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21
Family I.—Man, wife, and five children, one over
twelve years of age. Occupy upper room, rent 5s. per
week. Man, a casual labourer. The mother paralysed.
No stated earnings. Very poor, and in arrears with
rent.
Of the nine cases dealt with, there was found in four
to be no legal overcrowding at all. In one, the overcrowding
arises solely from the fact of the children sleeping
in the same room as their parents, and would not justify
action. In two cases overcrowding existed to the extent of
two children; in one case to the extent of one and a-half
children; in one case to the extent of one child.
From these cases, which so far are the only ones your
Committee have had officially before them, it seems that
a large amount of sensational talk current in the
neighbourhood arises from the fact that the authorities
at Wolverley Street School appear to consider overcrowding,
and the results arising therefrom, from some sort of basis
which bears no relation to the legal standard usually
observed in dealing with such cases.
Moreover, they do not appear to appreciate the fact
that your Public Health Committee cannot intervene,
however desirable from many points of view such intervention
may be, beyond the legal limits, nor can they deal
with matters outside their jurisdiction.
On paper, the existing conditions appear to be deplorable.
They are, in fact, bad enough, and ought not to be
tolerated, but here, again, neither the number of single
room lettings in this locality nor the number of persons
occupying the same can be dealt with by your Committee
otherwise than in accordance with the law as it now
stands.
Unfortunately, several of the cases presenting some of
the worst features from many points of view cannot be