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35
houses), and 8812 families lived therein, against 8974 families
in 1872. There were also 45652 persons against 46177 in 1872,
so that the houses were not quite so crowded this year. The
average number of persons to a house in London, when the
Census was taken, was 7.8, which was precisely the same as in
1861, whilst in Hackney it is now 74 per house in the poorer
neighbourhoods, and 6.6 for the whole district, showing that
the number of persons in each of our poorer houses, as well as
in those of the district generally, is less than for all classes of
houses in London.
The number of houses in which nuisances were discovered,
was no less than 2517, showing that about 42 per cent. of the
houses inspected were either dirty and dilapidated, so as to
require white-washing, cleansing, and repairing, or that the
paving in the yards was defective, or the drainage bad; whilst
in some cases, the houses were rendered unfit for habitation,
by what I may call an aggregation of nuisances. The number
of houses which were thus more or less defective in their
sanitary arrangements was greater this year than last by nearly
100, showing the necessity for at least an annual imspection of
all the small houses in the district. An examination of the
last page in this report shows, that out of 6899 houses examined,
only 560 were inspected through complaints received; so that
out of the 3290 houses which required some works to be done,
or disinfection to be performed, so as to render them safely
habitable, only the 560 just mentioned, or about one-sixth, were
examined from complaints. I again mention these facts somewhat
more in detail as proving the necessity for regular sanitary
supervision. There were also 151 greengrocers' and 58 fishmongers'
and Poulterers' yards inspected—some of them on
second occasions; also 120 bakehouses, many of whioh required
to be lime-whitened and cleansed, and a few to be repaired.