London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Finchley 1925
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Finchley]
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These houses were inspected prior to the war, and have been re-inspected during the past few years.
| Pre-war. | Post-war. | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of houses inspected | 646 | 646 |
| Average number of rooms per house | 5 | 5 |
| Total number of persons over 14 years | 2,442 | 2.653 |
| Total number of persons under 14 years | 1,495 | 1,194 |
| Average number of persons per house | 6.09 | 5.95 |
| Average number of persons per room | 1.21 | 1.18 |
| Average number of persons per bedroom | 2.20 | 2.11 |
| Number of houses with more than 2 persons per room | 35 | 29 |
| Number of houses with more than 2.5 persons per bedroom | 202 | 164 |
| Number of houses sub-let | 226 | 231 |
Of these 646 houses, it will be noted that in 164 there
are more than 2.5 persons per bedroom (where a child under
14 is counted as 0.5 adult). This state of affairs, though
not quite so bad as that which existed before the war, is
still unsatisfactory.
It will be observed that 231, or 35.7 per cent., of the
houses are sub-let, and herein lies the cause of the overcrowding.
Under section 91 of the Public Health Act, 1875, a
Local Authority has powers to deal with overcrowding as a
nuisance, but, as the standard adopted in proceedings under
this section is extremely low—namely, 300 cubic feet for an
adult, and 150 feet for a child under 10—it is not very often
that one meets with cases which do not comply with such
a standard.
In the worst cases, endeavours have been made by
frequent inspection and peaceful persuasion to limit the
number of persons living in such houses and to abate overcrowding
by re-arrangement of the sleeping accommodation.
During the period under review it has not been considered
desirable to take legal action in any case of overcrowding.
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