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for (excluding rates and taxes) was £9,768. The amount paid in respect of rates, taxes, etc., was
£11,500.
Bene
irrecovable.
Some tenants left during the year witnout paying arrears ot rent. Every effort was made to
recover these arrears, but £68 19s. 9d. or .017 per cent, (about 4d. per £100 of the rental) has been
included in the accounts as irrecoverable, as compared with £385 8s. 7d. or .16 per cent. (3s. 2¼d.
per £100) in 1914-15, and £13 Is. lOd. or -004 per cent, (less than Id. per £100) in 1920-21.
Empties.
The loss oy empties during 1921-22, was £3,334 or .008 per cent. of the rental as compared
with .57 per cent, in 1920-21. The loss by empties was, as usual, mainly due to Carrington House not
being fully occupied by lodgers, £3,119 of the total loss being in respect of Carrington House, the loss in
respect of other dwellings and lodging houses amounting in the aggregate to £216 or .0006 of the gross
rental.
Repairs.
The necessary repairs to the dwellings are carried out by the direct employment ot labour, lhe
amount expended on this work in 1913-4, was £23,934. In 1920-21, this expenditure had risen to £68,572,
this increase being due to the higher wages prevailing in the building trades, to the heavy rise in the
prices of materials, and to the necessity of over-taking the arrears of painting and other work suspended
during the war. During 1921-22, the expenditure on non-assisted schemes amounted to £58,261 and
to £853 on assisted schemes. It will be seen that there was a substantial decrease on the expenditure
under this head during the year, this being attributable partly to the fall in wages and the cost of
materials. The work carried out included the external painting of 28 blocks of tenements and 847
cottages, the internal painting of the woodwork of 1,202 tenements and 603 cottages, and the cleansing
and distempering of 5,901 tenements and cottages.
Outbreaks
of fire.
During the year 27 small outbreaks of fire occurred. The cost of re-instatement, amounting to
£30 12s. 6d., was covered by the Council's Insurance Fund.
Vital
statistics.
owing to tne pressure on his staff the council,s Medical Officer of Health has been unable to supply
statistics of the number of deaths of residents in the Council's dwellings during the year. The number
of cases of infectious diseases reported during 1921-22 was 283, of which 133 were cases of scarlet fever,
102 cases of diphtheria, 45 cases of measles and 3 cases of chicken-pox.
Well Hall
Estate.
In 1915, the Council undertook the administration, on behalt ol the Government, of the Well
Hall Estate, Woolwich, the Council receiving for the work, a commission based on the gross rental.
(See Annual Report of the Council, 1920, vol. III., p. 135). This arrangement was terminated on 30th
September, 1921, when the management of the estate reverted to H.M. Office of Works.
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