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We know that 10,000 persons, chiefly of the poorer classes, have been
turned out of their houses, to find shelter where they could; many have been
driven into the Workhouse, others have left the parish, some have gone into
newly built houses, whilst many more have been squeezed into houses previously
quite as full as, or fuller than they ought to be.
As a partial compensation for these evils, in the general clearance, a largo
amount of house property has been pulled down which was totally unfit for
human occupation.
If suitable provision had been made for the reception of those who were
thus deprived of their dwellings, great good would have been effected. The
misfortune, however, is, that nearly all of the people who have not found their
way to the Workhouse, have been forced into houses, each containing from four
to eight rooms, the houses being adapted only for one family, whilst they are
made to receive a number of families. The result will be that these houses,
tolerably well adapted for a single family, will soon become as unfit for occupation
as the old ones just referred to.
Stanley Buildings, recently erected in the Old Saint Pancras Eoad by the
Industrial Dwellings Society, accommodate 103 families. In these buildings
every family has a scullery, a water-cistern, a water-closet, and a dust-shoot lor
itself. The rents vary from 5s. to 7s. 6d., according to the size, number, and
position of the rooms. They are paid in advance.
These rents do not meet the case of the very poorest, but the accommodation
afforded is greatly superior to what can be obtained for the money in any of the
houses commonly let out to the working classes. No man with a family can
obtain, in London, a residence fit for him to occupy at less than 5s. per week.
It is, no doubt, a very large proportion of many a man's earnings, but if, by
spending 2s. 6d. a week more on his rent, his home can be made comfortable
and fit for him to sit in of an evening, that sum or much more may often be
saved by his avoiding the Gin Shop, and only taking what beer he needs after
work at home with his family. There will, I fear, be but little improvement
in the habits of the London working classes, until there is some provision for
making their dwellings more attractive, or at any rate less repulsive.
Immediately that the Stanley Buildings were opened, every set of rooms
was let; and there are now many names entered by persons waiting for admission
to them on the first vacancy. A dozen similar erections might with great
advantage be provided in this parish.
There is also greatly required a large number of dwellings for families, who
can only afford to pay from 3s. to 4s. 6d. per week. At present, these families
occupy usually a single room only, in a house of six or eight rooms, adapted
only for one family. The water supply is inadequate, and at some distance from
the upper rooms; there is but one privy, one dust-bin, one coal-cellar, and
one wash-house for the whole. No one is responsible for the cleanly condition
of the water-closet, the water-tank, the stair-case, the basement, the areas, and
the yard, or for the emptying of the dust-bin. These houses require to be
periodically inspected by the Sanitary Officers, and ought to be put under the
same regulations as the Common Lodging Houses.
The Trustees of the Peabody Fund could not, I think, find any district
standing more in need of their notice and assistance than some parts of Saint
Pancras.
As regards those causes of disease over which you have some control, in