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9
Had the public authorities devoted the same amount of attention to the
alleviation of the sufferers from fever, in the year 1862, when the deaths
from fever in this District were 250, and the cases recorded in the hooks of
the Medical Officers of the Union 822, we might have been spared, to some
extent, the witnessing of the present outbreak, which, although not very
fatal, yet is very extensive; the cases in this quarter being 132, and the
deaths 11; and for the year comprising 53 weeks, the cases are 385, and the
deaths 95. In the year 1862, the common lodging houses in Spitalfields
furnished a large proportion of the cases of fever. In one quarter, the
Medical Officer of the Spitalfields District informed me that 40 eases of fever
occurred in the common lodging-houses in Flower and Dean Street and the
adjacent neighbourhood.
The numerous cases of fever which have recently occurred in this District,
fully justify the authorities for all the precautions they have taken to
mitigate the sufferings of the patients; and although we must regret their
shortcomings in 1862, we may be thankful for their exertions in 1869; and
if the prevalence of fever in the common lodging houses should lead to
amendment of the law relating to the regulation of these places, the visitation
of the present epidemic will not have been in vain.
Prom the 29th November, to the 1st January, 1870, the police have
reported to me 23 cases of fever in the common lodging-houses. All the rooms
in which these cases occurred have been visited by the Sanitary Officers, and
they have satisfied themselves that the several rooms from which fever
patients were removed, had, after being closed for certain periods, been
thoroughly disinfected.
In consequence of the numerous cases of fever occurring in the registered
common lodging-houses in this District, I am desirous of submitting for your
information the following report upon these places:—
Registered Common Lodging-Houses.
I am indebted to the courtesy of the Chief Commissioner of Police for
providing me with a list of the common lodging-houses in the District, from
which return it appears that there are 188 registered common lodging-houses
in the Whitechapel District, which are under the superintendence of the
police. These houses are registered to contain 5,337 beds, and there are 12
additional houses progressing towards completion for registration. These
beds are chiefly used by single men. Some of the beds are, however, occupied
by married couples, and the rooms assigned to them are divided by
wooden partitions, so that each married couple may be said to occupy a
separate room. In some of the lodging-houses there are rooms set apart for
single women. If all the beds in each lodging-house were to be occupied
every night, which, I am informed, is seldom or never the case, the
population contained in the common lodging-houses in this District
would be about 5,400, and when the 12 additional houses are registered, the
number of beds in these houses will be about 5,800.