In many instances little if any sunlight could get to the courts, and the atmosphere within the dwellings was always foul, owing largely to the saturated condition of the walls and ceilings, which for so many years had absorbed the exhalations of the occupants into their porous material. Singular testimony to the absence of sunlight in these courts was furnished by the action of the Parks and Gardens Committee, who desired to brighten the homes of the poorest class by gifts of growing flowers and window-boxes; but these gifts could not be made in courts such as these, as flowers and plants were susceptible to the unwholesome surroundings, and would not live.
Mr. George Haw has compiled the following table on the three St. George's parishes (London parishes):—
| Percentage of Population Overcrowded |
Death Rate per 1000 | |
|---|---|---|
| St. George's West | 10 | 13.2 |
| St. George's South | 35 | 23.7 |
| St. George's East | 40 | 26.4 |
Then there are the 'dangerous trades,' in which countless workers are employed. Their hold on life is indeed precarious—far, far more precarious than the hold of the twentieth-century soldier on life. In the linen trade, in the preparation of the flax, wet feet and wet clothes cause an unusual amount of bronchitis, pneumonia, and severe rheumatism;
