HH62/1/DUNBAR/19

Transcription

[Page] 18

Persons per Room. - Of even more importance than the
number of rooms per house is the number of persons per room.
Wherever the habit prevails of keeping lodgers, rooms are specially
apt to be overcrowded. In various parts of the county there is a
great deal of overcrowding, and when a sufficient staff of inspectors
is appointed a considerable part of their work, especially in the
Western District, will be the visiting of houses let in lodgings.
But even here some improvement is indicated.
Western District. - In the important parish of Bonhill there has
been a fair general improvement, which has not, however, been
shared in alike by all the populous places. In Jamestown the
persons per room have decreased from 2·77 to 1·94, in Bonhill from
2·37 to 2·20, and in Alexandria from 2·12 to 1·84. The greatest
improvement has thus been in Jamestown. In Cardross parish,
Renton, in 1881, had 2·65 persons per room, and in 1891 2·33
persons. It still, therefore, lags behind the rest of the Vale of
Leven, and when we come to examine its death-rate from all
causes, and especially from zymotic diseases, the facts will be
found to correspond. In Cardross village, in 1881, there were
1·16 persons per room; in Row, 1·01; and in Garelochhead, 0·92.
The figures for 1891 are not yet available.
Eastern District. - In the parish of Cumbernauld, though, as has
been seen, the number of rooms per house is less than in 1881, yet
the rooms are slightly less crowded, there being a reduction from
1·77 in 1881 to 1·68 persons per room in 1891. In Kirkintilloch
parish, Twechar has improved from 2·78 to 2·37. But Waterside
has gone slightly back - from 2·31 to 2·33. And no village in the
county can less afford overcrowding than Waterside. In East
Kilpatrick parish, in the mining villages of Garscadden, Knights-
wood, and Netherton, the average rate was 2·82 in 1881 and 1·71
in 1891. But in Drumchapel Row, and Cloberhill Locks, which
were not entered as constituting a village in the census of 1881,
the figures for 1891 are the highest in the county, being 2·80 and
2·71 respectively. In Bearsden the figures were 0·84 and 0·76 in
the two census years. In the West Kilpatrick villages the average
in 1881 was 1·94 persons per room, and in 1891 it was 1·89. The
fall here is very trifling. Indeed, in Faifley and Hardgate there
has been a rise - from 1·89 to 2·01 - while in Old Kilpatrick the
rate has been stationary at 1·60.

[Page] 19

Percentage of Houses of certain sizes. - Following the
same line of enquiry, we come to the question, How many families
live in houses of one room, two rooms, three rooms, &c? But here
the available information is very defective, as it refers only to the
census of 1881, and to Registration Districts* as a whole, towns
and villages not being differentiated. But for comparison with
the census of 1891, the Report of which will shortly be published,
I may place on record the percentages which I have calculated
from the Census Report of 1881. (See Tables V. and VA).
Western District. - In this district Dunbarton shows worst,
there having been 44 per cent. of the families in one-roomed
houses. This of course is due to the burgh being included within
the Registration District. Next on the list is Arrochar, with 31
per cent. of one-roomed houses. The table indicates a remarkable
difference between the two populous Registration Districts of
Bonhill and Cardross. In the latter, 29·6 per cent. of the
houses had one room, and in the former, only 19·9 per cent.
The difference in favour of Bonhill would have been even
greater if the comparison had been with Renton alone, but
in 1881 Renton had not been separated for registration purposes
from the rest of the parish of Cardross, in part of which the
average house accommodation is much better. The Bonhill
District is remarkable for the number of two-roomed and three-
roomed houses, the former being 53 per cent., and the latter 18
per cent. of the total. In Cardross the corresponding percentages
were 44 and 14. Row District includes Helensburgh, and the
nature of the population is shown by the small number of one
and two-roomed houses. The same remarks apply to Roseneath,
and Cove and Kilcreggan. The entirely rural parish of Kilmaronock
had the smallest percentage of one-roomed houses, and the largest
per centage of three-roomed houses. This is probably in great
part due to the number of farms in the parish.

*In the parishes of Bonhill, Kilmaronock, Row, Luss, Arrochar, Cum-
bernauld, Kirkintilloch, East Kilpatick, and West Kilpatrick, the
Registration District is now coterminous with the parish, and includes
the entire population. In Roseneath there are two Registration Districts
- (1) Roseneath parish, and (2) Cove and Kilcreggan. In Cardross parish,
since 1st January, 1883, there have been two Registration Districts - (1)
Renton, and (2) Cardross; and that part of the burgh of Dunbarton which
is within the parish of Cardross is in the Dunbarton Registration District.