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7
The class which has difficulty in finding accommodation
in this district, as in others, is that to which belongs the
working man earning 25/- or so a week, and who has a family of
five or more beneath the wage-earning age. And, unless sisshilling
houses are to be provided at four shillings a week, this
class will continue to be inadequately housed. For, rightly or
wrongly, the supposed objection of the working man to cottages
without a "front room," a "front door," and a "hall," deters
builders from erecting cottages with one living room, two or three
bedrooms and no waste of space and material on " passages " and
"porches."
Roughly, houses in Barnes and Mortlake fall into three
main groups:—
(a) Detached "residences," old, or of recent construction,
standing in grounds of adequate or even considerable
extent. From all but one part—and that is
being now encroached upon—the older houses have
been for some years steadily disappearing; and, in
consequence, the character of the district is becoming
modified.
(b) Detached, semi-detached, and terrace houses of
recent construction, and rents varying from £30 to
£100 or more, per annum. Many of these have
been erected under the building bye-laws, and in
almost all the drains and closets are well planned.
But it is much to be desired that these houses, as
well as those of the poorer classes, should be subjected
by an Inspector of Nuisances to regular
visitation. This, however, is not at present practicable.
In some of the terrace houses recently built,
the open space allotted is insufficient: and a
common fault is the absence of proper forecourts.