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action that the Vestry of Lambeth has already taken in
connection with the Extension and Improvement Scheme of
the L. & S. W. Railway—a most important piece of work.
Having insisted upon such conditions, these displacements
due to Railway Extensions, Improvement Schemes, etc,
become, unfortunately, necessary evils, and must, therefore,
be accepted locally with regret—at least qud displacements.
The case is a very different one, however, where it is
proposed by the L. C. C. (for instance) to clear sites in
Lambeth Parish (Salutation Place, Peers Cooperage, &c.)
for the purpose of building thereon Artisans' Dwellings,
which are for the use of persons displaced by an area condemnation
in another Metropolitan district. What would
happen in such a case? The tenants of such courts as
Salutation Place, &c., would not, when displaced, go into
model blocks—they prefer the independence of a selfcontained
cottage, and, as they must remain in, or near, their
present homes, on account of their work, or for other equally
cogent reasons, the necessary result would be more overcrowding
in the immediate neighbourhoods —a condition to
be avoided, if possible.
Before leaving this part of the Report, I may remind the
Vestry that the Duchy of Cornwall—the ground landlord of
a large portion of the Inner Districts of Lambeth—though
outside the pale of the Housing of the Working Classes Act,
has assisted me at all times in furthering sanitary reform, an
assistance which was first promised in a letter sent by the
Council of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, stating that "they
were at all times most desirous of complying with the spirit
of any Act of Parliament, contemplating improvements on
the score of the public health and in the interests of the
working classes." The value of such a concession to
Lambeth cannot be over-estimated, and has been the means
of enabling great improvements (without trouble or legal
proceedings) to be made, e.g., the closure and clearance Of