Page:Dwellings of working-people in London.djvu/39



To the Right Honourable Richard Assheton Cross, M.P., Secretary of State for the Home Department.

,

the dwellings of the poorer classes in various parts of the metropolis are in such a condition, from age, defects of construction, and mis-use, as to be deeply injurious to the physical and moral welfare of the inhabitants, and to the well-being of the community at large.

That so long as unsuitable and unhealthy houses are allowed to stand near the great centres of employment, such houses, owing to their position and comparative cheapness, will always attract occupants, and all efforts to improve the condition of the London poor may thus be permanently frustrated.

That the power entrusted to local authorities to condemn houses as unfit for human habitation is insufficient to bring about the requisite