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98
Out of eleven houses in occupation in Great Pearl Street, ten were let in
tenements, consisting of 55 families. Of the 59 occupied rooms in these tenement
houses, 24 were badly overcrowded. In one three-roomed house every room was overcrowded,
and in another house containing nine rooms, each let separately, eight out
of the nine rooms were found to be overcrowded.
In several instances there was no wash-house accommodation whatever, and no
provision of any kind had been made for the accommodation of the tenants. The
majority of these tenements were let as furnished rooms at rentals varying from
6s. to 7s. per week.
Wilk Court is a cul-de-sac approached by a narrow covered archway under part
of No. 27, Great Pearl Street. There are three old cottages built back to back,
the court dividing and forming a narrow passage in front of each of the houses.
The walls were very damp, the woowdork generally was in an advanced stage of
decay. Two w.c.'s were situated in this court for the common use of the occupants
of five houses. The wall of one of the w.c.'s had fallen down. There was no flushing
apparatus, and the pan was choked with filth. There were no receptacles for house
refuse, and garbage of all kinds was deposited at the end of the court, rendering the
atmosphere highly offensive.
The three cottages contained eight rooms, being occupied by six families. Four
of the rooms were overcrowded.
(Half Wilk Court contained one cottage only, which was structurally dilapidated.
It had no through ventilation, and was quite unfit for human habitation.
There was a workshop immediately in the rear of the house ; the external walls of
this structure being considerably bulged and in a dangerous condition. The cottage
formed an obstructive building, hindering the access of light and air to the lower
rooms of two of the houses in Great Pearl Street.
Wheeler Street formed the boundary of the area on the west side, and included
five houses, Nos, 25 to 29. One house, No. 27, was used as a timber store,
and was in a ruinous condition. There was a large yard in the rear of No. 25, containing
a series of sheds in which six men were employed in washing and storing
bottles. The four occupied houses were all in a defective and insanitary condition.
The floors generally were decayed and out of level, the sashes and frames were
very defective, and there was no ventilation beneath the ground floors. The brickwork
cracked or bulged, and the interior of the house was in a filthy condition.
Overcrowding was also found in two of these houses.
Union Place is a cul-de-sac, and is entered by a dark crooked passage at the
side of 28, Wheeler Street. It contained three small two-roomed cottages, which
faced the houses in Harrison's Court, from which they were divided by a high
wooden fence. The houses were very old, and the front walls were considerably out
of the perpendicular. The walls were damp and there was no ventilation beneath