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APPENDIX II.
UNDERGROUND ROOMS.
The residences, which to-day are degraded into tenementhouses,
had—like other houses in London—basement kitchens not
at all describable as "cellars," but now coming under the statutory
definition for "underground rooms." A large number of these are
still utilized as lodgings in St. James's, and not always in full conformity
with recent enactments. I have had considerable
difficulty in advising the Public Health Committee as to how
these " underground rooms " should be treated.
In a large proportion these dwellings have been occupied by
aged women belonging for many years to St. James's, whose earnings
are supplemented by contributions from children still connected
with the trades of St. James's. To turn such aged persons out
of their old homes would have divorced them from all the associations
of their lives, and often would have meant consigning
them to the Workhouse, where their maintenance would have
swollen the rates, while inflicting severe annoyance upon the
aged people. Other considerations, which need not be detailed,
also often suggested great tenderness in enforcing the
strict letter of the law. Each such case was, in fact,
considered and dealt with upon its merits, under the power
of granting exemption which is vested by law in the discretion
of the Public Health Committee. In all such cases where the
basement rooms could be fairly regarded as healthy, and where
young children were hot lodged, my recommendation to the Public
Health Committee was that a full use of their power of exemption
should be exercised. Otherwise, the whole of the basement
rooms of St. James's would have been rendered untenantable, and
a vastly increased pressure would have been thrown upon the
very inadequate accommodation in St. James's. These considerations—partly
personal to the particular case, partly general to the
question of housing—were regarded by me as governing principles
in shaping such reports as I have had the honour of submitting
to the late Public Health Committee upon this question.
The statutes referring to "underground rooms" are not
very lucid in their terms. Under Section 96 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891 :—