working men, it was only natural that one of the first uses to which this fund was put was to lend money for assisting the provision of workmen's dwellings.

At first the directors tried lending money direct to workmen, but this was inconvenient and inefficient. Next they tried lending it to employers, rate levying corporations, and local savings banks. In the end, it was decided to transfer part of the initiative in assisted house building to co-operative housing associations.

The various funds may now, if they chose, invest the whole of the money collected in housing operations—namely, one-half within the Trustee Funds limit, and the other half beyond.

Co-operative Building Associations in Germany have advanced by leaps and bounds since 1890. At the close of 1889, there were only 38 of these societies, with property probably worth only about £100,000. Now there are 420 such societies, which have created house property of a value exceeding £3,000,000.

Two of the most active societies are those of Dusseldorf and Frankfort, whose work consists of

(a) The diffusion of information on housing matters;

(b) The giving of practical advice;

(c) The conduct of enquiries into various housing cases and problems;

(a) The collection, preparation, and supply of designs, rules, and other materials for general use.

These societies get advances up to 97 per cent. Employers of labour take shares and debentures in them. Corporations are able to take shares, and to exempt from stamp duties, law costs in court, and certain taxes those societies which will limit their dividends to 4 per cent., and sell only to their own members.

The

They can borrow money on mortgage at from 3 to 3 per cent. The Prussian Government, which has expended £1,000,000 since 1895 in aiding the supply of dwellings for its workmen, has laid out fully a third of this through building associations, and smaller amounts have been similarly spent by the other German Governments. advantages of such an intermediary in connection with house building and management are obvious in the case of dwellings built for the employees of large industrial undertakings. Instead of the workman being liable to be turned out of his house in the event of differences with his employer, he is secure in his home so long as he pays his rent. He can also have a voice in the management of the building scheme, and will thus take greater interest in the property.

It may be added, however, that there are many limitations and possible dangers attending the Building Association movement, and the contention is already popular and growing in favour that municipalities should do more in the matter of housing. As a rule,

municipal house building in Germany has been simply for municipal employees, but one or two interesting schemes have been carried out.

Dusseldorf is a German city with a population of 200,000, and it presents many interesting features well worthy of imitation. So far as workmen's houses themselves are concerned little is to be learned, inasmuch as they are of the Scotch block or tenement house type, with shops on the ground floor. Municipal houses, which are much sought after, have been erected in Louisenstrasse at 22/- per month for two rooms, and 30/- per month for three rooms.

The Trade Union Societies have erected similar houses on the municipal model. They provide a kitchen, which is kept very clean; a bedroom, generally with two beds; a living room, with provision for sleeping accommodation; and a neat little scullery. The stoves are of iron, either enamelled or faced with earthenware, and they stand in the room with a pipe outlet instead of the usual fireplace and chimney flue which are always found in England.

Dusseldorf has much greater freedom than English cities in carrying out housing and improvement schemes, inasmuch as the municipality is not hampered by central red tape; it can borrow freely for 100 years or more, and it can acquire land compulsorily in connection with improvement schemes by the simple process of asking for the appointment of an independent arbitrator, who hears the case for the Council and the owner, and fixes the price; the whole without any Parliamentary or State veto.

In one respect it is on the lines of the proposed Garden Cities, as the numerous factories are placed in the outskirts, isolated to a great extent from the dwelling houses, which are situated among squares, promenades, trees, gardens, and a large park in the centre, and connected by electric tramways, so that the workmen go out of the centre where they live to the outskirts where they work, for a maximum fare of one penny at any time during the day.

At Frankfort-on-Main the International Building Society has been formed, and has acquired and prepared 24 acres of land by making the roads, sewers, etc. The municipality guarantees interest on the shares of the Company at 4 per cent., and after exercising from the first a direct control over the Company, it acquires bit by bit the whole of the Company's interest.

This parent company constructs the streets, and will maintain them for five years. It has also agreed to construct for the sum of £155,800, 100 three room dwellings at £27 per annum, 400 two room dwellings at £18 per annum, 92 two room dwellings in the mansards at 16 10s. per annum, 170 one room dwellings at £9 8s., or a total of 772 dwellings with 1,454 rooms at an average cost of £107 per room, and let at 3s. 8d. per room per week. It does this by promoting a 'sub' company, with limited liability, and a capital of £45,000. This latter company undertakes to construct the dwellings within three years, and the Municipality guarantees interest at 4 per cent. on £170,000

debentures issued by it, thus securing a total capital of £215,000. The town at once acquires shares for £5,450 in this company, so as to exercise its influence in the Council of Administration, and it also secures a further share in the benefits of the company as follows :—

(a) From 1904 to 1935, a fixed sum of £300 a year must be first paid to the town, and after payment of a maximum dividend of 4 per cent., the balance must also go to the town.

(b) The extinction of the loan can be effected in 1909, after six months notice, and must in any case be begun in 1935 at the rate of one per cent., and must be completed in 40 years. Thus in 76 years at the outside the town will acquire everything.

The total area of the land is 24 acres, of which about 8 acres are reserved for streets and places, and 16 acres for building. Only 12 acres is used for workmen's dwellings, and the land forms the subject of the contract with the town. The other 4 acres are left to the International Building Society to put up what buildings it pleases.

SUNDRY HOUSING SCHEMES.

At Nuremberg, 57 dwellings have been recently built in a similar way for municipal employees, at a cost of £18,570. Each dwelling consists of a rez de chanssée and two storeys. Each storey has two or three rooms and a kitchen. The town lent the capital at 3 per cent., and gave the site at the nominal price of 50 pfennigs a square foot, with roads and sewers complete. The rents are fixed to cover the cost of construction and maintenance only. The town will systematically purchase shares until it has more than half. It exercises control over the rents and general management.

