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65
housing.
Taking the usual theoretic standard of overcrowding—viz., an average exceeding two
persons per room—it appears that, in 1906, 1,470 tenements and 7,526 persons were "overcrowded,"
and, in 1908, 1,820 tenements and 7,523 persons. Reducing those figures to
percentages, they compare thus :—
"Overcrowded." 1906. 1908.
Percentage of all tenements 33.6 37.1
Percentage of all inhabitants 50.6 49.3
Percentage of children under 10 years 74.6 72.5
The changes in housing after registration are suggested by the comparison of the
percentages of "overcrowding" as determined at registration, and in houses which have been
on the Register for some time. The average numbers of occupants per room in the houses
added to the Register during the year, and those in houses registered earlier, compare
thus:—
No. of rooms. 1 2 3 4
Newly registered, 1908 2.2 1.9 1.8 —
On Register 2.1 1.7 1.6 1.5
and the percentages of "overcrowded" tenements and inhabitants:—
Overcrowding. Tenements. Inhabitants of all ages. Inhabitants under 10 yrs.
Newly registered, 1908 32.1 52.0 75.0
On Register 37.1 49.3 72.5
Overcrowding.—The actual cases of legal overcrowding reported during the year
numbered 300, as compared with 344 in 1907 and 412 in 1906, showing a decided improvement.
Of the 300 cases, in 171 the degree of overcrowding—i.e., deficiency in cubic space
prescribed by by-law—was so slight, many being under 100 cubic feet, that the cases were
reserved for observation. The full analysis of cases is given below.

Vital Statistics.—The morbidity rate for the "Registered Streets" (12.58 per 1,000, see
Table 42) was nearly 4 per 1,000 above the rate for 1907 (8.65), and rather more than 2¼
times the 1908 rate for the "Rest of the Borough" (5.44). The 1908 rate for "Registered Streets"
showed an increase of 45 per cent. above that for 1907, while that for the " Rest of the
Borough" a decrease of rather more than 4 per cent. The whole of the increased morbidity in
the "Registered Streets" was due to an exceptional prevalence of scarlet fever—increase in
rate equal to 76 per cent.—and to a smaller increase (42 per cent.) in the number of cases of
erysipelas.