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24
Overcrowding.
Special attention has been given to ascertain and remedy this
form of nuisance. It invariably occurs with the poorest inhabitants,
and in those districts where the rents are highest. In the early
part of the year a house-to-house inspection was made throughout
the North Woolwich and Beckton Ward (south of Royal Albert
Docks), and in several instances flagrant cases were discovered to
exist. Notices were served, and the numbers reduced, but it
frequently happens that a labourer in casual employment will
muster ten and upwards in family, and owing to his unfortunate
circumstances, is compelled to live in two or three rooms, it will
be seen that to cause this man to leave one house, frequently
means that he moves into another under worse conditions. The
best remedy for overcrowding is the erection of municipal dwellings,
and let at moderate rents. At the time the house-to-house inspections
were made, there was not an empty house in the whole
Ward. There were 490 houses, with an average of five rooms, and
7 "31 persons per house.
Dairies and Cowsheds.
There are 15 Registered Cowsheds and 96 Dairies in the
District. During the year, 31 dairymen and purveyors of milk
have been added to the Register; 327 inspections were made,
and particulars entered in the " Dairies and Cowsheds Register."
The general condition of the dairies is satisfactory, but to keep
them so they require constant attention.
Slaughter-houses.
There are 16 Licensed Slaughter-houses in the District, which
have been periodically inspected and kept under regular supervision,
and I am glad to report that the owners have always been
willing to adopt any suggestions made for keeping these places in
a sanitary condition, and with a few exceptions they are kept so.
An application for the premises, No. 65, High Street North,
to be licensed, was granted provisionally by the Public Health
Committee, subject to satisfactory alterations being carried out.