Page:Dwellings of working-people in London.djvu/10

 their backs, this space is almost dark, and at its base is filled with everything that is filthy and abominable; consequently the air that enters these dwellings from the rear is anything but pure, and is constantly liable to be laden with the most offensive odours, and with the germs of disorder and disease. There are some houses the fronts of which look closely upon the backs of the opposite houses, and hon. members can easily imagine what must be the consequence of that arrangement, because, of course, the sanitary offices (if the term 'sanitary' can be properly applied to them) of all the opposite houses are immediately under their windows. The construction of these houses is antiquated and utterly bad.

Possibly some hon. members would be surprised to learn that among the mischiefs of which complaint has to be made are the following:—I saw a row in Bedfordbury that is entirely built of wood; and many of the houses in the neighbourhood of Drury Lane are built of mere lath and plaster. Not only must such dwellings be dirty and unfit for human habitation, but in the event of a fire breaking out during a strong wind, it is quite impossible to say where the consequences might end.

Many of the houses I have described, and probably all of them, were built before any Building Act existed for London. We have now a Building Act for the Metropolis, the defects in which I am glad to see we are to attempt to remedy by the Bill which the hon. and gallant member who represents the Metropolitan Board of Works (Colonel Hogg) has brought in. When the houses to which I refer were built, no sanitary arrangements of any kind were enforced. The dwellings were often erected in backyards and in gardens; and, consequently, the means of approach to them were most inconvenient and most inadequate.

A much more vivid description than any I can give of these houses was given by Mr. Simon, the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, in 1865. The account is in such language that I must apologise to the House for reading it; but I think it better to call a spade a spade, and if things are in a bad condition to let the House know the whole truth. Under these circumstances I trust the House will allow me to refer to one or two passages in that gentleman's report, which give a description of some of the houses in London. Mr. Simon says: 'By places "unfit for human habitation" I mean places in which, by common consent, even moderately healthy life is impossible to human dwellers,—places which, therefore, in themselves