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61
The position remained so unsatisfactory that after
serious consideration the Committee recommended the
Council to ask the President of the Local Government
Board to receive a deputation, consisting of the members
of the Public Health Committee and the local Members
of Parliament, to lay before the President the views
of the Council on the matter.
In the copy of the correspondence above referred to
was a letter from the County Council which contained the
observations of the Housing of the Working Classes
Committee on the proposals of the Board (see page 54).
It recited the resolution of the County Council of July
29th, 1913, as to the reasons of the London County
Council for not proceeding with a scheme under Part I.
of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, in
view of prospective legislation, which would " enable
the area to be dealt with in a more satisfactory manner
and at less cost to the ratepayers than is the case under
the present law," and quoted Ministers of the Crown
as the source of their belief in the imminence of such
legislation. The principle expressed in the resolution
with regard to the cost of a Part I. scheme would, it
was stated, "apply, though with less force, to the much
more moderate scheme suggested by the Local Government
Board."
The Housing Committee was, however, prepared to
recommend the County Council to carry into effect at its
own cost a scheme, under Part II. of the Act of 1890,
for the clearance of Section 4 (see page 54), except
the houses fronting on Merceron Street, the site probably
to be utilised for a new County Council School, provided
that the Borough Council would undertake to deal with