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was fully and successfully upheld on behalf of the Vestry, by the Vestry's Counsel, Mr.
E. Lewis Thomas.
The total number of premises as to which complaints were received between
the 27th March and August 26th, 1883, was 1,068. The total number of defects
complained of in those houses numbered 1,948, and at the enquiry it was given in
evidence that 803 of those premises had been dealt with.
The separate items of "The Mansion House Councigl's" complaints numbered
in those 803 premises 1,643, referring, generally, to defective dust bins, and to w.c.'s
defectively supplied with water, or without water supply. In addition to dealing with
those complaints, the great majority of the 803 premises were redrained wholly or
partially. Rain pipes and waste pipes of kitchen sinks were disconnected from drains;
yards paved and proper gullies provided therein; dust bins of the improved "Shoreditch
pattern" provided; water closets reconstructed and fitted up on the "Shoreditch
pattern; "broad concrete cills provided to front and back doors; eaves, gutters, and
rain pipes wholly or partially reinstated, and internal repairs and cleansing of
premises effected—amounting in all to 2,041 separate items in addition to the complaints
of the Council, and in addition also to a very large amount of work done in
houses not complained of.
It will be evident from the foregoing statement, how misleading and how
mischievous would have been the result if the complaints of "The Mansion House
Council" had been permitted to disorder the ordinary course of procedure—which,
in its working, is systematically and surely eradicating evils, and improving injurious
conditions, which have been the product of ages of ignorance and carelessness, and
which, it may be said, are in no wise at all peculiar to the houses of Shoreditch, as
distinguished from the houses of the Metropolis generally.
Referring to these matters, and dealing with the list of 532 defects reported as still
existing in September, the Commissioners say:—
"COMMISSIONERS' REPORT."
(1.) Page 4. "We found 48 defects had been remedied, 47 were in course of
"being remedied, and 44 other reported defects could be considered as of not
"sufficient gravity to be injurious to health," (i.e., a deduction of 8 per cent.
from the total of complaints).
(2.) Page 4. They also bear testimony that action was not confined to houses
reported by the Mansion House Council, (but that the Vestry) "had dealt
"with the houses of whole streets, when but a few of the houses were the
"subject of complaint."