CHAPTER XIX.

HOUSING LESSONS FROM, OTHER COUNTRIES.

England has not very much to learn from either American or Continental examples in the matter of the housing of the working classes, as a glance at the death and disease rates of the great cities in those countries will quickly show. There are, of course, several striking exceptions, especially in the case of Germany, but speaking generally, the standard of domestic sanitation and of housing accommodation is lower in foreign countries; the type of dwelling in many small towns, as well as in nearly all large cities, is almost wholly confined to blocks of four or more storeys, and the number of rooms per family is consequently unduly small.

Improved sanitation, wider streets, slum clearance, and suburban expansion have, it is true, lowered the death rates of these towns enormously, but in spite of their highly organised medical and scientific staffs, appliances, and activities, most of them are less healthy than London, while in proportion to wages, rents are as high or even higher.

The double-decker tenement houses of New York and Chicago, are dearer and more deadly than London slums, while the working class suburban streets are badly paved-if at all—and lined with houses of cheap and inferior construction, having possibly another row of small houses on the sites of what ought to be their back gardens. Rents of from 3s. to 6s. per room per week are by no means uncommon.

own.

Taking the figures for 1891 at random, it will be found that Berlin had no less than 367,000 families in 21,600 buildings, or an average of 17 families under one roof, not one family in 600 having a house of their The cellar dwellings of German cities varied from 36,542, or 61 per cent. of the population in Hamburg, to 117,702 or 7 2-3rd per cent. in Berlin. In Breslau, Dresden, and Magdeburg, nearly half the population live in one roomed dwellings, if we do not count a small closet or half-room called a zubehör, which is a characteristic part of most German dwellings, and is not provided with any fireplace for warming or ventilation. Rents on an average take close upon one third of wages. The people of Paris live 30 to a house on the average, and in spite of the millions spent on improvements, have a death rate higher than that of London. The phthisis death rate in particular contrasts most unfavourably with London.

The large cities in nearly all these countries have recently grown very rapidly, many of them having doubled their population during the last 20 years, and all without exception have a housing problem to face more serious than that in this country. Although they can show very little worth copying in the matter of model working class dwellings, they have been making up a lot of leeway during the past 30 years in other respects, and a brief consideration of some of these activities may be instructive.

SANITARY ADMINISTRATION.

The Belgian Law of 1889 called into existence "Committees of Patronage," which are meant to stimulate the local authorities to a stricter observance of their duties, but they have no executive powers. They offer this advantage, however, in that they provide a field of activity for public-spirited citizens, where they can bring semi-official influence to bear on questions of housing and sanitation.

Each commune has its sanitary council, which is expected to look after the sanitary conditions of houses, and to make appropriate recommendations to the burgomaster, who, as regards household hygiene, has practically absolute authority. In towns of over 2,000 inhabitants, he is authorized to prohibit the occupation of houses that are in bad condition from defects of construction, or uncleanliness, want of light, improper drainage, or from any other causes which may compromise public health. At the expiration of one month from the date of his notification, a poster containing the words, "House interdicted on account of unhealthiness," is placed on the front of the building.

Upon demand of the Municipal Council, the Government may authorize the purchase of ground to make healthy, or to ameliorate either wholly or in part, an old quarter, or to construct a new one, under the supervision of a commission composed of five members, among whom are one public relief officer, a physician, an architect, and an engineer. The plan of the area has to show what has to be done with it after purchase, and a royal ordinance has to determine the conditions of sale of land not occupied by public streets.

The valuation for compulsory purchase is made by three experts, two chosen by the parties and a third by the judge for the particular district.

French Sanitary Law provides for the appointment in every community (at the option of the Municipal Council), an unpaid commission charged with the duty of ascertaining and indicating measures indispensable for the sanitation of dwellings. Up to the year 1894, only eight out of over 36,000 of the administrative communes of France had organized commissions on unhealthy dwellings. The commissions are each composed of from five to nine members, and must include a physician and an architect or builder, as well as a member of the Public Relief Bureau, and of the Council of Experts where these institutions exist. The mayor is the president. The commissions visit places which have been pointed out as unhealthy. They make a full report of the causes and conditions of unhealthiness, as well as the remedies required.

