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As to enclosed and back to back dwellings, the only remedy of any permanent
utility is the reconstruction of the blocks. This reconstruction can be carried
out with least difficulty at or near the expiration of the original building lease,
when the Freeholder's interest to improve his property coincides with the Sanitary
Authority's interest to improve the health of those dwelling upon it.
I am strongly of opinion that, where it is possible, a right course to pursue would
be to ascertain the date of the expiration of the building leases, and just as the
Freeholder compels the individual houses where necessary to be thoroughly repaired,
so should the Sanitary Authority compel the blocks of dwellings where necessarv
to be thoroughly re-modelled. The Houses of the Working Classes Act 1885, Sec.
4, absolves the Local Authority from the compulsory purchase of premises, ordered
to be amended or demolished.
Appended is a list of improved Industrial dwellings in St. Pancras, and it will
be seen that the provision is small for a population approaching a quarter of a
million and containing a large industrial class.