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this delay was due, however, to certain legal complications
which required to be settled before the work could be commenced.
Pending this settlement the agents voluntarily closed
several of the houses which I had represented to them as being
unfit for human habitation. Ultimately, the Chancery Court
decision was given, and arrangements were then made for all
the houses to be thoroughly overhauled. At the end of the
year the walls and ceilings of all the rooms of the various
houses had been properly cleansed, the ceilings whitened and
the walls re-papered or colour-washed. The yards in connection
with the premises had been paved, the roofs, eaves,
gutterings and stack-pipes repaired, cisterns re-covered, new
dustbins provided, and the flushing apparatus to W.C.'s put into
proper working order, and the spaces beneath the ground floors
ventilated. The drains of five of the houses were entirely relaid,
and a large number of sanitary defects of a minor
character had received attention.
HOUSE DRAINAGE.
During the year 126 complaints, stating that the drains
of certain premises were a nuisance or injurious to health, were
submitted to the Public Health Committee, and in each instance
they directed me to open the ground, examine the
drains, and report as to their condition. Of the above number
125 were duly reported as being defective, and notices requiring
the proper re-laying of the drainage were accordingly served
on the owners.
In addition to the above, the drains of 77 other houses
were examined or smoke-tested, and of these 54 were found to
be wholly or partially defective. On the facts being