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after the lapse of many years they became dilapidated, and no doubt it would
have cost a considerable sum of money to put them in a habitable condition.
I he remaining houses in the area are becoming worse because the owners
refuse to spend money on property which they believe will be demolished
without compensation. Included in this area are Shepherd Street Buildings,
consisting of 42 apartments with shops underneath. The buildings are badly
built and ill-lighted. The washhouses on the second, third, fourth and fifth
floors were condemned as dangerous structures by the District Surveyor about
ten years ago, and are now in a dismantled condition. This resulted in eight
of the flats or apartments being empty and inaccessible, due to the passage
to them being demolished. The owner refused to reconstruct the demolished
part of the buildings, and to put the property in habitable condition because
of the "uncertainty of the result of the Ministry of Health's inquiry of 1920."
He maintained that he did not feel justified in laying out any large sum of
money.
The south side of Butler Street, a part of Tenter Street, and the north
side of Freeman Street have been demolished, and the building of flats has
commenced on the cleared site.
(b) Back Church Lane Area. The official representation was made on
August 6th, 1919.
This area is situated in St. George-in-the-East to the south of Commercial
Road. It is bounded on the west by Back Church Lane, on the east by Berner
Street, on the north by Boyd Street, and on the south by Ellen Street.
It includes all the houses in Everard Street, Nos. 70 to 82 in Berner Street,
2 to 52, Boyd Street, the houses on the north side" of Ellen Street (Nos. 1
to 51).
The area consisted of 112 houses with a population of 533.
The number of persons suffering from Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria,
Esysipelas, Small Pox and Spotted Fever was, in proportion, twice that for
the whole of the Borough of Stepney in 191G and 1917, and eight times as
much in 1918.
In 1799 this area had a few houses adjoining Back Church Lane. The
remaining houses were built in the early part of the 19th century.
The narrowness, closeness and bad arrangement of the streets and houses,
and the bad condition of the houses with sanitary defects connected therewith
are dangerous to health, and the most satisfactory method of dealing with
the evils connected with such houses is an improvement scheme for the
re-arrangement and reconstruction of the houses and streets therein.