View report page

70
3.—The father, mother and two girls, 19 and 16 years, occupied
two rooms. The father had phthisis, and was bedridden. He
was in an advanced stage of the disease, and reluctant to enter
the poor law infirmary, but realised that "it must come to that
in the end." He was being allowed one quart of milk and one
egg daily by the Insurance Committee. The parents had had 10
children, but had lost five. Two children were married. One son,
age 11 years, had phthisis, and was in a poor law institution. The
mother was able to get casual work as a laundress, and occasionally
earned five or six shillings in a week. Sometimes she
earned much less. The family was supported almost entirely by
the two girls who were at home. But even they had to husband
their resources very carefully, and could not afford to keep the
fire going all day. "As it was, all the coal they could buy only
lasted until Thursday. They couldn't have a fire after that—they
hadn't got the means. If the father went into the infirmary then
they could give up one room and live in one room only."
The tenement was clean, and rented at 7s. a week. The weekly
expenditure of the family was:—
Bread (2 loaves daily), butter (2 ounces daily), and tea, 4s. 6d;
cocoa, 3d ; flour, 1½d.; sugar, 6d; coal, 2s. l½d.; wood, 3½d.;
matches, ½d.; oil, 7d.; suppers, generally fried fish and chipped
potatoes, 2s. 4d. Sunday was a special day set apart for a meat
dinner, consisting of meat "pieces," 9d.; potatoes, 1d; pot-herbs,
1d., and suet, 1d. The mother's washing requisites cost:
Soap, 3½d.; bleaching powder, l½d.; washing soda, ½d.; blue, ½d.,
and starch, 1d.
This family of four adults lived in two rooms on a total of
19s. 4d. per week, including 7s. paid for rent. The father lived
and slept in the kitchen. The girls slept in the other room.
4.—The family consisted of the parents, 5 girls, 14, 12, 7, 4, 2
years, and 2 boys, 10 and 9 years respectively. They lived in
two rooms—very poorly furnished. There were two beds, and a
"shake-down" on the floor. The bedding was very scanty and
threadbare. There were only two chairs, and one of these was