The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

THE DWELLINe OP THE LOYDOY POOR.

(Prom the Lancet.)
Public attention is at last being practically aroused to
:he unhealthy influence of the close and crowded habita-
tions of the London poor. All our modern street im-
provements and alterations have hitherto only tended to
increase the evil. The crazy houses, long tenanted by the
poor, are supplanted by grand s'a ipa and warehouses
" tow'ring to the skies," whilst the former inhabitants
are driven to herd more closely together in neighbour.
hoods already over-crowded. It resembles that method of
hunting where the game is included within of a circle of
keepers, narrowing and crowding together the luckless
deer, until the work of the hunter becomes sheer
slaughter. Unfortunately, the chief sportsman in our
human preserves of London are Cholera and Typhus.
It is now proposed to open out two new streets through
districts thickly inhabited by the poor (in Southwark and
on the north-west side of Covent-gdrden), without any
adequate provision being made for lodging those thus
driven from their abodes. The working man, worn out
wih his day's toil, cannot walk miles away to his home ;
be is therefore compelled to take up his abode i❑ some
pent-up and unwholesome court or alley near at hand,
where no sunbeam penetrates, and no current of fresh
air circulates; where his health will suffer, his children
droop, and his morals be contaminated by the commu-
nion into which he is driven by his own poverty and the
indifference or the greed of others. The result is, that a
person 20 years old, residing in one of these crowded
localities, can only expect to live till 40, or 20 years less
tha❑ is the average expectation of life throughout Eng.
land ; whilst the death rate is exactly doubled in the
most thickly populated districts. Nor is the evil one
that can be expected to diminish, for it is stated that the
increase in the numbers of working men and mechanics
in London is at the rate of 20,000 a year.
It seems singular that the ratepayers have not impera.
tively insisted on some improved dwelling-places for the
lower classes, since it is obvious that any diminution in
the amount of sickness and death amongst them would
correspondingly relieve the poor rates. Still more
strange, in this money making age, in the neglect of the
fact that comfortably-arranged and well-ventilated habi-
tations for the poor, like the model lodging houses al-
ready established, prove most profitable investments.
Yet, during the past year, not one of these establish-
ments has been erected. We perceive that it is now pro-
posed to establish one in a ♦ery crowded district in the
Strand. Miss Burdett Coutts, with a discriminating libe-
rality which, though usual in her, is unusual in others,
has subscribed 1,0001. towards the capital, the interest
accruing therefrom to be devoted to charitable purposes.
The building is to be erected by a company (enrolled
under the Limited Liability Act) and the capital is
nearly subscribed. We trust it may prove the precursor
of many similar institutions, to afford healthy dwelling-
places for the working classes,

Sixty non-commissioned officers and Metz belonging to
the depots of the Bth, 24th, and nth Regiments, at the
Provisional battalion, Chatham, have been selected and
placed under the instructions of Capt. W. Nott, 83d
Regiment, theinstructor of musketryat Chatham, for the
purpose of undergoing a course of instruction in the use
of the Enfield rifle previous to their embarkation te join
the service companies of their respective corps in India.
tADVIRTIBISMENT. j SIGH? Attnb lIRAIIING SPECTACLZB,
Ports/11'UL TELEBC•P3B, OraltA, PAC; AND PARSPRCTIVII
GtassEs.—Messrs. S. and B. Solomons, opticians, 39, Albe-
marle-streot, Piccadilly. Observe—opposite the
York Hotel.
By leer litajesty'a Royal Letters Patent for 'minable and
extraordinary improvements in the most powerful and
brilliant Telescopes, Camp, Racecourse, Opera, and Per-
spective Glasses, to know the distances. Theo teleSeopes
possess such extraordinary powers that irottb three and a-half
half distant nd Om obi,-
inches, with an extra eye-pienN viii Show distinct]; Jupiter's
111,08n..a. Saturn's ring, and the, double .4„„ra. With the sam
tele ..ope can be aeon a parson's - i - three miles and a
They are of
larger and altsize,, ...,.:t from 16 to 20 miles. . .
Royal Exhibi,' -., with increasing powers accordingly.—Teo
caatli.o7lB,l2Co
po wee,' _...0n 1881, Valuable, no wly-invonted, very smal ,
eerson can be seen end known li iiiiles distatt :
a - --.waietcolt-pocket glass) the site of a walnut, by whim,
every purpose on the raco.-cotirso) and at the opera houses,
country scenery, and shim are clearly seen at 8 to 10 miles.
They are invaluable fbr shooting] deer-stalking, yachting, to
i sporterren. tontlenien,
1
galdekeePers, and tourists. Opera,
they answer
I 7.1"-CV4rBe' alap, atd perspective -Ow:sos, with wonderful
i from this invention h!, that vision becoming
pawer. e,
Ca-
Spectacle Lenses of the great-
tat tr.
power, 'h.
....0 -valuable advantage derived
preserved and strengthened, and very aged persons are
I enabled to employ their ai,ht at the most minute ocer-
pation—can em With these I:mses of a ranch less changes
to power—and they do not require the frequent changes
impaired is
Ito the dangerous effects of further ric*erfiil tiSsittance.
Person, can be suited at the most freele iirktt tt thd world,
hy sending, one of the
,glitAile hilt of their spectacles in a
letter, and Stating the distance from the eyes they read
istnlal heraotVier priat with' it; and those
who have
ant iiatte use of spectacles by stating their age. Deaf-
! l'iess. -Nevi Disco-ry. The Organic Vibrator, an ex-
traordinary powerful, small, newly-invented instrument for
deafness, entirely different from all others, to surpass any-
thing of the kiud that has been, or probably ever can be,
produced. Being of the same colour as the skin, is not per-
ceptible ; it enables deaf persons to hoar distinctly at church
and at public aasenablies ; the unpleasant sensation of singing
noises in the ears is entirely removed; and it affords all the
assistance that pngeibly could be desired.-39, Alliensarle-
street. Pioakdillp Obtiorvi,—eppolite the Yor); Hotel.