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26
(c) Illegitimacy.
The waste of life amongst illegitimate children is
enormous ; suc h unfortunates experience a death rate
which is higher by 106 per cent, than that of legitimate
infants. We are fairly moral in Bethnal Green
as the illegitimate births in the Borough form only
1.3 per cent, of the total registered births against 3.6
per cent, for the whole of London.
(d) Poverty.
The effects of poverty, largely caused by want of
employment, are chiefly experienced in the winter
months, when the expense of firing has to be added
to current outgoings ; at this time of year clothing
and bedding are usually insufficient and heat must be
economised at the expense of ventilation. The
difficulty experienced in dealing with overcrowding,
one of the worst results of poverty, is well shewn in the
report of my colleague Mr. Foot, to whom is entrusted
the enforcement of the law against overcrowding
and I cannot do better than to quote his words:—
"Families have been turned out time after time, and hunted
from one tenement to another, and from there on again. One
poor wretched family was turned out five times in about as
many months. We are of course, carrying out the law, just as
we have been doing for some years past, but in the result we
do not appear to help these people very much, and the
question still remains how to house the lower class worker's
family, requiring an average rental of 7/9 per week on their
present income.
"Preaching and passing resolutions does not, unfortunately,
provide any effective remedy and until our Government recognizes
that overcrowding, with its attendant evils is an economic
question right through, we shall remain just about where we
are in the matter."