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widow lady) to negotiate the surrender of the lease, and, also, with a view to secure the
demolition of the houses by the freeholder. The first notices were served in May, and
the lease was surrendered at Christmas quarter. The freeholder thereon immediately
commenced the demolition of the premises, and is now actively engaged in rebuilding
good substantial four-roomed cottages, the whole of which will, probably, be
completed this summer.
The freeholder had previously rebuilt a considerable number of the adjoining houses ;
there is, therefore, geod reason to believe that Boston Street, which has hitherto been
one of the worst streets in the parish, both as to its houses and as to their tenants, will
soon become greatly improved in both respects.
BED LION STREET (12 houses.)
Nos. 43 to 54.
These were very old and worn out three-roomed cottages, the leases of which had
reverted to the ground landlord a year or two back. The neglect of the landlord during
that time had brought them into a condition quite unfit for habitation.
An order thereon having been made to secure the closure of the premises was at
once complied with; the owner then proceeded to demolish, and carted away the
whole of the material of the twelve cottages, and has erected in their place twelve fourroomed
cottages properly fitted with all necessary conveniences. These cottages, which
are built neatly and substantially, command a new and a much more respectable class
of tenants, who keep their houses in good order. The roadway having been asphalted
by your Vestry contributes thereby to the general cleanliness of the street, the houses,
and the people living in them. Hitherto, as children played in the unpaved and muddy
street so there was mud in the houses. Now that the roadway is the cleanest of playgrounds,
dirty houses are the exception.
CAROLINE PLACE (34 houses).
Nos. 1 to 34.
These are two-roomed cottages, and formed a section of 1,068 premises complained
of by the Mansion House Council—the complaint being, that the closets were without
water supply.
It would have been easy in the case of these premises, as in most of the other
premises complained of, to have given satisfaction to the Mansion House Council by
at once serving notices requiring the provision of water supply to all the closets, which
would, probably, have been complied with in a few weeks; but in that manner of treatment
it was felt the complaints of the Mansion House Council would become very
mischievous, for their complaints being attended to, and by a Sanitary Inspector,
would lead inexperienced persons to imagine that no sanitary defects remained in
their houses. As to the 34 houses of Caroline Place, in instance, the only complaint
received, was that the w.c.'s had no water, whereas a proper inspection found ample
evidence of defective drains, defective yard paving, and defective construction of