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respcct to the Registered Common Lodging-houses, and have been in operation
since 1851. The benefit that the public has derived from the Common
Lodging-houses' Act of 1851, has been so great, that the legislature has at
length given similar authority to the Local Boards of the Metropolis to
make such regulations for the better conducting of houses and rooms let to
the poor, which they may think fit; and after such Rules and Regulations
shall have been made by the Board, and shall have been approved by the
Secretary of State, they have the same force as any clause in the Act. In
framing the above Regulations, I have endeavoured to keep in view what
is practicable, and I have not proposed for adoption such stringent measures
as the present state of sanitary science might indicate as being necessary for
the public health. Whatever laws are enforced with regard to Lodginghouses,
some inconvenience must necessarily result to the poor, but the
public health and public morality demand that the tenements of the poor,
as regards their sanitary condition, should be placed under the control of
proper officers. The space which each inhabitant of a room should have
allotted to him, should be at least 300 cubic feet, and in order to sufficiently
provide for the health of the occupants, it is absolutely necessary when so
small a space is permitted to each tenant, that the room should be properly
ventilated.
The condition of many of the houses let out in tenements to the poor
is so bad, owing to their original faulty construction, that they cannot be
improved; and all that can be done with them, is to pull them down and
retain the several sites as open spaces. There are very few of the houses
in this district occupied by the poor, in which there is a sink, (except
perhaps in the basement of some of them), which is available for carrying
away the waste water. Some of the houses are three storeys in height
without any open space at the back, and consequently they are without
proper ventilation; and the unhealthiness is increased by the privy and
water butt being placed in the cellar. Every pail of water which is required
for the use of the occupants of the top room must be carried up four flights
of stairs, and the waste .water carried down again, when it is thrown, either
into the public way, or down the drain in the cellar, thereby entailing such
an immense amount of labour, that it is not to be wondered at if the rooms
are dirty. There are also many Courts occupied by the poor which are so
narrow and confined that the sun's rays never penetrate, and are, moreover,
so badly ventilated that the air is almost stagnant, so that it is impossible
for persons living in them to enjoy health. Some of the property as above
described belongs to the Trustees of the Whitechapel Parish Estates, and
is, I believe, let on lease. The sooner, however, that such property as Bell
Court and Bell Place, Princes Street, is pulled down, the better it will be
for the health of the district, for it is totally unfit for human habitation.