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139
marked for London in respect of schemes under Part I. or Part II. of the Housing Act,
1890. (See p. 133). The preparation of plans and other preliminary work in connection
with the construction of roads and sewers and the erection of dwellings is being
proceeded with, the Council having on 24th July, 1923, voted a sum of £4,000 for
the purpose. The site when developed will be known as the East-hill estate.
Bents.
During 1923 the Council reviewed the general question of the rents charged for
its dwellings whether provided in fulfilment of re-housing obligations or otherwise
before or after the war. The Council's dwellings compared not unfavourably in
the matter of rent with accommodation provided by other agencies, and it did not
appear to the Council that the net rents as a whole should be revised at that time.
The Council thought it right, however, to make an exception in the case of Becontree
on account of the unfinished state of its development and the consequent effect
on the value of the amenities, and on 31st July, 1923, decided that an abatement
of 1s. should be made in the weekly net rent of each 6-roomed house and an abatement
of 6d. a week in that of each of the remaining houses on the Ilford (No. 1)
section of the estate. This alteration represents a reduction of £3,954 a year in
the total net rent receivable.
Selection of
tenants.
In view of the acute housing shortage the Council, on 26th June, 1923, decided
that, until further order, preference in the letting of accommodation on its several
estates should be given to British subjects, and also for the present as a general
rule to confine the registration of applicants for houses to persons residing in London.
Electric
light.
During 1923 the Council entered into an arrangement with the St. Pancras
Metropolitan Borough Council to instal electricity in the dwellings on the Churchway
estate, free of cost to the Council, and the Council also agreed to the installation of
electric light in houses on the Totterdown Fields estate, Tooting, where desired
by the tenants, subject to the payment of an additional rent proportionate to the
expenditure involved.
Workmen's
trains, etc.
The Council's action in the earlier years with regard to workmen's trains at
cheap fares was dealt with in the Annual Report for 1920 (vol. I., p. 77). During
1923 the Council considered what steps it should take to secure that the standard
rates and charges to be fixed by the Railway Rates Tribunal should provide for
substantial reductions in the present workmen's and third-class fares. In view of
the importance of cheap travelling facilities as a factor in the solution of the housing
problem, the Council, as a housing authority, is concerned in securing for the working
classes the lowest rates which the railway companies can reasonably be asked to
afford. On this principle, the Council decided on 6th February, 1923, to make
the strongest possible representations to the Rates Tribunal. As a result of the
Council's action the Tribunal found in favour of standard schedules of charges for
both season and workmen's tickets.
Forms of schedules submitted by the companies were considered by the Tribunal
on 29th-31st May, 1923. As regards workmen's fares, the companies proposed to
divide each of the first four miles of the journey into thirds and, in cases in which
the single journey exceeded four miles, to charge for the first four miles at some
fixed figure and a flat rate for each additional half-mile or part thereof. On behalf
of the Council objection was taken to the whole of the form of schedule and a suggestion
was put forward for the division of the mileage into zones and for the work
men's fare between two points to be fixed on some percentage of the ordinary third
class single fare, the percentages to decrease with increase of mileage.
As regards season tickets, the companies' form of schedule provided for 1st,
2nd and 3rd class tickets being issued for periods of one, three, six and twelve
months, the charge to be determined later for each mile, fractions of under half a
mile to be dropped and a fraction of half a mile or over to be charged as one mile.
Generally the Council did not disapprove of this form of schedule.
The Tribunal was attracted by the Council's argument as to helping the solution
of the housing difficulty and intimated that it would therefore alter the companies'