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"We beg to report that we have had before us, pursuant to the reference by the Council of the
19th December last, the question of the nature and extent of the overcrowding in the borough,
and have fully enquired into the subject. We have also had before us, in pursuance of the
reference by the Council of the 6th February, paragraph 7 of the report of the Medical Officer
of Health, No. 1, 1901, under the heading 'Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890-1900,'
and, in accordance with a further reference of the 1st May, the letter from the Chelsea and
District Branch of the National Democratic League, urging the Council to at once erect
suitable buildings, at fair rentals, for the industrial classes. In connection with the foregoing
references, we directed the medical officer of health to obtain and tabulate, under
certain specified headings, the particulars required by the Council with regard to overcrowding
in the borough, and we also selected a number of streets in which house-to-house
visits by the sanitary inspectors were thought desirable; such streets fairly representing the
description of thoroughfares in the borough, in which it might be anticipated that congestion
to any appreciable extent would be found to exist.
"We have now received the report of the Medical .Officer of Health referred to, and beg to
submit the same for the information of the Council. We do not deem it necessary to comment
upon the statistics furnished as a result of the house-to-house inspections which have
been made, but having carefully considered the report, as a whole, and the suggestions
embodied therein by the Medical Officer of Health, we have come to the conclusion that it is
expedient that the Council should adopt Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes
Act, 1890, in order that they may be vested with the powers conferred on a local authority
by that Part of the Act, and be the better able to deal with this important question. We
accordingly recommend :—
"That the Council do by formal resolution adopt Part III. of the Housing of the Working
Classes Act, 1890."
In accordance with the recommendation contained in paragraph 1 of the Committee's
report it was, on October 30th, 1901, unanimously resolved—
"That this Council do, under and pursuant, to the provisions of the London Government
Act, 1899, and the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, hereby adopt Part III.
of the last-mentioned Act within the Borough."
On the matter again coming before the Public Health Committee, a sub-committee was appointed
to deal therewith, but at the present writing the labours of this body have not borne fruit.
Two courses would appear to be open to the Council: (1) the acquisition of land, of which
little is available, as sites for houses for the working classes; (2) the acquisition of existing
houses and their conversion to lodging-houses. The latter plan is that which has always commended
itself to my judgment, in the belief that a large scheme might be carried through with
little, if any, ultimate charge upon the rates and with manifest advantage to the classes intended
to be benefited, to whom the Council would stand in the relation of landlords. Having regard
to the terms on which houses of this sort commonly change hands, I am of opinion that it
would be practicable to provide lodgers with two rooms for little more than the present cost of
single-room tenements, and to do this upon a purely commercial basis.
THe Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899.—In the thirteenth report, 1901, I drew the
attention of the Council to the provisions of this Act, which empowers local authorities to
" advance money for enabling persons to acquire the ownership of small houses in which they
reside." The first section of the Act reads as follows—
1. (1) A local authority for any area may, subject to the provisions of this Act, advance
money to a resident in any house within the area for the purpose of enabling him to acquire
the ownership of that house, provided that any advance shall not exceed—
(a) Four-fifths of that which in the opinion of the local authority is the market value
of the ownership; nor
(b) Two hundred and forty pounds ; or, in the case of a fee simple or leasehold of not
less than ninety-nine years unexpired at the date of the purchase, three hundred
pounds;
and an advance shall not be made for the acquisition of the ownership of a house where, in
the opinion of the local authority, the market value of the house exceeds four hundred
pounds.
(2) Every such advance shall be repaid with interest within such period not exceeding thirty
years from the date of the advance as may be agreed upon.
(3) The interest shall be at such rate as may be agreed upon, not exceeding ten shillings above
the rate at which the local authority can at the time borrow from the Public Works Loan
Commissioners the money for the advance.
(4) The repayments may be made either by equal instalments of principal, or by an annuity of
principal and interest combined, and all payments on account of principal or interest shall
be made either weekly or at any periods not exceeding a half year, according as may be
agreed.
(5) The proprietor of a house in respect of which an advance has been made may, at any of the
usual quarter days, after one month's written notice, and on paying all sums due on account
of interest, repay to the local authority the whole of the outstanding principal of the advance,
or any part thereof being ten pounds or a multiple of ten pounds, and where the repayment
is made by an annuity of principal and interest combined, the amount so outstanding and
the amount by which the annuity will be reduced where a part of the advance is paid off,
shall be determined by a table annexed to the instrument securing the repayment of the
advance.