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3
POPULATION.
The Registrar General's estimate of the population of the borough
to the middle of 1913 was 188,487, a decline of 3,475 since the census
of 1911. I should hardly have thought that the shrinkage of the
population had been so great, yet it must be remembered that many of
the houses in the Tabard Street Area are now empty. There are also
various other sites in Rodney Road, Kennington Park Road, and in the
numerous small streets of the Licensed Victuallers' Estate at the back of
the New Kent Road, upon which either new buildings are being erected,
or the old houses are being extensively repaired. Many of the old
inhabitants prefer to spend their lives in the district, but the nomadic
instinct in many of our people is very pronounced at the present time.
A very large proportion of. the class comprising mechanics, clerks and
skilled artisans employed in the borough reside out of the district.
Whilst the remainder of them occupy the best class of workmen's dwellings,
such as those of the London County Council, the Peabody and
Guinness Trusts, and other first-class dwellings. As a result of this
change the second class block dwellings have suffered much during the
last five years, and very few of them yield a fair profit to the owners.
The ordinary houses of the borough are inhabited by a much lower class
of tenants than formerly. The houses are more used and, in consequence
the repairs are greater in the way of cost, whilst rents in many cases
have gone down as much as 15 per cent. The lot of the property owner
at the present time is not a happy one. Many of the second-class block
dwellings are dirty and insanitary. Much money is spent upon them,
but the administration of the buildings is usually so bad and the tenements
so often verminous, that clean and respectable families will not
occupy them. I have advised owners of these second-class buildings to
have them supervised by women, as my experience is that estates of
of this kind, when supervised by capable and experienced women, are
better looked after and yield a better profit. I am speaking generally of
second-class properties.