42 432 (3) ST MARY ABBOTTSKEN KEN 83 REPORT on the SAN ITART CONDITION OF THE PARISH OF ST. MARY ABBOTTS, KENSINGTON, IN THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, FOR THE YEAR 1856. BY FRANCIS GODRICH, JUN., M.R.C.S., L.A.C. medical officer of health, SUBMITTED TO VESTRY ON THE 22nd APRIL, 1857. printed for the use and by the authority of the vestry of kensington. by w. brickhiel, steam machine printer, newingion butts. Lonson. 1867 REPORT on the SANITARY CONDITION OF THE PARISH OF ST. MARY ABBOTTS, KENSINGTON, IN THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, FOR THE YEAR 1856. BY FRANCIS GODRICH, JUN. M.R.C.S., L.A.C. medical officer of health SUBMITTED TO VESTRY ON THE 22nd APRIL, 1857. printed for the use and by the authority of the vestry of kensington. by w. brickhill, steam machine printed newgton ruits. London: 1857. REPORT, &c. Gentlemen, Upon receiving my appointment as your Medical Officer of Health, I lost no time in making myself thoroughly acquainted with every portion of the Parish, giving especial attention to those localities which were found upon all recurring occasions to be the foci of epidemic diseases. I have, with the assistance of Mr. Lovett, and occasionally of Mr. "Wood, your Inspectors of Nuisances, examined the majority of the houses inhabited by the poor, and have reported to you from time to time, during the past year, the conditions in which I found them. I have given you detailed accounts of the Potteries, Camden Place, Jennings'-buildings, Palace-place, Hooper's-court, Newcourt, Sloane place, and other parts of the parish of a similar character. I have also attended the regular meetings of your Sewers and Sanitary Committee, and reported upon numerous isolated cases: I have from time to time informed you of the manner in which the majority of these have been disposed of; and it now devolves upon me to lay before you, in as condensed a form as possible, the sanitary condition of the entire parish. The information afforded by a detailed statistical account of the district will be of much interest to you as guardians of the public health ; and will also, I trust, direct your marked attention to certain plague-spots, too little noticed—places unfit for human habitation, in which our poorer inhabitants are forced to reside. The information which I must lay before you concerns our physical and social condition ; our rate of mortality, and the relation which it bears to that of other parishes; our meteorological and geological position; and our facilities for drainage. I shall submit to you a minute analysis of our drinking waters— procured from springs, and from the different "Water Companies as obtained from their new sources: this latter information will, I believe, be of much value, as I am not aware that any complete chemical analysis of these waters has ever yet been published. In this part of my Report it will I trust be seen that I have spared 4 neither pains nor trouble, in order that I might furnish you with materials to enable you to judge, whether the waters distributed oyer the Parish are of a wholesome character, or whether beneath their sparkling and refreshing coolness there lurks that subtle poison, inappreciable to the eye or taste, which, according to Dr. Snow and other scientific enquirers, decimated the population of Golden-square in 1854. It will be part of my duty also to give some account of those occupations which are likely to prove injurious to the public health. I shall then have to offer such suggestions as may tend to improve the moral and physical condition of the industrial classes, by removing from their dwellings those recognized evils which foster and intensify epidemic disease, increase the rate of mortality, and frequently prostrate our working men, and make many of them look for support to the parochial rates. The Parish of Kensington stands at the south-west extremity of the Metropolis; is bounded by Chelsea on the south, Fulham and Hammersmith on the west, Paddington on the north, and Westminster on the east-—this is the area with which we have to deal. It has been divided (by the Registrar-General) into two subdistricts—Kensington-town and Brompton—having an area of 1,244 and 698 statute acres respectively, and a population, in 1851, of 29,183 and 14,870, which will give about 23-5 persons to each acre in the Town division, and 21-3 in the Brompton. kensington. bbomfton. Females 17,275 Females 8,849 Males 11,908 Males 6,021 Excess of Females 5,867 Excess of Females 2,825 All London contains 30 persons to the acre:—St. George's, Hanover-square, 60,—St. George the Martyr, 184. Comparing our own Parish thus with the majority of the other metropolitan districts, we perceive that the density of the population ismuch less. This arises from the fact that we have still a large space of open ground used for agricultural purposes, and are near also to Kensington-gardens and the Royal parks. Under any circumstances, therefore, and to whatever extent building may be carried on, Kensington, from its very position, may always maintain that character for salubrity which has been accorded to it. The number of our inhabited houses in 1851 was 6,136; this will give, upon an average, seven inhabitants for each house. 