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85
Differences of opinion may also arise quite fairly as regards the amount of repairs
required and the seriousness of the conditions present. Nor must it be assumed that
there is any real desire to mislead even on the part of the surveyors acting for the
Property Owners' Protection Association. The evidence given by these witnesses
probably arises from the attitude of mind that might be summed up in the phrase
' 'suitable for the working classes,'' the working class family seemingly being regarded
by the Association as in some respects sub-human, perhaps not coming quite within
the category of human beings, or, if human, unreasonable in not being content with
a dwelling which would have been considered quite adequate for an artisan family
before the adoption of the first Public Health Act. In other words that a dwelling
where there is dampness, lack of sanitary conveniences, darkness, poor ventilation,
is considered to be perfectly adequate from the "working classes" standard of the
Property Owners' Protection Association. Bugs, for instance, are never mentioned
in representations or evidence. Actually in some slum areas it is impossible to
eradicate them, but in theory this is considered possible.
At one time water was carried in pails to dwellings, sanitary fittings were
unknown; water laid on to a tap in a dry area between the house and footway, and
a water-closet under the footway would both be unheard of luxuries; one is forced
to the conclusion that it is with these comparisons in mind that the Property Owners'
Protection Association view dwellings for the working classes at the present day.
Hackney has been honoured by the presence at a number of Inquiries of a person
of great importance indeed to the Property Owners' Protection Association, who
has attended as an expert witness, and it has been possible therefore to obtain some
idea of the type of house which the Association considers "ideal" for working-class
dwellings. Not indifferent or poor, but "ideal," so that the standard of what the
Association would consider really bad cannot be decided as regards the housing
property in this Borough.
I would not for one moment suggest that a qualified surveyor is "quite prepared
to say anything to bolster up a case," but when a qualified surveyor says that the
East Street dwellings were "ideal homes in a neighbourhood like Hackney, in the
centre of London, for a married couple with one or two children,'' and goes on to say
that the London County Council provide homes comparable to such dwellings and that
"the houses are quite equal to the standard prevailing in the district," he is making
a present-day comparison which can therefore be shown to be so untrue as to be
ludicrous.
I feel sure that the County Council would not appreciate the comparison that
any of the houses on their Estates were equal to the houses which existed in East Street,
since it is absurd to state that the County Council administers three-roomed cottages
of back-to-back type and therefore deficient in ventilation, which, however, the
tenants could ventilate by opening the front door and upper window, the novel
method suggested by the witness; the rooms were dark, damp, cramped, and one
room in each dwelling was wholly underground and this room gave access to the
water-tap in the dry area by the side of the footway and the water-closet under the
footway.
I am not prepared to say that the qualified surveyors of the Property Owners'
Protection Association would say anything to bolster up a case; I am prepared to
say I am no longer even surprised at any evidence put forward by the experts of that
Association. It is not surprising that with such a standard in mind the expert
evidence of the Property Owners' Protection Association has not succeeded in saving
for human habitation a single area or even a single house defended by those experts
at any of the Housing Inquiries resulting from the Borough Council's Clearance
Orders.
The evidence obtained from the administration of municipal estates has probably
killed for the time being the old statement that this alleged sub-human type, the