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construction of the premises. Would that our Courts in the
parish were all so open and healthy as this one, they would
nover have been condemned by me.
13. Statement. —Wilmington Place (Lord Compton). The
collars are in a dreadfully bad state, the walls dripping with wot
10 months in the year ; all below the required height, which is
8 feet. At No. 1, 2 front kitchens, each 11 ft. 10 in., by 10 ft.,
and 7 ft. 9 in. high; that is 3 inches under the legal height.
(Lord Compton and his Surveyor). No. 2, a kitchen, 15 ft. 6 in.,
by 13 ft., and 6 ft. 8 in. high. The doctor might declare those
places unfit for habitation.
Fact: The kitchens in Wilmington Place are not in a bad
state. The walls are perfectly dry, thanks to the excellent
paving of the streets, which has cost the Parish so much
money. Some of the wall-paperings were dirty, particularly
the one which I had the honor of examining with Lord
Compton. But the female occupant told us, it had been
papered and white-washed 6 months before, but the room
smoked so, that it was thus rendered dirty. Neither Lord
Compton nor his Surveyor seem aware of the requirements of
the Metropolis Local Management Act, in regard to underground
kitchens. There is no specified height for old
kitchens, and even for new ones, the height required is
7 feet, not 8. So that, in regard to the house No. 1, where
the kitchen is 7 ft. 9 in. high, it is 9 inches above the height
required even for a new kitchen. Some few years ago, a
water-pipe running through the passage of one of these
houses, burst, and stained the wall. This, the paper not
having been replaced, may have given rise to the statement
regarding the dampness. The floor of some of the areas in
Wilmington Place are not quite so much below the level of
the floor of the kitchens as should be, according to the strict
wording of the Act, but they are so little deficient, that they
may safely be left as they are.