the provisions of Parts I. and II. of the principal Act; but they deal with details into which we need not enter.

Examples of Municipal Housing.

Below are given some instances where municipalities have adopted the Acts or preceding enactments on similar lines.

LONDON.

The metropolis has done far more in the matter of housing than any other city-its total expenditure under the various Housing Acts amounts indeed to about four millions—but it came into the field late. Not until 1876 did the Metropolitan Board of Works take action, and then only on the lines of clearing away slums at great expense, without itself rehousing; and selling the cleared land at a very low rate to various dwellings' companies and the Peabody Trustees. Between 1876 and 1888 twenty-two schemes were carried out, averaging one each year, applying to 59 acres, at a net loss to the public of £1,318,935. As a result the companies erected and now possess as their own freehold 263 blocks of dwellings, accommodating some 27,000 persons.

When the London County Council was established a change of policy took place. Instead of parting with the cleared land, the council decided to retain it in public ownership and itself erect workmen's dwellings upon it, sometimes by its own works department and sometimes by contractors. Between 1889 and 1905 twenty-five separate schemes have been undertaken by the council itself (besides 11 other groups of dwellings erected under Street Improvement and the Thames Tunnel Acts); and, in addition, the council has contributed part (usually half) of the cost of other schemes undertaken by the borough councils.

The dwellings provided are of all kinds, as required by local conditions, including great blocks of tenements in Central London, each tenement including from one to five rooms; in the suburbs detached or semi-detached cottages with gardens; and two common lodging houses. The aim of the council has been not so much to reduce rents (which, it is argued, would in the long run merely benefit the employer by reducing London rates of wages to the provincial standards) as to raise the standard of working class dwellings by supplying a better article for the same money. Thus the council's rooms are loftier and better ventilated, its stairways and passages are wider and lighter, and its sanitary and other conveniences are healthier and more comfortable than are usually provided, but the rents are always fixed so as not to exceed per room those current in the locality. Hence no profit is made. On the whole of the housing operations, taking one year with another, the rents received about balance the actual outgoings (not including any expense of clearing away the slums, and taking the land at its bare selling value for housing purposes only; but including the interest and sinking fund payable on capital borrowed for this reduced site-value and for construction; and all repairs, rates and taxes, expenses of management,

etc.). The total number of persons actually occupying the council's dwellings at the end of March, 1905, when a census was taken, was 19,335, and this will have risen to over 95,000 when schemes actually in hand are completed. The total rents received for 1904-5 were £105,661, and the total outgoings £106,757 (including £58,432 payment for interest and sinking fund).

Among the dwellings built or in course of building may be mentioned the following :—

(a) The Boundary Street Scheme (Bethnal Green). This is one of the largest schemes ever undertaken under the Housing Acts by any authority. Fifteen acres of awful slums (with 5,719 inhabitants) were gradually cleared between 1893 and 1897 at a net cost of £270,000. On the site the council has erected at a total cost of £333,000 twenty-three separate blocks, containing 1,069 tenements (with 2,762 rooms), 18 shops and 77 workshops, accommodating 5,380 persons; with wide streets, large courtyards, and three public gardens. A public laundry, public baths, and two club rooms have also been provided. The rents per room are no higher than was paid for the old slums; and they just about cover the actual outgoings, leaving only the cost of clearing the slums to be charged to the rates.

(b) The Common Lodging House (Parker Street, Drury Lane). This was the first attempt made in London to raise the standard of the common "doss house," and the great thought and ingenuity put into the plans by the Council, as well as its experience in the matter, have since been made use of in the "Rowton House" and other improved common lodging houses. It cost £22,297, accommodates 324 men, is always full, and the charge of 6d. per night just covers all outgoings. A similar common lodging house for women has been built on the Falcon Court site, Southwark.

