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Dr. Dudfield adds, "one conclusion drawn from the inquiry was that (contrary to expectation)
the presence of the common lodging-houses did not help to explain the high rate of mortality, the
death rate of the inmates of those establishments being lower than that amongst the people resident
in the other houses."
Sanitary circumstances.
In the course of my recent inspection I visited between five and six hundred sets of premises
in Kensington, 444 of these being dwelling houses (excluding common lodging-houses) occupied for
the most part by persons belonging to the working class. In 285, i.e., in 64 per cent. of these houses,
defects of one kind or another were found. This is a higher percentage than that found as the result
of similar inquiry made in two east-end districts in 1894, but a somewhat lower percentage than was
found in Lambeth in 1895, and a distinctly lower one than that found in St. Pancras in 1898.
The number of houses in which defective conditions were met with was as follows—dampness of
walls of rooms in 21 instances; dirty condition of rooms in 211 instances; conditions of dilapidation
(other than those to be hereafter particularly specified) in 136 instances; defective yard paving in 22
instances; defective roofs in 23 instances; defective traps in yards and cellars in only 5 instances;
defective sink waste pipes in only 1 instance; defective rain-water pipes in 10 instances; eaves'
guttering absent or defective in 4 instances. In five instances water-closets were found to be
"choked"; in 10 instances water-closet pans were cracked or broken; in 21 instances the flushing
apparatus was out of order; in 38 instances water-closet pans were found in a foul condition; and in 9
instances the flush of water was specially noted as inadequate.
In 23 houses the absence of a dust receptacle or the broken or defective condition of the
receptacle provided was noted, and an undue accumulation of house refuse was found at 23 houses.
Overcrowding (using this word to include cases in which there was found to be less than 300 cubic
feet per person in rooms used exclusively as sleeping rooms and less than 400 cubic feet per person in
rooms not used exclusively as sleeping rooms, two children under 10* being reckoned as an adult) was
found to exist in 61 rooms.
The results obtained in Kensington may be compared with those yielded in other sanitary
districts in which similar inquiry has been made. It should be borne in mind that the houses to
which the undermentioned particulars relate were for the most part houses occupied by persons of
the working class.
Sanitary District.
Total number of
houses visited.
Percentage of
houses in which
defects were found
to exist.
Number of
instances per 100
houses visited
in which defective
roofs, yard paving,
water-closets,
traps or rain-water
pipes were found.
Number of
instances per 100
houses visit3d in
which there was no
receptacle or a
defective receptacle
for dust, or in
which an undue
accumulation of
dust was found to
exist on the
premises.
Number of
instances per 100
houses visited in
which dirty
conditions or
dilapidated
conditions, other
than those
already specified,
were found.
Number of
instances of
overcrowding
per 100 houses
visited.
Mile End Old Town 507 32 24 5 10 2
Whitechapel 497 58 61 5 34 9
Lambeth 796 65 36 19 29 26
St. Pancras 567 70 47 22 53 31
Kensington 444 64 33 11 78 14
It will be seen from this tabular statement that, in respect of the number of instances of
defective roofs, yard paving, water-closets, traps or rain-water pipes, Kensington compares favourably
with the other districts, with the exception of Mile End Old Town. It should be noted, however, that
in the above table the question whether the drain of a house is or is not trapped from the sewer is
not referred to. I found in certain parts of Kensington in the course of my inspection a number of
instances, in which there was reason for assuming that the house drain was in direct aerial communication
with the sewer. In respect of overcrowding, Kensington is found to be in worse condition
than the East-end districts, but to compare favourably with Lambeth and St. Pancras. It is the class
of defective conditions dealt with in the last column but one, however, which is especially found to
exist in Kensington, and the prevalence in working-class dwellings of conditions of dirt and dilapidation
is by far the most serious matter for consideration at the present time in this parish. In some
instances there was evidence of long-continued neglect, in others the defects were of less remote origin,
and not a few rooms, the walls and ceilings of which bore evidence of harbouring large numbers of
vermin, were said to have been cleansed as recently as two years or even 18 months ago.
Dirty condition of houses and the failure to cnforce annual cleansing in registered tenement houses.—
In part, no doubt, the hot summer of 1899, following as it did upon a hot summer in the
preceding year, is accountable for the quite extraordinary accumulation of evidence of the development
of vermin, which I found in a large number of tenements in Kensington in the course of my inspection.
Evidence of the kind referred to was of even more common occurrence than in St. Pancras last year,
though I did not meet in Kensington with quite such extreme instances of long-continued neglect.
Apart from unusual climatic conditions, however, the magnitude of the evil referred to was greatly
increased by the fact that such cleansing as had been carried out in the tenements visited had for the
most part been done in a very perfunctory manner, and the principle "out of sight out of mind"
appeared to have been followed to the exclusion of the application of ordinary rules of common sense.
*The limits actually adopted in the by-laws at present in force in Kensington differ from the above in
prescribing that two children under 12 shall be reckoned as an adult. The age 10 is, however, that usually
prescribed in other districts, and for comparative purposes this age is therefore adhered to in the present instance.