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91
UNDERGROUND ROOMS.
A considerable number of these have been inspected, and
the results recorded on special forms drafted by your Medical
Officer of Health, much on the lines adopted by several other
Metropolitan Boroughs. It is not too much to say, judging from
the results of these special inquiries and from a considerable
number of personal inspections, that the large majority of the
underground rooms in this Borough are occupied illegally, i.e. in
contravention of the provisions of the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891. It is utterly useless to attempt to deal with these on
the strict lines of this Act for, even supposing that the staff of
inspectors were sufficient to discover all those illegally occupied,
the enforcement of notices to quit or occupy them only in conjunction
with a room on an upper floor, would involve the
displacement of hundreds of families who literally cannot find
accommodation such as they require at a rent that they can
afford.
At the same time the occupation of most underground
rooms is hygienically most undersirable, particularly for children.
Medical practitioners of long experience in this locality tell
me • that rheumatism is exceedingly common amongst the
children inhabiting underground rooms, and rickets only slightly
less prevalent. The consequences of rheumatism are manifested
in heart-trouble before very long and this incapacitates sufferers
from most forms of heavy physical work, which is usually the
only kind of employment open to persons of this class. The
question is thus an exceedingly serious one and will probably call
for legislative interference shortly. If a discussion of the subject
at a Conference of Metropolitan Borough Councils could be
arranged, it would be possible, I feel sure, to arrive at a standard
of habitability for these dwellings, which, without pressing too
harshly on owners, would nevertheless secure in the first place a
greater degree of protection for those who are compelled to
occupy these rooms, and in the second place, greater uniformity
of action on the part of Borough Councils.
Every case reported to your Medical Officer of Health has
been individually considered and only those rooms which have
been found to be considerably below the standard prescribed by
the Public Health Act have been dealt with so as to prohibit
their occupation. Most of the rooms have been reported to have
no damp-proof course : the width of the open areas abutting on
them has in the majority of cases been too little—thus preventing
the proper access of sunlight and fresh air: the space below the
floor is usually unventilated : the average height of the rooms is
only about seven feet; the height of the ceiling above the adjoining