Many of these associations in the provinces have copied what is known as the Mulhouse type of house.

The Mulhouse type of Dwellings consists of four houses in the centre of a plot of ground grouped together at the angles of the structure, and separated by interior walls at right angles, thus giving two exposures to each house, and permitting openings on two sides, a kind of modified back to back dwelling. The plot of ground, containing abou: 1,800 square feet, of which the building occupies 350 square feet, is also divided into four parts. Each house is two storeys high, and the exterior walls are covered with rough mortar. Each house is 204ft. by 17ft., and contains four rooms with an attic and cellar. The cost of building is about 100 per house, and the cost of site, rent is about 3s. per week. Other houses are built grouped as above, but have only one storey.

10. The

The tenants may become proprietors in fifteen years by paying about IS. 3d. per week extra on their rents. The sale of houses has had an unfortunate effect, inasmuch, as after a time, usurers got possession of many and exploited future tenants for all that could be got from them.

Overcrowding has been prevalent, no less than 7,642 persons living in 1,028 houses, one third of which were of only one storey.

The great Krupp firm at Essen have erected dwellings of various types for nearly 30,000 persons at Essen in connection with their factories. They shew a steady improvement in type and appearance from the ugly blocks of the early years to the more modern houses artistically built for two families, and surrounded by garden space, trees and flowers. The colony at Alfredshof, for aged or convalescent workers, is very artistic, and to a great extent similar to Bournville.

Taking two typical dwellings, we find that a semi-detached dwelling contains the following provisions for each of two families :—

Living room, 173 square feet; kitchen, 195 square feet; two bedrooms, 154 to 195 square feet.

The cost of the houses is £468 the pair; that is, £58 per room, or £4 per square metre of floor space, or 10/2 per c.c. in space.

An ordinary four-roomed cottage cost from 15 to £25 for site, and 185 for building, or a total of about £210. The rent varies from 4/- to 4/6 per week, without taxes, etc.

At Noisiel, in France, M. Menier has provided 295 semidetached cottages for his workpeople. The houses are two storeys high, and are built of brick on a foundation of stone, with tiled roofs. They are situated on lots about Ico feet square, leaving open space at the side and rear for a vegetable garden. The accommodation consists of a cellar, kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms, with an attic for storage. A shed is erected, as an annex, in the rear, from which a door opens into the kitchen. The cubic space of a kitchen and three bedrooms is about 5,125 cubic feet. The cost per cottage was about £200, and the rent, which is fixed at about 3 per cent. gross, is 2/4 per week. The land tax, at 12/3 per annum, the door and window tax, at 15/- per annum, and other charges, which amount to about half of the gross rental, are borne by the owner, who also furnishes water, provides free schools for children, free medical attendance and relief, besides baths and literary and musical entertainments, at a cost of over £2,500 per

annum.

The tenants are not allowed to become purchasers, as the proprietor thinks they would in time get into the wrong hands, and in any case it would be impossible for him to secure their proper use. As an alternative to this, rents are lowered, according to a fixed scale, after ten, fifteen, and twenty years' service. These cottages have been built and maintained from philanthropic motives, but the proprietor believes that the results which have been reached fully justify the expenditure on economic grounds.

A careful examination of the cost of building and cost of sites in Continental countries shews that they are only slightly lower than in England. They bear, in fact, just about the same proportion to wages.

CHAPTER XX.

MISCELLANEOUS PROPOSALS AND INFORMATION.

The various proposals for dealing with the House Famine arrange themselves mainly under the six following heads :

1. Cheaper money and more of it.

It has been frequently pointed out in the foregoing pages (especially pp. 160-165) how the annual payments for interest on and repayment of money borrowed by local authorities for housing purposes vary from 40 to 60 per cent. of the rent, and are far in excess of what they might be and ought to be. The required cheapness may be effected in two respects. The more important and effective of these is the issuing of Government housing loans at a low rate of interest, but while public opinion is rapidly growing in favour of this proposal, it has not secured so much Parliamentary and official support as the less important proposal of extending the period of repayment. It is, however, gratifying to note that while there was a large increase for the year 1901-2 in the rate of borrowing under Part III of the Act of 1890, there was also a slight increase in the length of the period granted for repayment.

The figures are as follows for the year 1901-2 (excluding London):-7 loans for land purchase, 60 years

43,645

161,532

229,751

30",

If this sum is compared with £825,829 borrowed during the preceding ten years it must be admitted that some municipalities are rapidly becoming more alive to a sense of their duties in respect of the housing of the people, and that even the red tape of the central government is somewhat relaxed.

2. Cheaper land and more of it.

Attention has been frequently directed to the excessive cost of much of the land that has been used for housing purposes, but it is equally important to bear in mind how very limited in quantity, even in country districts, is the land allocated for the sites of workmen's dwellings.

The various proposals for securing large quantities of land for sites at lower prices are dealt with hereafter, but it is necessary to point out that the acquisition of such sites ought to precede or, at any rate, accompany any measures under the next heading.

3. Cheaper transit and more of it.

In the preceding chapter this aspect of the question has been very fully gone into, and will not need to be further referred to here except to emphasise the extreme importance of securing that it should go hand in hand with schemes of land purchase on a very large scale in the outer areas.

4. Cheaper building, and more-of the right kind.

It has been shewn in pp. 157-160 and elsewhere that cheap land is essential to the erection of cheap types of houses, and it only remains to urge that facilities should be given for the encouragement of all building agencies, individual, co-operative, and municipal, so long as they will erect houses of a suitable type and let them at reasonable rents.

5.-Complete or partial exemption of workmen's dwellings from rates and taxes.