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- 11 -
WATER.
Four samples of water were submitted for analysis and all
proved satisfactory.
HOUSING.
The housing situation in the District is progressively
worsening. Many new cases of overcrowding have been
investigated and particulars recorded but these are not a true
indication of the acute shortage of houses, as many families are
inadequately or unsatisfactorily housed without being overcrowded
according to the Act.
Property generally is showing signs of lack of repair and
maintenance after five years of war. Although many owners have
been willing to execute works of repair, further damage to houses
by enemy action has absorbed the available building labour and
materials, and increased the difficulty of obtaining compliance
with notices.
The introduction of the £10.0.0 limit On building work,
except by licence, has had no apparent effect in enabling the
Department to obtain the services of builders to carry out work
for owners upon whom notices have been served but, in general,
the licences issued have been at the request of owners or
builders to carry out repairs to owner occupied houses.
Five hundred and sixty houses have been inspected and
action taken with regard to the 1,309 defects found thereat, but
the standard of fitness is necessarily lower than in pre-war
days.
There appears to be a steady increase in the number of old
people found living in dirty and unsatisfactory conditions,
often without relatives and proper care and attention. These
cases are, a cause of concern to the Department and most difficult
to deal with.