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41
There are some however, who regard the requirements
of the sanitary authority as exacting, and it needs tact to
convince them that it is not what bye-laws require, hut what
the abatement, and prevention of the recurrence of the
nuisance requires that should be considered.
Cast iron for drains is now becoming more usual, and
the practice of using light iron pipe for ventilating shafts is
extinct.
House to House Inspections.
This work continues as opportunity serves, and 147 houses
were primarily inspected in this manner. The primary object
of house to house inspection is to get nuisances abated, and
experience shows that this object can only be attained by
constant inspection and re-inspection of the same houses.
Many of the uuisances arise from ignorance of the elementary
principles of hygeine, aud a few visits from the Inspector and
a talk with the occupiers accomplishes more sanitary improvements
than many notices.
There is a tendency to overcrowd some of the small
houses in the Avenue district, and 20 cases came under the
notice of your Inspector during the year, but so long as rents
keep high there will always be this tendency to overcrowd,
two or more families sharing the expenses of a house only
adapted for one family. The provision of extra W.C's., Sink
etc., does not check this overcrowding, but on the other hand
seems to encorage it on the principle "The more convenience,
the more people to share it and cut down expense."
Advantage has been taken of the new powers conferred
by the Housing & Town Planning Act, and two houses have
been closed as unlit for human habitation. The provisions ot
the Act are not so workable as the Nuisance clauses of the
Public Health Act, in dealing with small property, aud the
majority of nuisances found thereon. The Powers of closing
however, conferred on the Local Authority by the Housing Act,
greatly assietthe prompt removal of grossly insanitary conditions.
Two closing orders made in 1910 were determined on
the owner putting the houses into substantial repair.