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avoid them being so dealt with, in some cases in which the
lettings were below 3s. per week, the rents were raised, either
actually or nominally, to that amount; in others the number of
rooms to a letting were increased, and the rent payable enabling
them to evade registration.
" Further, the rent limit Bye-law was found to act unfairly, by
reason of the fact that houses came within its scope with which
it was not necessary to interfere, while others it was desirable to
register could not be so dealt with—for example: a single person
occupying a room at 2s. 9d. per week made the whole house
registerable, while the same sized room occupied by a family of
4 or 5 at 3s. per week escaped registration.
"I find that the Bye-laws of the following Sanitary Authorities
contain no rent limit—Shoreditch, St. Pancras, St. Giles,
Kensington, and the Strand; in the latter case the omission was
at first objected to by the Local Government Board, but was
ultimately sanctioned.
" In Stoke Newington the Bye-laws are stated to have failed, for
the same reason as is ascribed to this Parish, viz., the low rent
limit, and no houses are in consequence registed in that district.
"The amount of rent prescribed by the Bye-laws of some other
districts are, for unfurnished or furnished apartments respectively—in
Camberwell, 5s. and 7s. 6d. ; St. George the Martyr,
7s. 6d. and l0s. 6d. ; City of London, 10s. to 12s. 6d.
"Dealing with this subject in September of last year Mr. Shirley
Murphy says:—In a few districts the rent of tenements, which
excludes the houses from being subject to the Bye-laws, is so
low as to militate against the usefulness of the Bye-laws,
Camberwell, Hammersmith, Poplar, Rotherhithe, St. George'sin-the-East,
St. Luke, Stoke Newington and Whitechapel may
be mentioned in this respect. Indeed, in one or two of these
districts, if the rental had been actually considered with this
object, it would have been unnecessary to have adopted other
than that incorporated in the Bye-laws ; in this connection may
be mentioned St. Luke, Poplar and Stoke Newington. Recent
enquiry by Dr. Young into the sanitary condition and administration
of St. Luke, has led him to the conclusion that the
majority of tenements needing regulation are exempted by the
limits of rental specified in the Bye-laws. In Poplar and Stoke
Newington, for the same reason, comparatively few houses could
be regulated.