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I am obliged to Mr. M. W. Kinch, the Chief Sanitary Inspector,
for the following report upon this section:—
Houses Let in Lodgings.
The present bye-laws dealing with these premises are made
under Section 90 of the Public Health Act, 1875, and contain the
following exemption clauses:—
(a) Where the rent or charge payable by each lodger,
and exclusive of any charge for the use by the lodger of any
furniture is at the rate of not less than 10s. per week :
(b) Where the rent or charge payable by each lodger,
and inclusive of any charge for the use by the lodger of any
furniture is at the rate of not less than 15s. per week.
We find the amounts stated in such clauses sufficiently
high to enable us to deal with the class of houses for which these
bye-laws were intended, although further extensions of these byelaws
would be beneficial. Under Section 26 of the Housing and
Town Planning Act, 1919, further power is given to the Local
Authority to extend the provisions of these bye-laws, but only in
such cases where such houses are intended or used for occupation
by the working classes. In the case of the bye-laws made under
the Public Health Act, it is left to the discretion of the Council
whether a house shall be registered or not, and in the case of the
bye-laws made under the extended powers given by the Housing
Acts, there is the difficulty of deciding whether or not a house is
intended for occupation of the working classes. In my opinion,
the provisions contained in both these sets of bye-laws would be of
far more service if they applied to all houses let in lodgings within
the rentals named, without the formality of registration.
The Council has already considered a draft of these later
bye-laws, and is waiting until the bye-laws submitted to the
Ministry of Health by the London County Council have been
approved before deciding on the adoption of the series under consideration.
Underground Rooms.
There are no underground rooms in the district which come
within the provisions of Section 17 (7) of the Housing and Town
Planning Act, etc., 1909. The Council has, however, made regulations
as empowered by the said Section on the lines of the model
series of the Ministry of Health.
Seizures of Meat and Particulars re Same.
There were no seizures under the Unsound Food Sections
of the Public Health Act, but during the year 495 lbs. of meat
(including bacon) were voluntarily surrendered, but none was
affected with tuberculosis. In all cases it was unsound, due to
decomposition—principally, bone-taint.