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17
HOUSING.
For the greater part the general housing conditions
are above the average. At the present time, however,
in common with other districts, there is a shortage of
houses for the working classes. In consequence some
overcrowding exists, chiefly in the poorer class areas. It
has been found impossible to deal with many cases of
overcrowding owing to lack of accommodation. Where
it has been found possible the position has been improved
by a rearrangement of the sleeping accommodation.
Your Council, realising the serious position, and the
urgent need for the provision of working class houses in
the district, submitted a scheme for the erection of 164
houses to the Ministry of Health. This was approved,
and many of the houses were in course of erection at the
end of the year.
In the older parts of the town the houses are not so
good, and the inspection of these takes up a considerable
amount of your Sanitary Inspector's time. Fortunately
there is for the most part plenty of air space around
these dwellings. In fact, there are no back courts or
alleys in the district. It is this fact that no doubt largely
accounts for the low incidence of infectious ailments
affecting these areas.
The chief defects met with on inspection of this
class of property are dirty walls and ceilings, defective
plaster to walls and ceilings, defective floors, window
frames, roofs, gutters, etc. In many cases the tenants
are largely responsible for the defects found.
In practice it is found that the Public Health Act,
1875, is sufficiently effective in dealing with the above
nuisances; By far the greatest number of house nuisances
are remedied without the necessity for serving Statutory
Notices. With the exception of two or three owners
who invariably give the maximum amount of trouble,
generally speaking little opposition is met with in this
direction.