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56
In the east end of Deptford there are from two to three thousand
houses forming an area which was condemned by the Medical Officer
of Health for Deptford some five to six years ago. The houses are
still there, all of them. The area was not dealt with by the London
County Council, it may be because the area "represented" was too
large and its demolition would have cost a vast sum of money.
The people who live east of High Street belong to the very poor;
they are casual and unskilled labourers, men who work at the docks,
and men who live off the barrow. It is the correct thing in some
quarters, when speaking of slum dwellers, to refer to them as the
submerged tenth, to speak of them as if they and their surroundings
must be accepted as inevitable, as if, in effect, they were a definite
part of the scheme of things and to disturb which would be an interference
with the plans and intentions of an all-wise Creator.
Now, how are these people being housed? Is the story about
overcrowding a true one, and, if so, is it serious as regards health and
happiness ? Are they to be left as they are ?
East of High Street, many of these houses are tenement houses or
houses let-in-lodgings. Here for example are the housing inspection
record cards for Hales Street. The first card tells of three families
consisting of eight people living in 4 rooms (this record was made on
the 9th July, 1925). As the result of this inspection, the Inspector
sent an intimation notice for minor defects, four items in which related
to such things as defective copper, defective W.C., etc., and five items
regarding dirtiness of staircase, passage, etc., etc. The families were
paying rents as follows:—9s. for two rooms, 4s. for one room, etc.
In one of the three families there was overcrowding. In another
tenement house the rents were (a) 10s. for two rooms, 5s. for one room,
(c) 5s. 6d. for one room.
Turn now to the results of the house-to-house inspections made in
1925 by the Sanitary Inspectors throughout the Borough. Over 1800
houses were so inspected, and these were not confined to the east end.
On another page will be seen lists of streets where such inspections
were made. In submitting the undermentioned evidence regarding
overcrowding, it should be observed that the Inspectors did not pick
upon certain houses or groups of such with a view to discovering
serious conditions. It should further be observed that by "overcrowding"
we mean the presence of over two people per room in a