This page has been proofread
than this – that the borough has long suffered from a scarcity of small dwellings for the working poor. ......It is right to say that one of our contemporaries – the St. Leonards Gazette, has energetically assisted to “ventilate” this question of small Tenements. We believe every fellow-labourer with us in this work is helping forward one of the most important movements in the sanitary reformers of this neighbourhood can possibly engage.
About six weeks previously to the above utterance, the St. Leonards Gazette here referred to, treated the subject in the following manner:-
- Some time ago a very ably written letter appeared in our columns on the subject of small tenements, and the warmth with which other papers took up this all-important question led us to hope that something would be “done”. Even the Times discussed the subject – luke-warm enough it is true – without any apparent success. But we are determined not to let the matter drop; for, happy is the man who tends to the happiness of others, and thrice blessed is the pen as well as the sword that fights the good battle. We will treat this question entirely on local grounds; for, within our experience there is not a town in all England where the want of small tenements is more obvious. Have you, dear reader, ever looked about for a house or even for lodgings, and do not remember what a difficulty and a bore you found it at certain times you found it, even when willing to pay any reasonable price? But how much more difficult it is to pater familias who wishes to find a home or a resting place for himself, wife and children, and who can only afford to pay a rent of a few shilling[1]s per week. Cheerless, indeed are the answers he receives at the different houses where bills with “rooms to let” invite him to enter. He will be told that this is the busy time; that a single man would be more welcome, as the landlady could undertake “to do for him”; that they could not be bothered with a lot of children; that he would have to leave at such a time to make room for another and better paying party, &c., &c. But the workman, whose aspirations are higher, who would like to establish a home for himself, and actually has the assurance to ask for 25 feet of ground for a homestead, is spurned away. He is “dished up” with some cant phrase, and his longing for independence is crushed by men who call themselves Christians, and who hand him the British Workman or a “Wholesome Tract”, but consider “Circuses” and Mechanics’ Institutions as alike “tomfooleries”. There is not room enough for his humble little cot; the ground is too clear; it must be kept open for villas, which may be built in years to come. But, perchance -
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
