View report page

80
THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES.
(Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, Part III.)
The Council took an important step in 1904, in regard to this important question, by
acquiring a considerable number of houses in Kenley Street, Notting Dale, in the exercise of their
powers under Part III., and adapting them for occupation by persons of the poorer classes. The
houses on the north side of the street are now in occupation; those on the south side have been
demolished, and will be replaced by six blocks of flats—constituting an important public health
improvement. It is intended, moreover, to erect single-roorp tenements on a site in Hesketh Place
and Thomas Place, in " The Potteries."
The Housing Problem.—The Royal Commission on London Traffic, when dealing with
housing in relation to the traffic question, expressed the opinion that to re-house, " on site," people
displaced in large numbers, from whatever cause, is too costly a proceeding ; while the re-housing in
the suburbs, with quick and cheap transit, is not only practicable, but can be accomplished without
any loss to the rates. In their view, a large proportion of workers in the overcrowded parts of
London do not need to live near their work; and, when facilities for locomotion are afforded, the
population not only take advantage of it, but are far more comfortable and healthy. In order to
relieve overcrowding, they contend that means must be provided for taking the population in and
out of London, in many directions, at rapid speed, frequent intervals, and cheap rates.
I am in agreement with this view of the subject, having dealt with it on similar lines in the
annual report for 1889, wherein it was pointed out that " the carrying out of Cross's Acts in
London must needs be a costly procedure at all times, and probably much more so than schemes
for migration; which, by lessening the excessive demand for lodgings, might lead to reduction
in rents, and thus enable the poorer classes to obtain more and better accommodation." "By a large
scheme for migration," I added, "overcrowding might be diminished, and with it preventible disease
resulting from this, the most perilous of insanitary conditions." The model dwellings erected on
the sites cleared under Cross's Act, it was stated," are not tenanted to any large extent by the
poorest of the working classes, or by those displaced by the clearings. Clerks, and
superior artizans able to command constant work, commonly occupy these healthy homes, and
plenty others would doubtless be forthcoming were the accommodation greatly extended.
These, however, are the classes for whom it might be practicable to provide out of London." The
subject was further considered in the report for 1891 (" Migration as a Remedy for Overcrowding"),
in which the need for a "service of cheap trains" for giving effect to the plan was emphasized.
The hope was expressed that "care would be exercised to prevent the creation of
slums outside London." The houses to be built "should not be too large, nor too crowded on
space." Working men, moreover, "should be encouraged to become the owners of their cottage
homes"; whilst travelling facilities "should be confined, so far as practicable, to bond fide workmen
only, so that the suburbs may not be overrun by ' outcast London.'"
It is to be hoped that the report of the Royal Commission may contribute towards the
realization of these ideals; alike by commercial enterprise, and through the agency of the London
County Council, who, under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, are enabled to erect,
purchase, or hire houses, without as well as within the Metropolis; and who have done, and are
doing, much to facilitate migration, by promoting and providing cheap and rapid transit in
London and to the suburbs.
"Dwellings from Rubbish—Under this picturesque heading, an article appeared in a July
issue of the Municipal Journal on the experimental erection by the Liverpool Corporation of
workmen's dwellings, three storeys high, made from concrete composed of crushed clinker from
refuse destructors, and Portland cement, reinforced with a little steel. The side-walls, the ceiling,
and the floor of a room are moulded in single slabs of the size of the room, and transported ready
for erection. The living rooms are fifteen feet by ten feet four inches; the bedrooms fifteen feet
three inches by seven feet nine inches, with a height of ten feet: the slabs comprising