PUNCH.

In compliance with the above correspondence, Punch proceeded to make the
necessary inquiries, and very soon was enabled to forward the following

REPORT ON THE PUBLIC DISTRESS.


_To Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department._

Sir,--In compliance with my undertaking to inquire into the public
distress, I went into the manufacturing districts, where I had heard that
several families were living in one room with nothing to eat, and no bed
to lie upon. Now, though it is true that there are in some places as many
as thirty people in one apartment, I do not think their case very
distressing, because, at all events, they have the advantage of society,
which could not be the case if they were residing in separate apartments.
It is clear that their living together must be a matter of choice, because
I found in the same town several extensive mansions inhabited by one or
two people and a few servants; and there are also some hundreds of houses
wholly untenanted. Now, if we multiply the houses by the rooms in them,
and then divide by the number of the population, we should find that there
will be an average of three attics and two-sitting-rooms for each family
of five persons, or an attic and a half with one parlour for every two and
a half individuals; and though one person and a half would find it
inconvenient to occupy a sleeping room and three-quarters, I think my
calculation will show you that the accounts of the insufficiency of
lodging are gross and wicked exaggerations, only spread by designing
persons to embarrass the Government.