UNDERGRADUATES' ROOMS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—I have read in your issue of November 1st a letter signed "A Quondam Don" on "Undergraduates' Rooms." As this is a matter of no small importance, I hope I may be allowed to say a few words upon it in your paper. I have no knowledge of "A Quondam Don," but as he attacks an estab- lished order of things, and no doubt some vested interests, his statements are sure to be called in question, and the usual lines of excuse adopted. I therefore give you my own experi- ences. Towards the close of 1894, as I was about to leave England for some time, I went to Cambridge to visit an old and valued friend, and also my youngest son. My friend was, and is now, one of the chiefs of the University and a medical man ; my son, a lad of fine physique and good health, ex- Captain of the Marlborough Fifteen, and at the end of his first term at one of the great Colleges of the University. I inquired at the College gate where my sou lodged, and was directed to a house close by. I rang the bell and heard he was in on the third or fourth floor. I stumbled into a very dark passage, and was warned that the stairs were "rather dark." I do not know about cutting the darkness with a hatchet, but it occurred to me that a very powerful instrument would be necessary to cut that atmosphere. The stench was awful, far worse than in my stables at 6 a.m. I crept up the stairs past a w.c. with an open door. Being well used to the careful in- spection of sanitary arrangements, I looked in. There was no water in the pan, and the valve would not close; it was a very old-fashioned arrangement. One wall at least, the outer one, was of lath and plaster, much broken into holes, and the floor was damp, suggesting a leak below the pan. I found my son on the floor above, in a good-sized comfortable room over- looking the street and facing about south, I should say. I remarked on the appalling smell on the staircase, and he said that open windows and tobacco mitigated the evil. He said he had sometimes a bit of sore-throat, but not often a head- ache. He seemed then very well. For the last two or three years he has had, I should say, a tendency to sore-throat, though he has lived under very healthy conditions since leaving Cambridge. He showed me his bedroom. The smell in it was very strong. It was very small, and was immediately over the w.c. The outer wall was lath-and- plaster on inside and outside, with holes right through, and a free current of ventilation up inside the wall from the w.c. below. The paper was loose on all the walls and damp in places. The room was sunless and looking into a small and dirty court. The window was small, and as the cords were broken the upper sash would not stay up. It was so when he entered into possession. This and the holes through the wall were the only redeeming features from a sanitary point of view. There were only three more days to the end of the term. I told him to procure other rooms for the next one, and to join me in 'London as soon as he could do so. I next called on his tutor, a charming man, totally ignorant of sanitary matters and of the state of any son's authorised lodging. He said he must have some other rooms, and the matter would be looked into. It was looked into, and the whole house at once condemned as unfit for habitation and closed at once, and when next I was in Cambridge it was rtnpty. I had, however, to pay 212 rent for these rooms to the College according to regulation, because my son had failed to give notice of removal before the half-term. To a plain man like me this seemed somewhat on a par with the iniquity of allowing a lad entrusted to the College to live in such a vile and insanitary place, though nothing like so serious a matter. I told my medical friend all about the state of the rooms, and he said of course [was wise in removing him at once. The next lodgings my son looked at were comparatively new ones with nice rooms. He was shown the only w.c. in the house. It was in the basement, and was so damp and filthy and smelly that he remarked to the man on the inconvenience of such a Place, and waa.told that "the young.gentlemen used the ones in College." I hope I may be forgiven for bluntly going
into details, but I wish to be explicit.. Subsequently we procured nice quarters in a new row of houses, and I left Cambridge hoping the lad would not develop a fatal illness before he got away. I have refrained from giving any names, but I have without any exaggeration given an accurate statement of facts, and I therefore feel bound to give nay own name. I think I am correct in the £12, but that is a matter of no moment as compared with the state of the sanitation, and may be only looked upon as a bad example to the young set by those who are supposed to give an eye to their morals.—I am, Sir, Sze., W. W. LUPTON. Mallon.
[We have, of course, no personal knowledge of the facts set forth by our correspondent, but as he evidently writes in good faith and with no intention but that of furthering the public interest, and also gives his name and address for publication, we do not hesitate to print the above on its writer's responsibility.—ED. Spectator.]
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