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61
and ventilate without creating any excessive draughts, it is necessary
to allow a space of at least 700 cubic feet per adult. In practice, such
a standard could never be generally applied; therefore a standard of
400 cubic feet, applied to rooms used for both living and sleeping,
and 300 cubic feet to rooms used for sleeping alone has been adopted
by the Local Government Board for "Houses let in Lodgings," not
because from a health point ef view this standard is regarded aa
sufficient, but because in view of wages, rent, etc., in London it is all
that can now be enforced. And, as this is the class of dwellings
usually occupied by the working classes, I have taken this standard
as a basis for my remarks on overcrowding in the Borough of Hackney.
From numerous inspections and measurements of the cubic space
of houses registered in Hackney, during the years 1898-1900, under
the Bye-laws for Houses let in Lodgings, I have found that even if
no deduction of the air space is made for furniture or the bodies of
the occupants, an average of two adults per room used for sleeping
and living, is the utmost which can be allowed, without overcrowding
coming in, with all its evil consequences. Of 449 houses let in
lodgings and registered in the Borough, I find that 428 allowed two
persons per room without overcrowding, but that three persons per
room overcrowded them; and in 21 houses only could three persons
per room be housed without overcrowding on the low standard taken.
In the 449 houses above mentioned there were 1003 tenements, and
of these 83 were overcrowded, which is equal to 8.2 per cent. of the
total. After a careful consideration of the circumstances, I am of
opinion that any excess of two persons per room in tenement houses
means overcrowding, the evil effects of which become more pronounced
as the inmates per room increase beyond this number. How far the
standard I have taken is exceeded in Hackney at the present time it
is impossible to say without taking a census of the Borough, but an
approximation may be arrived at by an examination of the census of
1891 and 1896.
It will be seen from the following table copied from the Registrar
General's Census Report of 1891, that out of a total of 4,715 oneroomed
tenements there were 1,210 with three and more occupants