Two important monographs on the Housing question are (1) Report
on, and Survey of, Housing Conditions in the Borough of Paddington, by Mrs. Barclay and Miss Perry, published by the Westminster Survey Group from the Weardale Press, 26 Gordon Street, W.C. 1 (4d., post free), and Memorandum on Overcrowding in Slums and How to Remedy It, by Dr. C. Killick Millard, the Medical Officer of Health for Leicester, obtainable from the National Housing and Town Planning Council. Paddington is a Borough of contrasts ' • there are many. wealthy districts in it, but that of which Clarendon Street is roughly the centre is one of the most discreditable in London. More than one-half of the Borough belongs to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who have, however, largely divested them- selves of the responsibilities and rights of an owner by letting. There is now a tangle of landlords , and sub-lessees on this property, and to regain control of it the Bishop of London is of the opinion that fresh legislation will be required. We cor- dially agree with him, and trust that the ratepayers will under.. stand that to improve the housing conditions in Paddington must inevitably entail an increase_ in the rates._ Dr. Millard, well known for his enlightened health administration in Leicester, points out that the, first thing to doabout the slums is to get the children out of them ; and urges (with some modifications) Mr. Simon's scheme for a children's rent allowance. Of that proposal we have already written at some length, pointing out the difficulties ; but we would endorse Dr. Mallard's general proposition, that we must con- sider first and foremost the interests of the children. In many cases it is positively cruel to remove aged .couples to strange surroundings from the slums in which they have lived so long.
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