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hoods, and it is no difficult matter to foretel from the
appearance of the children in such localities, the certainty
of their falling victims to the first prevailing
epidemic disease.
We find by the new Census that our Parish has
diminished in numbers by 2,006 ; the Charing Cross
district, 1,516: the Long Acre district, 490; although
prepared for some diminution in our population, in
consequence of the removal of houses, the improving
of streets and courts, and the destroying of many
underground residences, yet few expccted so large a
falling off as 2,000.
The enumeration was unfortunately appointed to
take place in Easter Week, when a considerable number
of persons always leave London, this especially applies
in our case to the Charing Cross district, where the
enumerators found about 800 absent from this cause.
The increasing fashion of families living in the suburbs,
away from their place of business, will also account for
a considerable diminution in the population. However,
I believe we may attribute the loss of some of the
hundreds to the fact of much improvement in the
dwellings of the humbler classes.
Since the Census of 1851 a very large number of
kitchens have been relinquished as dwellings; many
densely inhabited houses in Rose Street, Exchange
Court, &c., have been demolished, and on the Bedford
Estate many houses have been deprived of the garret
floor.
The Registrar-General purposes at an early period
giving the Medical Officers of Health access to the
details of the Census, when we shall be able to ascertain
the exact population of every street and court, with
their increase and decrease. These statistics will be
interesting as well as useful in a sanitary point of view.
In consequence of the diminution of population, our
death-rate ought to appear larger than usual this year;
I make it 23 in 1,000 for the whole parish, 19.91 per