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64
Some photographs illustrating typical conditions met with in the Clearance Areas in the
Borough are reproduced at the end of this section, together with a phonograph showing the type of
flats which have been erected by the Borough Council to re-house families displaced by the slum
clearance programme.
DEMOLITIONS UNDER PART 2, HOUSING ACT, 1930.
Two houses were demolished in consequence of Orders made by the Council during the
year.
COMMON LODGING HOUSE.
There is one Common Lodging House in the Borough, accommodating 36 men, and the
Inspector made 13 inspections of the premises during the year.
DISINFESTATION.
During the year the household effects of 22 families were disinfested by the H.C.N, process
prior to transfer to new dwellings from slum clearance areas. The bedding was taken to the Fulham
Disinfecting Station and treated by steam before delivery to the new flat.
All woodwork from condemned houses in the Clearance Areas was burnt on the site and all
other building materials were treated before removal.
For the treatment of infested premises, the usual procedure is to have the room stripped of all
woodwork and then fumigated by means of sulphur candles. In some cases where fumigation
w as inconvenient the rooms were sprayed with a formalin or other solution or tenants were allowed
the use of a spray filled with solution on paying a deposit of 2s. 6d., which was refunded when the
spray was returned. A total of 78 issues of such sprays were made during the course of the year.
During the year 342 rooms were fumigated or sprayed on account of vermin.
THE VITAL STATISTICS OF WORKING CLASS FLATS.
Unfit houses produce ill-health, particularly of a respiratory character. This cannot always
be shown in figures, but it is of interest to examine the vital statistics of the fairly stable
populations living in modern blocks of working class flats. The influence of good nutrition
on these statistics has been strikingly shown by Dr McGonigle, of Stockton-on-Tees, in his comparison
of the vital statistics of a re-housed slum population before and after re-housing with
a similar population living under continued bad housing conditions.