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40
Prevalent Defects in Housing.
A reference to the sanitary defects (Appendix VIII),
submitted by Mr. G. R. Woods and the Inspectors, will
indicate that the predominating defects are : unpaved yards,
drinking water from cisterns, want of ventilated food
stores, worn stone sinks, no permanent ventilation to bedrooms
which are without fireplace or flue, and dampness due
to porosity of bricks, perished damp course or defective
roofing.
Many of the complaints of overcrowding received are
due to personal animosity between tenant and sub-tenant,
but not infrequently the overcrowding is a primary cause
of this difficulty; often due to lack of separate offices or
of cooking facilities. To expect two families to live in
harmony where the house is built for one family only,
and to expect even an intelligent mother to rear a healthy
family with the use of one gas ring, or one fire-place,
without scullery sinks, is demanding too much of human
endurance. The effects of such conditions are too well
known for reiteration, but they must be taken into consideration
when we come to teach a young mother the
correct principles of rearing a healthy child.
With regard to the discovered defects of fitness of
houses, the inspectors are not experiencing difficulties in
having the defects remedied. There have been no Court
proceedings; the co-operation between owners, tenants and
inspectors is an effective one, and is the only reasonable
method of procedure under the present national circumstances.
During the next five years it is estimated that some
1,750 bouses will be made fit in all respects, which will
continue the present rate of correction of defects discovered.
There is no property in Bromley, in my opinion, that
requires scheduling as an improvement area during the
next five years. Practically all houses have adequate internal
water supply as supplied by the Metropolitan Water
Board, all houses have sinks, but 25 houses are known to
have a common water supply in the yard. In 30 known
cases there are two houses to one water closet, and 14 outlying
houses have pail closets, there being no sewer available.