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130
" But there is something to be said on the other side of
the question, for in the same report will be found abundant
evidence of the destructive habits of the lowest classes of
the people,—and how numerous they are !—which make it an
almost hopeless task to keep decent homes for them, excepting
under that kind of supervision—by the police—which they like
least. This point has been admirably brought out in an article
which appeared in the Times of the 2nd December, dealing with
the question in terms which go far to mitigate the force of the
censure upon the local authorities, for presumed neglect to enforce
the provisions of the law in cases of ordinary nuisance and overcrowding.
" A munificent gift just bestowed on London," with a view
to the improvement of the dwellings of the very poor, has once
again caused people to think and talk—and write—on the subject,
for a little while. But what is a quarter of a million in such a
city, with a large proportion of its half-million houses occupied in
lodgings by the labouring classes ? The Peabody Trust, and all
the companies working to the same end, aided as they have been
so largely out of the rates, by the low price at which they have
been enabled to purchase sites cleared under Cross's Acts; these
bodies, I say, have been scarcely able to touch the fringe of the
difficulty; and, speaking generally, have not provided for a tithe
of the poor people evicted to make room for the ' Model
Dwellings,' which are inhabited, for the most part, by people
fairly well off, and able to take care of themselves. What is
really wanted is a comprehensive system of Municipal Lodginghouses,
to take the place of the ' Common Lodging-houses; in
which poor, helpless, thriftless people may be decently and comtortably
housed at the cheapest possible rate. I think that the
London County Council are beginning to see this,f and to them,
to the Local Government Board, and to the Legislature, this
great and pressing question must be left for solution. I have so
* By Sir Edward Guinness,
t The Council have since taken the matter in hand (vide page 114).