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208
in the number of shelters opened under the auspices
of quasi-religious or philanthropic bodies, notably the Salvation
Army and the Church Army. The number of common
lodging-houses, which in 1890 was 962, had fallen at the end
of 893 to 671. In that year the Shelters of the Salvation
Army alone received an aggregate of considerably over a
million persons, the nightly average number accommodated
being about 3,000. The 671 common lodging-houses under the
control of the police provided accommodation for 28,340
persons. During the year 81 houses were closed, and 88
keepers were served with notices to register their houses.
Non-registered houses to the number of 156 were periodically
visited to enforce the Acts. Three hundred and forty-eight
houses were surveyed, and five keepers of registered houses
were summoned and convicted for offences against the Act
"for the well ordering of common lodging-houses" (14 and 15
Vict. cap. 28), which became law 24th July, 1851. Seventyone
cases of illness other than infectious, occurred at the
common lodging-houses, 47 of which resulted fatally, necessitating
inquests being held ; and 213 cases of infectious
diseases occurred, compared with 24 in 1892. The majority
of these cases, no doubt, were small-pox, a disease which has
been widely spread in many parts of the country through the
agency of vagrants and other inmates of common lodginghouses,
shelters, and casual wards, and was so spread in
London, as already mentioned in this report in connection
with the observations (at page 26) on that disease.