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86
THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES.
This subject, which occupied considerable space in the two preceding reports, furnishes little
ground for observation on the present occasion, the Council having been unable to make any arrangements,
under Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, for extending housing
accommodation. So far, moreover, the Great Western Railway Company have not taken over the
properties—in Southam Street, Wornington Road, Admiral Terrace, and Place and Mews—needed
for the widening of their line, nor begun to make provision for re-housing the many persons,
between 3,000 and 4,000 in number, who will be displaced by their operations.
Parliamentary.—In the session of 1902 a Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and
the House of Commons on Housing of the Working Classes, were appointed to consider the Standing
Orders relating to houses occupied by persons of the labouring class, and the clauses usually inserted
in private and local Bills and provisional order confirmation Bills in pursuance thereof, and to
report whether any amendments should be made in such Standing Orders and clauses. The
following is the text of the report:—
1. We submit two model clauses and three corresponding Standing Orders, which we
recommend in place of the present model clauses and Standing Orders 38 and 111 (H.L.), 38
and 183a (H.C.), dealing with London and all places outside London respectively.
2. We suggest that the model clauses be embodied in a public general Act of Parliament.
3. After hearing evidence and consulting the officials of the Home Office and Local
Government Board, we have come to the conclusion that in London it is desirable that every
case in which houses of the labouring class are proposed to be taken should be notified to
the central authority, while outside London it is sufficient that the attention of the central
authority should be called to cases in which 30 persons belonging to the labouring class are
displaced in one borough, urban district or rural parish as the case may be.
4. In settling schemes for providing new houses in place of those demolished, we think it
advisable that the central authority should exercise a full discretion.
5. We recommend that the new houses to be provided be suitable for persons of the labouring
class and not too ambitious in character and design; we attach much importance to these
conditions.
6. It will be observed that the area within which the new houses may be provided under
a scheme is left by us wholly to the discretion of the central authority. It may be, and, we
think, will be, found expedient in some cases to erect the new houses at some considerable
distance from the houses demolished, and not necessarily within the jurisdiction of the same
local authority.
7. We recommend that in London the central authority be empowered to fix all rents
for the new houses.
On this point we are not agreed. The above decision was arrived at on a division by
six votes to three.
8. In regard to Ireland and Scotland, we were informed that neither the Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland nor the Secretary for Scotland desired to make any suggestions to us.
So far as we can judge, our recommendations for places outside London are, with the
necessary alterations, suitable for Ireland and Scotland.
The model clauses and the Standing Orders which the Committee recommend for adoption
in place of the present model clauses and Standing Orders, have been issued, together with the
proceedings of the Committee, as a Parliamentary Paper [171], one clause being for London and
the other for places outside London. It is to be presumed that, as recommended by the Committee,
the model clauses will be embodied in a public general Act of Parliament.
By-Laws for Houses Let in Lodgings, etc.—With respect to this subject, there is nothing
to add to what was said in the report for 1901: the negotiations with the Local Government Board
are still going on with reference to the proposed new by-laws, but, for my part, I do not think
this a cause for regret, the existing regulations, framed in 1885, being satisfactory, and for practical
purposes more advantageous in working than any by-laws the Board are now likely to approve.
The Council, upon the recommendation of the Public Health Committee, registered 15 houses
during the year, the total number on the register at the present time being 2,050.