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15
it may be that the working man should have his
home in the suburbs, I am convinced that a profitable
investment of capital may be made even in our
wealthier districts, by the erection of properly constructed
lodging houses. Beneficial as may be the
action which results from the sanitary claims of the
Metropolitan Management Act, from the Nuisances
Removal Act, and other wise Legislature Measures,
it too often happens that all the efforts of the
Medical Officer of Health fail to make many of the
residences of the poor either healthful or decent.
One of the great evils which most of the cities of
Europe have to contend with, and which is especially
rife in certain parts of our parish is, that the houses
in which the poor live have not been constructed to
meet the wants, comfort, convenience, or health of
their families. The great majority of the working
classes of this parish do not live in houses, but in
parts of houses, which have been constructed only
for single families. Parts of houses which ought to
be confined to the members of a single family are
common, and this conversion of houses intended
for single families into the residence of several, is
a fertile source of the breaking down of those
barriers of decency and propriety which are the
great safeguards of honor and morality. This
close association of several families in one house
is productive of immense evil; it prevents proper
parental control; it encourages an association of
the sexes, which leads directly to one of our
greatest social evils; and is one of the most fruitful