The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-14 00:00:00

The London Labouring Classes.

Yesterday the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers, ALP.,
the President of the Poor-law Board, received a
deputationofimembers of London Guardian Boards,
who had agreed to confer with him on the
destruction by railway companies and other
bodies of house property occupied by the
London labouring classes. There were present
with the President—Lord Enfield, M.P., Mr. H. B.
Farnall, C. 8., Mr. Rawlinson, C. 8., Mr. Lumley,
and Mr. Fletcher ; and the assistant-secretaries, Mr.
Owen and Mr. Sutton. Many of the chief metro-
politan parishes were represented by the deputation,
among the members of which were Mr. Wilkinson,
Mr. J. S. Storr, Mr. Bonthorn, and Mr. Hanson.
Mr. Kilmer, the clerk to the Strand Union, read the
memorial, which stated that " the memorialists,
having recently investigated the present state of the
house and lodging accommodation for the labouring
and poorer classes within their respective districts,
feel it their duty to report that the dwellings of the
poor classes in the city are for the most part unsuit-
able for their requirements, that great overcrowding
prevails, and that owing to recent demolitions the
rentals are very much higher than formerly." These
homes of the people, the memorial went on to state,
caused increased of disease, immorality, and pau-
perism, and checked all progress towards a higher
civilisation ; thus increasing the poor-rates, while
decreasing the number of those who might be called
ratepayers. The memorial called attention to the
large number of bills for new metropolitan railways

and other schemes to be laid before the Legislature,
and expressed the opinion of the memorialists, that
if any great proportion of these bills were sanc-
tioned without provision being made on an adequate
scale for the poor who will be dispossessed of their
homes much further suffering would be inflicted on

the poor, and a heavy penalty would fall upon the
ratepayers and the guardians. It was recommended
that corporations, limited owners, and others, should
have increased powers to sell lands for the erection of
dwellings for labourers, that the Public Loan Com-
missioners should be authorised to lend money at a rate
not exceeding 3i per cent. per annum for building
such dwellings, and that in future railway acts and
acts for local improvements,when housesinhabitedby
the working classeswere destroyed under compulsory
powers, such companies should be compelled to pro -
vide within a convenient distance other dwellings in
lieu of those destroyed. In reply to questions put by
the presidentalr.Wilkin son and Mr.Kilner stated that
meetings had been held of the London guardians,
who moved in this matter in the general interests of
the ratepayers, as it was felt that this destruction of
the dwellings of the lower and labouring classes
leads to many evils, as overcrowding, fever-breed-
ing, and such like, which increases pauperism. Mr.
Kilner, in answer to such interrogatories, said it
was within his own knowledge that the dwellings of
the people in the Strand district were in a very bad
condition, and the destruction of dwellings for the
new law courts would make the overcrowding in the
houses not to be pulled down very great indeed.
The President asked if large numbers of the people
were not now carried out to the suburbs by the rail-
ways at a rery low rate, so giving them opportu-
nities of reaching their work in the morning and
returning in the evening, to which it was replied that
such was the case to some extent, but that it was
imperative on large numbers of people to live near
their work. That large buildings could be erected
in town with advantage was shown in the fact that
Mr. Waterlow's buildings and those erected by the
Peabody Trustees had given a profit on the expen-
diture, besides giving the people healthy and com-
fortable homes ; but this was a speculation which
would not be engaged in by capitalists. The Presi-
dent asked if the guardians contemplated taking
this matter into their own hands, and offer to mort-
gage the rates as security for money advanced, and
some gentlemen replied that they had no idea of
mortgaging the rates. They thought that the laud
and building material would be sufficient security
for all money advanced, and instanced the case of
Liverpool, where it was said the corporation had
borrowed money to improve the dwellings of the
poor. Mr. Wilkinson said there were many places
in a very bad condition, which by a comparatively
small expenditure might be made habitable ; and
taking the subject in its broadest aspect, great
it
good
would accrue to the general populationif guardians
had this power and exercised it. As
Billingsgate came was, people
who worked in the docks and at Billm
to live in the Strand district, where they had had
aaccmomatmteordfaot
ri accommodation
thosean d
cpoani dn
evcetreyd dearlyw i with t; h and
) ot oh ri s-
lwa wa 8,
asa
dthe h
ey people'sbem ehealthchargeable
brok et undero
the
ra
ttehae.i r
Themis eirny,
the pauper
and the onerout-doorpoor classwere,
said,hdeepen denvte' poorry c anddloasnely connected,
ran into the other. Mr. Lumleywld u
askedotthemselves,
ifemthseelovwesn,eirns
of 1
the low class property would
improve the dwellings so as to make
then pay
better ; and if the guardians proposed to
obtain compulsory powers to become collectively
houseowners, to which it was replied that it was not
contemplated to make the guardians the permanent
owners of lodging-house or other property ; and
Mr. Bonthorn, one of the guardians of St. James's,
Westminster, gave a description of the shocking
dwellings he and other guardians visited in discharge
of their duties as honorary relieving officers, and
expressed the opinion that if some of the inferior
dwellings in his parish could be cleared away, far
more commodious dwellings could be erected on the
same spaces of ground. The present dwellings were
in the hands of about three persons, the landlord, a
middleman, and then a third sort of middleman,
and the poor people paid a most exorbitant rent for
bad accommodation. Mr. Hanson urged that all
railway companies should be compelled to erect
dwellings in place of those they destroyed, and said

