j}: ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE HOUSING OF THE INDUSTRIAL POPULATION OF SCOTLAND RURAL AND URBAN presented to jparliamcnt b^ (Tommanb of Ibie flDaieet^. EDINBURGH: PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased through any Bookseller or directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: 23 Forth Street, Edinburgh ; Imperial House, Kingsway, London, W.C. 2, and 28 Abingdon Street, London, S.W. 1 37 Peter Street, Manchester ; 1 St Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff ; or from E. PONSONBY, Ltd., 116 Grafton Street, Dublin; or from the Agencies in the British Colonies and Dependencies, the United States of America and other Foreign Countries of T. FISHER UNWIN, Ltd., London, W.C. 2. [Cd. 8731.] 1917. Price Four Shillings Net, 3^ / 3 \M .-^K^ MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION. Sir henry BALLANTYNE, Knight, Chairman. SIMON JOSEPH ERASER, Baron LOVAT, K.T., C.B., K.C.V.O., C.D.S.O. GEORGE FREELAND BARBOUR. Rev. JAMES BARR, B.D. CHARLES CARLO W. •JOSEPH FORBES DUNCAN. DAVID GILMOUR. JOHN MILNE HENDERSON. WILLIAM LESLIE MACKENZIE, M.D., Medical Member of the Local Government Board for Scotland. JONATHAN MIDDLETON. Sir WILLIAM YOUNGER, Baronet. Mrs GEORGE KERR. Wt. —3000— 10/17.— N. & Co., Lta. Gp. 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Members of tte Royal Commission Royal Warrant . PAaE ii xix REPORT. Introductory Origin of Commission CHAPTER I. Proceduke adopted by the Commission Preliminary . . . . . Number of sittings beld . . . . Number of witnesses examined . Visits of inspection . . . . Special return obtained from Local Authorities Special investigation . . . . 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 CHAPTER II. Outline of Housing Problem and Statement of Method of Treatment Instances of bad housing conditions (1) Congested areas of Glasgow (2) A mining district (3) Lewis and the Outer Islands CHAPTER III. Estimate op Shortage of Houses— showing Statistically the Extent of the Housing Problem Tabulated statement, showing the present shortage of houses in Scotland (Table I.) Shortage of houses as estimated from the amount of overcrowding disclosed by the Census for 1911 (Table II.) Shortage due to overcrowding Shortage due to irreparable uninhabitability Shortage in agricultural areas Estimated shortage on existing standard Estimated additional shortage on improved standard Total estimated shortage Distribution of shortage . . . . , Unoccupied houses .... Note of existing housing conditions Summary of recommendation and suggestion . CHAPTER IV. Statement of Existing Authorities (a) Central Authorities ...... Local Government Board .... Board of Agriculture for Scotland and Scottish Land Court Public Works Loan Board .... {b) Local Authorities ...... In counties ...... In burghs ...... (c) Officials of Local Authorities In counties ...... In county districts and in burghs In burghs ...... Medical officers and sanitary inspectors Burgh surveyors, burgh engineers, masters of works, town-planning engineers Summary of recommendations and suggestions .... Returns 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 13 13 14 14 IV ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. CHAPTER V. Summary of the Existing Statutory Powers in regard to Housing Introductory .....•• (1) Control of erection and of method of construction of houses (o) Erection of houses in counties Building byelaws Erection of houses on made-up ground Control of sites of houses Defects of byelaws Power to revoke byelaws (6) Erection of houses in burghs Approval of plans before building commenced Building byelaws Site of houses .... Structure and materials Cubic space in houses . Height of houses Height of rooms in houses Lighting and ventilation of houses Lighting and ventilation of rooms in houses Ventilation of bed-recesses (2) Control of provision of water-supply (a) Provision of a general supply in counties . Special water-supply districts . (6) Provision of a general supply in bxirghs (c) Provision of a water-supply to individual houses in counties (d) Provision of a water-supply to individual houses in burghs (3) Control of provision of drainage (a) Provision of a general scheme in counties . Special drainage districts (6) Provision of a general scheme in burghs (c) Provision of drainage to individual houses in counties (d) Provision of drainage to individual houses in burghs (4) Control of provision of sanitary and domestic conveniences (a) Water-closets, earth-closets, and privies In county districts In burghs (6) Ashpits .... In counties In burghs (c) Sculleries, washhouses, baths, larders, coalsheds (5) Control of provision for scavenging and removal of refuse (a) In counties — special scavenging districts (6) In burghs .... (6) Control of occupancy of houses (a) Overcrowding of houses Census standards of overcrowding Provisions in Public Health Act Provisions in Burgh Police Act, 1903 — ticketed houses Overcrowding in special types of houses (6) Houses kept in dirty condition Provisions in Public Health Act Provisions in Burgh Police Act (c) Cleanliness, etc., of sanitary conveniences, common stairs, etc. Water-closets, etc. Common stairs, etc. (7) Control of construction and repair of private streets and footpaths, private courts, etc. (a) In burghs ...... Formation of new streets -Repair of private streets . . . Provision of foot-pavements Width of streets .... Byelaws regulating construction of streets (&) In counties . . . . j. Street as a nuisance .... Repair of private streets Paving of private courts (8) Control of defective and insanitary houses (a) Inspection of houses .... (6) Removal of defects disclosed by inspection of houses Procedure under the Public Health Act Closing Orders under Housing Acts Closing Orders under local Acts Demolition Orders under Housing Acts Demolition Orders under local Acts Special power in Housing Acts — keeping of houses m repair CONTENTS. Special provision in Burgh Police Act, 1892 — repair of common stairs Special provisons in Burgh Police Act, 1892, as to ruinous houses (9) Control of special classes of houses (a) Common lodging-houses .... (b) Houses let in lodgings .... (c) Farmed-out houses ..... (d) Tents, vans, and sheds .... (e) Underground dwellings .... (/) Back-to-back houses .... (g) Obstructive buildings .... (10) Control of unhealthy and insanitary areas (a) Improvement schemes .... Representation by Medical Officer of Health . Procedure of Local Authority . Provisions of scheme .... Confirmation of scheme by Local Government Board Execution of scheme .... (6) Reconstruction schemes .... (11) Provision of houses for the working classes (a) Rehousing obligations of Local Authorities, companies, etc (b) Provision of houses by Local Authorities . Nature of houses that may be provided Power to provide houses formerly an adoptive one Power now available without adoption Power to acquire land, erect, and fit up houses, etc Power to provide shops, recreation grounds, etc., in connection with houses General management of houses — byelaws may be made Local Authority may sell houses Power of County Councils to provide houses for constables and roadmen (c) Provision of houses by companies, societies, etc. . Powers of borrowing ..... Assistance to building societies Provision of houses under trusts (d) Provision of houses by or through Government Departments (e) Provision of houses under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899 (/) Provision of houses under the Improvement of Land Acts Land improvement companies Powers of Board of Agriculture (12) Town planning .... (a) Nature of land to be town planned (b) Authority to prepare a scheme (c) Preparation and contents of scheme (d) Approval of Local Government Board to scheme (e) Power of Local Government Board to compel preparation and execution of scheme (13) Acquisition of land, including compensation for land acquired (a) Under the Lands Clauses Acts Origin and object of Lands Clauses Acts Method of determining compensation . Allocation of expenses of arbitration . (b) Under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897 Procedure for compulsory acquisition of land Determination of disputed compensation (c) Under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Acts Procedure for compulsory acquisition of land Determination of disputed compensation' {d) Under the Housing and Town Planning Acts (e) Improvement schemes Appointment of arbiter Assessment of compensation Appeal against arbiter's award Costs of arbitration (/) Reconstruction schemes Assessment of compensation No appeal against arbiter's award Costs of Arbitration {g) Removal of obstructive buildings . Assessment of compensation (/j) Provision by Local Authorities of houses for the working classes Order by Local Government Board authorising acquisition of land Assessment of compensation . Costs of Arbitration (i) Town planning Special provisions as to compensation (14) Powers of assessment and borrowing . (a) Assessment .... General administrative expenses (including expenses of carrying out housing schemes) ...... Expenses connected with water and drainage schemes PAGE 27 27 27 27 28 28 29 29 30 30 30 30 30 30 31 31 31 31 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 34 34 34 34 35 35 35 35 35 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 38 38 38 38 38 38 38 38 38 38 38 38 39 39 39 39 39 39 VI ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Expenses connected with lighting and scavenging Expenses under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899 (b) Borrowing ...... Under the Housing Acts Under the Public Health and Burgh Police Acts Under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act . Procedure as regards borrowing CHAPTER VL Housing Problems in the Cities and Urban Areas Introductory survey ........ Order of treatment ........ Continuity of the Scots' housing problem — diihculty of formulating exact division smaller burghs, and rural areas . . '. . . • The real lines of distinction ...... General external survey of a typical Scots town .... between cities. CHAPTER VII. Housing in the Scottish Burghs Structure of houses . . . Solidity of Scottish building Average size of rooms .... Representative types of workmen's houses in burghs (i) Cottages .... One-room cottage . Old " weaving " properties Two-room cottages (ii) Two-storey or two-storey and attic buildings Double-flatted and two-storey cottages (iii) Tenements . . (a) Subdivided houses and tenements (h) " Deliberately erected " tenements Underground dwellings Box-beds and bed-recesses Disrepair in houses (c) Balcony tenements (d) Improved tenements Summary of recommendations and suggestions CHAPTER VIII. Merits and Demerits of the Tenement System. (a) Solidity of construction . . . . (b) Warmth, light, and ventilation (c) Number of possible apartments (d) Nearness to work (tenement) compared with quieter and (cottage) ..... (e) Disadvantage of the tenement for the housewife, children, (/) Convenience of having all rooms on one level {g) Additional sense of security .... (h) Common stairs and conveniences (i) Difficulty in controlling jointly-owned tenements (j) Relatively low death-rate in good tenement property (k) Comparative building — and development — costs (l) The type of house preferred by Scots tenants . (m) The extent of the restrictions desirable in the future . Summary of recommendations and suggestions more i nd old ,iry surroundings with people garden CHAPTER IX. Sanitary Appliances and Conveniences in the Burghs (A) Certain extreme instances of the lack of conveniences or their bad condition (1) Hamilton (2) Lerwick (older houses in burgh) (3) Dunfermline Insufficient sanitary accommodation {B) Improvements recently effected ( C) Summary of the position relative to sanitary appliances and conveniences reached in representa- tive burghs .....'...... 76 CONTENTS. Vll Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh Glasgow Table giving information from certain representative burghs PAOB 76 76 76 77 78 CHAPTER X. Occupancy of Houses . . . . .80 Landlord's obligations . . . . . . . . . . . 80 House to be reasonably fit for occupation ........ 80 House or appurtenances not to be dangerous or injurious to health . . . .80 Certain types of underground dwellings not to be let as a house . . . . .81 Provision for whitewashing, cleansing, or purifying filthy or unwholesome house, bedding, or clothing ........... 81 Burghs . . . . . ... . . . . .81 Whitewashing common stairs, passages, etc. . . . . . . .81 Tenant's obligations . . . . . . ■ . . . . .81 Overcrowding ........... 81 Provision for whitewashing, cleansing, or purifying filthy or unwholesome house, bedding, or clothing ........... 81 Burghs ............ 81 Sweeping and washing of common stairs, landings, and passages . . . . .82 Cleaning and care of water-closets, etc. ........ 82 Burghs ............ 82 Cleaning of courts, yards, areas, and roofs of outbuildings . . . . .82 Burghs . . . . . . '. . . . . .82 Certain type of underground dwelling not to be used as sleeping place . . . .82 Obligation to vacate house ordered to be closed ....... 82 Subject of occupancy, namely, the house ........ 82 Difficulties of interpretation of the statutory provisions, and diversity of opinion as to what standards Parliament has laid down ......... 83 Overcrowding of houses ........... 85 Standard of cleanliness ........... 86 Dirty and destructive tenants . . . . . . . . . .87 Sweeping and washing of common stairs, landings, passages, water-closets, etc. . . 89 Summary of recommendations and suggestions. ....... 89 CHAPTER XI. The One-Room House Life in one room .... Special illustrations of general inadequacy Inadequacy for housing of sick persons ; illustrated by pulmonary tuberculosis Special illustration from tuberculosis Tuberculosis death-rate higher in one-room house One-room house as causative factor in tuberculosis Higher general death-rate in one-room house Correction of death-rates for age and sex Higher infantile death-rate in one-room house Unsuitability of one-room house for children Higher death-rate from special diseases . Inferences from excessive proportion of children in one-room house Increased overcrowding of Glasgow one-room houses . Floating nature of one-room population Conclusions from disease-rates and death-rates . One-room house as marginal product of industrial development On the demand for the one-room house .... Alleged want of desire for better housing .... The one-room house as a causative factor in tuberculosis Other death-rates and disease-rates .... Family decency ....... Nature of the demand for the one-room house ... Mortuary accommodation ..... Conclusion ....... 90 90 91 91 92 92 92 93 93 93 93 94 94 94 94 94 95 96 97 98 98 99 99 99 100 CHAPTER XII. OVEECROWDINQ Introductory Site overcrowding Overcrowding in houses Edinburgh 100 100 100 101 103 VUl ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Glasgow Dundee . . . Aberdeen Paisley, Leith, and Greenock Instances of overcrowding in other towns Wishaw Dumfries Wick . Hamilton Inverness burgh Influence of overcrowding on health Ticketing of houses Statutory provisions as to ticketing Origin and practice of ticketing Effects of ticketing . General control of overcrowding Summary of recommendations and suggestions CHAPTER XIII. Common Lodging-Houses, Houses Let in Lodgings, and Farmed-out Houses (1) Common lodging-houses Necessity for common lodging-houses (2) Houses let in lodgings (3) Farmed-out houses . Number of farmed-out houses . Occupations and character of occupants Sanitary condition and cleanliness Charges or rents Immorality in farmed-out houses Necessity for farmed-out houses Necessity for further legislation Summary of recommendations and suggestions (a) Common lodging-houses (6) Houses let in lodgings . (c) Farmed-out houses CHAPTER XIV. Miners' Housing in Scotland (1) Historical introduction Special importance of the problem Historical development (2) Chief mining counties of Scotland . The mining population . Burghal and landward distribution of mining population Certain common features (3) Sites and plans of colliery villages . Determining conditions (4) Other defects of site and arrangement (5) Improvement of design and maintenance (6) Gardens in mining villages . , . (7) Roads and footpaths (8) Powers regarding roads and footpaths (9) Lighting of mining villages . (10) Ashpits .... (11) The question of pit-head baths (12) Demand for baths in miners' houses (13) Facilities for washing and clothes drying (14) General sanitation . (15) Sanitary improvement and retarding causes — -Mid-Lanark (16) Sanitary improvement and retarding causes — Ayrshire (17) Use of modern sanitary appliances and suggested minimum standard (18) Size of houses (19) Accommodation in new houses (20) Description of houses (21) Defective houses (22) Specific defects — -damp (23) Defective floors (24) Defective windows . (25) Improved modern houses . (26) How far larger houses are appreciated (27) Historical cause of low rents (28) Instances of rentals in colliery districts (29) Proportion of wages paid in rent . CONTENTS. IX (30) Willingness to pay a higher rent for better accommodation (31) Increased rents for improvements in old houses Return on houses owned by Colliery Companies Return on old houses Overcrowding in mining communities Counties Typical agricultural counties . Burghs .... Particular instances of overcrowding The question of subletting . (32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37) Lodgers in mining villages (38) (39) (40) (41) (42) (43) (44) (45) (46) later in Paragraph 924 Responsibility of the Colliery Companies for overcrowding Proportion of houses owned by employers The question of houses provided by the employers Tenure of companies' houses The prospective exhaustion of coal-mines in its bearing on housing The question of termination of colliery lease Difficulties at the start of new mines, and question of temporary Occupying ownership among miners — Leadhills and Larkhall Occupying ownership among miners — other- districts (47) Summary of subjects on which recommendations are made in (48) Damage caused by subsidence (49) Suggestions regarding subsidence . Prevention ..... Compensation for damage through subsidence Summary of recommendations and suggestions . Notes of conditions found by Commission at visits referred to County of Fife (visited 24th April 1913) . Coaltown, Wemyss .... MethilhiU Adams Terrace ..... Townhill (Dunfermline) County of Lanark (visited 10th to 13th March 1914) Rosehall Colliery Rows, Whiffiet Calderbank Square Thorneywood Rows Craighead Rows Merry's Rows . Holytown, Baird Square West Benhar Rows County of Ayr (visited 17th and 18th March 1914) Drongan Rows (Old Taig Burn) Connel Park .... Mossblown .... New Row .... Common Loch Row County of Linlithgow (visited 8th April 1914) Armadale — -Russell's Row Bents — -United Colliery West Lothian Housing Company Stoneyburn County of Stirling (visited 9th April 1914) Laurieston — Redding Square . California Rows Standburn Rows Carron View Terrace liousing chapti ers PAOB 144 144 145 145 145 146 146 146 146 147 147 147 148 148 148 149 150 151 151 152 153 153 154 154 155 158 158 158 158 159 159 159 159 159 159 159 159 159 159 159 159 159 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 161 161 161 CHAPTER XV. Rural Housing Peculiar position of the farm-workers .... Current system of farm housing .... Types of houses . . . . . . . Site and position ...... Size of houses . ; ' . Structure of houses ...... Interior : finishings and fittings ..... General defects ....... (a) Dampness ...... (b) Deficient lighting, ventilation, and badly constructed chimneys (c) Neglect of maintenance ..... General absence of sanitary accommodation and conveniences Sculleries ........ Washhouses ....... Closet accommodation ...... Baths . . . . . . Coal-houses and storage .,,,., 161 161 162 163 163 163 164 165 165 165 166 166 166 167 167 167 167 167 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Water-supply Drainage .... Standards of habitability Overcrowding Ownership of houses ; the " tied house Farm steading versus farm cottage Effect of the system of engagement Farm-servants' difficulty in securing repairs Effect of migration on housing Inspection Gardens . Pig-keeping Housing of single men (a) The kitchen system (b) The bothy system (c) The double-hinding system Housing of women farm-workers Shortage . . . . Rural depopulation Causes of present conditions of housing Proposals for improvement Public health staffs Responsibility of landlord Finanical considerations Housing of single men Bothies The kitchen system Other rural workers Rural postmen Railwaymen Local Authority employees . Observations upon Minority proposals Summary of recommendations and suggestions divided responsibility for repairs CHAPTER XVI. Housing Conditions in Fishing Communities Introductory ........ (A) Housing conditions in fishing communities in the south of Scotland {B) Housing conditions in fishing communities in Aberdeenshire and neighbouring counties (a) Stonehaven and Aberdeen .... (b) Aberdeenshire villages .... Typical fishing centres in Banffshire Findochty ...... Gardenstown ...... General ...... (C) Housing conditions in fishing villages in the north of Scotland (a) Avoch and Hilton (Ross-shire) (b) Cromarty . . .... (c) Embo, Golspie, Brora, and Helmsdale (Sutherlandshire) {d) Lower Brora (Sutherlandshire) (e) Lerwick — Garthspool .... (/) Mallaig, Inverness-shire .... Permanence of fishing centres ..... Temporary housing ...... Summary of recommendations and suggestions CHAPTER XVII. Housing op Migratory and Seasonal Workers Introduction (a) Housing of navvies . Description of accommodation provided Supervision of huts Description of hut village at Rosyth Construction of buildings Model lodging-house Sanitary arrangements Lighting . Conditions of tenancy Cost of habitation Village social council Medical . Special statutory powers of control Recommendations 187 187 188 188 188 188 189 189 189 189 189 190 190 190 190 190 CONTENTS. XI (6) Housing of potato-diggers Description of accommodation . Beds and bedding Arrangements for washing Arrangements for cooking and for drying wet clothes Suitability of existing accommodation Separation of the sexes . Sanitary arrangements . General habits of the diggers Recommendations Responsibility for housing General .... Local Authority to frame byelaws (c) Housing of berry-pickers Wages and length of day Description of accommodation . Conditions in Lanarkshire (a) Nature of accommodation (b) Separation of the sexes (c) Responsibility for cleanliness (d) Number of workers Conditions in Perthshire (a) Number of workers (b) Nature of accommodation for casual workers (c) Nature of accommodation provided at farms (d) Special accommodation at West Essendy Rating difficulties in Perthshire Recommendations (d) Housing of herring-gutters . Places where workers employed Number of workers Description of accommodation . Water-supply . . Sanitary accommodation Recommendations (a) Control by officers of Local Authority (h) Supervision by officers of Local Government Board (c) Local Authority to frame byelaws {d) Provision of water-supply (e) Removal of trade refuse (/) Provision of recreation huts (e) Housing of tinkers and vagrants Summary of recommendations and suggestions PAGE 191 191 191 191 191 192 192 192 193 193 194 195 195 195 196 196 196 196 196 196 197 197 197 197 197 198 198 199 199 199 199 199 200 200 200 200 201 201 201 201 201 202 203 CHAPTER XVIIL Housing in the Crofter Districts . . . . I. Practically the whole of Argyll (except Tiree), the Island of Arran, the mainland part of Inver- ness-shire (except the western parishes of the district of Lochaber), and the eastern part of Ross-shire .......... II. The west coast of Inverness-shire (mainland), the island- of Skye, the south-western and western districts of Ross-shire, and the parish of Lochbroom ; the west and north coast of Sutherland (on the east coast the inhabitants mainly living in fishing villages), Caithness^ Orkney, and Shetland (a) West coast of Inverness-shire (Lochaber district), Isle of Skye, and west coast of Ross shire Island of Skye (h) (c) (rf) (e) if) (9) West coast of Ross-shire Sutherland . Caithness Orkney Shetland Summary of conditions in crofting area classified above No. II III. The Outer Hebrides — Lewis, Harris, North and South Uist and Barra, and Tiree (a) Tiree .... (6) North Uist, South Uist, Barra, Eriskay North Uist South Uist and Barra . Eriskay Barra .... (c) Harris .... (d) Lewis .... Conditions of community Scarcity of houses Defective houses Subdivision of crofts (unauthorised) Cottars and Squatters 203 204 205 205 205 206 206 207 207 208 208 209 209 209 209 210 210 210 211 211 211 211 212 212 212 xu ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Occupations Proposals for relief of congestion Difficulties in the way of relief of congest] Summary of the position in Outer Hebrides Water-supplies Inverness Argyll Ross and Cromarty Sutherland Caithness Orkney Shetland Outer Hebrides Skye . Lewis . Conclusions from survey of housing and other relevant conditions in crofting areas . General conditions of house-building in crofting districts .... Financial assistance from public funds for housing in crofting districts The relation of the Local Government Board, Board of Agriculture, Public Health, Authorities ......... General character and resources ob Local Authorities under the Public Health Acts in districts ......... Water-supplies Rating anomalies ......... Subdivision of crofter holdings in Lewis and other parishes in the Outer Hebrides Who is owner of a crofter's house for public health and housing purposes ? Powers of Scottish Land Court ....... Reasons against " ad hoc " Board ....... Summary of recommendations and suggestions ...... and Local crofting PAQB 213 213 214 215 215 215 216 216 216 216 216 216 217 217 217 217 217 218 220 221 221 221 222 223 223 223 224 CHAPTER XIX. Land in Relation to Housing Preliminary 225 225 CHAPTER XX. Land Tenure and Titles Ward-holding Soccage . Mortmain or mortification Feu-holding Blench-holding Burgage . Booking . Allodial lands Long leases Modern titles (1) Feu-duty (2) Casualties of superiority (3) Fixed payments in lieu of casualties Feudal Casualties (Scotland) Act, 1914 Results on housing conditions Local burdens and feuing conditions Building restrictions How ground may be acquired Purchase and feu Leasehold tenure Tenancy at will . Right to take land Summary of recommendation and suggestion 226 226 227 227 227 227 227 227 228 228 228 228 228 228 228 229 229 229 229 229 229 230 230 231 CHAPTER XXI. Building Conditions and Restrictions in Feu-Charters Summary of recommendations and suggestions .... 231 234 CHAPTER XXII, The Cost of Land and Feuing Rates Feu-duties in towns and cities ...... Sixty-eight Scottish burghs with a population under 5000 234 235 235 CONTENTS. Xlll Lochmaben . . . . • • Exceptions in the list of sixty-eight small burghs Eighteen burghs between 5000 and 10,000 . • Twenty burghs between 10,000 and 25,000 Port- Glasgow .... Dumbarton .... Galashiels .... Irvine ..... Nine burghs between 25,000 and 50,000 . Clydebank .... Motherwell .... The seven large cities . . . Greenock Leith . Paisley . Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh Glasgow Conclusions from the evidence given in regard to price of land and feuing rates Sixty-eight Scottish burghs with a population under 5000 Eighteen Scottish burghs with populations from 5000 to 10,000 . Twenty Scottish burghs with populations between 10,000 and 25,000 Nine Scottish burghs between 25,000 and 50,000 . The seven large cities ...... Net return on land feued ....•• Effect of cost of ground upon occupiers of working-class houses 45 St James's Eoad, Glasgow 130 Saltmarket, Glasgow ...... Building density and its effects . PlUE 236 236 236 237 237 237 237 237 237 237 238 238 238 238 238 238 238 239 240 241 241 241 241 241 241 241 242 243 244 245 CHAPTER XXIII. Leasehold Tenure, Including Tenancy at Will Tenancy at will ....... Tenure in Banffshire ...... Tenure in Ross-shire . Avoch and Hilton ...... Tenure in Sutherlandshire — Embo, Golspie, Brora, and Helmsdale Summary of recommendation and suggestion . 245 246 246 247 247 247 247 CHAPTER XXIV. AcQxnsiTiON OF Land . . . . . General summary of statutory provisions in regard to acquisition of land and arbitration proceedings Ascertainment of amount of compensation Betterment ....... Costs of arbitration ..... Evidence as to amount of compensation and costs of arbitration (1) City improvements .... Street widenings .... (a) Case of a villa dwelling-house taken for street widening (6) Cases of business premises taken for street widening and improvement (c) Case of front plots taken from front streets for widening of tramways (d) Cases of acquisition of grass plots in front of houses (e) Miscellaneous properties acquired for street widening (/) Public-house case ..... Sewers . . . . . • (2) Improvement and reconstruction schemes — Edinburgh . Greenock ....... Glasgow ...... (3) Land acquired for sites for gasworks, drainage schemes catchment areas, etc. .... Drainage schemes ..... (a) Drainage works, Uddingston (b) Newton and Flemington drainage . Water undertakings ..... (a) Shotts Service Reservoir . # ■ (6) The Loch Arklet case Gasworks ...... Schools ...... Observations and suggestions by witnesses .... Recommendations as to the appointment and powers of arbiters, and certain powers of Local Authorities ....... Single arbiter v. Land Court ..... refuse destructors water 247 247 248 24fe 248 249 249 249 250 250 251 251 251 251 252 252 252 253 253 253 253 253 253 253 254 255 256 256 258 259 XIV ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Basis of compensation ....... Evidence as to the means by which the cheapening of land may be effected Restriction of number of houses .... Cheap and rapid transit ..... Buying by Local Authorities in advance Slum clearances ...... Proposals to establish prima facie evidence of the value of land Recommendations as to basis of compensation . Summary of recommendations and suggestions CHAPTER XXV. Building Societies Classification of building societies (a) Small building societies . (6) Larger building societies Hawick Dumbarton Falkirk Grangemouth Edinburgh . Finance of building societies Dividends Discussion of difficulties (1) The limitation of individual holding to £200 (2) Difficulty in members disposing of houses (3) Difficulty in obtaining capital ; rise in the rate of interest, and period of repayment of loans . (4) Price of land (5) Deceased members' holdings (6) Legal expenses (7) Stamp duties on conveyances of properties and estate duties on and loans in building societies at death of member Co-operative associations Edinburgh .... Perth .... Innerleithen .... Selkirk . . . ' . Summary of recommendations and suggestions transmission of shares CHAPTER XXVL Public Utility and Copartnership Societies 1. Introductory ... 2. Origin and extent of the movement 3. Function of a central society 4. Aim of the movement %. Method of working — general 6. Tenants' contribution to capital 7. Tenants and repairs 8. General results 9. Rentals of houses and class of tenant provided for 10. Hereford 11. Scottish experiments 12. Glasgow garden suburb, Westerton 13. Finance 14. Amount of loans from Government 15. Period of repayment 16. Views of Public Works Loan Commissioners 17. Copartnership housing — constructive suggestions 18. Central society and its relation to Local Authorities 19. Local Authorities and copartnership movement 20. Proposals in regard to loans Local Authority loans . Period for repayment of loans from Local Authorities Class of society to which Local Authority loans may be granted Summary of recommendations and suggestions .... CHAPTER XXVII. Town Planning and Transit Present position of town-planning schemes Town planning in relation to burghal extension Contents or provisions of a town-planning scheme Transit and construction of main arterial or traffic roads CONTENTS. XV Town planning in built-up areas Rehousing of the dispossessed Acquisition of land Compensation to owners . Compulsory town planning Amendments to the Town Planning Act Procedure regulations Procedure anterior to and for the purpose of an application for authority to prepare a scheme Procedure during and after the preparation of a scheme and after the approval of a scheme Need for a strong Central Authority ........ Summary of recommendations and suggestions ....... PAGE 283 284 284 284 284 285 287 287 287 288 288 CHAPTER XXVIII. Powers of Public Works Loan Commissioners . . . Definition of working classes .......... Control of house rents ........... Administrative financial control ......... Local Government Board to advise Public Works Loan Board as to loans and Treasury as to grants Summary of recommendations and suggestions ........ 289 289 290 290 290 291 CHAPTER XXIX. Housing Policy Introductory ..... Overcrowding ..... Shortage of houses .... Condition of houses .... Responsibility for provision of houses . Finance of housing schemes after the war Inability of private enterprise to provide houses for the working clasBes Objection to subsidising private enterprise Cessation of house-building Excessive cost of land .... Rate of interest ..... Advance in the cost of building material and wages Rates ...... Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910 Lumsden judgment .... Estate and succession duties Small Landholders (Scotland) Act, 1911 Legal and registration expenses . (a) Legal expenses .... (b) Registration expenses Objections to housing by Local Authorities Public Authority building as a deterrent to private enterprise Supervision of rents of Local Authorities' houses Alleged extravagance of municipal building Conclusions re general housing policy Summary of recommendations and suggestions . 291 291 292 292 292 293 293 294 296 297 298 298 298 298 299 299 299 299 300 300 300 300 300 301 301 301 303 CHAPTER XXX. Housing Policy {continued) Minor reforms and details of administration Housing survey House accommodation . One- and two-room houses Measure of uninhabitability Water survey Drainage and water Occupying ownership The poor owner of several houses Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899 Tenants of Local Authorities' houses to have facilities for acquiring their houses Housing of workers with low wages or under other disability to pay an adequate rent Slum clearances .......... Provision of suitable houses for persons suffering from tuberculosis Power to Local Authorities to accept donations from employers of labour towards housing schemes Power to Local Authority to feu land for shops, schools, churches, halls, etc. Management ........ Construction of houses and lay-out of sites .... 304 304 304 304 304 304 305 306 306 306 307 307 307 308 308 308 308 308 309 XVI ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Type of houses] .... Rules for tenement construction Structure of houses . ' . Lay-out of sites .... Assessment of sewerage and sewage purification works Improvement and reconstruction schemes Site of houses demolished under Demolition Order Income tax on Local Authority houses . Local Acts ..... Travelling expenses of members of Local Authorities Grants to Local Authorities for public health purposes Summary of recommendations and suggestions . PAOB 309 309 309 310 310 310 310 310 311 311 311 311 CHAPTER XXXI. Housing Policy {continued) Further minor reforms ...... Demolition of houses unfit for human habitation Repair and reconstruction of tenement property Minor repairs , . Reconstruction of subdivided houses or tenements Initiative by the officers of a Local Authority towards reconstruction Valuation and adjiistment in respect of extinction or interference with a tenement owned in common .... Summary of recommendations and suggestions .... individual holdings in 313 313 313 315 316 316 316 316 317 CHAPTER XXXII. Housing Policy (continued) Further minor reforms .... I. Nature of Appeal Authority . (1) Under the Housing Acts Improvement schemes Reconstruction schemes Obstructive buildings Closing and Demolition Orders Housing schemes . Town-planning schemes (2) Under the Public Health Acts and Burgh Police Acts Evidence against Local Government Board as an appeal Authority Evidence in support of Local Government Board as an Appeal Authority Advantages of Local Government Board as the Appeal Authority Extent of Board's powers as an Appeal Authority II. Water-supply ........ Further powers for introduction of water into houses in county areas Supply of water to houses in Special .W%,ter L^istricts Supply of water to houses outwith Special Water Districts Length of notice requiring water-supply to be provided Appeal against requirements of Local Authorities . Introduction of water-supply to houses in burghs Water-supplies for colliery villages .... III. Drainage . . . . . . . . Obligation of Local Authorities to bring sewers near houses Discharge of trade effluents into sewers .... I Provision of water-closets or earth-closets Obligation to require provision of water-closets in burghs . Provision of water-closets to houses in Special Drainage Districts in counties Provision of water-closets to houses outwith Special Drainage Districts Extent to which common water-closets should be allowed Provision of sanitary conveniences for new houses . Appeal against requirements of Local Authorities IV. Provision of sculleries (including washing accommodation), larders or food stores, presses, and baths Sculleries and washhouses Storage of coals . Larders and presses Baths V. Building byelaws In counties Adoption of byelaws to be obligatory Approval of plans Approval of sites Approval of lay-out . Regulation of structure Admission of light, height of rooms, cubic space, structure of floors, etc. coal-storage accommodation 317 317 317 317 317 318 318 318 318 318 318 319 320 320 322 323 323 323 323 323 323 323 324 324 324 324 324 324 324 325 325 325 325 325 325 325 325 325 326 326 326 326 326 326 327 327 CONTENTS. xvii IX. X. Certification for occupancy ..... Retention of plans ...... Applications of byelaws to alterations . . Summary of recommendations .... In burghs . . . . . . . Conversion of building into dwelling-house Necessity for fresh warrant to build Height of houses ...... Height of ceilings ...... Structure of party walls and of walls surrounding chimneys (a) Making up of sites ..... (b) Use of wall-paper ..... Submission of plans to health ofiicers Approval of sites ...... , Approval of lay-out ...... Use of box-rooms as sleeping-rooms Gas stoves . . . . . Special powers in Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903 General ....... Application of building byelaws and regulations to Government buildings VI. Statutory requirements and byelaws ..... VII. Maintenance of h«uses ...... VIII. Closing Orders under Housing Acts ..... Application of Closing Orders to unoccupied houses Maintenance of unoccupied houses .... Conversion of uninhabitable house into business premises Enforcement of Closing Orders ..... Demolition Orders under Housing Acts Demolition of houses closed informally before passing of 1909 Act Notice of proposed house inspection under Housing Acts XI. Service of notices under Housing Acts .... XII. Definition of " owner " in Housing and Public Health Acts XIII. Special case to Court of Session under the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909 XIV. Extension to County Local Authorities of powers as to improvement schemes XV. Extension of powers of trustees to reconstruct buildings condemned by Local Authority XVI. Extent of powers of Committee appointed under the Housing Acts XVII. Necessity for expediting procedure for removal of nuisances under Public Health Act XVIII. Paving of yards, courts, etc. ... . . XIX. Repair of roads that are public rights-of-way XX. Provision of means for carrying away water-drip from bridges XXI. Provision of footpaths ..... XXII. Whitewashing and painting of common stairs XXIII. Provision of receptacles for rubbish in scavenging districts . XXIV. Byelaws for tents, vans, and sheds .... XXV. Loans for public health purposes .... XXVI. Confirmation of byelaws under Burgh Police Acts . XXVII. Insufficiency of sanitary staffs .... XXVIII. Adoption by Landward Local Authorities of the Burghs Gas Supply (Scotland) Act, 1876 XXIX. Necessity for consolidation of public health and housing statutes Summary of recommendations and suggestions . Appeal Authority .... Water-supply to houses in county areas Water-supply to houses in burghs . Water-supply for colliery villages . Drainage ..... Provision of water-closets in burghs . ' Provision of water-closets in county areas . Provision of sculleries, coal-storage accommodation, larders or food stores, presses, and baths Building byelaws in county areas . Building regulations in burghs Statutory requirements and byelaws Closing and Demolition Orders Miscellaneous recommendations PAGE 327 327 327 327 327 327 327 328 328 328 328 329 329 329 329 329 329 329 329 329 329 330 331 331 331 331 331 332 332 332 332 332 333 333 333 334 334 334 335 335 335 335 335 335 336 336 336 337 337 337 337 337 337 338 338 338 338 338 338 339 339 339 340 CHAPTER XXXIII. Revision of Administrative Areas and Duties of Local and Central Authorities Nature of the new problems to be dealt with Necessity for preserving units of public health and housing Necessity for larger administrative areas Burghs under 10,000 .... Alternative methods of securing these conditions (a) The constitution of new areas . (b) The combination of existing Authorities Central Authority .... Conclusion ..... Summary of recommendations and suggestions . 