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I have during the year kept a record of the houses
given as the addresses of persons who have died and
by this means have been able to locate certain areas
wherein this high rate has sprung. As I pointed out
last year there is an indefinite floating population
without fixed abode attracted to the neighbourhood of
Covent Garden Market; these falling ill go to a hospital
or poor-law infirmary; there are also in the workhouses
and infirmaries of the district a number of old persons,
the relics of the larger population which at one time
occupied Clare Market, the site of the Law Courts
and elsewhere. These two causes materially add to
the number of deaths, as I find that 68 deaths
referred to St. Mary or St. Clement sub-districts have
no definite address, while some addresses no longer
exist. But even after deducting these the death-rate of
certain areas, notably in the neighbourhood of Drury
Lane, is abnormally high. The fact that so many from
that part of the district died in hospitals is evidence of
the poverty existing which in itself is sufficient to