(c) Action under Part III. of the Act of 1890. On the passing of the 1890 Act the council at once took action under Part III. by taking over and completing the Dufferin Street Dwellings, St. Luke's, specially designed for costermongers. In 1894 the Parker Street common lodging house, built under Part III., was opened. In 1896 four blocks of dwellings were begun in Southwark, which were opened in 1897. Two other sites in Southwark were obtained in 1897 and 1898, on one of which three blocks were erected, and on the other a single block has been completed. In 1893 the council induced the Government to sell at £2,500 per acre ten acres of the site of Millbank prison, but could not get possession until 1897. This is now covered with seventeen blocks of dwellings, accommodating 4,000 persons. During 1899 two sites, and during 1900 two more, were acquired in the Strand and Holborn districts, on which 4,000 persons will be accommodated. In January, 1900, after many difficulties, the council succeeded in buying (at 1,150 per acre) 381 acres at Totterdown Fields, Tooting, close to the terminus of one of the council's tramways; workmen's cottages to accommodate over 8,000 persons are being erected at an estimated cost of £400,000.

In November, 1900, the council decided to buy 31 acres at Norbury, Surrey, just outside the county, at a cost of £20,000, on which to erect 762 cottages accommodating 5,800 persons at a capital cost of probably £283,000. In November, 1901, the council bought the White Hart Lane estate, Tottenham, comprising 225 acres at £400 per acre, on which it is estimated that accommodation for 42,500 persons in cottages and in tenements over shops can be provided. The development of the estate in sections is being proceeded with.

BIRMINGHAM.

Ryder Street. In order to rehouse the people displaced by the improvement scheme of some years earlier, the council in the years 1890 to 1892 erected 103 dwellings of the cottage type, accommodating about 500 persons, let at 5s. to 6s. 3d. per week. They are five-roomed dwellings, substantially built, and cost about £175 each. The buildings have back doors opening on an enclosed brick-paved yard 36 feet across. The houses at 5s. 6d. have on the ground floor a living room 13 feet square, and a kitchen 12 feet by 9 feet, fitted with an iron sink and a small copper. There is also a pantry and a coal cupboard. On the first floor there are two bedrooms, and above them a spacious, well-lighted attic. Good grates and ovens are provided in every house, and iron is largely used for mantelpieces and other fittings. Each house has a penny-in-the-slot gas meter and a flushed w.c. The dwellings are never vacant. After paying interest, sinking fund charges, various rates, etc., the net surplus is equal to an average annual ground rent of about 11d. per square yard per annum, an amount above the estimated market value of the land.

Milk Street. The council in 1900 built 61 cottage flats on a cleared site, in four terraces, including 24 tenements containing two rooms each, and 28 with three rooms apiece, five cottage dwellings and a shop. Each tenement has a scullery and lavatories in addition to the rooms. The rent charged is 1s. 6d. per week per living room. The total expenditure upon the scheme, including sewering, roadmaking, etc., was £10,078.

In July, 1900, the health committee reported that there was a deficiency of cottages, and in August the council decided to buy 17 acres of land at Bordesley Green, three miles from the centre, in order to erect dwellings. The council has, however, reversed the decision to build, and for the past three years has been endeavoring to lease the site for building purposes. An attempt is now being made to establish a co-partnership tenants' association to undertake the lease.

CROYDON.

In 1901 the corporation adopted Part III. of the Act, and bought 10 acres of land at Woodside for £5,050. Eighty-seven houses have been erected at a cost, including roads, of about £22,500. These have been so successful that the housing committee proposes to proceed with the erection of 100 additional cottages at an estimated cost of £27,000.

GLASGOW.

