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institutions have been included. The total number of deaths among lodgers (males and females)
in common-lodging houses during the year was 806 ; the large majority of these deaths occurred in
public institutions.

Homeless 'persons.
Appended to this report is a detailed account of the results of an inquiry into the number of
persons in London who were homeless on the night of the 18th February, 1910. Previous inquiries
into the same subject were made in the years 1904, 1905, 1907 and 1909. If reference is made to
appendix V. to this report it will be seen that 969 persons presumably homeless were found in the
streets on the night of the 18th February, 1910. In addition to this number, however, nearly 1,800
men were provided with food and shelter by various philanthropic bodies. These men had no bed on
the night in question, but were provided with food, and the opportunity of resting for a few hours
under shelter on the seats or floors of rooms or halls used for other purposes in the daytime. The
appended report also shows that if to the number of persons found in the street are added the number
of persons in casual wards, and the number of persons provided by charitable bodies with a bed in a
common lodging-house or afforded opportunity by such bodies of sitting up for a few hours in a shelter,
the total number reaches 6,644, all of whom might be regarded as homeless. It is worthy of note that
the vacant beds in common lodging-houses on the night of the inquiry would have accommodated some
7,580 persons.
Seamen's Lodging-Houses.
Under the provisions of section 214 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, the Council made
by-laws for the regulation of houses accommodating seamen. These by-laws came into force on the
1st October, 1901.
As the result of correspondence with the Board of Trade on the subject of the licensing of seamen's
lodging-houses, it was thought desirable that the by-laws should be amended in certain particulars.
This was accordingly done, the new by-laws were sealed by the Council on 16th December, 1909, and
came into force on 1st January, 1910. An Order of His Majesty in Council making it an offence to keep
a seamen's lodging-house within the County of London unless such house is licensed by the County
Council, came into force on 19th February, 1910.
Experience had shown that these powers were required for the proper supervision of such houses.
It had often been found that houses used for this purpose were held on weekly tenancies, and that the
business was frequently transferred from one house to another, the keeper being under no obligation
to give notice to the Council of the change. Moreover, control over the persons keeping such houses
was found to be necessary, and especially was this the case in the houses occupied by Chinese seamen,
where overcrowding frequently occurred, and where opium smoking was constant.
Hitherto there has been only one licensed seamen's lodging-house, the German Sailors' Home,
Rich Street, Limehouse, which has accommodation for 79 seamen ; but now it is incumbent upon
every keeper of a seamen's lodging-house to obtain a licence from the County Council, the penalty for
keeping such a house without a licence being fixed at a sum not exceeding £100. Steps are now being
taken to give effect to the Order in Council, but as, properly speaking, the action lies in the year 1910
the subject will be more fully dealt with in the annual report of that year.
In the following table will be seen the number of houses, the authorised number of lodgers, the
number of convictions, with the penalties inflicted, and other particulars, during each year since the
supervision of seamen's lodging-houses was undertaken by the Council:—