View report page

127
space and upwards, which would not be "illegally overcrowded" with five adults, or two adults
(parents) and six children under 12. The rooms are crowded—people and furniture being taken
into account—and obviously such a mode of occupancy is undesirable, and incompatible with
comfort, not to say decency.
Of cases of "overcrowding," judged by the standard of the by-laws, it is so far satisfactory
to be able to report that few were found. Generally, it was a question of one child too many.
The death of a child would abate overcrowding; the birth of a child create overcrowding. A
case was noted of a family, comprising the parents and a two-year old child, occupying a room
containing 1,200 cubic feet, or 200 feet more than the by-law exacts. The mother gave birth
to twins, and overcrowding was thus brought about, the space required for the family being now
1,400 cubic feet. Had Nature been less bountiful, the room would have provided exactly the
space required for the four persons = 3 adults. In about a dozen cases nocturnal overcrowding
was brought about by "misuse of space as when, for example, all the members of a family slept
in one room, another room being used by day only. Judged by the Registrar-General's standard
of two persons (irrespective of age) to a room (irrespective of size), the cases of overcrowding
in one-room tenements were 553; in two-room tenements, 417; in three-room tenements, 82; in
tenements of four or more rooms, practically none. Cases of illegal overcrowding (i.e., cases
where less space was provided than required by the Council's by-laws) were brought to the
attention of your Committee at successive meetings, when necessary, and proceedings in such
cases were taken, by written intimation or statutory notice, for the abatement of the "nuisance."
A few cases of indecent occupation (eight in all; seven of them in one street) were
observed; cases where more than two persons of different sex above the age of 12 were in
occupation of the same sleeping room : an offence under the third by-law ("Separation of the
Sexes"), but not an offence of which the sanitary authority can take cognizance (in the absence
of overcrowding) in houses not registered. Generally, however, these cases were of the less
objectionable kind; as when a boy or girl over 12 occupied the same sleeping room with the
parents. These cases, likewise, were brought to the attention of your Committee, in ordinary
course, when they occurred in registered houses.
It may be mentioned that only 214 empty rooms (= 3.1 per cent. of all visited) were
observed. The large number of 564 tenements (nearly 16 per cent.) contained a single lodger
to each. Very few and unobjectionable cases of subletting by lodgers or tenementers came under
observation.
The general results of the inquiry are summed up in Addendum B, page 130.
[It is not within the reference, but it may nevertheless be interesting to state that
advantage was taken of the occasion to investigate the sanitary condition of the 905 houses
(6,925 rooms) visited, and that defects were observed as follows :—
Cases.
In connection with W.C.'s 86
„ Cisterns 37
,, Roofs 38
,, Yards 14
,, Ashpits 28
General 214
Total 417
The several nuisances, etc., were reported to your Committee, and abatement notices served.
The nuisances and structural defects observed, relatively to the number of houses, were greatest
in the Notting Dale "Special Area," North-West Sanitary District.]
The information in Addendum B on the subject of rent of tenements relates exclusively to
unfurnished rooms. It is interesting as showing what a large percentage of the earnings of the
working classes goes in this way. The rent per tenement naturally varies much according to
the size and position of rooms; basement and slip rooms fetching less than rooms on the ground,
first, and second floors: front rooms more than back rooms. It cannot be said that the rents
are always proportional to the quality of the accommodation: quite otherwise in many cases.
The most striking illustrations of high rents were observed in the "Special Area," and
particularly with respect to "furnished" rooms in tenemented houses. Cases could be cited of
houses worth, perhaps, twelve to fifteen shillings a week unfurnished, let in "furnished" rooms so
as to bring in thirty, forty, and, in a few cases, even fifty shillings a week. The rent per tenement
for a single room ranges from 3s. to 7s. 6d. per week; for two rooms from 7s. 6d. to 10s. 6d.
The "furniture," for the most part, is meagre in quantity ; in quality wretched, and hardly
deserving the name. With few exceptions the furnished rooms are found in the "Special
Area"; in which district the unfurnished tenements of one room fetch from 1s. 6d. to 4s., the
two-room tenements from 4s. 6d. to 7s., the three-room tenements from 5s. 6d. to 10s per week,