hand, the conversion of old houses without the necessary sanitary appliances and proper adaptation, into tenements for many families, thus intensifying the already existing evil. The laissez-faire doctrine, which the advocates of private enterprise favour, has frequently handed our cities over to the jerry-builder, and the poorer tenants to the house speculator and slum owner. Much more care must be taken in the future as to how and where these houses are to be built; and it cannot be over-emphasized that private enterprise breaks down just where the need is greatest.

It will be of service to consider what standard of limitation of the number of dwelling-houses per acre local authorities should adopt as a general rule throughout England and Scotland.

In regard to the southern and midland counties of England there is a general consensus of opinion that ten or twelve to the acre is a standard which can be agreed upon as wise in the interests both of the community and of the land

Number of
Houses per

Acre.

owner.

But, in the industrial districts of the country, e.g,, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Durham, and the South of Scotland, there is by no means the same unanimity of opinion, and whilst it is admitted that the adoption of good standards of limitation is both practicable and desirous in southern counties, where the climate is less rigorous and where land is cheaper, a standard of twelve dwelling-houses to the acre is regarded by some critics as a "standard somewhat difficult of attainment" in the northern parts of the kingdom.

When an endeavour is made to understand why this view is held, it is found to be based on the following opinions, among others

(1) That land is too dear in these industrial areas to permit the adoption of good standards of limitation.

(2) That in industrial districts it is not practicable to make the same provisions for amenity as in the case of towns where the leisured classes live.

(3) That the climate of these industrial areas does not permit the garden suburb type of development to be adopted.

For many reasons the question of the development of estates by local authorities is likely in the near future to become one of great

importance. Local authorities at present possess large powers to buy land and build and let cottages on estates acquired by them, but they have not adequate powers to purchase estates and then, after developing the sites and constructing roads, to invite the erection of cottages by private enterprise on the sites thus formed.' 1 These powers have now been conferred by the Act of 1919.

CHAPTER XXXV

HOUSING STANDARDS

WHAT, then, is the standard aimed at by the majority of housing reformers? What is the least accommodation necessary for decently, healthily, and comfortably housing the A Minimum mass of the working people of this country?

Standard.

or

The minimum for the average working man's family is a cheap, but well-built house with four or five suitable rooms, together with a quarter-acre garden, at least with a fair-sized court-yard. The site should be a healthy one and the house perfectly sanitary, welllighted, well-ventilated, and well-drained. And this accommodation must be supplied at a low rental, or it will be found beyond the means of the working classes. Y(All who have any knowledge of the subject say that such accommodation is seldom or never found in either town or country.) The first difficulty is a financial one. A sufficiently high standard of dwelling is not provided for the masses of the people, because they cannot afford to pay the necessary rent. The wages of the unskilled labourer are for the most part subsistence wages, and do not admit of paying the high rents which are charged in our big cities for even the poorest accommodation. It is probably true that overcrowding is sometimes due to carelessness and failure to use to the best advantage existing accommodation, but this will not go far to explain the miserable conditions we have described.

In new buildings "originally built " to be occupied in separate dwellings the minimum requirements should be

(1) That the buildings are constructed in conMinimum formity with the Building Acts and by-laws, Requirements of New Buildings. especially as to damp courses, dry areas, concreted basements, etc.

(2) That the water supply is in conformity with the by-laws and regulations.

(3) That the drainage is in accordance with the by-laws and regulations.

(4) That the common staircase is permanently ventilated at each floor level, or by through ventilation so as to break the common air-connection.

(5) That each dwelling is so arranged as to be through ventilated from one front to another.

(6) That each of the habitable rooms is at least 8 ft. 6 in. in height and 96 square feet in area, and has a fireplace and chimney flue.

(7) That there is at least one draw-tap and sink, with a constant supply of water thereto, for every twelve occupants or less on each floor.

(8) That there is at least one water-closet, properly and efficiently supplied with water, for every twelve occupants or less on each floor, disconnected aerially from any dwelling in the interior of the building.

(9) That on each floor a sufficient space or open lobby is provided accessible and for the use of the families on each floor for the deposit of refuse, etc.

(10) That accommodation for clothes washing is provided sufficient for each family to occupy the wash-house and appliances one day each week.

With reference to the size of rooms in new buildings the London County Council have adopted a minimum of 96 square feet for bedrooms and 144 square feet for living rooms, and the latter may be taken as a maximum, with a minimum height of 8 ft.

Size of
Rooms.

It is a mistake to make large rooms for the poorer classes, as it leads to overcrowding, the placing of more beds into the rooms, and the mixing of the sexes. If the same sized family that can live in one very large room live in two smaller rooms (together equal in cubic capacity to the larger room) they are housed under better conditions of aeration, decency, and physical well-being. The latter can be used alternately, the former must be used continuously.

The smaller the dwelling the more numerous the uses to which the room or rooms must be put, the most important use from the health point of view being that of sleeping.

In a one-room dwelling, even when the bread-winner works away, the parents and children live day by day in the same room previously

occupied by night for sleeping; the air becomes loaded with the dust of bed-making, and is continually fouled by respiration, cooking, washing, etc. In winter and between seasons when the window or door is not wide open the day usage unfits the room for sleeping, and the night usage unfits it for living.

In short, in one room, sleeping, food-storage, cooking, warming, excretion, ablution, clothes-washing, drying, refuse-storage, bathing, living, including reading, writing, working and recreation, etc., must be carried on, and the continuous and varied usages of the room, and the differences of age and sex of the occupants, must lead one to regard the number of rooms in a dwelling of as much importance as the cubic space per head, at any rate when applied to one-room and two-room dwellings.

Standard of Accommodation

The minimum standard of accommodation in new houses should be a living room, three bedrooms, a scullery with sink, tub with washing boiler, a food larder, a coal cellar, and, where there are water supplies, a water-closet, in New Houses. and with power to local authorities to require the provision of a bath, with domestic hot water supply. Where a gravitation water supply is not available, an earth closet will require to be substituted, and the bath and domestic hot water supply omitted.

Sculleries and
Wash-houses.

Comparatively few working class houses are provided with sculleries and wash-houses. There can be no doubt that where, as in most of such houses, the kitchen is used as a sleeping apartment, the provision of a scullery where washing of all kinds can be done is of material benefit from a health point of view as well as from the point of view of the domestic comfort of the inmates of the house. The provision of these conveniences is absolutely necessary, and no new houses, either urban or rural, should be allowed to be erected unless they are so provided. There should be no exception to this recommendation, even in cases where a supply of water is not led into the scullery. In such cases there is no reason why the scullery should not be provided.

Accommodation for storage of coal is sadly lacking in many cases, and it should be obligatory on the part of local Storage of Coal. authorities to see that in all cases accommodation is provided to their satisfaction.