a member of it. Lord Shaftesbury, describing his early investigations into the subject, mentioned cases where fire engines had to be used to destroy vermin; where a house was built over a sewer and there was a hole in the floor through which sewer rats, twenty at a time, made their way into the lower room; of a cellar, inhabited by a woman and two children, through which all the filth of the house above flowed in an open wooden tube into the sewer; of a room, inhabited by a woman and three children, the floor of which was less than a foot above an open cess-pool; and of houses in Bermondsey built upon piles over a swamp into which all the filth was cast and from which water for washing and drinking was drawn!

The continuance of such horrors as these has long been rendered impossible by the operation of the Public Health Act, which was greatly strengthened and extended by Disraeli's Government in 1875 and has been further amended since. Similarly, the London Building Acts, and Building bye-laws all over the country, have rendered impossible the creation of new insanitary areas. In point of fact we passed from a condition of no regulation to the opposite extreme of too much regulation. We became positively bye-law ridden, and the cost and difficulty of building was greatly increased by perfectly unnecessary bye-laws, restricting unduly the choice of materials, compelling broad macadamised streets when a narrow carriage-way lined with strips of grass and trees would have been not only much cheaper but far less unsightly, and imposing the same conditions on country cottages, where light and air abound, as on town dwellings. It is rather remarkable that it has proved to be almost as difficult in recent years to get rid of unnecessary and vexatious restrictions as it was to obtain any kind of proper control in earlier days.

Turning to the action taken by Local Authorities in clearing slums under Cross's Acts as subsequently amended, a great deal has been accomplished in many of our great towns. In London the Metropolitan Board of Works and their successors, the London County Council, had completed altogether before the War thirty-one schemes, involving the clearance of 93 acres, the displacement of 43,844 persons, and a net cost to the rate

payers of 2,185,000l. Of these the largest single scheme was that of Boundary Street, Bethnal Green, which comprised nearly 15 acres of the most appalling slums with a population of 5719. During the same period new accommodation was provided for 44,623 persons, mostly on the sites of the old houses by means of the creation of block dwellings under the 'Rehousing' requirements of the Acts. Rehousing' is, however, a misnomer, since, owing to the much higher rents which had to be charged for the new dwellings, very few of the persons displaced availed themselves of them, but found homes in cheaper vacant accommodation in the neighbourhood, which, however, it was believed led to a general levelling up of housing conditions. In the case of Boundary Street, it was estimated that only 3 per cent. of the original population returned to the old site. Moreover, it must not be supposed that the slum dweller invariably dislikes his slum. On the contrary, many of these poor people, who have never known anything better, love them; they are their homes and they do not want to be displaced. The writer of this paper remembers that when he was Chairman of the Housing Committee of the L.C.C. and the Tabard Street clearance scheme was in contemplation, he and his Committee were received almost with fury by some of the inhabitants when they were visiting the area, who strongly objected to any interference with their homes.

The great Tabard Street scheme was left unfinished when the War broke out, and is being completed now. It includes two other smaller areas, Grotto Place and Crosby Row, the total acreage amounting to over 16 acres. This scheme supplies a good example of the danger to public health caused by the existence of these insanitary areas. In the year 1910, when it was originally brought forward, the death rate for the whole of London was 14.9 per thousand, and for Southwark, in which the area was mainly situated, 18.2. In the Tabard Street area it was 36-8 and in Grotto Place 391. Turning to phthisis, the most common product of slum conditions, the average death rate for London was 1.38, for Southwark 1.98, for Tabard Street 3.88, and for Grotto Place no less than 6.10. It is interesting to record that taking London as a whole, the death rate in the

a member of it. Lord Shaftesbury, describing his early investigations into the subject, mentioned cases where fire engines had to be used to destroy vermin; where a house was built over a sewer and there was a hole in the floor through which sewer rats, twenty at a time, made their way into the lower room; of a cellar, inhabited by a woman and two children, through which all the filth of the house above flowed in an open wooden tube into the sewer; of a room, inhabited by a woman and three children, the floor of which was less than a foot above an open cess-pool; and of houses in Bermondsey built upon piles over a swamp into which all the filth was cast and from which water for washing and drinking was drawn!

