The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-10 00:00:00

DISTRESS AT THE EAST-1 ND.

WRITECiLVEL FEVER NESTS.-4M-OPEIULTIVE

ASSOCILTIONB.

The recent inclemency of the weather has natu-
rally added largely to the suffixinge of the destitute
poor in East London, and led to a further increase
111 the rapidly augmenting percentage of pauperism
with which the various parishes are so heavily bur-
thened. In Shoreditch workhouse, a newly erected
building, constructed on a most extensive scale,
there are over one thousand inmates, being two
hundred in excess of the number for which proper
accommodation was originally provided, and yet
large numbers of people are daily clamouring for
admittance. Knowing the house to be full to re-
pletion and that they cannot possibly be ad-
mitted under any circumstances, they make use of
the fact for the purpose of extorting out-door
relief from the parochial officials. Additional
socontmodation will, however, be speedily provided,
a waste piece of ground, situated opposite the
Britannia Theatre, having been secured for that
purpose. Had the cabmen's strike been persisted
in, there would soon have been an accession of
several thousands to the immense number at pre-
sent recei vii.g outdoor relief in Shoreditch,Bethnal-
green, and other east-end parishes ; the precarious
nature of a cabdriver's income, and the many
accidents to which he is generally liable, prevent-
ing him. as a rule, from possessing proper re-
sources of his own against periods of non-employ-
ment and other contingencies. Six days of
general ccssation from labour, and fully half the
cabmen's lamilies resident in East London would
have been thrown on their various parishes.
No wonder that the news of the successful results
of the deputation to Mr. Hardy brought a quiet
sense of n:Fef to the anxious minds of east-end
guardians and other parish officers.
But pauperism is not the only social evil with
which the cast-end has to contend. Overcrowding
is again be:oiliing frightfully common, especially in
Whitechapcl and Mile-end, and with the usual
results—incrcased sickness and fever. The atten-
tion of the Mile-end Old Town vestry has recently
been directed to the case of Essex-street, a long
narrow court or lane, leading from the Commercial-
road-east in the direction of Whitechapel. It is
only partly paved, and the condition of many of
the houses—setae 40, or thereabouts, in number—
is stated to be perfectly disgraceful. Out of 31
dwellings no less than 15 had fever in them. In
one house, containing four rooms of the smallest
imaginable dimensions, 26 individuals were found
living and sleeping. In another house there were
three small rooms and a kitchen. The latter, a
place little better than a washhouse, was very dirty,
and pia,,,-.Fed no floor ; yet in this miserable and
unwholewine lair a bed was placed on the ground,
and in this bed a man, woman, and several children
slept every night. As one of the vestrymen
indignantly observed—" a more filthy and dis-
guatiug place no Englishman ever ought to
see." Some of the houses contain two
rooms only, while several of those possessing four
rooms are so small that each dwelling—parlour,
kitchen, and all—contains less cubic space than a
moderately sized Belgravian drawing-room. The
houses are all situated on one side of Essex-street,
the other side being occupied by stables and small
outhouses belonging to the residences in Cannon-
street-road. Much of this overcrowding is the
inevitable result of railway and other demolitions
in the City. Everywhere the poorer kind of house
accommodation is, in accordance with the law of
supply and demand, steadily increasing in price ;
mall three-roomed or four-roomed houses which, a
few years since, let at six or seven shillings per
week, now bringing in eight or nine shillings weekly.
So largely is the mischief on the increase that,
despite the opposition of a noisy majority, some of
the leading members belonging to the Mile-end
Old Town vestry have introduced a series of sani-
tary regulations, which, if adopted by their col-
leagues, will tend to check, so far as such
precautions possibly can, the progress of over-
crowdingp in that parish. According to the
regulations, every house, occupied
b' more than one family, will be placed on a re-
gister kept at the vestry-hall, and will be subjected
to the superintendence of competent officials ap-
pointed by the pariah. These officials will be re-
quired to ascertain that the ventilation, closet ac-
commodation, water supply, drainage, paving, and
general sanitary condition of each house is of a
satisfactory character, before the admittance of
lodgers be tolerated. With respect to the number
of persons to be allowed in each house, the follow-
ing rules are proposed :—" The minimum space
for each inmate of a room used both for living and
sleeping shall be 350 cubic feet. The minimum
space for each inmate of a room used exclusively
for sle2ping shall be 300 feet. Two children under
ten years shall count as one adult." Should these
regulations be adopted, their enforcement will lead
to considerable improvement in the sanitary
condition of the pariah, but the amount of over-
crowding will be proportionately increased iu those
parishes in which such rules do not exist.
If anyone desired an illustration of the manner
in which the pressure of " hard times" is beginning
to tell or. the small shopkeepers and better class of
artisans, it is supplied during the days on which
are beard the various claims, on the ground of
poverty, for exemption from payment of rates. If
a few of our legislators who were so jubilant over
the successful results of their fervour on behalf of
the rate-paving clauses of the new Reform Act
could have been present at one of the recent appeal
days in Bethnal-green, it is doubtful whether they
would have continued to retain:their feelings of self-
complacency. Each day several hundreds of per-
sons complained—many with tears in their eyes—
that they were utterly unable to pay the rates de-
manded of them ; and each week makes it more
and more clear that, in the face of increased paro-
chial responsibilities and burdens, the abolition of
the compound householder will lead to a serious
diminution in the amount of rates collected, and
that this deiciency will have to be made up by the
solvent ratepayers. It is quite hopeless to
expect results other than those of which the
East Londoners have had such unpleasant ex-
perience during the last few days from the aboli-
tion of the compound householder system. A Mr.
Rumaey, residing at Homerton, states that he is
the proprietor of twenty small houses, situate in
St. George's-in-the-East, producing rentals varying
from 55. to Bs. each per week. Under the cora-
. pounding system these houses were assessed at
1551., the rates being 7s. 10d. in the pound. They
are now assessed at 2621., making the rates 1201.
per annum, besides 21. extra from each of the
occupiers for the privilege of the franchise. Is it
strange that there exists a widely-spread feeling of
discontent in connection with this subject, or that
it is more than probable that the ensuing. spring
will find the East-enders in open revolt against the
continuance of the rate-paying clause of the now
Reform Act 1

Among the various means suggested for the
amelioration of the condition of the least-end poor is
a more extensive application of the co-operative sys-
tem, but hitherto the regatta of such associations at the
East-end have not been of a character to encourage
the local spread of associations based on this prin-
ciple, many of the causes conducing to the success
of thaw societies in Lancashire and Yorkshire
being absent in East Loudon. A co-operative store
in Whiteehapel would have to contend with a mul-
titude of trading establishments, the mutual com-
petiti oi amongst which tended to keep prices down
to the loa est possible remunerative points—the
trader posessing the largest amount of capital
being eilabltd to purchase the most largely and
sell the most cheaply. Against these the small co-
operative associations, with their limited number
of members, comparatively insignificant amount of
capital, and relatively high priors, have little or no
chance. In Rochdale the amount of competition
among the traders amid shopkeepers never ap-
proached that existing in Whitechapel or Bethnal-
green. Besides, the Roohdale operatives are less
numtory in their character than are the generality
of East London artisans and labourers, and, being
more e eten*ively known to each other,are tho better
enabled to act in concert. Of the various co-ope-
rative societies existing in East London, none have
attained large proportions ; all have had to struggle
with difficulties, not the least considerable being