5 Our rateable value of property is nearly £226,000, and the average annual value of each house is about £45. The entire parish is said to be about eight miles in circumference, to contain sixty miles of road, and one hundred and thirty miles of paths. Our Geological condition is much the same as that of the surrounding parishes; the soil, for the most part, is a dark rich loam, beneath which are strata of fine gravel, of different degrees of firmness, mixed with large quantities of sand; in the Notting-hill district, we have a large bed of stiff clay replacing this sand; below it, is the continuation of that immense bed of clay which runs under the whole metropolis, called—the blue London clay. The fact of so large a quantity of sand forming the sub-soil of a great portion of the district is of much importance in a sanitary point of view, as it tends to prevent the accumulation of water on the surface; but it may at the same time lead to the contamination of our superficial wells, by introducing organic matter, unless means be taken to prevent it; for in all populous neighbourhoods, particularly where refuse matter in a decomposing state is allowed to accumulate, the surface waters, holding in solution organic matter, rapidly find their way into wells, and render their contents unfit for drinking puposes, if not poisonous. ELEVATION. The Elevation of a district above high water mark appears to exercise much influence on the mortality from certain diseases, more especially from cholera and diarrhsea:—thus, the mortality from cholera in those districts situated below high water mark was at the rate of upwards of 100 per myriad; those from 20 to 30 feet above high water, from 16 to 50 per myriad; whilst at the height of 80 feet and upwards the mortality was as low as 2 in the same number. It cannot be laid down as a rule that the mortality from this disease is in an inverse ratio to the height above high water mark; but we may fairly expect that where the elevation is slight, cholera and zymotic diseases will be found much more rife, and the deathTate higher. The following observations result from an examination of the 6 Ordnance Maps, from which. Trinity high water mark is ascertained by subtracting 12-5 feet—the difference between the Ordnance datum at Liverpool and high water mark at the centre-arch of Waterloo Bridge. The Elevation of our Parish varies much; the highest point being 115-5 at the south side of Not ting-hill Square. Starting from this point, we find the land declines northwards as far as the Lancaster-road, where the elevation is 29.8 feet; thence an ascent takes place to the Kensal-green Cemetery, where the level is 94.8 feet. From Notting-hill Square it declines to the west,—the elevation, at the extremity of the parish, at Shepherd's-bush, being 9 feet. Southwards there is a fall towards the Thames, the elevation at Kensington Church being 38.7 feet. The town has likewise an inclination from east to west; at the Turnpike, the level is 34.3 feet, and at the Holland-road 9.5 feet. The Brompton district, also, has its inclination westwards; at the eastern extremity, at Knightsbridge-green, it is 21 feet; at Brompton Church 14.8; at Sydney-place 11.5; and at Sandford Bridge the elevation is only 7 feet. It may be said of the district generally, that the elevation of Nottinghill is about 55 feet, Kensington-town 28 feet, and Brompton 14 feet. "With such natural advantages, you will not be surprised that Kensington, in a sanitary point of view, admits of a favourable comparison with the most healthy metropolitan parishes : that, indeed, it is not the most healthy, proceeds not from any defects in its natural position, but from the presence of certain spots where local influences increase the general mortality. METEOROLOGY. I will next proceed to the Meteorological peculiarities of our district; and, through the kindness of Mr. D. O. Edwards, of West Brompton, I am enabled to furnish you with the following most valuable tables containing the results of 100,000 observations extending over a space of twenty years. The mean annual temperature of our parish is 49,68°; while the mean extreme range out of doors reaches to 61°. The mean extreme range for each month varies from 30°, in January, to 37°, in June. 7 It will be interesting to contrast this external temperature with the reading of the thermometer in doors; the mean annual extreme range is reduced from 61° to 36° and the extreme monthly range varies from 16° to 19° a rate much inferior to that of the outside temperature. The most unfavourable features in the hygienic character of the neighbourhood are fogs; 256 of which have occurred in the course of 20 years—33 in calm weather, 71 whilst the wind was south-west and 152 with an east wind. The east wind fogs are partly artificial, being produced by the enormous amount of vapour daily evolved from the fires and furnaces of London; the effects are not exclusively evil, though irritating in certain pulmonic affections; yet, by the sensible heat from the condensation of the vapour, genial effects arise ; the fogs do not endure longer than is necessary to fulfil their mission of warming the atmosphere and mitigating the excessive radiation from the ground. Two hundred and twenty days of snow have occurred during the last 20 years—not more than an average of 11 days per year. In the same number of years, 1,798 days of rain are noted; the days on which both fell do not average 100 per annum—a number much below the average of London, which according to Daniel, is 