THE SHAFTESBURY PARK ESTATE, LONDON.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5708, 8 January 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SHAFTESBURY PARK ESTATE, LONDON.

iiir'iows wiiiioLT mi i.khoii li:u. Mil. \Y. FrKiir.i; wntes to the Ninth )Vo/t\ JJmhf Ti li'i/uiiii respecting it, and st.i'es : "Wo lia\e there somo fourteen hundwd houses, with a population of from thit'C to fom thousand, and }-ct it is a facth.it the duties of citizens, ot fathers and mothus (if neighbour and individuals are sati tactoiily divjiaiged, without its being thought lii-ui^-, uy to call in the aid of the pubhuin During Iho period of my own losidunce on th.it estate 1 have seen only two diunlmi did), .ind they, moi cover, were passing t'.iouj/h the stieets, not citizens. 1 ha\( nc\n heaid a diunken biawl, never knc\» but one uiso ol a domestic distiubance, and that .nose fioin a husband 'mildly conect n. g a v. if i', who befoic coming on the estate hid le.uned to be ton fond of her beei.' Dm ing the past summer the streets, whiuh aic bioad and well kept, have been nude beautiful by the splendid show of (low eis in which the inhabitants have indulged, almost without an exception. J h.uc nc\ ei he.ud the song of a diuukaid, but dating the summer e\cmngj, I have often listened to the songs of the people fiom the open window & We have a laigc leutiuo hall, wheie vaiious entertainments art pio\ided ; and when the estate is completed wo shall l>e in possession of cn-opciativc stoic-., uiedio.il institute, large club-house, libiaiy and reading loom, but no publiohoiibc oi hotel; and atrange as it may appear, tin 1 liiliab'tautsj, though by no means exclubively teetotalers, arc peifectly satisfied, and do not wish that gie.it institution, the beer bmrcl, to be intiodueod. Now, sir, this puts, to Mlenee for over the pai rot cry as to the people's inability to do without a public house. I declare that by my own peisonal e\poi lenci 1 can piovo to demonstration tlu folly of such a statement, and if any one of youi leadeia bhould question the accui.iey o! ,mi>, thing 1 have «aid, J invite him to pay us a viait, avIkmi I am sine he will be able to confirm anything I ha\c said We ha\e had somo vi'iy di&tinguished visitois snue our esta'e haa 'sprung into being.' The ltight lion. li. Diar.uli canu 1 , saw, and w.is eoii(|Ucied. Tln-> is hi^ testi mony :~ 'I am most gratified at having an opportunity of expressing my sympathy With you foi what jo'i have done I ha\c nevei m my life been moio astoiinliod than by what I have witnessed to day— a citj suddenly rising in the desert. The ex-

pinment you have made has succeeded, and theiefoie, can .se<uecly bo tilled an e\ penincnt, and in its success is involved tin timmphs of an intojestiiit,' effoit for Hip nioial ole\.ition of tlio gi<-at body of tin people — it liiay b( said to have solved * i|uestioii wliuOi li.i-, perplexed puluunent , Kail (lianvdle, Thomis lln;;he->, Kmj ,M I' . lion. ll\cl\n .\O,ili\. \J.I\. and otlioi di tinguislicd yontlt nu'ii, h.i\( i luloiscd .ill tin I'rcmiu .said, and miiie, the happy f.ice>. ol tho clnlilron, the I'ontinled looks tlie wive^, and s.iti^fai tmn he.uiuny tiom tin countenances of the huslundson that est ite, stamp the fact of it« .sucee-s on tho i\periment, and transform an mtoicstiny theory into an incontro\eitiblo fact—jiuilnbition is a success. Only lot the people bpeak and this almost solitary inslanuc of its beneficial effect -will be cndois.cd by vholo ncigliboui hoods, and insuicita suci cbbinothei 1 important centres, till (.ventu.dly our own beautiful land shall be (■'i<ut, j,loi ions , mil hee ' l-'u-.t pnde of tho oc",msnd gem of tho sei.