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1898] 18
Wash.houses, in the accepted term of the word, there are none, means
for coal storage there are none, while pantry accommodation is an
almost unknown quantity—a luxury.
But as these are all reasonable requirements it seems only the
barest justice that the person who transforms residences, hitherto
occupied by only one family, into houses to be tenanted by many people,
(thereby deteriorating the properties themselves, as well as those in
their neighbourhood, and reducing their rateable value, which, of
course, means a loss of revenue to the Local Authority) should be
compelled to make the effects of the increased aggregation of people as
little felt as possible. He should, therefore, be required, before allowing
these houses to be let to different families, (a) to make ample and
suitable w.c. provision for the number of persons who are to occupy
them ; (6) to supply each tenement with a separate water supply ; (c)
to provide separate storage for coals ; (d) to provide sufficient means for
washing clothes; and (e) to provide pantry accommodation for the
keeping of food.
These are absolute necessaries for civilized beings, and, therefore,
should be provided in every tenement. Their presence tends to promote
health ; their absence makes for dirt, ill.health, disease and death,
while it also tends to dehumanize people and to breed paupers and
criminals.
But it may be argued that the owners of these houses are put to an
increased cost in collecting their rents, because it is more expensive to
collect from many tenants than from one. The answer to this is that,
as a rule, they let their houses in this fashion for their own private
gain, and that, while they have no more ground rent to pay, the rents
received by them are very largely increased, while their rates, instead
of being raised in proportion to their improved rents, are reduced
on the plea that the properties are not so valuable.
It seems to the writer that the duty of the people of Islington
to.day is to protect themselves from being invaded by swarms of people
from other parts of London, for this means the preservation of the good
health of the Parish, which has from time immemorial been noted for