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242
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1913.
loss of income due to "empties" was £5,768 12s. 5d., or 3.38 per cent, of the gross rental, as against
5.54 per cent, in 1912-13. Of this loss, £4,050 occurred on four estates, viz., Carrington House,
(£2,928, or 38.07 per cent, of gross rental), Preston's-road Estate (£582, or 14.62 per cent.), Hughes
Fields Cottages (£361, or 17.59 per cent.), and Hughes Fields Dwellings (£179 or 14.02 per cent.).
Expenditure

Repairs and
renewals
fund.
A statement is appended (pages li. and lii.) showing the percentages on gross rental of the several
items of income and expenditure for each estate.
The repairs and renewals fund has been established with the view of equalising the charges
against revenue under this head between one year and another, as the expenditure in future years
will naturally be larger than at present, when many of the buildings are new. The sums charged
to revenue account and carried to this fund are based on the estimated cost of all repairs and
renewals during the loan period, after deducting interest earned on the accumulations of the fund. The
credits to this fund during the year exceeded the expenditure thereout by £308 13s. 4d. The
amount standing to the credit of the fund on 31st March, 1914, was £44,001 8s. 1d., of which
£41,396 15s. 10d. was invested (page lvii.).
Estates in
course of
development
The interest and sinking fund charges, less receipts in aid, in respect of the capital outlay on
lands acquired under Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, and still in course
of development, are included in a separate account. The charge on the rates in respect of the deficiency
under this head for the year 1913-14 was £2,432 4s. 11d., after deducting £1,860 6s. 3d. in respect of debt
charges on the capital expenditure met out of the special fund for the acquisition of lands under Part
III., referred to in a following paragraph. The aggregate amount raised in the rates to 31st March,
1914, is £80,687 7s. 1d. (page lvii.). This amount includes the annual instalments of sinking fund to
redeem debt. The amount raised in the rates has now been repaid to a considerable extent from the
surplus on the completed dwellings (see statement on page 245).
Special
fund for the
acquisition
of lands
under Part
III. of the
Housing of
the Working
Classes Act,
1890.
The Council purchased Millbank Prison site under Part III. of the Act, and when the Council
decided, with the sanction of the Home Secretary, to utilise a portion of this land for the purpose
of rehousing persons displaced in connection with the Thames Embankment Extension and Improvements
at Westminster, carried out under the London County Council (Improvements) Act, 1900, it was arranged
that the Westminster Improvement Account should be charged, and the Part III. Account credited
with a sum of £50,000, which has, under the statute, to be applied towards "the cost of the acquisition
by the Council of other lands for the purposes of Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes
Act, 1890." After defraying certain expenditure on the Millbank Site Account, the fund amounted,
with interest, on 31st March, 1914, to £55,324 4s. 9d. (page xxxvi,). In accordance with the powers
conferred by the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1908, the Council decided to utilise
these moneys in connection with the development of the Old Oak estate. The whole fund has now
been so utilised. The sum of £1,860 6s. 3d. being the debt charges for the year 1913-14 on the
expenditure met out of the moneys of the Fund has, in accordance with the Council's decision,
been taken in reduction of the amount raised in the rate in respect of the development of estates under
Part III.
Capital
expenditure
and debt on
dwellings
and estates.
The capital expenditure during the year 1913-14 amounted to £60,993 19s. 7d. (page xxxiii.) and
the total expenditure on capital account on the dwellings and estates to 31st March, 1914, was
£2,278,374 16s. 7d. (page xxxiv.). The Summary of Financial Results (pages liii. and liv.) shows the
apportionment of this figure as between land and buildings.
With regard to dwellings erected to rehouse persons displaced by clearance schemes under Parts
I. and II. of the Act, the Council's practice is to charge the capital account of the dwellings with
the value of the site as earmarked for housing purposes, the account of the clearance scheme being
credited with this value. The latter account, which is charged with the cost of clearance and laying
out (less sales), is thus placed in the same position as it would have been if the Council had disposed
of the land for the erection of dwellings. In the case of dwellings erected under Part III. of the Act
the total cost of the land and of its development for building is chargeable against the dwellings.