The Artisans Dwellings Act has become law, but we have
still to see how far the local authorities are disposed to make a per- missive law work. In London a beginning has been made on a small scale and with very bad cases. The Holborn and White- chapel District Boards have urged the Metropolitan Board of Works to set the Act in motion against two "rookeries," the one in Central London, and the other in the East End. The former lies to the east of Gray's Inn Lane, and is peopled with the lowest class of Irish costermongers and Italian organ-grinders. The small-pox epidemic ravaged this district cruelly, and there is no possibility of civilising the inhabitants by any religious or moral agency while they are huddled together in the courts around Baldwin's Gardens. The area between Dock Street and St. Peter's Court, Whitechapel, appears to be of the same character, and it is probable that the Committee of the Metropolitan Board which inspected the district will recom- mend the enforcement of Mr. Cross's Act. But objections to action under the statute arise from unexpected quarters. The medical officer of health for Liverpool advises that the re- moval of " rookeries " " be pursued slowly and by degrees." He acknowledges that life in the crowded dens of confined courts and back-to-back houses, most of them let out in single rooma, is morally and physically poisoned. Yet, he says, " It would be worse than a mistake to compel poor, decent familieeto leave self-contained houses, even in badly-constructed courts, to seek shelter and herd with the improvident and vicious." If this fear should prevail, no " rookery " will ever be swept away, for it may always be argued that the inhabitants will be driven to worse quarters. The local authorities, disliking increased rates, will be sure to take refuge behind professional approval of inaction,—or caution, which is the same thing.
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