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Dwellings of the Poor.
The difficult subject of housing the London poor has
recently received considerable attention, both from the
general public and the press.
A Royal Commission is sitting, examining witnesses, and
a Mansion House Sanitary Aid Committee is formed to
make inquiries into the whole subject.
Surprise has been generally expressed that so many of
the poor tenement dwellings, are at the present time in
such wretched insanitary condition. Having always lived
in London, and had over 30 years' medical experience in
visiting these places in poor districts, I do not share that
feeling :—Two factors may cause it:—
1.— The recent wholesale demolition of small properties
in the metropolis.
For some years past numerous metropolitan improvements
have been going on, notably—Southwark Street,
Victoria Street, Westminster, the New Law Courts, the
Somers' Town, the Farringdon Road, the Gray's Inn Road,
the areas taken under the Artizans' and Labourers'
Dwellings Acts, the railway clearances, and others too
numerous to mention.
In most instances, the clearances have been effected
largely at the expense of the dwellings of the poor. This
demolition of thousands of closely-packed and thickly-inhabited
houses, has undoubtedly been beneficial to the
community, but the error has been committed in not
having provided accommodation for the same class of
people displaced. These poor folks, having been evicted
from their homes, have had to find fresh lodgings under