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121
HOUSING. TOWN PLANNING, &c., ACT, 1909.
The following is a return of what has been done under the above
Act. There has been much difficulty in finding all the parties having an
interest in the various properties, and in some cases we have had to start
afresh. Various mistakes, naturally, in such an important Act, have
been made and rectified. There is a good field in this borough for work
in connection with it, although it is only fair to mention that during the
last few years large portions of the borough through private and official
improvement schemes have undergone remarkable changes. I have only
to mention the clearances in relation to the Clandon Estate of the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the Webber Row and King's Bench Walk
Areas, the schemes for the clearance of the Tabard Street and Grotto
Place Areas, the rebuilding and improvement of many private estates,
together with the modernising of a large number of existing buildings.
With the exception of the Clandon Street Area the greater part of the
changes have been, naturally, in the older and worn out part of the
borough—the northern end. With all this activity in rebuilding and
modernising buildings and areas we have at the present time, especially
near the river bank, a large number of worn out and rotten houses that
must in the near future be cleared away. Some of them in construction
date back to a period two or three hundred years ago. They are picturesque
and interesting to the Antiquarian, but they are very insanitary. We
know all this debased and undesirable property very well, and it is only
fair to say that during the last few years it has received proper attention
at the hands of the sanitary inspectors. I could not pass a higher compliment
on the zeal of the inspectors than to simply state that there is
hardly a house in the borough which is not visited and fully reported
upon once a year ; indeed many of the houses are visited much more
frequently. A visit to any part of the borough will testify to the value of
our inspectors. I mention this as at times there is a tendency to
disparage the work done by a painstaking and plodding sanitary inspector.
Our inhabitants are certainly not neglected, and I believe generally
appreciate our efforts on their behalf, although here and there dirty and
untidy persons resent interference with their personal liberty. Everyone
in this borough is visited when he is born and when he dies. Inquiries
are made about his welfare when he has infectious disease, his food is
carefully examined when it arrives at the river bank and from inland. We
try to keep his house in a healthy and sweet condition by periodic
visiting, and, when necessary, we kill his vermin for him and bath his
children. This is only a small number of the blessings showered upon
our inhabitants.