HOW SLUMS WILL BE ENDED.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 99, 9 December 1911, Page 5

HOW SLUMS WILL BE ENDED.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in another speech, has pointed out the great importance of the Local Heal bn Committees in securing information which will be invaluable for future social reform. .t - 'I , “The majority of the members oi these Local Health Committees will represent the insured persoiis. on will have representatives of ‘the municipalities, representatives of doctors, and of the State, because the State contributes two-nintlis. But the workmen contribute most of the money; therefore wo feel that taxation ought to go with representation, or representation with taxation. Local Health Committees. “These Local Health Committees have manage the sanatoria and most of the medical attendance. They will ■ have ito, -make reports upon the health of practically 15,UU0,000 of workadministration of the Act. they mil have to send those reports to the municipalities i and very valuable they will be> For the first time you mil have. a collection of reports upon the healh of practically 15,000,000 ot work-ing-class households, analysed and summarised, and the causes probed. “Here you will have tens of thousands of medical men who will he serving these Local Health Committees, visiting in the course of the yeui almost every home, and. sending in a faithful report to a committee upon which the majority will be representatives of the working classes. “Recking Slums.”

“In this country wo liavo had during the last generation a number oi Acts of Parliament for the purpose of improving the dwellings of tP© people 1 will tell you what always strikes me—that with vll these Acts of Parliament, which seem to be very perfect, there are so many reeking slums in our great cities, poisoning tne lives of millions. Authorities are paralysed in action by the powerful influence which often dominance them. The result is that Act of Parliament are often dead letters, and slums still continue, though' against the law. iou will And houses there which no decent landlord would house his cattle in. 1 Children are brought up m that iitmosphere—the race upon which the future of the greatest Empire in the world depends is being reared under these conditions, and it is time an end was put to it—and this Bill is going to help. Bills for Excessive Sickness.

“A society would say, there is excessive sickness in a certain neighbourhood . The doctor will report if that is duo to the insanitary conditions there, and to the bad housing. The society' will then apply to tJie Local Government Board tor the appointment of a Commissioner to go down and examine the matter, louci will be given to him to say that the excessive sickness is or is not due to the insanitary condition. If it is, ho has got the power to compel the owner of the insanitary property to pay the bill. You will put an end to slums in this country when you make slums a bad speculation. It is no use having Acts of Parliament in this country unless both rich and poor are compelled to abide by them. It is not fair that you should put an excessive charge upon a society when the society is not responsible. You may reduce the funds available for benefits to deserving members,.purely because some great owner of property has got houses which are not fit for human ■habitation. That is-the old principle of the common law of England, and I think it is about time it .should be applied. When Municipalities Neglect. “The same thing will apply to municipalities, if the municipalities neglect their duty. If they don’t carry out the sanitary and public health laws, if they don’t carry out their powers with regard to housing, then there is a power to compel even them to pay the excess 6f sickness, which is entirely duo to their neglect of their powers. If that is incorporated in tiiis Act of Parliament, it will be the most potent weapon which has ever been placed in the hands of the law up to the present for cleansing tins lard of those vile habitations which depress the vitality pf millions of people in the country.”