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1928
13
3,827 3-roomed tenements and 101 out of 2,727 4-roomed
tenements were overcrowded.

A more correct standard of overcrowding is that based
upon the cubic capacity of each room in the house, and the
number of inhabitants in each room, but this standard, which
has been used in the framing of Bye-Laws regulating houses let
in lodgings, varies in different districts. The Royal Commission
on Housing the Industrial Population of Scotland in their report
recommended that 500 cubic feet per adult and 250 cubic feet
per child under 10 years of age be adopted as a general standard
in cottage property. If one assumes that a bedroom is 8 feet
high, this would require 62½ sq. ft. per adult, a figure which
closely approximates to that which has been found during the
past half-century to be a sufficient standard for barracks.
In the Bye-Laws adopted in this Borough with respect to
Houses let in lodgings or occupied by members of more than
one family, 400 cubic, feet of free air space must be allowed in
any room which is wholly or partly used as a sleeping room.
But during the operation of the Rent Restriction Acts, the
amount of air space has been reduced to 300 cubic feet per
adult and 150 cubic feet per child. We use the latter figures as
a basis for our work in overcrowding. Cases of legal overcrowding
do frequently come under the notice of the Inspectors.
Every effort is being made to remedy the nuisance, and in some
of the worst cases, legal notices are served. But the abating
of overcrowding by mere service of a statutory notice has been
difficult and frequently futile. There is a re-shuffling of the
accommodation, but the old conditions frequently recur.