View report page

33
More conclusive statistical evidence of the unhealthy character of a district
has never been adduced.
2. As to the cause of this unhealthiness.
Inspection shews that the area is composed of very small houses,
mostly of only two stories, situated in narrow streets. For the most
part, the houses have their ground floors two or more steps below the
street level, and the rooms are small, low and dark. The buildings
are nearly all old, dilapidated, and structually damp. The widest
street in the whole 15 acres, measures 28 feet, but that is exceptionally
wide, several streets of considerable length have an average width of
about 18 feet, and some are even narrower. The inhabitants are
mostly of the poor, many of very low class.
3. It has been suggested that the landlords might bo compelled to
put the houses into a sanitary condition.
When the houses were built, this part of Bethnal Green formed a
suburban village. The dwellings were probably then as good as others
around London, and, indeed, when now, with the surroundings of those
days, were probably not unhealthy. By lapse of time things have
been greatly altered, and it would bo difficult, if not impossible, to
lay the blame on the right shoulders.
If the houses were closed they would almost certainly be rebuilt, as
no repairs can do more than mitigate their shortcomings. There is no
power to prevent the landlords from rebuilding on the exact sites of the existing
houses, others of several stories in height (even if they liked, 90 feet
high, with two stories in the roof). It is almost certain that the
present houses, if closed, would be succeeded by others four stories
high; imagine the effect of such buildings in streets only eighteen
feet in width. In short, after the lapse of a few years, the evils would
bo intensified.
4. The property belongs to many persons, so there is no possibility
of a great scheme being undertaken by the owners. The local
authorities are powerless, there remains only the power of the Council
under part I. of the Act of last Session. This enables the Council to
purchase the houses and lands compulsorily, to close all existing streets,
and to lay out the site afresh, and thus found a model town in place of a
vast slum of fifteen acres, in which nearly six thousand persons are
living and dying under conditions that are a disgrace to the richest
city in the world.
5. There are many areas which may be dealt with advantageously
and even adequately, under Fart II. of the Act of 1890, but in the
c