POVERTY IN LONDON.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12490, 17 March 1909, Page 4

POVERTY IN LONDON.

A remarkable story of poverty was told (states a London paper of February 6th) at the, City Coroner's Court recently at an inquest on Jane Alice Noble, aged three, the daughter of. an unemployed bookbinder, of Step'neygrbve, Gos well road, Clerkenweli. The mother said that she went out to buy a little coal, and upon her return found her daughter in flames, "f he child was wearing flannelette underclothing, and she could not afford a fireguard. She, her husband, and children came out of the workhouse a few weeks before Christmas, since when her husband had been doing .a little hawking. The Coroner (Dr Waldo): How much does he earn on an average — .bast week we had only 2s 6d, sir. The Coroner: How can you live? I suppose you get outdoor relief? — No, sir, we manage as best we can. We have a pennyworth of bread and a pennyworth of coal. Continuing, the witness said that she, her husband, and three children lived in one room at the rent of 2s a week. '■'■'. The Coroner : That only leaves you iid to live on —^es, sir. " f '. ■■■ The Coroner's Officer said that he found the room very clean. In summing up the Coroner said it was very sacl to know that in' the largest city in the world such a case as this existed. How these poor people existed he did not know, but there were many such cases in Southwark. He would give this poor woman 10s out of the poor box and Is 6d to buy a fireguard. ("Hear, hear!" from the jury-) ■•■...