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correct, tliat the "single room system leads to the single bed
system," which, he says, is the cause of immoralities of a
shocking description, the existence of which, in any general sense,
is denied by other competent witnesses. The Commissioners
remark that "there is much legislation designed to meet the evils of
overcrowding," which is spoken of as a "public scandal," but that
the existing laws are not put in force," (page 4). The reference here
is made to Section 19 of the Sanitary Act, 1866, which enlarges the
definition of a "Nuisance" so as to include "any house, or part
of a house so overcrowded as to be dangerous or prejudicial to the
health of the inmates." Under this Section proceedings for the
abatement of overcrowding are taken from time to time, by every
Sanitary Authority in the Metropolis. But the difficulties in the
way of any large application of the power are almost insuperable,
whether regard be had to the state of the law itself, which favours
delay, or to the causes which he at the root of the overcrowding,
and which it is beyond the power of the Sanitary Authority to
rectify. It must be admitted nevertheless that overcrowding,
regarded from whatever point, is a great evil. To go no further,
it tends to the physical deterioration of its victims, and unfits them
for the performance of their daily tasks. It is frequently the result
of "demolitions," so that the improvements undertaken at great
cost, nominally for the benefit of the working classes, have rather
served to aggravate than to remedy the evil, because the new
model buildings erected on the cleared sites do not provide for the
requirements of the poor whom the demolitions displace (page 20),
and who migrate to already overcrowded districts, but with the
consequence of keeping up, or raising, the already too high rents.
All who have to do with sanitary administration will be
be prepared to admit that the "single-room system" is "widely
extended," but it must be admitted also that this is not from choice,
but the natural result of poverty and of the excessive rent exacted
from the poor. High rents are the consequence of scarcity of
accommodation, leading to competition for rooms, owing, among
other things, to the necessity the poor are under of "living near
their work." The Commissioners refer to instances of over-