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HOUSING.
Overcrowding.—If the limit of reasonable occupation be fixed at two persons per room, and
any excess thereof be deemed to be "crowding," then 1,589 tenements were crowded last
year, as also the 8,176 occupants of those tenements. The test is not one of overcrowding,
but of density of occupation, as no count is taken of the size of the room or the ages
(or sexes) of the occupants. It is quite possible that a room with two occupants may be
overcrowded according to the rules of hygiene and of law, and one with 7 or 8 occupants not.
As a test of " overcrowding " the standard cannot be justified, but it is useful as a rough index
of density of occupation. Appended are the proportions (percentages) of the populations,
enumerated at the annual cleansings, living in tenements where the average number of occupants
exceeded two per room. The figures show some improvement, even if those for last year be
left out of consideration, as they ought, perhaps, to be, on account of the changes made in the
system of tabulation.
"Crowding" in Tenement Houses.
1906. 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911.
Percentage of all tenements 33.6 37.l 33.9 33.3 29.4
Percentage of all inhabitants 50.6 49.3 50.2 49.8 43.4
Percentage of children under 10 years 74.6 72.5 73.0 73.2 66.4
Legal overcrowding—i.e., infringement of the by-laws which prescribe minimum air spaces
of 400 cubic feet for adults and 200 cubic feet for children under 10 years of age, "living and
sleeping " in the same room, or 300 and 150 cubic feet respectively if the room be used for
sleeping only—was discovered in 189 instances last year, as compared with 412, 344, 300, 432,
and 282 in each of years 1906-10. In 34 of the 189 cases the degree of overcrowding amounted
to total deficiencies of air space of less than 50 cubic feet, and the families have been noted for
observation. Such relaxation of the by-laws is not sanctioned in the Clarendon Street Area.
Particulars of the cases discovered and of the manner in which they were dealt with will be found
below.
Overcrowding in Tenement Houses.
As found on inspections made for
Annual Routine
Total. Registration. c|eansing. Purp0ses.
Tenements 189 (282) 1 (9) 165 (234) 23 (39)
Rooms 199 (307) 1 (9) 167 (255) 29 (43)
Occupants, total 919 (1,338) 4 (41) 774 (1,072) 141 (225)
Under 10 years of age 413 (568) 2 (19) 349 (431) 62 (118)
Aged 10 years and upwards 506 (770) 2 (22) 425 (641) 79 (107)
Overcrowding abated (rooms)—
By re-arrangement of occupants 58 (62) —(6) 57 (56) 1 (—)
By voluntary removal 51 (62) — (1) 51 (61) — (—)
Under notice 46 (102) —(2) 24 (63) 22 (37)
Cases held over 34 (56) 1 (—) 33 (54) — (2)
Note.—Figures in parentheses relate to 1910.
Vital Statistics.—The total morbidity rate (see Table 49) in the "Registered Streets" was
521 per 1,000 persons last year, 0.82 less than the rate (6 03) recorded in 1910, and 5.42 less
than that of 1909 (14.62). In the " Rest of the Borough "—i.e., the Borough less the " Registered
Streets"—the morbidity rate was 3.91 last year, 3.32 in 1910,and 5.06 in 1909, so that there was
an increase in last year's rate in comparison with that of 1910. The only disease in the
" Registered Streets" showing an increase last year was diphtheria (rate 1911, 1.33; 1910, 0.89),
the increase amounting to 49.4 per cent. That was also the only disease with any real increase
in the " Rest of the Borough," the increase there amounting to 38.7 per cent.
The total mortality in the " Registered Streets" was 24.67 per 1,000, as compared with
22.08 in 1910 and 26.32 in 1909. The increase in last year's rate was equal to 11.7 per cent. of
the 1910 rate, the increase noted in the " Rest of the Borough " being equal to 6 0 per cent. only.
The most important increases were those in the rates from " diarrhceal diseases" (rates, 1911,