The act gives no power to fix the number of lodgers to be received in each room of the house, the power being simply to fix the number to be received into the house. For instance, in a house containing three rooms, each of them adapted to accommodate four lodgers, and therefore registered for twelve, there is nothing to prevent the keeper letting off two of the rooms to a married couple in each, and putting eight lodgers (to make up his complement,) in the remaining room, which would thus contain twice the number consistent with health. Or he might even occupy the remainder of the house with his own family or for his own purposes, and place the whole of his twelve lodgers in a room calculated only for four. No doubt this might be discovered after a time, and the number of his lodgers reduced, but in the interim much mischief might ensue.

The clause gives no power to refuse to register any house for the registration of which application may be made, however unfit it may be considered for the purposes of a lodging-house. The only remedy, in such case, is to limit the number of lodgers to one, which is the course practically adopted.

In conclusion, it must be understood that the registration of the Liverpool lodging-houses is as yet by no means complete, being still in progress. W. H. DUNCAN, M. D., Medical Officer of Health.

XVII. REGULATIONS PROPOSED RELATING TO VACANT HOUSES.

Let every house on becoming vacant be examined by a competent person as to its being in a condition adapted for the safe dwelling in of the future tenants. Let a certificate to that effect be granted to the landlord, and enact that the rent of every house, which is not thus certified to be in a condition fit for the safe dwelling in of the tenants, shall not be recoverable at law.

The sum which would be required to pay the officials engaged in the duty of inspection could easily be raised by charging a small fee, varying from 1s. to 2s. 6d. on the occasion of each inspection. A revenue adequate to pay a sufficient staff of inspectors could easily be raised in this way.

The result-the immediate result would be, that many thousands of houses which at present are very pest-dens and sepulchres, would be put into a state compatible with the continuance of a healthy existence. It is true that whenever the property was in such a condition that healthy existence was impossible, the certificate would be denied, and the rent derivable from the property lost to the owner. But it is to be remembered, firstly, that property has its duties, and that the performance of the duty now demanded-namely, the putting of houses and dwellings into a habitable condition-is essential to the well-being of society. Secondly, that whatever might be the loss to the owner, the loss to the tenant-whom he defrauds of health, and the ability to labor; in whose frame he implants the seeds of disease, and on whom he fixes the doom of enduring poverty-is infinitely greater. Not only, however, are the poor impoverished, degraded, brutalized, and deadened to the virtues and higher feelings of our nature, nay, robbed of their health, and of their lives, but the community at large is taxed

in a thousand ways to relieve the evils created by the small landlord. Whole families have been known to be consecutively attacked by fever on ignorantly taking up their abode in these pest-dens, and to be removed to the workhouse, there to be attended in their illness, and sup ported during their recovery, at the public expense. Overseers and relieving officers are known to declare, that as surely as new tenants occupy certain localities so surely will they become pauperized through disease, and ultimately be lost to society as workers or useful members. Cholera selects, with unerring certainty, and typhus firmly sits down in these places. Year after year, families are left desolate in those spots. All at middle age perish of typhus; and the children, spared from scarlatina and other epidemic diseases, are left a prey to the vices of society. If the people, and the female portion particularly, but knew the moral evils that spring from such neglected causes of disease, they would blush at their apathy in denying to the children of the poor means to preserve them from contamination. The female children of the poor brought up in workhouses are notoriously known as a class to replenish the ranks of the most degraded and abandoned of their sex. The children, left to the charitable protection of the public, become-firstly, public burdens, subsequently public evils, chiefly through the neglect of society in providing healthful homes for the parents. For if the parents were not slaughtered by the unpitying typhus, protectors and monitors, interested in their progress in life, would be left to guide and warn them. These, however, are not the only evils; parishes become overwhelmed by burdens from which they in vain try to free themselves, and are at last brought to cry out in despair, "It would be cheaper to buy up the property and raze it to the ground, than to keep it thus a constant beggar home and pauper haunt." Let the burden be placed on the right back. Let that landlord be refused the power to recover rent whose house is not certified to be fit for human habitation. Old houses will then be renewed. New houses will be built for the poor; and one of the greatest results for the welfare of the poor and of the people will be effected, with no violation of the rights of individuals, through an agency, the expense of which will be altogether inconsiderable.-Journal of Public Health, Vol. II, p. 320.

