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I was told over and over again of the difficulty experienced by persons who had lived in certain
localities in Kensington in escaping from them—the descent to such places is easy, to return is quite
another matter. The victims themselves fully recognise their helplessness, and they are looked upon
by others, a little more fortunate, with pity not unmingled with self-congratulation. Thus, on inquiring
as to the rent paid for some tenements, I must have shown some surprise at the lowness of the figure
quoted, for the tenant went on to add " we are not an Avernus." Again a woman who was paying
5s. 3d. for a single " furnished " room, in which she and her family were living under conditions of
overcrowding, told me she would, but for the fact that she was always met with a refusal when she
stated where she came from, have been able to find far better accommodation at a more reasonable rent.
She had recently almost concluded an arrangement to take four rooms for 9s. but was met with the old
difficulty. In this case as in many others the applicant was quite willing to pay a " deposit," so that
her non-acceptability as a tenant was not based upon fear of irregularity in payment of the rent.
The objection entertained by the owner of the four rooms was no doubt based upon fear of incurring
risk, by accepting such a person as a tenant, of possible damage to his property.
As corroborative evidence of the fact that owners have very prominently in mind the possible
damage which tenants may do to property, it may be noted that it is the experience of those who have
charge in North-West Kensington both of common lodging-houses and of tenement houses, that if
any regard is to be paid at all to the condition of cleanliness and repair of a house, there must be
some power of control over the occupants. In the common lodging-house the Council's inspector
will, it is known, call attention to anything that is amiss, hence a reasonable standard must be
maintained, and for his own protection the keeper employs a resident deputy who has access at all times
to all parts of the house. In many of the tenement houses on the other hand, inasmuch as the visits
of the inspector have been hitherto few and far between, the conditions have been allowed to deteriorate,
and to spend money in improving them is from the keeper's point of view to waste money, unless at
the same time he takes steps to prevent injury being done to his property. Several keepers of
" furnished " rooms complained to me of the want of power of control over lodgers. If any change at
all is to be effected in these " furnished " rooms the keeper finds it necessary as a rule to pay someone
to reside on the premises and thus safeguard his interests, in other words, he must entirely abandon
the old system of absolute neglect and substitute for it one of careful supervision. In fact there is no
half-way house; either a reasonable standard of accommodation must be maintained or the conditions
be allowed to degenerate to the extent permitted in many parts of Kensington at the present time.
It should be noted that common lodging-house prices have shown a tendency to rise in North-West
Kensington during recent years. At one time the usual price was 4d. a night, Sunday night being a
free night for weekly lodgers. Two or three years ago the free night system was abolished, and again,
recently, the price in some of the houses has been raised to 5d. The ordinary price for a " furnished "
room is 4s. Gd. for a back room, and 5s. to 6s. for a front room. Thus a man and woman without
children can live more economically in a lodging house (assuming that they are not allowed to take
lodgers in a furnished room), while a family, particularly when there are several children and no
questions are asked about overcrowding, can manage better in a " furnished" room. To obtain
additional cubic space means no doubt in many instances the payment of additional rent. In some
cases the tenant may find this impracticable ; in North-West Kensington, however, there seems to be
a general impression that such cases are few in number. It is said that the chief effect of the
abolition of the free night in common lodging-houses, entailing as it did the payment by each lodger
of an additional 4d., was a marked diminution in the number of cases of drunkenness at the end of
the week. The inhabitants of the " special area " support between them ten public houses in, or in
close proximity to, the area. In other words, there is one public house to every 25 dwelling houses.
It is clear, therefore, that even on the most modest assumption as to the profits made at these public
houses, the average expenditure of the individual upon drink must be large in proportion to his
expenditure, say, upon house-room. It cannot be contended therefore that the inhabitants of the
" special area," taking them as a whole, are without the means of effecting economies which would enable
them to pay, if necessary, for additional cubic space.
Overcrowding.—The number of rooms in which overcrowding was admitted to exist in
Kensington, attained, as has been seen, a total of 61 in 444 houses visited.
In Kensington, as in St. Pancras last year, particulars were ascertained as to whether the overcrowding
arose from misuse of space or from insufficiency of space, the former term being applied to
those instances in which the existing sleeping arrangements led to overcrowding, although by modification
of these arrangements and altered use of the rooms of the particular tenement in question, such
overcrowding could be done away with; the latter term being used to denote instances in which by no
possible modification of the manner of using the rooms of the tenement could the number of cubic feet
■per person be made to fall within the assigned limits.

* These 179 cases affected only 174 families. a« iu live instances two rooms occupied by a family were found to be overcrowded.