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108
be unhealthy or ill-nourished. This is probably due to
the fact that there is little want of food, and that the
children are out late and early in the streets. This
state of things continues to exist, even although
numerous relief agencies, charitable indviduals and
churches are at work in the district, and it would appear
that the un-coordinated help given hampers the work of
the official bodies, and tends to aggravate existing
evils by encouraging the parasitic tendencies of the
inhabitants. The existence of such areas is undoubtedly
a greater source of danger to the community than has
yet been fully realised, and the cost to the charitable
public and to the ratepayer is difficult to estimate,
Housing.
Appended are the statistics of the population as
ascertained at the Enquiry and at the Census taken
about two years before, in April, 1911.
It will be seen that the figures relating to one and
two room tenements agree fairly closely, but there is a
considerable discrepancy between the Enquiry and
Census results in the three room tenements. This is
partly accounted for by five houses being closed at the
time of the Enquiry, but the difference in the number of
persons said to be living in them is no doubt owing to
the incorrect information, with regard to the number of
occupiers, given to the Sanitary Inspector.