TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 183 



and included the formation of new streets and improvement of old thoroughfares 

 to the number of forty-five. 



In the Parliamentary Session of 1866 the Improvement Act was passed almost 

 •without opposition, and immediately thereafter a committee was appointed for 

 carrying out its provisions, over which committee I presided for six years. A tax 

 of Or/, per £ on the rental of the city, to be paid by occupiers, was imposed for the 

 first year. Negotiations were entered into for the purchase of properties, and a 

 bank credit was arranged for until the tax could be collected and money borrowed 

 on the security of the trust. As many of the properties required were old and 

 dilapidated, the owners were generally not averse to quit them ; and from care 

 and skill on the part of their manager, Mr. Lamb, the committee succeeded for a 

 considerable time in purchasing at a very moderate rate— in many cases from ten 

 to twelve and fourteen years' purchase of the gross rental for dwellings, and 

 eighteen to twenty years' for shops. By the end of the first year the committee 

 had secured, by private bargain, property to the extent of £50,512, and loans had 

 begun to come in freely on the security of the trust at the rate of 4 per cent, per 

 annum. These purchases have gone on from year to year, and, as will be seen from 

 the published accounts, the sum paid for properties up till 31st May last amounted 

 to £1,612,504, of which they have sold to the extent of £830,532. In addition to 

 this the committee purchased and paid £40,000 for a public park for the use of the 

 citizens. The whole of these purchases have been made by private negotiations 

 and friendly arbitration, with the exception of two cases of trial by jury. The 

 principle laid down by the committee, which has been adhered to amidst strenuous 

 opposition, was to begin no improvement until the whole property in the district 

 had been purchased, and also to take care that both sides of the streets should be 

 secured. They consider the adherence to this principle the means by which they 

 have been able to secure properties at a moderate rate, and so promote the success 

 of the scheme. 



The tax, which was 6d. per £ for the first year, was, in the second, reduced to 

 4rf., at which it was continued for four years, viz. till 1871. Afterwards it was 

 reduced to 3d. for two years, and since then to 2d. per £, at which it now stands. 



In about two years after the passing of the Act there was commenced that pro- 

 cess of demolition which has been carried on gradually up to the present time, by 

 which old and dilapidated buildings were removed, the haunts of the criminal 

 classes broken up, breathing-spaces opened in pent-up lanes and closes, playgrounds 

 procured for children, old streets widened, and new streets driven through the 

 most densely crowded districts. The effects of these changes on the health of the 

 inhabitants, and more particularly on that of the children, have been very striking, 

 the procuring of open playground having in many cases wholly changed their sickly 

 appearance into that of robust health. During the first four years the operations 

 of the committee were chiefly confined to the purchase of property, to the putting 

 into temporary repair many of the worst dwellings, and particularly in taking down 

 and removing tenements of houses which were dens of fever and disease in the 

 crowded districts. 



As recorded in the information given to the Home Secretaiy : — "It was feared 

 at one time that the dispersion of the low-class population might have a tendency 

 to spread crime and disease, and was a dangerous experiment. None of these fears 

 have been verified ; on the contrary, the police and sanitary inspectors have re- 

 peatedly certified that the whole condition of the population displaced has been 

 improved, and ' that although paying higher rents in other districts of the citv for 

 houses worthy of the name, they are themselves satisfied of the advantages of 1 the 

 change.'" The information furnished to the Government of the operations of the 

 Trust, and a visit from the Home Secretary, led to Mr. Cross bringing in and pass- 

 ing the "Artisans' Dwellings Bill." 



The clearances thus effected, along with the other clearances made by the Union 

 Railway Company, have led to a diminution of crime, and have, besides, given a 

 power and control to the police over the parties inhabiting these districts not for- 

 merly possessed. It is consequently found, that while between the years 1867 and 

 1873 there is a diminution in the total cases of crime annually reported of 3030, 

 there is an increase in the apprehensions of 749. The criminal returns give the 

 following :— " Total crimes reported to the police in 1867, 10,899 ; in 1873, 7869. 



