Second report of Her Majesty's Commissioners for inquiring into the housing of the working classses : Scotland.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on Housing of the Working Classes
- Date:
- 1885
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Second report of Her Majesty's Commissioners for inquiring into the housing of the working classses : Scotland. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
59/352
![Dublin is carried out by a collector general nomi- nated by the Lord Lieutenant. We propose that there shall be a clause in that Bill by which houses suitable for workmen's dwellings should pay only on a differential scale of rating. In Belfast there is such a power as that. 22.384. I do not want to go into the question of the collectioii of rates in Dublin, except to this extent, which I am sure will be deemed pertinent. Is it not a fact that there is a very large amomit of uncollect- able rates in Dublin under the present law ?—Yes, I have a return here which shows that in a single year 9,000/. was remitted. However, that is in a great part due to remissions owing to vacancy. 22.385. When a house is vacant in Dublin it is first rated, and then the person who is rated makes application to have the rate remitted?—Yes, on the ground of non-occupancy during a specific period. 22.386. There is no rate levied on a vacant house, is there —If a house is vacant for a whole year there is none, and if it is vacant for a portion of the year there is a remission for the proportion during which it has been unoccupied. 22.387. You yourself live in Rathmines, do you not ?—I do. 22.388. Does the same law apply there ?—No, an owner there must pay the township rates if his house is unoccupied. 22.389. A rate is levied in Rathmines upon every house, whether it is occupied or not ?—That is so. 22,390-1. But here in Dublin a house is not rated unless it is occupied. Under the local Act they impose a tax on every house ?—The rate is imposed on every house, and if it is not occupied the owner must pay the rates. 22.392. (^Sir Richard Cross.) Have you a copy of the local Act with you ?—No, but I can send for it. 22.393. {Mr. Gray.) Can you give us any approxi- mate notion as to how many houses are vacant out of the 24,000 houses in Dublin ?—The census return is, I think, the surest information on that point. I do not think the collector general's return would be so accurate ; but the census return would show that there were then over 3,000 houses vacant. The exact number is 3,060. 22.394. That is to say, one house in every eight is vacant ?—Yes. 22.395. And escapes taxation altogether ?—Yes. 22.396. If every house in Dublin were rated, whether it were occupied or not, do you think that that woitld tend to coerce the landlords of those houses to let them at lesser rates so as to recoup themselves the rates which they had to pay ?—I think it would have a beneficial effect. 22.397. Do you think it would tend to ease the present excessive rents in Dublin ?—I think it would force owners to let houses at the market value, and not to hold them in hand for fancy rents. 22.398. Do they, as a matter of fact, hold their houses in hand, when they are vacant, in the hope of getting what they deem to be sufficient rents, that is to say, such a rent as they cannot get at the present time ?—I believe there is no doubt of that; they hold out for speculative rents. 22.399. The corporation has during that time, has it not, to light the street for them, it has to sewer it and to pay towards ])olicing it, and so on ?—Yes, the expenses for street maintenance, for lighting, watch- ing, and so on, go on all the same, and must be paid. 22.400. You are of opinion then, I take it (it is tolerably manifest), that if those owners were subjected to the Rathmines law and had to pay taxes for those houses, whether they were able to let them or not, they would try to let the houses as rapidly as they could ?—They would have to let them at the market value. 22.401. And that would have the effect of relieving all the rents of the city ?—The result would be that a lesser rate ia the £ would have to be levied. The corporation would not levy more ; they would only o 18894. require a certain sura of money, and being able to assess it upon so much more property the rate would necessarily be lower. 22.402. And it would also have the effect, by throwing more houses upon the market, of reducing the rents at the same time ?—No doubt. 22.403. {To Dr. Cameron^ You have given evi- dence with regard to the large number of older houses which were once owned by the wealthier classes, but which are now turned into tenements ; many of those houses are still in a very substantial condition, are they not, so far as their walls are concerned —Yes, a 22.404. Perhaps even more solid than many of the newer houses ?—A great many of them are ; such as the houses in Henrietta 8treet, which are, in fact, mansions. 22.405. If those houses, instead of being let indi- vidually by a house jobber, were taken en bloc by a company, do you think they could be converted into dwellings at an economical rent, suitable for the working classes ?—I am perfectly certain they covdd, and with a small profit in working it. That is one of the best remedies, I believe, for the present state of things. The ditticulty with regard to houses of that kind is, that a house is taken at 30/. a year and sublet at 60/. or 70/., so that the individual who thus sublets it has an excessive profit. If in those cases the collec- tion of the rents were undertaken by a large company, or by the municipality, then the profits might be re- duced to a very moderate amount; that is to say, instead of an individual getting cent, per cent, profit on work- ing the concern as a speculation there should be a I^rofit, under the circumstances which you have sug- gested, of 5 or 7 per cent. There are eight or ten houses in Henrietta Street sublet at the present time at rents which are three times greater than the sum which the landlord gets from the middlemen ; if they were worked en bloc the rents could be reduced probably by at least 50 or 60 per cent. 22.406. Besides putting the roofs and floors in repair ?—Yes, and being kept clean systematically. 22.407. Assuming that as a matter of course, what structural alteration would they want; sanitary accom- modation and a good floor, I sujjpose ?—Yes. 22.408. That would require new building, would it not?—Yes. They would also want dust shoots and to have their yards improved. 22.409. What do you say as to an outside stair ?—I am very strongly in favour of an outside stair. I knoAv the people are not; in fact they do not like it at all, because they think it gives the place so much of a public institution or barrack-like appearance. That is a matter of sentiment, and, as you know, the people in Dublin are very much moved by sentiment. As a matter of fact they would not go into the movable house which we provided for them with every arrange- ment. In regard to disinfecting houses in Dublin, we got a movable house drawn by horses and provided with everything that they could want, but not a single person would use it; they preferred lying out on the stairs. 22.410. {Mr. Samuel Morley.) Were they afraid of its toppling over ?—Not at all; it was a mere matter of sentiment. We had to convert it ultimately into an officeat the disinfecting chamber. The people said their neighbours would laugh at them if they used it. I went down myself and tried personally to persuade them, but they would not. 22,41L {Mr. Gray.) I gather that it is yoiu-opinion that there is a considerable amount of house property in Dublin to which this system of reparation is parti- cularly applicable ?—I should say, roughly speaking, that certainly there are 4,000 or 5,000 houses that could be so converted. 22,412. And that woitld manifestly be very much chef^per than destroying them and building artizans' dwellings ?—Yes ; I think it is an admirable plan for making them better and lowering the rents, which at the present time are simply preposterous. Those large D Mr. Alderman W. Meaghtr, M.P., Frofessor C. A. Cameron, M.D., F.R.C.S.I., Mr. J. Beveridye, Mr. P. Neville, C.E., Mr. S. Harty.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24398329_0059.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
