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100 Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
years and the number of children having outgrown the accommodation.
The rents in Larch Road vary from 5/6 to 20/- per house, or
equal to 1/6 to 2/10 per room. The greater proportion of the
houses are, however, rented from 5/6 to 7/6 for three rooms, this of
course including all rates and taxes.
The houses in this street are occupied chiefly by general
labourers, hawkers, and costers, and a few mechanics.
With regard to Nelson's Row and White Square, Clapham,
Mr. Booth remarks that it was "once a notorious den of iniquity
"and rowdyism, and still bad as well as poor." "The Square is
"an open space unpaved and uncared for, surrounded by twostoreyed
houses in which live a large number of costers."
The Sanitary Inspector for that district has known it for
some years and reports that the social condition of the people has
much improved during the last 20 years, and that the houses are
now in a much more satisfactory sanitary condition.
My own personal inquiries have led me to a similar conclusion.
There is little or no poverty. The houses are in most
cases clean, and no overcrowding existed in the whole of the 118
houses specially inspected.
With regard to school attendance, I have been informed by
the head mistress of the school in the Square that the children
are very regular, and that she has not at any time trouble with
either children or parents. Occasionally she finds that the
children are not so clean and tidy as they should be, but they
always seem to have plenty to eat, although some of the food maybe
of an improper character.
A house-to-house inspection has recently been made by the
Sanitary Inspector and such inspection shows that out of a total
of 115 houses 90 were occupied by one family, 20 by two families,
and two by three families; while of the number of families, 12
lived in one room, 24 in two rooms, 28 in three rooms, and 76 in
four rooms and upwards.
A considerable proportion of these houses have been redrained
during the past ten years. In the present inspection the
only sanitary defects found were dirty ceilings, defective watercloset
cisterns, and a few defective cistern covers.