As result of the ebbing and flowing of capital and labour, the state of the dwellings of an industrial town may to-day be bearable, to-morrow hideous. Or the ædileship of the town may have pulled itself together for the removal of the most shocking abuses. To-morrow, like a swarm of locusts, come crowding in masses of ragged Irishmen or decayed English agricultural labourers. They are stowed away in cellars and lofts, or the hitherto respectable labourer’s dwelling is transformed into a lodging-house, whose personnel changes as quickly as the billets in the 30 years’ war. Example: Bradford (Yorkshire). There the municipal philistine was just busied with urban improvements. Besides, there were still in Bradford, in 1861, 1751 uninhabited houses. But now comes that revive’ of trade which the mildly liberal Mr. Forster, the negro’s friend, recently crowed over with so much grace. With the revival of trade came of course an overflow from the waves of the ever fluctuating “reserve-army” or “relative surplus population.” The frightful cellar habitations and rooms registered in the list,[1] which Dr. Hunter obtained from the agent of an Insurance Company, were for the most part inhabited by well-paid labourers. They declared that they would willingly pay for better dwellings if they were to be had. Meanwhile, they become degraded, they fall ill, one and
- ↑
Collecting agents’ List (Bradford).
Houses.
Vulcan Street, No. 122 1 room 16 persons Lumley Street, No. 13 1 room„ 11 persons„ Bower Street, No. 41 1 room„ 11 persons„ Portland Street, No. 112 1 room„ 10 persons„ Hardy Street, No. 17 1 room„ 10 persons„ North Street, No. 18 1 room„ 16 persons„ North Street, No. 17 1 room„ 13 persons„ Wymer Sireet, No. 191 1 room„ 8 adults Jowett Street, No. 56 1 room„ 12 persons George Street, No. 150 1 room„ 3 families Rifle Court Maryyate, No. 12 1 room 11 persons Marshall Street, No. 28 1 room„ 10 persons„ Marshall Street, No. 28 3 room„ 3 families George Street, No. 128 1 room„ 18 persons George Street, No. 130 1 room„ 16 persons„ Edward Street, No. 4 1 room„ 17 persons„ George Street, No. 49 1 room„ 2 families York Street, No. 34 1 room„ 2 persons„ Balt Pie Street (bottom) 2 room„ 16 persons
