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61
The report, which was signed by all the members, and was unanimously adopted, embodied
a number of recommendations,* some of which were carried into effect. But the Vestry had no
power to adopt the course on which the Council have now entered—for practical purposes the most
useful course—of acquiring houses for use as lodging-houses ; the power to do this having been at
the time vested in the London County Council, as sole local authority under Part III. of the Act
of 1890.
In 1897, the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the Vestry appointed a Special
Committee to " consider and report what action should be taken to commemorate in the Parish of
Kensington " that most auspicious occasion. The Committee thought it desirable to elicit the
views of "representative inhabitants," and at a public meeting held at the Town Hall, 15th March,
it was unanimously resolved—
" To give effect to the loyal feelings of the parishioners by the promotion of a scheme
having for its object the amelioration of the condition of the inhabitants of that limited district
in the parish to which public attention has for some time been drawn "—the " Notting
Dale Special Area," to wit.
A representative Committee having been appointed with this object, I took advantage of the
opportunity to suggest t the direction in which it appeared to me action might most usefully be
taken; viz., by the creation of a Trust, for the acquisition of houses in the several streets, and their
adaptation as residences for the working classes. " Any scheme for pulling down the houses," was
deprecated on the ground that "the cost would be too great," and that the existing evils would be
increased by driving the people into adjoining streets, many of which (as the Special Committee of
1896 had stated) were already overcrowded and degenerating in character. " In order to the
raising of the locality," it was stated to be " not necessary to destroy, but only to improve the existing
houses, and to enforce the by-laws applicable to registered" premises, and the by-laws for the
enactment of which provision is made in Part III.
Attention was drawn to the fact that the property " paid its owners well," and that there was
"no reason why it should not be made to pay reasonable interest upon any funds invested by
Trustees in the purchase of houses; " the contemplated improvements, therefore, might be carried
out " at little ultimate cost " to the promoters of the scheme.
A further and subsidiary suggestion made was, that some of the houses acquired might be
utilised as " relief" houses, into which people could be drafted from " registered" houses, so as to
give the owners of such houses vacant possession during the time necessary for the periodical
cleansing required by the Vestry's by-laws for houses let in lodgings or occupied by members of
more than one family. The opinion was expressed that if rooms in the acquired houses " were let
on low terms, the lodgers would find it to their interest to keep them in decent order," whilst the
work of the Sanitary Inspector would naturally be " supplemented by the oversight of the
person or persons whom the Trustees should appoint as caretakers." The Sanitary Authority and
the Trustees having thus done what they could, might (it was hoped), "confidently appeal to the
London County Council for their co-operation," which, " if given heartily in the spirit of
Part III. . . . should prove effective " in securing the object aimed at—" the provision of
suitable homes for the working classes." This hope, as will be seen, was doomed to disappointment.
The representative Committee did not entertain the proposals submitted to them, but decided
that," in the first instance, their scheme should embrace the provision of a Creche, and club rooms for
men and women, and the erection of a People's Hall for entertainments, music, gymnastics and
classes "—very excellent things in their way, as " supplementary to the provision of healthy homes
for the persons proposed to be benefited." But the scheme was too ambitious, and ultimately
the modest sum subscribed was applied to the erection of the Home, in Kenley Street, for Nurses
who are now doing good work in North Kensington.
The proposals having fallen through, I called attention in more than one report (in 1897),
to the powers conferred by Part III. on the "local authority" (the County Council), by the
exercise of which they could, " without entailing any great ultimate expense (on the rates)
ameliorate the condition of the inhabitants " of Notting Dale. This Part of the Act has for its
*The recommendations had reference (inter alia) to the asphalte paving of streets and yards, the trapping of street
gullies, the closing of surface sewer ventilating openings, the cleansing of bedding, and the more frequent removal of house
refuse.
† Monthly Reports, No. 3, page 32, and No. 4, page 47.