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MEDICAL OFFICER'S ANNUAL REPORT SHEET 15 OF DRAFT.
Such houses when occupied by undesirable tenants become dirty
and internally dilapidated and a considerable portion of your Sanitary
Inspector's time is taken up in inspecting and re-inspecting property
inhabited by this class of tenant. I estimate that there are about
50 houses in that part of the District South of the Mental Hospital,
60 houses in the Avenue District, 30 houses in the Central Ward, and
20 in the North Ward., that are more or less in a dirty condition owing
to the class of tenant occupying them. Attached to this report I give
particulars of the conditions found in a block of six houses in the
South Ward which shows the difficulties that have to be met In providing
proper housing accommodation.
It is manifest that private enterprise is unable to provide three
bedrooms and a living room with the proper sanitary conveniences (the
accepted minimum requirements for the average labouring class family if
they are to be properly housed) at a rent of say 10/6 inclusive.
The houses erected under the assisted housing schemes are of far
too high a rental for these people to take and experience has shown
that where the Council has let houses to these people they have sub-let
to enable them to pay the rents and an excessive amount of cleaning and
stripping has been required to keep the houses reasonably fit.
The defects met with in the inspection of old houses are principally
dilapidations of walls and ceilings internally, and dampness caused by
defective roofs and gutters, especially those built with the M roofs and
zinc valley gutters so prevalent in the working class house erected
about 40 years ago.
Drainage and sanitary fittings are generally good, most of the
older houses having been properly redrained. It is seldom found
necessary to reconstruct the drains of houses, the nuisances now found
therein being such that may be abated by repair work only.
There are no unhealthy areas in the district the most crowded
portion of the district being known as The Avenue, where the houses are
of the narrow frontage type with back additions placed at a density of
about IB to the acre.