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33
It would not be unfair to treat the whole of the houses in
Bastwick Street as insanitary for the purposes of this Report,
and the rates mentioned would no doubt he alarmingly increased,
Ludlow Street is a narrow thoroughfare leading from Goswell
Road to Gee Street. The houses contain two or three rooms.
The houses are generally in an insanitary state for want of
cleansing and bad paving in very small yards 3 feet wide, which
contain the W.C.'s, and the wall dividing from the yards of Gee
Street. At the rear are the houses in Gee Street, which also
have very small yards, averaging 8 feet by 3 feet 6 inches.
There are no basements, and no ventilation to floor. There are
no back windows to the rooms. In front is a high wall enclosing
a factory. Most of the houses are let to one family ; some,
however, have two and some three families. As it is considered
that the houses in Gee Street are rendered insanitary by reason
of the obstruction caused to light and air by the Ludlow Street
houses, I have included, for statistical purposes, the population
of Gee Street houses in this Report, the total being 161 persons.
Twenty-seven deaths have occurred in the area in five years,
being equal to 33.3 per 1,000 per annum. The number of children
under five was fourteen, equal to 51.8 per cent. of the whole.
The deaths from phthisis were equal to 29.6 per cent.
Eleven cases of infectious disease have been notified, and
fifty-six sanitary complaints received during the five years.
In the appendix to this report will be found the result of the
Sanitary Inspector's visit to each house, showing what sanitary
defects (if any) were found to exist, the number of rooms in
each house and their dimensions, how used (whether as sleeping
rooms only or as sleeping and dwelling rooms combined), the
number of occupants and whether the premises are registered
under the bye-laws relating to houses let in lodgings.
For the purposes of this report the amount of cubic space
allowed is 400 feet for each person for living and sleeping
purposes, and 300 feet if used for sleeping rooms only, half the
amount in each case being required for children under ten years
of age.