In 1866 Glasgow obtained special powers to deal with large, crowded and unhealthy areas by pulling down insanitary property and erecting dwellings for the poorer working classes. At first it cleared away slums, but did not itself build. In 1889 a change of policy took place, and municipal housing was undertaken. The following gives the size and number of dwellings erected and completed to October, 1905 :—

Much of the land upon which these tenements stand cost from 1 10s. to £6 10s. per square yard. Of the whole number of these houses there are 483 distinctively suitable for the poorest classes, with single-apartment houses at an average rent of £5 and twoapartment houses at an average rent of about 8 5s. Applicants whose wages do not exceed 26s. have preference for the doubleroomed, and those whose earnings do not exceed 22s. for the singleroomed houses. The houses have many useful fittings, are under good regulations, and are kept sweet and clean, and let well. Some of the two-roomed houses consist of a kitchen 15 feet by 13 feet (with a bed recess 4 feet 4 inches by 6 feet) and a sitting room of about the same size. Each bed recess is fitted with a wire spring mattress. In the single-roomed dwellings the bed recess is shut off by a partition. Every house has a water-closet, and there is a washhouse to each block of tenements. These municipal dwellings are a charge on the rates for five or six years after erection; after that, by the accumulation of the sinking fund, revenue begins to cover all expenditure, including 4 per cent. required for interest and sinking fund.

Municipal enterprise in Glasgow seems to have succeeded best of all with common lodging houses. In all seven lodging houses have been erected, containing 2,430 beds let at nightly charges of 3d., 3 d., 4d. and 41d. per individual. In the year 1905, 829,285 lodgers were accommodated, of whom 76,900 were women. Allowing for depreciation, the net profit was about £2,952. The Glasgow municipal model lodging houses yielded an average net profit last year of 31 per cent. on a total capital cost for land, buildings and furniture of £109,342. There has been written off this sum 22,152 as a depreciation allowance, by which the return is raised to 4 per cent. on the reduced capital.

The great majority who use these municipal lodging houses are permanent lodgers. There is one house for women only. To each house is attached a shop, a commodious common dining room and an airy recreation room.

The latest and in many respects the most interesting addition to the Glasgow lodging houses is that called "The Family Home." It is intended for the accommodation of widows and widowers left with three or four children. Each of the 140 rooms is isolated, plainly furnished, heated by water, and lighted by electricity. Cleaning is thus reduced to a minimum. The children can be taken charge of during the day and fed for the sum of Is. 6d. per head per week. All children old enough are sent to school. Besides a crèche, there is a general recreation room and a common cooking and dining room. It is not intended to be a charitable institution, and a charge of about 8d. per night is made for a sleeping room large enough for an adult person and not more than three children. The scheme has not yet paid its way. In 1905 the revenue was £2,748 against an expenditure of 3,105. A corporation report of 18th December, 1905, states that the inmates number 89 adults and 171 children of the class for whom the home was intended.

The balance sheet to the last-named date shows liabilities of £1,259,251 and assets exceeding this amount by £30,196.

GREENOCK.

The Corporation of Greenock made an improvement scheme under the Artizans' Dwellings Acts. In 1886 blocks of houses in flats with shops on ground floor were erected on the improved area. The houses consist of single, two and three apartments respectively, and there are more applicants than can be accommodated. The rents are 10s. per month for single apartments, 17s. for two, and 22s. per month for three apartments. The total cost of the scheme was about £200,000, of which 72,500 was expended on new buildings.

HORNSEY.

Hornsey adopted the Act in 1896, when 4 acres of land were purchased, the cost working out at £600 per acre.

Two classes of houses (all self-contained) were built, there being 68 class A, which are let at 8s. 6d. per week, and contain sitting room, living room, scullery, and three bedrooms; and 40 class B, which contain sitting room, kitchen, scullery, and two bedrooms, let at 6s. 6d. per week. The houses form two roads 45 feet wide, which have been planted with trees. There are forecourts of from 10 to 15 feet in depth, with gardens in the rear ranging from 45 to 60 feet long. The total cost of the scheme, including the erection of the cottages, construction of roads and sewers, amounted to £31,000. The term of loan is 40 years, and the scheme is estimated to be selfsupporting, allowing for a margin of 12 per cent. on the rental value for empties and repairs after repayment of capital and interest on loans, rates, taxes, etc.

Owing to the great need for similar provision in the Highgate district, two acres of land were acquired at a cost of £1,000 per acre. Forty-eight cottages were erected: 12 class A and 24 class B, same as the Hornsey houses, 12 double tenements, each containing living