View report page

19
to the Department, which might be used in other directions, it is
questionable whether I ought not to be empowered to institute
proceedings on failure to comply with the notice, without giving
additional letters.
Unhealthy Dwelling-houses. — Under the Housing of
Working Classes Act, 1890, I reported during the year the following
houses as being in a state so dangerous to health as to be unfit for
human habitation, viz.
Thorne Villas, Tenby Road.
29, Tidal Basin Road.
9, Derby Street.
20-28, Richmond Street.
26-38, Helena Road.
Nos. 29, 46, 61, 64 and 72 to 86 (even), First Avenue.
Nos. 5 and 7, Phillip Street.
Two Cottages in Beckton Road.
Experience in working, since the passing of this Act, has shown
that for facility in closing an unhealthy house, sec. 97 of Public
Health Act, 1875, is much the more useful provision, and hitherto one
has restricted action, under the Housing of Working Classes Act, to
those cases in which the nuisances requiring abatement were so
numerous as to require a notice in the form of a " specification," or to
those cases in which it was easier to point out the defects than to
specify the remedy. The above-mentioned houses fall within these
two classes. Thorne Villas form an excellent example of the first
class—a block of sixteen three-roomed tenements—never free from
visits of the Sanitary Inspector, and yet seldom long, in a habitable
condition. After closure and change of ownership, extensive work
was carried out from basement to roof, a responsible caretaker lodged
in one tenement, and, I suspect, a judicious selection of tenants made;
since when there has been no need for action by the Sanitary Officials.
The houses in Helena Road and First Avenue were reported in consequence
of their being subject to a perpetual plague of slugs, the
ground floors being nightly invaded by, in many cases, dozens of these
B 2