158, to Howard, 176. These tables will also point out to us the character of the seasons. The winter, in our parish, has about half a degree less average heat than the metropolis itself, but it is warmer than the northern and eastern suburbs by 1½°. In the spring we have the easterly winds much prevailing, which though naturally dry—their dew point seldom reaching to 42°— are often moistened in their flights over the vaporous metropolis. As the temperature rises, the winds become more genial till they give place to the refreshing summer breezes. During the months of May, June, July, and August, Kensington possesses a most desirable, climate ; the average temperature is 60.5, the average dryness 20; thus justifying the high character given to the locality by Sir Jas. Clarke. Our summer is succeeded by a mild and genial autumn, of which the mean temperature is nearly 52°, the degree of dryness 10: and westerly winds are then most prevalent. 8 POPULATION AND MORTALITY. To give any data with regard to our Mortality, it is in the first place necessary to obtain as accurate an account of our Population, and of the rate of increase, as possible. From various returns I find that our population amounted in 1801 to 8,556 1811 „ 10,886 increase per cent. per annum 3 1821 „ 14,428 1831 „ 20,902 „ „ „ 4 1841 „ 26,834 „ „ „ 2¾ 1851 „ 44,058 „ „ „ 6 Our parish may therefore be said to increase at nearly the ratio of 4 per cent per annum, and our estimated population for the present year will be about 54,000. By reference to Table A, you will perceive the total number of deaths in the separate wards since the year 1840, and the number of births in each ward, distinguishing those that are illegitimate: also the increase of births over deaths, and the ratio of mortality per thousand for the years when the census was taken. The first column will indicate the prosperous condition of our parish, by the progressive number of births from year to year. From the second, we obtain the fact, that of all children born between 1846 and 1852, 3.84 per cent. were illegitimate, in the Brompton division—and 5'22 per cent. in the Town: the average being for the whole kingdom 6.9 for towns, and 18.1 for country. The fourth column is important as shewing that, during every year, the number of births far exceeded that of the deaths : but the most important deduction to be obtained from this Table, (as shewing the great beneficial effect of the sanitary measures which have been in progress since the outbreak of cholera,) is, that the rate of mortality has decreased between the years 1841 and 1851. The total number of deaths registered during the present year, has been 1,199. If from this we subtract the large number of 190 occurring in the hospitals, but non-parishoners, the mortality of the whole parish will be at the rate of 18.6 per 1,000. 9 The following Table will shew that our annual mortality contrasts favourably with that of the neighbouring districts— mortality. Chelsea 26 per 1,000 St. Margaret's Westminster and St. James 27 There are only three parishes in London in which the rate is more favourable than in our own, viz.— Lewisham 17 per 1,000 St. George's, Hanover-square, and Hampstead 18 ,, while Whitechapel and St. George's in the East averaged 29 per 1,000 St. Saviour's, Southwark 33 „ Liverpool 36 „ The average of London, generally, is 25 per 1,000. There is, however, room in our parish for much improvement; and I fully believe that, by continuing to enforce sanitary measures, our mortality may be reduced to 17 per 1,000, which may be termed the natural mortality. That certain moral and physical causes are at work to increase our death-rate is shewn by the Table, which exhibits the comparative mortality of the gentry and paupers. From this it would appear that the gentry are but little affected by situation—their mean age in Kensington being 45, while with paupers it is 44, lower than the majority of the metropolitan parishes. The mortality during the past year is less by 180 than in 1855— It would be difficult to prove to what extent this saving of human life has been owing to sanitary improvements; but we cannot but be aware that all such improvements have a salutary tendency, and that every life saved tends to the decrease of pauperism and the alleviation of all parochial burthens. We must remember that, even apart from moral considerations, every life has its value, and that each man contributes towards the wealth and stability of his country. Again, we may say, that if 180 deaths have been saved to this parish during the past year, at least 1,800 cases of illness, and consequent loss of work, have also been warded off; for to every death there are at least ten cases of sickness which recover. It is obvious that the preservation from illness of far more than a thousand cases must act most beneficially on the social and economical condition of the parish. 