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43
portable bins rather than to incur expenditure in bringing
the ashpits up to reasonable requirements.
Very considerable works have been carried out to
houses in Acre Road following Housing Inspections. The
new sculleries and w.c. apartments at the rear of nine
cottages were completed during the year, and the re-drainage
scheme also was finished. This work has provided increased
light and air to the cottages and constitutes a great
improvement.
The time available for systematic house-to-house
inspection is not great, and, as in past years, the inspection
of a large number of houses with a view to producing
statistics only has been avoided. The view has been taken
that it is better to deal completely with a few houses and
to see that these houses are brought up to a reasonable
standard, than to inspect many houses and only record
the defects found without obtaining necessary improvements.
Some difficulty is found in dealing with underground
rooms which are let off as flats. Several large houses which
were originally intended for the occupation of one family
only have been converted into two or more separate
dwellings, and the basement portion, previously used as
servants' rooms and kitchens, is frequently let as a separate
dwelling. These premises could more readily be dealt with
if Regulations under Section 18 (1) of the Housing Act,
1925, were adopted. Despite their attractive decorative
appearance, these basement flats form the subject of frequent
complaints when tenants have discovered such defects as
damp walls and lack of proper ventilation.
In the case of four houses, an extensive subsoil drainage
system was found to be necessary in order to abate the
nuisance caused by flooding of the basement rooms. The
works appear to have abated the nuisance.
House Drainage.
Fifty-three houses were redrained during the year as
compared with 32 during 1924, and a total of 170 during
the last five years.
The examination of the old combined drainage system
at the rear of Elm Crescent was completed during the year
and a full report was submitted to the Council. The drains
on or belonging to about 50 houses were exposed and
examined, and, as a result, it was found that 33 houses