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6
but the pathway in front was filthy and in bad repair. At
Hammond's Dock the chief sanitary defect in the houses was
the damp—some of the houses were in a dirty and dilapidated
state, but after enquiring as to the health of the inmates I did
not feel myself justified in doing more than requiring the
existing nuisances to be abated. In Wilman Grove there are
houses with large low back rooms, which are badly lighted and
ventilated, which the owner has promised to alter, both as
regards heighth and ventilation.
The worst houses in the District are Elizabeth Cottages,
Ridley Road, the leases of which have just terminated. If they
are not speedily pulled down it will be necessary to try to
obtain an order from a Magistrate, under the Nuisances Removal
Acts, to have very extensive sanitary improvements made, or
else to have them shut up. I desire here to express a very
strong opinion that it is most unfair to the ratepayers that they
should be compelled to pay for uninhabitable property which
has been allowed by the owners to get into a dilapidated state
for want of substantial repairs such as cannot be required under
the Nuisances Removal Acts. I may say as a whole that
the inspections have been fairly satisfactory, especially as a
great deal of work has been done by the owners without any
notice whatever being served. This was done in consequence
of letters having been sent requesting them to call on me, and
hear my views on the matter, and subsequently, in many
instances, by meeting them at the property and pointing out
what would satisfy mo. Of course the alterations have not
converted old houses into new, but as there was only one family
in most, and as the alternative was to drive the inhabitants
elsewhere and thus cause increased overcrowding, I deemed it
better that they should continue to dwell in these houses,
especially as most had lived in them for many years. The
dwellings occupied by the lowest class of poor are not very
numerous in this District, and are not wrecked to the extent
that some are in the centre of London, but clean and