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7
case for the application of the Artisans Ac. Dwellings Act, and on
the 25th July at a meeting of the Board a resolution was passed in
accordance with this opinion. On 7th August a letter was addressed
to your Clerk, by the Secretary of State for the Home Department,
requesting him to move your Board to obtain from me a report on
the action of the Metroplitan Board, and on the 22nd October I made
6uch Report of which the following is a copy.
To the BOARD OF WORKS FOR THE
LIMEHOUSE DISTRICT.
“Gentlemen,
"In compliance with the Resolution passed by the Board on 24th ult.
I beg to submit my Report on the course taken by the Metropolitan Board of
Works, with reference to an Official Representation under the provisions of the
Artisans and labourers Dwellings Improvement Act, 1875, made by me on 3rd
October 1883, regarding an unhealthy area in Shadwell.
"The area in question is bounded on the North by houses in Cable Street,
on the South by houses in High Street, on the East by Albert Street, and on the
West by Victoria Street; and is occupied by labourers, their wives and families,
street hawkers, sailors, and prostitutes. It includes some of the worst Courts and
places in the District. The approaches to it from Albert Street, High Street,
and Cable Street are beneath the first floors of the houses flanking the entrances.
Many of the houses have no spaces in the rear, and some of them are built back
to back; the w. c. accommodation is in many instances unsatisfactory, but it is the
best that can be had under existing circumstances. The ground floors of a large
number of the houses are below the level of the pathway; and a considerable
number of the houses were built from 150 to 200 years ago and are now,
structurally, in a bad condition. The Courts and places are narrow and the whole
area is considerably below the level of the adjacent Streets, thus conducing to a
condition of dampness with its attendant evils.
"The Death rate of the area for the three years, 1880, 1881 and 1882,
averaged 44 per 1,000 per annum, while the death rate of the District for the
same period was but 25 per 1,000.
"Prominent among the causes of death I find diseases of a tubercular
character, and you will gain some idea of the mortality from these diseases, when I
tell you that in the three years mentioned above, the Death rate in the area from
these causes was at the rate of 9 per 1,000 population per annum, while in the
District it was at the rate of 2.6 per 1,000, and further, that in the same three
years, the proportion of deaths to 1,000 deaths from these causes in the District was
at the rate of 107 per annum, while in the area it was at the rate of 218, that is
to say, that of every 1,000 deaths in the District 107 were due to tubercular diseases,
while in the area 218 were due to such causes.
"Knowing the locality well and its defects and requirements, and being in
possession of these facts, I made my Representation, being fully persuaded that
nothing but a re-construction of the area would, or could, deal effectually with
such a condition of things.
"The following is a copy of the Representation:—