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110
To take an actual example from Finsbury:—
A second floor front room contains 1,138 cubic feet and is
occupied by a man, wife, a girl of 6 years and a boy 5 years. The
room is used for sleeping- and living. The two children being
under 10 years count as one adult. The cubic space legally
requisite is 3 times 400 cubic feet, that is 1,200 cubic feet. The
actual cubic space is 1,138 cubic feet, and is too little by 62 cubic
feet. This is a case of slight legal overcrowding, and not such as
to call for immediate and drastic intervention.
Take another example from Clerkenwell, December, 1909 :—
A man, wife, and 8 children: girl 18, girl 15, boy 14, boy 12,
boy 8, boy 7, boy 5, girl years, occupied two rooms. The
front room was used as a living room for the whole family and
as a sleeping room for the man, wife, boy 14, boy 6, girl 1½. It
has 1,498 cubic feet and is therefore 102 cubic feet short of the
required amount.
The back room is occupied as a sleeping room by a girl 18,
boy 12, boy 7, boy 5, and has 836 cubic feet and is 64 cubic
feet short.
The girl of 15 sleeps at another address.
The parents had removed to their present address in September,
1909.
The rooms they had previously occupied were said to be ample
and convenient. A daughter died at home of Consumption in
September, 1909, and this, coupled with the fact that they were
now bereft of her earnings had induced them to remove elsewhere.
This case is quoted as another example of slight illegal overcrowding
and shows how it sometimes arises.
The investigation of the cases in Finsbury proves, if it proves
anything, that the mere provision of up-to-date dwellings at
moderate or even low rentals will not abolish overcrowding,
indeed, this provision may even increase it.
The causes are complex and lie deeply.