View report page

8
one closet only for the use of all the children. There was a most offensive
smell in the schools, arising from the basement, which, upon examination,
was found to proceed from a cesspool in the yard, which received the filth
from the closets and drains of two adjoining houses. There was no proper
water supply upon the premises. I wrote to Mr. Molyneux, the secretary
of the schools, and the owner of the adjoining houses, upon the matters
complained of, and the result of my communication has been, that the houses
are now properly drained into the sewer; the cesspool upon the premises of
the Ragged Schools filled up, and three new closets and a urinal have been
built for the use of the children. A water-waste-preventer has been erected
in lieu of the dirty and defective cistern which formed a roof for the closet,
and the yard has been repaved with new York stone."
Baths and Laundries for the use of the Poor.
It is almost impossible to over estimate the advantages which the
poor of such a crowded district as that of Whitechapel would derive from
the establishment of baths and wash-houses in their midst; and although I
brought the question of the probable re-opening of the baths and washhouses
in Goulston Street before the Board in my report for the quarter
ending at Michaelmas last, I have, in consequence of the importance of the
subject, again thought it advisable to notice it; more especially as several
influential persons are at this time interesting themselves in obtaining funds
to put the building in Goulston Street into repair, so that the poor may again
be able to enjoy the same boon which they formerly possessed. As a
proof that the baths and wash-houses in Goulston Street were held in great
estimation by the poor, I may refer you to a report issued by the Committee
of the establishment in 1850, wherein it is stated, that whilst in 75 weeks
(from the 26th July, 1847, to the 31st December, 1848,) 81,694 persons
bathed, paying £914 19s. Id.; in 35 weeks, (from the 1st January, to the
1st September, 1849,) 82,219 enjoyed that cheap luxury for the collective
sum of £1058 Is. Id. From the 1st May, to the 1st September, 1849
3013 women washed, dried, and ironed their own family linen, at the expense
of Id. per hour; the average time occupied by each being 3 hours and 20,
minutes; thus enabling families to wear clean linen at a weekly expense of
from Id. to 3½d.
Although the poor are now better supplied with water than they were
twenty years ago, the discomfort of a washing day is still the same as it was
then, the same custom prevailing, viz: that of a family occupying only a
single room in which the processes of cooking, personal washing, washing,
drying and ironing clothes, are carried on. In this single room, while these
operations are going on, a member of the family is sometimes lying in bed
suffering from illness, who, being exposed to a damp and offensive atmosphere
which is generated in the room, does not recover so rapidly as he
otherwise would, if he were surrounded by a more healthy atmosphere. The