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26
Section III.
HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES.
Sib Thomas More Buildings.
For the year ended 31st March, 1910, the deficit on the year's
working was £214 as compared with £270 12s. for the previous year. The
empties and bad debts amounted to £18 3s., or 0.38 per cent. of the gross
rental (less Superintendent and Porter's Rooms), as against 0.26 per cent.
in the previous year. The general charges amounted to £1,649 6s., or
35.2 per cent. of the gross rental (less rooms of staff), the same percentage
as in the previous year. The general charges for the year included a sum
of £55 granted as a gratuity to Porter Marlow on leaving the Council's
service for illness, and a sum of £22 for the erection of circular garden
seats in one of the courtyards.
The buildings have been fully occupied during the year. During the
year 1910 fifty-four tenants voluntarily terminated their tenancies, as
against thirty-nine in 1909, and four were given notice to quit. During
the year all the external wood and ironwork of the buildings was repainted
by Messrs. B. E. Nightingale for the sum of £184 ; and forty-six tenements,
which had not been cleansed during the preceding three years, were
distempered at a cost of £77 7s. 3d.
In April, 1910, it was found necessary to terminate the appointment
of Mr. A. J. Cottrell, the Superintendent, on account of continued illhealth,
and Mr. H. Sedgwick was appointed on the 11th May to the
vacant post.
Vital Statistics.—During 1910, twenty-five births (14 boys and 11
girls) were registered as occurring in the Buildings, which is equivalent to
a birth-rate of 30.4 per 1,000, the birth-rate of the Borough being 18.3.
Six deaths of residents in the Buildings occurred during the year,
equivalent to a death-rate of 73 per 1,000, the death-rate of the Borough
being 12.7.