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review. Practically every house is occupied, hundreds of houses
originally let to one family are let to two or three families, and the
number of families occupying only one room has largely increased.
Overcrowding is universal, and measures taken to check crowding in
one house merely result in the overcrowding of another similar dwelling.
In one of the smaller streets a house to house inspection showed that,
out of 66 houses visited, overcrowding on the basis of more than two
to a room, existed in 16 case and this is probably somewhat below
the actual figure. In several instances in the large basement houses,
especially in the east end of the district 30 and 40 persons are living in
each house, but on account of the large and lofty character of the
rooms overcrowding in the legal sense does not exist, and action cannot
be taken. These are in short tenement dwellings, with this drawback,
that they were never intended as such when built, and no bye-laws
have been adopted in this district for the regulation of such dwellings,
while the moral aspect of the conditions under which such families exist
are such as to afford considerable fcod for reflection. Several of these
houses are rented by one person as a speculation, and the profits realised
must be very considerable.
No representation has been made with reference to the closing of
any dwelling which was considered unfit for human habitation, as this
would merely accentuate the existing shortage. Six cottages with
reference to which closing orders were made during the previous year
remained closed during 1917.
If any further increase in the number of munition works in the
district is contemplated by the Ministry of Munitions, it is imperative
that special housing arrangements should be made before more workers
are introduced.
PREVALENCE AND CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS
DISEASE.
Following is a list of the notifications received during the year, the
numbers in brackets being the figures for the year 1916:—