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113
and we have had to supply the latter with a list of
the number of persons who may be allowed to occupy
each room of his house, whether used for general
purposes or a sleeping room only. So far the matter
has been simple, though involving much expendiditure
of time and labour. But unfortunately the
tenants of the kind of lodging houses with which we
have to deal are persons who frequently shift their
quarters; and hence in a large number of cases
regulations which have been put in force cease to
be of legal effect at the end of a week or two, and
the whole process of putting them in force has to be
repeated ab initio. There is clearly nothing in the
model regulations to meet this great difficulty. But
in Clause 7 it is suggested that in each case we shall
require the landlord (meaning the tenant) to give a
number of particulars with respect to all his lodgers
at the time when his premises are placed under
regulation; which, even if they be given truthfully
at the moment, become wholly inapplicable to the
condition of things a week later, and must therefore
be quite untrustworthy as a representation of the
occupancy of the house.
I repeat that I cannot, therefore, recommend
you to adopt the model regulations of the Local
Government Board. But I think we may properly
I