View report page

18
obtaining convictions for over-crowding, under the
Nuisances Removal Act, at some Police Courts but
I believe there was in others. This section has this
great advantage, that the district authorities have been
able to obtain a regulation stating what is, and what is
not, overcrowding. The first district for which regulations
were obtained, was Hackney, and the minimum
space, viz. 300 cubic feet for each adult in a sleeping
room, may be considered as the minimum for other
districts. The Secretary of State objected to this space
as too small, but he granted it as being the first application
to him to fix the breathing space requisite for an
individual, and expressed a hope that a larger number
of cubic feet would be afforded after a time; I can
scarcely agree with this hope, and find great difficulty
in enforcing this regulation. As regards the registra
tion of houses, we have a book in which the size and
cubical contents of every room in houses let at <£20 a
year and under, are entered, and the legal number of
occupants who may use the rooms for sleeping, or for
sleeping and dwelling in. Nearly 5,000 houses have
been measured and examined, and a large proportion
entered in the book. The advantage of carrying out
the Act in this way, is that there is no difficulty in
finding the particular house in the register, whereas if
entered in any other way, the index would be very
cumbrous and difficult to use. We have not found it
necessary as yet, to take out any summonses under the
regulations, inasmuch as the ordinary powers under the
Nuisances Removal Acts, have been found sufficient.