XVIII.

TENEMENTS FOR THE BETTER ACCOMMODATION OF THE LA-
BORING CLASSES. (See p. 208.)

BOSTON, APRIL 7, 1850. LEMUEL SHATTUCK, Esq., Chairman of the Sanitary Commission:Dear Sir:-In reply to your inquiries as to what has been done in erecting buildings expressly for the accommodation of poor tenants, and what success has attended such undertakings, I beg leave to say that I am aware of only one public movement of the kind in the United States.

A building association was formed in Salem, in 1848. Mr. Silsbee, one of the directors, informs me that the capital is $7,000, of which $3,000 has been expended in the purchase of real estate, and the remainder in repairs, and in the erection of a new building. This building is 106 by 25 feet, and contains 12 tenements, each having one room

about 12 feet square, a pantry, and small bed-room. The tenants have free use of aqueduct water, ample cellar and wood-house room. The twelve tenements rent for $9 per quarter, and six attics for $5 to $12 per year, according to size. The agent is paid $50 per annum for collecting rents and looking after the building. The rents are regularly paid.

An individual in New York is erecting a large building for this purpose, as an investment. It is 244 feet by 35; and will contain 144 tenements of 2 rooms each. An association was formed and funds subscribed, two years since, for the purpose of erecting such buildings in that city; but a charter could not be obtained, and they have not proceeded beyond the preparation of plans.

As regards the success of such undertakings, I can speak from my own experience.

I erected, in the autumn of 1844, a brick building in Boston, with sixteen tenements of two rooms each, which has since been filled with tenants, generally of the poorest class of laborers, some of them being people entirely dependent on chance jobs, and some widows with chil dren able to earn but a very scanty livelihood; and nearly all Irish. The rents were fixed at $1 per week for the two lower floors; and 87 cents and 75 cents respectively for the two upper floors; and they have been paid with so much regularity that the loss by bad debts is very trifling,-less than one fourth of one per cent. per annum on the cost. The wear and tear have also been very slight, and the breakage confined entirely to glass in the cellar windows, and some plastering round the rooms. Were the partitions made of brick, as they should be in such a house, the wear would be very slight. The principal loss has been from vacant rooms caused by the frequent changes of residence of such tenants, still I have had several families in the house over two years, and some over four years. One of the tenants has had the charge of the house so far as letting the rooms and collecting the rents are concerned, and has had his rent free for performing this service. He might do this as well in a building containing 50 tenements as in a smaller one. It has also been part of his duty to report disorderly or unpunctual tenants, who have been ejected; but no restraints have been imposed upon them.

On the whole my experience has satisfied me that when the landlord lets his rooms at reasonable rates to this class of tenants, they are willing and able to pay their rents; that the rents they pay, taking the cost of such buildings, the wear and tear, &c., into view, are above the average rents; and that, under proper management, such houses are as good property as any real estate excepting a few stores and offices in favorite situations. That the erection of well-constructed buildings for this purpose would add greatly to the physical and moral health of the community will not, I suppose, be disputed.

This subject has received far more attention in England than in this country. I believe, however, you have received the English reports; I therefore will not enlarge upon their contents here. I trust you will be able to place this subject in such a light in your report as to convince the Legislature that it is not unworthy of their attention.

I remain, Dear Sir,

Your very ob't serv't,

STEPHEN H. PERKINS..

Extracts from the Report of Dr. Simon on the Sanitary Condition of London, relating to Dwelling-Houses for the better accommodation of the Poor :

Next, very briefly, let me allude to what has been done in respect of the habitations of the poor; first, by the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Laboring Classes, under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen and the Queen Dowager, with the Prince Albert for its president, and Lord Ashley for its chairman; secondly, by the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes, under the chairmanship of Sir Ralph Howard, and with a committee which, like that of the former society, includes many of the best and wisest, as well as the highest persons of the country. Under the influence of these societies the following experi ments have been made.

In the old Pancras road a very large building has been erected to accommodate 110 families separately and distinctly, in sets of two and three rooms each. Each set of rooms has its own boiler, range, oven, and coalbox; has a separate scullery, in which are sink, cistern, and dust-shaft; has its own water-closet, its own ample supply of water, and many other conveniences. The rents vary from 3s. 6d. to 5s. per week for a set of two rooms; and from 4s. 9d. to 6s. 3d. for a set of three rooms. The founders of this establishment have recently purchased land at the end of Spicer street, Spitalfields, on which to erect a lodging-house for 300 single men, and also houses for families.

