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The secondary object was to give the local authority a substantially
accurate position of the amount of working-class accommodation
in their area, and the number and size of the workinclass
family occupying that accommodation. The value of the survey
for these purposes is not substantially affected by the fact that
the statistics obtained have, for various reasons, no claim to be regarded
as exact and uniform in the sense of the census returns. The
fact must however be borne in mind, if the statistics are used to make
comparisons between areas.
The range of houses covered by the survey varied according
to the criterion adopted by the authority to ensure that all workingclass
houses were inspected. For example, where every house in
an area was included, the resulting percentage of overcrowding
relates to the whole population, whilst in those districts in which
the houses surveyed were selected, the resulting percentage of
overcrowding relates not to the whole population but to the particular
areas which were selected for the survey. These figures
probably are a fair index of overcrowding in the working-class
dwellings in these localities, but they should not be taken as a
criterion of overcrowding in the whole district, nor for comparative
purposes. A few instances from the report will show the difference
in the practices in areas around London.
District. Population. Dwellings surveyed. Percentage Overcrowded
(a) Ilford 151,390 43,541 0.7
(b) Harrow 144,280 12,943 1.2
(a) Walthamstow 134,490 36,735 1.6
(b) Hendon 134,160 13,292 4.1
(a) East Ham 135,400 38,422 2.2
(b) Ealing 137,550 15,234 2.1
(a) Edmonton 96,320 26,241 1.5
(b) Wembley 99,120 8,659 2.2
In districts (a) probably most of the dwellings were included
in the survey, whilst in districts (b) less than one-half, possibly
not one-third, of the dwellings were so included. Of the house
not included, a very small percentage, if any, would have been found
to be overcrowded ; so that, if all the houses in districts (b) had been
included in the survey, the percentage of overcrowding would have
been considerably reduced. As one of the objects of the survey
was to ascertain the amount of overcrowding in working-class
dwellings, no useful purpose would be served by the inclusion of
all the dwellings in those districts in which a very large number
of the houses are occupied by people who are not usually included
in the term " working classes."