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142
House Accommodation for the Working Classes.
The houses in the borough are so varied in character that
it is impossible to class them as belonging to any one group.
The South Ward is almost devoid of houses for the working
classes, as it consists chiefly of substantial family residences of
a type above the average suburban residence. The houses
are situated on high ground and in wide and well-kept roads,
making the neighbourhood a most desirable one.
The South-East and South-West Wards also possess good
houses, but there is a fair sprinkling of houses suitable for the
working class, many of which are tenement houses let to two
or more families.
The North-West and North are well constructed Wards,
consisting of broad thoroughfares with many rows of well
constructed houses letting at about £30 a year; about 10 to
15 per cent, of these being tenement houses.
The East Ward is the most densely populated district, and
every effort is being made to cope with poverty and ignorance
in its worst forms. Buildings which in former days were
probably the residences of a better class are now the swarming
grounds of a wretched population. The carelessness in this area
with regard to health, and the ignorance displayed of the most
elementary laws of hygiene, show clearly that if we are to
gradually rid ourselves of any considerable proportion of these
unfortunate people, we must rigorously enforce the legal
remedies at our command for clearing insanitary areas and
houses, and for instilling into the landlords a true sense of
their responsibilities.
The time has now arrived when we should insist upon a
higher standard of personal cleanliness. Hitherto, men and
women with filthy clothing, often in a verminous condition,