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an improvement upon our Common Lodging-house system,
administered under the supervision of the police, and which I
once heard Lord Shaftesbury commend as "the perfection of
sanitary administration as applied to the housing of the poor."
This system is not so perfect as his lordship supposed, and in view
of recent disclosures in connection with it, the County (Council
have deemed it desirable to make inquiry into the working of
municipal common lodging-houses in Glasgow and elsewhere,
and have referred the subject to the Housing of the Working
Classes Committee to report thereon.
EMIGRATION AS A REMEDY FOR OVERCROWDING.
Emigration would seem, at first sight, to be an obvious
means of reducing overcrowding, and it is satisfactory to know
that the Government have resolved to appoint a Committee
whose duty it will be to inquire into various schemes which have
been proposed of State-aided emigration from congested districts
of the United Kingdom (London included) to British Colonies
and elsewhere; to examine the results of schemes that have had
a practical trial, and to report generally on the means and conditions
under which such emigration may be best carried out,
and the countries to which it should be directed. That emigration
would be a boon to those who may be assisted to leave this
overcrowded metropolis goes without saying; but it must be
borne in mind that immigration might, and probably would,
neutralize the good effects anticipated from the exodus. The
estimated annual increase of the population of London in the
eight years, 1881-9, was 65,000. The annual excess of births
over deaths accounts for 52,000 only, the remaining number,
13,000, being due to immigration, which probably would increase
in extent when it became known that better prospects of work
were being opened up by a Government scheme of emigration.