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SECTION II.—GENERAL.
Housing of the Working Glasses Act.
Under Part I. of the above Act I have already officially represented
three unhealthy areas of Ward I. of your parish, namely, Webber Row,
King's Bench Walk, and Grotto Place. Of these areas two, namely,
Webber Eow and King's Bench Walk, have been dealt with by the
London County Council, which is the local authority under Part I. of the
Act. The Grotto Place remains untouched, although in my opinion it is
structurally worse in many respects than the other two. The London
Council Housing Committee reported with regard to the three sites, (1)
Webber Eow, (2) King's Bench Walk, (3) Grotto Place, as follows :—
" After careful consideration we are of opinion that 1 and 2 should be
dealt with by scheme, but we are not prepared at present to recommend
the Council to deal with Grotto Place area in this manner. It will be
noticed that the death-rate is lower than that of the rest of the district,
and although the condition of the houses generally is such as to make their
re-arrangement a matter for consideration, we think the fact of the deathrate
being low is sufficient justification for its exclusion."
With regard to the foregoing statements the obvious criticism suggests
itself that the death-rate for so small an area affords no just basis for
drawing sound conclusions. As the result of a close acquaintance with
the structural and social conditions of the Grotto Place area, I feel
convinced in my own mind that it is unwise to allow this unwholesome
group of dwellings to exist in the parish. In my opinion the best way of
utilising the site would be to convert it into a recreation ground, in view
of the fact that Southwark is badly off by way of open spaces.
A special Report on the three unhealthy areas above referred to was
published in my Annual Report for the year 1898 (pages 32-34).
During the year 1900 I had under consideration in Ward III. a
further area to be investigated under Part I. of the Housing Act. The
area in question comprises a triangular space of ground, bounded by
Rephidem Street, Weston Street, and Potier Street. The owners have