corporations did not destroy the homes of the work-
ing man so much as the railways, for these would
not propose to come through a place like Whitehall,
but they went round the " slums" and the poor
districts. He answered, in reply to Mr. Farnall, that
he knew the railway companies paid compensation
to the owners and lessees of all house property ; and
in answer to a further question by the same gentle-
man, as to whether he would make the companies,
besides paying this compensation to owners, build
other houses for the working-classes, he said that
that was a matter best considered and set right by
the Legislature. Mr. Storr then addressed the Pre-
sident, and said that though the number of the work-
ing people who would have to be turned out for the
new Law Courts was set down as 3,082, yet they were
a much greater number, and said every interest had
been watched over—the parish interest, the landlord
interest, the Church interest, all except the interest
of the dwellers in the houses, who obtained no com-
pensation, and who ought to be protected by the
Poor Law Board. He held up a bill containing in-
flammatory language, in which his own name had
been printed without his consent, and this, he said,
had been done by an old Chartist agitator, who was
trying, and not altogether withoutsuccess, to inflame
the minds of the people against what he called the
" cruel oppression" to which they were exposed in
being turned out of their homes. He thought there
should be a central power to deal with the metropo-
lis and watch over these railways, which he owned
did some good, but he said there was such a thing as
doing too much good at once, and London, it was
agreed on all hands, had of late been terribly knocked
about. Mr. Rawlinson said there were many plots of
land about the metropolis in which the guardians were
distributing relief amounting to-far more Wan the
rents received from the houses, and this was in a
great measure owing to the wretched class of dwell-
ings. He believed that if the London guardians had
appointed counsel to watch over their interest before
the committee of the House of Commons theywould
have obtained compensation, as had other places in
the country. He was of opinion that where guardians
expended as much money as the landlords received,
they should have thepower of buying such property,
improving it, and selling it—a course which would
benefit all parties, and especially the landlords, who,
he said, were in some cases only one remove from the
tenant in poverty. After a very long and interest-
ing conversation, the President said the Government
had had their attention drawn to the subject, which
was one of great importance, and they proposed to
meet some of the difficulties by lending money for
the purpose of erecting dwelling places for the work-
ing classes. As to the clauses which the deputation
asked should be inserted in railway bills, and such
like questions, they were questions which must re-
main for the Legislature to deal with as it thought
uroper. The deputation thanked Mr. Villiers for
his courtesy, and for the patience with which he had
listened to them, and retired.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Geo. Vining.
TO-MORROW EVENING, QUILT LODGINGS.
Alter at a quarter to Eight, IT IS NEVER TOO
LATE TO MEND. t haracters by Messrs. Vining, T. Mel-
ville, T. Mead, D. Murray, S. Ca!ham, F. Villiers, J. G.
shore, G. Murray, 11. &tenon, C. Seyton, It. Cathcart; Mist
L. Moore and Miss Katherine Rodgers.

pOYAL STRAND THEATRE.
i,
_Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. bwanborough.

To-Morrow Eveninn., at Seven (9th time), a new and origi-
nal Comedy, THE FLY AND THE WEB. Mes,rs. Par-
acne and Price; Mis.es Sw.anborough and liaynham.
After whici will be produced a new opera Burlesque,
L'AFRICAINE ; or, The Queen of the Canuibti Islan ,s.
Messrs. Stoyle, James, Thome ; Mesdames Swanborough,
ktaynbam, Johnstone, &a. .
To conclude with LENDING A lIAND. Mess. s. Belford
arid Turner; Misses Simpson and Hughes.

