View report page

16
Fate sent me down the steps of the District
Railway at Westminster and kept me in the sewer that
runs on four wheels all the way to Barking.
By the time I got to Barking I was tired, sweaty,
had a terrible headache, felt sick, and although it was
now about six o'clock and the time had come to
think seriously of some food before an evening of
Committee work, the very idea of food was nauseating.
I do admit I am not a good traveller, but what
happens to me is a measure of the harm which must
be done to everybody, even those who are not conscious
of it.
Of this trouble I have written repeatedly before
the war and I write once again in the hope that the
task of putting right this glaring nuisance shall be
regarded as one of the first things demanding postwar
attention.
(e) Population.
The population of Barking is a secret number which
may not be published because it might help the enemy
to assess movements of the population, but the
number is known confidentially by Councillors individually.
It is a matter of considerable interest in planning
post-war re-development that we should have in
mind the factors which are likely to vary the population
of Barking. It is wise to know that on the front of
everybody's rent book there is a number which
represents the permitted number of people for that
house without it being deemed to be overcrowded.
In assessing this number we have regard to all the
rooms in the house which are over fifty square feet,
\