LETTER OF 1890.—I will not in this, which is my one letter of the year
to you, my friends and fellow-workers, enter on the great public
questions which are attracting an ever-increasing degree of interest.
Whatever be done about free meals, free education (why do we call them
free, instead of paid for by charity, by rates, or by tax, do you
think?)—whatever may happen about strikes or immigration from the
country—for you and me there remain much the same great eternal duties,
love, thought, justice, liberality, simplicity, hope, industry, for
ever; still human heart depends on human heart for sympathy, and still
the old duties of neighbourliness continue. Let us see that we fulfil
them, each in our own circle, large or small; perhaps we may find the
fulfilment of them answer more social problems than we quite expected.
Perhaps we may find changes of system effect little reform unless
courageous and honest men carry them out with single-mindedness and
thought for others.
If the free meal, free education, subsidized house accommodation attract
you, will you pause and remember, first, that they are by no means free,
but cost someone, somehow, just as much, probably a great deal more,
than if provided otherhow? The question, if you get rid of the word
“free,” which is deceptive, clears up a little, and becomes, “Is this
the best way of, first, providing, and second, paying for these
necessities?”
And then, having answered this for yourself, see to it that you are
wholly single-minded if you advocate this sort of subsidy for the poor.
Be sure you do so neither from cowardice nor from ambition. If, indeed,
it be pity, genuine kindness and a sense of justice that moves you, then
the feeling is so good that in some way I believe it will lead you
right; besides, you will keep your power to watch and see and alter as
you come face to face with facts, and may modify all systems, and keep
the desire to do justice and help in whatever way is seen finally to be
really helpful.
But if you let one touch of terror dim your sight and flinch before the
most terrible upheaval of rampant force or threat; if, for popular
favour, or seat at board, or success on platform, you hesitate to speak
what you know to be true, then shall your cowardice and your ambition be
indeed answerable for consequences which you little dream of. They may
come now, or they may come later, but come they will; for only Truth
abides and will stand the test of time. Let us see that we hold her very
fast; only those who are loyal to her can.
VII
WOMEN MANAGERS—A CROWN ESTATE[2]
Footnote 2:
Reprinted from _Housing_, the official journal of the Ministry of
Health, September 27, 1919, by kind permission of the Controller, H.M.
Stationery Office.
A scheme of reconstruction which should be of interest to local
authorities about to exercise the new powers conferred upon them by the
Housing Act has been undertaken by the Office of Woods on a London
estate near Regent’s Park, belonging to the Crown.
The area in question lies to the east of Albany Street. It forms part of
an estate, known as the “Marylebone Farm,” which about a hundred years
ago was leased by the Office of Woods principally for residential
purposes, ample provision being made in the type of building for all
classes. The estate includes the Cumberland Basin, connected with the
Regent’s Canal; Cumberland Market, an ancient market for the sale of hay
and straw; and two other open spaces. The Market is now seldom used, but
it is still paved with setts and furnished with a weighing-house. The
other two spaces are squares, laid out with trees and shrubs, and are
managed by the London County Council.
During the last year or two many of the leases of property of the
tenement class have fallen in, and others, which are not yet quite due,
have been surrendered by the owners in preference to putting the houses
into repair.
With the gradual falling in of the leases the Office of Woods were faced
with the question whether the site was again to be let on lease or
whether it was to be held and managed on behalf of the Crown. The latter
course was happily decided upon, and it was resolved to place the
property immediately under the care of Miss Jeffery, an experienced
house-property manager, trained under Miss Octavia Hill’s system, who
has under her a staff of trained women.
The plan of reconstruction, which includes rebuilding most of the houses
and altering the course of some of the streets, is being prepared by the
Office of Woods. It is intended to convert Cumberland Market into a
public garden and to form one or more children’s playgrounds in
addition.
Rebuilding is hardly to be thought of for the moment. The immediate need
is to make the existing houses reasonably fit for habitation. Most of
them are dilapidated and some of them are filthy. Backyards have been
built over, and in some instances another cottage has been put up, the
only entrance to which is through the house which faces the street. The
property has been for the most part badly neglected during the later
years of the leases, while in the earlier years little care was
exercised to see that the conditions of the lease were not departed
from.
Miss Jeffery has opened a small office on the estate, as a centre from
which the rents of the houses are collected week by week. On their
visits the women managers find out what repairs are needed to make the
houses habitable and clean, and supervise the repairs already in hand.
Miss Jeffery and her assistants are thus in constant touch with the
tenants, helping them in many ways and inducing them to do their part in
improving their surroundings. While insisting that necessary alterations
and cleansing must be carried out forthwith, the managers do their best
to study the comfort and convenience of the tenants as far as possible.
If the tenants must be removed for a time, temporary accommodation is
found for them.
It is intended that the number of licensed houses on the estate shall be
reduced as the leases fall in, and the managers are taking steps to
ensure improved management, on Public House Trust lines, of those that
will remain.
About 170 families (representing a population of nearly 1,000) are
already paying their rent to the women managers, and fresh houses come
in every few weeks. The managers, with the Office of Woods behind them,
believe that the work of reconstructing the estate can be successfully
accomplished only if they can ensure the good will and co-operation of
the present tenants. With this end in view, they called a meeting of the
tenants already on their rent-roll in March last, and suggested the
formation of a Tenants’ Association. The intentions of the Office of
Woods with regard to the estate were explained to the meeting, as well
as the reasons for desiring the tenants themselves to combine and
co-operate in carrying out the scheme. The Association has been formed,
a Chairman elected, and several other meetings have since been held. The
scope of the scheme has been further explained, and points arising in
the management—such as whether rates should be paid direct to the local
authority or with the rent—have been discussed. That the powers and
responsibilities of a Tenants’ Association are beginning to be realized
is shown by the fact that within the last few days a petition has been
put forward by the Association, asking that one of the first buildings
to be put up on the estate may be a building containing rooms in which
working men’s clubs may be held; at present these clubs, several of
which have a large number of members, are held in the public-houses
because there is no other place for them.
The scheme bids fair to be a success. The necessary changes will be
carried through with the least possible disturbance and friction among
the tenants, because the women managers have already won the confidence
of a large number of them. Many tenants do not want to part with their
old cottages, dirty and dilapidated as they are, and others are afraid
that, when the new houses are built, they will not be the persons to get
them. The women managers, being on the spot, will get to know the
individual needs of each household, and they will use every effort to
meet the needs of these households when the houses are rebuilt. In the
meantime, they are in a position to persuade the tenants gradually to
adopt higher standards of cleanliness and comfort, and so enable them to
take care of the new houses when they get them.
Local authorities who are about to take over slum areas and reconstruct
them may find it of advantage to follow the example of the Office of
Woods and place an area, as soon as it comes into their hands, under the
management of women educated and trained for this work.