Some of the chief considerations bearing upon the subject are set forth in the reports referred to in the resolution of the House of Lords, and if within your district there were any Boards of Health appointed during the prevalence of the cholera, it is probable that their reports founded on an examination of the condition of those classes amongst whom the prevalence of that disease was apprehended may furnish you with useful information.
The Commissioners wish further to observe that the state of the dwellings occupied by the labouring classes exercises an important influence upon their health, and the nature and frequency of the diseases to which they are subject, as well as indirectly upon the moral state of themselves and their families.
The Commissioners therefore request you to investigate the state of the dwellings of the labouring classes in your district, both in towns and in the country, with reference to the following observations,—
It will be desirable generally, after informing yourself of the various descriptions of cottage tenements in your district and the nature of the accommodation or comforts which they contain, to observe—
1. What is the common cost of erection, and the average cost of repairing each description of these cottage tenements.
2. What are the rents paid by the labourers for each description of these cottage tenements.
3. What is the general proportion of the rent paid by the labourer to his total expenditure.
You may find within your district instances where the employers of labour (whether agricultural or manufacturing) have erected on their own lands tenements of an improved description for the residence of the labourers employed by them. You are requested to take notice of all such instances which may come before you, and examine them as standards of comparison with other tenements of an inferior kind. You will inquire as to the comparative health and condition of the inmates, and whether the advantage of improved dwellings has been observed to have any salutary influence on the moral habits of the inmates;—whether the increased comforts of his house and home have tended to withdraw the labourer from the beer-shop, and from the habits of improvidence to which it leads;—whether residents in separate and improved tenements are superior in condition, as compared with the labourers who hold merely lodgings, or who reside with other families in the same house.
Where you meet with remarkable instances of improved tenements of this description, you are requested to set them forth in your report, and obtain the loan of the plans or drawings of them, together with any information as to their cost and the probable returns in rent, and whether on the whole (other advantages than the pecuniary return being taken into consideration) they are deemed profitable; or what may be the extent of pecuniary loss upon them, or how far it may be countervailed by other considerations.
Although the facts collected by you may not lead to the adoption of any legislative remedies, the publication of successful examples may be useful in stimulating to the voluntary adoption of them.