THE CHEAP LODGING-HOUSES OF MELBOURNE.

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2670, 20 November 1871, Page 3

THE CHEAP LODGING-HOUSES OF MELBOURNE.

[From the Argus.] A tour of the cheap lodging-houses of the city was made on Tuesday night by the Mayor (Mr M'Pherscn),the Mayorelect (Mr Fenwick), the Town Clerk (Mr Fitzgibbon), the Revenue Inspector (Mr M. E. Dr Girdle-

stone (the health officer), and some representatives of tho pres«, with a view to ascertaining by acd.i: visitation the sleeping aecommoibiion obtainable by the poor people of Melbourne. In order that tho visitors might have an opportunity of seeing the bedrooms when iv occupation, and judging of the character of the inmates, as well as of the steps taken to secure the ventilation which is so necessary in a hot i-lima'.e like this, a time was chosen at which moat people are in bed, and the expedition did not set out till about eleven o'clock iv the evening. No previous warning had been given to the lodginghouse-keepers, so that everything might be found in its normal condition of dirt or cleanliness. The first place visited was a restaurant in Bourke street, which contained eighty-three beds, and was compared to a huge rabbit-warren. The first flight of steps took the visitors to a room about the size of an ordinary room, and the air was here considered very close and unhealthy. Corridors branching off in different directions were explored, and found to be lined with email sleeping rooms, containing one, two, three, or four beds, according to the size. Most of these rooms were unoccupied, but they were exceedingly close, and there was a lamentable want of ventilation. Each room had upon the ba<.k of the door a corporation card, showing the number of cubic feet of air contained by the apartment, and how many beds were allowed, but in one or two instances the number of beds exceeded the regulation. It was explained that the extra beds were only put in the rooms to be out of the way, and not for use. Two other flights of steps were ascended, each leading to a higher floor, which was divided off into similar small dormitories, divided by narrow corridors. The higher up one went the smaller became the room, and, as a consequence, the closer grew the atmosphere, until ifc was positively sickening to remain long in the place. I Even where the rooms were close to ' the roof the ventilation was a mere sham, and it seemed an astonishing thing that people, however hard pressed for a lodging, should sleep in any of the rooms, or that they should escape suffocation during the night. The floors and partitions and stairs were all of wood, and when it was suggested that if the place caught fire when it was full, or only half full of inmates, very few could escape, the conviction was irresistible that all the occupants of the two upper flats would in case of such a catastrophe be roasted alive without the hope of escape. The place was co intricately planned that if an alarm of fire were raised the occupants would be certain to rush every way but the right, and the stairs were so narrow that even if they were not burnt away at first they would afford very slight means of escape. When the visitors, after exploring all the rooms and passages, descended to the comparatively large room .en thei first landing, they imagined the air pure and sweet by comparison with the higher atmosphere. The next place visited wss a lodging liouse in Elizabeth street, which was much dirtier and closer,and smelt much worse than the other, but was not so extensive. Therewas a yard something smaller than an ordinary cottage kitchen, and it contained the closets and all kinds of refuse, which had, at any rate, tho virtue of giving the visitors a change from a greasy, close smell, to a noisome, sour odour. A short time in this pleasant abode sufficed the expedition, and a stretch was then made along Bourke street west, to a boarding-house on the northern side of the road. This place was roomy and well kept, and provided with large ordinary rooms and good-sized sleeping apartments. It should be mentioned that each lodginghouse is furnished with a large printed copy of the corporation regulations as to lodging-houses, which the keeper is obliged to keep hung up in the general or dining-room, so that he and the occupants may always have the law before their eyes. The last house seemed to have been selected in order to make more noticeable the contrast between it and the next halting place, which was on tho opposite side of the road, and further west. A middle-aged woman, with her head bandaged up, greeted the visitors, and was followed to the passage by a number of greasy odoriferous men, evidently of Ihe genus loafer, who smoked short pipes, and leared lazily at the visitors. One old fellow came to the door and inquired, " Hello ! what's this 'ere, eh ?" but getting no answer, subsided upon an old form, and covering bis face with his hands, reconnoitered through his fingers. Up a narrow companion the expedition proceeded, and gained a flat divided into small rooms, which smelt strongly. Tbe rooms were in a filthy state, and seemed coated with the dust and grease of a dozen years ; while the inmates, several of whom were crowded into rooms in excess of the number allowed, had plainly forgotten the art of washing. Tlie ventilation was principally such as came in at the doors, and here and there a pane was knocked out of a window in order that the air might enter ■ but some of the sleepers, with a strange perversity, had stuffed old hals and trousers into these spaces to keep out the cold. The atmosphere was so close and poisonously stinking that most of the visitors had to puff incessantly at cigars or pipes, and as soon as possible the open street was regained. It was not thought advisable to look too closely into the condition of the betiding, as some of tbe expedition were not used to this sort of thing, but it was suggested that, judging from the manner in which the inmates were crowded together, space waa too valuable to be given over to vermin. Further down the street an extensive building was entered, much resembling the last place, except that it was on a very much 'larger scale, there being 128 beds in the place, nearly all occupied. This was the keeper's calculation, bnt Mr Evans said there were 190. The ramifications of passages were extraordinary, each lined

