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28
Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
Houses Let in Lodgings.
Incomplete bye-laws, made under the provisions of an old Act, for the regitration
and inspection, promotion of cleanliness, and prevention of overcrowding,
lodgings let or occupied by members of more than one family, do exist, but own
to the insufficiency of the Inspecting Staff, they have, hitherto, never been enforce
By the request of the Sanitary Authority, I am, at present, engaged
bringing these bye-laws up to date, according to the compulsory requirements of the
Public Health (London) Act, and I have included clauses for the separation of the
sexes, the taking of precautions in case of any infectious disease, and other sanita ???
measures. I would urge the great necessity which exists for enforcing these by
laws, and would suggest—after sufficient help has been provided to prevent the la
from remaining a dead letter—that a house-to-house examination of the tenemen
let in lodgings, and coming within the powers of the bye-laws, should forthwith 1
made, and that the results be recorded in special registers for each district.
A list of those houses suggested as being the most appropriate to be place
under the operation of the bye-laws might then be submitted to the Public Health
Committee for their approval, and handbills, setting forth, in a condensed form, the
powers and penalties in the bye-laws, be delivered to each of the owners and
occupiers. I have observed, in provincial towns, that the owners of tenement pr ???
perty have generally been very willing to bring their premises into conformity with
the bye-laws, and have welcomed the assistance which the systematic inspection ha ???
rendered them in inculcating more cleanly habits amongst their tenants.
The Factory and Workshop Act, 1891.
This Act, which came into operation on the first of January, 1892, h ???
imposed new and important duties on Sanitary Authorities and their officers, f ???
which, previous to this date, the Factory Inspectors were alone responsible.
Notice is given by the Factory Inspector, to the Sanitary Authority, of s ???
workshops in the district becoming occupied as such within one month, and the
are added to the register-book kept for the purpose in the Public Health Depar ???
ment.
During the last seven months of 1892, I have caused 78 workshops, includi ???
laundries and bakehouses, to be registered, and in several instances, cleanliness a ???
efficient ventilation to be enforced, overcrowding and other nuisances to be abate
and sufficient and separate w.c. accommodation to be provided for the two sexes.
By order of the Home Secretary, Section 27—(i) of the above-mentioned Ac ???
took effect for the first time, on the 20th of November, 1892.
By this section—which aims at the suppression of " sweating" and the co
comitant insanitary conditions including the danger of spread of infectious disease
found in the domestic workshops or dens of the " sweated "—occupiers, and co ???
tractors in certain trades are bound henceforth to keep lists of outworkers accordi ???
to a prescribed form.
These lists in this district, of those employed in the manufacture of article
of wearing apparel, upholstery, and furniture making, have to be kept accessible for
the inspection of the officers of the Sanitary Authority.
The order, in its present shape, can only be partial in its effect—since the
larger portion of the outworkers employers in St. George-the-Martyr live in other
metropolitan parishes, or outside London altogether.
The order could, I believe, be made far-reaching and highly beneficial in i
results by the organisation—under the Home Secretary—of a staff of Inspector
whose duty it should be to inspect all the lists of outworkers, and to extract fro ???
them, for the use of each Sanitary Authority, the requisite details—the same to ???
forwarded to the various Medical Officers of Health. An addition, also, in the sta ???
of Sanitary Inspectors would, of course, be necessary.