340 340 341 341 343 343 343 344 344 345 345 XVlll ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. CHAPTER XXXIV. Bad Housing as a Factor in Industrial Unrest PAOK 345 CHAPTER'XXXV. Leading Issues of Report Results of our'survey ....... Overcrowding ....... Reason for excessive housing insufficiency and low housing standard Obstacles to housing reform ..... Cost and acquisition of land ..... Obligation on Local Authorities for adequate housing Central Authority ....... Its relation to local administrative authorities Central Authority to be a principal department of State . One-room house ........ Opposition to State subsidies to speculative builders and others Responsibility of the State ...... Conclusion ........ 346 346 346 347 347 347 347 347 347 348 348 348 348 348 MINORITY REPORT. Table of Contents Report .... Reservation by Mr G. F. Barbour Reservation by Mr Charles Carlow 351 355 460 460 ROYAL WARRANT. George R.I. OUR Will and Pleasure is that Letters Patent be made and passed under the Seal appointed by the Treaty of Union, to be kept and made use of in Scotland in place of the Great Seal of Scotland, in words and to the effect following :— George the Fifth by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith to our trusty and well-beloved Sir Henry Ballantyne, Knight; our 'right trusty and well-beloved Simon Joseph Fraser, Baron Lovat, Knight Commander of Our Royal Victorian Order, Companion of Our Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Companion, of the Distinguished Service Order; our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Younger, Baronet ; our trusty and well-beloved William Fli^ming Anderson, Esquire ; our trusty and well-beloved George Frbeland Barbour, Esquire; our trusty and well-beloved Charles Carlow, Esquire ; our trusty and well-beloved Joseph Forbes Duncan, Esquire ; our trusty and well-beloved David Gilmour, Esquire ; our trusty and well- beloved John Milne Henderson, Esquire ; our trusty and well-beloved William Leslie Mackenzie, Esquire, Doctor of Medicine, Member of the Local Government Board for Scotland ; our trusty and well-beloved John Middleton, Esquire ; our trusty and well- beloved Helen Louisa Kerr. Greeting ! "Whereas We have deemed it expedient that a commission should forthwith issue to inquire into the Housing of the Industrial Population of Scotland, rural and urban (with special reference in the rural districts to the Housing of Miners and Agricultural Labourers), and to report what legislative or administrative action is, in their opinion, desirable to remedy existing defects. Now Know Ye that We, reposing great trust and confidence in your knowledge, discretion, and ability, have nominated, constituted, and appointed, and do by these presents nominate, constitute, and appoint you the said Sir Henry Ballantyne (Chairman), Simon Joseph Fraser, Baron liovat. Sir William Younger, William Fleming Anderson, George Freeland Barbour, Charles Carlow, Joseph Forbes Duncan, David Gilmour, John Milne Henderson, William Leslie Mackenzie, John Middleton, and Helen Louisa Kerr to be our Com- missioners for the purposes of the said inquiry ; And for the better effecting the purposes of this Our Commission We do by these presents give and grant unto you or any three or more of you full power to call before you, or any three or more of you, such persons as you shall judge most competent by reason of their situation, knowledge, or experience to afford you correct information upon the subject of this Our Commission, and also to call for, have access to, and examine all such books, documents, registers, and records as may afford you the fullest information on the suhgect, and to inquire of and concerning the premises by all other lawful ways and means whatsoever ; And We do further by these presents authorise and Empower you or any of you to visit and personally inspect such places as you may deem expedient so to inspect for the more effectual carrying out of the purposes aforesaid ; And We do by these presents will and ordain that this Our Com- mission shall continue in full force and virtue, and that you Our said Commissioners, or any three or more of you, may from time to time proceed in the execution thereof, and of every matter and thing therein contained, although the same be not continued from time to time by adjournment ; And Our further Will and Pleasure is that you or any three or more of you may have liberty to report to Us your proceedings under this Cur Com- mission from time to time if you shall judge it expedient so to do ; And We further ordain that you do with as little delay as possible report to Us under your hands and Seals, or under the hands and Seals of atiy three or more of you, your opinion upon the matters herein 'submitted for your consideration. In Witness Whereof We have ordered the Seal appointed by the Treaty of Union to be kept and made use of in place of the Great Seal of Scotland to be appended hereto. Given at Our Court at Buckingham Palace the Thirtieth day of October one thousand nine hundred and twelve and in the third year of Our Reign. By His Majesty's Command, T. M'KiNNON Wood. By Royal Warrant dated the Twenty-second day of February One thousand nine hundred and fifteen, the Rev. James Barr, B.D., was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William Fleming Anderson. • . • . > • •• :i« • • •> • •; ;• 'Ji'''.' '•' - J • « • » "• ^ ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. REPORT. To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. May it please Your Majesty, 1. We, the undersigned Commissioners, appointed by Your Majesty's Royal Warrant, dated 30tli October 1912, to inquire : — ■ Into the Housing of the Industrial Population of Scotland, rural and urban (with special refer- ence in the rural districts to the Housing of Miners and Agricultural Labourers), and to report what legislative or administrative action is in their opinion desirable to remedy existing defects — • beg leave to submit our Report. INTRODUCTORY. 2. Up to the date of our appointment the only important inquiry into the housing of the working classes in Scotland was that carried out in 1885 by the Royal Commission presided over by the Right Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, M.P. The labours of that Commission were, however, not confined to Scot- land, but included England as well. So far as Scotland is concerned, their inquiries were not of an exhaustive nature, being limited practically to the housing conditions in the cities and in some of the West Highland areas, and only to certain aspects of those conditions. 3. Since the date of that Commission the whole administrative position has been transformed. By the passing of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, the area of public health and housing adminis- tration was greatly extended, the Parochial Boards with their parish areas being superseded by the County Councils and District Committees. By widening the administrative areas, the Act made possible the appointment of trained and whole-time officers, and as a result considerable improvement soon began to be apparent in county government. In 1894 the Local Government (Scotland) Act of that year established the Parish Councils, while the Local Government Board for Scotland was also constituted, and took the place of the Board of Supervision which had been in existence since the Poor Law (Scotland) Act, 1845. 4. In 1897 these two great measui-es were followed by another — -the Pubhc Health (Scotland) Act, 1897. This Act largely extended the powers of Local Authorities. Meanwhile, in 1890, the Housing of the Working Classes Act became law, and in 1909 there was passed the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, under which the central administration of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts was transferred from the Secretary for Scotland to the Local Government Board for Scotland, and in which the prin- ciples of town-planning were embodied for the first time in an Act of Parliament. 5. It will be seen, therefore, that so far as the administrative machinery is concerned, the position to-day is very different from what it was when the Commission of 1885 made their inquiries. But our investigations have proved that, though much progress has been made as the result of the reconstitu- tion of the authorities in county areas and of the extended powers conferred on Local Authorities generally, there is still much room for improvement, and the conditions we have found to exist through- out different parts' of Scotland have amply justified the appointment of this Commission. ORIGIN OF COMMISSION. 6. In 1909, by the directions of the Secretary for Scotland, the Local Government Board for Scot- land called for reports from the County Medical Officers of Lanark, Fife, Stirling, Dumbarton, and Ayr, as to the housing conditions of miners within their districts. Similar reports were subsequently asked from the County Medical Officers of Midlothian, Linlithgow, Haddington, Kinross, and Clackmannan. After receipt of the reports, the authorities interested were asked by the Board whether they had any amendments of the law to suggest, or what further powers they would desire in view of the conditions revealed in the reports. (See Reports of the Local Government Board for Scotland for 1910, p. Ixvii., and for 1911, p. lix.) 7. These reports were obtained as the result of an interview that the then Secretary for Scotland I 2 s 'j^Yi^J^ JQQMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (The Right STn'/'Johr' Swlaif, now Lord Pentland) had in Edinburgh on 19th January 1909 with representatives of the Scottish Miners' Federation on the question of the condition of the housing accommodation available in some of the colliery districts. At that meeting the deputation urged that a Committee of Inquiry should be appointed to ascertain the facts of the situation with a view to initiating any necessary legislation. 8. A further deputation from the Scottish Miners' Federation was received in- London by the Secretary for Scotland (Lord Pentland) on 26th April 1911. The members of the deputation again referred to the very unsatisfactory conditions under which miners were housed, and submitted that there should be a thorough investigation into the whole question. Lord Pentland in reply indicated the action that had been taken since the previous deputation in 1909, and stated that the matter was engaging the attention of the Local Authorities in the mining counties. 9. On 20th November 1911 the Secretarj^ for Scotland (Lord Pentland) received a deputation of Scottish Members of Parliament representing mining districts, who urged the desirability of an inquiry by Departmental Committee into housing conditions. In reply. Lord Pentland, after indicating the action that he had already taken, stated that he would consider whether it was practicable and advisable to have an inquiry into the conditions of housing generally in Scotland. 10. Subsequently this Commission was appointed on 30th October 1912, on the recommendation of the Right Hon. T. M'Kinnon Wood, then Secretary for Scotland. CHAPTER I. PROCEDURE ADOPTED BY THE COMMISSION. Preliminary. 11. Our first meeting was held on Friday, 20th December 1912, when the general procedure to be adopted by us was discussed. It was then decided that the evidence to be taken should be heard in private. Prom that date until our next meeting on 11th March 1913, we were occupied in arranging for the necessary office and staff accommodation, in collecting information on matters pertaining to housing, and in communicating with various parties with a view to their attending before us as witnesses. 12. In order to facilitate the preparation of evidence by witnesses, we drew up heads of the evidence that might be given by official witnesses, such as County, District, and Town Clerks, Medical Officers of Health, Sanitary Inspectors, and Burgh Engineers, Masters of Works, and Burgh Surveyors. Similiar heads were drawn up applicable to evidence by or on behalf of Coal Owners, Miners, Farmers, and Farm Servants. These heads were furnished to witnesses, who were asked or who offered to give evidence, and it was suggested to them that, while they need not adhere strictly to the heads or order of the heads of evidence as prepared by us, their evidence might be submitted on the lines thereof. As regards witnesses other than those indicated above, they were left to frame their evidence on what- ever lines seemed to them best. 13. Most witnesses furnished beforehand a written or printed statement of the evidence fhey proposed to give, and this, having been circulated among us, was held as the witness's evidence-in-chief, and printed in the evidence as such ; and on this his examination by us was based. 14. Selections of persons who should be invited to give evidence were made by us, and in addition notices were inserted in the newspapers from time to time asking that anyone who desired to give evidence should communicate with the Secretary. We are satisfied that in those ways representative witnesses were obtained. Number of Sittings Held. 15. Altogether we held 155 sittings, at 114 of which witnesses were examined. While the majority of our sittings were held in Edinburgh, we took evidence in various other centres in Scotland, including all the principal towns, and also in certain towns in England, as will be seen from a later reference. Our first sitting for the purpose of hearing evidence was held on 11th March 1913, and the last witness was heard on 21st October 1915. At this date we had already made considerable progress in framing certain portions of our Report, but in February 1916, on account of the War, the work of the Commission was suspended on the instructions of the Treasury and the Secretary for Scotland. Official authority was given in December 1916 to resume the work as from January 1917. This suspension of the work of the Commission for almost a year — a course which we much regretted— has involved a consequent delay in the issue of this Report. 16. Although we were not officially reassembled until January 1917, we held several sittings between October and December 1916 for the purpose of framing and adjusting a Memorandum in reply to certain queries that were put to us by the Reconstruction Committee appointed by the Government. That Memorandum will be referred to later. (See Paragraph 32.) Number of Witnesses Examined. 17. 415 witnesses were examined. The following particulars show the interests represented by the various witnesses : — Representatives of Government Departments 21 County, District, and Town "Clerks 18 Medical Officers of Health and School Medical Officers 35 Sanitary Inspectors, Burgh Engineers, Masters of Works, and Burgh Surveyors, and other Officials of Local Authorities and Parish Councils ... 67 REPORT. 3 Members of County CouncilB, District Committees, Town Councils, and Parish Councils . . .43 Coal Owners 13 Miners and similar Industrial Workers 23 Landowners and Estate Factors and Farmej s (27), and their Representatives (17) . . . .44 Farm Servants * .6 Crofters* " 3 Architects and Builders - . .23 Representatives of Building and other Co-operative Housing Societies 11 House Owners and House Agents 9 Manufacturers 7 4 Medical Practitioners 8 Trades Councils and oliher Labour Organisations 20 Social Workers .13 Clergymen • 13 Schoolmasters 4 Miscellaneous 37 In addition, non-oral evidence was received from 10 witnesses. * We also visited many farm cottages and crofts in many districts of Scotland and conferred there personally with the workers. Visits of Inspection. 18. In order to familiarise ourselves with the actual conditions under which the people were housed, we made visits of inspection to all the principal large towns in Scotland and to representative smaller burghs, as well as to mining, agricultural, crofting, fishing, and other areas in various parts of the country. References will be made later to the conditions found existing in various areas we visited. In addition, we visited different centres in England, e.g. Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Letch worth, Doncaster, York, and Newcastle, and inspected housing schemes in or near these places, as well as heard evidence from witnesses. 19. Throughout our visits we were received with the greatest coui-tesy on every hand, and every assistance was furnished us by officials and others in our inquiries. We take this oppoi-tunity of tender- ing our thanks and appreciation to all those who have so materially assisted us in our investigations. Special Return Obtained from Local Authorities. 20. In addition to obtaining information from witnesses and by visits of inspection, we issued in April 1914 a special return to Local Authorities asking information as to the extent to which they had undertaken the provision of housing accommodation for the working classes. Among the particulars desired was information on the following points : — (1) Description of the houses provided. (2) Cost of dwelhngs with price of land. (3) Gross rent. (4) Average loss through unlets. (5) Proportion of gross rental spent in management, repairs, insurance, etc. (6) AiTangements for factoring and caretaking. (7) Finance of scheme. (8) The class of worker provided for. (9) Cost of land for feuing purposes in area of Local Authority. (10) Particulars of schemes of slum clearance, if any, carried out by Local Authority. (11) Scarcity, if any, of working-class houses in the area of the Local Authority. The return was sent to all Local Authorities. 208 replies were received. The information furnished in these replies will be dealt with later in this Report. Special Investigation, 21. In the course of our inquiries it appeared to us advisable that a special expert report should be obtained on the whole subject of the constniction and cost of working-class houses in Scotland. Accordingly, with the consent of the Treasury, and with the concurrence of the Local Government Board for Scotland, we appointed Mr John Wilson, F.R.I.B.A., the Architectural Inspector to that Board, a Special Investigator, to prepare this Report. The terms of the Remit to Mr Wilson were : " To inquire and report on different types of houses that are being built in selected parts of Scotland, as regards their accommodation, materials of construction, methods of construction, cost of constniction, in- cluding architect's fees, cost of land, cost of making roads, etc. ; to report on the particular type that may be suitable to meet the needs of local circumstances, and to suggest in what respects the cost of erection of houses may be cheapened, and to what extent, if any, the statutory requirements and the provisions of local byelaws or regulations might be relaxed or modified." The Report submitted with relative Appendices and Plans will be found in a separate volume of the evidence. ROYAL CUMM1S.S1UN ON HOU81N0 IN SCOTLAND. CHAPTER II. OUTLINE OF HOUSING PROBLEM AND STATEMENT OF METHOD OF TREATMENT IN THIS REPORT. 22. Of the many social problems which, after the War, will demand treatment and solution, none is more pressing or more vital, in the interests of the welfare not only of the individual but also of the nation, than the housing problem. For the intelligent treatment of that problem in this Report it seems desirable that we should devote this chapter to a brief outline of the problem as it has presented itself to us, not so much an outline of the difficulties with which it is overlaid both in town and country, but rather an attempt to state what the ideal is at which housing reformers should aim. Thereafter, by way of contrast, we will give one or two illustrations of the worst, but by no means uncommon, existing housing conditions ; and, in addition, we mil state how, in this Report, we propose to handle the many intricate problems which our Remit has led us to consider. The extent of the problem will be found set fortb in the next chapter by way of a statistical (and estimated) survey of the shortage of houses (a) according to present standards of overcrowding and habitabihty, and (6) according to a higher standard of habitability which we recommend should be adopted. 23. Briefly stated, the housing ideal which we keep prominently before us is — How to provide a healthy, comfortable dwelling for every family in the land. 24. A healthy, comfortable dwelling may be described as a house in which pleasant living and decent sleeping accommodation is provided for the inmates of that house. That description involves not only the interior of the house, but also the conditions exterior to it. Space, air, light, and water are necessary elements. None of these requisites can be obtained without land or access to it. A very large proportion of the population is housed at present under conditions congested as to air and space, deficient as to smilight.and water, conditions which tend directly to physical and moral deterioration. 25. In regard to the interior of the house, the fact that, apart from the adult males, many of the women and all the young children of the house sjiend the greater part of their h ves indoors, at once suggests that the accommodation which should be provided should be of a nature to promote the health, comfort, and happiness of the inmates. 26. It is not suggested that the solution of the housing problem will provide a panacea for all the ills that afflict humanity. Housing is only one of many important and correlated questions that should be pushed forward so far as possible side by side. There are social problems outstanding at present which have long been crying for ameliorative treatment, but which, along with the housing problem, have perhaps been more emphasised in the public mind by the war, and war conditions, than by anything else which has occurred in history. Problems such as child-welfare, care of mothers, better education, temperance, and a hving wage are all relevant to the housing problem with which it is our especial duty to deal, and it may be that in the course of this Report these problems, or some of them, may be referred to, not by way of proposing recommendations thereon, but by way of narrative, where they are found to be correlated to or intermingled with the conditions of life of the individual, in so far as that life is affected by the housing conditions. 27. It is not proposed in this chapter to ent«r further than already indicated into any narrative of the present conditions of housing m town and country. These conditions will be fully dealt with in later chapters. The difficulties surrounding the question are enormous because of the present wretched conditions obtaining — conditions which are the growth of centuries. To give some idea of the nature of the difficulties which call for treatment, we describe in the next paragraph (28) some of the condi- tions which are found to exist in — (1) The congested areas of Glasgow ; (2) A mining district ; and (3) The Lewis and the Outer Islands. Instances of Bad Housing Conditions. (1) Congested Areas of Glasgow. 28. In the older tenements or " lands," the passages are often dark, narrow, and foul-smelling. Some passages are T-shaped, and at the further end it is necessary to fight a match in the daytime in order to distinguish the doors. Those doors and the partitions are so poorly constructed that there is no privacy even within the houses. In other cases there is a single long passage traversing the tenement, with doors on either side giving access to different houses (in certain " back lands " in the Cowcaddens Ward in Glasgow there are as many as ten or twelve houses opening off one passage). With this arrangement through ventilation is impossible. There is one instance in the Anderston district of Glasgow in which a whole street of high tenements, with damp and dark sunk flats below the level of the street (which is only 19 feet wide), has been wedged into a V-shaped space between two important converging thoroughfares. One witness described this area as follows : — " The sunk flat houses even in a hot dry summer remain damp and unwholesome. ' The stairs down to these houses are almost invariably dark and dirty, the passages pitch dark on the ' brightest day, so that only by feeUng along the walls can one discover the doors. The bulk of the ' houses are of the n[iade-down type, very dark lobbies (now fighter by night than day owing to the Corpora- ' tion's recommendation that incandescent burners be put on the stairhead lamps). ... In all these closes ' the stairs are filthy and evil-smelfing, water-closets constantly choked, and foul water nmning down the ' stairs, sickly cats everywhere spreading disease. . . . One street is known as ' The Coffin Close,' so ' bad is its repute — ^narrow stairs and dark, twisting lobbies, with no fight and absolutely no air." (Rutherfurd, 22,110 (2).) REPORT. • 5 Reference is made in Paragraph 49 to the large number of two-room houses in Scotland. Over- crowding in these houses is common, as the following instances from Glasgow will show : — A " two-apartment house with eleven persons in it, five of whom were males over ten years old, ' and three females over ten. ... In other two-apartment houses there were eight and a half persons (two ' males and four females over ten) ; eleven persons (six males and four females over ten) ; nine persons ' (four males and three females over ten)." (Chalmers, 20,337.) These extracts (from the evidence of Miss Rutherfurd, the Warden of Queen Margaret Settlement and a member of the Glasgow Parish Council, and Dr Chalmers, Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow) may be taken as representing, possibly with some modifications, the worst aspects of housing in the other cities in Scotland and a number of the larger burghs, especially where industrial activity has led to congested conditions of hving. (For further descriptions of City Housing, see Chapter VIT.) (2) A Mining District. The " Miners' Row " of inferior class is often a dreary and featureless place, with houses, dismal in themselves, arranged in monotonous lines or in squares. The open spaces are encumbered with washhouses, privies, etc., often out of repair, and in wet weather get churned up into a morass of semi- liquid mud, with little in the way of solidly constructed road or footpath — a fact which adds greatly to the burdens of the overwrought housewife. The houses vary greatly in construction, but a large number are of two types. The older is either a " single-end " or " but-and-ben," according as it has one or two rooms. It has only one door, and the solid back wall is pierced only by the smallest of windows, if by any, so that through ventilation does not exist. Many of the older houses show the faults of their class — leaky roofs, damp walls, and uneven and broken floors — the last a source of particularly bitter complaint. In addition there are faults not found outside mining communities, the chief being broken plaster and fissures in the walls, where " subsidence " has been serious ; while in the worst houses in the West of Scotland the only place for the storage of coals is below the bed. The impossibility of domestic cleanliness and order where this is the case needs no enforcement. If the workers in a house are on different shifts, the task of the housewife is complicated by irregular meals and sleeping-hours. If the pit is a wet one, the miners' soaking clothes must be left at night by the kitchen fire ; and as the kitchen is a sleeping apartment even where there are one or two other rooms, the steam and gas which are given off as the pit clothes dry are highly injurious to the children, who may be in one of the two large beds near by. In the absence of baths at the pithead or in any save the newest houses, the miner on his return must take his bath in the scullery (if there is one), or in the inevitable pubhcity of the kitchen. With this accumulation of difficulties to contend with, the standard of cleanli- ness and neatness attained in many houses (though by no means in all) is a matter for genuine surprise and adnairation. In the numerous cases, however, in which water has not been introduced into the houses, but must be fetched from a standpipe at the end of the row, a high standard of cleanliness cannot be looked for. ' The dreary and unkempt surroundings of many rows have been already referred to, but a word must be said as to the nature of the outhouses which fill the intervals between the rows. Occasionally there is a properly constructed common washhouse, but in the older villages more often only such makeshift and ramshackle washhouses and coal-sheds as the miners have run up for themselves. But the chief of these unsightly structures are the privies. In the West of Scotland this often is a " privy- midden," which has only in comparatively recent times been expelled from the cities and still imhappily retains its place in the mining villages. It is a large erection, open on one side, where ashes and all other household refuse are thrown in, and closed (though often not adequately closed) on the side which serves as latrine. It is the only sanitary convenience in many rows ; and it is so impossible to keep clean, so foul-smelling, and so Uttered with filth of all soi-ts, that no decent woman can use it, while if children do so, it is at grave risk to their health of body and mind. Another case, one degree less bad, is that of the range of separate privies — one for each three or four houses in the row. Here things may be better if they are well kept, but the difficulty of keeping th^m well is enormous ; and often locks are forced, and doors may even be wrenched off. These abominations are gradually being replaced by better sanitary appliances, but in some districts they ire still the mle. (For fuller evidence of housing conditions in Mining Areas see Chapter XIV.) (3) Lewis and the. Outer Islands. There is a great scarcity of habitable houses in such crofting areas as Lewis and the Outer Islands. The housing conditions in Lewis are deplorable. A great number of the houses are of the " black tjrpe," rough stone walls with thatched roofs, no fireplaces, or chimneys. In many the cattle are housed under the same roof as the human beings, and one has to go through the byre before the living accom- modation is reached. The byre and kitchen are separated from each other by a wooden partition (though in some cases this is awanting) which often does not extend to the roof. As the manure from the byre is removed only once a year, the conditions can be better imagined than described. In the living room the fire of pe^ts is built up on the groimd surrounded by a ring of flat stones in the centre of the room, and the smoke finds an outlet where it can. As the thatched roof does not extend to the eaves but only to the centre of the wall, it is needless to say that the wall — which between the two layers of dry stones of which it is built is packed with earth or turf — is more or less constantly damp. Many bouses of the worst tjrpe have no window or only a small one in the roof. This so-called window is, however, often grass covered. Any light is obtained from the fire or lamps. The sites and surroundings of the houses are most unhealthy. (Reference is made to Chapter XVIII. on Crofting.) _ 29. The descriptive statements of housing conditions in three areas of totally different kinds given 6 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. above at once show that the housing problem is one of immense difficulty. Accordingly, having stated briefly what the nature of the problem is, we now propose to state the order and method by which we intend to handle it in this Report. 30. We shall (in the next chapter), as we have said, show the extent of the problem ; then we shall give (in Chapter IV.) a statement of the existing administrative authorities, central and local, with certain recommendations for strengthening those authorities and their powers. Thereafter we shall devote a chapter (V.) to the existing Housing Laws. This chapter will consist of a summary of the existing statutory powers in regard to housing under general and local Acts. Having stated the authorities that administer the law, and the law as it exists, we will then proceed to a narrative of the housing conditions in town and coimtry. We shall describe these conditions under certain broad classifications — with appropriate sub -classifications : — (a) Burghal (including sanitary appliances and conveniences). (6) Mining. (c) Rural or Agricultural. (d) Fishing Communities. (e) Crofting. (/) Migratory and Seasonal Workers, i.e. Potato-Diggers, Berry -Pickers, Herring-Gutters, Navvies, and Tinkers. Having dealt with the conditions under these broad classifications, we shall then give an account of the administrative difiiculties in dealing with existing housing conditions, and make suggestions for removing these difiiculties. A chapter or chapters will be devoted to the important questions of land, acquisition of land, arbitration, compensation ; another chapter to provision of water and water areas and drainage. We will require also to deal specially with building, co-operative, and pubUc utility societies, with transit, with town-planning and improvement schemes. The subject of statutory requirements and byelaws is important and will be discussed. The chapters deaUng with these subjects and others wiU. contain, from time to time, as we deem appropriate, recommendations for amendments of the law and improvement of existing conditions. 31. Finally, we shall sketch to the best of our abihty a comprehensive housing poUcy and recommen- dations which, while we recognise it will take many years to carry them out to their full extent, will, we think, if taken up actively at once, produce immediate and — although for the time limited — beneficial results, and which, as time goes on, should ultimately provide for every person in the land a decent, comfortable, healthy house. The conscience of the nation has been awakened in regard to this and many other social problems. We believe that the nation will never again tolerate the apathy which has obtained hitherto in regard to the conditions of Ufe of a great part of the population of the British Islands. That those who have been called upon to defend the country should, on their return to their native land, have the opportunity, for themselves and their dependants, of obtaining conditions of domestic comfort and opportunities of a happy and useful existence, is, we think, now the accepted creed of all. Further, we think the nation now believes that it is essential in the national interests that those individuals who are presently casual and inefiicient should have particular regard paid to their conditions of life in order to raise their standard of living, and thereby reduce the sum-total of human misery. It is in this spirit and with these beliefs that we have addressed ourselves to the framing of this Report ; and it is because of our profound conviction that it is the duty of the nation to undertake the great work of providing decent homes for the citizens of a great Empire that we have come to the conclusion that a wide and sweeping change is required in the provision of houses, and have framed our policy and recommendations accordingly. CHAPTER III. ESTIMATE OF SHORTAGE OF HOUSES— SHOWING STATISTICALLY THE EXTENT OF THE HOUSING PROBLEM. 32. We have carefully considered the question whether any estimate could be given of the shortage of houses in Scotland, and the following remarks and views are substantially a repetition of a Memorandum on the subject which we prepared in the autumn of 1916 at the request of the Reconstruction Committee of the Government. 33. At the census of 1911 the total population of Scotland was 4,760,904, and the total number of occupied houses was 1,013,369. In addition there were, according to the Census Returns, 89,060 unoccupied houses. 34. There is no statistical evidence before us that enables us to give a definite figure of the shortage of houses. The evidence of witnesses speaks in general terms of scarcity of houses in different districts, but they seldom condescend on even an approximate figure. 35. The periodical inspection of dwelling-houses provided for by section 17 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, has for various reasons not yet been undertaken in all areas ; and accordingly the information gathered by us from every part of Scotland, and furnished largely by public health officials, while valuable from the descriptive is often deficient from the statistical standpoint. 36. It has, therefore, been necessary to cause a special investigation to be made with a view to arriving at an estimate. This investigation has been made for us by Mr J. Walker Smith, Controller of Housing and Town Planning for the Local Government Board for Scotland, assisted by members of the Housing Branch of that Department, and we are greatly indebted to these gentlemen for the valuable assistance thay have given. The results arrived at by this investigation have been compared with the general evidence given to us, and we are satisfied that the estimate submitted is a reasonable and apyjroximately accurate one. REPORT. 7 37. The following tables (the construction of which we shall explain presently) show the results of the investigation :— TABLE I. Tabulated Statement showing the Present Shortage of Houses in Scotland. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Classification of Areas. Popula- tion. 1 O S .a 3 o jg -Q O aw ll ■■i-i Estimated Number of Uninhabitable Houses Repairable. Net Estimated Number of Houses requiring Demo- lition (col. 4 minus col. 5). Net Estimated Number of Houses required in re- spect of Overcrowding and Sub-letting. Estimated Total of New Houses required (col. 6 plus col. 7). Percentage of " New Houses required to Occupied Houses." Burghal Areas : — Large burghs (popula- tion over 15,000) . 2,582,042 549,167 28,073 7,940 20,133 30,793 50,926 9-27 Small burghs (popula- tion under 15,000) . 684,204 152,356 22,016 12,803 9,213 9,241 18,454 12-11 Landward Areas : — Agricultural 805,186 177,191 8,280 1,944 6,336 3,331 9,667 5-46 Industrial . 289,429 68,043 9,431 3,104 6,327 4,402 10,729 15-77 Mining 305,470 59,135 4,123 117 4,006 6,990 10,996 18-59 Crofting . 124,561 27,816 4,836 4,836 727 5,563 20-00 Outer Hebrides . 36,525 7,883 6,818 6,818 277 7,095 90-00* Totals 4,827,417 1,041,591 83,577 25,908 57,669 55,761 113,430 10-89 * See remarks on this percentage in Paragraph 43 of this chapter. TABLE IL Shortage of Houses as estimated from the Amount of Overcrowding disclosed by the Census Returns for 1911. In this Estimate Overcrowding is reckoned for all Persons living more than Three in a Room. Overcrowded Inhabited Houses, New Houses consisting of — Surplus required for Degree of Total. Popula- tion to be Surplus Popu- Overcrbwding. lation (5 One Two Three Four housed. persons per Room. Rooms. Rooms. Rooms. house). Overcrowded by— 1 person . 19,824 34,990 4992 217 60,023 60,023 12,005 2 persons 12,787 23,627 2499 109 39.022 78,044 15,609 3 , 7,343 13,384 1081 101 21,909 65,727 13,145 4 , 3,573 6,681 426 10,680 42.720 8,544 5 , 1,575 2,652 1.38 4,365 21,825 4,365 6 , 589 1,020 77 1,686 10,116 2,023 7 , 195 286 481 3,367 673 8 , J ' • > 53 99 1.52 1,216 243 9 , 10 39 49 441 88 10 , 5 5 50 10 11 , 1 1 11 2 12 , 2 •• 2 24 5 T utal 45,957 82,778 9213 4 27 138,375 283,564 56,712 38. From the foregoing tables it will be seen that the estimated immediate shortage of houses is 113,430, or 10-89 per cent, of the number of presently occupied houses. For reasons given later (in Paragraph 44), we consider that the estimated shortage in agricultural areas is too low, and that another 8 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 8000 houses should be added to the above figure, making a total of 121,430, being 11-6 per cent, of the total number of occupied houses in Scotland. 39. In arriving at this figure regard has been had only to existing overcrowding and to the unin- habitability of houses at present occupied. 40. Although not strictly relevant to the question of shortage of houses, the undoubted fact that arrears of shortage had been fast accumulating is borne out by the Census Returns on Occupations. A gi-eat falling-ofi in the ten years 1901-1911 in the number of persons with occupations connected with the building trade is shown. In 1901 there were 124,000 men returned at the census as having build- ing occupations, such as builders, carpenters, bricklayers, masons, joiners, etc. In 1911 this number had fallen to 96,000. 