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187
to the duties of the Croydon Rural District Council in this matter) to make an
increased payment, at the rate of £20 a year to cover all the properties now being
drained into the London main drainage system, such payment to be subject to
variation in proportion to any subsequent changes in the rateable value of the
properties drained.
Local sewers.
Section 69 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, provides that no local
sewer shall be made without the approval of the Council. During 1925 the construction
or reconstruction of 122,190 feet of sewers of various sizes has been
sanctioned.
Buildings,
etc., over
sewers.
Under section 204 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and section 68 of
the Metropolis Management (Amendment) Act, 1862, no building or any other
encroachment may be erected in, over or under any sewer vested in the Council
except with the Council's consent. During 1925 the Council gave its consent in 18
such cases.
Staff.
The staff in the Public Health Department employed under the direction of
the Main Drainage Committee and working at the outfalls was fixed by the Council.
The staff (excluding chemists who are employed under the direction of the Establishment
Committee) comprises two laboratory assistants, two laboratory attendants
and eight samplers.
The increased allowance granted by the Council on 20th January, 1925, of l½d.
an hour to engineering mechanics for shift work and for work on Sundays or public
holidays, placed certain employees working in a supervisory capacity in a worse
position than the men working under them and also had a relative bearing upon the
rates of pay of other engineering mechanics who by reason of the special conditions
of their work, were not entitled to shift allowance. The remedying of these anomalies
was effected at an estimated cost of £350 a year.
CHAPTER V.
HOUSING.
Powers and
duties of the
Council.
Prior to the passing of the Housing Act, 1925, which came into force on 1st
July, 1925, and which reproduces in a consolidated form the permanent law relating
to the housing of the working classes, the powers of the Council in this matter were
derived from the Housing Acts, 1890 to 1924. The financial provisions of the
Housing, etc., Act, 1923, and the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1924, dealing
with Exchequer contributions towards the cost of the construction of houses were
not incorporated in the Act of 1925. These Acts were passed for the purpose of
encouraging building in the immediate future, and were thus in the nature of
temporary expedients. Particulars of the provisions of these Acts are set out in
the Annual Report for 1924 (vol. III., pp. 142 and 143). Apart from administrative
duties, the main divisions of the Council's housing work are (i.) the provision of
new dwellings to meet the need for additional accommodation, and (ii.) the improvement
or reconstruction of unhealthy areas, including the provision of dwellings for
rehousing persons of the working classes displaced.
Houses
completed.
Since the war the Council has, up to 31st December, 1925, completed 11,193
houses and flats, which contain a maximum accommodation on the basis of two
persons a room for about 84,600 persons. The houses and flats completed during
the year 1925 totalled 2,023 with accommodation for 14,848 persons. Altogether
since the completion of the first dwellings in 1894, the Council has provided accommodation
for about 140,000 persons in 21,178 tenements and houses and three
lodging-houses with 1,880 cubicles. These figures cover the whole of the Council's