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good work of sanitary reform, but before this district can be brought up to the healthy* standard,
all the densely crowded and badly ventilated localities must be demolished, the present system
of over-crowding prevented, more convenient and better ventilated houses constructed, the
people provided with a more ample supply of pure water and rendered easily accessible to
them ; for without these requirements all other sanitary improvements will be comparatively
of little avail. I feel persuaded, that it will be found far more economical to invest money in
the purchase and demolition of many of the existing habitations of the poor, and substituting
for them a better and more commodious class of houses, whereby, their health may be preserved,
and their independence and self-reliance promoted, than in expending double the
amount in pharity, which at the best, is merely a palliative, whether it be expended in the distribution
of alms, or in the support of asylums for the relief of sickness and poverty. That
disease may, to a great extent, be prevented by properly constructed houses, is illustrated in
the report of the Metropolitan Chambers which has been furnished to me by Mr. Coward.
These chambers have now been open for a period of ten years, and no death from fevert has
been recorded therein during that time, although 4178 persons have resided there.
The rent required for a room in the model lodging houses is more than many of the labourers
in this district can afford, and it is to provide homes for the "very poor" that the earnest attention
of the philanthropist should be directed. The pictures of squalor which many of the rooms,
now occupied by the very poor, present, is a great hinderance to their social advancement. In
no sense of the word can their wretched hovels be looked upou as "homes," or places whera
the homely affections can be cultivated.
The consideration of the question of the working classes being provided with healthy habitations
leads me again to bring under your notice the buildings lately erected in the vacant space,
entered between 80 and 81 High-street, Whitechapel, to which, your attention was especially
directed in my last report. Communications on this subject have since been addressed, by your
directions, to the Metropolitan Board. An investigation has been the result of those communications,
and a report has been made by Mr. Markablb, the superintending architect, to the effect,
that the provisions of the Building Act relating to open spaces had not, in this instance, been
complied with. Upon that report, the surveyor appointed for the supervision of the works,
received instructions to institute certain proceedings, and the surveyor to the buildings has subsequently
reported, that, by the demolition of part of the houses, the requirements of the act
referred to, as regards open spaces, had now been complied with. From the tenor of the
communications received from the Metropolitan Board, it may be concluded that they are of
opinion, that it is desirable, in a sanitary point of view, to discourage the erection of dwellings
for the poor like those in question. A suggestion has been made by your Board to the Metropolitan
Board, that they may procure a remedy against the recurrence of the evil complained
of, by the introduction, into the proposed new bill, of such clauses as will render their powers
of control sufficient for the proper management of all similar cases. To this suggestion, the
Metropolitan Board have replied, that the matter has been referred for consideration, in connexion
with the amendment of the act.
In my report for the preceding quarter, I also directed your attention to the newlyerected
houses in Inkhorn Court. These houses, owing to representations made by your
Board, have likewise been specially reported upon by the superintending architect of the
Metropolitan Board ; but it appears from his report, that as they are constructed in conformity
to the act, the Board have no power to interfere ; but he suggests that there are powers to purchase.
It may be true, that certain powers to purchase do exist, but when one law permits builders
to erect houses in unsuitable places, and another law gives power to local boards to purchase them
after they have been built, such laws must certainly require amendment. The acts of parlia-.
* 18 per 1000.
t Not only has no death from fever been registered as having occurred in this lodging house, but, not a
single case of disease has been recorded in the book kept by the superintendent containing an account of all the
cases of sickness which have occurred since the opening of the building.