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147
any scheme to give effect to the collection and removal of the
manure from the mews of the Parish, would be so great as to
render the proposal, at the present time, an impracticable
one"—a conclusion to which I can only defer in respectful
silence.
THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES.
In my Annual Report for 1890, I dealt with the new
legislation, by which the Acts relating to the housing of the
working classes had been consolidated and amended by the
Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, and gave a detailed
account of the action of the London County Council in
connection with The Boundary Street Scheme, for
acquiring an "unhealthy area" in Bethnal Green, fifteen
acres in extent, at a net estimated cost, for the land and
laying-out of new streets, of £300,000, or ,£20,000 per acre—
equal to fifty guineas for each person resident in the area ;
and this not to provide the people with dwellings, but only to
clear the land on which dwellings will be built by others for
letting at current rates. The Council determined to deal
with the area in sections, so as not to displace the population
(some 5,719 in number) too rapidly. Much has already been
done to give effect to the scheme, by settlement of claims for
property, by arrangements for arbitration where agreement
could not be arrived at, and by compensation to the evicted
tenants for cost of removal, &c. It is satisfactory to know, on
the authority of the Public Health and Housing Committee,
that "the gross cost of the scheme will be considerably less
than the estimate." No further Improvement Schemes under
Part I. of the Act have been taken in hand, but several
schemes under Part II. have been initiated by Local
Authorities, including the scheme adopted by your Vestry
for dealing with the James Street area.
In connection with this scheme your Vestry obtained
closing orders in respect of 22 houses. In three cases, the
owners of as many houses made the houses fit for human