At the end of a month from the delivery of their report, the Municipal Council consider the cases, and may order the necessary works to be done under penalty, but may not permanently close the house without a decree by the Council of the Prefecture. It is complained that the local authorities are slow to move, and that the machinery is cumbrous, slow, and ineffectual. There are Councils of Public Hygiene and Salubrity, designated for the arrondissements and the chief towns of each Prefecture. They consist of from seven to

fifteen members, appointed by the Prefect for four years, and then advice is asked in relation to the sanitation of houses or of localities. A superintending central committee on Public Hygiene, controls and instructs the local Councils. It does much the same work as is done in England by the Medical Department of the Local Government Board.

German sanitary administration is in the hands of the police authorities, assisted by either the municipal physician or an advisory sanitary commission, composed of representatives of the city government, physicians, and the chief of local police, who is the presiding officer. In Berlin, if a house proprietor finds any of his tenants maintaining dwellings in a filthy state, he is bound to warn them to clean up, and if they fail to comply, to turn them out without further ceremony. Should the landlord neglect his duty, an officer of the sanitary department will make a visit upon the complaint of the neighbours, and if he finds the house filthy, clean it at the landlord's expense. This method of dealing with persons of uncleanly habits is pretty effective in preventing the upgrowth of slums.

RECONSTRUCTION OF STREET SYSTEMS.

The most interesting work done in continental cities has been the reconstruction of the congested tangle of narrow, dark, and foul streets, which in many cases occupied the site of the old town, by the substitution of broad, well-planned, systematic thoroughfares, with ample water supply, good drainage, plenty of light, and a number of open spaces. Everything that stood in the way of the broad, straight course of the new avenues has been razed to the ground, and the street systems of the various cities have been made to conform to the courses of the great boulevards which have been run round and across them everywhere.

Paris has been the model in nearly every case, and it is safe to say that all European capitals, and most large cities, have been wholly or partly reconstructed during recent years in their external forms upon Paris models, so that their new quarters look like the inner suburbs of that city. It is well known how Baron Haussmann, in effect the permanent Mayor of Paris, appointed and supported by the authority of Napoleon III., so that he had practically absolute power, cleared away tens of thousands of small old houses, and laid out parks, open spaces, boulevards, and pleasure grounds by the hundred. Between 1851 and 1871 the cost of the improvements, after allowing for enormous recoupments by the sale of surplus lands, was over £48,000,000.

There is no law in France to permit of the compulsory purchase of insanitary areas, but there may be expropriation for cutting through streets or other works of public utility, and, if necessary, for securing new buildings, in accordance with hygienic requirements, adjoining property may be acquired. Some of the great boulevards of Paris have thus been constructed practically without cost to the city, because the extra land thus acquired has been so much enhanced in value as a building site, that the price received when it has been sold has been almost sufficient to meet the cost of public works.

This work has been continued at even greater cost since 1870, owing to the rapid increase of population, and the fact that many of the comparatively new quarters, which sprang up while the old ones were being remodelled, have already had to be subjected to the process of transformation.

In most continental cities, however, the dangers of allowing suburbs to grow up haphazard are now being recognised. Both the development of the new and the reconstruction of the old quarters are now subject to the provisions of careful schemes planned out beforehand.

Public regulations in Paris have now fixed the maximum height of buildings facing the main streets at 65 feet; have prescribed the number of storeys; have compelled private builders to observe what is called the "raccordement et l'harmonie des lignes de construction," so as to preserve the marvellous and elegant regularity of the frontages; and have required the periodical repair, or repainting, of all façades, to secure the neat and fresh appearance of every street.

