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259
Whore there was merely genuine poverty caused by lack of means
there is now, in many parts, poverty caused by thriftlessness of a gross
type; mal-nutrition of children; the secret drinking and dram-taking of
women; idleness, shiftlessness, and debauchery of men who belong, mostly,
to the lowest class of "casual" labourer or criminal.
There are of course many respectable people living in the streets
I have named, and even in the worst quarters many individual cases of
sober, hard-working, reputable family-life are to be found, but the majority
of the inhabitants of the streets and courts, of which I append a list [63], are
sadly deficient in the moral power or the will, to bring up their children
either physically or morally, in a proper manner.
There is besides a marked difference in the class of people,
socially, inhabiting the large blocks of buildings, and the morale of the
people in certain blocks of buildings is lower than in certain others
[instances are named]. I think it will be found that this affects the
Death Rate
In view of the changes I have noted I fear that alcoholism is on
the increase and thrift decreasing in the Borough, but I have no statistics
on these points. It is certain that the total amount of poverty arising
from bad moral, and social conditions, has increased during the last 10
years.
At the same time I should end by saying that the sanitation of
the district has been much improved of late years by the activity of the
Public Health Department of the Borough Council, and the efforts of
private medical men and others. Further, the public and charitable
bodies in the Borough have lately become conscious of the need of
strenuous co-operative action in the improvement of the moral and
social condition of the poor in Finsbury, and are now working
systematically together to attain that end. In ten years time there
may be a different story to tell.
I am,
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) A. H. PATERSON,
Secretary.
George Newman, Esq., M.D.
Medical Officer of Health,
Town Hall, Rosebery Avenue, E.C.