41. We shall now proceed to explain the system on which the tables have been framed. Shortage due to Overcrowding. 42. In considering the question of overcrowding, it was necessary first of all to agree on some standard of overcrowding, and, taking all circima stances into consideration, it was thought that a standard might be adopted whereby houses with more than three persons per room would be regarded as overcrowded. Considering that the English Registrar-General for census purposes regards more than two j^ersons per room overcrowding, the standard of three persons per room cannot be said to be an unduly stringent one, even allowing for the fact that the average size of room in Scotland is. upon the basis of floor areas, about 20 per cent, larger than the average size of room in England. Accord- ing to the three persons per room standard, as will be seen from Table II., which has been compiled from the Census Returns for Scotland for 1911, there are 283,564 persons who are living in overcrowded con- ditions. If the population is to be housed at the rate of not more than three to a room, new accommo- dation must be found for an equivalent of these 283,564 persons. Taking the average household as composed of five persons, this will require the provision of 56,712 houses, which closely approximates the number 55,761 arrived at on a different basis of calculation — see column 7 of Table I. Shortage due to Irreparable Uninhabitability. 43. In addition, however, there has to be considered the question — How many of the existing houses in Scotland fall below a standard that is at present regarded as a habitable one ? Here there are no census figures available, but the special inquiries that have been made from time to time into housing conditions in various parts of Scotland by officials of the Local Government Board, and the information that has been gathered by us, enable a fairly accurate estimate to be made. For the pur- pose of arriving at this estimate the population of Scotland has been divided into seven gi'oups, viz. :- - (1) Large Burghs. (Population over 15,000.) (2) Small Burghs. (Population under 15,000.) (3) Agricultural Areas. (4) Industrial Areas. (5) Mining Areas. (6) Crofting Areas ; and (7) Outer Hebridean Areas. More or less typical areas have been selected from these groups and special investigation made, or exist- ing information utilised, as regards the degree of habitability of the existing house, and from the results so obtained of typical areas the figures for the whole group have been calculated. In some of the areas the estimate can be regarded as fairly accurate, but in other areas the information obtained as regards the special areas selected for examination was not detailed enough to allow of more than a rough approxi- mate estimate. Nevertheless, apart from the estimate of housing shortage in agricultural areas, in regard to which some special observations will be found below (Paragraph 44), and also subject to an observation upon the estimate of housing shortage in the Outer Hebridean areas to be made immediately, we are satisfied that the estimate of shortage is reasonable, and, if anything, errs on the moderate side. In regard to the Outer Hebridean areas- — it is not possible to justify statistically the estimate of 90 per cent, shortage, owing to the absence of any detailed survey of the housing conditions in these areas ; but, judging by our own observations on the spot; we think that the actuality will not fall far short of the percentage mentioned, and will certainly not fall below 80 per cent. Shortage in Agricultural Areas. 44. In regard to the shortage in agricultural areas, it will be observed from Table I. that the per- centage of shortage seems low. We, for the reasons after stated, think it too low. While, on the one hand, the worst of the agricultural districts in Scotland, i.e. certain sections of the crofting areas and the Outer Hebrides, have been dealt with in the tables separately, we should point out that of the agri- cultural areas selected for special examination, one of them showed a very small proportion of houses requiring demolition, while the number of houses in that area constituted the great bulk of the number of houses in the selected agricultural areas. Accordingly, if that particular area were eliminated altogether, the percentage of agricultural shortage would rise from 5-46 to 7-80. There is evidence, too, before us to show that there is an actual shortage of cottages as distinguished from a shortage of habitable cottages in several parts of agricultural Scotland. 45. Taking everything into consideration, we are of opinion that the shortage of housing in the agricultural areas is greater than the figures in Table I. show, and that the shortage might provisionally be taken at 10 per cent, of the existing occupied houses. On that basis there would fall to he added, as shown above, a figure of 8000 for shortage in agricultural areas, making a total agricultural shortage of 17,667 houses instead of the 9667 shown in Table I. REPORT. Estimated Shortage on Existing Standard. 46. As will be seen from Table I., the number of existing houses shown as iminhabitable and not capable of being made habitable may be put down as 57,669. If to this last-mentioned figure be added the new houses required to meet the surplus overcrowded population, as shown in column 7 of Table I., viz. 55,761, and also the 8000 houses for agricultural areas just referred to, the result is a shortage total of 113,430 houses which are immediately necessary. 47. As stated in Paragraph 13, there were, at the 1911 census, 89,060 unoccupied houses. We have, for the following reasons, not taken these houses into accoimt in arriving at the above estimate of shortage : — (a) There has been a considerable reduction of imoccupied houses since 1911, especially in the large industrial districts in the Clyde area, where, in 1911, there wa,s a large number of vacant houses. In Govan, for instance, there were 2148 vacant houses in 1911, but, in 1915, that number had, accord- ing to evidence given before Lord Hunter's Rent Inquiry Committee, decreased to 333. (6) No accoimt is taken in the census enumeration of the condition of a house, and it is probable that the unoccupied houses were in large part imsatisfactory and practically iminhabitable. (c) So far as the imoccupied houses were not unsatisfactory of themselves, many of these were in such positions or localities as to be unserviceable. This especially applies to houses in rural areas. (d) In some cases the houses tliough accessible and within the borders of habitability are not large enough or good enough to meet the current demand. (e) Among the 89,060 unoccupied houses in Scotland must, of course, be included a considerable number of houses too large or too highly rented for working-class occupation. Estimated Additional Shortage on Improved Standard. 48. It may be explained that in arriving at the figure of the number of uninhabitable houses as shown above, regard has been had to the standard of habitability as at present in general acceptance. We, however, regard that standard as generally much below what may reasonably be termed satisfactory. 49. In proof of this statement it is only necessary to refer to the fact that in 1911 there were in Scotland 129,730 one-room houses=12-8 per cent, of the total number of houses, and 409,354 two- room houses==40-4 per cent, of the total number of houses in Scotland. The distribution of the popula- tion in one- and two-room houses is 8-4 per cent, in the former and 39-3 per cent, in the latter, as against 1-3 per cent, and 5-8 per cent, respectively in England and Wales. Our investigations and the evidence brought before us prove that in a large percentage of cases these houses are not supplied with sculleries and sanitary conveniences ; and that in many cases water is not introduced but has to be carried a con- siderable distance. This is true generally as regards the older types of the houses of the mining and agricultural population, and even some of the more modern rows of miners' houses. 50. We are of opinion that the existing standard of accommodation should be raised. The figures given in the preceding paragraph showing the great preponderance of one- and two-room houses indicate that serious improvement is necessary in the conditions under which the working classes live. The demand for houses of three or more rooms is growing, and we consider that such houses should supersede to a large extent houses of one or two rooms. We recognise, however, that this course is not immediately practicable, but we recommend that efforts should be steadily directed to this end. We have considered to what extent additional houses would be necessary on a three- room standard, which we meantime recommend should, as far as possible, be put in operation, and we find that 114,560 houses would be required. This figure is arrived at on the" assumption, which we consider a reasonable one, that 50 per cent, at least of the one-room houses and 15 per cent, of the two-room houses at present considered habitable should be replaced by new houses. Total Estimated Shortage. 51. Before, therefore, the housing conditions in Scotland could be regarded as satisfactory, 235,990 houses, with all the necessary sanitary and domestic conveniences, would fall to be provided. Of that total we, as already stated, consider that 121,430 are immediately necessary to relieve existing over- crowding and to take the place of houses presently occupied which are clearly unfit and cannot be made fit for habitation. Distribxttion of Shortage. 52. As already stated, there is no statistical evidence before us that enables us to give a definite figure of the shortage of houses. We consider that as soon as circumstances become more normal, steps should be taken by the Local Government Board for Scotland, as the Central Authority under the Housing Acts, in conjunction with the Local Authorities, to have a survey made of the general housing conditions in Scotland with a view to ascertain definitely where the greatest shortage exists. 53. Our investigations have satisfied us that throughout Scotland generally there is a shortage of habitable houses. This shortage, however, is felt more in some districts than in others. Houses are more immediately required in the large industrial centres, and more especially in those of the West of Scotland, and the Clyde area, such as Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Dumbartonshire, and Renfrewshire. It so happens that the movement of population during the war has been very largely to these areas, where overcrowding to a considerable extent existed in pre-war times, and that in the districts in which new accommodation was especially needed in 1911, the pressure on accommodation has steadily increased since. This will be seen if the census statistics of unoccupied houses in certain burghs in the Clyde area are compared with those given in the following table, which was supplied in October 1915 by Mf Walker Smith, Controller of Housing and Town Planning for the Local Government Board for Scotifuul, to Lord Hunter's Rent Inquiry Committee (Cd. 8111, 1915) : — 10 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Unoccupied Houses. Burgh. April 1911. October 1915. Glasgow 20,902 8422 Partick 1,605 158 Govan . 2,148 333 Greenock 564 31 Renfrew 184 11 Paisley 1,450 348 Barrhead 117 36 Rutherglen 354 51 Clydebank 1,338 54. The housing conditions in the mining districts, particularly in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, and, in a lesser degree, parts of the Lothians and Fifeshire, are, in many instances, very unsatisfactory, and a large number of new houses is required in these districts. 55. In addition there is a real scarcity of moderately rented houses of a good sanitary standard in many of the smaller burghs, in the agricultural areas, in the poorer fishing burghs as well as in the fishing quarters of the better ofE burghs, and in the crofting communities of the North and West of Scotland, especially those on the West Coast. Note of Existing Housing Conditions. 56. Apart from statistics which we have compiled as carefully as possible — but which are not and could not be made comprehensive- — we get support from the general evidence for this estimate of the housing shortage. The evidence gives startling accoimts of the bad housing in many towns and districts, as will be seen from subsequent chapters descriptive of housing conditions throughout Scotland, SUMMABY OF RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTION IN CHAPTER III. That the Local Government Board should undertake a housing survey in order to ascertain definitely the incidence of shortage in houses. (Paragraph 52.) CHAPTER IV. STATEMENT OF EXISTING AUTHORITIES. (a) Central Authorities. 57. Local Government Board. — The Local Government Board for Scotland is the Central Authority under the Public Health and Housing Acts. The Board, as already stated, was constituted in 1894 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act of that year, and took the place of the former Board of Supervision. The Board consists of three ex officio members, viz. the President (being the Secretary for Scotland), the SoUcitor-Greneral for Scotland, the Under-Secretary for Scotland, and of three salaried appointed members, viz. a Vice-President, a Legal Member, and a Medical Member. The number of members of the Board remains as when it was first appointed. The Board did not become the Central Authority \mder the Housing Acts until 1909. Since it was first appointed, a very considerable amount of additional work has been imposed on it, including, as just indicated, the administration of the Housing Acts. The staff of the Board has of (course been increased from time to time- — this because of the additional duties allotted imder statute to the Board. The work devolving on the members of the Board has, as a consequence, increased in a notable degree. (Macpherson, 4 and 5.) As will be seen later, we make a recommendation for a strengthening and increase of the Board and its staff. 58. It does not seem necessary to give in any detail the powers and duties of the Local Government Board as regards housing under the various Acts for the administration of which they are responsible. These are very fully set forth in the evidence of Mr Ewen F. Macpherson, the Legal Member of the Board, and several of them will be referred to as occasion requires in the course of this Report. It will be sufficient here to state what the powers of the Board are to deal with Local Authorities who fail to carry out the duties entrusted to them by statute. 59. The Board have no direct power of compelling a Local Authority to perform a neglected duty. This can be done under the Housing Acts only by the Court of Session on an application by the Board. Where it appears to the Board that a Local Authority have failed to perform their duty under these Acts of carrying out an improvement scheme (i.e. a clearance of a slum area), or as regards a reconstruc- tion scheme, or have failed to carry out the necessary housing inspection of their district, the Board may apply to the Court of Session, and that body is required to take such action as appears to them necessary. (Macpherson, 2 (333).) In these cases the Board can proceed on their own initiative. Where, however, the Local Authority have failed to exercise their powers under Part II. (Unhealthy Dwelling- Houses), or Part III. (Provision of Houses for the Working Classes), of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, in cases where those powers ought to have been exercised, the Board can make application REPORT. 11 to the Court of Session only where formal complaint has been made to them in the following manner, viz. (1) in the case of a landward Local Authority, by the County Council, a Parish Council, or any four inhabitant householders ; and (2) in the case of any other district by any four inhabitant house- holders. (Macpherson, 2 (334).) Powers are also conferred on the Board whereby it may take action in the Court of Session against a Local Authority in regard to the enforcement of a town-plaiming scheme. (Macpherson, 2 (398).) Such action may be taken " on any representation " (Act of 1909, sections 61 and 67 (6)). 60. Where a Local Authority neglect their duty under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, or fail to implement their duties under the sections of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, dealing with inspection, closure, and demolition of houses, the Board have power to apply to the SherifE, who is bound to make inquiry into the matter and to make such a decree as in his judgment the case requires. (Macpherson, 2 (77) (335).) The Board have also power under the Public Health Act, in cases where a Local Authority refuse or neglect to do what is required of them under that Act, or under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, or otherwise, or in cases where any obstruction arises in the execution of the Public Health Act, to apply, subject to the approval of the Lord Advocate, to either Division of the Court of Session to have the Local Authority ordained to perform their duties, and the Court is directed to pronoimce such Order as may appear to them just. A Procurator-Fiscal may also by directions of the Board take legal proceedings against a Local Authority. (Macpherson, 2 (78) (79).) 61. While the Board have the powers over Local Authorities (including Town Councils) just described, they have no control over the actings of Dean of Guild Courts in relation to sanitary matters, and it is suggested that such control should be givep.. (Macpherson, 2 (180), 66-68.) These Courts, when estab- lished, take the place of, and exercise the powers of, Town Councils under the Burgh Police Acts in regard to the erection, etc., of buildings. Reference may also be made here to the powers contained in section 63 of the National Insurance Act, 1911, imder which, in the event of there having been excessive sickness among insured persons due to bad housing conditions, the Local Government Board may, after inquiry, order a Local Authority to pay the amoimt of the extra expenditure due to such excess of sickness. In a later portion of this Report we make recommendations for strengthening the powers of control of the Local Government Board in respect of some of the matters above referred to. 62. Board of Agriculture for Scotland and Scottish Land Court.- — The exercise of the powers of these two departments so far as housing is concerned is confined to* the agricultural and crofting areas, and will be referred to in the portions of this Report dealing with housing in these districts. 63. Public Works Loan Board. — This Board is empowered to grant loans for housing purposes to Local Authorities, and also to public utility societies and other companies, societies, and individuals. The conditions under which loans are granted will be dealt with in a later chapter (XXVIII.). Meantime attention is drawn to the following general administrative points :■ — (a) At present loans are not made by the Public Works Loan Board for all purposes of the Housing Acts. Loans for town-planning and for improvement schemes (such as recreation grounds, open spaces, etc.) are excluded, on account of the limited amount of the funds placed at the disposal of the Board. (Appendix CLXXX.) While the whole question of the finance of housing schemes will be dealt with later, we think it right to record here our opinion that the Loan Board's fimds should be so increased as to enable loans for all the purposes of the Housing Acts to be granted. (b) In the case of loans to public utility societies, public companies, and private persons, the Board before granting a loan submit the plans, specifications, etc., to the Office of Works " for their approval, ' and their report as to the suitability and sufficiency of the scheme, and their valuation of the property ' when it is completed." The Local Government Board are not consulted. In the case of loans to Local Authorities, the Loan Board do not obtain the advice of the Office of Works, the reasons being that the " security being the local rates, there i? not the same necessity," and also that the Local Authority before approaching the Loan Board must first have obtained the consent of the Local Government Board to the proposal to borrow. (Appendix CLXXX.) As already mentioned, we propose to Seal later with the finance of housing schemes, but meantime we recommend that before any loan for housing purposes is granted to a public utility society, public company, or private person, the Local Government Board as the Central Authority under the Housing Acts should be consulted, and their advice obtained as to the suitability of the scheme. A precedent for this recommendation will be found in section 9 (2) of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, under which the Local Government Board are consulted by the court or body responsible for making any scheme with reference to property required to be applied under any trusts for the provision of dwellings available for the working classes. (6) Local AxrrHORinES. In Counties. 64. In county areas the Local Authority for housing purposes in Scotland is (a) the County Council in counties not divided into, districts, and (b) the District Committee in coimties divided into districts. There are eight coimties not divided into districts. The remaining counties (twenty-five in number) are divided into districts comprising altogether 99 districts, each of which has a District Committee. There is thus a total of 107 Local Authorities in the county areas of Scotland. The counties that are not divided into districts are the smaller ones, and their population ranges from 4184 (Selkirk County) to 21,747 (Elgin County). The districts vary in population from 93 (Cumbrae District of Bute) to 202,659 (Middle Ward District of Lanarkshire). (The populations quoted are taken from the 1911 Census.) Within the areas of District Committees there are places with considerable populations, e.g. in the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire there are some places with populations approaching 20,000. The valuations of the Countv Local Authorities vary from £2129 in the Cumbrae District of Bute to £1,359,446 in the Middle Ward District of Lanark. (See Return prepared by Local Government Board for Scotland, Cd. 7992, 1915.) 65. The District Committee is subject to any general regulations made by the County Council for 12 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. its government. In addition the County Council may cause a representation to be made to the Local Government Board if it appears to the County Council that the Public Health Acts have not been properly put in force within any district of the county, or that any other matter affecting the public health of the district requires to be remedied. 66. These Authorities were first constituted by the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889. The powers of District Committees, however, are limited to the extent that they cannot rate, borrow, or acquire or hold land. In all counties for these purposes the County Council is the Local Authority, but no works involving capital expenditure can be imdertaken unless with the consent of the standing Joint Committee. This Committee is composed of an equal number of members nominated by the County Council and the Commissioners of Supply, with the Sheriff of the Coimty or one of his substitutes as an ex-officio member. 67. The Coimty Council is an elected body. The Commissioners of Supply were, prior to the coming into force of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, the chief coimty authority for administrative and rating purposes. That Act transferred to the Covmty Council practically all the powers and duties of the Commissioners of Supply, but, as shown above, the latter body still elect members to the Standing Joint Committee. Until 18.54 the Commissioners of Supply were individually named in Acts of Supply ; but since the passing of the Valuation Act, 1854, they have consisted of all owners of lands and heritages (other than houses) of the annual value of £100, of owners of houses of the value of £200 a year, of the eldest sons of owners of £400 a year, and, in the absence of their constituents, of the " factors " of owners of £800 a year, together with the Sheriff and Sheriff-Substitute, and certain representatives of the burghs within the coimty. The numbers of Commissioners of Supply vary from nine in the County of Cromarty to 674 in the County of Lanark. (See p. xxiii. of Introduction to A Handbook to the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889," by J. Badenoch Nicolson and W. J. Mure.) 68. We regard the Standing Joint Committee as an anomalous and superfluous feature in local government administration, and there seems no good reason for its retention. We reco mm end therefore that it should be abolished, thus placing County Councils in the same position as Town Councils as regards the execution of capital works and borrowing therefor. 69. In a subsequent part of this Keport we discuss the question of the suitability of the existing Local Authorities to carry out the duties entrusted or to be entrusted to them, and we there deal with the duties of Local and Central Authorities and recommend a combination of administrative areas where in the opinion of the Central Authority this seems desirable in the interests of Public Health and Housing. (See Chapter XXXIII.) In Burghs. 70. In Burghs the Local Authority for housing purposes is the Town Council. There are 203 burghs in Scotland. They vary considerably in size. The smallest burgh (Earlsferry) has a population of 322. There are 18 burghs under 1000 population ; 132 with a population less than 5000 ; 160 with a population less than 10,000, and 179 with a population less than 20,000. There are 17 burghs with populations between 20,000 and 50,000; 3 with populations between 50,000 and 100,000, viz. Greenock 75,140, Leith 80,488, and Paisley 84,455 ; and 4 burghs over 100,000 population, viz. Aberdeen 163,891, Dundee 176,351, Edinburgh 320,318, and Glasgow 1,008,487. Each burgh is a separate authority for housing purposes and also a separate rating and borrowing authority. The valuations of burghs naturally vary very widely- -from £1605 in the case of the lowest (New Galloway) to £7,553,601 in the case of the highest, viz. Glasgow. (See Keturn prepared by Local Government Board for Scotland, Cd. 7992, 1915.) 71. In burghs where there is a Dean of Guild Court, that body, as already stated, takes the place, and exercises the powers, of the Town Council in regard to the erection, etc., of buildings. Burghs that have not a Dean of Guild Court are empowered by the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, to establish such a Court. 72. Our remarks in Paragraph 69 above with reference to County Local Authorities and areas apply also to Burghal Authorities and areas. (See Chapter XXXIII.) (c) Officials of Local Authorities. 73. The following are the officials specially concerned with housing who fall to be appointed by the various Local Authorities. In Counties every County Council must appoint a Medical Officer or Medical Officers and a Sanitary Inspector or Sanitary Inspectors, who cannot hold any other appointment or engage in private practice or employment without express written consent of the Council. These officers cannot be removed from office except with the sanction of the Local Government Board. The statute, however, does not, subject as after mentioned in regard to sanitary inspectors, require the approval of the Local Government Board to the appointments. The Medical Officer must be a registered medical practitioner, and, if appointed after 1st January 1893, must, where the population of the county is 30,000 or upwards, possess a diploma in sanitary science, public health, or State medicine. No specific qualifications are laid down for the' Sanitary Inspector appointed by the County Council, except to the extent that a person cannot be appointed to that post — except with consent of the Local Government Board — if he has not during the three consecutive years preceding his appointment been the sanitary inspector of a Local Authority under the Pubhc Health Acts, as already defined (see Paragraphs 64 and 70). 74. In County Districts and in Burghs the Local Authorities must hkewise appoint a Medical Officer or Medical Officers and a Sanitary Inspector or Sanitary Inspectors. The Sanitary Inspector acts also as Inspector of Common Lodging-Houses. The Local Authority must frame Regulations to be approved by the Local Government Board for regulating the duties of these officers. The Local Authority must allow these officials " a proper salary or remuneration," but that term is not defined. In many cases the salaries are as a matter of fact " very diminutive." (Macpherson, 2 (36).) These REPORT. 13 officers cannot be removed from office except by, or with the sanction of, the Lucal Government Board. The statute, however, does not require the approval of the Local Government Board to the appointments. The Medical Officer must be a registered medical practitioner, and, whatever the population of the Local Authority's area, must possess a diploma in sanitary science, public health, or State medicine. No quaUfications are laid down by statute for the Sanitary Inspector. 75. In most coimties the Comity Medical Officer and Sanitary Inspector act as Medical Officer and Sanitary Inspector respectively for the districts in the county, and, in addition, they act as Medical Officer and Sanitary Inspector respectively for many of the smaller burghs in the county. In this way the districts and burghs secure the advantages of an official who devotes his whole time to public health work. (Macpherson, 2 (26).) Such joint arrangements are volimtary, and there is no power to require combinations for the making of such joint appointments. 76. A grant-in-aid of the cost of all Medical Officers and Sanitary Inspectors is given by the State, the sum of £15,000 being set aside yearly for this purpose under the provisions of the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890. The money is distributed to County Councils and Local Authorities in accordance with regulations framed by the Secretary for Scotland. In order to enable these authorities to participate in the grant, the salaries and qualifications of the officers musb be approved byj^thc Secretary for Scotland on the recommendation of the Local Government Board. Since the grant was first instituted, the number of officers and the scales of salaries have increased considerably owing to the additional work thrown on the officers, with the result that, whereas the rate per £ of distribution of the grant was 10s. 3|d. in 1892, it had fallen to 5s. 9d. in 1911. (Macpherson, 2 (22).) We discuss in a later chapter the question of State assistance towards the public health expenditure of Local Authorities. 77. In Burghs, in addition to the appointment of a Medical Officer and Sanitary Inspector, Town Councils must appoint a Burgh Surveyor, being a person duly quahfied to act as a surveyor of the paving and drainage and other worJis authorised undeivthe provisions of the Burgh Police Acts. They may also appoint an Inspector of Cleansing and of Lighting, and a Master of Works in connection with the Dean of Guild Court. The duties of the last-named official (who may be the Burgh Surveyor) are to report to the Dean of Guild Court upon all plans lodged, to see that the orders of the Court are carried out, to inspect works in progress, and to report deviations from approved plans, etc. (JVIacpherson, 2 (32).) The Master of Works and Burgh Surveyor must not be connected directly or indirectly with, or interested in, any contract or works belonging to any branch of the building trade. None of these officials [i.e. Burgh Surveyor, Master of W^orks, Inspector of Cleansing and Lighting) has security of tenure of office. (Macpherson, 2 (33) (34).) These offices — ^all or any — ^may be, and often are, combined with the office of Sanitary Inspector, thus enabling a Town Council to offer a salary that will attract a competent man. (Macpherson, 2 (31).) 78. Under the Ilousing Acts the Local Authority are bound^to designate an officer — who may or may not be the Medical Officer of Health, Sanitary Inspector, or Burgh Surveyor — to carry out a thorough and periodical inspection of the dwelling-houses in the Local Authority's jurisdiction. 79. On a survey of the conditions of appointment and tenure of office of the officials of Local Authorities, it appears to us that certain amendments of the existing statutes are required in the interests of good administration. 80. Medical Officers and Sanitary Inspectors. — It has been strongly pressed by some witnesses that the security of tenure of office provided by the Acts to Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors is not sufficient to prevent injustice being done to an official. They hold that Local Authorities, without attempting to dismiss an officer who had incurred their displeasure by being too efficient or energetic in dealing with insanitary property, can virtually secure his removal by declining to gi-ant him any in- crease in salary however long he may continue to serve the Local Authority. These witnesses accord- ingly suggested that all Medical Officers and Sanitary Inspectors should be Government officials outwith the control of Local Authorities. (M'Laurin, 18,364 (8), 18,542-3; M'Robei-ts, 26,604; M'KerreU, 26,846, 26,661 (67), 26,712, 26,843 ; Gibb, 26,598, etc. etc.) We do not agree with this suggestion. It is essential to promote and maintain the sense of responsibility and interest in housing acfiuinistration in all Local Government areas ; and on this ground we hold that no sufficient reason has been brought forward why the existing system of administration, whereby the Local Authorities appoint the officials who are to assist and advise them in carrying out their statutory duties, should be so radically altered. We think, however, that some more effective control should be exercisable by the Local Government Board over the salaries paid to Medical Officers of Health and Sanitaiy Inspectors, and accordingly we recommend that the salaries should be subject to approval of the Board, and that the Local Authority should be required to pay such a salary as the Board may from time to time consider adequate. 81. We further recommend that the Board should be empowered to prescribe the qualifications necessary for the holders of these offices, and that the appointments to these offices should be subject to the approval of the Board. (Macpherson, 11.) As has been stated. Local Authorities may and do ari'ange for the joint appointment of Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors in order to secure the services of whole-time officials, and we heartily approve of such arrangements. It seems to us desirable that in the interests of effective adminis- tration such officials should devote al! their time to their public duties. It is not to be expected that, where an official is in private business in the area in which he is also officially employed, he can carry out effectively many of the duties devolving on him — duties which may conffict with his private interesta. Further, the salary that a Local Authority can offer is often not sufficient to induce a man of experience to accept' the post. Accordingly, it seems to us essential that where a Local Authority are financially unable to employ a whole-time officer, they should combine with adjoining Local Authorities for this purpose. The arrangements we refer to above are presently made voluntarily, and we recommend that the Local Government Board should be empowered to require such combinations wherever they see fit. (Macpherson, 14.) There may be a few instances where the part-time appointment should, for local reasons, continue, but, as a general rule, we consider thai Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary In- 14 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. spectors should be excluisively employed on public health and housing work, including in these terms cognate work, such as that of School Medical Officer in the case of the Medical Officer of Health, and that of Burgh Surveyor in the case of the Sanitary Inspector. 82. Burgh Surveyors, Burgh Engineers, Masters of Wmks, Town-Planning Engineers. — The above remarks and recommendations apply to Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors. In burghs, however, the Burgh Surveyors are also important officials so far as housing and other public health matters are concerned. As has already been pointed out, they have no security of tenure of office. They hold their appointments during the pleasure of the Town Council. Their work is very largely connected with housing, and it seems reasonable that they should have the same security of tenure of office as Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors. Such security clearly tends to firm and impartial administration, more especially where, as often happens, the Burgh Surveyor holds the post of Sanitarj' Inspector. (Macpherson, 2 (34) (492) (28).) If he is deprived of his post as Burgh Sur- veyor, he will of necessity be compelled to vacate the office of Sanitary Inspector (the salary attached to the latter office being insufficient of itself to warrant his retaining the post). The Local Authority could virtually nullify the security of tenure of the office of Sanitary Inspector provided by statute by depriving the man of his post as I3urgh Surveyor. We therefore recommend that conditions similar to those we propose for Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors should apply to Burgh Engineers, Burgh Surveyors, Masters of Works, and Town-Planning Engineers, viz. that their appointments and salaries should be subject to the approval of the Local Government Board ; that they should not be removable from office except by or with the sanction of the Board, and that the Board should have power to require combinations of Local Authorities for the appointment of such officers. SUMMABY OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS IN CHAPTER IV. (1) That the fimds of the Public Works Loan Board should be so increased as to enable loans for all purposes of the Housing Acts to be granted. (Paragraph 63 (a).) (2) That the Local Government Board should be consulted and their advice obtained by the Public Works Loan Board before the latter department grant a loan for housing purposes to a public utihty society, pubhc company, or private person. (Paragraph 63 {b).) (3) That the Standing Joint Committee in counties should be abolished. (Paragraph 68.) (4) That the salaries of Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors should be subject to the approval of the Local Government Board, and Local Authorities should be required to pay to these officers such salaries as the Board consider adequate. (Paragraph 80.) (5) That the Local Goverimient Board should be empowered to prescribe the qualifications for the holders of the offices of Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors, and the appointments should be subject to the approval of the Board. (Paragraph 8L) (6) That the Local Government Board should be empowered to require combinations of Local Authorities for the purpose of making joint appointments of Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors. (Paragraph 8L) (7) That the appointments and salaries of Burgh Engineers, Burgh Surveyors, Masters of Works, andjTown-Planning Engineers should be subject to the approval of the Local Government Board. These officials should not be removable from office except by or with the sanction of the Board, and the Board should have power to require combinations of authorities for the appointment of such officers. (Paragraph 82.) (8) That the Local Government Board should have powers for control of Dean of Guild Courts in relation to sanitary matters. (Paragraph 61.) CHAPTER V. SUMMARY OF THE EXISTING STATUTORY POWERS IN REGARD TO HOUSING. Introductory. 83. It seems necessary at the outset of this Report, in order to a proper imderstanding of the whole problem of housing, to summarise as shortly as possible the existing statutory provisions dealing directly or indirectly with that subject. These provisions are many in number and are scattered through so many different statutes that it is a matter of some considerable difficulty to obtain any clear idea of what is the existing legislation on the subject of housing and of public health in relation to housing. The more importants Acts on the subject are :— Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890, 1900, and 1903 ; Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909 ; Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897 ; Burgh Pohce (Scotland) Acts, 1892 and 1903 ; Local Government (Scotland) Acts, 1889, 1894, and 1908 ; Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899. 