The Prince of Wales has given proof twice in the
past week of his practical interest in the problem of housing the poor. Yesterday week he visited the tenements of the Guinness Trust in Bermondsey and the Rowton House at Newington Butts, and on Saturday he formally opened the new buildings erected by the London County Council on the Boundary Street estate in Bethnal Green. The facts and figures given in the Prince's speech are most striking. The coat of land and properties which had to be purchased has been about 2333,000, and of the new buildings—which include club-rooms, baths, and washhouses, as well as actual dwellings—some 2300,000 more. But the work has been done so well that accommodation has been provided for five thousand three hundred and eighty persons, or only three hundred and thirty- nine less than the number occupying the buildings demolished. We are glad to note that the Prince paid a fitting tribute to the splendid work done by private enterprise in grappling with the housing problem, with which, as he said, the names of Lord Iveagh and Lord Rowton are nobly associated.
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