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1ll
which has been prohibited by the Public Health Department
on your instructions. Although this has been an advantage
in one way, it has had the disadvantage of making it more
difficult to prevent the accumulation of refuse in the back
yards in the square referred to. This square is accessible to
the public, and hooligans continually gain access and injure
the property, pulling down doors, removing pipes and
coppers, and doing general destruction; frequently they have
caused blockages in the drains. They have also destroyed
the dust receptacles and left the house refuse exposed. In
addition to this the occupants of the upper flats throw their
refuse down on the waste ground, and there is no caretaker,
or other person to interfere with their doing so.
Nuisances also frequently take place on the public staircases
of the flats owing to these being under no control by
a caretaker.
The area has been under the continual systematic inpection
of the Health Department, so that to a large extent
overcrowding and other gross nuisances have been kept
under.
A special sub-committee was appointed to consider this
matter, consisting of Councillor F. Penny (Chairman), Councillors
W. Marlow, It. M. W. Allen, W. H. Dawson, and
J. Newman. They held several meetings and made repeated
inspections of the area, and also interviewed the owners and
endeavoured to get them to take joint action for improving
the condition of the block dwellings, but without success.
Finally the Medical Officer of Health represented the area as
unhealthy under the Housing of the Working Classes Act,
Part II., to the London County Council. The London
County Council has refused to take action.