J. M. Brindley

“ Hitherto heavy failures have been the order of the day in connection with Corporation Street. The few shopkeepers who have ventured to open are crushed to the earth by enormous rentals; it is impossible for them to live, and already some have had to seek the friendly shelter of the County Court so considerately placed at their very doors. Amongst other conspicuous failures an arcade was erected over an underground restaurant. Not a shop in the arcade is let, and the keeper of the restaurant liquidated. Every effort has been made to make the street go, but all without effect. ”

“ Chief amongst the schemes which have been propounded to remedy a deplorable state of affairs is that of a great statesman, the Marquis of Salisbury, who would have the Imperial Legislature take the matter into its early consideration, and by public loans assist corporations in their endeavours to deal with unhealthy areas. All must recognize the great difficulty which surrounds any proposal of this kind. Time, skill, labour, and expense must be freely given to succeed in grappling with so great an undertaking. ”

“ Having aroused the sympathy of the Council and the town by a heartrending description of the miserable condition of the wretched inhabitants of the slums which formed a portion of the scheme, Mr. Chamberlain said, "We want to make these people healthier, we want to make them better, and I want to make them happier. Just consider for a moment what forlorn and desolate lives the best of these people must live in courts like these. ”

“ Vested rights and vested interests must be fairly and honourably dealt with, and one class must not be injured for the purpose of benefiting another. There can be no higher duty for a legislative body to undertake than to do all that is possible towards improving the homes where those who are the backbone of the nation pass their lives.
Mr. Joseph Chamberlain took upon himself the task of replying to the statesmanlike proposals of Lord Salisbury. He would lay upon the owner of the land the onus of providing better dwellings, in place of those which have in the lapse of years fallen to decay ”

“ The time has come when that must be done if the poor are to be housed within close proximity to their work and for reasonable rent." On the rent question Mr. Chamberlain went on to say, "We shall not be able to secure these houses being built for the use of the public at lower rates than hitherto have prevailed, yet the actual result will be that the rental will not be much higher than they have hitherto been accustomed to pay." ”

“ Add to this enormous loss to tradespeople whose businesses have been injured by the progress of the new street and the removal of the classes which formerly supported the trade of the neighbourhood, and the very large decrease in ratal from voids in the neighbourhood of the area. To make up for which deficiency £20,000 per annum, the profits on the gas manufacture in the hands of the Corporation, is taken out of the pockets of the gas consumers. ”

“ That the evils of overcrowding in unsanitary areas need grappling with at once must be patent to all who have given the slightest study to the subject. In London and in many provincial towns the poor are huddled together in unwholesome dens, which must be detrimental to health, and tend to stunt the intellectual development of the children, the future electors of the country. ”

“ Then, to the amazement of everyone, it was found that the so-called artizans' dwellings erected on the old burial ground had taken the form of large and handsome shops, at a rental of about £40 per year. The speculators who ventured to take the land recently came to a "tremendous smash," as most people have done who have ventured to have anything to do with the Corporation in connection with land. Although the Corporation could not build, they endeavoured to make some provision for the people displaced. ”

“ White and other persons, who are well acquainted with the district, have given of the dreariness, the intense dreariness, the lack of everything that can give interest or pleasure to life in these places. ”

“ Joseph Chamberlain should again dare to pose as the champion of the working classes? That he, of all other men, should presume, in face of his gigantic failure, to reply to an article by a statesman like Lord Salisbury ”

“ Well, we are going to displace 9,000 people, and the architects tell me they have not the slightest doubt that by a rearrangement of the blocks of buildings and by an improved construction they will be able to build good houses for 18,000 people. ”