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20
PUBLIC BATHS AND WASH-HOUSES.
The figures contained in the Annual Report which the
Commissioners presented to the Vestry in January again show
an increase in the number of persons using the establishment.
There were 97,898 bathers in 1887, as against 94,644 in 1886,
or an increase of 3,254 ; and 50,982 washers compared with
50,628, or an increase of 354. As a result of this increased
use of the establishment the receipts in 1887 were £22 9s. 2d.
more than in 1886.
This increase in both departments is the more gratifying,
as the Commissioners say they cannot look for any very great
addition to the number of bathers or washers. They remark
that
Possibly as buildings are erected in the new streets, recently
formed by the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Baths may
obtain a share, with those of adjoining Parishes, of the
additional custom which may be anticipated from an increase
in the residential population; but, on the other hand, the
tendency to attach laundries to the dwellings of the working
classes cannot fail to prejudicially affect, in a smaller or
greater degree, the takings of Public Laundries. Future
receipts of the establishment will therefore probably exhibit
but slight fluctuations, except as the state of the weather
may influence the number of bathers.
The following further extracts from the Commissioners'
Report will probably prove of general interest:—
The Commissioners are gratified at being able to report so satisfactory
a condition of their finances. The completion, in
1886, of the exceptionally heavy repairs which had been in
progress for two years, did not render it necessary to make
any call upon the Poor Rate in 1887, as was the case in each
of the two previous years. The surplus receipts were,
indeed, sufficient to meet the annual instalment of loan,
and to enable the Commissioners to slightly increase their
cash balance.