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2. May contract for the purchase or lease of any lodging
house for the Working Classes already, or hereafter, to be
built or provided.
3. May erect dwellings suitable for lodging houses for the
Working Classes.
4. May convert existing buildings into lodging houses, and for
that purpose may alter, enlarge, repair, and improve the
same respectively, and fit up, furnish, and supply the
same with requisite furniture, fittings, and conveniences.
5. May, by the Amending Act of 1900, purchase land and
build dwellings suitable for the Working Classes outside
of the district.
SUGGESTIONS.
It will readily be seen from the above what are the remedies for
the conditions just detailed, but to provide these remedies is not so
simple a matter.
It must be remembered, that unless there is some simultaneous
effort of the London Boroughs to deal with this question, any local
effort must, more or less, be a failure, because the overcrowded of
adjoining districts would move into the district to seize the opportunity
of obtaining cheap and healthy dwellings, or even residents of
extra Metropolitan districts might think it profitable to move into the
district for the same purpose; but if this danger is eliminated, the
Borough Council might best meet the overcrowding by providing
accommodation at the cheapest possible rate compatible with health.
The measures which, in my opinion, would best meet the case
are :—
1. To urge the Government to extend the period for the
repayment of loans for the purchase of lands to 90 years,
and loans for building purposes to 60 years. (The
Council have already petitioned in favour of this reform).