In the Lower road, Pentonville, houses of three different classes have been built on the same general principle of furnishing every con venience and sanitary requisite. They accommodate, on the whole, twenty-three families and thirty single women, widows, or of advanced age. The entire houses for families, with all the above-mentioned conveniences, are at a rent of 6s., having a good sized living-room, two bed-rooms, with additional enclosed recesses for children's beds, a yard at the back of the house, and the joint use of a wash-house and drying-yard. A floor of two rooms is rented at 3s. 6d.; and a single room by a single person at 1s. 6d.

In George street, St. Giles's, a model lodging-house has been established, affording accommodation to 104 single men, and combining everything essential to such an establishment. The ventilation and drainage have been carefully attended to; an ample supply of water is provided, gas extends through the house, the dormitories are arrang. ed so as to keep their inmates private from each other; there are washing-closets fitted up with every requisite for cleanliness; there is a bath-room supplied with hot and cold water; there are a kitchen and washhouse furnished with all appropriate utensils, a pantry hatch, with separate, ventilated, and secure compartments for the food of each inmate; in the pay-office is a small, well selected library for the service of the lodgers, and the use of a spacious coffee-room is likewise for their common convenience. Their pay is 4d. per night, or 2s. per week-an amount below the ordinary rent paid for the most miserable accommodation in a tramper's lodging-house.

At 76 Hatton garden a lodging-house for 57 single women has recently been opened, consisting of three floors of dormitories, divided into separate compartments, and a basement fitted up with kitchen, washhouse, bath, pantry, safes, &c.

In Charles street, Drury lane, three tenements, originally separate, have been converted into a single lodging-house for 82 single men, on the same general plan and at the same rent as that in George street, St. Giles's.

All the lodging-houses are furnished, and the inmates are supplied with utensils for their food and other purposes, which must be returned, or made good at their leaving.

In all these lodging-houses rules exist for the purpose of insuring cleanliness, sobriety, carefulness, and general propriety of conduct; any infraction of which subjects the offender to immediate expulsion. For the sake of those who choose to avail themselves of the opportu nity, Scripture Readings are appointed to take place in the common room every evening, at nine o'clock; and copies of the Scriptures, with other well-chosen books, are left in charge of the superintendent for distribution among the lodgers, in the hope that they may thus be induced to occupy their leisure to advantage.

In the construction of all these establishments, equally, the greatest pains have been taken to bring sanitary science to bear on the comfort, and convenience, and health of the inmates. Ventilation, drainage, facilities for decency and for cleanliness, have in every instance been made the leading considerations of the architect.

In regard to these model houses and model lodgings, it would, I think, be a great error to estimate their benefit as merely relative to the number of persons at any one time inmates of them. No doubt it is a great advantage that they furnish, at the ordinary price of the day, or at a still lower price, so excellent accommodation to several hundreds of persons; and it is a still greater good (particularly in regard of those established for single men and single women,) that they drill their inmates into decent and orderly habits, and accustom them to a high standard of household accommodation, which will probably influence their subsequent married lives in the same desirable direction. But, indirectly, their utility has a far wider scope. They stand in bright contrast to the dark features of filth and unwholesomeness which environ them; they familiarize the poorest classes generally with all the practical advantages of cleanliness; they show that dirt is not inevitable; they therefore create and foster among the humblest members of society, a laudable discontent with defective sanitary arrangements, and they establish a strong public opinion, grounded on experience, in favor of those conditions of cleanliness and comfort which determine the maintenance of health.

That all the great results of sanitary science can be applied in their utmost perfectness to the dwellings of the poor for the payment of a rent often below, and never above the average given for some miserable doghole that poisons its inhabitants, is a truth of immense importance, deserving the widest dissemination, and pregnant with the most hopeful promise. Such advantages spring from and illustrate the economical application of the associative principle; they cannot be obtained otherwise than by the application of capital in such an amount as lies only within the compass of wealthy corporations, or is reached by the voluntary combination of several private purses. While the laboring classes are abundantly able to maintain these institutions when established, and to render them amply remunerative to those whose