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the Poor question, and the necessity for amending legislation to
expedite and simplify legal proceedings for'the abatement of
nuisances and overcrowding. The report was as follows:—
"It is undoubtedly true, as stated by the Local Government
Board, that ' a large number of the working population' are at
present badly housed, and that it would be difficult to overrate
the ' gravity of the evils which result from the insanitary condition
' in which they live, the chief of these being overcrowding.
It may also be admitted that existing sanitary laws confer very
large powers on the ' local authority,' to ' effect' but, as we
shall see, not with the necessary expedition, a ' very material
improvement in the present condition of the dwellings of the
poor,' especially by ' summary proceedings for the closing of
houses unfit for human habitation, and for the abatement of overcrowding,'
under the provisions of the Nuisances Removal Acts,
and by the enforcement of regulations made under the provisions
of the Sanitary Acts of 1866 and 1874, for houses let in lodgings,
or occupied by members of more than one family. The lastnamed
Acts may, I believe, be used with great effect, provided that
the efforts of local authorities and their officers are duly
supported by magisterial authorities, viz., by the infliction of
substantial penalties for proved breaches of the regulations.
These ' Lodging House Clauses' indeed, are so valuable, that it
would be well if all houses let in lodgings to the ' working population
' were registered. Practically, this is the course your
Vestry have decided to adopt: already close on 1700 houses
have been placed on the register, and the work of registration is
going on as rapidly as circumstances permit. It is, however, of
little use to register houses unless the regulations are enforced.
The work is arduous, and without a substantial increase in the
sanitary staff it cannot be accomplished within any reasonable
time; for, first of all, it will be necessary in respect of each
house, to see that the ' Instructions' issued by your Vestry (in
February, 1885), ' for the guidance of the Sanitary Inspectors,
in regard to the sanitary arrangements of Registered Houses'