84. The following summary, while it does not pretend to be exhaustive, shows in fairly full outline the statutory powers as regards the general control of housing. As will be seen, the material has been arranged under various subject-headings, and the provisions of the various Acts dealing with these subjects have been brought together. It is hoped that by this method a clearer idea wiU be given of the powers than if each Act had been separately analysed. 85. This summary deals with the general law, but it may here be explained that the Burgh Police Acts do not apply to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, and Greenock, which have special local Acts of their own regulating the construction of houses as well as sanitary matters generally. It is not proposed to do more in this summary than refer from time to time to some of the more important pro- REPORT. 15 visions of the local Acts. The provisions of the other Acts mentioned in the summary apply to all Local Authorities in Scotland, unless where otherwise stated. 86. This summary has been arranged under the following heads ; — (1) Control of Erection and of Method of Construction of Houses. (2) Control of Provision of Water Supply. (3) Control of Provision of Drainage. (4) Control of Provision of Sanitary and Domestic Conveniences. (5) Control of Provision for Scavenging and Removal of Refuse. (6) Control of Occupajicy of Houses. (7) Control of Construction and Repair of Private Streets and Footpaths. (8) Control of Defective and Insanitary Houses. (9) Control of Special Classes of Houses. (10) Control of Unhealthy and Insanitary Areas. (11) Provision of Houses for the Working Classes. (12) Town Planning. (13) Acquisition of Land (including compensation for land acquired). (14) Provisions as to. Assessment and Borrowing. (1) Control of Erection and of Method of Construction of Houses. 87. The statutory provisions dealing with the control of the erection of houses are different m coimties from those that apply in burghs, and accordingly it will be necessary to deal with this subject under these two heads. (a) Erection of Houses in Counties. 88. Prior to the coming into operation of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, on Ist January 1898, Local Authorities in counties had no control over the erection of a house and could not regulate the structure or mode of building. Their powers of control (prior to 1898) did not come into operation until the house had been built and occupied, when they could deal with any nuisance in the house due to overcrowding or defect of structure. 89. Building Byelaws.- — Very important new powers were, however, conferred on the Local Authori- ties by the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897 (section 181), under which they were empowered, subject to the approval of the County Council, to make byelaws for the whole or any part of their district for regulating the building or rebuilding of houses or buildings, or the use for human habitation of any build- ing not previously so used, or any alteration in the mode of occupancy of any existing house in such a maimer as will increase the number of separate houses in respect to the following matters : — (a) The drainage of the subsoil of sites for and the prevention of dampness in houses intended for human habitation. (b) The structure of walls, foimdations, roofs, and chimneys of new buildings in so far as likely to affect human health. (c) The ventilation of houses and buildings intended for human habitation. (d) The sufficiency of the space about buildings to secm-e a free circulation of air, (e) The construction and arrangement of the drainage of houses and buildings and of soil-pipes and waste-pipes, and the construction and position of water-closets, earth-closets, privies, ash-pits, cess- pools, dung-steads, slop-sinks, and rainwater pipes and rones. (/) The production of suitable building plans in respect of the matters in this section mentioned, and their iospection. (g) The intimation previous to the commencement by the owner or person laying out the work to the Local Authority of the date of the commencement, and for the due inspection in respect of the matters in this section mentioned of houses or buildings in process of erection or alteration, and the examination of the drains thereof, and for the pulling down, alteration, or amendment of any work which has been carried out in contravention of the byelaws. 90. The building byelaws in force in coimty areas provide as a rule for the following matters :■ — (a) The drainage where necessary of the subsoil before building operations are commenced and the covering of the site with a layer of impervious material where necessary ; the provision of rones and gutters and rainwater pipes. (6) The provision of a suitable damp-proof course ; the ventilation of the space between surface of ground and under level of lowest floor ; the lathing and strapping of walls (other than hollow walls). (c) The provision of windows for ventilation ; presciibing the window area, and the construction of the window to permit of satisfactory ventilation, the provision of special means of ventilation in rooms without fiteplaces. (d) The extent of open space that must be provided in the rear of a house. (e) The methods of construction of the drains and soil and waste pipes, etc., the trapping and ventilation of drains ; the size and quality of drain pipes ; the type and position of water-closet ; the situation and construction of earth-closets, ash-pits, cesspools, etc. (/) The nature of the plans to be submitted before building is commenced. (^f) The giving of notice to the Local Authority of the proposal to commence building, the admis- sion of oflicers of the Local Authority to the building during erection for purposes of inspection, for the testing of drains, etc. 91. The making of these byelaws is optional on the part of Local Authorities, and only 48 out of 107 landward Local Authorities have made them.%The type of byelaws varies from the very detailed byelaws in force in Lanarkshire to the meagre andjgeneral sets in force in some rural counties. Uidess such byelaws are framed, a Local Authority in a county area are without any control of the mode of 16 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. i^tructuie, vcntilatiou, drainage aiiaugements, etc. (Macpherson, 2 (41).) The byelaws before comuig into operation require the confirmation of the Local Government Board. 92. Erection of Houses on Made-up Ground.— La. addition to the above powers, the same Act (section 182) prohibits the erection of houses on ground filled up with ofiensive matter, unless and until such matter has been removed or has been rendered or has become innocuous. 93. Control of Sites of Houses. — There is apparently no power in counties controlling the position of a house except the provision contained in section 91 of the General Turnpike Act, which is embodied as part of the Roads and Bridges (Scotland) Act, 1878, and which provides that no house can be erected on the side of any turnpike road within the distance of 25 feet from the centre thereof without the con- sent of the Road Authority. (Macpherson, 2 (188).) 94. Defects of Byelaws.— As will be shown in a later section of this Report, various suggestions have been submitted for strengthening the powers of control of structure exercised by Local Authorities by means of these byelaws. The matters in respect of which byelaws may be made are limited. For example, the statute does' not give power to make byelaws providing that the approval of the Local Authority must be obtained to the plans before building is commenced, that the sanction of the Local Authority must be obtained before the house is occupied, and that alterations on or additions to houses shall be carried out in accordance with the requirements of the appropriate byelaws. - Suggestions to remedy these and other defects will be made later. 95. Power to Revoke Byelaws.— Where the Local Government Board are satisfied that the erection of dwellings for the working classes is imreasonably impeded in consequence of any byelaws with respect to new streets or buildings, they are given power to require the revocation of such byelaws (Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, section 44.) This power applies to bm-ghs as well as coimties, but as is afterwards shown, building in burghs is not usually regulated by byelaws, but by statute and regiila- tions, so that the above power is in effect not applicable in burghs. (b) Erection of Houses in Burghs. 96. A'jjjrroval of Plans before Building Commenced.— A most important difference between the law iu coimties and in burghs as to the erection of houses is that in the latter the erection of a house cannot be begun until warrant therefor has been obtained from the Town Council or Dean of Guild Court. This requirement applies also to an alteration in the structure, and the use for human habitation, of any existing house or building which had not been previously used for that purpose, to an alteration of the mode of occupancy of any existing house in such a maimer as to increase the number of houses or occupants ; and to any alteration, addition to, or taking down, in whole or in part, or re-erection or restoration after destruction by fire or otherwise, of the structure of any house or building. (Macpherson, 2 (114).) 97. The appUcation for a warrant to build or to carry out any alterations must be accompanied by a description of the intended house or alteration, and by suitable plans. Before disposing of the application, the Town Council (or Dean of Guild Court as the case may be) must give interested parties an opportimity of being heard on any objections the latter may have, and the Council (or Court) may decline to grant warrant until satisfied that the plans provide suitably for stability, light, ventilation, and other sanitary requirements. In the case of certain minor alterations warrant may be given by the Burgh Surveyor if he has been granted authority by the Town Council (or Dean of Guild Court) to do so. 98. The above procedure is prescribed by statute and not by byelaw. An important difference between the procedure in counties and in burghs is that, while in the former the control of structure is confined to the matters that may be dealt with in the byelaws, iu the burghs the statutes themselves contain numerous provisions which, apart altogether from byelaws, enable Town Councils to secure fairly adequate control over the erection of houses. 99. Building Byelaws. — Town Councils have power under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903 (section 93), to make byelaws deaUng with a number of matters connected with the building of houses, e.g. : — The drainage of the subsoil of sites. The strength and stability of the walls, joisting, and principal timber and iron works. The structure and form of walls, foundations, floors, hearths, staircases, stairs, stair-railings, passages, roofs, and chimneys. Provisions against the risk of fire. The ventilation of and admission of light to buildings. The construction and anangement of the drainage and of soil pipes and waste pipes, and the construction and position of water-closets, earth-closets, privies, ashpits, cesspools, dung-steads, slop- sinks, and rainwater pipes and rones ; and The level, construction, causewaying, and paving of streets and footways. 100. From the fact that diuring the ten years after the passing of the Act only two sets of byelaws imder these powers had been confirmed by the Local Government Board (Macpherson, 2 (121)), it may be assumed that the powers of control contained in the existing Acts are regarded as generally sufiicient. Some of these may now be referred to. The chief fegulating Act is the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 189?; which came into force on 15th May 1893. The provisions of that Act after referred to apply to hous^' erected after that date. Unless where otherwise stated, they are not retrospective. Provision is made in the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903 (section 39), imder which the Dean of Guild Court may, upon a report in writing by the Medical Ofiicer and Burgh Surveyor stating that adequate provision is made for light and ventilation, and, with the consent of the Town Council, in any special case, relax or modify the statutory provisions with regard to the erection or alteration of buildings, the open space adjoining buildings, and the laying out of streets. 101. Site of Houses. — Approval is not required to the actual position of a house proposed to be erected, but the provisions of the General Turnpike Act already referred to apply to burghs. As regards the preparation of the site for building, power is given to the Town Council to require, if necessary, that REPORT. • 17 the whole internal area of the site shall be covered with a layer of asphalt, cement, concrete, or suitable materials to their satisfaction. (Rule (2) of Schedule IV. of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892.) The Act (section 179) also prevents building on ground filled up with offensive matter. 102. Structure and Materials. — In addition to the general power already mentioned under which the To\vn Coimcil may decline to grant a warrant for building until they are satisfied that the plans provide suitably for stability, more detailed powers are conferred on them by Schedule IV. of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892. In terms of the rules contained in that schedule, every new house must have a damp-proof course of durable material ; the walls, joisting, and principal timber and iron work must be of sufficient strength and stability ; the walls must be constructed so as to prevent damp ; the rones and rainwater pipes must be provided ; the floors between each flat of a tenement must be deafened ; the plimaber work must be ventilated, trapped, and otherwise constructed and tested to the satisfaction of the Town Council. Provision is also made dealing with plaster work, the construction of fireplaces and chimneys, the covering of roofs, the composition of mortar, etc. These rules may be altered or supplemented by the byelaws that, as already stated, may be framed under the 1903 Act. 103. Cubic Space in Houses. — This is not regulated except to the extent that where a Town Council have adopted section 66 of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, no dwelling-house shall be constructed or altered of less dimensions than the following : — ■ Houses of 1 apartment, 1000 cubic feet. „ 2 apartments, 1600 „ 3 „ 2400 A similar provision exists in the Edinburgh Local Act of 1893. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (9) {j).) There is a provision in the Aberdeen local Act of 1907 to the effect that every new habitable room must have a cubic content of not less than 600 cubic feet. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (139) (2), (160).) 104. Height of Houses.- — In counties, apart from any provision that may be inserted in a town-planning scheme under the powers after referred to, there is no power to limit the height of houses. In burghs, however, there are specific provisions which enable some limitation to be imposed. The tenement system of housing is more common in the burghs than in the county areas, and special provision is made in the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892 (section 171), whereby the number of houses entering off an inside common stair must not, except with the authority of the Town Council, exceed twelve in the case of tenements erected after May 1893, the date when the Act came into operation ; in the case of an outside stair with balconies the number may be increased to twenty-foui-. (Macpherson, 2 (127).) Under a local Act of 1913 applying to Edinburgh, the number of houses entering off a common stair is limited to nine in the case of an inside stair and twelve when the stair is outside. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (9)(/).) 105. In addition to this general power of regulating the height of tenements in burghs by limiting the number of houses in common stairs, there is also a provision that where a dwelling-house is built in any street formed or laid out since May 1893 in a burgh to which the Burgh Police Act of 1892 applies, the height of the dwelling-house must not exceed one and a quarter times the width of the street which, including the foot-pavements, must be at least 36 feet wide. The Town Council may, however, in excep- tional circumstances allow a greater height. Where a lane is formed, it may be made 12^ feet wide, or such other width as the Town Council may allow, and where a house is built fronting such a lane, the height of the house must not exceed one and a half times the width of the lane. (Section 152 of the 1892 Act.) Where a Town Council adopt section 61 of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, the above provisions are amended to the extent that the minimum width of new streets must be 60 feet, and lanes may be made 15 feet wide, but the heights of houses in proportion to these widths remain the same. The Edinburgh Local Act of 1906 provides that houses shall not be erected in any new street of a greater height than the width of the street measuring from building line to building line, but in any case such houses cannot be higher than 60 feet without the consent of the Corporation. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (9) {g).) 106. Height of Rooms in Houses. — Rooms on the ground floor must be at least 9 feet 6 inches in height ; other rooms must be 9 feet at least in height, except attic rooms, which must be at least 8 feet in height, through not less than one-third of the area of the room, and must at no part be less than 3 feet in height. (Macpherson, 2 (128).) In Edinburgh by the Local Act of 1891 the rooms in new houses must be not less than 9 feet high, except attic rooms, which must be at least 8 feet through not less than one- third of the area of the room, but must at no part be less than 4 feet. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (9) (h).) 107. Lighting and Ventilation of Houses. — The rooms of every house erected since May 1893 in a burgh to which the Burgh Police Act of 1892 applies must be sufficiently lighted and ventilated from an adjoining street, or other open space directly attached thereto, equal to at least three-foiirths of the area to be occupied by the house. (Section 170 of that Act.) The open space must not have on it any other erections than ' xter-closets, ashpits, coal-houses, or other conveniences, the height, position, and dimension of which are subject to the approval of the Town Council. Town Councils may, however, by adopting section 63 of the Burgh PoHce Act, 1903, secure more effective lighting and ventilation. Under that section the open space at the rear of the house must be equal in breadth at the narrowest part to the height of the building, and must extend along the whole length of the back of the house. The open space may contain the water-closets, and other conveniences attached to the house. The height of these conveniences must not exceed 15 feet, and their position and dimensions are determined by the Dean of Guild Court. 108. Where houses are erected so as to entirely enclose an area of ground of less than an acre, Town Councils have power, by adopting section 69 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903, to require the provision of openings for the purpose of securing through ventilation of the enclosed space. 109. Lighting and Ventilation of Rooms in Houses. — Differing from counties where there is no specific requirement as to lighting of houses, the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892 (section 173), requires that every habitable room must have at least one window ; the area of glass must be at least one-tenth of the area of the room ; the top of at least one window must be not less than 7 feet 6 inches above 2 18 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. the floor ; the upper half of sash windows must be made to open the full width, while in the case of a casement window one-half at least must be made to open. 110. Every habitable room of less area than 100 superficial feet and without a fireplace must be provided with special means of ventilation. This applies to rooms built after 15th May 1893, but the Town Council have power to require ventilation to their satisfaction to be provided in houses erected before that date. (Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, sections 183 and 184.) 111. Special powers, which, however, require to be adopted before they can become operative, are conferred on Town Councils by the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903, whereby further control of the ventilation of rooms in houses may be exercised. That Act (section 64) provides that, subject to certain exceptions (which need not here be detailed), there must be in front of at least one-half of every window of a room used as a sleeping apartment an open space of a breadth equal to at least three-fourths of the height of the wall in which the window is placed. 112. Ventilation of Bed-Recesses.- — Up to the time of the passing of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903, no power existed in burghs to secure the proper ventilation of what are known as enclosed beds or bed-recesses. Owing to the difficulty of thoroughly ventilating these places, they have not been regarded as satisfactory sleeping apartments, and accordingly the Act just named (section 65) enacted that all new enclosed beds or bed-recesses must be open for three-fourths of their length, and that when a house was subdivided any such beds or bed-recesses in it must be similarly opened up. This section, however, is not of general application, and becomes operative only when it has been adopted by a Town Council. In Edinburgh under a local Act similar powers are given as regards enclosed beds or bed- recesses in new houses, but in addition the Dean of Guild Court are empowered to require existing enclosed beds or bed-recesses to be similarly opened in front. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (9) (e).) In Glasgow the continuance of such beds in existing houses was, by the Glasgow Building Regulations Act of 1900, made illegal on the expiry of five years from the passing of that Act, unless they were opened up in front for three-fourths of their length. (Lindsay, 23,235 (56).) (2) Control of Provision of Water Supply. (a) Provision of a General Supply in Counties. 113. Local Authorities of county areas are empowered, if they think it expedient, to provide a supply of water for the domestic use of the inhabitants and for sanitary and other purposes. (Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 126.) Although the words of the Act are permissive, the Local Government Board would apparently have power, in cases where a Local Authority failed to provide a water supply that was required, to ask the Court of Session under the general powers already mentioned to order the Local Authority to provide the necessary supply. (See note 2 on p. 177of Handbook of Public Health.) 114. Special Water Supply Districts.- — Only a few county Local Authorities have provided a general water scheme for the whole of their area. The practice hitherto has been to provide separate supplies for the places where there is a considerable number of inhabitants for whom a general public scheme is desirable. Such places for this purpose are formed into what are known as Special Water Supply Districts, of which 392 have been formed in Scotland. A requisition to the Local Authority to form such a district may be made by a Parish Coimcil or by not fewer than ten ratepayers, or the Local Authority themselves without any requisition may resolve to form a special district. The resolution of the Local Authority may be appealed against to the Sheriff. There is no obligation on the Local Authority to bring their water main within any specified distance of a dwelling-house. The whole cost and maintenance of the scheme in these special districts are defrayed by the ratepayers therein. (Mac- pherson, 2 (47).) 115. Where a special district is not formed and a Local Authority provide a supply of water for any place within their area, the cost is defrayed by the ratepayers of the whole area of the Local Authority (other than those in special water supply districts) out of what is termed the Public Health General Assessment. (See Macpherson, 2 (48).) (b) Provision of a General Supply in Burghs. 116. A Town Council have full powers to provide a water supply for the burgh either under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, or under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, as applied by the Burgh Sewerage, Drainage and Water Supply (Scotland) Act, 1901. There are, however, no Special Water Supply Districts in burghs. (Macpherson, 2 (137).) (c) Provision of a Water Supply to Individual Houses in Counties. 117. There is no provision in the Public Health Act enabling a Local Authority to require the intro- duction of water into a house. All that a Local Authority can do is to serve a notice on the owner requiring him to provide a proper supply of wholesome water at or reasonably near the house. There is no definition of what a reasonable distance is, and in consequence administrative difiiculties often arise in taking action under this general power. The owner is allow(jd twelve months within which to provide the necessary supply ; no penalty is attached if he fails to do so within that period, but the Local Authority themselves may provide the supply and recover the cost from the owner. The owner has the right of appeal to the Sheriff against the exercise by the Local Authority of any of these powers. (Macpherson, 2 (43)-(45).) See also Whyte, 36,834 (27-29).) 118. Where any well or water supply is injurious or dangerous to health, it is to be regarded as a nuisance, and the Local Authority may take action either to close the well or to secure improvement of the supply. This applies both to county and burgh areas. (Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 16 (3).) REPORT. 19 (d) Provision of a Water Supply to Individual Hotises in Burghs. 119. In burghs, on the other hand, Town Councils have power to require an owner to introduce water to his house within a month after notice served on him. (Burgh PoHce Act, 1892, section 246.) If the owner fails to comply with the notice of the Town Council, he is liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s., and to a further penalty not exceeding 5s. for each day during which such non-compliance continues. (Burgh Police Act, 1903, section 24.) In addition, the Town Council may cause the work to be done and recover the expense from the owner ; or the occupier of the premises, with the approval of the Town Council, may carry out the work and deduct the expense out of the rent paid to the owner. (Burgh Police Act, ] 892, sections 327 and 328.) The owner has the right of appeal to the Sheriff or to the Court of Session against any requirements of the Town Council under these powers. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 339.) (3) Control op Provision of Drainage. (a) Provision of a General Scheme in Counties. 120. Local Authorities of county areas are empowered to provide such sewers as they think necessary for keeping their district properly cleansed and drained. (Pubhc Health Act, section 103.) As in the case of a water scheme, the Local Government Board would appear to have power to compel where necessary the provision of a drainage scheme. 121. Special Drainage Districts. — -The Local Authority have power to form Special Drainage Dis- tricts, and the remarks above as to the formation, etc., of Special Water Supply Districts apply. 319 of these districts have been formed. There is no obligation on a Local Authority to bring a sewer within any specified distance of a house. 122. The Local Authority have also power to carry out drainage works for any particular portion of their district and to charge the cost to the Public Health General Assessment. This power enables a drainage scheme to be provided at the cost of the whole area of the Local Authority (other than special drainage districts) for any place in that area that is too poor to provide such a scheme for itself. (Macpherson, 2 (51)-(54).) 123. In addition to the above powers. Local Authorities may lay down a sewer to replace any foul ditch or drain into which sewage from houses is discharged, and may recover from the owners of the premises draining into the sewer the cost of making and maintaining it. (Public Health Act, section 28.) This procedure will suit cases where the works that are necessary are not such as to warrant the formation of a Special Drainage District, and where a larger scheme is not required. (b) Provision of a General Scheme in Burghs. 124. A Town Council are bound to make such sewers as are necessary for the efEectual draining of the burgh. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 219.) Although, as a general rule, a burgh forms one drainage district, there may be within it separate drainage districts. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 218.) (c) Provision of Drainage to Individtial Houses in Counties. 125. If any house in any part of the district of a Local Authority is without a drain, or without such drain as is sufficient for efEectual drainage, the Local Authority may require the owner within a reason- able time to drain his premises into a sewer of the Local Authority if there is one within 100 yards of the site of the premises. If there is no such sewer within that distance, then the drain must be taken to a covered cesspool or other place as the Local Authority may direct. If the owner fails to comply with the request of the Local Authority, the latter may do the work required and recover the expenses from the owner. (Macpherson, 2 (50).) 126. Where a Local Authority have framed byelaws for buildings under section 181 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, they will be able by means of the byelaws framed under subhead (e) of that section to regulate the construction and arrangement of anj' drains or cesspools that may be provided. The general statute requires that the drains must be sufficiently trapped and ventilated to the satis- faction of the Local Authority (Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 115) ; but otherwise in the absence of byelaws the Local Authority have no control and would not be able to interfere until the drain or cesspool when in use was so foul or in such a state or so situated as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health. When that state of matters arose, the Local Authority could take steps for the removal of the nuisance. (Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 16 (2).) (d) Provision of Drainage to Individual Houses in Burghs. 127. A similar provision exists in burghs to that in county areas whereby the owner of a house can be required to provide proper drainage for it. In addition, no new house may be built upon a lower level than will allow the drainage to fall into an existing of proposed sewer. If there is a sewer within 100 yards of the intended house, the drainage must be connected up with it ; if there is no sewer within that distance, then the drainage must be led into a covered cesspool or other place as the Town Council direct. 128. A cesspool provided under these powers must not be within 100 feet of any dwelling-house, or within 200 feet of any well or spring of water, without the consent of the Town Council. (Macpherson, 2 (140).) Further, the cesspool must not be placed under any dwelling-house or other occupied building, and must be constructed and kept in complete repair to the satisfaction of the Council. When a sewer is provided within 100 yards of the house, the drainage of the house must be connected up with it, and the cesspool done away with. (Macpherson, 2 (140).) There is also a general power given by the Burgh 20 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Police Act, 1892 (section 252), under which cesspools are not to be allowed except when unavoidable, in which event they must be constructed in such situation and in such manner and under such conditions as the Town Council direct. Further, where a Town Council adopt section 93 of the Burgh Police Act of 1903, they have power by means of byelaws framed under subsection (10) thereof to regulate the construction and position of cesspools ; while under section 316 B. (2) of the 13urgh Police Act of 1892 there is power to make byelaws for removing the contents of cesspools and for preventing any cesspool from being a nuisance or annoyance. Under another provision of the latter Act (section 242), cesspools must be kept in proper order at the cost of the owner of the premises. Yet another power is that con- tained in the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897 (section 16 (2)), already referred to, whereby a cesspool so foul or in such a state or so situated as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health may be dealt with as a nuisance under that Act. 129. There are provisions in the Burgh Police Acts (which it seems unnecessary to detail) re- quiring drains to be properly ventilated and trapped and enabling the Town Council to prescribe the materials, size, level, and fall of house drains, and to secure that drains are kept in proper order. More specific requirements can be laid down by means of byelaws framed under section 93 of the Burgh Police Act of 1903 already referred to for regulating the construction and arrangement of the drainage of buildings and of the soil pipes and waste pipes. (4) Control of Provision of Sanitary and Domestic Conveniences. 130. By the term " sanitary convenience " we mean water-closets, earth-closets, privies, ashpits, sculleries, washhouses, and baths, and included under " domestic conveniences " are larders, and coal- sheds or cellars. The presence or absence of these in or in connection with a house materially afEects the health, comfort, and convenience of the inmates ; and, as will be seen from a perusal of later sections of this Report, many of the houses in Scotland are sadly lacking in these conveniences. (a) Water-Chsets, Earth-Closets, and Primes. 131. In County Districts the powers of Local Authorities under this head are meagre. There is no general provision empowering them to require a water-closet, earth-closet, or privy to be provided for a house. Under the former Public Health Act (that of 1867, which was repealed by the present Act of 1897) the want of suitable water-closet or privy accommodation in connection with a house was deemed to be a nuisance within the meaning of that Act, in respect of which the Local Authority could take pro- ceedings to enforce the provision of that accommodation. The present Act, however (section 16 (1)), merely provides that any premises or part thereof of such a construction or in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health shall be deemed to be a nuisance liable to be dealt with under the Act. It is apparently open to doubt whether this more general provision would empower a Local Authority to require a water-closet or earth-closet or privy to be provided. It would probably.be extremely difficult to prove that the absence of such a convenience constituted the house a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health. Local Authorities in county areas generally have evidently felt this difficulty and have been averse from instituting legal proceedings against the owner of a house where a convenience of this nature was awanting. In one district, however (Middle Ward of Lanarkshire), proceedings have been taken for the removal of a nuisance caused by defective privies, and the Sheriff's interlocutor seemed to indicate that reconstruction of the privies would not be sufficient to remove the nuisance and that proper water-closet accommodation would have to be provided. This point is re- ferred to in the Chapters on Occupancy (X.) and Mining (XIV.). (See Macpherson, 2 (486), and Whjd;e, 36,834 (38).) 132. In this connection it ma};- be pointed out that in special scavenging districts the Local Authority may adopt section 255 of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, under which they would have power, in cases where a privy was certified by the Medical Officer of Health to be prejudicial to health, of defective construction, or without drainage, or in a bad state of repair, or to be so situate that the removal of filth or refuse therefrom is prejudicial to health, to require the owner to remove the privy or to convert it into a water- closet or earth-closet, or to reconstruct, alter, or repair it. (Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894, section 44 (1) (6).) 133. Although, as stated, the Local Authority have no specific power to require the provision of a water-closet, earth-closet, or privy for a dwelHng-house, they have power by means of the building byelaws under section 181 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, to say in cases where such a con- venience is being provided how it is to be provided and where it is to be placed. 134. Definite power is however conferred on the Local Authority whereby they can compel the provision of water-closets or privies in schoolhouses, factories, and buildings in which persons are em- ployed. They may also themselves provide public water-closets, etc. In addition, they may require by means of byelaws the provision of water-closet or privy accommodation in houses let in lodgings and common lodging-houses. (Macpherson, 2 (59) (61).) 135. In Burghs the Town Council are invested with quite definite powers. They may require the owner of every house or part of a house occupied by a separate family 'to provide therefor, wherever practicable, a sufficient water-closet. If the Town Council are of opinion that it is not advisable to introduce water-closets into each house or part of a house, they may require to be provided in some convenient place a sufficient number of water-closets for the separate use of each sex. Where, for any reason, it is not practicable or expedient to provide water-closets, a sufficient earth-closet may be required to be provided. 136. The situation, dimensions, materials, and construction of every water-closet, or earth-closet and privy must be approved by the Town Council, and every water-closet, earth-closet, or privy con- structed after the passing of the Burgh Pohce Act of 1892 must be placed in such a position that one of the sides shall be an external wall, with a window therein, containing an area of at least six superficial feet, one-half of which shall be made to open. The Act of 1903 (section 93 (10)) in addition gives REPORT. 21 power to make byelaws for regulating the construction and position of water-closets, earth-closets, and privies. 137. Reference has already been made to the powers under section 255 of the Burgh Police Act of 1892 for the conversion of privies into water-closets. The Town Council may also provide public water-closets or earth-closets. (Macpherson, 2 (142)-(147).) (b) Ashpits. 138. In Counties there is no power to reqtiire the provision of an ashpit for a house other than for a common lodging-house, which may be required by means of byelaws under section 92 of the Public Health Act. The Local Authority have power to provide public ashpits. Where, however, ashpits are being provided for houses, the Local Authority may regulate their construction and position by means of byelaws imder section 181 (1) (e) of the Public Health Act. 139. Where a Special Scavenging District is formed, and in doing so the Local Authority adopt section 253 of the Burgh Police Act of 1892, the situation, dimensions, drainage, materials, mode of access, and construction of every ashpit must be subject to the approval of the Local Authority, even though bye- laws imder section 181 of the Public Health Act have not been framed. 140. Where there is a daily system of refuse removal in operation in a Special Scavenging District, and the Local Authority in forming the district have adopted section 109 of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, they may direct any ashpit in the special district to be shut up or removed. The Local Authority in the case of defective ashpits in such special districts have also power to secure the remedy of the defects. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 255.) Further, any ashpit so foul or in such a state or so situated as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health may be dealt with as a nuisance under the Public Health Act (section 16 (2)). 