On Wednesday, the Evicted Tenants' Association waited upon Lord Derby
to represent their case, which is briefly this. Fifty thousand poor persons have been evicted in London within four years, evictions are still going on, and the overcrowding is killing alike morality and civilization. They propose, therefore, that Mr. Torrens' Act, enabling the Metropolitan Board to take con- demned buildings and rebuild them with loans from the State, should be taken up by Government. Lord Derby intimated that he was not unfriendly to this scheme,—the only practical one yet brought before Parliament,—but wanted to know if it would pay. Suppose he inquires about Lord Westminster's scheme, described in another column. Gatliff Buildings will, we believe, not only pay the State interest, but 2 per cent, besides, which 2 per cent. is all profit, no capital being invested. Had the Marquis allowed the Company to charge market rates, the profit would' have been 5 per cent. at least. In Marylebone at this moment householders in obscure streets are letting rooms to workmen on the third storey at 8s. 6d. the pair, or something like 150/. a year for a ten-roomed hovel.
