expired on 31st December.
A further licensing meeting was held in November to consider applications for renewals for
the ensuing year, or for the granting of new licences.