Morning journal and courier., 1885-05-23
HOMES OF THE LONDON POOR.

The cry of the poor has been heard in En- gland, and a royal commission has been appointed to inquire into the housing of the working classes of Great Britain. This com mission has inquired to some extent, and the result of it's inquiries is not cheering.
 The commission found upon inquiry that there was law enough already made, but that there was not enough motive power behind the law. It found parts of London where there is an average of six people to a room the street through. Some of these houses are owned by Lord Northampton. Lord Northampton's agents or middlemen, to whom he farms out his property, are allowed to pay him e20 a year, while they collect e100 year from the tenants. The report says Lord Northampton states that he dares not force his middlemen to make constant repairs for fear they will raise their rents. In some cases the houses are owned by per sons who wish to pull them down in order that warehouses may be built. If they are pulled down of course those who live in them will have to find other quarters in places already terribly overcrowded.
 The commission found that the law is vio- lated in the abodes of the peor in the most glaring manner, and that the inspection is not what it ought to be. In Islington there is one inspector to every 56, GOO inhabitants; in Greenwich, one for 65, 1000; in Mile End, one for 105,0 ,00O. In many cases these men are utterly incompetent. In St. James, Westminster, the commission found one in- spector to every 5000 inhabitants, but on in vestigating the vestry of this parish it was found that middlemen and gin sellers were
 in a strong majority on it and controlled all l local inspection in their own interest. In l many quarters the commission reports that | medical officers in charge reside miles away
 from their districts, in wealthy neighbor- l hoods, and devote most of their time to pri- l vate practice
 Having inquired and found that things are l not as they should be the commission pro- 1 ceeded to consider how they can be changed, ! and as might be expected, it has nothing very l definite to offer. It believes that the prob | lem of housing the poor must be solved
 either by centralizing all powers of appoint | ment, inspection, etc., in the general govern ment, or by popular awakening of local | interest and conscience. It recommends 1 tAot, WA14S AOCdtA AuSPcCGo1e SAOAA0 AAoS tho" be named by the central authorities, yet i'm proper appointments by the local powers l should be overruled. Other recommends tions, joined in by some members of the
 commission, favor more direct ownership of
 city property by the persons occupying it. 1 All the commissioners favor the giving up of certain prison sites in London, in order l that the land on which they stand may be used for tenement building.
 Among the members of this commission
 are such well known students of social prob lems as Sir Charles Dilke, Cardinal Manning,
 Sir Richard Cross, Mir. Samuel Morley, Mir. I'Torrens and the Marquis of Salisbury. It is
 encouraging, although perhaps not surpris-
 ing, that they have not been able to deal
 more definitely with the problem they have
 been considering.