The continuance of such horrors as these has long been rendered impossible by the operation of the Public Health Act, which was greatly strengthened and extended by Disraeli's Government in 1875 and has been further amended since. Similarly, the London Building Acts, and Building bye-laws all over the country, have rendered impossible the creation of new insanitary areas. In point of fact we passed from a condition of no regulation to the opposite extreme of too much regulation. We became positively bye-law ridden, and the cost and difficulty of building was greatly increased by perfectly unnecessary bye-laws, restricting unduly the choice of materials, compelling broad macadamised streets when a narrow carriage-way lined with strips of grass and trees would have been not only much cheaper but far less unsightly, and imposing the same conditions on country cottages, where light and air abound, as on town dwellings. It is rather remarkable that it has proved to be almost as difficult in recent years to get rid of unnecessary and vexatious restrictions as it was to obtain any kind of proper control in earlier days.

Turning to the action taken by Local Authorities in clearing slums under Cross's Acts as subsequently amended, a great deal has been accomplished in many of our great towns. In London the Metropolitan Board of Works and their successors, the London County Council, had completed altogether before the War thirty-one schemes, involving the clearance of 93 acres, the displacement of 43,844 persons, and a net cost to the rate

payers of 2,185,000l. Of these the largest single scheme was that of Boundary Street, Bethnal Green, which comprised nearly 15 acres of the most appalling slums with a population of 5719. During the same period new accommodation was provided for 44,623 persons, mostly on the sites of the old houses by means of the creation of block dwellings under the 'Rehousing' requirements of the Acts. Rehousing' is, however, a misnomer, since, owing to the much higher rents which had to be charged for the new dwellings, very few of the persons displaced availed themselves of them, but found homes in cheaper vacant accommodation in the neighbourhood, which, however, it was believed led to a general levelling up of housing conditions. In the case of Boundary Street, it was estimated that only 3 per cent. of the original population returned to the old site. Moreover, it must not be supposed that the slum dweller invariably dislikes his slum. On the contrary, many of these poor people, who have never known anything better, love them; they are their homes and they do not want to be displaced. The writer of this paper remembers that when he was Chairman of the Housing Committee of the L.C.C. and the Tabard Street clearance scheme was in contemplation, he and his Committee were received almost with fury by some of the inhabitants when they were visiting the area, who strongly objected to any interference with their homes.

The great Tabard Street scheme was left unfinished when the War broke out, and is being completed now. It includes two other smaller areas, Grotto Place and Crosby Row, the total acreage amounting to over 16 acres. This scheme supplies a good example of the danger to public health caused by the existence of these insanitary areas. In the year 1910, when it was originally brought forward, the death rate for the whole of London was 14.9 per thousand, and for Southwark, in which the area was mainly situated, 18-2. In the Tabard Street area it was 36.8 and in Grotto Place 391. Turning to phthisis, the most common product of slum conditions, the average death rate for London was 1.38, for Southwark 1.98, for Tabard Street 3.88, and for Grotto Place no less than 6.10. It is interesting to record that taking London as a whole, the death rate in the

slum areas which have been cleared averaged 40 per thousand, while in the model dwellings which had been erected on the sites it averages 12 per thousand only.

As regards other great cities, Birmingham cleared an immense area of no less than 45 acres north and east of New Street in the 'eighties under Cross's Act, the whole area dealt with comprising altogether 93 acres ; but in some parts of it the existing houses were not actually demolished but were patched up, obstructive buildings being removed, etc. Since then the Corporation have relied chiefly on the 'patching-up' policy, using their powers under Part II of the Housing Act of 1890. It is plain that this policy obviates the expense, delays, and cumbrous machinery of Part I, and certainly many insanitary districts have been greatly improved, confined courts having been thrown open, and back-toback houses demolished; but it cannot be said that the result is as satisfactory as where complete clearances have taken place. Liverpool showed exceptional activity, clearing large districts near the docks, and by erecting exceedingly cheap tenement dwellings, which it was possible to do before the War, succeeded in rehousing on the sites considerably more than half the persons dispossessed, which was never found possible in London. Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Brighton, and Plymouth are other notable examples of towns which undertook big clearance schemes before the War.

The War, of course, put an end to this activity, and the house shortage which has existed since has made its resumption very difficult. Much, however, remains to be done. To take the case of London, the L.C.C. have given very careful consideration to a report made in 1911 by the late Sir Shirley Murphy (then Medical Officer of Health), in which he had marked down no less than 1900 groups of three or more houses in London which were either congested or insanitary. A selection of twenty-two of the largest areas most urgently requiring remedying has been made, and six of them are being proceeded with at once, the Brady Street scheme in Bethnal Green being well advanced. In addition to this, sixteen schemes in various parts of the country have been confirmed by the Ministry of Health, and thirty-six local authorities have either submitted schemes