141. In Burghs the provisions of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, and of sections 16 (2) and 92 of the Public Health Act referred to above apply, but in addition a Town Council have power to require the owner of a house to provide a sufficient fixed or movable receptacle for rubbish. (Burgh Police Act, 1903, section 23.) The construction and position of ashpits in burghs may also be regulated by means of byelaws framed under section 93 (10) of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, while byelaws may be framed under the 1892 Act (section 316 B. (2)) for the removal of the contents of ashpits and for preventing an ashpit from being a nuisance or annoyance. (c) Sculleries, Washhouses, Baths, Larders, Coalsheds. 142. There does not appear to be any power either in counties or in burghs that would enable a Local Authority to require these conveniences to be provided for any house. A Town Council, however, have power to provide public baths and washhouses and public drjnng-grounds for the use of the inhabit- ants of the burgh. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 309.) This power is also available to Local Authorities in coimty areas by the formation of a special district for the purpose, (Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894, section 44 (1) (c)), but, as will be pointed out later (Paragraph 144), such a special district can be formed only if a requisition to form is first received by the Local Authority from a Parish Council or from ten parish electors. (5) Control of Provision for Scavenging and Removal of Refuse. 143. Having given above a summary of the statutes in regard to the provision of sanitary and domestic conveniences, it may now be well to indicate briefly the powers in regard to the removal of house refuse. (a) In Counties — Special Scavenging Districts. 144. Local Authorities in county areas have no effective powers to secure proper scavenging until they have formed a Special Scavenging District. Such a district cannot be formed by the Local Authority themselves on their own initiative, as in the cise of Special Water Supply and Drainage Districts, but they must first be requisitioned to do so by a Parish Council or by not less than ten parish electors. (A similar requisition is necessary before special districts for lighting or for the proxasion of public baths and washhouses can be formed.) The resolution of the Local Authority is appealable to the Sheriff. In forming a Special Scavenging District the Local Authority may adopt sections 107-127 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, or any one or more of them. These sections deal with the removal of refuse in burghs. Li applying them (see summary in Paragraph 145) to the district of a county Local Authority, the expression " District Committee " is of course substituted for " Town Council." This power to form such a district has been found of great service, as it enables the Local Authority of a district in which there may be populous villages to secure satisfactory removal of refuse. 172 such districts have been formed. (Macpherson, 2 (63).) (b) In Burghs. 145. Under the provisions of sections 107-127 above referred to, the Town Council may arrange for a daily collection of house refuse, the occupiers of houses being required to place the refuse in a suitable box outside their premises. The Council are also responsible for the sweeping, cleansing, and watering of the streets, including the foot pavements, and they have power to provide places for the deposit, treatment, and disposal of the burgh refuse. They may also make byelaws for dealuig with the scavenging of the burgh. (6) Control op Occupancy of Houses. 146. Having reviewed the terms of the statutes dealing with the erection of houses and the pro- vision of water, drainage, and sanitary and domestic conveniences, we now propose to give a summary 22 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. of the law controlling the occupancy of houses. At the outset it may be explained that in burghs no new house can be occupied until a certificate has been given by the Burgh Surveyor to the effect that the house is fit for occupation. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 180.) No similar power exists in counties. (a) Overcrowding of Houses. 147. As is shown in another section of this Report a very considerable amount of overcrowding of persons in houses exists throughout Scotland, and there can be no doubt of the evil results of overcrowding on health, apart altogether from the domestic inconvenience caused. 148. Census Standards of Overcrowding. — In the law of Scotland there is no single standard for the measurement of overcrowding. But, in the course of administrative development, special standards for special purposes have, as will be shown, found their way into the statutes. 149. In England, for census purposes, a standard of overcrowding of more than two persons per room has been adopted, but, according to Dr Dunlop, Superintendent of Statistics in the Department of the Registrar-General for Scotland, that standard cannot apply in Scotland because the Scottish rooms are larger than the English ones. (Dunlop, 2265.) This same witness specially points out that in the Scottish Census Returns no standard of overcrowding is set up, though the returns record the distribution of population by number enumerated per room. Accordingly, it should be noted that a standard of over- crowding based on more than two persons per room has no statutory authority so far as Scotland is concerned. 150. Provisimis in Public Health Act. — The specific statutory provisions dealing with overcrowding may now be referred to. Under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897 (section 16 (7)), any house or part of a house so overcrowded as to be injurious or dangerous to the health of the inmates is to be regarded as a nuisance within the meaning of that Act. The standard here set up is that the overcrowding must be such as to be injurious or dangerous to the health of the inmates, and, in actual practice, if the Local Authority have to take proceedings in Court for the removal of the nuisance due to overcrowding, it is often exceedingly diSicult to prove to the satisfaction of the Court that there is injury or danger to health. Apart from the ordinary procedure for dealing with nuisances under the Public Health Act (which will be afterwards explained), the Act provides that where two convictions have been obtained against any person for overcrowding a house, the Sheriff may order the house to be closed up for such time as he may deem necessary. 151. There is, however, an important power contained in section 84 of the same Act which would appear to give a Local Authority more definite power whereby overcrowding might be controlled. Under Part IV. of the Act, the Local Government Board are empowered to make regulations dealing with the prevention of epidemic, endemic, or infectious diseases, and have done so in regard to cholera, yellow fever, plague, tuberculosis, and venereal diseases. These regulations apply to all the Local Authorities in Scotland. The section just referred to provides that when such regulations are in force in any place, on the certificate of a medical officer, or of two duly qualified medical practitioners, or on the report of a sanitary inspector, or other sufficient evidence, that any house or part of a house is so overcrowded as to be dangerous to health, the Local Authority have power to regulate the house according to the provisions of the Act in reference to common lodging-houses. These provisions will be referred to in detail later, but meantime it may be noted in connection with this subject of overcrowding, that they give a Local Authority power to regulate by means of byelaws the number of persons who may occupy each room. It does not appear from the evidence before us as if the power under section 84 had been exercised, but it will of course be noted that before the Local Authority can proceed under this section, they must have a certificate that the overcrowding is " dangerous to health." 152. Provisions in Burgh Police Act, 1903 — Ticketed Houses. — ^Although the provisions referred to above apply to burghs as well as to counties, there are special powers in the Burgh Police Act of 1903 for dealing with overcrowding. These powers, are, however, available only to such burghs as adopt them. Under that Act (sections 67 and 68) a Town Council have power to authorise any person to enter houses of not more than three apartments, and, if the total cubic contents do not exceed 2400 feet, to fix the number of persons who may occupy the house, reckoning one person for every 400 cubic feet, and to affix a ticket or other mark showing the number of persons who may sleep in the house. Two children tmder ten years of age are reckoned as one person. A penalty is attached if the house is used by a greater number of persons than that shown by the ticket as allowable. This system is known as ticketing, and in enforcing it there is no necessity for proving injury or danger to health as under the general provision in the Public Health Act. It is sufficient to show that the number of persons has exceeded that allowed at the standard of 400 cubic feet per head. The sections, however, as will be seen, are limited to houses of not more than three rooms, and only to such of these houses as contain 2400 cubic feet or less. If a house of (say) one, two, or three rooms should contain more than 2400 cubic feet, the provisions as to ticketing do not apply. 153. Similar powers of ticketing are in force in Edinburgh and Glasgow under local Acts. (See Rutherford, 5699 (24), and Fyfe, 19,870 (16) ; also chapter on Overcrowding, No. XII.) 154. Overcrowding in Special Types of Houses. — In addition to the above powers, there are special provisions in the Public Health Act which enable overcrowding in certain types of houses to be con- trolled. These provisions apply to houses let in lodgings and farmed-out houses, common lodging- houses, and tents, vans, sheds, and similar structures. As the powers dealing with these special types of houses will be detailed later, (Paragraph 200 et seq.), it is not necessary. here to repeat them. They apply to burghs as well as counties. (b) Houses kept in Dirty Condition. 155. Provisions in Public Health Act. — Reference has already been made to the provisions of section 16 (1) of the Public Health Act, under which any house in such a state as to be a nuisance or in- jurious or dangerous to health is to be regarded as a nuisance liable to be dealt with under thatJAcfc. REPORT. 23 This would apply to houses kept in a dirty condition, but there is a special clause (section 40) dealing with such houses. It enables a Local Authority to require the cleaning of any house that appears to them to be in such a filthy or unwholesome condition that the health of any person is afEected or endangered, or that the cleaning of which they think would tend to prevent or check infectious disease. There is • no penalty for keeping the house in such a condition. A penalty is exigible only if the notice of the Local Authority requiring cleaning is disregarded. The notice may be served on the owner or occupier of the house. The Local Authority may do the cleaning and recover the expense from the person in default. It will be noted that action cannot be taken under this section until the condition of the house is such as to affect or endanger health, or until the Local Authority are of opinion that the cleaning would prevent or check infectious disease. 156. Provisions in Burgh Police Act. — The above power is applicable to county and burgh Local Authorities alike, but there are similar powers in the Burgh Police Act of 1892 (sections 118 and 119) which may be adopted by a county Local Authority in Special Scavenging Districts. The first of these sections gives power to the Burgh Surveyor, Inspector of Cleansing, Medical Officer of Health, and Sani- tary Inspector to enter dwelUng-houses which they have reason to believe are not in a cleanly condition, and to cleanse and purify the same, and to remove any filth therefrom at the expense of the occupier, or, in the case of unoccupied houses, of the owner. (Macpherson, 2 (174).) The other section provides that any person who keeps a house in a dirty, unwholesome, or unhealthy condition, after notice to clean has been served on him by the Sanitary Inspector, is Uable to a penalty not exceeding 40s. It will be seen that this section differs from the similar section of the PubUc Health Act in that it is not necessary to prove that the dirty condition of the house is such as to affect or endanger health. 157. A provision applicable to burghs only is that in section 381 (42) of the Burgh Police Act of 1892, under which it is a police offence (for which a penalty not exceeding 40s. may be imposed) to accumulate within any house any dung, soil, dirt, ashes, filth, or other offensive matter or thing, (c) Cleanliness, etc., of Sanitary Conveniences, Common Stairs, etc. 158. Water-Closets, ete.— When a water-closet, earth-closet, privy, sink, or ashpit is so foul as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health, it may be dealt with as a nuisance under the Public Health Act (section 16 (2)). A further provision of the same Act (section 30) makes any person liable to a penalty not exceeding £5 if he causes any water-closet, earth-closet, privy, or ashpit to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health by wilfully destroying or damaging it. The difficulty of acting under this section is that proof is required that the destruction or damage was done wilfully, and this is seldom easy to prove. 159. Where water-closets, earth-closets, privies, or similar conveniences are used in common, by the occupiers of two or more separate dwelling-houses or by other persons, special powers of control are conferred on the Local Authority. If any person injures or improperly fouls any such convenience, he is 'liable to a penalty not exceeding 10s. (Public Health Act, section 31 (1).) The difficulty here, where there are several persons using the one convenience, is to adduce evidence sufficient to lay the blame on one person. In addition, if such a common convenience is in such a state as to be a nuisance or annoyance to any of the persons using or entitled to use it, for want of the proper cleansing of it, the person or persons in default are liable to a penalty not exceeding 10s. If, however, the offence cannot be traced to any one person or persons, all the persons using or entitled to use the convenience are liable to the penalty. (Public Health Act, section 31 (2).) In the latter case, of course, the result is that the cleanly disposed tenants are brought to Court along with the guilty tenant or tenants and convicted along with them. One witness, however, stated that in several cases where the power had been put in operation, the Sheriff had expressed his unwillingness to convict. (Whyte, 36,834 (35).) 160. The above powers apply in burghs as well as in counties. In burghs there is an additional power (which, however, may be adopted in Special Scavenging Districts) providing for the cleaning and washing of water-closets or other closets Used in common by occupiers of houses entering off common stairs. This has to be done by the occupiers in weekly rotation, and byelaws may be made for regulating this. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, sections 115 and 127.) Byelaws may also be made under section 316 B. (8) of the same Act for requiring owners or occupiers of houses to keep clean common water-closets. This power applies in burghs only. 161. Common Stairs, efc.^In the case of common stairs and passages, the statutory provisions as to cleaning are contained in the Burgh Police Acts. These places must be washed and kept clean by the occupiers in rotation. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 115.) The responsibility for whitewashing or painting common stairs and passages rests on the owner, and this must be done by him once every year if he is required to do so by the Sanitary Inspector (section 117). All private courts, yards, areas, etc., that are not cleansed by the scavengers of the Town Council must be kept clean by the occupiers to the satisfaction of the Inspector of Cleansing or Sanitary Inspector. The Town Council may, however, do the necessary cleansing and charge the expense to the burgh general assessment. (Section 120.) For these various' purposes, byelaws may be made by the Town Council (section 127 and section 316 B. (8)), and these various powers (except those in section 316 B. (8)) may be applied by adoption in Special Scavenging Districts. In addition, the Local Authority of a county as well as a burgh area have power by means of byelaws to require the cleansing of common passages and staircases in houses let in lodgings, including farmed-out houses. (Public Health Act, section 72.) (7) Control of Construction and Repair of Private Streets and Footpaths, Private Courts, etc. 162. While, as will presently be shown. Town Councils have full control over the construction of private streets in burghs, it would seem as if Local Authorities in county areas have, in the absence of a town-planning scheme, no such powers of control. They may, however, in certain circumstances, as after explained (Paragraph 174), require improvements in existing private streets. 24 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (a) In Burghs. 163. Formation of New Streets.— In burghs, on the other hand, no new street can be formed and no existing street can be widened, extended, or otherwise altered without a warrant to do so having first, been obtained from the Town Council. If the work in connection with the formation of a new street is not commenced within twelve months, the warrant lapses. (Burgh Police Act, 1903, section 11.) The Town Council, however, are given power to open up and form streets for which warrants have been given, but which have not been opened up and formed by the persons obtaining the warrant. The cost may be recovered by the Council from the feuars and others subsequently erecting buildings along the street. (Macpherson, 2 (185).) 164. Repair of Private Streets. — If any private street or the footway in connection with it has not been properly formed, the Town Council may cause it to be properly formed and thereafter to be main- tained, all to their satisfaction. (Bui^h Police Act, 1903, section 104 (2) (d).) The expenses of the Town Council in putting the street in order are to be paid by the owners of the lands or premises front- ing or abutting on the street. (Burgh Pohce Act, 1892, section 137.) Where a private street and the footway thereof have been put in proper order to the satisfaction of the Town Council, they may, on the application of any one or more of the owners of premises fronting or abutting upon the street or of the superior or owner of the ground on which the street has been formed, and they must, if the owners of one-half or more of the frontage concur in the application, take over and maintain the street as a public street. (Burgh Police Act, 1903, section 104 (2) (e).) 165. Provision of Foot-pavements. — -As regards the provision of foot-pavements on public streets, the Town Council may require the owners of premises fronting or abutting on such streets to form pavements to the satisfaction of the Town Coiincil, who thereafter maintain and repair them. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, sections 141 and 142.) 166. In regard to footways on private streets, the Town Council may require the owners of premises on such streets to form proper footways and to maintain and keep them in repair. Where, however, the Town Council require the footway to be paved, the future maintenance of it devolves on the Council. (Burgh Police Act, 1903, section 16.) 167. There is an appeal to the Sheriff against any requireniient of the Town Council in reference to the above matters. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 143.) 168. Width of Streets. — -The width of streets is also regulated in the Burgh Police Acts. All new streets laid out in burghs after 15th May 1893 must be at least 36 feet wide for the carriageway and foot-pavements. In burghs that have adopted section 61 of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, the width of new streets from house to house must be at least 60 feet, of which at least 40 feet must be set apart for carriageway and footways. 169. Where it is necessary for the purposes of widening or otherwise improving any street to aqquire any lands or premises, the Town Council may do so. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 154.) Power is also given to the Council to require houses projecting beyond the line of the street, when taken down, to be set back. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 158.) This power is by the 1903 Act extended to new houses. (Section 104 (2) (h).) Compensation is, of course, payable in such cases. 170. Byelaws regulating Construction of Streets. — ^In addition to all the above powers, Town Councils who have adopted section 93 of the Burgh Police Act of 1903 have the still further power of making byelaws for regulating the level, construction, causewaying, and paving of streets and of the footways thereof. 171. As already stated (Paragraph 100), there is power under the Burgh Police Act of 1903 enabling the statutory provisions as to the laying out of streets to be relaxed or modified. (b) In Counties. ' 172. Compared with the powers of Town Councils as above set forth. Local Authorities of county areas have somewhat meagre powers. As already indicated, they do not appear to be able to regulate the construction of new private streets. (Public highways are of course under the control of the county Road Authority.) Their powers of control come into operation only after the street has been made. 173. Street as a Nuisance.- — Should any street be in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health, it may be dealt with as a nuisance under the Public Health Act (section 16 (2)), but the difficulty of proving a nuisance or injury or danger to health operates against proceedings under this section for securing the necessary repairs to a street being successful. This provision applies also to burghs, but it may be surmised that, in view of the complete powers under the Burgh Police Acts, it is never necessary for a Town Council to have recourse to it as a means of remedy. 174. Repair of Private Streets.— A more specific power of control is conferred by section 39 of the Public Health Act, which, however, is confined in its operation to Special Scavenging Districts. Under that section the Local Authority have power, in cases where any private street or footway is not levelled, macadamised, channelled, and made good to their satisfaction, to require the owners of the premises fronting, adjoining, or abutting on such street or footway, to carry out the works necessary for improvement, subject to an appeal to the Sheriff. If the Local Authority's order is not complied with, they may carry out the work themselves and recover the cost from the owners. This section provides a remedy for a very unsatisfactory state of matters. It frequently happens that some of the side streets in a village are not properly made, and in wet weather become so muddy and foul as to be extremely offensive, if not actually injurious to health. As they are not highways, the Road Authority has no duty to repair or maintain them. As already noted, however, the provision is only operative in Special Scavenging Districts. {Handbook of Public Health, p. 75, note 3.) The section does not seem to hmit the kind of improvement on the street that may be called for by the Local Authority, but according to one witness the Courts have held that the provisions of the section are confined to public health re- quirements. (Whyte, Appendix CXXVIII. (2).) REPORT. 25 175. Parish Councils are also given powers to repair and maintain all or any of the public ways (not being highways or footpaths at the side of a highway) within their areas, but they are not apparently bound to exercise these powers. (Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894, section 29.) 176. Paving of Private Courts. — ^As regards the paving of private courts or of any common close, passage, or area (other than a bleaching green, garden, or shrubbery), a Town Council have power to require the owner or owners to pave them to the satisfaction of the Coimcil, and to make and maintain provision for the drainage of surface water. (Rule 17 of Schedule IV. of Burgh Police Act, 1892, and Burgh Police Act, 1903, section 21.) No similar specific power is applicable to counties, but, as " street " by the definition of the Public Health Act (section 3) includes a square, court, or passage, it may be that the powers of a county Local Authority under section 39 of that Act referred to above would enable them to require the paving or other satisfactory putting in order of courts, squares, and passages in Special Scavenging Districts. (8) Control of Defective and Insanitary Houses. 177. Under this heading it is proposed to describe the provisions of the statutes giving powers to Local Authorities to deal with individual houses. The powers enabling them to deal with insanitary and unhealthy areas in which there are groups and blocks of houses unfit for habitation will be dealt with under a subsequent heading (Paragraph 226 et seq.), viz. " Control of Unhealthy and Insanitary Areas." (a) Insjjection of Homes. 178. For the purposes of effective control of individual houses systematic inspection is necessary by officers of the Local Authority and this is enjoined on the Local Authority by the Acts. Under the Public Health Act (section 17) it is the duty of every Local Authority to cause inspection to be made of their district from time to time for the detection of nuisances which, as already explained, include houses of such a construction or in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health. This inspection is made by the Medical Officer of Health and Sanitary Inspector in terms of the regula- tions which the Local Authority frame for regulating their duties, and they may demand admission to any house in which they have reasonable grounds for beheving a nuisance exists. If admission is refused, they are empowered to obtain a warrant for forcible entry. 179. Under the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909 (section 17), it is the duty of every Local Authority to cause to be made from time to time inspection of their district with a view to ascertaining whether any dwelling-house therein is in a state so dangeroiis or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation. An officer must be designated by the Local Authority for the purpose of carrying out this inspection. He is required to keep a record of his inspections on lines specified by the Local Government Board, to report to the Local Authority hovises requiring to be closed, and to make an annual report to the Board as to his work and the action taken. (Macpherson, 2 (217) (218) (221).) Any person authorised in writing by the Local Authority may, at all reasonable times, on giving twenty-four hours' notice to the occupier and to the owner, if the owner is known, of his in- tention to inspect a house, enter it for that purpose. (Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, section 36, also section 15 (2).) 180. In addition to these provisions a definite duty is placed on the Medical Officer of Health by the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, to report to the Local Authority any dwelling-house which appears to him to be in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation or which is alleged to him by four or more householders to be in that state (sections 30 and 31). He is also required by the same Act to report to the Local Authority any building which, although not in itself unfit for human habitation, appears to him to be obstructive from a sanitary point of {view. (Section 38; Macpherson, 2 (213).) (b) Removal of Defects disclosed by Inspection of Houses. ' 181. It may be said that there are three methods of procedure available to the Local Authority for the removal of defects disclosed by the inspection of houses, according as they elect to proceed under the powers of the Public Health Act or of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts. Under the former Act the Local Authority, in the event of the owner of the house failing to comply with their notice requir- ing the remedy of the defects, make application to a Sheriff, Magistrate, or Justice, asking him to order the necessary works to be carried out ; under the latter Acts the Local Authority, in regard to a house that is so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation, may themselves make an Order prohibiting the use of the house for human habitation until it has been rendered fit for that purpose, the owner being empowered to appeal to the Sheriff against the Order of the Local Authority. Where, however, a house of a rent not exceeding £16 though not reasonably fit for habitation may be made so, the Local Authority may, if a Closing Order is not made, call on the owner to carry out the necessary repairs. The respective methods of procedure are as follows :■ — 182. Procedure under the Public Health Act.- — As already explained, the defects in a house for which a remedy can be sought under the Public Health Act must be such as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health. There may be defects which (Jo not come under any of these categories, but which may render the continued occupancy of the house a matter of considerable discomfort and inconvenience to the inmates. These, however, cannot be remedied under the powers of the Public Health Act. 183. Where a house is in a state that can be dealt with under the Public Health Act, and where the condition arises from any want or defect of a structural character, an intimation is served by an officer of the Local Authority on the owner requiring him to remove the nuisance. If the owner ignores this intimation, the matter is reported to the Local Authority who, if so advised, serve a notice on the owner requiring him to remove the nuisance within a specified time, and to execute such works as may 26 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. be necessary for that purpose. If the Local Authority think it desirable, they may specify the works to be executed. If the owner fails to take any action after receipt of this notice, the Local Authority may then apply to a Sheriff, Magistrate, or Justice, who may order the nuisance to be removed, and such works to be executed as may be necessary for that purpose. Failure to comply with the decree of the Court renders the owner liable to penalty. If structural works are necessary, the Sheriff, Magistrate, or Justice may require them to be carried out to the approval of any person he appoints. If the nuisance is such as to render a house unfit for human habitation or use, he may prohibit it to be inhabited or used until, in his judgment, it has been rendered fit for that purpose. Where the owner does not carry out the necessary works the Local Authority may be empowered to do so. (Public Health Acts, sections 19-26 ; also Macpherson, 2 (71).) 184. The above procedure applies generally to the removal of nuisances under the Public Health Act, and is applicable both to burgh and county Local Authorities. 185. Closing Orders under Housing Acts.- — When a Local Authority are satisfied that a house is in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation, they must make an Order prohibiting the use of the house for human habitation until, in their judgment, it has been rendered fit for that purpose. This Order is termed a " Closing Order." Notice of this Order must be forthwith served on every owner of the dwelling-house, and any owner aggrieved may appeal to the Sheriff within fourteen days after the notice is served upon him. Where a Closing Order has become operative the Local Authority must serve notice of the Order on every occupying tenant of the house, and each such tenant must, within the time specified in the notice, not being less than fourteen days, cease to inhabit the dwelling-house, and in default he shall be liable on summary conviction to be ordered to quit the dwelling-house. No direct power of ejection is however given. (Macpherson, 2 (238) (496).) If the house should be rendered fit for human habitation, the Local Authority may withdraw the Closing Order, and an owner may appeal to the Sheriff if the Local Authority refuse to withdraw it. 186. Closing Orders under Local Acts. — The Corporation of Edinburgh have power to issue a Closing Order under their local Act of 1879 on the certificate of the Medical Officer of Health and Sanitary Inspector that a house is unfit for human habitation. In this case, however, there is no appeal from the decision of the Local Authority. (Maxwell Williamson, 5539 (14).) 187. The Corporation of Glasgow under their local Act of 1890 are empowered to issue a Closing Order in respect of any house that is certified by the Medical Officer of Health, the Sanitary Inspector, and the Master of Works as unfit for human habitation. In this case, however, the owner has an appeal to the Sheriff. (Lindsay, 23,235 (10).) In each of these cases it will be noted that it is sufficient to certify the house as imfit for human habitation, and that it is not necessary to certify danger or injury to health. Dundee have similar powers to Glasgow, with an appeal to the Sheriff. (Templeman, 35,836 (11) (12).) In Aberdeen the power is similar to that of Edinburgh (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (45) (46)), there being no appeal to the Sheriff. 188. Demolition Orders under Housing Acts.- — Where a Closing Order has remained operative for a period of three months, the Local Authority must then take the question of demolition of the house into consideration. If, after hearing the owner, the Local Authority are of opinion that the dwelling- house has not been rendered fit for human habitation, and that the necessary steps are not being taken to render it fit, or that the continuance of the house is a nuisance or dangerous or injurious to the health of the public or of the inhabitants of the neighbouring houses, they must order the demolition of the building, the owner having an appeal to the Sheriff. If, however, the owner undertakes to execute forthwith the necessary works, the Local Authority may postpone the operation of the Demolition Order for a period not exceeding six months to enable him to do so. 189. When an Order for demolition has been made, the owner must take down and remove the building within three months. If he fails to do so, the Local Authority must proceed with the demoli- tion, and must sell the materials. If, after expenses are paid, there is a credit balance, it must be handed over to the owner ; if a debit balance, the Local Authority may recover it from the owner. No house or other building or erection which will be dangerous or injurious to health shall be erected on the site of the demolished building. (Macpherson, 2 (226-229). and relative sections.) 190. Demolition Orders under Local Acts.- — In Edinburgh the local Act does not confer on the Local Authority powers of demolition, though they have compulsory powers for the acquisition of property closed under a Closing Order. In Glasgow, by the local Act of 1900, the Local Authority may order the removal or repair of any house closed under their local Act of 1890, already referred to, if it is not made habitable within a period specified by the Master of Works. The owner may appeal to the Sheriff. In Dundee, the local Act confers powers of demolition on the Local Authority without any appeal to the Sheriff, but in Aberdeen there is an appeal to the Sheriff. (Macpherson, 2 (356).) 191. As will be seen, the foregoing powers under the Housing Acts are limited, as in the Public Health Act, to houses that are in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation, and as in the case of that Act are not available for the remedy of minor defects that may render the habitability of the house unsatisfactory from the domestic point of view though not from the health point of view. , 192. Special Power in Housing Acts — Keeping of Houses in Repair. — As has already been pointed out, there is another method under the Housing 'Acts whereby defective houses may be dealt with. Under the 1909 Act (sections 14 and 53 (15)) it is provided that, in any contract made after the passing of that Act for letting for habitation a house at a rent not exceeding £16, there shall be implied a con- dition that the house is at the commencement of the holding in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation. It is also the duty of the landlord to keep the house during the holding in all respects reason- ably fit for human habitation. The obligation so created is enforceable by the Local Authority, who are empowered to serve notice on a defaulting landlord, requiring him to execute the works specified in the notice that the Local Authority may consider necessary to make the house reasonably habitable. The landlord has the right of appeal to the Sheriff within twenty-one days of the receipt of the notice ; but subject to that he must carry out the works required, and in default the Local Authority are empowered to execute the works at his expense. (Macpherson, 2 (224).) REPORT. 27 193. Special Provision in Burgh Police Act, 1892- — Repair of Common Stairs. — None of the statutory provisions above mentioned include a general power to the Local Authority to require that houses shall be kept in a proper state of repair. So far, however, as common stairs in houses in burghs are concerned, the Burgh Police Act, 1892 (section 174), makes it obligatory on the owner of premises in or entering from common stairs and common passages to keep the steps, landing-places, and passages in a proper state of repair, and to provide and keep in proper repair to the satisfaction of the Burgh Surveyor rails at the side of such stairs, landing-places, and passages. 194. Special Provisions in Burgh Police Act, 1892, as to Ruinous Houses.- — In the Burgh Police Act, 1892 (sections 191-200), there are special powers for dealing with houses that are in a ruinous or dangerous condition. Though these sections apply to burghs, they may, in terms of section 10 of the Local Govern- ment (Scotland) Act, 1908, be adopted by a Coimty Council within any special lighting, scavenging, drainage or water district. 195. The sections provide that if the Burgh Surveyor deems any building to be in a ruinous state or dangerous to passengers or to the occupiers thereof, or of the neighbouring buildings, he shall im- mediately cause such occupiers to remove imtil the building is put into a safe condition. The owner has to be notified requiring him to take down or secure or repair the building. If action is not taken by the owner within three days, the Burgh Surveyor makes complaint to the Sheriff, who, after inquiry, may order the owner to take down, rebuild, repair, or otherwise secure the building to the Surveyor's satisfaction within a specified time. If action is not taken within the period so specified, the Town Council may take the necessary steps, the expenses being paid by the owner. 196. If the owner cannot be found, or if the expenses are not fully paid, the Council may take such building, compensation being paid to the owner in the manner after explained (see Paragraph 295). 197. Where a building is pulled down by the Council, they may sell the materials, restoring to the owner any surplus arising from the sale. 198. Provision is also made for ruinous buildings belonging to two or more owners being sold, the Sheriff, on a petition from the Bm-gh Prosecutor, Town Coimcil, Burgh Surveyor, or Sanitary Inspector, calling the interested parties together and ordering the properties to be valued by not less than three men of skill, and giving each party the option to buy the interests of the others. If the parties fail to take advantage of this offer within a period not exceeding six weeks, the Sheriff may cause the property to be exposed for sale by public auction, the price received being deposited in bank and remaining there at interest for behoof of the parties and subject to the future orders of the Sheriff, who may allocate the price among the several parties. 199. The above provisions refer to houses belonging to two or more owners. Somewhat similar procedure is enacted in regard to houses, buildings, or areas which have become waste and ruinous, or have become receptacles for filth and other nuisances, or unsafe and unfit for use and occupation, in the event of the owner not remedying matters after receipt of a notice from the Council. (Macpherson, 2 (176-178).) (9) Control op Special Classes of Houses. 200. There are certain classes of houses which the Legislature has recognised as requiring special legislation to control them, apart from the ordinary provisions of the statutes which are applicable to all classes of houses. These special classes are common lodging-houses ; houses let in lodgings and farmed-out houses ; tents, vans, and sheds ; undergroimd dwellings ; back-to-back houses and obstructive buildings. (a) Common Lodging-Houses. 