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10
The Advantages of Preserving Open Spaces.
In my last report I directed your attention to what I conceived to be
a mistake in the fifth section of the Artizans' Dwellings Act (1875), which
made it compulsory for the purchasers of the land rendered vacant by the
pulling down of the unhealthy houses inhabited by the poorer classes, to
erect on the site house accommodation for the same number of persons as
may have been displaced. The object of this Act is to provide more open
spaces than now exist in the immediate surroundings of the dwellings of the
poor. It is stated upon the high authority of Dr. Farr, in the fortieth
Annual Report of the Registrar-General, in the chapter on density of
population, that the atmosphere becomes deleterious in proportion as the
population becomes more dense, and within certain limits this deleteriousness
is expressed by the mortality ; and that the mean duration of life varies
in accordance with the proximity of people, or in other words the nearer
people live to each other the shorter are their lives. Dr. Farr also observes
that the law of proximity would lead us to lay down some standard, and to
fix some invariable rule ; that beyond a certain density, no further houses
should be built on the town areas. This being so, it is evident that if the
health of London is to be improved, means must be taken to reduce the
number of the houses in the dense parts of the metropolis, and not to rebuild
the rookeries which are about to be abolished under Mr. Cross' Act.
As we are now paying very dearly both in health and money for the
errors of preceding generations, in their having allowed houses to be so
closely packed together, wo certainly ought not to transmit similar evils to
posterity ; for we now know that if people are allowed to crowd in confined
places, the health of the community will be impaired. I am induced to
again bring this subject under your notice in consequence of several cases
having occurred in this District of landlords erecting dwelling-houses in the
back yards of those houses which were formerly occupied by a single family.
This is a serious evil, and ought to be prevented.
We have power to prevent the overcrowding of rooms, and we certainly
ought to have power to prevent the cramming together of houses on sites
of insufficient size for the healthy existence of the tenants.
Much, however, may be done to improve the health of the metropolis
by forming parks in the outskirts. Dr. Farr states that London, with
an area of 75,362 acres and an estimated population in 1879 of 3,620,868,
is provided with nine royal parks, containing 1790 acres, all of which
are planted and ornamented. The cost of maintaining the parks is said
to be about £74,553 annually. It has also two people's parks and
several commons and open spaces, covering an area of about 1459 acres,
under the management of the Metropolitan Board of Works, who are
negotiating for the acquirement of other open spaces near the metropolis.
Excluding Plumstead and Welling Commons, the Board of Works have