s has been the
ideal after which London has been groping ever since the day when the
population first overflowed its normal boundaries. The mischief has
been that nothing has been done upon a grand scale and by organised
effort. A bit of open space has been bought for a park here and there,
while a much larger bit has passed into the builder's hands through
local indifference or apathy. New suburbs have arisen in a day, not
because any central power willed it, but simply by the combined greed,
energy, and enterprise of the speculative builder, who invariably
builds rotten houses, which he sells as fast as he can to guileless
people with a passion for owning house-property. The result has been
confusion, waste, and disappointment. The new township rises without
any adequate provision for roads or railway accommodation. It is
filled by a migratory population who do not realise these
inconveniences or ignore them, as long as the novelty of the thing
charms them; presently they move off again, a poorer population takes
their place, rents drop, and another suburb is left to a precarious
existence. I contend that this necessary expansion of the metropolis
should not be left to caprice; it should be designed upon broad lines
of development. The London County Council should buy up every acre of
land that comes into the market within a thirty-five mile radius of
Central London. It should be for the Council to decide whether such
land as they acquired should be retained for parks and gardens, or
utilised for building. It should be in their sole power to decide the
kind of buildings that should be erected, and to bind themselves to
erect buildings of public utility and convenience, such as libraries,
baths, and concert-halls in a settled proportion to the number of
dwelling-houses. At all costs the speculative builder should be
eliminated. He is the worst sort of parasite on the community. His
dishonesty is absolute, and the mischief which he works is little short
of crime. Since the County Council has established its right to build
houses, and has built them well, let it build all our houses, and give
to other classes beside the artisan the advantage of substantial
tenements. Let it borrow as many millions as it pleases; no one will
complain if its administration is efficient; and after all, we may as
well pay a fair rent to a central body, amenable to public opinion, as
to a private individual whose own gain is the