201. Common lodging-houses are regulated according to the provisions of Part V. of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897. They are houses where lodgers are housed at an amoimt not exceeding fourpence per night, but there is power on the part of the Local Authority, with the approval of the Local Govern- ment Board, to raise the maximum amount to sixpence per night. By raising his charge above sixpence per night, the keeper of the common lodging-house can of course evade the provisions of the Act dealing with common lodging-houses, but the Local Authority will still be able to exercise some control over him by means of the byelaws as to houses let in lodgings after referred to. (Paragraph 206 et seq.) 202. Common lodging-houses require to be registered annually, and the Local Authority may refuse to register any house which they do not consider suitable for the purposes of a common lodging-house, and as the keeper of such a house any person who does not appear to be suitable for the post. The Local Authority have also power to petition the Sheriff for authority to remove any unsuitable house from the register. 203. The Local Authority are also empowered to make byelaws for the general control of common lodging-houses, whereby the Local Authority will be able to regulate the number of persons who may occupy the house, the keeping and well-ordering of such houses, the separation of the sexes, and the sanitary arrangements, cleanliness, and ventilation, etc. (Macpherson, 2 (80).) The making of these byelaws is optional on the part of a Local Authority. 204. As regards the byelaws regulating the number of persons who may occupy the house, it may be noted that this number is fixed according to the amount of cubic space in each room of the house. The Local Government Board in the Model Byelaws issued by them in 1897 recommend that not less than 300 cubic feet for each person should be provided (two children under ten years of age being reckoned as one person). But several Local Authorities in their byelaws require 350 and 400 cubic feet. In Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow 400 cubic feet are required. 205. It may here be pointed out that the lodging-houses that may be provided by a Local Authority under Part III. of the the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, may also be of the nature of common lodging-houses. (Macpherson, 2 (287).) The powers for the provision of these houses will be described later. (Paragraph 246 et seq.) 28 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (b) Houses Let in Lodgings. 206. Local Authorities are given power by the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, to make byelaws for the registration of houses let in lodgings or occupied by members of more than one family, for the inspection of such houses, for fixing the number of persons who may reside therein, and for general sanitation and cleanliness. Where such houses are intended for the working classes, the power to make byelaws is by the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, section 16, extended to the making and enforcing of byelaws imposing any duty (which may be imposed by the byelaws, and which involves the execution of work) upon the owner in addition to or in substitution for any other person having an interest in the premises. Differing from common lodging-houses, however, there is no specific power given to make byelaws for the keeping and well-ordering of houses let in lodgings, or for the separation of the sexes. While the power to make byelaws is optional on the part of the Local Authority, the Local Government Board may require the Local Authority to make such byelaws. (Macpherson, 2 (85).) 207. It may be well to point out that the section imder which these byelaws are made does not apply only to houses of one or two rooms, but applies or may be applied to all houses " let in lodgings or occupied ' by members of more than one family," and is not confined to, although it includes, farmed-out houses which, as shown later (Paragraph 210), are defined to be houses of one or two apartm.ents. 208. In virtue of the power to make byelaws for houses let in lodgings, the Local Authority keep a register of such houses in which are entered the names and residences of the owTiers or occupiers of such hovises, and the number of persons authorised to be allowed therein. " It is not necessary to place ' on the register every house in the district which is let in lodgings or occupied by members of more than one family. The usual practice is for the Sanitary Inspector, subject to the directions of the Local Authority, to select the houses which it is desirable to supervise, to place these on the register, and to see that in these cases the byelaws are observed. In this way the necessary supervision is exer- cised, while no restrictions are imposed upon houses where supervision is not required." (HandbooJc of Public Health, MacDougall and Murray, p. 124.) 209. As stated, power is given by the byelaws to fix the number of persons who may occupy such a house. In the Model Byelaws issued by the Local Government Board in 1897, the number of persons occupying any room must not exceed the proportion of one person for every 400 cubic feet of space — ^two children under ten years of age being reckoned as one person. This is the standard usually adopted by Local Authorities in their byelaws. (c) Farmed-out Houses. 210. The provisions of the Act as to houses let in lodgings apply also to what are termed " farmed- ' out houses." These are defined to mean " houses of one or two apartments taken on lease by any person ' and let or rented to several occupiers for hmited periods as furnished apartments." 211. As will be shown, there seems good reason for a strengthening of the general statutory powers of control over farmed-out houses, but it may be well to set out here the special powers that have been obtained by the Corporations of Edinburgh and Glasgow by means of local Acts. Under their Act of 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. v., cap. LXXIV.), sections 32-48, the Corporation of Edinburgh are given power to declare what houses, not being common lodging-houses or bona fide hotels, shall be farmed-out houses. The owner and tenant are given an opportunity of showing cause why their house should not be declared a farmed-out house. If they are aggrieved by the resolution of the Corporation, they may appeal to the Sheriff. The Corporation may at any time revoke any resolution declaring a house to be a farmed- out house. If, on the application of the owner or keeper, the Corporation refuse to revoke such a resolution, the owner or keeper may appeal to the Sheriff. The registration of such houses must be renewed aimually, but renewal of registration cannot be refused by the Corporation except on the ground that the Sheriff has granted an Order for the removal from the register of the farmed-out hoTises or the keeper thereof. The Corporation may apply to the Sheriff for such an Order, but he can grant the said Order only if the owner, tenant, sub-tenant, or keeper of the house have been convicted of a contraven- tion of the byelaws which the Corporation are empowered to make. 212. Byelaws may be made respecting the following matters : — (1) For prescribing the procedure to be adopted in making application for the renewal of the registration of any such house and the keeper thereof. (2) For fixing the maximum number of persons who may occupy or use each room in such farmed- out house. (3) For enforcing sufficient water-closet accommodation and other appliances and means of cleanli- ness in proportion to the number of lodgers and occupiers, and also for proper drainage of such houses. (4) For promoting the cleanliness, lighting, and ventilation of such houses. (5) For making provision in respect of the inspection of such houses and the conditions and restrictions under which such inspection may be made. (6) For prohibiting the keeper of such house from permitting any sub-tenant to occupy any apartment or room to which entry can only be had from another apartment or room occupied by a different sub-tenant. There is no power to make a byelaw requiring the separation of the sexes in such houses. The byelaws before coming into operation require to be confirmed by the Sheriff. Houses that have been declared to be farmed-out houses cannot be kept or used as such unless the registration is renewed, and it is not lawful to receive or retain any lodgers in such houses imless registration is renewed. 213. Somewhat similar powers were applied for by the Corporation of Glasgow in the Provisional Order promoted by them in 1914 (see Appndix LXXXIIL), but the apphcation of Glasgow was refused by Parliament. There were some important differences in the Glasgow Order as compared with the Edinburgh Act. The latter is confined to a house or part of a house furnished or unfurnished " let or used or held for the purpose of being let or used as a one-roomed house or a number of separate ' one-roomed houses, where — REPORT. 29 • (1) Either [a) any rent or consideration therefor is paid or payable by the persons using such one- ' roomed house or any of such separate one-roomed houses on or before entry or within forty-eight hours ' thereafter, or (b) there are four or more such one-roomed houses entering by a common stair or passage ' and let or permitted by the same keeper to be used as aforesaid ; and ' (2) The Medical Officer of Health gives a certificate that such house either from its construction or ' the manner in which it is or is proposed to be used required special supervision in the interests of public 'health." 214. The Glasgow clause was not limited to a house let as a one-roomed house or a number of separate one-roomed houses. The Corporation of Glasgow desired power to deal with any house or part of a house or any apartment therein " used or let or rented as one or more separate furnished houses or apartments." 215. The Glasgow Order specified certain persons who could not act as keepers of farmed-out houses, clearly with the view of preventing such houses being resorted to for immoral purposes. The scope of the byelaws in the Glasgow Order was much wider than in the Edinburgh Act, and included such subjects as — ■ The keeping and well-ordering of such houses. Fixing the hours for closing such houses for the night for letting purposes. Prohibiting persons under sixteen years of age residing in such houses, unless they so reside with their parents or guardians. 216. As already stated, however, the powers sought by Glasgow in their Order were not granted. It may be well to note, however, that by section 17 of the Glasgow Corporation (Police) Order Confirmation Act, 1901, the Corporation are empowered to make byelaws requiring that, in houses let in lodgings, and farmed-out houses as defined in the Public Health Act, persons of different sexes above the age of ten years (other than husband and wife) shall not occupy the same sleeping apartment. (d) Tents, Vans, and Sheds. 217. The use of these erections may be regulated by means of byelaws. The byelaws may deal with cleanliness and habitable condition, the prevention of the spread of infectious disease, and provide generally for the prevention of nuisances. (Public Health Act, section 73.) The byelaws usually provide for the following :— (a) A cubic space of 100 feet or upwards per person in the case of tents ; 150 feet or upwards per person in the case of vans ; and from 200 to 300 feet in sheds (400 feet in Glasgow) — two children under ten years being reckoned as one person. (6) The provision of suitable and sufficient privy or water-closet accommodation. (c) The prohibition of keeping animals so as to render such tents, etc., filthy or im wholesome. (d) The provision of slop-sinks and drainage. (e) Vans and sheds to be water-tight, and tents to have tarpaulin cover for ground. (/) Adequate ventilation to be provided. {g) Tents, vans, and sheds and their surroundings to be kept in a clean and wholesome condition, and means of disposal of refuse to be provided. (h) Sufficient supply of pure water, utensils, soap, and towels. (i) Tents or vans with case of infectious disease therein not to be moved without consent of Medical Officer of Health. (j) Sheds to be properly lighted and windows to be kept open at stated periods. (k) Trenches to be dug round tents when required by Local Authority. (Z) Separate sleeping accommodation to be provided for the sexes, except in the case of husband and wife. (m) In Glasgow a floor space of 16 square feet per person over ten years of age is required. 218. These byelaws are made use of in dealing with temporary erections provided for navvies in connection with public works, for fruit-pickers, herring-gutters, etc. 219. In addition to the powers imder the byelaws, the Medical Officer of Health or Sanitary Inspector have power of entry between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to ascertain whether there is any overcrowding or any infectious disease. Further, a tent, van, shed, or similar structure which is in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health or is so overcrowded as to be injurious or dangerous to the health of the inmates is to be regarded as a nuisance under the Public Health Act, and dealt with accordingly. (Macpherson, 2 (89-92).) (e) Underground Dwellings. 220. The regulation of underground dwellings is dealt with in section 74 of the Public Health Act. The chief recjuirements that a cellar, vault, or imderground room must fulfil in order that it may be legally let separaj^ely or occupied as a dwelling-house are as follows : — {a) Its height in every part from floor to ceiling must, if built before 1st January 1898, be 8 feet ; if built thereafter, 9 feet. (6) Not less than one-third of its height, or alternatively 3 feet of its height, must be above the level of the adjoining street or ground. (c) It must have an open area 2|- feet wide from the level of the floor up to the street or ground level. (d) It must have the use of a water-closet, earth-closet, or privy, and also an ashpit. (e) It must have a glazed window of at least 9 square feet in area, and made to open to half its extent. (/) It must have a fireplace with a chimney or flue. (g) If it is an inner or back cellar or vault let or occupied along with a front vault or room, it must have a ventilating flue, unless the house was built before 1st January 1898. (h) It must be effectually drained ; the drain must either be a gas-tight pipe or be otherwise effectually sealed, and the top of the drain must be at least 1 foot below the level of the floor. 221. Where two convictions against the provisions of the Act dealing with underground dwellings 30 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. have taken place within a period of three months, the Sheriff may empower the Local Authority to permanently close such dwellings in such manner as they may deem fit. (Macpherson, 2 (94) (95).) 222. Further powers are provided by the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, section 17 (7), for dealing with underground rooms. There it is provided that where a room habitually used as a sleeping- place has its floor more than 3 feet below the adjoining street, and is not on an average at least seven feet in height, or does not comply with such regulations as the Local Authority with the consent of the Local Government Board may prescribe, it is for the purposes of this provision deemed a dwelling-house imfit for human habitation and may be closed. There are, however, no powers for demolition of such a room. (Macpherson, 2 (230).) ^ (f ) Back-to-Back Houses. 223. Back-to-back houses are houses that are usually under one roof in which the rear wall of one house forms the rear wall of another house fronting another and parallel street. The objection to such houses is that they cannot be properly ventilated, and accordingly their erection is prohibited unless the Medical Officer of Health certifies that the houses are so constructed and arranged as to secure effective ventilation of all habitable rooms. (Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, section 43 ; see also Macpherson, 2 (231).) (g) Obstructive Buildings. 224. An obstructive building is a building which, though not of itself imfit for human habitation, is so situated that (a) it stops or impedes ventilation or renders other buildings uninhabitable, or (b) it prevents proper measures for remedying any nuisance or other evils in such other buildings. If the Medical Officer of Health represents a building as obstructive, the Local Authority must consider whether the building should be pulled down. The owner must, however, have an opportunity of stating his objections before any Order of Demolition is made, and later he can appeal to the Sheriff against the execution of the Order. Any four or more inhabitant householders have the same power of representation as the Medical Officer of Health. 225. The Local Authority are authorised to purchase the site compulsorily, the compensatior to be fixed by an arbiter appointed by the Local Government Board. Part of the compensation payable may be apportioned among the owners of the buildings that have been improved by reason of the demolition. Such part of the cleared site as may not be required may, with the Local Government Board's consent, be sold ; or it may be kept as an open space, highway, or other public place. (Macpherson, 2 (233) (234).) (10) Control of Unhealthy and Insanitary Areas. 226. Under the procedure already described for dealing with houses imfit for human habitation or otherwise in an unsatisfactory state, it is necessary to deal with each house separately. There are, however, more especially in the larger burghs, areas within the districts of Local Authorities, in which the houses are all more or less insanitary and unfit for habitation. Special powers are provided whereby these may be dealt with, and two methods of procedure are available to Local Authorities. One is by means of what is termed an Improvement Scheme. This power, which is conferred by Part I. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, is, however, available only to Local Authorities of burghs. Local Authorities of county areas cannot use it. The second method is available to County and Burgh Authorities alike, and is conferred by Part II. of the above-named Act. It is termed a Eeconstruction Scheme, and, so far as the burghs are concerned, will apply to an area which is considered too small to be dealt with by means of an Improvement Scheme. The procedure under these two methods will now be described. (a) Improvement Schemes. 227. An improvement scheme is applicable to any area in which there are houses, courts, or alleys imfit for human habitation, or in which the narrowness, closeness, and bad arrangement or the bad con- dition of the streets and houses or groups of houses within the area, or the want of light, air, ventilation, or proper conveniences, or any other sanitary defects are dangerous or injurious to health. 228. Representation by Medical Officer of Health. — The Medical Officer of Health is bound to make an official representation to the Local Authority if it appears to him that there is any such area in his district. If complaint is made to him by two or more Justices of the Peace, or by twelve or more rate- payers of the imhealthiness of any area, he is bound to inspect the area and make to the Local Authority an official representation stating the facts of the case and whether, in his opinion, the area is or is not an unhealthy one. 229. If on such complaint by twelve or more ratepayers the Medical Officer of Health fails to make a representation to the Local Authority, or represents that the area is not an unhealthy one, any twelve ratepayers may appeal to the Local Government Bgard, who may hold an inquiry by any of their own officers. If the officer so reporting represents that'the area is an unhealthy one, his representation must be sent by the Local Government Board to the Local Authority and treated and dealt with by the latter as if it were an official representation by the Medical Officer of Health. (Macpherson, 2 (211) (212) (243).) 230. Procedure of Local Authority.- — In cases where the Local Authority receive such a representa- tion as above described, and where the representation affirms that the most satisfactory method of deal- ing with the evils in the area is an improvement scheme for the rearrangement and reconstruction of the streets and houses, the Local Authority must take the matter into their consideration, and if satisfied of the truth of the representation and of the sufficiency of their resources to caiTy out such a scheme, they must proceed with a scheme for the improvement of the area in question. Any number of areas may, however, be included in one scheme. (1890 Act, section 4 ; 1909 Act, section 22 ; Macpherson, 2 (244).) 231. If the Local Authority fail to proceed with an improvement scheme, they must send a copy REPORT. 31 of the representation with their reasons for not acting on it to the Local Government Board, who may direct a local inquiry to go into the matter. As already explained, the Local Government Board have power to apply to the Court of Session, who may require the Local Authority to take action. 232. Provisions of Scheme. — The Local Authority may provide in their scheme for the widening of approaches to the unhealthy area or otherwise for opening out the same for purposes of ventilation or health ; for the provision of dwelling accommodation for the working classes displaced by the scheme ; for proper sanitary arrangements ; and generally for any other matters for which it seems expedient to make provision. Unless required by the Local Government Board, it is not obligatory on the Local Authority to provide in their scheme accommodation for the persons dispossessed of their houses. Where such accommodation is required to be provided, it must be for such number of persons as the Local Goverimient Board require. The accommodation so provided may be either within or without the limits of the area to which the scheme applies. The Local Authority may appropriate any lands belong- ing to them, or purchase other lands, for the purpose of providing accommodation for persons displaced in consequence of an improvement scheme. (Macpherson, 2 (245) (255) (256).) 233. Confirmation of Scheme by Local Government Board.- — When the scheme has been completed, the Local Authority have to give public notice of the fact of such scheme having been made ; thereafter a notice has to be served on all parties interested either as owner, lessee, or occupier of land proposed to be taken. 234. When this has been done, the Local Authority may present a petition to the Local Government Board asking for a confirming order. The Local Government Board then cause a local inquiry to be held, and if satisfied make an order authorising the scheme to be carried into execution, subject to such con- ditions and modifications as they think fit, so that no addition is made to the area of the scheme. A copy of this order has then to be served by the Local Authority on all the parties who have received the notices just mentioned. The scheme may subsequently be modified if necessary by the Local Govern- ment Board on the application of the Local Authority. 235. Execution of Scheme.- — When the order has been granted authorising an improvement scheme, the Local Authority are boimd to take steps as soon as practicable for purchasing the lands required for the scheme, and generally to carry out the scheme. The Act provides that, except with the express approval of the Local Government Board, a Local Authority shall not themselves undertake the rebuild- ing of houses or the execution of any part of the scheme, except that they may pull down the buildings and clear the area, and lay out the necessary streets. They are empowered to sell or let all or any part of the area to any purchasers or lessees on condition that these persons carry out the scheme. The Local Authority may also engage with any society or person, or body of trustees, to carry out all or any part of the scheme. 236. In any grant or lease of any part of the area, the Local Authority must impose suitable con- ditions and restrictions as to the elevation, size, and design of the houses, and must make due provision for the maintenance of proper sanitary arrangements. 237. If within five years after the removal of the buildings from the land set aside by any scheme authorised by a confirming order as sites for working men's dwellings, the Local Authority have failed to sell or let such land, the Board may then order the land to be sold publicly on condition that the necessary dwellings for the working classes are erected. 238. It would appear, however, that by the 1909 Act (section 40) the Local Authority are relieved of any obligation to sell any lands or dwellings acquired or constructed by them for any of the purposes of the Housing Acts, and in so far as improvement schemes are concerned, it is not likely that the Board will require the Local Authority to sell the land. (Macpherson, 2 (242-256).) 239. In connection with improvement schemes, it may be necessary to acquire property compulsorily. The provisions laid down by the Acts for this purpose and for the payment of compensation are detailed imder a subsequent heading. (Paragraph 297 et seq.) (b) Reconstruction Schemes. 240. As already stated, while the foregoing provisions as to Improvement Schemes apply only to burghs, a Reconstruction Scheme can be framed either by a burgh or by a county Local Authority. A Local Authority may direct a Reconstruction Scheme to be prepared in either of the following cases, viz. :— (a) Where it appears to the Local Authority that the site of demolished dwelling-houses would beneficially be used either as a highway, an open space, a site for dwellings for the working classes, or in exchange for neighbouring land better suited for such dwellings ; or (b) Where it appears to the Local Authority that the closeness, narrowness, and bad arrangement or bad condition of any buildings, or the want of light, air, ventilation, or proper conveniences, or any other sanitary defect in any buildings is dangerous or prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants either of such buildings or of neighbouring buildings, and that the demolition or the reconstruction and re- arrangement of the said buildings or of some of them is necessary to remedying these evils, and that the area is too small to be dealt with by means of an improvement scheme, a Local Authority may include neighbouring lands if they are of opinion that these are necessary for making the scheme efficient. 24L The consequent procedure and powers are practically identical with those already described in connection with improvement schemes. Notices have to be served on owners, lessees, and occupiers ; a petition has to be made to the Local Government Board ; the Board may hold a local inquiry and grant an order, absolute or conditional ; the Local Authority may exercise compulsory powers to acquire the area, and they must carry the scheme into execution as soon as practicable ; and, if necessary, provision must be made for the rehousing of persons displaced. (Macpherson, 2 (276-278).) 242. Powers of compulsory acquisition of property are conferred on the Local Authority, and as in the case of improvement schemes these will be dealt with under a subsequent heading. (Paragraph 303 et seq.) 32 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (11) Provision of Houses for thk Working Classes. (a) Rehousing Obligations of Local Authorities, Companies, etc. 243. It has been shown that in connection with improvement and reconstruction schemes, the Local Authority if required 'by the Local Government Board mxist make provision for the housing accommodation of persons dispossessed by these schemes, and it is provided in regard to improvement schemes that the Local Authority caimot without the approval of the Local Government Board rebuild houses on the cleared area. 244. Before going on to describe the general powers of Local Authorities to provide houses, reference may here be made to special rehousing obligations which are imposed on any authority, company, or person that acquires land whether compulsorily or by agreement xmder any local Act or Provisional Order, or Order having the effect of an Act, or when land is acquired compulsorily imder any general Act (other than the Housing Acts). (1903 Act, section 3 ; 1909 Act, section 53 (10).) If under the local Act or Order or the general Act power is given for the purposes of carrying out the scheme to which the Act or Order refers to take workmg-men's dwellings occupied by thirty or more persons, these dwellings cannot be taken over until the Local Government Board have either approved a housing scheme or have decided that such a scheme is not necessary. The number of persons to be rehoused under the scheme shall not exceed the number of persons actually displaced, and the Board as a condition of their approval of a scheme may require that the new dwellings or part of them shall be ready for occupation before possession is taken of the dwellings acquired under the Act or Order. The Board may also require a certain standard of dwelling-house to be erected, or may prescribe the mode in which the houses are to be erected. If the authorised parties fail to carry out the provisions of the housing scheme, the Board may compel them to do so. 245. It is interesting to note that for the purposes of these special rehousing obligations the ex- pression " working class " is defined to include mechanics, artisans, labourers, and others working for wages ; hawkers, costermongers, persons not working for wages but working at some trade or handi- craft without employing others, except members of their own family, and persons other than domestic servants whose income in any case does not exceed an average of 30s. a week (see 12 (e) of Schedule to Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1903). This appears to be the only attempt in the Housing of the Working Classes Acts at a definition of the expression " workmg classes." (b) Provision of Houses by Local Authorities. 246. Nature of Houses that may be Provided. — The general power to erect houses is conferred on Local Authorities by Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. (Section 53, etc., as amended by the Housing, Town Planning, etc. Act, 1909.) Under that part Local Authorities are em- powered to provide what are called " lodgmg-houses for the working classes." These houses are defined to include separate houses or cottages for the working classes, whether containing one or several tene- ments, and a cottage may include a garden of not more than one acre. 247. Power to Provide Houses formerly an adoptive one.- — Prior to the coming into force of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, in December 1909, Part III. of the 1890 Act could not become operative in any area until it had been adopted by the Local Authority. In burghs a resolution of the Town Council to adopt the Act was sufficient. In county areas, however, the Local Authority had first to apply to the Local Government Board for a certificate that accommodation was necessary in any specified part of the Local Authority's area for the housing of the working classes, that there was no probability that such accommodation would be provided without the execution of the Local Authority's powers imder Part III. of the Act, and that, having regard to the liability which would be incurred by the rates, it was under all the circumstances prudent for the Local Authority to imdertake the provision of the houses. If, after a local inquiry, the person holding it certified in the above terms, the Local Govern- ment Board were empowered if they thought fit to publish that certificate in one or more local news- papers circulating in the district, and thereupon the Local Authority were empowered to adopt Part III. of the Act, subject, however, to the important proviso that, unless the Local Government Board considered it necessary that the Act should be adopted immediately, the adoption could not take place before the next ordinary election of members of the Local Authority. 248. Power now Available without Adoption.' — By the 1909 Act, however. Part III. of the 1890 Act, is now operative in the area of every Local Authority. There is no definite obligation on the Local Authority to put in force the powers thus conferred on them, but the Local Government Board, as abeady explained,- — on complaint being made to them, as regards a county area by the County Council, or by a Parish Council, or by any four inhabitant householders, and as regards a burgh by any four inhabitant householders, that the Local Authority have failed to exercise their powers under Part III. in cases where these powers ought to have been exercised- — are empowered to make application to the Court of Session, who may order the Local Authority to take any action they consider necessary. (1909 Act, section 53 (11).) 249. Power to Acquire Land, Erect and Fit up Houses, etc. — For the purpose of erecting houses a Local Authority may acquire land either by agreement or by compulsory purchase. The procedure will be detailed under the subsequent heading " Acquisition of Land." (Paragraph 309 et seq.) In addition to erecting houses or converting any buildings into working-class houses, the Local Authority are em- powered to fit up, furnish, and supply the houses with all requisite furniture, fittings, and conveniences. (1890 Act, section 59.) 250. Instead of the Local Authority erecting the houses, they may, with the consent of the Local Government Board, lease any land acquired by them on condition that the lessee builds and maintains the necessary houses. (1900 Act, section 5.) 251. They may also contract for the purchase or lease of any houses for the working-classes already built or to be provided. (1890 Act, section 57 (2).) Power is also given to the trustees of any houses for REPORT. 33 the working classes provided by private subscriptions or otherwise to sell or lease the houses to the Local Authority and make over to them the management of the houses. (1890 Act, section 58.) 252. Power to Provide SJwps, Recreation Grounds, etc., in connection with Houses. — The Local Authority may also, with the consent of the Local Government Board, provide and maintain in connection with any houses provided by them any building adapted for use as a shop, any recreation grounds, or other buildings or land which in the opinion of the Local Government Board will serve a beneficial purpose in connection with the requirements of the persons for whom the houses are provided. (1903 Act, section 11.) 253. General Management of Houses — Byelaws may he made. — The general management of the houses provided under Part III. of the 1890 Act is exercised by the Local Authority, and they may charge such rents therefor as they may determine by regulations. They may also make byelaws, which re- quire confirmation by the Local Government Board, for the regulation of such houses, and where the houses are of the nature of common lodging-houses the byelaws must make provision — (1) For securing control by the officers of the Local Authority. (2) For securing separation of the sexes, including the separation of boys and girls above eight years old. (3) For preventing any disturbance or nuisance. (4) For determining the duties of the officers in charge. (Macpherson, 2 (312-314).) 254. The above provisions, however, do not apply to houses erected by persons to whom the Local Authority have leased land under the powers referred to above. 255. Local Authority may Sell Houses. — -If, after seven years, the Local Authority determine that houses provided by them under the foregoing powers are unnecessary or too expensive to be kept up, they may, with the consent of the Local Government Board, sell them for the best price that can reasonably be obtained. (1890 Act, section 64.) 256. Power of County Councils to provide Houses for Constables and Roadmen. — In addition to the above powers, a Coimty Council are empowered by the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1908 (section 3), subject to the consent of the Secretary for Scotland, to provide dwelling-houses for constables and road workmen. (c) Provision of Houses by Companies, Societies, etc. 257. Powers of Borrowing. — Except to the extent set forth above under the heading " Rehousing Obligations of Companies, etc," companies, or other bodies employing persons of the working classes do not appear to be under any statutory obligation to provide houses. Provision is, however, made whereby any railway company, or dock or harbour company, or any other company, society, or associa- tion established for the purpose of constructing or improving, or of facilitating or encouraging the construc- tion or improvement of dwellings for the working classes, or for trading or manufacturing purposes (in the course of whose business, or in the discharge of whose duties persons of the working classes are em- ployed), may borrow money from the Public Works Loan Board for the purpose of erecting working- class houses. Private individuals may also similarly borrow. The loan, the period of repayment of which cannot exceed forty years, may not exceed one-half of the value of the property, except in the case of pubHc utility societies, who may be granted a loan not exceeding two-thirds oJE the value of the property. (1890 Act, section 67 ; 1909 Act, section 4.) 258. Assistance to Building Societies. — County Councils may promote the formation or extension of co-operative societies having for their object the erection or improvement of dwelUngs for the working classes. (1909 Act, section 72.) Town Councils have, in certain circumstances, similar powers to assist, as is explained later. (Paragraph 261.) To assist such societies, a County Council may make grants of money or guarantee advances upon such rate of interest and other conditions as they think fit, and the County Council may borrow the money required for this purpose. The Local Government Board may make such regulations govern- ing such matters, and one of these regulations must be that no advance shall exceed two-thirds of the value of the property held as seciirity. (Macpherson, 2 (329-331).) 259. Provision of Houses under Trusts. — Before preparing any scheme with reference to property required to be applied imder any trusts for the provision of dwelUngs available for the working classes, the court or body who are responsible for making the scheme must communicate with the Local Govern- ment Board, and receive and consider any recommendations made by the Board with reference to the proposed scheme. (Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, section 9 (2).) (d) Provision of Houses by or through Government Departments. 260. Special power was conferred by the Housing Act, 1914 (passed on 10th August 1914), on the Local Government Board, with the approval of the Treasury, to make arrangements with any authorised society for the provision of dwelling-houses for persons employed by or on behalf of Government depart- ments on Govemiiient works in cases where sufficient dwelling accommodation is not available. The Commissioners of Works are given power to acquire land and build houses for the same purpose. 261. For the purposes of this Act " authorised society " is defined to mean any society, company, or body of persons approved by the Treasury, whose objects include the erection, improvement, or manage- ment of dwellings for working classes, which does not trade for profit, or whose constitution forbids the payment of any interest or dividend at a rate exceeding five per cent, per annum. The Local Govern- ment Board, with the approval of the Treasury, may assist any such society who arrange to provide houses for the purposes of the Act, by becoming holders of the share or loan capital, or by making loans to the society, or otherwise as the Board think fit. Where the Board make arrangements under the Act with such a society, for the provision of houses in a burgh, the Town Council of the burgh may, with the approval of the Board, assist the society in the same manner as the Board are empowered to assist. 262. By the Housing (No. 2) Act, 1914, passed on the same date as the Housing Act, 1914, the Board 3 34 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. of Agriculture for Scotland, as regards agricultural districts, and the Local Government Board as regards other districts, were given power during the period of a year from the passing of the Act (10th August 1914) to acquire, with the consent of the Treasury and the concurrence of the Development Commis- sioners, land and buildings for housing purposes. The two Boards were each given power to make arrangements for the provision of houses for the working classes with any Local Authority or authorised society (as already defined above), but it was specially provided that neither Board were in any case themselves to build houses unless they were satisfied, after holding a public local inquiry, that in that case there was an insufiiciency of dwelHng accommodation for the working classes, or that the existing accommodation was imsuitable, and that accommodation could not be otherwise satisfactorily pro- vided for. (e) Provision of Houses under the Small Dwellings Acquisition, Ad, 1899. 