/VHF, LAST EDITION OF " THE SUN,"
Containing the Lateto. SPOItTIING IisiTELLDIENC ,
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think of a return giving about four persons
to a house ? Yet such was the result
of the last census in Victoria, taken
in 1861. Few persons in that colony are absolutely
without means, and none need be in the abject dis-
tress only too common in the mother country, if
they have the strength and the will to work. The
chief difficulties from which this self-governed colony
suffers are political grievances. The parliamentary
system gets periodically to a deadlock, and while
in a good many European countries the people are
clamouring for the right of representation, in the
National Assemblies in Victoria, where it is no
unattainable good, the privilege is very little
valued. Another general election has been
just going on at Melbourne, although
last year the troublesome ceremony was gone
through in due form. The reason of the dissolution
was, however, forcible enough, since the Council
and the Assembly found it impossible to reconcile
their differences and to work together with any
show of unanimity. Of course each House declared
that the feeling of the country was in their favour.
The chief point at issue was rather an awkward
one, being the question as to which House
should have the control of the finances ; and
as it was simply impossible to go on with
the public business until this difference
was settled the Governor could not do otherwise
than resort to a general election to test public
opinion in a definite form. By the acceptance or
rejection of the Ministerial Tariff the matter is to be
decided, but there were few new candidates for elec-
tion coming forward when the mail left, and most
of the old members were standing again ; so that,
according to appearances, there will not be a very
decided alteration in the strength of parties in the
new Assembly.
How the Victorians will extricate themselves from
the horns of their Parliamentary dilemma remains
to be seen ; but, in other matters, they have little to
complain of. There has been a good deal of loss from
drought in the northern ports ; but, although the
agricultural interest has suffered, the scarcity of
water has fortunately not produced any perceptible
effect upon the operations of the gold field. Another
important addition to the mineral wealth of Australia
is reported in the discovery of immense deposits
of a substance resembling Cannel coal in parts of
New South Wales, which yields 147 gallons of oil
to the ton. The oil burns readily and clearly, and
Wollongong, near which it has been found, is already
lighted with it. It is not a little singular that such
a discovery should follow as quickly on the petro-
leum treasures of America.

The cattle plague is exciting the greatest alarm
and uneasiness, as it well might, among the large
farmers and graziers of the south. Happily there
has been as yet no manifestation of it whatever,
so that we must hope our colonies will be spared
a misfortune which they are perhaps less able to
bear than the mother country.

The arrival of the City of Boston from New
York on the 3rd, informs us that Mr. SUMNER has
introduced a most comprehensive measure into the
Senate respecting the representation of the Southern
States. It seems that the late Constitutional
amendment adopted by the Lower House, which
most persons thought decidedly unfavourable to the
South, has excited Mr. SUMNER'S indignation and
displeasure, and the resolution which he has intro-
duced into the Senate is intended as a substitute
for it. He moves that in the lately rebellious
States there shall be no class invested with
peculiar privileges or powers, and no denial
of civil and political rights to any one on
account of colour. All persons are to be equal before
the law and at the ballot-box. So far as the law is'
concerned the resolution is just and right, and such
as all parties in this country have always cordially
upheld. When we come to the ballot-box, how-
ever, it is a different thing, and Mr. SUMNER aims
at nothing less than a complete disruption of the
whole social and political system of the South, and
the subjugation of its people. The Senate being
far less under the Radical influence than the House
of Representatives, is not likely so abruptly to
settle the whole question of the Southern suf-
frage, so that Mr. SUMNER'S resolution is not
likely to be adopted. By a vote of 31 to 10 the
Upper House has passed the amendment to the bill
for protection in civil rights, by which all natives of
the United States, except Indians, are declared
citizens, without distinction of colour. The negroes
have not, therefore, any reason to complain of being i
harshly or unjustly treated by the Legislature,
which has throughout manifested a determination
to support their civil rights unhesitatingly.
The Virginia Legislature has passed a resolution
which endorses President JOHNSON'S policy, and de-
nounces those who represent the Legislature as
being opposed. The Southern States, indeed, will
do very wisely to give their hearty support to the
PRESIDENT, and to put no unnecessary obstacles in
his way, since his task is quite sufficiently arduous
in dealing with the prejudices and factious opposi-
tion which meet him among his own people, with-
out those whom he is trying to befriend counter-
mining his plans and affording ground for the
insinuations and accusations of their enemies.