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31
110 other way of dealing with them but to prohibit their use
for dwelling purposes, and a closing order was applied for and
granted by the Magistrate in November last.
Overcrowding.—What this phrase means cannot be answered
categorically. The Public Health Act does not give a definition.
Mr. Shirley Murphy in his Annual Report to the London County
Council for 1898 classifies rooms occupied by more than two
persons in houses of less than five tenements amongst the overcrowded.
Your Vestry has adopted as a standard a minimum allowance
of 300 cubic feet of space for sleeping purposes for each adult
occupant, and 400 feet if the apartment is used for living as well
as sleeping purposes, half the amount of space being allowed for
children under 10 years of age.
In view of the fact that for the maintenance of health a person
requires a supply of 3,000 cubic feet of pure air per hour the
above limit is small enough, but in a populated neighbourhood
like St. Luke is all that can be for practical purposes
demanded, and even with a space of 300 feet the renewal of air
is required ten times in an hour to obtain the necessary standard.
It therefore follows that what constitutes overcrowding largely
depends upon ventilation.