10 I have introduced into this Table the mortality in the Workhouse and in the Cancer and Consumption Hospitals. The results from the latter Hospital are obtained from the annual returns made by the committee, and from those of the Registrar-GeneraL The mortality in the Consumption Hospital appears to be about 1 in every 7 or 8 admitted into the institution. Table C. shews the mortality from all causes, with the ages at death. The first point which will doubtless attract your attention, is the immense mortality from phthisis—296, and from bronchitis and pneumonia—94 and 57; but we must bear in mind that a large proportion of this mortality occurred in the Consumption Hospital. I have compared, with that ot surrounding parishes, our mortality from the second class of diseases, termed zymotic, as without doubt the sanitary condition of a district is to be estimated more accurately by the mortality from zymotic diseases than by the general death rate. Population. Small Pox. Measles. Scarlet Fever. Hooping Cough. Diarrhæa. Typhus Fever. Kensington 44,053 13 30 20 19 62 15 Paddington 46,305 4 51 41 55 51 35 Chelsea 56,538 5 36 30 36 59 54 St. George's, Hanover-square 73,230 3 47 30 44 49 65 Our death rate from small-pox has been much higher than the surrounding parishes; from measles and diarrhoea about the same; and from typhus, scarlatina, and hooping cough, much lower: I have prepared a Table which will give you a correct account of the mortality from Cholera in 1854, compared with the epidemic of 1849. The mortality of this disease is also compared with the general mortality, for 1856. The accompanying map* of the whole parish will shew you those spots visited by this frightful scourge in 1849 and 1854; and I have been at some considerable trouble to insert as many cases as I could collect from the epidemic of 1832. This map will shew you the tendency of this disease to re-visit the same spots at each succeeding outbreak; and, although it would be foreign to the subject to enter into any speculations with regard to the mode of its propagation, it is right to point out to you that it does to a great extent depend on certain local and removable causes, at the head of which stand overcrowding, the effluvia from noisome trades, and bad drainage. * This map has not been lithographed. 11 Table of Mortality from Cholera, 1849. Density to Acre. Population. Deaths. Deaths per 1,000. Brompton 18 9,465 29 31 Kensington 21 17,369 99 57 Potteries 127 1,000 21 210 Jennings' Buildings 264 848 30 340 You may observe that more than half the mortality from this disease in Kensington District, in 1849, occurred in the Potteries and Jennings'-buildings. Table of Mortality from Cholera, 1854. Density to Acre. Population. Deaths. Deaths per 10,000. Brompton 21 14,570 48 34 Kensington 23 29,183 157 49 Potteries 127 1,140 25 240 Jennings' Buildings 264 790 8 82 I have ascertained that the visitation of Cholera, in 1854 cost our parish about £2000 for extra medical relief, and other necessaries, without taking into consideration the numbers of widows and children which became chargeable to the parish rates. The only other information which I am here enabled to lay before you, is from an inspection of the "Workhouse Reports. It appears that in August, 1854, just prior to the outbreak of Cholera, there were in the establishment 231 adults, and 44 children, and at the end of the year, when the epidemic had ceased, there were 303 adults and 121 children—giving an increase of 149 after the outbreak of the Cholera. Before quitting this portion of my subject, I must allude to one of many inconveniences arising from the Registrar-General having included the parishes of Fulham, Hammersmith, and Paddington, with our own, under the district " Kensington." The Registrar-General, in his recent Report, has stated that in Kensington, Lewisham, and Islington, desirable neighbourhoods, the deaths, following population, shew a manifest increase; whereas I have laid before you a Table which shews that the mortality for the past year in our two sub-districts of Kensington and Brompton is less than it was in 1854 and 1855, without allowing for any increase of population at all. 12 OCCUPATIONS LIKELY TO PROVE INJURIOUS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH. We have, fortunately, but few occupations carried on in Kensington which may be classed with those recognised as injurious to public health. We are not troubled by numerous large factories emitting noxious vapours and thus poisoning our atmosphere; but from the agricultural pursuits which are carried on, we have our manure heaps, and consequent upon the great demand for houses, we have our brick and clay burning. In the large towns of France a sanitary code has been established by which all occupations are divided into three classes. The first contains those establishments which must be kept at a distance from towns and private habitations. This list comprises 67. Only 3 of these occupations are found in our parish. I. The keeping of pigs. II. Tallow Melting. III. Slaughter-houses. I. After my former Report to you on the subject, I need scarcely call your attention to the keeping of pigs. You are aware that these animals are still kept in large numbers in the Potteries; but from the more stringent enactments which have been placed in your hands, and from the recent decision of the magistrates, at the Police Court, we shall now be able to grapple with this gigantic evil. I have in this as in all other cases where your orders were likely to fall with much severity upon a class that could ill bear any large sacrifice, recommended the most lenient course that could rightly be adopted. From the special directions of the Act of Parliament, from the numerous reports which have been made to the Board of Health on this subject, and from the immense mortality which I have shown you has been going on