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ness, and for preventing overcrowding—for that there is some,
possibly a good deal of, overcrowding is but too probable. I
do not doubt, moreover, that the death-rate in the district is
considerably in excess of the average for the whole Parish.
The population is far from stationary: indeed, some of our
informants make a point of its extremely migratory character;*
and I know that many sick wayfarers are removed from the
Common Lodging Houses to the Infirmary, and that their
deaths form no inconsiderable addition to the total mortality
of the Parish. Comparisons have been made to the disadvantage
of your Vestry, between the condition of the Common
Lodging Houses in the district, and of the rooms occupied by
private families. But the two things are not comparable.
The common lodging house bedroom contains no article of
furniture other than beds and chamber utensils. Provision is
made for cooking, and other domestic purposes, in a more or
less common room, not overburdened with furniture. All of
these houses, so far as my experience goes, are kept in a
cleanly condition; for the simple reason that they are inspected
twice every week, by a sergeant of police, and would be disregistered
were they not so kept. The single room in which
the family of the poor man in private life vegetates, is used
for all purposes; is often crowded with furniture, including
more or less filthy bedding, clothing, etc., to say nothing of
its living inhabitants, human and other. The powers of the
Sanitary Inspector, moreover, are limited, and incapable of
touching some of the worst evils. Such as they are, however,
the opportunities for exercising them are too few. Instead of
a bi-weekly visitation of the rooms, which, of course, is unnecessary,
and would be resented, it is as much as he can do
to visit them twice in a year, if so often. And this is not
surprising, seeing how many and various are the duties of his
* The Superintendent of Visitors for the Chelsea Division of the School
Board for London informs me, that "there is ample school accommodation provided
in the District, but that the attendance is not so good as in the better class
districts," a fact which he attributes " to the migratory character of the people."