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45
SECTION V.
General Sanitary Administration.
Houses and Housing Accommodation.
Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes
Act, 1890, has been adopted, but its provisions have
never been put in force.. Personally, I do not think the
Council could build houses to let at rents much less than
is being charged by private owners, taking into consideration
the present price of land, labour, and materials,
and I should recommend the Council, in preference to
building, to buy houses already built, and fit them up as
may be necessary. This course is being adopted by
many Local Authorities in and around London.
Overcrowding.
No doubt there is a good deal of overcrowding all
over the District, but it is very difficult to detect cases, as
we have no power of entry at night, and upon making
inquiries in the daytime the particulars given by the
occupiers are often very unreliable. The only solution
of this is the putting into force of the byelaws relating
to houses let in lodgings.
Water Supply.
The District is supplied with a constant supply of
water from the Metropolitan Water Board, Acton being
in the Grand Junction district.
Sewers.
In regard to the sewers in the district, a large
number of sewers in the centre of the town convey soil
drainage from the older houses, as well as surface water
from the old and new houses, into the London sewers ;
but in the newer streets two sewers are laid, one of
which conveys soil drainage to the Council's sewage