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33
rendering light and air difficult of access. These
forty-seven houses are, with very few exceptions,
so old and dilapidated, that it is quite impossible to
remodel so as to make them fit and proper habitations
for the poor to live in. The internal arrangements
are such that they are not at all adapted to be let out
in tenements.
The staircases are dark, thus giving encouragement
to dirt; the stairs frequently worn and broken,
rendering it dangerous to go up and down; closets
situated in dark and confined places, and in consequence
difficult of ventilation. Frequently the same
cistern which supplies the closet is used for drinking
purposes also, a practice most reprehensible. Few
houses have more than one closet, and this often in a
filthy state. The basements of some are very bad;
they are receptacles for rubbish and filth, and emit
offensive effluvia, caused by the old and worn-out
drains.
I would call your attention to No. 37, and 41,
Bedfordbury.
37.—This house is occupied by thirty-three people
giving in six rooms. On the first floor the two rooms
are occupied by two families numbering respectively
seven and two, on the second floor the two rooms are
tenanted by two families respectively, five and seven,
and the third floor by two families of six and six,
This house is old and dilapidated throughout, and
quite unfit for the large number inhabiting it.
D