View report page

9
Each flat has an entrance lobby, W.C., bathroom, fuel store and cloak cupboard. The living
rooms are heated by an all-night-burning stove with back boiler for the supply of hot water to the
bath, basin and kitchen sink. In addition an electric immersion heater is fitted in the hot water
cylinder in the airing cupboard.
The kitchenette is fitted with an enclosed combination kitchen fitment, broom cupboard, etc., a
deep white sink and draining boards. A ventilated larder opens out of this room. Cooking is by gas
or electricity at the option of the tenant.
The bedrooms are fitted with deep hanging cupboards.
Communal laundries fitted with washing machines, wash tubs and gas-heated drying cabinets
are provided. There are also lock-up pram sheds and a children's playground.
The flats are set well back from Old Kent Road, and the main entrance to the estate is from a side
street on the west side.
The Corporation have two other housing schemes in progress, one in Golden Lane on the borders
of the City and the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, and the other on Sydenham Hill in the Borough
of Lewisham. Plans for the development of both these sites are still under consideration, and in my
next annual report I expect to be able to record that building has commenced.
WELFARE OF OLD PEOPLE.
In my last annual report I recorded the formation of the City of London Old People's Welfare
Association, and described the various ways in which the old people living not only in the City but
in the Corporation's housing estates outside the City, were being helped in their difficulties and
perplexities and their lives made brighter and more interesting. The Hon. Secretary of the Association,
Mrs. R. H. Cohen, has a flair for this type of work and boundless energy and enthusiasm, consequently
Old People's Welfare in the City has gone ahead, though the response to appeals for financial assistance
has been disappointing. High taxation and the high cost of living must obviously diminish the
amount of money available for charitable purposes. There is no reason to suppose that the desire to
help those in misfortune, sickness or age and infirmity is less widespread than formerly, but in the
first place many people have been obliged to reduce or even discontinue their donations to charity
because they have suffered a serious decline in relative income, and in the second place, many take
the view that in the Welfare State everything is provided by Central or Local Government from
taxes or rates which come out of their pockets, and that therefore the work of voluntary welfare
associations is either redundant or is only saving the State from bearing the full financial burden of
discharging the obligations which it has assumed.
But no Central or Local Government Authority spending public funds can fully replace the
voluntary organisations. It may be necessary for the State or the Local Authority to take over welfare
work which has been initiated by voluntary organisations but which has developed beyond the
financial resources of such organisations; but they can only do so on broad, general lines which are
universally applicable. Once the State takes over, what cannot be done for all must not be done for
the few, lest a precedent, which will ultimately become vastly expensive, be established. "Fair
shares for all," but if there is not enough to go round shall nobody have any ?
The voluntary organisation is not restricted in the same way. It has the local knowledge and the
interest in the individual which enables it to assess relative need and to allot priority in help which
can be promptly given on a worth-while scale and adapted to specific requirements. The voluntary
organisation does not have to fear precedent; it is recognised that its resources are limited, and
though there may be some grumbling from those who are left out, they have no real sense of grievance,
they are open to conviction that others were in greater need and they hope that their turn may come.
The voluntary organisation need not fear exploitation, for it has local and personal knowledge
to guide it, but for this same reason it is open to allegations of favouritism, though seldom with any
justification.
Finally the voluntary association does not have to consider whether the alleviation of any
particular need by any particular means is authorised by legislation, and it can therefore help in
many ways for which no statutory provision is made.
However highly developed the welfare activities of the Central and Local Government Authorities
may become, there will always be scope for valuable work by voluntary associations; not overlapping,
but filling in gaps, extending boundaries and pioneering. Let us hope that this will be
generally recognised and that those who are giving service will be supported by those who are able
to give financial assistance before it is too late.
RODENT CONTROL.
I think it is true to say that the rat population in the City, both above ground and in the sewers
is smaller than it has ever been. This is largely due to the application year by year since the war of
more scientific methods of rat destruction, including the use of new poisons. Your Chief Rodent
Officer, Mr. Carter, who is in charge of this work, reports as follows:—
"Organisation and procedure during the year was similar to that of previous years, and in
compliance with the requirements of the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act, 1949, comprised
inspections of properties to ascertain the presence of rats and mice; treatment of any such
properties found to be infested, and periodical maintenance treatments for the destruction of
rats in sewers.
Owners and occupiers have readily co-operated, and in only one instance was it necessary
to serve a Statutory Notice to obtain compliance with the provisions of the Act.
During the period under review 5,425 properties were inspected, and these comprised blocks
of offices, riverside warehouses, markets, restaurants, workshops and domestic dwellings.