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12
January, 1898, it appears that the nett payments and liabilities to 31st December
1897 in respect of this scheme have been £51,779 12s. 3d., but in this sum is included
the sum of £970 6s. 8d., being a proportion of the cost of my salary and that of my
staff, in addition to £595 17s. 9d. for the salary of the conveyancing clerk, Mr.
Nicholl, and his successor employed especially upon this scheme. The sum of
£970 6s. 8d. for my department, is a book transfer and would have been paid by the
Vestry for my staff whether this scheme had been carried out or not. Something
should be added for the Accountant's services and staff, but this would be balanced
by the other office work and conveyancing done by Mr. Nicholl, not chargeable to
this scheme.
"The whole of the purchases having been completed and the property demolished,
the only further expense to be contemplated, apart from the rebuilding, is the cost of
making and sewering the new street, estimated by the Surveyor at £945, which will
make a total outlay by the Vestry of £52,724 12s. 3d., towards which they are
entitled to £27,500 from the London County Council, and have in addition the whole
of the vacant land as a valuable asset in their favour, which, at 9s. per foot (a fair
valuation of the whole, allowing a lower price for the site of the Vestry's Model
dwellings to counter-balance a higher price for the land for commercial purposes
facing Nile Street and East Road), works out at £20,257. Thus the Vestry's
contribution of £25,224, after setting off against it the value of the land, which is the
Vestry's sole property, makes the nett cost of the scheme to the Vestry only £4,967.
After allowing for the book transfer for my staff (payable by the Vestry even if the
scheme had not existed), the nett payment is reduced to £3,997. In addition, a
valuable street improvement, distinct from the re-housing scheme, has been effected,
25,084 square feet having been used for the new street and widening others, and
valuing this land for this purpose at only 5/- per foot, the housing scheme should be
credited with £6,271 in respect thereof, thus shewing a nett credit balance or
profit of £2,274 on the housing scheme alone. An important factor in this
reduction of cost below the estimate is the strenuous resistance offered by your
Committee to all extravagant claims and bills of costs, necessitating arbitration and
taxation in a number of cases. Thus total claims of £76,000 were reduced to £45,300,
the compensation actually paid, whilst the claims that went to arbitration amounted
to £12,104, and the total amount awarded in settlement was only £5,126. This
action naturally caused increased office work, and consumed much time. The
buildings for Model Dwellings, according to Mr. Plumbe's estimate, will pay for
themselves; the rents, after all usual deductions for repairs, loss, collection, rates,
taxes, insurance, &c., are estimated to pay interest and repayment of capital borrowed
to build them, and still leave a profit of three-fifths per cent., or £142 15s. per annum.
It would thus appear there is not much risk of the Vestry losing by the rebuilding
part of the scheme, especially as Mr. Plumbe has allowed for a sinking fund to pay
off the cost of the buildings and the land at the end of 60 years, whereas at that time
the land will remain as a valuable asset worth not less than it is now. Adjusting
Mr. Plumbe's Table to provide for present rates (underestimated by him), but for
lower interest of 27/8 (estimated by him at 3 per cent.) on capital value of land and
buildings, and limiting the sinking fund to replace buildings only, the dwellings would
just pay for themselves if the land were put at a value of 9s. per loot. Owing to the
Plumber's Place area, where the property of larger rating existed, having only been
recently cleared, tbe loss of rates will not be heavy, and will be more than compensated
by the future increased ratings of the property to be erected.
"I think this result is one that the Vestry may congratulate itself upon, and in
view of the complaints that have been frequently expressed as to the apparently
excessive delay in carrying this scheme through, I think it due to my department to
point out some of the chief causes of this delay.
“The Vestry made the scheme which has now been carried out, on the 28th June,
1692, and the necessary plans were at once prepared and application made by me to
the London County Council and Local Government Board on the 30th June, 1892, for