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16. House Inspection. 4526 houses were inspected " house
to house" and 10956 on account of infectious disease,
complaints, etc. The corresponding numbers in 1901 were
4797 and 7123 respectively. The epidemic of Small-pox had
the effect of slightly diminishing the house to house inspections
and greatly increasing the special inspections.
Table XII. shews the streets in each ward inspected house
to house, the number of houses visited, and the number in
which defects were found.
The proportion of defective houses to total varied in the
different wards from less than one-third in the Central and
Glyndon Wards, to about three-fourths in the River, Dockyard,
and St. Mary's Wards. In Elizabeth Place, Coak Yard,
Meeting House Lane, Globe Lane, New Street, Lewis Place
and Callia Alley every house had defects; in Godfrey Street
every house but one, and in Orchard Street every house but
two were in like case. In the total 2375 or just over one-half
the houses inspected had defects.
At 2,318 houses the interiors were cleansed or repaired, or
both (as compared with 3,082 in 1901.) In 369, damp walls
were found and remedied (in 1901 the number was 608), and in
185 through ventilation was provided (250 in 1901.) In
numerous other cases ventilation was improved by having the
upper sash of the window made to open. 1,008 dustbins were
provided (269 in 1901).
I made, personally, house to house inspections in Godfrey
Street, James Street, Globe Lane, New Street, Cock Yard, and
Gossage Road.
17. Overcrowding.—137 cases of overcrowding were found
and dealt with, a slight diminution on the number for the
previous year (145), St. Margaret's, Herbert, and Eltham
Wards having the highest proportion.