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and 71 six rooms; there were in addition 74 tenements, 7 containing
two rooms, 23 three rooms, 26 four rooms, 17 five rooms, and 1 six
rooms.
A number of the older houses are badly constructed and require
constant supervision in order to keep them in a habitable state of
repair.
The Sanitary Inspector visited 725 houses in the course of the
year and secured general repair, cleansing, remedy of dampness and
other improvements in a large number of cases.
In February I represented that a house in West Street was unfit
for human habitation, and a closing order was made; no repairs were
executed, and in July the District Council made a demolition order,
against which the owner appealed to the Ministry of Health, who
directed an inquiry to be held in November, when the owner undertook
to submit a specification of the works necessary to make the house fit,
and in December the Ministry informed him that the demolition order
was justified, but would be quashed provided that the proposed works
were carried out within four months, the owner to pay the costs of
the appeal.
In March, a closing order which had been made against a cottage
at The Culvers in the previous year was determined on completion of
the repairs.
A group of 32 four-storied houses at Carshalton-on-the-Hill which
have for a considerable number of years been let in tenements to
working-class tenants, each house as a rule accommodating two
families, is constantly being brought to the notice of the Council,
owing to the continual want of repair. The size of the houses would
entail a heavy expense to put them into a complete state of repair,
and consequently only the more urgent defects are dealt with. In 1919
the District Council submitted a proposal for purchasing the houses,
as part of their housing scheme, and in 1920 they put forward a scheme
under Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, but
were unable to obtain the sanction of the Ministry of Health to either
scheme. The houses are provided with separate sanitary accommodation
for each tenant.
The houses throughout the District are supplied with water from
the public mains, and are provided with properly constructed waterclosets
and drains connected with the sewers, and with covered movable
ashbins ; house refuse is removed weekly by the Council's staff.
(4) Unhealthy Areas.—There are no areas such as might be
dealt with under Part I. of the Housing Act of 1890.
(5) Bye-Laws.—The Model Bye-Laws relating to houses, to
houses let in lodgings, and to tents, vans and sheds, are in force in the
District.