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has been £25,621 10s. 1d., in addition to the value of the freehold
site, which, as already stated, had previously become the
property of the Parish. It must, however, be borne in mind
that for this sum of £25,621 10s. 1d., the Ratepayers have
acquired a freehold building with all the apparatus and appliances
necessary for carrying on a large business.
7. The Commissioners, however, feel that the value of such an
establishment, especially in the midst of a neighbourhood
crowded with poor, cannot be computed merely on a pecuniary
basis. Nor indeed can the money value be ascertained, for it
is beyond question that cleanliness is an important factor in the
maintenance of health, which, to the wage-earning classes
particularly, is largely equivalent to money. It is also beyond
doubt that home comforts have an important bearing on the
social condition and moral elevation of the humbler classes, and
it is difficult to see how any degree of comfort can he obtained
where one room, or perhaps two, has to serve all the purposes of
a home, including the Wash-house.
8. The fees charged at the establishment are as follows:—
Swimming Bath, 4d, in the early morning, 2d. later in the
day, and 3d. on Sunday morning.
Washing Baths: cold, second-class 1d., first-class, 3d.;
warm, second-class 2d., first-class 6d.
Laundry, 2d. per hour, including supply of steam, hot and
cold water, and facilities for wringing, drying, mangling,
and ironing.
The total sum received from bathers and washers from the
opening of the establishment, on the 14th June, 1852, to the
31st December, 1889, was no less than £112,831 9s. 8d. Of late
years the receipts have averaged about £3,000 per annum, but
in 1875 they reached nearly £3,700 (£3,695 l1s. 5d). Since
that period, however, considerable alterations have been made
in the neighbourhood, and many of the poor have been displaced
by street improvements.
9. About 150,000 tickets are issued annually, of which nearly 50,000
relate to the Wash-houses, and about 100,000 to the Baths.
From the opening of the establishment to the end of 1889, no
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