> with dormitories, containing from one , to a dozen beds, not one of which was provided with a blanket, the bedding merely consisting of a mattress-, coarse sheet, and a thick stuff quill, an article which it was pointed out was admirably adapted for concealing and promoting the increase of bug* and other vermin. A boy in one bed waa found sleeping iv company with a dog, and a ]i_bt_d candle, stuck iv a bottle, v.a.** placed so close to thc door that if the wick had burnt a little longer, and had fallen over, the wood work would probably have been iv flames in a very short time. In another room a negro waa discovered in bed with his boots and trousers on. He was told not to disturb himself, and immediately popped his head under tbe dirty clothes and his booted feet out of the lower end, being uuable to cover both extremities at once. Somo of the rooms were built fronting a slight platform facing into an open courtyard, and in fact were not in the building at all, but were like cells stuck on to the outside wall of the building. One af the blank walls bore in large letters the words " Meat Preserving," aud the legend was thought to be very applicable to the manner in which the lodgers were being pickled iv foul air. The lodger, themselves did not seem to find the atmosphere oppressive; and one sturdy fellow, who seemed to be a sailor, aud had decorated his cell with an engraving of Iv r elsou, remarked, when he was told that the visitors were looking after his comfort. " Oh, leave mc alone for that; I looks after my own comfort—my word, I do. I don't waut no inspection of my bedclothes. I goes where it suits mc, aud I makes myself comfortable. Don't trouble yourselves about mc." Another man, asking with an oath what was up, said ho thought the detectives had come to rouse them out. The beds in this house are let out at Gd a night, aud the lodgers have to procure and cook their own food. A sight of the kitchen where they had to prepare the food was more instructive than appetising. The lavatory was ridiculously inadequate. The lodgers seemed to be nearly all of the loafer class—dirty, ragged, greasy, blear-eyed, and vicious-looking. Dirty and regardless of the decency aa they were, a few minutes' stay in one of the larger rooms rendered it a marvel how they could prefer the lodging-house to a snooze in the scrub on the Tarra banks. A minute description of the place would be simply sickening. These premises, as well as most of tlie others visited, would afford opportunity for a good many inquests if a fire broke out in one of the rooms —a not at all unlikely thing, to judge by the manner in which smoking was allowed. The next place visited was round the corner in King street, and was a considerable improvement upon the last, beueath which it extended, but, as usual, the vent lation was very imperfect. Several other placts were visited, one or two in King street and Flinders street; and one in the--lai-ter thoroughfare occupied by sailors was a fifcii**<? companion for the worst in Bourke street:- A long walk back to Swanston street was" then a made, aud a lodginghouse in that street was visited, and found to be managed in several particulars in contravention of the regulations. The rooms were small, ill-ventilated, and close, but after what the visitors had gone through nothing seemed very bad. A man and a woman of the town were found occupying one room in contravention of the rules,* nnd the keeper will be. proceeded against. During the piigrimage several others were informed that they had rendered themselves liable to fine, and would be duly summoned. Two eating-houses in Bourke street east were visited, aud found to be tolerably clean and well attended to, but the rooms even here must be fearfully close in the summer. Most of the low restaurants and lodging houses are nothing better than places of assignation and accommodation for women of the town. It being now nearly two o'clock in the morning, the general opinion was that it was too late to inspect any more placeß on this occasion, and no more houses were visited. During and sifter the inspection, a suggestion by Mr Eitzgibbon of the formation of a company or society for the establishment of model cheap lodging-houses on a large was very warmly taken up, and it is to be hoped that the proposition will not be allowed to drop. It was mentioned that large establishments, built substantially of stone, with cement floors and no woodwork, had been found to pay a percentage on the outlay in London and other large centres of population in England. Something decided should be done to remedy the present state of things, which, if allowed to continue, will one day lead to an outbreak of some deadly epidemic.