In Italian cities, new quarters have also to be constructed in accordance with similar regulations, and on what is known as the "piano regolatore."

The Building Regulations of Berlin govern and prescribe the strength and fire-proof qualities of buildings, their height with reference to the street width, and the harmony of the street frontage. They also require that one-third of every building lot should be left unbuilt upon; they forbid the construction of dwelling rooms with less than a prescribed minimum of cubic space, or lacking proper provision for daylight, ventilation, and heating.

In addition to this, the whole of the present and prospective area of Berlin and the adjacent districts has been planned out, so as to determine exactly what kind of houses landowners may erect. Thus, in one neighbourhood there may be workmen's dwellings, and in another detached villas, and no one may erect dwellings of the former type in the district of the latter.

In nearly all German towns the Town Councils now prepare very carefully thought-out plans, dividing the land in and round their district into zones, with provision for wide streets and open spaces, both planted with trees. In the zone most distant from the centre, only buildings of two storeys are generally allowed, and in proportion to its distance from the centre, each zone must have lower buildings, with less of its area covered by buildings.

The area thus planned out, contains as much building land as will probably be needed to supply sites for houses and other buildings during the next twenty years. In preparing the plans, the reasonable wishes of the owners of the land have every consideration, but the needs of the town and the health of its inhabitants are supposed to weigh most in arriving at a final decision.

A great deal of labour and study are devoted to the preparation of these plans by the able architects, engineers, medical men, and other experts, to whom the work is entrusted. Not only are the engineering

and architectural aspects of the matter dealt with, but full and elaborate opinions are obtained with regard to the hygienic, and even the artistic side of the work.

Some time ago the writer was asked by the Editor of the London Echo to contribute a short article indicating what was the immediately necessary practical step to be taken in England towards securing better housing conditions. In complying with this request, the particular measure advocated was the purchase of very large areas of cheap land on the outskirts by the various Municipalities. Although this policy has not yet been extensively adopted, it will possibly be forwarded by a consideration of what has been done abroad.

For some years many German towns have adopted the policy of steadily buying as much land as possible on their outskirts whenever opportunity has occurred to get it at a reasonable price. The success of this policy has been so marked that two years ago the Prussian Government issued a rescript to the provincial governors to use all their influence to induce all Prussian towns to buy as much land as they could obtain, and to retain possession of all they then held and should afterwards acquire. It is interesting to note (Soziale Praxis, 25 Dec. 1902) that apart from the influence of this rescript, the area of land held by 31 large towns in Germany varied from 10 to 365 square yards per head of population. Only seven of the 31 have less than 24 square yards per head, six have from 24 to 60, nine have from 60 to 120 (including Berlin, 85), five have from 120 to 240, and four have more than 240 square yards per head. Nearly all are actively increasing their holdings. Since 1890, Berlin has added 21.52 yards per head to its communal holding, while the other towns have increased their holdings by from 254 to 1,269 per cent.

Most Hungarian Towns are in the fortunate position (much advocated as desirable in England) of holding, as municipal property, the surrounding area, formerly common land used for village pasturage and fuel supply. This has practically destroyed land speculation, which is the curse of so many other large cities, and has kept the cost of sites down to a low figure. It will, of course, enable the local authority to control, in the most effective manner, any suburban building development that may be carried out.

A Great Improvement Scheme was initiated in Vienna by the Emperor about 40 years ago, when the fortifications that had cramped the city were pulled down and a fine circular boulevard was laid out round the city, from which other wide roads radiated in all directions. In order to encourage building, the houses built on the surplus land within five years were exempted from taxation for 30 years, and other houses built afterwards were granted similar exemption varying from 15 to 25 years. The result of this policy was to reduce overcrowding in Vienna below any other Austrian city, and to bring the proportion of families occupying one room down to five or six per cent., just half the proportion in London. The funds for meeting the exempted taxation were raised from the sale of State lands in conjunction with the municipality.