for many years, you had, I consider, no discretionary power left to you. The execution of your orders is now in progress, and will be eventually carried into effect. I see no reason why this locality should not then gradually become as healthy as any in the parish. II. Tallow melting. We have one considerable candle manufactory, situate in the High-street, opposite the Vestry Hall. The Tallow Melting here has been more generally complained of by the inhabitants than any other occupation in the parish. I have inspected the premises several times, and have visited other establishments in London, where I was informed all modern improvements had been applied to lessen the effluvia. I have had the honor of giving you a special report on this subject in 13 which I stated that I believed all the improvements with which we are at present acquainted have been introduced into Messrs. Tucker'a establishment; still, without doubt, it is a great nuisance, and the effluvia at times quite poisonous to the air of the neighbourhood. Mr. Simon observes "it is the common right of neighbourhood to breathe an uncontaminated atmosphere," and with this common right such a nuisance must be considered to clash. By the 27th sec. of the Nuisance Removal Act, this occupation is protected, provided the best practical means has been employed for abating such nuisance and for counteracting such effluvia. III. Slaughter-houses. The proximity of slaughter-houses is, without doubt, fraught with danger to the inhabitants, unless great care be taken. The Legislature has certainly made a step in the right direction in requiring all slaughter-houses to be licensed, and has wisely vested their control in the different Vestries or Local Boards, so that should complaints arise, or the premises be kept in a dirty condition, an objection may be made to the renewal of the license. I have already reported to you that forty-six applications were made to your Vestry for License to slaughter, and that after many alterations and improvements had been carried out in the various premises at my suggestion,—only four cases were refused a license, as no means had been taken to prevent nuisances arising. The Second Class of occupations includes those establishments which do not require to be kept at a distance from habitations, but for which a license must be granted, assuring the authorities that the operations are not executed so as to be a nuisance. This list comprises 78. The only establishments among us under this head, are the manufactories of bricks and tiles, potteries, and gas works. Our gas works are situated in Kensal Green, in a thinly populated district, and have given no cause for complaint. The offensive smells from brick and clay burning, have several times been brought under my notice; but on application to the proprietors, the grounds of complaint have been removed as quickly as possible. The Third Class comprises those works which may remain without inconvenience near dwellings, but should be subject to surveillance. The only nuisance under this head which we have to deal with is the keeping of cows,—I consider that these animals should (to a certain extent at any rate) be allowed to roam in open fields, and not tied up in close ill-ventilated stalls, and huddled together; and I doubt not that as the Legislature has wisely laid down regulations with regard to slaughter houses, it will not long pass over in silence the way in which our milch cows are frequently kept. 14 During the past year I have been keenly alive to the importance of preventing the sale of provisions which, from disease or decomposition, have become unfit for food. With the aid of the Inspectors of Nuisances I have had to seize quantities of putrid sausages, beef, mutton, and fish. In each case a fine has been imposed by the magistrates and the article of food destroyed. The knowledge that your officers are on the alert, will I trust, act as a salutary check to such pernicious practices. Complaints have been daily poured in of the non-removal of domestic refuse. These were so numerous during the spring of last year, that legal measures were obliged to be resorted to, to enforce the terms of the contract. Our dust-bins are usually placed in the very worst position, close to our doors or under our windows, and as this dust often contains considerable quantities of vegetable and animal matter, it must prove detrimental to health, unless frequently taken away. The dustbins, especially in the poorer localities, are usually in a dilapidated condition, and I have caused many new ones to be erected or old ones to be enlarged, though in one case not without being obliged to issue a summons. You will remember that I had the honor to present to you an analysis on Bread, principally with the view of detecting that injurious introduction, alum; and I have now much pleasure in informing you that the views which I then laid before you have since been fully recognized, and only last week a prosecution was sustained against a baker using that substance. OVERCROWDING. Perhaps the most difficult question we have to deal with, is the overcrowding of human beings in confined localities. Overcrowding has reference, not only to the number of people congregated together on a given place, but also to the facilities for ventilation. Our worst spot in the parish in this respect is Jenning's Buildings; here, as I have already reported, a separate family inhabits each room; there is no privy accommodation; there is no water in, nor drain from, the houses; there is no convenience within the buildings, all must be sought for without. 