Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. : Appendix Volume XIX. B. Report by Mr. Cyril Jackson on the effects of employment or assistance given to the "unemployed" since 1886 as a means of relieving distress outside the Poor Law in Ireland.

  • Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905-09
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. : Appendix Volume XIX. B. Report by Mr. Cyril Jackson on the effects of employment or assistance given to the "unemployed" since 1886 as a means of relieving distress outside the Poor Law in Ireland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    The poor wages paid to unskilled men in the building trade are especially noticeable. Comparing money wages with real wages, or wages expressed in the amount of commodities they will buy, we have, taking Dublin as 100 in each case :— Money Wages. Real Wages. Money Wages. Real Wages. Dublin - 100 100 Limerick 90 99 Belfast - 104 112 Londonderry 90 100 Cork - 97 109 Waterford - 84 100 Jlents. Taking in the same way the rents paid in Dublin as a standard, we find that the actual rents paid are as follows:— For rooms in houses originally built for the well-to-do, but now let ofi to five or more families— s. d. s. d. One room - - - 2 0 to 3 0 Two rooms -------- - 3 0 4 6 Three rooms - - - - . - - 4 0 6 0 - G 0 8 0 uch as those erected by the Artisans DwelUng Company :— s. d. s. d. For one room - 1 9 to 3 0 ,, two rooms - 3 0 4 6 ,, three rooms -------- - 4 6 ?) 6 0 „ four rooms -------- - 6 0 n 8 0 ,, five rooms -------- - 8 0 n 10 Taking the Dublin rents as 100, those of other Irish towns are given as— Limerick 69 Cork - - 66 Belfast - - - - - - - 61 Many working-class houses are empty. Land is cheap and rates low. Londonderry - 54 Waterford - - - - - - - 53 The percentages of the population of the towns living in the different numbers of rooms are as follows :— Population. 1 room. 2 rooms. 3 rooms. 4 rooms. 5 or more rooms. Belfast ----- 349,180 •4 4-7 6-4 29-1 59-4 Cork ----- - 76,122 5-3 18-5 17-5 17-0 41'7 Dublin 290,638 24-7 21-0 10-3 10-1 33-9 Limerick ----- 38,151 8-7 24-9 15-8 13-2 37-4 Londonderry - . . . 39,892 3-3 7-0 10-4 32-5 46-8 Waterford - - - - 26,769 3-2 12-5 21-6 18-8 43-9 It is interesting to notice that only one out of eleven representative Scotch towns have as low a percentage as 3 ■ 0 per cent, in one room, seven have over 10 per cent., while the maximum is 17 • 2 per cent. Prices.—The index numbers for prices, taking Dublin as 100, are as follows :— Belfast 101 Londonderry - - - - -97 Limerick 96 Cork 95 Waterford - - - - - 92 (Eggs and meat cheaper than elsewhere.] The price of coal is said to be practically the same throughout Ireland. * It appears from a very elaborate and reliable report, emanating from an inquiry recently made by a large employer of labour, that in one ward of Dublin, and that an average one (sixty-two streets, 436 houses and 1,254 families), that the accommodation (taken on the basis of 400 cubic feet for adults and children) was sufficient in 67 per cent, of the tenements, and insufficient in 25 per cent., and partly so in 7 per cent., while the average number of families to each w.c. was 468, and the number of persons to each w.c. was 17*34, and that in the above number of families consumption was iound in 150 cases, equal to 12 per cent. The average number of rooms per family was 1 52 and the average rent 3s. Old. Tuberculosis accounts for 19 per cent, of total deaths.