View report page

9
The Immigration into and Emigration from St. Giles District. 32. What
becomes of this excess of births ? They are not added to our population,
which is actually diminishing. If we consider also that there is an annual
immigration into the District, especially of Irish families, it is apparent
that a larger loss than 214 persons must bo accounted for. These 214
persons represent the emigration into other districts, either metropolitan
or provincial. Many die in hospitals, but these are entered in our Tables,
and do not influence the result. The roving population who inhabit our
common lodging houses, however the individuals may change, maintains its
numbers. There can be no doubt that a considerable portion of the excess
consists of Irish families, who wander through the country in search of
employment, especially the hop-pickers and hay-makers, and who find other
homes better suited for a settlement. (§ 20.)
The Rates of Population to Area. 33. The number of population to area,
according to the last census, was in the whole district 218 to an acre—or,
in Bloomsbury 159, in St. Giles South 303, and in St. Giles North 275.
Excluding the open spaces, the actual density of the population to the
inhabited area was, for the whole District, 263 persons per acre, for Bloomsbury
203, for St. Giles South 360, and for St. Giles North 295.
The Rates of Populaiim to Houses. 34. The number of population to
houses was, in the whole District, 11.76—or, inBloomsbury 8.87, in St. Giles
South 15.78, and in St. Giles North 12.47. (See Beport 1871, Table No. 1 )
In an excellent Beport presented to you by my predecessor, Dr.
Buchanan, for the year 1858, he, basing his calculations upon the census for
1851, stated that, at that time, there were in Bloomsbury 8.4 persons to each
house, in St. Giles South 14.3, and in St. Giles North 13.4; so that we
conclude that while the density of population in Bloomsbury has not, in the
course of fifteen years, increased more than a few decimals, the population
in St. Giles North has decreased in the ratio of one person to each house,
and the population in St. Giles South has increased in the ratio of 1.4 to
each house.
35. The increase of population in St. Giles South has coincided with a
decrease of the number of houses; and this increase may be explained partly
by the assumption that a large number of the Irish poor, who have been
turned out of their houses in the City, Holborn, and the Strand, to make
way for extensive public improvements, have located themselves in this
District. The presence of the new-comers has forced a considerable number
of old residents into other Districts; the process always leaving a residuum
behind in St. Giles.
Density of the Population. 36. This excessive density of our population
is a great evil. By thus analysing its causes and conditions, we are bringing
it to a near issue. If we could still further show the cubic space of the
rooms of the several houses, we could focus the evil in its intensity. I find,
after extensive inquiries in the streets and courts of St. Giles South, that the
rooms run from 800 to 1000 cubic feet in size. Such rooms are too small for
families. I have been surprised, however, to find but a small number of children
in many courts; and, as a matter of fact, our adult population enjoy
severally about 400 cubic feet of space in their dwelling rooms. Whenever a
family is found to be occupying less space (allowing always two children to
count as one adult) steps are taken for its removal. Four hundred cubic feet
of space is not enough for health, and we find in the fact of this limited
accommodation, a cause—not exclusive, but contributory—of the heavy
mortality of this sub-district.
37. The Registrar General states, in his last annual summary, (p. 5)
''It is a well-established law that, other things being equal, the insalubrity
of a place increases with the density of the population ; and that the fevers
generated in crowded dwellings have a tendency to spread among the whole
of the population."