FAMILY OF SIX IN ONE BED

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12534, 22 April 1935, Page 3

FAMILY OF SIX IN ONE BED

SHOCKING SLUM REVELATIONS. SIX-YEAR-OLD GIRL SUFFOCATED. LONDON, March 23. .It is difficult for those living in slumless countries like Australia and New Zealand, to appreciate the appalling housing conditions in certain London areas. Indeed only when some tra/go.ly occurs is the real story brought home to Londoners. At the Southwark Coroner’s Court this week, when an inquiry was conducted into the death by asphyxiation of a six-yoar-old child, it was revealed that six people were sleeping in one bed. “And they call this a Christian country,” was the Coroner’s comment. In the bed, it was staled, slept the father and mother, a 17-year-old daughter, the child who dial, and two boys, aged four and five The dead child was Rosina Aylwood. Tho mother. Mrs Jennine Aylwood, said that after a meal of sausages and potatoes Rosina did not feel well and went to bed. The coroner (Mr A. Douglas Cowburn): “Is this right, six of you in one bed?” Mrs Aylwood: Yes. She was at 'the 'foot of the bed with another daughter. The Coroner-. This is a very shocking thing. In the bed were you, your husband, a daughter of 17, this six-year-old child, and two boys aged four and five. Have you no other beds?—Yes, but we had a gas fire in that room, and I thought it would be warmer. Detective-Sergeant Fabian said that he had made inquiries and found that it was not an unusual occurrence for six people to sleep in one bed in that district.