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34
tortuous and narrow streets through which no stranger
can find his way, it is obvious that the sites cannot be
properly utilized, and that they must continue to be appropriated
by workmen of a rough sort. In my annual
report for the year 1896 (pages 21, 22, and 23) I submitted
a full statement as to the evils which exist in this
part of St. James's, as to the rental value of this area in
the very centre of Western London and within one
minute's walk of Regent Street, and as to how it could
be opened up and improved. Nothing has been done as
yet for the improvement of this part of St. James's. It
is obvious that a new street—such as Baker Street—carried
through from the north end of the Haymarket to Poland
Street would enormously increase the value of the land
in this district, and would profitably break up and transform
this nest of old houses and tortuous streets.
The gradual reconstruction of this old quarter is, however,
continuously progressing. Warehouses and workshops
are taking the place of the old tenement-houses; and
the Pall Mall Electric Light Company have, under their
new Act, obtained power to clear and absorb into their
works a considerable area west of Broad Street, Golden
Square. But these rebuildings, while a distinct improvement,
are mostly cast in the old mould of these narrow and
tortuous streets; and, in point of fact, they every year
make more difficult that radical replanning of the district
which is called for. Moreover, the extrusion of the working
classes, which is increasingly taking place in some
parts of this district gives rise to a fierce competition for
the tenement-houses which remain. This is a serious and
increasing evil. Meanwhile the local authorities own from
three to four acres of land in the centre of this unparalleled
London site, and these acres are occupied by an old
Union House, where aged and infirm people are
lodged under miserable surroundings. I again earnestly
submit that these poor people would be infinitely better
and happier in the country, and that upon the site of
this old Workhouse and its surrounding old houses a