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House-to-house inspection of the Borough was continued.
The road selected was Acre Road, and the inspection
was not completed by the end of the year.
Upon completion of the inspection of each house a
communication was addressed to the owner and an interview
was arranged for the purpose of discussing the
necessary works of repair, if any. This method is not
always practicable, and in such cases an informal notice
is issued. Such a notice usually forms the subject of a
future interview.
Special mention should be made of a row of nine cottages
in Acre Road. As the result of interviews the owners
agreed to demolish the existing dilapidated scullery
apartments and to erect new sculleries in lieu thereof.
This decision involved considerable expenditure, but
the improvement in the sanitary condition of the property
will be immense. The whole of the drainage system and
the W.C. apartments have been reconstructed, and the
remainder of the works will be completed during 1925.
The time available for housing inspections is not great,
and the inspection of a large number of houses with a view
to statistics only has been purposely avoided. An effort
is made to have all sanitary defects remedied as the inspections
are made, and re-inspections during the progress of
the work are frequent.
SMOKE ABATEMENT.
Only one complaint was received during the year in
respect of alleged nuisance from smoke. Eight observations
were made of chimneys, and in one instance a
nuisance was proved to exist. A consultation with the
owner of the premises and a subsequent interview with the
stoker proved successful, and the nuisance was abated.
COMMON LODGING HOUSES
Thirty visits were made to the two Common Lodging
Houses in the Borough. In one case the whole of the
bedding was found to be in bad condition and the premises
required cleansing. The owner was interviewed, and he
immediately gave the necessary instructions for the replacement
of all bedding and the rooms were thoroughly
cleansed. The bedsteads were all taken down, cleansed,
and reinstated. This necessitated closing part of the
Lodging House for a short period.