HOUSING PROBLEM PRINCE’S MODEL VILLAGE
QUEEN AT KENNINGTON
To-day’s reception of representatives of authorities interested in housing and town-planning problems at Buckingham Palace by the King and Queen will be held at 4.15 in the afternoon. The hundred or so of visitors from all parts of the country will be escorted to one of the larger reception rooms. Thence they will proceed to the old Throne Room, where the King and Queen will receive them.
The King will address the gathering, and probably Dr. Addison will speak as the representative of the Local Government Board, the Department primarily concerned with housing. Afterwards the guests will go to the Picture Gallery, where tea will be served to them, and it is expected that in addition to addressing the visitors as a body the King will take the opportunity of chatting with them individually as far as possible. The Queen, too, will converse with the representatives of the county councils, urban and rural district councils, and town-planning and housing associations.
The Prince of Wales’s interest also in the question is not merely theoretical, but seems likely to have practical effect given to it, A commencement has already been made in the matter of improved accommodation on the Duchy of Cornwall Estates, and it is probable that a further development will be made in the neighbourhood of the wolfram mine at Kit Hill Cornwall. The latter scheme is not yet sufficiently advanced to be dealt with in detail, but a proposal to erect a model village there for the workpeople and their families is understood to have the cordial approval of his Royal Highness. The model village will be electrically lighted, and the dwellings fitted with all sorts or modern improvements.
His Royal Highness frequently visits his Duchy properties in and about Kennington, and displays practical interest in a variety of improvements. Yesterday he induced the Queen to accompany him, and they spent the whole afternoon in a series of visits to Duchy properties and Duchy tenants. They inspected a building originally designed as a crêche, but used until recently for Red Cross purposes. The building is about to be devoted to the purposes of a Welfare Centre by arrangement with Mrs. Hutchinson, who is the holder of the lease, and who was present to greet the Queen and Prince of Wales. The crêche is built on the very edge of the Kennington portion of the Duchy of Cornwall Estate, and is intended, not so much for the tenants on that estate as for those of the poorer district lying immediately behind it. The Royal visitors made a thorough inspection, and the Queen made many practical suggestions about cupboard room and equipment generally.