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9
Walton's Court.
The owner of the houses Nos. 6, 7 and 8, in this court, in order to
improve the ventilation of them, pulled down the division walls of the
small back yards, took down one of the privies, removed the water-butts
and erected a water-waste-preventer in lieu thereof. He also improved the
pavement in the yards.
Wells Yard, Peter's Court.
The sanitary condition of the houses in Wells Yard, Peter's Court, has
been greatly improved by the landlord. These houses have no back yards,
and the water supply to each house was taken from a butt which was
situated in the cellar, in close proximity to the privy and drain. The cellars
to all these houses were difficult of access, and the smell from them was very
offensive.
The landlord, having a stable near to these houses, was advised to
pull down the stable and erect on its site a sufficient number of privies, and
abolish those which were situated in the cellars. Instead of continuing the
water supply in butts the landlord has fixed water-waste-preventers, so
that his tenants are now supplied with water direct from the main.
Jones' Buildings.
The seventeen houses in Jones' Buildings, which, in my last Report, I
stated were about to be pulled down, are now entirely demolished.
Chapel Street, Spitalfields.
My attention was directed by Mr. Whack, the Sanitary Inspector for the
Northern Division of the District, to the defective sanitary condition of Nos. 7,
8 & 9, Chapel Street. Upon inspection I found that there were two cellars and
two yards belonging to these three houses, viz.; one cellar and one yard belonged
to No. 7, and Nos. 8 and 9 had one cellar and one yard in common.
In each of the cellars the dust-bin and water-butt were situated. Both
these cellars were dark and difficult of access. The privies were in the
yards, but in order to get to them tenants were obliged to descend by a flight
of steps to the cellars, then to pass along the cellars, and to ascend another
flight of steps opening into the yards. As two of these houses, Nos. 8
and 9, were let out in tenements, it happened, as might reasonably be
expected, that the slops and filth, instead of being conveyed through the
cellars to the privy in the yard, were only carried to the ground-floor room of
each of these two houses, which were occupied by separate families, and from
thence thrown into the public street. The danger to health, and the
indecency of such a proceeding were so obvious, as to require my immediate
interference. I therefore directed the Sanitary Inspector to serve notices
upon the owners to remove the water-butts and dust-bins from the cellars,
and to place them in the yards; to provide a convenient access to the yards,
by discontinuing the use of the ground-floor rooms as living rooms, and
converting them into passages leading to the yard; to remove the flight of
steps leading to the yards, and to block up the back openings of the cellars,