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OPEN SPACES.
Fulham possesses about fifty acres of open spaces, or 3 per
cent, of its area, as compared with 8.2 per cent, for all London.
I have, in former reports, urged the necessity, in view of the rapid
increase of the population, for additional open spaces, and it is to
be hoped that the Council's negotiations for the acquirement of
some 22 acres adjacent to Wandsworth Bridge Road, for this
purpose, will not fall through, as there is a large working class
population in the immediate neighbourhood, and the advantage it
will be, especially to the children, is inestimable.
HOUSE ACCOMMODATION.—OVERCROWDING.
In Fulham, with its large working class population, the
housing question is of paramount importance, as the increasing
demand, due to constant immigration from other districts, the
rise in the value of land, and the enhanced cost of building operations,
tend steadily to raise the rents of working class property.
With regard to the amount of overcrowding that actually exists,
it is difficult to speak with absolute confidence, as the Census
figures on which we must mainly rely for information, are ten
years old; but I have no reason to think that, although the
population has largely increased, the proportion of those living in
overcrowded conditions is greater than it was in 1891. At that
time Fulham, as regards overcrowding, compared favourably with
London as a whole, 14.3 per cent, of the population living in
overcrowded conditions, i.e., more than two persons to a room,
compared with 20.8 per cent, in the County of London. The
details, however, of the Census of 1901 will shortly be procurable,
and then a more accurate knowledge of this point can be formed.
The question that the Council must shortly decide, is whether
they should avail themselves of their powers under Part 111 of
the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, and build houses
for the working classes. The Surveyor has prepared a list of the
vacant lands in Fulham, embracing some 190 acres, which are
available, but it is to be feared that the price of land in the
borough, which probably could not be bought under £2,500 an
acre, and the increased cost of building would preclude the erec-