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94
The light in the back rooms of Nos. 3 to 19 was obstructed by a brick building,
the average height of which was 25 feet. This building combined with the smallness
of the yards at the rear of each house (which varied from 20 to 90 feet) prevented
the free access of air and sunlight.
The woodwork was generally worn out. The stairs were narrow, steep, and
dangerous. Some of the houses were overcrowded. The rooms were so small that
with three exceptions, each room could accommodate two persons only, without being
considered to be overcrowded (allowing 400 cubic feet to each adult for living and
sleeping purposes). Some of the rooms contained less than 400 cubic feet. Such a
state of affairs could only be remedied of course by entire reconstruction of the
premises.
The brickwork or flushing apparatus were defective in 12 of the water-closets.
The rents varied from 7s. to 9s. a week.
In 27 of the houses the rents were raised sixpence a week, a few weeks previous
to the date of my official representation. In three houses the rents had been raised
1s. a week two years previously.
During the year 1901 there were 22 deaths in this area, which was at the annual
rate of 16 per 1,000.
The death-rate for the whole of St. George's was 23 per 1,000, and for the whole
of Stepney the death-rate was 20.8 per 1,000.
For several years the death-rate of St. George's has been over-estimated, inasmuch
as the population was under-estimated by 3,090 as compared with the actual
census population.
Of these deaths, 12 were those of children under one year of age, so that 54.5
per cent. of all the deaths in this area were those of infants under a twelve-month
old. The number of deaths of infants under one year of age compared to the total
number of deaths in the whole of St. George's was only 25.9 per cent.
During the year 1902, there were 23 deaths in the area, or a death-rate of 16.8 per
1,000.
Seven of these deaths were those of children under one year of age, and another
nine were those of children between one and five years of age.
In the years 1901 and 1902, 31 out of the 45 deaths were those of children under
five years of age. Of these 45 deaths, 13 were due to inflammatory affections of the
lungs, 7 to Diarrhoea, 2 to Erysipelas, and 5 to Phthisis. The death-rate from inflammatory
affections of the lungs was 4.8 per 1,000, and 1.8 per 1,000 from Phthisis.