LONDON 329

the County boundary, have done a good deal to alleviate over-
crowding, but since people cannot be taken an indefinite distance
from their work, it is doubtful whether much more can be done
on these lines. The Council is now turning its attention to the
building of flats and houses nearer to the centre of London,
and hopes to dear away the slums in three or four years from the
present time, except for the East London areas which may well
take twice as long. In that district, more than 150,000 people
live either in slums or overcrowded conditions. The difficulties
are well illustrated by the Hackney Marsh episode of 1936.
The Council had decided to take thirty acres of this open space,
&nd use it to house a first instalment of slum dwellers; their old
houses could then be pulled down, and the site used for new
building, and a steady programme of re-housing be started.
But just because East London was overcrowded, recreation
grounds such as the Marsh were precious, and many people
criticised the Council's policy. Finally a private citizen, Mr.
Villiers, helped the Council to obtain twenty acres in the
neighbourhood, which could be turned into a playing-field as com-
pensation for the thirty acres taken for housing. Similar difficulties
frequently arise both in the East and other parts of London,
and there is a long road to be travelled before both slums and
overcrowding are abolished. Anyone, however, who journeys
through the East End can already observe sections of a new and
better city taking the place of the old. As this proceeds, the Council
will increase its responsibilities as an owner and manager of
property. The high cost of land in London does not make it easy
to charge low rents for Council houses, and it is doubtful whether
there would at present be much approval in London for a policy
of differential rents.

It is the poorer citizens who are most directly affected by these
activities; but those who are somewhat better off, and propose
to buy houses costing less than £800, can obtain a loan from the
L.C.C., as from a Building Society, though at a lower rate of
interest.