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6
POPULATION.
During 1904 the population of the Borough has been unusually
migratory. This change has not been confined to a portion of the
Borough, but has been present in every district. The extensive re-housing
schemes now being carried out and affecting fully 6,000 persons, must of
necessity exert a disturbing influence on the remainder. I have no doubt
many of the dislodged inhabitants have found a resting place in other
wards. The population of the Borough during the year may not have
declined to any amount by the re-building operations on the Clandon
Street and other areas, yet the most casual observer must have noticed a
great change in the appearance of the Borough during the last year or
two.
There has been a tendency for the better-to-do residents to remove
to the outskirts of our big city where house rent is less and accommodation
better. The increased means of locomotion recently provided has
made this possible. Only a few years ago it was exceedingly difficult to
find a house unlet, indeed, such was the demand for accommodation that
persons desiring to rent a house had to wait for months before they could
be suited. Much of this has changed. At the present time the supply of
houses more than equals the demand for them in all classes of tenements.
With regard to the rents paid in the Borough for single rooms; in the
northern part, the rent of one room is from 2s. to 2s. 6d. per week. This
price increases as one travels westward, from 3s. to 4s. or 4s. 6d. These
prices are for unfurnished rooms. Furnished rooms are generally from
1s. to 1s. 6d. more. In the cheaper model dwellings rents are 1s. 9d., 2s.
and 3s. for single rooms, according to the floors. In other well-known
buildings a single room and scullery let for 4s. 3d., and two rooms for 6s.
to 6s. 6d., according to the floor. On one of our large estates the usual
two-room tenement is 6s. 6d., and a three-room tenement 8s. 6d., whilst
on another property the charge is 9s. and 9s. 6d. for three rooms and a
scullery.
In Southwark the slum question is largely solving itself. Owners of
such property find that the repairs called for by the sanitary authority are
such a heavy expense, that little, if any, profit falls to the share of the
owner. A large extent of insanitary house property has been closed, and
in many cases pulled down, from this cause alone It is a serious question
for owners of insanitary property whether it would be better to rebuild
the small houses on the same site in the very crowded parts of the
Borough, or to build warehouses. I think the latter, where the frontage
is a good one, is likely to be more remunerative to the owner, as small