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147
17,777. (Mr.McCullaghTorrens.) You have been for 28 years
vestry clerk?—Yes.
17,778. And I presume that you have a clear recollection of
the condition of the parish when the Act of 1855 came into
operation ?—Yes.
17,779. I do not ask your opinion, but as as matter of fact, is
it true that Clerkenwell is in the same condition with regard to
house accommodation as it was in 1855?—In what respect?
17,780. In respect to the overcrowded tenements of the poorer
part of the parish?—I can only go by this. The population of
Clerkenwell in 1861 was 65,000 odd; it is now 69,000 odd; but
in the meantime we have had a considerable amount of property,
some of the smallest and most wretched courts, besides some
tolerably good property, removed for the formation of the
Clerkenwell road, which swept away many hundred of people.
The property which I referred to as having been pulled down
amounted to 221 houses of a gross value of £6,604, the rateable
value being £5,485. I have not got the number of persons displaced
by the removal of that property, but the number must he
very considerable. Of those 221 houses many were of the smaller
kind. You can form your own estimate as to what would be
the average population. Amongst them were many of the
wretched courts in Turnmill Street, which we had a great
deal of trouble with at that time of day. But against so
large an amount of property being swept away and a large wide
road being formed on the site of it, we have had a large quantity
of model dwellings introduced into the parish. I do not know
how many now, but I should say seven or eight or more very
large dwellings containing many thousands of inhabitants. We
have just had the Peabody Buildings opened in Pear Tree
Court, the population of which I believe is considerably over a
thousand of itself. Those buildings would give accommodation
for so many more than this property would which has been removed
that it would allow, in my opinion, of an increase of
population from 65,000 to 69,000 without there being necessarily
any greater overcrowding in the remaining house property than
existed in 1855. If there is greater overcrowding in the parish
I can scarcely make out where it is, taking the census as my
guide, because 69,000 with these model dwellings instead of
65,000 with the small class of property which formerly stood
upon the site, does not account to my mind, for the great overcrowding
that is now complained of.
17,781. It was stated to the Commission by Lord Shaftesbury,
speaking of London generally, that in his time an indescribable
improvement had taken place in the removal of unfit dwellings,