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83
opposite the door opening into the lowest box a water-closet. The three boxes
had no windows at the back, therefore, no through ventilation. These boxes
were the three rooms of the house. The copper in tire lowest box and the tap in
the area were the only means of securing cleanliness. The copper when used tilled
the house with steam. The lowest room was too dark and damp to use satisfactorily
as a room but the middle room was still more unsatisfactory and was not so used,
the tenants preferring the basement. There was no food store and no way of
drying clothes except by hanging them in the area exposed to the dust of the road
or in one of the rooms. This is an accurate description of these houses.
It must be admitted that everything possible as regards abatement of nuisances
had been done to these houses under the Public Health (London) Act and that the
decorations and structure which had been dealt with under "dangerous structure"
notice some years previous could not be made the subject of a notice.
The following is an abridged description of these houses extracted from a
typewritten statement produced at the inquiry and put in by a witness of great
experience in house management who frequently has appeared at such Inquiries
in opposition to clearance. 1 give this evidence at some length as it illustrates the
type of evidence given in opposition to clearance. Usually evidence of this
description is given by a chartered surveyor, a liouse agent and a builder, and it
is my opinion that on the weight of evidence of this description every Inquiry would
have gone against the Council and few, if any, houses cleared. Nisbet Street, for
instance, was defended on these lines with the utmost vigour. Fortunately the
houses themselves give evidence following the Inquiry.
"I submit that the houses are not in any way of the description which
are intended by the Housing Acts for clearance or demolition.
"Although they may not in some ways comply with modern standards and
by-laws, they provide healthy and comfortable homes for the occupants.
"The London County Council and other local authorities in their new
blocks of fiats for the working classes are now providing a certain proportion
of two room tenements for small families and married couples with no
children.
"To demolish these houses will be a most wasteful proceeding. Three
families who are now happy and comfortable under quite reasonably good
sanitary conditions will have to be re-housed, and they cannot afford to pay
the rents charged by local authorities.
"There is only one defect which can be alleged against them; that they
have no back yard and no back windows.
"As to this, it is counteracted by the fact that if the front door is opened,
and the front window on the upper storey is opened, a current of fresh air
is at once set up, and this operation can be put in motion as often as necessary.
"I produce and hand in plans and sections of the houses in detail and in
block showing exactly the accommodation and arrangement of them.
"These small houses each contain a living room, a bedroom, and a scullery.
They are ideal homes in a neighbourhood like Hackney in the centre of London,
for a married couple with one or two children. It is true the heights of the
rooms are not so much as the present regulations require, but that is really a
very unimportant detail.
"The houses are quite equal to the standard prevailing in the district.
The drains have been reconstructed and are quite sanitary.
"The basements (which are not used or intended as habitable rooms)
provide admirable sculleries.
"There is a copper for laundry purposes and a water tap in the front area
to each of them and there is a separate modern W.C. to each house as well as
ample space for storage of coal and fuel.
"There is a good open street on two sides, with foreoourts. The houses
are not in courts or alleys, and there is no congestion.