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17
Population Housed in Excess of Two Persons Per Room.
The following particulars are closely associated with the exceedingly difficult
problem of overcrowding.
While safely assuming it is improbable that any overcrowding exists where one
or two persons only occupy a room, it is strong presumptive evidence that the contrary
may obtain where it is shown that in a tenement more than two adults per room are
living. The Registrar-General remarks that in previous Census Reports such a
standard as the latter "has been spoken of, as indicating cases of overcrowding, though
in the absence of information as to the size of the rooms occupied, the justification of
the term may be open to question. It will, however, be convenient to adopt this
standard for comparative purposes."
In the year 1911 the population in the City of London was 19,657; it is now
known that 13,408 of these persons were members of 3,764 families. The following
Table "8" shows the size of 2,953 of such families who were found to occupy
tenements consisting of from one to four rooms.
The term "room" in these notes is used irrespective of its size, and includes a
kitchen, but not a scullery, landing, lobby, closet, bathroom, warehouse or shop ; and
the word "family" to describe a person living alone, or a family together with possibly
boarders, lodgers, visitors, servants, &c. The children enumerated are those under
10 years of age.
The method of reading the table is as follows:—If the Table 8 be examined we
observe by the sixth line (columns "q" and "r") that 489 families consisting of
843 persons occupied one room tenements, and from the third line we learn that of these
one room tenements, there were 14 instances (column "f") of families, each consisting
of four persons, and that of the four persons, two were children under 10 years of age
(column " b.")
In the Table a thick divisional line is shown from top to bottom, and it will be
observed that in every total on the right hand side of this line a standard of two to a
room is exceeded, even if we count two children as one adult.