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17 [1898
importance than usual, as there is so little room for further expansion
because of the lack of building sites. What, then, is the remedy?
Broadly stated it is to discourage the transformation of existing houses,
at present let to one person, into flats or into dwellings to be occupied by
members of more than one family. This can be done by the Vestry
itself to an extent, but increased legal powers will also be required.
It is said that the person who makes two blades of grass grow where
but a single blade flourished previously is a benefactor of mankind ; and
in this light many property.owners, who plant 20 or more persons on a
site whereon half.a.dozen people once dwelt, view themselves. But
theirs is an altogether mistaken notion, for their action injures rather
than benefits the body politic; for it is almost an axiom that the
greater the crowding the greater the sickness and the higher the
death.rate. And yet the authorities in London, as a rule, encourage
the construction of these buildings by granting to their owners
the privilege of a large percentage off their rates when they compound
for them; that is to say they are allowed from 15 to 30 per cent, off the
rates on the understanding that the amount be paid, whether the
tenements be occupied or unoccupied. By so doing—in Islington, at
all events —this Vestry must be a distinct loser, for it is an almost
unknown circumstance for a property.owner to have an unlet set of
apartments on his hands. The parish is full, and to overflowing. There
is no need, therefore, to give him a helping hand and encouragement
to still further increase the overcrowding in this district and thereby
to jeopardise its health.
The second remedy, or set of remedies, may require statutory
powers. It is apparent to every person who takes a disinterested and
impartial view of the subject that the conditions under which families,
dwelling in houses let in lodgings or occupied by members of more
than one family live, are far from satisfactory, either when viewed from
the standpoint of sanitation, or of reasonable comfort or privacy. This
is especially the case when the landlord does not live on the premises,
for then no one is responsible for the cleanliness of the premises.
The sanitary conditions are generally very indifferent, for the
provision of a single w.c. is the rule rather than the exception, while
invariably there is but a single.water supply for the whole house.