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prevent fire, several rooms were exceedingly dark. The
attention of the County Council was called to the matter, and
on service of notices under the Public Health Act some
improvement was effected. It was pointed out at the time that
the Building Act contained very insufficient requirements for
securing sufficient light to new houses, and that it was possible
for the houses to comply in all respects with the Building Act
and yet be very unhealthy as regards light and access of air.
In other instances new buildings are erected so as to shut off
the light from existing houses. My attention has recently been
called to instances of the failure of the Building Act to prevent
injury to health in each of these two ways. In one case some
new back additions have been erected to old houses. These
are two floors high instead of one as formerly, and having
thicker walls they are wider. The effect was, that a living
room at an adjoining house was rendered so dark that in the
middle of the day it was impossible to read in it, and practically
it required artificial light nearly all day. I immediately wrote
to the owner asking him to abate the nuisance, and he has
undertaken to whitewash the opposite wall every six months
and to inform the tenant that the room must not be used as a
living-room. In a similar case, which occurred some four years
ago, the owner, neglecting to comply with the Council's notice,
was prosecuted and an order obtained to abate the nuisance.
The other case is a block of shops with three floors of flats
over them. These have extensive back additions and an iron
outside staircase for escape from fire, with gangways stretching
across between the back additions of adjoining houses. The
result is that some of the principal living rooms are so dark
as to be injurious to health. The rooms are at present unoccupied
but I do not think it will be practicable to obtain any
distinct improvement in the supply of light.
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