15 Some of the houses are registered as common lodging houses, and let to tramps and others who pay 3d. each for a night's lodging. From the construction of these houses, no current of air can pass through them. The water closets are mostly common to many inhabitants, and are extremely filthy, 8 of these tenements containing 88 human beings, till lately, had no closet accommodation at all; they have no back yards, no water supply, and no drainage. Some of them are so overcrowded as to allow only 112 cubic feet of air for each inhabitant, (and with no facilities for changing the air,) instead of from 500 to 1,000 cubic feet, which are required for the proper maintenance of health. In one dark room, (containing only 1,008 cubic feet of air, being 112 feet for each person) I found a family of nine persons, the father ill with Pleuritis. Another has five persons with 1,232 ft., 240 to each. A third, eight persons with 1,600 cubic feet, allowing 200 to each person. A fourth, eight persons with 1922 cubic feet, allowing 250 to each person. A fifth, seven persons with 1,008 cubic feet, allowing 178 to each person. The people inhabiting these courts are mostly the lowest Irish, whose habits are very filthy, although I have caused new closets to be erected, panned, trapped and supplied with water. Human excreta still lie all over the courts, in the dust-bins, and in every corner of the place, and the new closets are continually in a filthy condition: the iron taps which have also lately been placed there, to allow the people to obtain good supplies of water, have been hammered down so as to become useless. "With such a condition of things, we cannot be surprised that the people are lost to all sense of common decency; that half the amount of sickness that occurs among the poor of the whole town is found in these buildings; that the death rate is 36 per 1,000 per annum, that is to say, double what it is in the whole parish; and the mortality among infants under five years of age at the enormous ratio of 61.3 per cent. of the total deaths, while more than half the deaths take place from Zymotic diseases. I cannot better conclude this subject than by quoting a report made to the General Board of Health, wherein it is stated that " Jenning's Buildings, though a source of continual profit to the owners and speculators in such houses, are the principal cause of the high Poor-rate paid by the inhabitants in other parts of the parish, which would undoubtedly be reduced but for this and some other smaller nests of pauper houses." I have shown you in several of my reports, that in such places, men, 16 women, and grow-up children, live and sleep in one dirty confined room, barely supplied with enough air to maintain a degenerate existence ; all decency and modesty being unobserved, and all the offices of nature unblushingly and publicly performed. In these rooms when a not unfrequent death takes place, the body remains decomposing and unburied for perhaps a week, sometimes longer, amidst remaining members of the family who take their daily meals, and sleep around the dead body. Application was made to me to procure the removal of the corpse of a child which had been decomposing for several days in one small room occupied by a widower, his sister, his grown-up son, and daughter nineteen years of age. In another instance in the same place I have been applied to by the neighbours to insist upon the removal of the dead body of a child, which had been kept about a fortnight in the heat of summer, in a confined room, in which the parents and five children entirely lived: the body had become so offensive as to be a nuisance to the neighbourhood. I would, while referring to this subject, recommend you to select some desirable spot appropriate for the reception of all bodies waiting for interment. I know that from prejudice, and some other feelings which ought to be respected, this receptacle might not for some time be taken advantage of: but time and clerical persuasion would do much to soften such prejudices. I see no means of permanently abating the widely spread evil of overcrowding, except by encouraging the attempts made by the associations for bettering the people's homes, such as that promoted by the Venerable Archdeacon Sinclair, in Kensington, and called for also in Brompton by the Rev. Dr. Irons. From all the facts that have been collected respecting associations formed for the improvement of the dwellings of the poor, I am led to believe that a good return would be yielded for capital so invested. We may for a time lessen this evil, in certain cases, by taking proceedings to enforce the registration of all common lodginghouses. In the outskirts of our parish the evils attendant upon overcrowding are, I am compelled to believe, greatly upon the increase. We know that it is the tendency of the labouring classes to inhabit localities near the seats of labour. From the numerous improvements which have been taking place about the centre of this vast metropolis, involving the destruction of the courts and alleys in London, the poor are forced into the suburbs, into localities already overcrowded: hence an influx of persons who in winter, when