263. This Act, though not authorising Local Authorities to build houses, empowers them to advance money for enabhng persons to acquire the ownership of small houses in which they reside. Any such advance shall not exceed four-fiiths of that which, in the opinion of the Local Authority, is the market value of the ownership, nor £240, nor, in the case of a fee-simple or leasehold of not less than ninety-nine years unexpired at the date of the purchase, £300. An advance shall not be made where, in the opinion of the Local Authority, the market value of a house exceeds £400. 264. Advances must be repaid within thirty years, and the rate of interest must not exceed ten shil- lings above the rate at which the Local Authority can at the time borrow the money from the PubUc Works Loan Board. (Section 1 (2) and (3).) Repayments are to be made weekly, or at such other periods not exceeding a half year, as may be agreed. (Section 1 (4).) 265. Before mafing an advance, a Local Authority must be satisfied, inter alia, that the applicant intends to reside in the house, and that the house is in good sanitary condition and repair. (Section 2.) 266. When a house has been purchased under the Act, the house is held subject to certain conditions till the advance is paid up. These are — (a) Payments must be made punctually. (6) The proprietor must reside in the house. (c) The house must be kept insured against fire. \d) The house must be kept in good sanitary condition and repair. (c) The bouse must not be used for the sale of intoxicating liquors, or in such a manner as to be a nuisance to adjacent houses. (/) The Local Authority have power to enter the house at all reasonable times. 267. If any of these conditions are not complied with, the Local Authority may take possession or order the sale of the house. The proprietor of the house may transfer his interest in it with the per- mission of the Local Authority. The proprietor remains personally liable for repayment of any sum due until he ceases to be proprietor. 268. The Local Authorities for the purposes of the Act are, in counties (including all the burghs therein under 7000 population), the County Council, and in all other burghs the Town Council. Where the expenses of a Local Authority under the Act, and not reimbursed by the receipts, exceed a sum equal to |d. per £ in counties and Id. per £ in burghs, no advances are to be made for a period* of five years. If, at the end of that period, the above rates are still exceeded, no advances can be made till the rates fall below that amoimt. The cost of the preparation of titles, etc. , is to be included as part of the advance. 269. The Secretary for Scotland is the Central Authority for the administration of the Act, but he has no powers to compel a Local Authority to put it in force. Only one Local Authority in Scotland have obtained a loan from the Public Works Loan Commissioners for the purposes of the Act, which is, so far as Scotland is concerned, apparently a dead letter. (Macpherson, 2 (189)-(201).) (f) Provision of Houses under the Improvement of Land Acts. 270. Land Improvement Companies. — There are two companies empowered by statute to afford facilities for the improvement of land in Scotland by means of charges on estates, viz. the Scottish Drainage and Improvement Company and the Lands Improvement Company. The former was incor- porated by Act of Parliament in 1856, and the latter in 1853. Amending Acts have been passed subse- quent to these dates regulating the operation of both companies. The capital of each was fixed at £100,000, consisting of 5000 shares of £20 each and 10,000 shares of £10 each respectively, and they were empowered to issue transferable mortgage debentures. Both companies are bound to observe the pro- visions of the Improvement of Land Acts, 1864 and 1899, which consolidated the Companies Acts, ex- tended the scope of the improvements, and rendered it possible for a landowner of Umited interest to make application direct to the Board of Agriculture for Scotland for authority to borrow money in the open market, or to make advances for the execution of improvements on his land. 271. Powers of Board of Agriculture. — The nature of the improvements which are competent under the Acts of the above companies and the Improvement of Land Acts, include the erection of farm- houses and other buildings required for farm purposes, the improvement of and additions to farmhouses and such other buildings, the erection of labourers' cottages, and the improvement of and additions to labourers' cottages, etc. The whole of the expenditure on these improvements may be obtained by the landowner from the companies, the only limitation being the approval and sanction of the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. Should that Board, after due investigation, think fit to entertain an applica- tion for sanction to the commencement of works, they may do so by issuing a Provisional Older, which indicates the general scheme of the improvements and secures to the landowner the title to an absolute charge on his estate ; while, on the completion of the improvements to their satisfaction, the Board may, by absolute Order, create a yearly rent charge upon the estate in respect of the whole expenses incurred in the execution of the works. 272. The maximum period of repayment of the charge was twenty-five years up till the passing of REPORT. 35 the Improvement of Land Act, 1899, when it was extended to such period not exceeding forty years, as the Board of Agriculture in each case determine. As a rule, the whole estate is taken as security for the loan, though, where cottages are provided in connection with a farm, the farm might be the security. 273. The Board of Agriculture, however, have no statutory duties in regard to applications from absolute owners of land who may apply to the companies direct for loans over their property. The operations of the companies are not necessarily confined to estates in the hands of an owner with a limited interest, but there is not much interest for an owner with absolute title to deal with the com- panies. Where they lend money with the sanction of the Board of Agriculture, the companies have the special privilege of an over-riding claim upon property before all heritable securities. But if the companies deal with an absolute owner without the intervention of the Board of Agriculture, they have not this special privilege. They are then in the same position as an ordinary bondholder. 274. The Board of Agriculture, before they give their sanction, lay down conditions regarding the type of cottage to be built. Every cottage must have a living room, and two or three bedrooms, while a water-supply must be convenient. (See Conacher, 43,464 (9) ; Macdonald, 43,641-4 ; Ritchie, 44,211, etc.) (12) Town Planning. 275. As the whole question of town planning will be fully discussed in a later section of this report, it is only necessary here to give a brief outline of the statutory provisions on this subject which were embodied in general legislation for the first time in Part II. of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909. The general purpose of that part of the Act is to give Local Authorities a controlUng voice in the development of land in and around their district, so as to secure proper sanitary conditions, amenity, and convenience in the laying out and use of such land. (a) Nature of Land to he Town Planned. 276. A town-planning scheme may be made by a Local Authority as respects any land in course of development, or likely to be used for building purposes. A scheme may also include a piece of land already built upon, or land not likely to be used for building purposes if it is so situated with respect to other land that it ought to be included. A Local Authority instead of preparing a scheme themselves may adopt, with or without modification, any scheme proposed by all or any of the owners of any land suitable for town planning. 277. In their scheme a Local Authority may schedule not only land within their district, but also land in the neighbourhood of and outwith their district. In such a case the scheme which, as explained later, must be approved by the Local Government Board, will determine who is to be the authority for its administration. The authority may be one of the Local Authorities of the area concerned, or, for certain pxirposes of the scheme, one Local Authority, and for certain purposes another Local Authority, or a joint body constituted specially for the purpose by the scheme. (b) Authority to Prepare a Scheme. 278. There are two stages in the procedure in connection with town-planning schemes. The Local Authority must first obtain the authority of the Local Government Board to adopt an owner's scheme or to prepare a scheme of their own. Having obtained this authority, they then proceed to de- velop the details of their, or the owner's, scheme, and when these are complete submit them to the Local Government Board for approval. On receipt of that approval, the scheme is ready for being put into execution. Before making application to the Board for authority to adopt or prepare a town-planning scheme, the Local Authority must, in accordance with regulations framed by the Board, have inter alia made pubUc advertisement of their intentions to prepare a scheme, and conferred with owners and other persons interested in the land proposed to be included in the scheme. If the Board are satisfied that the Local Authority have established a prima-facie case for town planning the scheduled area, they make an Order delimiting the area, authorising adoption or preparation of the scheme, and providing for the demolition or alteration of any buildings on the area so far as may be necessary for carr3nng the scheme into effect. (c) Preparation and Contents of Scheme. 279. This authority having been obtained, the second stage of the procedure is then entered upon, the Local Authority proceeding to embody in their scheme such provisions as they may choose and as are specified in the Act, with a view to submitting the scheme for the approval of the Local Govern- ment Board. Before the scheme is submitted, similar procedure is prescribed to that required when application for authority to prepare a scheme is to be made, viz. pubUc advertisement and notice by the Local Authority of their intention to apply to the Board for approval of the scheme, conference with owners and interested parties, etc. The Board are empowered by the Act to prescribe a set of general provisions (or separate sets of general provisions adapted to suit special areas), and these general provisions take effect as part of every scheme except so far as the Board agree to their modification or exclusion. The scheme may also suspend any statutory enactments, byelaws, regulations, and other provisions in operation in the area to which the scheme appUes, and may place restrictions on the number of buildings which may be erected on each acre and the height and character of these buildings. (d) Approval of Local Government Board to Scheme. , 280. If the Board are satisfied with the scheme presented to them, they may make an Order approv- ing it with or without modification. Before giving their approval, however, they are required to give 38 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. notice of their intention in the Edimburgh Gazette, and if within twenty-one days any person or authority interested objects, the draft of their Order must be laid before each House of Parliament for not less than thirty days during a session ; and if either House dissents no further proceedings may be taken, without prejudice to the making of a new scheme. 281. Special procedure is prescribed in cases where a scheme contains provisions suspending any enactment of a public general Act. In these cases the scheme does not come into force unless a draft has been laid before each House of Parliament for not less than forty days. If in that time either House presents an address to His Majesty against the proposed suspension, no fiurther proceedings may be taken. That, however, is without prejudice to the making of a new scheme. 282. A scheme having received the approval of the Local Government Board has effect as if it were enacted in the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act. Powers are given to vary or revoke any scheme by the substitution of another scheme. (e) Power of Local Government Board to compel Preparation and Execution of Scheme. 283. If the Local Government Board are satisfied on any representation and after a local inquiry that a Local Authority m a responsible axithority (as determined by the Board) — {a) Have failed to prepare a scheme for approval where a scheme ought to be made ; or (6) Have failed to adopt a scheme proposed by owners where the scheme ought to be adopted ; (c) Have unreasonably refused to consent to any modification or conditions imposed by the Board ; or {d) Have failed to enforce effectively the observance or execution of a scheme as approved, the Board, with the approval of the Lord Advocate, may apply to the Court of Session to order the Local Authority (o) to prepare and submit a scheme for the approval of the Board, or (6) to adopt the scheme proposed, or (c) to consent to the Board's modifications or conditions, or {d) to enforce the observance or execution of a scheme, according as the circumstances of each case may require. (Macpherson, 2 (359, etc.).) 284. There are various statutory provisions dealing with compensation and acquisition of land in connection with town-planning schemes. These will be found summarised xmder the heading " Acquisition of Land, including Compensation." (Paragraph 314 et seq.) (13) Acquisition or Land, including Compensation for Land Acquibed. 285. As different procedure is prescribed in different statutes, and sometimes even in the same statute, for deahng with the acquisition of land, including the determination of the amount of compensa- tion to be paid for land so acquired, it is proposed imder this heading to set forth the procedure under each statute dealing with public health and housing. It should be kept in mind that, where the expres- sion " Local Authority " is used in relation to acquiring land, it means, in the cases of counties, the County Council, not the District Committee. Accordingly, any land required by a District Committee for the purposes of water, drainage, housing schemes, etc., has to be acquired by the County Coimcil in whose name it is held. (a) Under the Lands Clauses Ads. 286. Origin and Object of Lands Clauses ^cis.— Before the year 1845, any special Act involving the acquisition of lands, whether by agreement or compulsion, had to include not merely a description of the lands to be taken but also the detailed methods to be followed in acquiring them. As the methods of acquiring lands for many forms of pubUc undertaking were substantially a repetition of one another, Parhament, in the year 1845, decided to consolidate " in one Act certain provisions usually inserted in ' Acts authorising the taking of lands for imdertakings of a pubhc nature in Scotland." The purpose of consolidation was twofold : first, to avoid the necessity of repeating provisions in each of the several Acts relating to imdertakings of a public nature ; and second, to ensure greater uniformity in the pro- visions themselves. Since 1845, therefore, when a public authority is authorised by Parliament to acquire lands, the authorising special Act incorporates such provisions of the Lands Clauses Consohda- tion (Scotland) Act, 1845,'and subsequent amending Act as may be necessary for the particular imdertaking. The special Act, however, may also contain modifications or amendments of the Lands Clauses Acts, and in many of the recent Acts such modifications are to be found. 287. Method of Determining Compensation. — For the purposes of this chapter it does not seem necessary to give in any great detail the provisions of these Acts. It may here be sufficient to say that the Acts provide for the determination of compensation by various methods. According to circum- stances, this matter may be determined by the Sheriff, by a single arbiter if the parties can agree on one, by two arbiters and an oversman where the parties cannot agree on a single arbiter, or by a jury. In the experience of Scotland arbitration is the normal method of determining compensation. 288. Allocation of Expenses of Arbitration. — Where the matter in dispute is determined by arbitra- tion, the arbiters are empowered to examine the parties to the arbitration, or their witnesses, and to " take all evidence competent according to the'law of Scotland." The expenses of the arbitration (other than the expenses of the arbiters which are borne by the promoters) are borne by the promoters imless the award is the same as, or less than, the sum offered by the promoters. If the award is the same as, or less than, the offer, each party must bear his own expenses. (b) Under the Public Health {Scotland) Act, 1897. 289. The matters under this Act connected with housing in respect of which the acquisition of land would be necessary are chiefly the provision of proper water-supply and drainage schemes for the area or part of the area of a Local Authority. The Local Authority may, in terms of the Lands Clauses Acts, acquire land (which for the purposes of the Act includes water and any right or servitude to or over REPORT. 37 land or water) either by agreement or compulsorily. (Macpherson, 2 (106).) These same powers of acquisition of land are^ade available to Coimty Councils by the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1908, section 5, for the provision of houses for constables and roadmen. 290. Procedure for Compulsory Acquisition of Land. — Where a Local Authority have to acquire land compulsorily, they must first obtain from the Local Government Board a Provisional Order empowering them to put in force the powers of the Lands Clauses Acts with respect to compulsory purchase. Prior to the application for the Order, the Local Authority must have given public notice of their proposal to acquire the land, and must have served a like notice on the owners and occupiers of the land proposed to be acquired . After due inquiry the Local Government Board may grant the Provisional Order applied for. When it has been granted, the Local Authority must serve a copy on the owners and occupiers referred to with a statement that the Order will become final and have the effect of an Act of Parlia- ment, unless within two months a memorial shall be presented to the Secretary for Scotland praying that the Order shall not become law without confirmation by Parliament. If no memorial is presented, the Order becomes final and has the effect of an Act of Parliament. (Macpherson, 2 (107).) 291. Determination of Disputed Compensation. — Any question of disputed compensation imder such a Provisional Order is referred to a sole arbiter agreed on by the parties, or, failing such agreement, appointed by the Local Government Board. This arbiter is deemed to be a sole arbiter within the meaning of the Lands Clauses Acts, and the provisions of these Acts as to arbitration apply, but the arbiter determines the amount of the expenses in the arbitration and his determination is fiinal. The arbiter must hear any parties whose interests are affected by themselves, or their counsel or agents, and may hear witnesses. (Macpherson, 2 (107), and Pubhc Health Act, section 145.) The allocation of the expenses of the arbitration is made according to the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts already referred to. (c) Under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Acts. 292. Procedure for Compulsory Acquisition of Land. — Under these Acts the Town Council are empowered to acquire land compulsorily imder the Lands Clauses Acts with the authority of the Sheriff, and they must first present a petition to the Sheriff for authority to put in force the powers of the Lands Clauses Acts. 293. The Sheriff, after due intimation having been given to the various parties interested, holds an inquiry and thereafter grants or refuses the authority asked. But any owner or occuijier of property affected, or the Town Council themselves, if dissatisfied with the decision of the Sheriff, may appeal against it to the Secretary for Scotland. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, sections 60 and 154.) Town Councils of burghs having a population of less than 5000 may, instead of proceeding under the Public Health Act, as above described, adopt this procedure in connection with any proposal to obtain a supply of water for the burgh. (Burgh PoHce Act, 1892, section 262.) 294. Where the groimd to be acquired is for the purpose of disposal of town refuse, the authority of the Local Government Board is first required. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 108.) 295. Determination of Disputed Compensation. — Unless both parties concur in the appointment of a single arbiter in terms of the Lands Clauses Acts, questions of disputed compensation xmder the Burgh PoHce Acts fall to be determined by a single arbiter appointed by the Secretary for Scotland on the application of either party, and it is not competent thereafter to have the amount of compensation determined by arbiters, oversman. Sheriff, or jury, acting under the Lands Clauses Acts. The arbiter appointed by the Secretary for Scotland is deemed to be a sole arbiter within the meaning of these Acts, and he is required to determine the amount of *the expenses in the arbitration, and his determination is final. (Burgh PoUce Act, 1903, section 57.) As in the case of the Pubhc Health Act, however, the allocation of the expenses of the arbitration is made according to the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts. (d) Under the Housing and Town Planning Acts. 296. The purposes for which Local Authorities have powers under these Acts to acquire land com-, pulsorily are improvement schemes, reconstruction schemes, removal of obstructive buildings, provision of houses, and town planning. The statutory provisions on these matters have already been set out in an earlier part of this chapter, and it is necessary here to deal only with the methods of acquiring land and of settling compensation therefor. (e) Improvement Schemes. 297. The Local Authority are authorised to acquire compulsorily the lands so authorised to be acquired in the Order of the Local Government Board, and the Lands Clauses Acts, with certain modi- fications, are applied for this purpose. The powers of compulsory purchase cannot, however, be exercised after three years' from the date of the Local Government Board's Order. (Act of 1890, section 20.) 298. Appointment of Arbiter. — On the apphcation of the Local Authority, the Local Government Board appoint an arbiter to determine the amount of compensation payable to parties affected by the scheme. Full details for the conduct of the arbitration are contained in the Second Schedule to the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, and need not here be recapitulated. 299. Assessment of Compensation.— ^^ec\a\ provisions are also contained in the Act (section 21) for the guidance of the arbiter in assessing the amount of compensation. The estimate of the value of the lands or property must be based on the fair market value, due regard being had to the condition of the property and buildings. There is no additional allowance in respect of compulsory purchase where the lands are part of an unhealthy area, and no allowance is made for any addition to or improvement of the property, nor any interest acquired, subsequent to the advertisement of the making of the improve- ment scheme. (Macpherson, 2 (265).) 300. Special provision is also made for cases where (a) the rental of houses or premises is enhanced 38 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. because they are used for illegal purposes or are overcrowded, or {b) the houses or premises are a nuisance, or of defective sanitation, or in bad repair, or (c) they are unfit for human habitation and not reasonably capable of being made so. In the first case the compensation, in so far as it is based on rental, must be based on the rental] that would have been obtained had the house been used for legal purposes and had not been overcrowded ; in the second case, the compensation is to be the value of the house or premises if the nuisance had been abated or the necessary repairs made, less the deduction of the esti- mated cost of abating the nuisance or putting the premises into reasonably good repair ; while in the third case the compensation is to be the value of the land and of the materials of the buildings on it. (Act of 1890, section 21.) 301. Appeal against Arbiter's Award. — Where the amount of the arbiter's award exceeds £1000 a dissatisfied party may, on obtaining leave from the Court of Session, submit the question of the amount of compensation to a jury. (Macpherson, 2 (267).) 302. Costs of Arbitration. — The Local Authority are liable for the expenses of the arbiter. They are also Hable for such arbitration costs incurred by claimants as the arbiter may certify to be proper, but no costs are allowed claimants where the arbiter has awarded the same or a less sum than was offered by the Local Authority before the appointment of the arbiter. (Macpherson, 2 (271).) (f) Reconstruction Schemes. 303. The Order of the Local Government Board sanctioning a Reconstruction Scheme may in- corporate the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts, but the land must be acquired within three years after the date of the Board's Order. (Act of 1890, section 39 (7).) 304. Assessment of Compensation. — The amount of compensation is settled by an arbiter appointed and removable by the Local Government Board. The conditions governing the assessment for com- pensation are practically the same as those described above in connection with improvement schemes. The arbiter, however, must make allowance for any increased value which, in his opinion, will be given to other dwelling-houses of the same owner as the result of the scheme. (Act of 1890, section 41.) 305. No Appeal against Arbiter's Award. — The award of the arbiter is final and binding on all parties. (1890 Act, section 41 (11).) 306. Costs of Arbitration. — These are defrayed in the same manner as in the case of arbitrations following on improvement schemes. (Act of 1890, section 41.) (g) Removal of Obstructive Buildings. 307. The Local Authority are authorised to purchase compulsorily the lands on which an obstructive building is erected. Such lands must, however, be purchased within a year from the date of the Order directing the building to be pulled down or, in the event of an appeal, from the date of confirmation of the Order. 308. Assessment of Compensation- — The assessment of compensation is determined in the same manner as in reconstruction schemes, and, if the arbiter is of opinion that the demolition of an obstructive building adds to the value of adjoining buildings, he must apportion so much of the compensa- tion to be paid for the demohtion of the obstructive building as may be equal to the increase in value of the other buildings amongst such other buildings. The Local Authority are empowered to recover from the owners or occupiers of such other buildings the amoxmt so apportioned. (Act of 1890, sections 38 and 94 (3) (c).) • (h) Provision by Local Authorities of Houses for the Working Classes. 309. The provisions after stated apply to the purchase of land compulsorily, but it may here be noted that a Local Authority, with the consent of, and subject to, any conditions imposed by the Local Government Board, may acquire land by agreement for the purpose of providing houses for the working classes, notwithstanding that the land is not immediately required for these purposes. (Act of 1909, section 2 (3).) 310. Order by Local Government Board authorising Acquisition of Land. — Land for the provision of houses for the working classes under Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, may be purchased compulsorily by a Local Authority, but they must first obtain confirmation fi-om the Local Government Board to an Order putting in force, as respects the land in question, the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts. Procedure is laid down for advertising the proposed Order and for giving notice of jt to the owners, lessees, and occupiers of the land to be acquired. If no objection to the Order is presented to the Board, they must confirm the Order, but if objection is made they must hold a pubhc local inquiry. If the land to be acquired or part of it is within a burgh, the inquiry falls to be held by an impartial person (not employed in any Government department) appointed by the Board. If the land is wholly in a landward area, the Board may appoint whom they choose to hold the inquiry. 311. After considering the report of the person holding the inquiry, the Board may confirm the Order with or without modification, and the confirmed Order is final, except in the cases mentioned in the next sentence. When, in cases where the land to be acquired is wholly or partly within any burgh and the person holding the inquiry has reported ttat the land ought not to be acquired, or acquired conditionally for the purposes for which it is sought, and the Board determine to confirm the Order simpliciter, it has no effect unless confirmed by Parliament. (Macpherson, 2 (295-304).) 312. Assessment of Compensation. — ^Any question of disputed compensation is to be determined by an arbiter appointed by the Local Goverrmient Board. The arbiter is required to act on his own Imowledge and experience, and he is required to hear any authorities or parties authorised to appear, and witnesses ; but, unless the Board otherwise direct, no counsel or expert witnesses may be heard. Further, no additional allowance is to be made on account of the purchase being compulsory. (Macpherson, 2 (305).) 313. Costs of Arbitration. — The remuneration of the arbiter is fixed by the Board and paid by the REPORT. 39 Local Authority. The Board are empowered, with the approval of the Lord Advocate, to make rules fixing a scale of costs for such arbitrations, and an arbiter may determine the amount of costs and may disallow the costs of any witness whom he considers to have been called unnecessarily and any other costs which he considers to have been caused or incurred unnecessarily. (Act of 1909, First Schedule (9).) The allocation of costs between parties is as in the Lands Clauses Acts. (i) Town Planning. 314. Land for the purposes of a town-planning scheme may be purchased compulsorily by a Local Authority in the same manner as above described for the compulsory purchase of land in a burgh for the purposes of the provision of houses for the working classes. The provisions as to compensation are also the same. (Act of 1909, section 60.) 315. Special Provisions as to Compensation. — There are, however, special provisions dealing with certain aspects of compensation in connection with town-planning schemes, and these may here be referred to. 316. If a person's property is injuriously affected by the making of a scheme, he is entitled to com- pensation from the responsible authority {i.e. the Local Authority responsible for carrying out the town-planning scheme). In the same way the responsible authority are entitled to compensation from an owner for betterment of his property by reason of a scheme. But in the case of betterment the com- pensation is limited to one-half of the amount. Further, any person who has incurred expenditure in order to comply with a scheme that is afterwards revoked is entitled to compensation so far as such expenditure is rendered abortive by the revocation. 317. No person is entitled to compensation on account of anything done to land included in a scheme after application has been made to the Board for authority to prepare the scheme, or after such date as the Board may fix. (Macpherson, 2 (388-389).) 318. The following further restrictions as to compensation in town-planning schemes are also imposed : — (1) Compensation is not pajrable for injury incurred by any provisions of a scheme where such provisions would have been eniorceable if contained in byelaws made by the responsible authority. (2) Property is not to be considered injuriously affected by the provisions of a scheme which pre- scribe the space about buildings, or limit the number of buildings, or specify the height and character of the buildings, and which the Local Government Board consider reasonable. (3) No person is entitled to more than one claim for compensation under any enactment in respect of the same matter ; nor is he entitled to greater compensation under the 1909 Act than he would be under any other enactment. (Macpherson, 2 (391).) 319. All questions of compensation for injury or betterment due to a town-planning scheme, and as to the amount and manner of payment, fall to be determined by a single arbiter appointed by the Local Government Board unless the parties otherwise agree. (Macpherson, 2 (392).) (14) Powers of Assessment and Borbowing. 320. As has been previously explained, the rating authority in a coimty is the County Council, not the District Committee. (Paragraph 66.) (a) Assessment. 321. General Administrative Expenses (including expenses of carrying out housing schemes). — The general expenses of a Local Authority in executing the Public Health and Housing Acts are defrayed out of the Public Health General Assessment, which is levied equally on owners and occupiers within the district of the Local Authority. The amount of the assessment is limited to Is. in the £, and, subject to the explanation in the next paragraph as to the assessment for housing purposes, caimot be raised beyond that figure. In one district (Lewis District of Ross-shire) the maximum has been reached. 322. It should, however, be noted that the rate of assessment necessary to meet the expenses of a Local Authority incurred in carrying out the Housing Acts is not to be reckoned in any calculation as to the statutory limit of the assessment, and further', that the Local Authority of a county area may, if authorised by the Local Government Board, confine the assessment for housing purposes to one or more of the parishes or special districts comprised in the Local Authority's area. Accordingly, there is no limit imposed on the amount of assessment for housing purposes. The Umit of Is. above referred to applies to expenses under the Public Health Acts and other Acts (other than the Housing Acts) relating to pubhc health matters, the expenses of administration of which are charged to the Public Health General Assessment. (Macpherson, 2 (99-101) (318-319) (401).) 323. The general expenses of administering the Burgh Police Acts are defrayed out of the Burgh General Assessment, which is levied on occupiers and is limited to 2s. in the £. (Macpherson, 2 (182).) 324. Expenses connected with Water and Drainage Schemes.— 'ihe expenses of carrying out such schemes in county areas where special water and drainage districts have been formed are met out of the Special Water and Sewer Assessments which are levied equally on owners and occupiers in the special districts. The combined rate for water and drainage in special districts must not, except with the approval of the Local Government Board, exceed 3s. in the £. (Macpherson, 2 (102).) As already explained, however (see Paragraphs 115 and 122), a Local Authority may, without forming a special district, carry out a water or drainage scheme for any part of their area and defray the cost out of the Public Health General Assessment, but no part of the cost can be charged to the ratepayers in special water or drainage districts as the case may be within the area of the Local Authority. 325. There are, however, special powers of assessment for water-supply purposes contained in the Pubhc Health (Scotland) Amendment Act, 1891. That Act is an adoptive one, and may be adopted by any County Council on the apphcation of a District Committee. When the Act has been adopted the expenses of the District Committee in providing water-supplies (excluding supplies for special districts already formed) are defrayed out of what are termed the Domestic Water Rate (levied on the lands and 40 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. heritages actually supplied with water by the District Committee), and the Public Water Rate, which must not exceed 3d. per £, and which is levied on all lands and heritages in the district whether supplied with water or not. Where, however, special water-supply districts have already been formed, the lands and heritages in such districts are not liable to assessment for the expense of supplying water to other parts of the district of the Local Authority. A similar power of assessment is usually obtained by Local Authorities who, instead of proceeding under the general statute, apply for a Provisional Order under the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1899, authorising them to carry out a water- works scheme. 326. In burghs the expenses for water and drainage are met out of the water and sewer assessments, which are levied equally on owners and occupiers and which together must not, except with the approval of the Local Government Board, exceed 4s. in the £. (Macpherson, 2 (181).) Where, however, there are within any burgh separate drainage districts (see Paragraph 124), each of such districts is rated for the cost of its own scheme, and is not liable to assessment for the expense of sewerage and drainage works in other parts of the burgh. (Burgh Sewerage, etc.. Act, 1901, section 2.) 327. Expenses connected with Lighting and Scavenging.- — ^In special lighting and scavenging districts in county areas, the expenses for these purposes are met out of the Special District Rate, which is levied equally on owners and occupiers in the special district and which must not, except with the approval of the Local Government Board, exceed 9d. in the £. (Macpherson, 2 (103).) 328. In burghs these expenses are met out of the Burgh General Assessment already referred to. (Paragraph 323.) 329. Expenses under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899.— The expenses under this Act are met in counties (including police burghs under 7000 population) out of the General Purposes Rate, and in all other burghs out of the Public Health General Assessment. (Macpherson, 2 (197).) The General Purposes Rate is levied equally on owners and occupiers, and it is not limited as to amount. (b) Borrowing. 330. Under the Housing Ads Local Authorities may borrow money for the purposes authorised in the Housing Acts provided the consent of the Local Government Board is obtained. This provision applies to borrowing from any source. The money borrowed must be repaid within such period not exceeding eighty years as the Board determine in each case. (Macpherson, 2 (317) (319).) 331. Under the Public Health and Burgh Police Acts.— Where a Local Authority are authorisd by statute to borrow for any purposes of the Public Health Acts (such as the provision of water and drainage), they need approach the Local Government Board only if they propose to borrow from the Public Works Loan Board, in which case the Local Government Board may, after inquiry, recommend the application to the Loan Board. If, however, the Local Authority propose to borrow elsewhere the money required for these purposes, the recommendation or consent of the Local Government Board is not required. The loan must be repaid within thirty years. (Macpherson, 2 (104).) The powers of Town Councils of borrowing under the Burgh Police Acts to defray the cost of water and drainage schemes and other sanitary works are similar to those in the Public Health Act just described. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 379 ; Pubhc Health Act, 1897, section 142.) 332. Under the Small Bvxllings Acquisition Act. — A Local Authority may borrow for the purposes of this Act, the loan being repaid within thirty years. (Macpherson, 2 (199).) 