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satisfactory. In the poorer houses the greatest difficulty which the Council's inspectors have experienced
relates to the cleanliness of bedding. Effort is continually made by them to secure the
removal of dirty and worn-out bedding and its replacement by clean and new, and as a result
considerable improvement has been made in this respect. Old wooden bedsteads which tend to harbour
vermin are being replaced by iron bedsteads, and indeed, but few of the former now remain.
The extent to which common lodging-houses are occupied in the different seasons of the year
depends upon the occupation of the lodgers, and further somewhat upon the situation of the houses.
Broadly, the lodging-houses in London are less fully occupied in summer than in winter. The
opportunity for obtaining work in the fruit and hop fields in summer reduces the number of lodgers
by some 25 or 30 per cent., but in some houses near Covent-garden and the Borough people of this
class find employment in pea-shelling and similar work in summer, and this enables older persons to
earn their own livelihood and live in common lodging-houses, who in winter have to depend upon the
workhouse. Others again who depend upon prostitution are not affected by seasons, and houses
containing a large proportion of this class maintain their full complement of lodgers with less variation
throughout the year. In particular houses it was said that these women are not received, but how
far they are in practice excluded is doubtful. The keeper of a common lodging-house does not as a
rule profess to know the occupation of his lodgers; so long as they pay for their bed and conduct
themselves in an orderly manner in his house his requirements are satisfied. The enforcement by
the keeper of a rule that no lodger should be admitted after 11 p.m. would probably be found impracticable
for financial reasons.
I have also visited a number of shelters and refuges. These do not profess to be commercial
enterprises intended to be a source of profit to the keeper. Among those I have visited I have
not found any that provide a comfortable home, in which women live in common, and that are
distinctly self-supporting or remunerative. The conclusion at which I have arrived is that any
lodging-house for women, to be remunerative, would have to admit all comers without antecedent
inquiries as to their habits, or without any rule such as I have mentioned, which would exclude
undesirable lodgers. It does not appear that such a rule could be enforced without putting restrictions
upon others to whom there would be no objection, and so far as the information 1 have obtained
extends, it teaches that women will not in any large number resort to a house where they have not
full liberty of action.
I have endeavoured during my inquiry to ascertain how far a parent with children is received
into common lodging-houses, and the information I have received is to the effect that they are only
exceptionally admitted. The reasons given for this are various, but usually relate to the fear of disturbance
of other lodgers ar.d the risk that the parents may desert the children in the common
lodging-houses. In some districts furnished lodgings are let by the keepers of common lodginghouses,
and especially in Whitechapel and Kensington ; these are used by families requiring lodging
for a short time.
The Committee may like to have before them a few notes as to a family house somewhat recently
provided by the Glasgow municipality for a single parent who with his or her children requires
accommodation, perhaps while temporarily occupied on a particular piece of work. I visited Glasgow
last year with the object of seeing this institution. It is capable of accommodating 160 adults
with their children. During the day the children are under the charge of resident nurses, who see
that the older ones are cleaned and sent to school, while the younger ones are cared for in the home.
Adults are supplied with meals at fixed prices, and a kitchen is provided in which, if they wish it, they
can cook their own food. Children are boarded at fixed weekly prices. The building is of considerable
size, constructed for the purpose at a cost of £15,000, a sum of £6,000 having been spent on the site.
The cost of furnishing was £2,094. In addition to the family rooms, a large dining room, nursery,
lavatory, bath-room, and water-closets are provided. I was told that the amount received for children's
board and meals had so far more than covered the cost of all food sold. More detailed information
lias been kindly supplied me by Mr. Menzies, the manager of the Glasgow Improvement Trust property.
Further time is required to show how far the institution will be self-supporting.
I have inspected the following common lodging-houses and shelters for the purpose of this
report—
Common Lodging-houses.
Whitechapel.—Ten common lodging-houses in Whitechapel receive women. In only one are
single women exclusively received; six houses receiving single women also accommodate married
couples or " doubles," and three receive each of the three classes, viz., single women, single men, and
married couples. The inmates were generally described as street hawkers, vendors of flowers, matches,
&c., others were said to be employed as laundrywomen, charwomen, needlewomen, &c. In the
majority of the houses I was told that the houses were most fully occupied in winter, the nature of
the occupation of the lodgers determining their choice of the country or the town. At the time of my
inspection in June some of the houses had about 20 per cent. of their beds unoccupied.
Children with parents are only occasionally received, and I was invariably told that children
without parents were never admitted. Several of the keepers of common lodging-houses also provide
furnished lodgings in neighbouring houses. Thus one keeper had one hundred and six such rooms
which let at weekly rentals of three, four, and five shillings; another had thirty furnished rooms let at
weekly rentals of six shillings, or one shilling per night. Very few of the houses were specially
constructed for the purpose for which they were used, but frequently adjoining houses were extensively
altered so as to make communication between them and to enlarge the rooms by removing the
partitions.