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The following is a copy of the report:—
Report of an Inquiry held by Mr. D. Cubitt Nichols and Mr. Shirley F. Murphy, as
to the Immediate Sanitary Requirements of the Parish of St. Mary, Rotherhithe.
4216
B—
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THE PARISH OF ST. MARY, ROTHERHITHE.
3, Howard Street, Strand,
19th March, 1889.
Sir,
In pursuance of your instructions that an inquiry should be made as to the immediate
sanitary requirements of the Parish of St. Mary, Rotherhithe, in accordance with the
recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes, and
that we should hold such inquiry:—
We have the honour to report that we placed ourselves in communication with the
Vestry Clerk and also with Mr. J. Bulmer and Mr. William Astley Cooper, the gentlemen
nominated by the Vestry to co-operate with us in such inquiry, and gave notice to the
Vestry Clerk and to the Mansion House Council on the Dwellings of the People, that
we should proceed with such inquiry at the Board Room, Lower Deptford Road, on the
19th October, 1888.
In pursuance of the above notice we attended at the place named and proceeded upon
the inquiry. Mr. Bulmer and Mr. Astley Cooper being present.
Mr. James John Stokes, Vestry Clerk, appeared on behalf of the Vestry of
Rotherhithe.
Mr. R. Reader Harris, Barrister, appeared on behalf of the Mansion House Council
on the Dwellings of the People.
At this meeting a list of 643 houses in which it was alleged sanitary defects existed
was put in by the Mansion House Council.
As to 525 of the above, the Vestry admitted the receipt of notices, and contended
that some of the defects had been dealt with, but as to the remaining 118 houses,
these were the result of an inspection made by the Mansion House Council in October,
and of which no notice had been served on the Vestry, and it was accordingly arranged
that an inspection should be made, and that after such inspection the public inquiry
should be proceeded with for the purpose of taking evidence as to matters relating to
the general sanitary condition and administration of the Parish.
We then proceeded to inspect the houses above referred to, and generally throughout
the Parish, being accompanied by Mr. Bulmer, Mr. Astley Cooper, and by Mr. Stokes,
Vestry Clerk, Dr. Shaw, Medical Officer of Health, Mr. Burley, Assistant Clerk to the
Vestry, and the Sanitary Inspector, on behalf of the Vestry; and by Dr. Parkes on
behalf of the Mansion House Council.
Speaking first of the matters of actual complaint, we found by such inspection that
as regards the 525 houses, as to the condition of which the Vestry admitted notice,
they had been dealt with in the following manner:—
Notices served and sanitary defects partly remedied
(excluding supply of water to closets) 74 houses.
Notices served 196 „
Not dealt with 255 ,,
Total 525