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8
I am happy in being able to report considerable improvements
in several places; the most marked are
Crown Court, Duke's Court, and Cross Court. This
part of the parish is on the Bedford estate, and every
thing has been done to carry out the objects of the
Metropolis Management Act. I may mention Shelton
Court, Turner's Court, as being much cleaner than they
have been, but all such places, without continued vigilance,
are apt to fall back. Davey's Buildings, which
was formerly a pattern of cleanliness, has latterly lost
its credit. Its landlord has been changed, and such
changes always operate for or against sanitary improvements,
although if landlords knew their own interests,
they would devise means of keeping their premises clean
and wholesome, as by such management they will improve
the class of tenants. Turner's Court was the
very worst in the parish, and has become decent by
arrangements which bring a better class of lodgers.
The owners of such property would find it to their
interest to appoint, from among their lodgers, one who
should be responsible for the cleanliness and good order
of the premises, and who should have power to get rid
of dirty and refractory people. Wherever the houses
let out in rooms or tenements are under good supervision,
the character of the occupants improves, and as
a consequence, the rent, because it becomes the interest
of people to retain their holdings. Upon the whole, I
can speak favourably of a general improvement in the
condition of the habitations of the working classes in the
parish of St. Martin. Princes Court, Pipemaker's
Alley, and York Place, are among the worst, and
although not so bad as they were, there is much room
for improvement. In York Place and Pipemaker Alley,
many of the houses are so old that any thing less than
re-building could hardly effect a sufficiently salutary
change.