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into a common lodging house—a sort of poor man's club-chambers—where
the humbler class of our population are accommodated.
The necessity and mode of providing healthier Somes for the Working
Classes. 26. It would occupy too much space in this Report to enter upon
the great question of the mode that should be preferred for providing,
healthy dwellings for the labouring classes,—a question that is more
immediately pressing in St. Giles than in any other District of London.
I am not without hope, however, that at no distant time this question
will be brought nearer to a solution, and that our civilization will be
relieved of a stigma which has been too long allowed to deface it. "We are,
I am happy to say, gradually becoming cleaner and healthier in this District,
as our death registers attest; but an immense work remains to be done.
27. There are large sums ot money now waiting to be employed in
undertakings of this nature: the Peabody trustees alone hold more than
£600,000, about two-thirds of which remain idle, in consequence of the
impossibility of obtaining sites. I do not conceive, however, that private
enterprise can do the work in an adequate manner, without the direction and
stimulus of a Central Board, having Parliamentary power to raise money and
purchase property for the purpose.
The Occupation of " Underground Rooms." 28. St Giles has been
long notorious for its " underground rooms," which have caused us considerable
opprobrium. Very great exertions have been recently made to
prohibit the use, as sleeping rooms, of all such rooms as have been
occupied contrary to law. In November last, Mr. Hayward, the District
Surveyor, made an inspection of these rooms, as directed by the Metropolitan
Local Management Act, and he returned 170 underground rooms
as being illegally occupied. As soon as his Report could be obtained,
the necessary steps were taken to require the fulfilment of the law;
and I am pleased to be able to say that, at this moment, there is not, to my
knowledge, a single underground room illegally occupied in the District.
That evasions of our supervision, by unworthy persons, will occasionally
take place, I have no doubt; but they must be dealt with as they occur.
This useful work has been done without inflicting undue hardship on individuals,
and in not more than two or three instances have complaints been
made to me of a too rigorous interpretation of the statute. The truth is,
the public are undergoing a training in sanitary matters, and are becoming,
every year, more sensible of the necessity of our regulations being enforced.
The Population of St. Giles District.
29. The population of the District amounted in 1861 to 54,076, and in
1871 to 53,429. Of the latter number there were in Bloomsbury 17,843,
in St. Giles South 19,089, and in St. Giles North 16,497, being an increase
of 451 in Bloomsbury, and a decrease of 394 in St. Giles South, and of
704 in St. Giles North.
30. The decennial decrease per cent. was from 1841.51 at the rate of
0.1; from 1851-61 at the rate of 0.3 ; and from 1861-71 at the rate of 1.0.
The Excess of Births. 31. The excess of registered births over registered
deaths in the ten years was, in Bloomsbury 1,021, in St. Giles South 1,377,
and in St. Giles North 1,244—total 3,642. This statement however requires
qualification, in consequence of the births in the British Lying-in-Hospital
being counted in the number attributed to St. Giles South; but I am unable
to make the exact correction for the entire period. In recent years the excess
from this cause has amounted to 150 per annum: subtracting, therefore, 1500
from the aggregate, we obtain 2142 as the probable excess of births over
deaths during the ten years, or 214 per annum.