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ought to have kept you informed of it themselves?— They go
round periodically; they are expected to pay a visit to the place
about once a fortnight or once a month.
17,582. In the course of last autumn I had occasion, after
great public attention had been called to this matter, to pay
several visits to all the parishes in the metropolis, and I certainly,
after looking all round the metropolis, and having been in all
the parishes of the East End, came to the conclusion, having
known nothing previously about Clerkenwell or about St. Luke's,
that the central parts of London, including parts of St. Luke's,
nearly the whole of Clerkenwell, the southern part of St Pancras,
and the eastern part of Holborn, were by very far the worst
parts of London, both as regards the structural condition of the
houses, and also as regards overcrowding. Would not such an
opinion be rather an argument in favour of you, above all other
parishes, needing the best regulations that you could get ? I
believe I may say that our Vestry are generally of opinion that
Clerkenwell is not so bad as it is represented or made out to be,
and especially if the death rate is to be taken as any criterion,
and most people hold that to be at least some criterion.
17,583. The death rate which has been put forward as the
death rate of Clerkenwell has been examined in an article in the
"Lancet," which I daresay you noticed, and which pointed out
that it was not a corrected death rate?— It was a corrected
death rate. Our intra-parochial death rate, within the parish, is
16.9; and making allowance for everything else, our doctor says
that he cannot bring it up to above 21 at the very outside, and
he says that it is too high.
17,584. Then your opinion is that that article in the "Lancet"
was founded on a misconception?— I think so. I think the fact
that our internal death rate was only 16.9 was altogether overlooked.
I am speaking from memory.
17.585. At question 1 431, the witness was asked this: "Then
"we come to Wynyatt cottages; will you just describe the state
" of things there ?" and her answer was: "The court is entered
"by an archway, and you go down 12 or 15 steps from the street
'' level." Then the next question is: " The lower rooms are like
"cellars then? "and her answer was: "Yes, the rooms are very
"dark and unhealthy; almost every room is inhabited by a
"family." Then question 1433 was: "Four or five people
"inhabiting each room?" and the answer was : "There would
"not be four or five in every room, but there are families of four
"or five in some of the rooms." Those rooms were dark and
almost underground rooms, which, I think, your medical officer