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121
HOUSING.
1.—OVERCROWDING.
The 1901 Census revealed the fact that 30 per cent.
of the population in the Borough was overcrowded on
the low basis of more than 2 persons per room.
The 1921 Census showed that the percentage of
overcrowding on the same basis was 27 per cent. In
20 years, in spite of much discussion about Housing,
only 10 per cent. of the overcrowded population had
been dealt with.
The figures of the 1931 Census will not be available
by the time this report is issued. One can only
hope that they will indicate some greater progress than
the preceding period. It should be emphasised that
the basis adopted for the foregoing figures is an
extremely low one. It pays little regard to decency
or amenity. To obtain a sound measure of housing
accommodation one would require an elaborate correlation
of bedrooms and supplementary living rooms with
the sex and age composition of the family, which is
doubtless impracticable in connection with the Census.
Whether such information be available or not, it is
clear that the mere reduction of the more-than-two-perroom
overcrowding will not necessarily remove overcrowding
in the real sense.
According to modern conceptions of hygiene and
social amenity, a reasonable basis of calculation of
accommodation is 2 rooms for a single adult (bedroom
and living room) and three rooms for a husband and
wife with not more than 2 young children and for
larger families additional bedrooms proportionate to
to the number of older children and other adults, duo
regard being had not only to decency but also to
amenity. Judged by any such standard, it is obvious