The inclusive cost of the Manchester Lodging House was £72 per head, and the receipts for 1901 were £3,009, while the total expenses were £4,529. The figures as to income and expenses of other lodging houses in the table relate to only one year, but an average would show a similar net result. It will be noted that the Receipts per head of accommodation vary considerably, being, in round figures, Manchester £6 12s., Salford 7 10s., London £9 5s., although the charge per head is the same. Less than 30 per cent. of the Manchester accommodation was used as compared with 96 per cent. used at Glasgow.

Glasgow. The profit on the Glasgow lodging houses has been sufficient to pay 5 per cent. on the value of the site, 1 per cent. for depreciation, and a balance of net profit, 4 to 4 per cent. Unfortunately, there is an evident tendency in Glasgow to stereotype inferior accommodation in the attempt to encourage low rents, and there is an Ominous saying among sanitary experts “Once a model lodger, always a model lodger." This theory seems to find support in the fact that, although private enterprise has been busy providing many additional lodging houses, the Corporation lodging houses are more fully occupied. than ever, and in many cases by men who can and ought to afford to provide themselves with much better homes. During the past three years over 96 per cent. of the accommodation has been occupied nightly, thus giving an annual return of over £13,700.

Glasgow Municipal Family Home. The next grade of house-room, above the common lodging house, is to be found in such a building as the Glasgow Municipal Family Home, which contains 160 small rooms, with a dining room, recreation room, kitchen and crèche. The cost of the building and land was £17,000 for 160 persons, or about 106 per head. It is heated with hot water, and lighted with electricity. The charges are for—

At present it is occupied by 80 widowers, 30 other adults, and 217 children, nurses being provided without any extra charge. The revenue has been steadily increasing from £930 in 1896-7 to £3,573 in 1901, but this only gave a surplus of £127 183. 1od. over working expenses. The Family Home, like the other lodging houses, is not occupied by the poorest poor, but frequently contains men in receipt of really good wages. On the occasion of the writer's visit to the home, a man came in who was earning £2 a week as a foreman stevedore at the docks. The experienced men in charge agreed that the problem of housing the poorest poor would only be solved by securing a larger supply of proper houses for the working classes as a whole.

HARRISON STREET LODGING HOUSE, MANCHESTER. (See pp. 66 and 104.)

Interior of Common Room.

BLOCK DWELLINGS.

The block type of dwelling owes its origin largely to the many obstacles which formerly stood in the way of outward or horizontal expansion of cities, and thus compelled a large population to be housed on a limited area. The fortifications and walls of large cities, especially on the continent, acted for many years like a band or cramp constricting the suburban growth of the city proper, and, although most of these cities have recently grown enormously since the fortifications have been moved outwards and the walls demolished, other causes have still hampered extension. Foremost of these has been the lack of full facilities for cheap, rapid, and easy transit to and from the centre and the surrounding open country, but this has been coupled with, and accentuated by, the difficulty of obtaining land at a reasonable price and under proper conditions in the belt immediately adjoining the suburbs.

This restricted and costly supply of land has acted like a physical wall round every large town, so far as proper suburban expansion has been concerned.

Recent developments point to the breaking down of the transit difficulty, but the old type of building has persisted so long that the organisation of large towns has in many cases become stereotyped in the direction of inward concentration, and upward, rather than horizontal, extension. Under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that "model housing," beginning as it did in the large cities, took the form of "overcrowding on area" by providing or encouraging the provision of too many rooms on too little land.

Although such block dwellings are the rule in most large continental cities, they have not been established as the normal type of dwelling in large towns in England, but the practice of clearing insanitary areas has handicapped local authorities by compelling them to secure new accommodation for rehousing on very dear land, and, as a conse quence, to make the most of a small area by building block dwellings. In this way various companies to a great extent, and local authorities to a small extent, have housed some 250,000 persons in London in more or less objectionable homes of this kind.

About one-fifth of these are bad, or very bad, from the standpoint of light, air, and sanitation, but even the best are often injurious to health, especially in the case of young children. Speaking generally, they tend to establish a low standard of decency and comfort, especially where there is a small number of rooms; they add enormously to the exertion of going to and from home and work; and they place undue obstacles in the way of access to fresh air and out-door recreation in the case of women and young children, who find the arduous climb up even three or four flights of stairs a serious matter when not in robust health.

The favourite type of block building is four or more storeys high, and contains tenements of one, two, three or four rooms, more or less complete as separate dwellings, packed together and piled up on a limited area, with no gardens, and no separate yards, but with common passages and staircases, and an absence of all privacy outside the room door.

Each block is generally in charge of a caretaker or superintendent, and the common passages are sometimes lighted, cleaned, and controlled by him. These block dwellings consist mainly of two classes: (1) Those which have the appurtenances, such as washhouses, sculleries, and w.c.'s

in common for several families, and (2) those which have their own separate appurtenances, and are self-contained in every respect except the approaches. These and other kinds of blocks are described more fully in connection with the London and Glasgow dwellings, but the following table, which contains in a concise form the chief particulars of 6,265 municipal block dwellings, containing 13,816 rooms, may be useful.

Of these, the London County Council has built 3,447 dwellings with 8,456 rooms, and 133 shops, sheds, workshops, and stables on about 38 acres, and costing £860,000 for building, and £140,000 for sites, reckoning only the nominal housing value. The average number of rooms per dwelling is 2, and the cost per room works out at about £102 for building, and £17 for site. There are 101 one-room, 1,825 two-room, 1,293 three-room, 217 four-room, 8 five-room, and 3 six-room dwellings. The weekly rents average about 3/- per room, and run as follows:

Owing to lack of fulness in some of the detailed official information that is accessible, there are several estimated figures in these analyses, which are, however, substantially accurate and can, in most cases, be corrected by reference to the various tables.

In Scotland there have been built about 1,740 block dwellings with 3,167 rooms, or an average of 1 rooms per dwelling, and costing £413,045 inclusive, that is about £130 per room. They are mainly in Glasgow, and comprise 487 one-room, 1,090 two-room, 152 three. room, and 11 four-room dwellings. The rents average about 2/3 per room, including rates.

In England and Wales, excluding London, there are 1,003 block dwellings with 2,193 rooms, costing £190,000 for building, and £28,500 for site (housing valuation). The average number of rooms per dwelling is about 21/5, and the average cost per room has been £90 for building, and £13 for site. There are 149 one-room, 685 tworoom, 141 three-room, and 28 four-room dwellings. The rents average just over 2/- per room, and are as follows:

under 3/-
4/- to 5/-

It will be noticed that, owing to the site being reckoned at its reduced or 66 housing" value, the costliness of block dwellings has been due more to the large outlay per room on building than on site, the former costing from five to ten times as much per room as the nominal site value thus apportioned.

If the land be reckoned at its full cost, the actual charge per room in respect of the site would seldom exceed the charge for building, except in London, and even there, as in the case of the Boundary Street area, the two items would be about equal, that is, each just over £100 per room. The net rent in respect of such capital outlay would be from 1/6 to 2/6 per week in respect of each £100. To this must be added from 9d. to 1/- per week where it is desired to make the rents meet all other charges.