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145
of many of the people "being" at once the cause and effect of
the filth and dirt of their abodes"—though "the houses as
structures are not bad." The specially evil conditions affecting
the people had been represented to the Committee as "overcrowding,
drunkenness, prostitution, and inherited disease," the
people themselves being "largely made up of loafers, cabrunners,
beggars, tramps, thieves, and prostitutes"; a "deplorable
state of things "existing, "the ordinary laws of decency
being disregarded or set at defiance." The locality was said to
be "not a very poor one," the population on the whole being a
stationary one. "No doubt some work-people and their families
find homes here, but this does not leaven the mass." "Great
numbers of rooms in the district are let out as furnished
apartments," in houses which "should be brought under control
and registered as common lodging-houses," of which there are
many in the district, the condition of these being "superior to
those which are not and cannot be registered" as such. The
Committee reported that "the evils described are spreading, and
the character of several neighbouring streets is rapidly
deteriorating." Reference is made to the insanitary condition
of the yards at the rear of the houses; and to the streets as "the
playgrounds of a large number of children who do not resort
to Avondale Park," into which "additional entrances should be
made." The Committee took note of the "unsatisfactory
attendance of the children at school," a matter of great concern,
as, "though it may be impossible to do much for the adult
portion of the population, it is plainly our duty to see that
everything is done that can be done for the children, who, living
under the conditions indicated, lose all abhorence of the evils
which unhappily surround them." The Committee were of
opinion that the necessity of sanitary inspection "can hardly
beover-stated," but they qualify their opinion by adding that "this
does not necessarily mean an increase to our permanent staff of
sanitary inspectors," which, in fact, had been reduced a few days
prior to the appointment of the Committee. "A sufficient staff
of sanitary inspectors" is stated to be "absolutely necessary,"