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60
116, Middlesex Street.
This is now the only common lodging-house in the City. It is known as
the "Salvation Army Working Men's Hotel and Shelter," and provides
sleeping accommodation for 453 persons.
All those seeking shelter therein pay 5d. and 2d. per night for a bed with
bath, &c., at the Hotel and Shelter respectively. In a Report to the Sanitary
Committee on the 27th February, 1906, the following passage occurs:—
"The establishment of a common lodging-house of such dimensions
"within the City will probably result, in the near future, in an increase
"in the number of persons chargeable upon the City of London Union,
"as destitute sick inmates will be removed to the Infirmary."
This prediction has been amply justified by events.
It does not come within my province to discuss the methods or aims of the
Salvation Army other than those that are connected with the prevention of
disease, but in dealing with this subject it may be well to point out that this
particular "Working Men's Hotel and Shelter" in the City is not free, but
is run on business lines and in competition with common lodging-houses in
the neighbourhood owned by private individuals.
Since this place was opened on the 7th February, 1906, up to 31st December
of that year no less than 303 persons frequenting it became chargeable upon
ratepayers in the City. Of these, 210 were sent to the City of London
Infirmary at Bow for medical treatment, the remaining 93 being admitted
as pauper inmates to the City Workhouses.
This is undoubtedly a serious question. The charges made at this Shelter
are lower than that made by the Salvation Army elsewhere, although the
accommodation is superior. As a consequence large numbers are attracted
to the City, and to the extent shown have become an unfair burden upon the
Citizens. Moreover, the presence of such a place in their midst must constitute
an ever-present danger to the public health, especially in times of epidemics.