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37
Three of the Wards have an infantile mortality of over 100
per 1,000 births, and only one is below that number; but it should be
explained that the high mortality of the North-West Ward is due to
the large number of deaths which occurred in that portion situate to
the south of the High Street and to the East of Gunnersbury Lane.
Out of the 34 deaths of infants which occurred in the North-West
Ward, this area was responsible for 16.
The conditions which prevail in the above-mentioned portion of
the North-West Ward approximate closely to those of the SouthWest
Ward, and one of these is included in the term overcrowding.
Overcrowding may embrace such a variety of circumstances that its
use is open to misconstruction. The term is here used not in its
legal sense, but to denote the aggregation of people under such
conditions as to injuriously affect the weakest members of the community.
We should clearly distinguish between overcrowding of site
and overcrowding of the dwellings. It is sometimes assumed that
overcrowding must ensue as a result of the movement of the rural
classes to towns, but this emigration in itself, does not always tend
to an exalted infantile mortality. If a comparison be made of the
South-East and South-West Wards, the distinction between overcrowding
of site and overcrowding of rooms will appear clear. The
area of the former Ward is 199 acres, and of the latter 240 acres.
The estimated population is 11,000 and 17,000 respectively. The
South-East Ward contained 55 persons to the acre, and the SouthWest
Ward 74. This difference in the density of the population to
the acre is not sufficient to account for an infantile mortality of no
per 1.000 in the one, and of 147 per 1,000 in the other.
Of more importance is the overcrowding of rooms, which prevents
them being efficiently ventilated. It is assumed that a house
is overcrowded if the average number of persons per room exceeds
two. It is estimated that in average sized rooms the cubic feet of
aii space is sufficient for two people, as a change equal to three times
per hour is generally all that can be borne under the conditions for
warming in this country, or that is practically attainable with natural
ventilation. In all tenements with less than four rooms, it usually
follows that during the night, the actual number in each room probably
reaches, if not exceeds, four. This overcrowding of rooms,