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an annual increase of 362. During the 10 years from 1841 to 1851, the increase was
about 800 annually. This increase of the population can only be accounted for by
the fact of the labouring class (about 14,000 of whom have been displaced by the
carrying out the above-mentioned improvements') crowding themselves into those
houses which were formerly occupied by respectable tradesmen and mechanics, and
which are now let out into tenements. The poor must live in the vicinity of the place
of their occupation. If they live at a distance from it, the loss of time in going to
and from their work, must either materially diminish their daily earnings, or occasion
in them an unnecessary amount of fatigue. The serious consequences to the
labouring population, in removing them from their homes, have been still further
increased by the recent enlargement of the London Docks, which has occasioned tha
destruction of 450 houses, and the removal of 3,500 people from the parish of Shadwell.
This reckless prilling down of houses, occupied by the poor, ought to be controlled ;
at all events, when so many houses tenanted by the labouring class are required
for public improvements, security should be given to provide suitable house accommodation
for those families who have been compelled to remove. It is estimated
that upwards of 6,000 labourers, (permanent and casual) are employed daily in the
London and St. Katharine's Docks, and wharves adjacent. This large number of
useful men and their families are very badly provided with house room, to the
detriment of their health, and the consequent tendency to pauperism. They, and
others of the same class, occupy all the out of the way places in the district, into
which few persons besides the police and parochial officers enter. They are consequently
deprived of the advantages that would be obtained from seeing and associating
with others in a superior position of life.
Why should not a class of houses, arranged in flats (so as to be at the same
time both ornamental and useful) somewhat after the style of the model lodging
houses be built in Commercial-street ? This site was almost entirely occupied by
working men and their families, amounting to about 4,500 individuals, who were
obliged to seek shelter elsewhere, at great inconvenience to themselves, and who by
overcrowding other neighbourhoods render them unhealthy.
Queen Ann-street and John-street, Buek's-row, are specimens of the overcrowded
places in your district. These two streets contain 89 houses of three rooms
each. The rooms are about 9 feet square, and 8 feet in height. The area of these
streets is about 60.00 square yards, and the population amounts to 761; a space
therefore somewhat less than 8 square yards is what is allowed to each inhabitant.
All the houses in these street are without dust bins, and the refuse is thrown on the
foot and carriage ways. The houses are in a bad state of repair, and each has a
cesspool attached to it, with the exception of 21, John-street, which, by order of the
police magistrate, was filled up, and a drain made to communicate with the sewer. The
small back yards are damp, dirty, and badly paved. On making a house-to-house
visitation in these streets, the Inspector found 18 persons living in one house, and 16
in another. The best, and perhaps the only way of improving this locality, is to
pull down all the houses in one of these streets, and convert the two streets into one.
The unhealthiness of these streets was brought under my notice hy Dr. Payne, the
Medical Officer of the Union.
Crown-court, Road-side, has also been represented by Dr. Payne, as a most
uuhealthy spot. It consists of 14 small houses of two rooms each, so completely
Surrounded by the high back walls of the houses in the vicinity, as to exclude the
tun's rays and prevent a free circulation of air. As a considerable expense has