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106
Disorderly House.—On the 22nd January 1896 the Vestry concurred
in the following resolutions passed at a conference of the
Vestries of the parishes of St. Anne and St. James, Westminster,
St. Giles-in-the- Fields and St. George, Bloomsbury, and suggested
that the Home Secretary should be asked to receive a deputation:—
That in addition to the powers already possessed by the local authorities
the police should have power to take the initiative to suppress disorderly
houses, and that the law should be altered accordingly.
That a petition be sent to the Home Secretary, asking him to amend the
law, making it a criminal offence for men to live on the prostitution
of women.
Municipal Dwellings.—Upon the subject of this reference (see p.
117 of last Annual Report) the Committee on the 5th February 1896
submitted an exhaustive report from the Clerk, in which he recited
the various Acts from 1868 to 1885 which had been repealed by
and consolidated in the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890
(53 and 54 Vic. cap. 70), this now comprising the whole law relating
to municipal dwellings and lodging-houses. Part I. of this Act
provided for the clearance of unhealthy areas by the local authority,
which was defined for the administrative county of London to be
the London County Council, and did not therefore affect the Vestries
and District Boards ; Part II. dealt with unhealthy or obstructive
buildings, and conferred certain powers upon the local sanitary
authorities (i.e. the Vestries and District Boards) to close, demolish
or reconstruct such houses when the area was too small for the
application of a scheme under Part I., and to borrow money for 50
years for the purpose; and Part III. dealt with working-class
lodging-houses, and conferred full powers to carry out the Act upon
the local authority, which in this case also was defined to be the
London County Council. Except in the matter of clearing and reconstructing
small areas of less than ten houses, the Vestry
possessed therefore no statutory power to secure sites and erect
dwellings for the artisan and labouring classes. He reviewed and
criticised the action of the large builders and property owners of
the parish in the past in combining in their own interest to oppose
the action of the elected representatives of the parishioners and
increase their rents, which he maintained should be governed by