View report page

92
ground is usually less than that prescribed by statute ; the available
air space is generally the minimum allowable—and this is an
exceedingly low figure.
On the other hand one occasionally finds underground rooms
which, whilst not strictly conforming to the requirements of law,
are nevertheless quite useful dwellings especially for those who
are out at work all day and practically only use them for purposes
of sleeping.
On the whole an unusual degree of discretion will have to
be exercised by your responsible officer in dealing with these
dwellings until such time as a revision of Sections 96, 97 and 98
of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, has been accomplished.
HOUSES LET IN LODGINGS.
The By-laws which came into force on the 29th June, 1907,
had, unfortunately, to be left more or less in abeyance owing to
the insufficiency of the sanitary staff, until late in the year.
The Council's Solicitors gave it as their opinion that all premises
which came under the operation of these By-laws must be
re-registered. It was obviously little use doing this as a merely
clerical piece of work, and accordingly the plan decided upon
has been to request each District Inspector to report half a
dozen houses of a kind such as to require sanitary supervision
for each fortnightly meeting of the Public Health Committee.
These houses are then formally placed on the Register and are
inspected, any sanitary alterations being made the subject of
intimation, and, if necessary, statutory notice on the owner.
The work is bound to be a somewhat tedious one, for very few
houses up to the present, at all events, have been discovered
which do not require a considerable amount of alteration from a
public health point of view.
There are approximately 1,000 of these houses let in
lodgings in the Borough. From my personal knowledge of
them, I am able to assert that they will require very constant
.supervision. The principal items which require attention are
dirt, vermin, insufficient water supply and overcrowding. In
spite of the immense amount of work which this inspection will
of necessity entail, it must on no account be relaxed if a proper
standard of health is to be maintained in the occupants of these
for the most part wretched dwellings.
REMOVAL OF HOUSE REFUSE.
The removal of house refuse is still done by contract. The
Contract for the North District entered into on the 1st March,
1905, for three years, by Messrs. E. H. Jackson & Co., Ltd., of