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are nearly at an end. These houses were reported early in 1883
to the Vestry as unfit for habitation under the Artizans and
Labourers' Dwellings Act, and were ordered by the Vestry to be
demolished. Finally the Local Government Board appointed an
arbitrator, who in making his award, " regarded not only the
value of the leasehold interest of the said owners in the said
premises, but the fair market value, as estimated at the time of
the valuation," and took "into consideration the nature and
condition of the said premises, and also the probable duration of
the buildings in their existing state, and the state of repair
thereof and all circumstances affecting such value, and without
any additional allowance in respect of a compulsory purchase."
The sum to be paid by the Vestry under these circumstances is
but comparatively trifling, and tbey may be congratulated on
removing from their Parish dwellings which have year by year
shortened the lives of many of their parishioners.
Other changes are going on at the same time which tend to
remove from the Parish other unhealthy areas. Wellington
Square, whose inhabitants have in 1884 lost per 1000 seven more
than the average of the rest of the Parish, has passed into the
hands of the London School Board, and will soon be replaced by
the buildings this Board will erect. Twenty years ago the death.
rnte of this locality was still higher, and the fact that it has
fallen is, I believe, due to the action of the Vestry as a Sanitary
Authority. But all past reports of the Medical Officer of Health,
which discuss this subject, tell the same tale, and no effectual
remedy is to be found except that which is afforded by the action
of the School Board.
The healthiness of a district is much dependent upon the
planning and arrangement of streets, and newly built parts of
St. Pancras, in which houses have been erected since recent
legislation, are less open to objection on this score than some
parts which were covered by houses long time since. Still much
can be done to improve a locality if in building houses on sites
previously occupied by those which have been demolished due
regard is had to their position in relation to others.
I have, during the year 1884, further examined the Subregistration
district of Somers Town, and have seen with regret
the erection of some houses in certain situations without sufficient
regard to this consideration.
The need for a re-arrangement of many of the houses in this
district is obvious, and it is unfortunate that the closing of