TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 199 



The number of improved dwellings for working people which have been con- 

 structed in London, either by local associations, or by individuals, following more 

 or less closely the plans of those built by the two societies before referred to, for- 

 bids their detailed notice ; they may be learnt from my paper on " the Improvement 

 of the Dwellings of the Labouring Classes," given in the Transactions of the 

 National Association for the promotion of Social Science for 18-38. On this occa- 

 sion I shall only allude to such of them as especially illustrate the points which it 

 is the main object of this paper to prove. 



At Shadwell, close to the line of the Blackwall Railway, a number of miserable 

 dwellings, tenanted by the lowest class of persons, came by inheritance into the 



Eossession of a private gentleman, W. E. Hilliard, Esq. of Gray's Inn : actuated 

 y the most philanthropic views, he decided on endeavouring to improve, not only 

 his own property, but also by example the immediate neighbourhood, and his 

 efforts have been crowned with signal success. The old dwellings have been 

 replaced by an entire street of considerable length ; on both sides of which houses 

 for accommodating in the whole 112 families have been built, on the general plan 

 of H.R.H. The Prince Consort's Exhibition Model Houses 1851, with an open stair- 

 case, giving access to each pair of upper floor tenements. The twenty-eight blocks 

 of four houses cost £487 each ; and after allowing for ground rent and all charges, 

 I can state, on the authority of the owner, that " they continue to pay upwards of 

 six, in fact nearly seven per cent, as a net return on the investment; and what," he 

 adds, " is perhaps of more consequence, they are almost constantly let, and are ap- 

 preciated by the tenants, who, as a rule, are pretty stationary, and not migratory, 

 as that class frequently are. 



"We have before us in this case, an outlay of nearly £14,000 on new buildings 

 which contain 448 rooms, kitchens or sculleries included, yielding from G to 7 per 

 cent., whilst we have seen that the cost of obtaining and putting into sanitary con- 

 dition three old courts, which contain 275 rooms, and a lodging house with 40 beds, 

 has been upwards of £7000 ; and in that instance the return on the outlay has been 

 ly per cent., after deducting 1-J- per cent, for repairs, but making no allowance for a 

 sinking fund." 



The Strand Building Company, on their houses for 25 families in Eagle Court, 

 has last year paid a dividend of 4i per cent, to the shareholders. 



The Victoria Lodging House for married soldiers, built by an association of officers 

 of the battalion of Guards, near the Yauxhall Bridge Road, and containing 54 tene- 

 ments or 112 rooms, was the first pi-actical result of the interest manifested in this 

 object by H.R.H. The Prince Consort in connexion with the Great Exhibition. 

 I allude to it partly as showing how justly the late Duke of Wellington estimated 

 the probable effects of placing that small building in the barrack yard at Knights- 

 bridge, when, as Commander-in-chief, he objected to the situation lest it should 

 cause a feeling of dissatisfaction in the army, with the want of any accommodation 

 for married soldiers ; an evil which the Marquis of Auglesea told me His Grace 

 apprehended the country to be then unprepared to remedy. Since that time, 

 separate dwellings for the married non-commissioned officers and men of the regiment 

 stationed at Chatham garrison, as well as for the engineers, have been built ; and 

 during the present session of Parliament £30,000 have been voted for married 

 soldiers' quarters. 



The Windsor Royal Society, established in 1852, has now £9000 invested in new 

 cottages and in two lodging' houses; the net returns from which enable them to 

 pay a dividend of 4 per cent, to the shareholders. 



At Liverpool, on a range of dwellings for 23 families, built in Upper Frederick 

 Street after the general plan of The Prince Consort's Exhibition model-houses, 

 4| per cent, is realized. The Association at Brighton has also built one block of 

 six houses on the same plan, and they pay a fair return on the cost. 



Not fewer than twenty societies for providing improved dwellings for the work- 

 ing classes have, to my knowledge, been established in various provincial towns in 

 England ; and whilst their operations are, without exception, beneficial in regard to 

 the occupants, the pecuniary results have varied considerably. In such under- 

 takings, competent skill and watchful supervision are most important elements 

 of success. In order to show what may be done with sound judgment and care- 

 fid management, I instance one example, in addition to those already given ; and 