333. Procedure as regards Borrowing. — In counties, as aheady explained under the heading " Local Authorities," the County Council are the borrowing authority. (Paragraph 66.) They cannot, however, borrow without the consent of the Standing Joint Committee. (Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, section 67.) No public notice of any proposal to borrow by a County Council requires to be made. 334. In burghs, however. Town Councils must give three weeks' pubHc notice of the intention to borrow, setting forth the amount proposed to be borrowed, and the purpose for which the money is required. The notice is to be given in some newspaper in ordinary circulation in the burgh, and the proposal to borrow must be disposed of at the next meeting of the Town Council three weeks after the pubHc notice. The sum borrowed cannot exceed the amount stated in the pubhc notice unless the procedure is gone through de novo. (Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 374 ; Burgh Police Act, 1903, section 104 (2) (v).) CHAPTER VI. HOUSING PROBLEMS IN THE CITIES AND URBAN AREAS. Introductory Survey. Order of-Treatment. 335. In dealing with the problem of urban housing, it will be best to proceed from the concrete to the more general and abstract questions. If we begin with the actual physical conditions, external and internal, of the houses of a typical Scottish town, and the questions of structure and arrangement dependent on them, we shall then be better able to deal with the economic and ethical factors of domestic life in a modern city, including such problems as those of rent and wages, and the demand for a higher standard of space and comfort. 336. A rapid survey will be made in this chapter not along the line of historical development but in cross-section, showing the town as it is in the present moment, a moment not so much of transition as of pause and suspense between the largely haphazard development and custom-dominated building of the past and the new art of city-building which is only beginning to come into being. REPORT. 41 Continuity of the Scots Housing Problem — Difficulty of formulating Exact Division BETWEEN Cities, Smaller Burghs, and Rural Areas. 337. But first the question may be raised whether there is any representative type of Scots urban housing, or whether the facts and the consequent problems do not vary so widely from town to town that mere generalisation is a waste of energy. Against this view we would urge that there is a real simi- larity and continuity in the problem, however much conditions may vary in detail. It is important to make this fact clear at the outset ; for it will inevitably be lost sight of to some extent amid the detail which must follow in this portion of the Report. There are certain broad features very widely, if not quite imiversally, found in Scots urban communities, and it is on these that we must at present con- centrate. To take the tenement as an obvious example. It was evolved and has persisted as a type of dwelling prima facie adapted — how far really adapted we must inquire later — -to city conditions, where values of land are artificially high and the concentration of the population has been an important consideration. But we find recent examples of it in certain of the small coimtry bujghs immediately surroimded by open fields. Conversely, it would not be difficult to show how certain methods, e.g. of sanitation and refuse removal, which relatively may cause no great harm in a small commimity where houses are widely spaced out (although even there much improvement is desirable), have persisted in the cities and towns with wholly unfortunate results. Scots housing is full of such " survivals " of past stages of evolution, which have had their day, but unhappily have by no means ceased to be. Thus it is possible, within wide limits, to make statements which are general but also valid. 338. There is undoubtedly a continuity in the problem from the country hamlet to the great cities. Not that they do not differ widely. But the difference is not a definite line, all on one side of which is " urban " and all on the other " rural " ; it is marked by a series of gradations connecting the two extremes. This makes it more difficult to devise a satisfactory division of the subject. Indeed, some measure of cross-division is inevitable. There are small communities, with populations of even less than 1000, which legally are just as much burghs as Greater Glasgow with over 1,000,000 ; and, on the other hand, there are great mining centres of from 12,000 to 18,000 inhabitants in Mid-Lanark in which every characteristic that could possibly be called " rural " was long ago obliterated by industrialism in its grimmest form, but which are administered as part of a county area. Thus even the broad distinction between rural and urban or burghal housing pipblems, inevitable as its use undoubtedly is, does not represent a clean-cut division. The two sets of problems dovetail because the conditions that give rise to them overlap. 339. But even when we have adopted this distinction, with the proviso that distinctively urban conditions may be found, especially in the mining districts, in areas that technically and administratively are landward, the difficiilty of classification occurs among the burghs themselves. In actual fact there is little in common between the administrative problems of Edinburgh or Glasgow and those of a small county town, but at the same time there are many intermediate links which bridge the gap and remind us that the housing question in Scotland is not separable into " watertight compartments," but that some attempt must be made to view it as a whole. It is indeed the case that there was at the last census no town in Scotland (with the exception of Partick, which is now merged in Greater Glasgow) with between 45,000 and 75,000, or (with the exception of Govan, which is also now merged in Greater Glasgow) between 85,000 and 160,000 inhabitants ; and thus it has become usual to group together either the four or the seven large Scottish cities. The four largest cities certainly demand separate and individual treatment ; but the next group, consisting of Paisley, Leith, and Greenock, have a double relation both to the great cities and to the smaller burghs. This may be illustrated by the case of Greenock, which, in the problem raised by its restricted site and the massing together of its centres of industry on a limited area, closely resembles Dundee, while it obviously stands in a still closer relation to Port-Glasgow, a burgh of imder 20,000, with which it is connected not only geographically but also industrially. Thus, if we adopt the rough distinction between burghs over and imder 50,000 as for certain purposes practically convenient, it must not obscure the fact that there are many common features above and below this line. Several of the burghs immediately below this line, e.g. Hamilton and Motherwell, are so largely concerned with mining and dependent on mining conditions, that most of the evidence from them will fall naturally into the " Mining " rather than the " Burghal " section of the Report. The Real Lines of Distinction. 340. The real divisions of the subject are, indeed, not numerical so much as industrial. The problems of a community are determined to some extent by its size, but much more by its predominant occupation. There is much more in common between a mining community in the West of Scotland and one in Fife and the Lothians, than between such a community and a fishing village in its immediate neighbourhood. So in the case of burghs ; but though a consistent classification on these fines would be too elaborate to be serviceable, it must be borne in mind throughout that the real distinctions lie along the occupational lines or those of historical development rather than along the lines suggested by the census. There is ample material in the evidence before us to illustrate this. General External Survey of a Typical Scots Town. 341. Assuming, then, that there is sufficient likeness in certain main features of the Scottish towns to make a generalised description widely applicable, and also that tbe right method of approach is to proceed from the concrete and physical to the more abstract and economic aspects of the housing problem, we may attempt to see how, even in a rapid external survey, the different aspects or divisions of that problem successively unfold themselves. 342. In approaching any of the larger or medium-sized Scottish towns by a main road, there are three types of " suburban " development which may confront us. One of these, the area of villa residences, in some cases well-planned, does not demand notice at this point. But the approach to town conditions 42 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. is far more frequently marked by an irregular row of smaU cottages along the side of the highway, gradually rising ia^height from one to two or three storeys, and eventually, as we approach the centre of the town, to the typical four-storey tenement. Or the last-named edifice may meet us abruptly as, in ragged incompleteness, it abuts on the open fields. The former development marks a slowly-growing, the latter a rapidly-extending town, but each suggests its own specific problem. 343. In the former cases it is that of the persistence of the old-fashioned country cottage, with its low rooms, small windows, and primitive sanitary arrangements and outhouses, in surroundings which during its long Uf e have ceased to be rural and become urban. This form of rus in urbe may have a historic interest and even, in a few cases, a certain picturesqueness, but it is almost certain to provide a troublesome problem for the sanitary staff of the burgh. Or, to take the other case, there is the problem of the tenement which equally seems to have strayed out of its appropriate region, and has stood, since the last building boom which may have ended years ago, with ragged corners waiting for the continuation of its line. Its presence there is due in part to conservatism in methods of planning and construction, but chiefly to the fact that a tenement will carry a much higher ground rental than one or two-storey cottage property, and so yield a larger return to the superior or the owner of the groimd annual, or to both, from a limited plot of land. But in the case supposed, which is quite a common one, the superior or recipient of the feu-duty has probably forgotten that if, instead of the abrupt and never-completed line of tenements, the same number of houses had been spread over twice or thrice the area in cottage form, he would, during the years that have elapsed, have, even allowing for the loss of agricultural rent, been drawing a greater income ; for the lower rate of feu-duty per acre would almost certainly have been more than made up for by the larger acreage actually f eued. At any rate, the abrupt transition from agricultural land to tenement property symbolises the equally abrupt rise in value, at times rising to 1000 per cent., or even higher, which has accrued to the proprietor when his land has passed from one use to the other. 344. As the coimtry highway gradually merges into a street, instead of growing wider to meet the needs of increased traffic, perhaps including tramways, the street probably grows narrower, and may even contract into a bottle-neck, through which the increased traffic has to squeeze itself as best it can with much consequent delay. The roadway was originally made of that width, and sites on it have acquired so high a value, real or conventional, that with the legal machinery at present at its disposal the municipality shrinks from the cost of widening it. Probably there is a lack of good cross- or ring- roads for intercomimunication between different parts of the suburban area ; and, there may also be an absence, though this is not so universal, of shorter roads and terraces for residential purposes, so that the town extends sprawlingly along the lines of the main through roads, with considerable congestion on these, instead of in a uniform and orderly way. All which shows that the town-planning powers given by the 1909 Act have not come at all too soon, and raises the question how their application may be made more rapid and more general. 345. As we approach the centre of the city, we are sure to notice a certain degree, probably a very high degree, of congestion. The number of houses to the acre and the height of houses are such that a large proportion of the rooms on the lower storeys have insufficient light and air ; and in the late afternoon or evening the crowds of children playing in the streets or on the common stairs may remind us — as would, indeed, be evident even without their presence- — that there has been no provision of small open spaces and playgrounds as " lungs " for this crowded population. If the city is an old one, we see opening off the main streets narrow lanes or closes, down which are to be found houses still more crowded and still worse lighted and ventilated because the " close " on which they abut is only a few feet wide, and 60 the houses which face one another are necessarily mutually obstructive. This condition, which is to be f oimd from Dumfries in the South to Lerwick in the far North, is a good example of the similarity, or even identity, in difference which marks the housing problem in the towns of Scotland. 346. In other burghs, of which Glasgow is the most notable example, the same evil is found in a slightly different form. In the main block of buildings fronting the street there are to be seen at intervals between the shops and entrances to common stairs, archways which give access to a courtyard behind. In certain districts the only embellishment of the courtyard is one or more capacious ashpits, which seem to exercise an evil fascination on the minds of the children whose only playground is this court. One side of the court is formed by the backs of the houses facing the street, but on the other side is a second block, sometimes parallel and sometimes irregularly wedged in wherever space has been found. These are " back lands," and wherever they exist they inevitably acquire the slum character more readily and in an extremer form than front buildings. They do not receive sufficient light and air, and in turn they cut off the light and air from all the lower back windows of the " front land." Indeed, they are interlopers, planted down on the originally ample back courts or gardens of the front houses, very probably in the mid-nineteenth century, at a time when sites were rising rapidly in value but building byelaws had not yet been thought of. 347. Probably we have already seen enough to prepare us for the interior character of these houses — lack of air, of light, of repair, of privacy, of the ordinary conveniences and decencies of life ; perhaps, also, we may be prepared for the overcrowding within the houses, corresponding to the overcrowding of houses upon their sites, which together give their sinister meaning to the figures regarding density of population to the acre which are given in anothef chapter. (See Chapter XII.) 348. It is indeed true that constantly, and in all departments of Scots housing, the standard of cleanUness within the home is much above that of the mean and ill-kept surroimdings of the house. In the case which we have considered of great block-dwellings, this is partly due to the fact that only within the house is there a definite and imequivocal responsibility for cleanliness or ability to secure it on the part of the housewife. At the moment, however, the truth must be emphasised- — that we cannot divide absolutely between conditions internal and external to the house. The house, the court, the street, the village or district, is each in its own degree an entity, and the external conditions constantly influence the internal. An inadequate site means a lack of space and air which is seriously hurtful, in particular to child life. It also involves in the case of existing houses great difficulty in providing water-closets or washhouses and other additions which the rising sanitary standard of the time rightly calls for. Indeed, REPORT. 43 in the extreme, but not uncommon, case where the house occupies its whole stance, their provision may become altogether impossible. Again, unpaved streets and courts may greatly add to the difficulty of internal cleaning for the housewife, and a densely smoke-laden atmosphere may make it literally impos- sible for her to carry out the twin commandments of free ventilation and cleanliness to which modern health instruction is so largely directed. And to these must be added the immaterial influences which pass and repass between the exterior and interior of the homes of the people, together constituting as a single whole the environment in which they live. (Dewar, 1078 f.) 349. This survey has been of the most rapid kind ; but just because it has been both rapid and superficial, it gives an indication of the number of factors in the problem of Scottish urban housing which he quite on the surface, where the ordinary citizen could not fail to see them if he chose to look. Such are the facts of congestion at the centre, and bad planning or absence of plan on all sides ; the number of mutually obstructive houses, and the deficiency of open spaces ; inadequate sanitary and scavenging arrangements ; and the presence of the old house, which may have been good once, but is now on the very border-Hne of habitabiUty or which is even fit only for demolition. Add to these — ^as must in many cases be done — ^a smoke-laden atmosphere, and mean and ill-kept surroundings — streets, hoardings, miscellaneous sheds, and here and there a factory wall ; and it is clear that the inquirer into Scottish housing may find much food for reflection without crossing a single doorstep or interviewing a single tenant. But from these questions of arrangement and external structure we are at once led on to economic questions, such as the excessive cost of land, and to considerations of the use and care of dwell- ings, which considerations have an ethical character, but which also trench on the economic sphere ; and from these to questions of administration and economic constructive policy. 350. Thus, following the line already laid down, beginning with what is purely concrete and external, and gradually working up to the more complex (which are also the more human) factors, we reach the following order of topics : " Structure of Houses " ; " Occupancy " ; and from these pass on to the " Administrative " and " Constructive " factors. CHAPTER VII. HOUSING IN THE SCOTTISH BURGHS. Structxjbe of Houses. 351. We propose now to describe the houses as they are lived in at the present day. This description naturally falls into two divisions, concerned with structure and occupancy respectively. The former includes the number, size, and arrangement of rooms ; the soUdity or otherwise of the structure, and the general state of its repair or disrepair ; together with a summary of the conveniences provided permanently by the landlord as part of the property, considered as a lettable subject. The latter deals with the use made of the bare accommodation provided. Thus the divisions correspond roughly to the respective shares of landlord and tenant in determining the state of the dwelling in its daily use. It is true that the two factors react on one another, bad structure making good occupancy {e.g. a high stan- dard of cleanliness) more difficult, and careless occupancy tending to deteriorate the structure of the house {e.g. the woodwork, plumber-work, if there is any, and windows). But the distinction between the house as it is handed over to the tenant and the way in which he and his family use it is broad enough to be adhered to for the sake of clearness of exposition ; and for the same reason it is necessary to lay do-wn certain general facts regarding the plan, fabric, and state of repair of the chief types of Scottish urban dwellings, so that on this foundation an account and discussion of the houses as they are in daily use {i.e. of their occupancy and effect on family Ufe) may afterwards be reared. In both equally the evidence, written and oral, collected by us and appearing in the Minutes of Evidence and Appendices, has been supplemented and checked by facts observed in an extended visitation of representative towns in all parts of Scotland. Solidity of Scottish Building. 352. There are two points on which a genera] comparison between the standard of construction in Scotland and in England seems to be called for, although the materials for an exact statistical com- parison hardly exist. These are solidity of construction and size of rooms. 353. There is much to be said in criticism of building standards and customs in Scotland in regard to the number of rooms and the conveniences provided for each family, and the character of the latter ; but it may be claimed on the other side that Scots houses, especially the older houses, have in the main been well and substantially built. The tradition has been to build sohdly of stone, with walls of eighteen inches in the case of cottages and two feet or more in tenements. Little was seen of the jerry -buildei, at least until within comparatively recent times ; and the shell of many old buildings, both cottage and tenement, is still sohd and good. In certain districts {e.g. districts of Lanarkshire which are burghal in character, though under county administration), if cottages erected at the beginning and end of the period extending approximately from 1820 to 1880 be compared, it will be found that there had been Uttle or no advance in the standard of accommodation during that period, the old type of cottage being steadily reproduced, but that there had been a decided decline in the standard of building. 354. It is not necessary at this point to go into all the causes for this preference for stone buildings with relatively thick walls. It has no doubt been in part due to the climate — ^in many places windswept and with a high annual rainfall. There can be still less doubt that both builders and occupiers in Scot- land have set great store by a warm house ; and that warmth has frequently been preferred to floor- space and Ught. But in addition to the question of the cause of this sohd building, there is the more important consideration of its effect ; and while substantial workmanship is in itself a good thing, there 44 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. seems to be no room for doubt that its effects have not been happy, in so far as it has perpetuated certain types of house no longer adapted to the needs of the locality, or to modern sanitary standards, or to both. 355. We may consider the case of solid walls, built, as all our older houses were built, without a damp-proof course. These walls keep the house warm, but they do not keep it dry, for their very thick- ness makes them more, rather than less, apt to suck up moisture from the soil and impart it to the atmo- sphere of the dwelling. Again, if the windows were originally small, as they almost certainly were, the thickness of the walls does not make it any easier to enlarge them ; nor does it make it easier to add a water-closet or washhouse, or both, at the back when the Local Authority or the tenant is prepared to enforce a demand for them. 356. These remarks apply to a one-storey cottage of the old type, but a similar criticism has been passed on the excessive solidity of the Scots tenement. Indeed, it is at the tenement that the criticism has been most frequently levelled by the witnesses who have touched on the point, so its further con- sideration is deferred till we come to deal with tenement building. (See below, Paragraph 396 el seq.) Meanwhile, it is well to note that this characteristic of thick walls holds for the older type of Scots build- ing ; and, while it represents a far better tradition than that of the jerry-builder, yet the custom of in- variably building with thick stone walls is open to other criticism than that of expense. This solidity of construction certainly tends to perpetuate a condition in which too many houses were placed on the ground. While securing warmth, the thick walls do not secure dryness or easy ventilation ; and they often outlast all the internal fittings of the house. Average Size op Rooms. 357. Before describing certain representative types of Scots house of from one to three rooms, it may be well to make a general statement regarding the prevalent size of rooms in small houses. It is well known that the average house in Scotland is much smaller than in England, reckoning by the number of rooms alone — so much so that while 47-9 per cent, of the population of Scotland live in one- and two- room houses, the corresponding figure for England is only 7-1 per cent. But it has been argued that this difference is largely made up for by the greater size of the ordinary Scots room. There can be no doubt that the average room is larger in Scotland than in England, but there are apparently no data for a precise statistical comparison. We may, however, quote the statements of two important witnesses who have given considerable attention to this matter. 358. Mr Walker Smith, who has had an extensive experience of housing in both England and Scot- land, stated that it must be recognised that the average size of room in the Scottish house is larger than that in the EngUsh house. From an examination of such information as is available, the witness calculated that the average Scottish room is about 20 per cent, larger in floor space than the average English room. As a set-off against this advantage, there is the fact that a much larger percentage of the English than the Scottish houses are provided with good-sized sculleries which are not counted as rooms. (Walker Smith, 41,557 (20) (47), 41,660, and Appendix CLXVIII. Cf. also Dmilop, 2265.) 359. Dr Robertson, Medical Officer for the City of Birmingham, who has also had long experience on both sides of the Border, put the comparison more in favour of the Scots houses. He stated that so far -as floor space is concerned, a two-room house in Edinburgh or Glasgow has the same floor space, approximately, as a three-room house in Birmingham. (Robertson, 24,886, 24,892.) 360. While there is no statutory regulation of floor spaces in houses, it will be seen from Chapter V. (Paragraph 103) that section 66 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903, provides that the cubic capacities for new houses in burghs which have adopted this portion of the Act shall be as follows : — Dwelling-houses of 1 apartment 1000 cubic feet „ „ 2 apartments 1600 ,, „ 3 „ 2400 „ 361. The section referred to in the preceding paragraph applies to new houses primarily, and it also gives a power to the Town Council to permit in certain circumstances a lower cubic capacity in old houses which are under reconstruction. The cubic capacities set forth in the Act of Parliament do not there- fore determine the minimum cubic space in all or even most of the houses in the Scots burghs. One witness, who has a wide acquaintance with Glasgow property, and who has also valued property in Liverpool, Dublin, and Belfast, gave it as his opinion that, very broadly speaking, the hving apartment in Scotland is about a half larger in cubic space than the average living apartment in England or Ireland. But he admitted that there still existed in Glasgow rooms as small as 700 cubic feet. There are, he said, some in the older parts, especially in what were probably at one time weavers' rows, very small, and more in line with the English apartments of to-day. (W. Eraser, 38,082-6.) 362. While it may be the case, as stated by the witness referred to in the preceding paragraph, that the Scots apartment is about a half larger in cubic space than the English one, it should be pointed out that a large part of this 50 per cent, difference in cubic capacity may be due to the fact that, as a rule, the Scots houses have higher ceilings than the English houses. 363. We have had a considerable amount of evidence as to the cubic capacity of Scots houses. This evidence shows that, while there are rooms in many of the older houses with a cubic capacity of less than 1 000 feet, the tendency of late years has been to build rooms with a cubic capacity considerably exceed- ing this amount. Thus in 442 of the Glasgow Corporation's dwellings the average number of cubic feet in one-apartment houses is 2070 ; in two-apartment houses it is 3864 cubic feet, and in three-apartment houses it is 4504 cubic feet. (Menzies, Appendix LXXI.) In Paisley modern one-room houses have an average of 1600 cubic feet (Kelso, 38,050) ; at Kirkconnel mining village in Dumfriesshire, two-apart- ment houses have a total cubic capacity of 2926 cubic feet (Wilson, 3997 (167)). Information obtained from witnesses in Bo'ness (Louden, 34,388 (37)), Kirkcaldy (Braid, 3564 (26 f.), Hamilton (Brown, 38,805 (1)), showed that in these places there is a similar tendency to increase the cubic capacity per room. 364. Thus, from these facts, we reach the following very general conclusions. There has been a decided rise in the standard of air space per apartment in the last half century in Scotland. In certain REPORT. 45 old districts of the cities the average at one time was under 1000 cubic feet, whereas, in recently-built cottage property, it varies from 1450 to over 2000 cubic feet per apartment ; also the modem Scots apartment is larger than the English, the excess being variously estimated as from 20 per cent, according to floor space, and 50 per cent, according to cubic space. The figures given above will serve as a general introduction to a survey of typical houses, old and new, in the Scots burghs. Repbesentative Types of Workmen's Houses in Burghs. 365. From these general remarks on the standard of building and size of rooms in Scotland, we may pass on to the attempt to classify and describe the most representative types of house occupied by the working man in the burghs of Scotland— ^^rsi, distinguishing the main tjrpes of house, and then describing certain representative examples. It will, of course, be necessary to describe in greater detail the inferior types of house, those which are near or below the minimum standard of habitability, since the treatment of these and their replacement by satisfactory dwellings form the heart of the housing problem ; but the better and more modem type of house must not be overlooked, as it also presents defects which ought to be avoided in future. In describing the worst houses, the details will, in the main, be taken from official reports— in most cases those of the Inspectors of the Local Government Board,— but in the great majority of cases we had ample opportunity of satisfying ourselves that the conditions dealt with are by no means exaggerated. We visited many of the individual houses referred to in this chapter, and, while the instances cited are drawn for the most part from a limited number of towns, which happen to have been the subject of especially close inquiry, the inspections made by us in all parts of Scotland have left no doubt on our minds that the worst conditions, or conditions little short of the worst, are to be found in a large proportion both of the cities and the smaller burghs. 366. At the very outset the problem of classification arises. The most obvious distinction between different types of house is that depending on the number of rooms ; and it would be possible to take in succession the one-room, two-room, and three-room house and consider certain typical examples of each. But to do so would involve a considerable amount of repetition ; for, in certain classes of pro- perty, houses with different numbers of apartments may have important points of resemblance in other ways, while one-room houses in old and new tenements, or in tenements and cottages, may differ widely even in the same town. It seems, on the whole, more satisfactory to set out from the broad distinction between the cottage, or self-contained house, and the tenement, and to see how the one-, two- and three-room house respectively appears in these fundamentally different forms. Between the two forms we find the intermediate type with two storeys, or two storeys and attics ; and this in turn may be divided into the old properties which are still found in large numbers in certain burghs, particu- larly those which were formerly centres of the weaving industry, and the modem " double-flatted " cottage. The main division may, then, be taken as that between cottage and tenement property, with the two-storey building as a connecting-link ; and under this division other special types, such as sunk flats and cellar dweUings, may be introduced as we proceed. 367. A classification on these lines will work out as follows : — (i) Cottages divided into — (o) One-room (" single-end ") : a special class being loom-rooms now converted into one- apartment dwellings ; (b) Two-room (" but-and-ben "). (ii) Two storey, or two storey and attic buildings, including double-flatted and two-storey cottages, (iii) Tenements, divided into — (a) Old tenements, now subdivided ; (b) The mid-nineteenth century tenement, often built as a -" back land." (c) The balcony tenement. {d) The recently-erected tenement with modem fittings. Houses of one, two, and three rooms ape to be found in all four classes of tenement, except that there are few or no three-room houses in " old tenements- — now subdivided " ((iii) (a) above). 368. We caimot claim that the above classification is either exhaustive or rigorously scientific ; but it will probably assist to give a bird's-eye view of representative conditions in the burghs of Scotland, and may do so more effectively than a purely statistical division based on the number of rooms alone. In fact, owing to that favourite institution, the " bed-closet," it is not always easy to distinguish rigidly between houses of one and two, or two and three rooms. On one occasion, a sharp conflict of evidence as to whether a certain group of houses had one or two rooms, found its solution in the fact that the second apartment was so small that it could be reckoned either as a room or as a bed-closet according to the standard and prepossession of the witness. (i) Cottages. 369. We do not think it necessary to describe in much detail the single-storey cottage as it exists in Scottish burghs, since it is, as a rule, a survival from rural or semi-rural conditions. Thus the descrip- tions given by us in the parts of the Report which deal with agriculture and mining of the older type of cottage apply also to these, in so far as they are still foimd in the burghs. It must, however, be noticed that in many instances the worst types of miners' rows, both as regards the structure of the houses, their surroundings, and defective sanitary accommodation, are still to be found in large centres of popidation and under burghal administration. The older and more dilapidated type of rural cottage may also be found in isolated instances on the outskirts of the large towns ; and in certain of the smaller burghs, particularly in the north of Scotland, such cottages form a considerable portion of the total housing of the burgh. The defects in such cottages, universally reported in the evidence from the counties, are foimd equally in those burghs in which they are still found. 46 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 370. As indicated above, the chief distinction in the single-storey type of cottage is between the " single-end " and the " but-and-ben," and each of these may be referred to briefly : — 371. One-room Cottage.— The " single-end " cottage is found in the Scots burghs, but it is particularly prevalent in the West of Scotland coalfields. It has been formed in some cases through the division of two-apartment cottages into two separate dwellings, a process over which Local Authorities have not hitherto had sufficient powers of control, and which has gone on even in quite recent times. (Dittmar, 393.) But in the- majority of cases the " single-end " has been erected as a one-room dwelling. In either case the object has been to meet a demand for a house at a low rent, but yielding a higher return to the owner than larger dwellings. (Wilson, 4006.) As a representative of the Wishaw Housing Association put it, " all our single-ends are deliberately intended." (Downie, 41,250 (16).) 372. The cottage of this type, by whichever process it has come into being, has serious defects from the point of view of structure, apart from the question of occupancy or of its fitness to house a family. Though not technically a " back-to-back " house, at least in the majority of instances, it has frequently all the defects of this much decried type of dwelling. As a rule, the only means of ventila- tion, lighting, and exit are in the front of the house, the back wall being either imbroken or possessing a window quite inadequate to provide through ventilation. One witness argued that it is actually inferior to the English " back-to-back " house, as it is commonly " closed back, sides and top." The provision of sanitary appliances is often shamefully inadequate, as will be shown in detail later. The lack of bedrooms is supplied by the frequent use of recessed beds. Of 78 houses reported on by the Wishaw Housing Association (44 being one-room houses, measuring on an average 1833 cubic feet per house, including all recesses, with an average rent of 2s. 7Jd. per week), 63 had two recessed beds in the kitchen, and 3 had one. Out of 72 houses only 17 had water in the house. In 18 cases there was no washhouse accommodation, and in 16 no coal cellars, the coals being kept below the bed. It was stated by the witness that these houses formed part of properties consisting of 790 houses, of which they were t)rpical ; only 27 were empty in that number, and of these 20 were in course of repair. (Downie, 41,250 (36).) 373. As an extreme example, we give the following description of two cottages in Wick : — These two cottages are each of one room. The walls are of stone, plastered on the hard and damp. The roofs are tiled and leak badly. In one house there is no ceiling, and in the other small spars with thick cartridge paper attached to them form the ceiling. There is a wood partition between the houses. The windows are single sashes, and do not open. The rent of the houses is £2 per annum. The houses are in a wretched state of disrepair and uninhabitable. (Report by Inspector of Local Government Board, Appendix CLXXIX. (18) (c).) 374. Another example of the level to which a small house may (very literally) descend was noted by us in a northern fishing community, also in a burgh. The doorway was only 4 ft. 4 ins. clear in height. From it steps led to the kitchen, the floor of which sloped away fiirther to a level of 2 ft. 3 ins. below the threshold, giving a total height of 6 ft. 7 ins. for the kitchen, off which opened a small bed-closet. The lighting was defective, as may be imagined, but the proprietor, who occupied the house, could not be induced to make any improvements, for, as the representatives of the Local Authority stated, even rates amounting to a few shillings could seldom be extorted from him and others in a similar position. 375. In general we hold strongly that houses of this type, where they still exist in the burghs, com- bine many, if not all, of the most serious defects, such as inadequate air space, lighting and ventilation, dampness, and lack of sanitary and other conveniences. 376. Old " Weaving " Properties. — A special class of dwelling f oimd in certain of the old weaving towns has been formed by the conversion of old " loom shops " into one-apartment dwellings. The Burgh Surveyor of Bathgate gave a carefully compiled account of houses of this type, the result of an investi- gation carried out in December 1909. In the course of the investigation each room visited was measured, and its cubic capacity ascertained. In applying the standard applicable to " ticketed houses," it was found that the minimal limit of 400 cubic feet per person was not reached in 122 houses, this being overcrowding to the extent of 43-41 per cent, in the 281 houses occupied. Themeagreness of the cubic capacity in many of the rooms was due not so much to restricted floor area as to the limited height of ceilings. This varied from 6 ft. 1 in. upwards, and only 23, or 8-18 per cent., reached or exceeded 9 ft. 6 ins. from floor level. The major proportion of apartments now tenanted as one-room dwellings in Bathgate were not originally intended to be such, but were used as " loom shops " in the palmy days of hand-loom weaving. As the industry languished, and a subsequent demand arose for housing accommodation, the workshops were converted into living apartments. It was not surprising, therefore, to find as a rule walls rough and damp. The absence of damp-proof courses was evident, and moisture in not a few cases exuded on the internal surfaces. A large proportion of these houses was occupied by miners. It is a suggestive fact that of the deaths occurring in the single rooms 64-82 per cent, had diseases of the respiratory system registered as the primary cause of death. (A. L. Reid, 3346 (2 and 11).) 377. We found somewhat similar conditions prevailing in Forfar, where, out of about 2900 inhabited houses, about 700 have one room, and about 300 are of the one-room and closet type, having a wooden partition dividing off a space suitable for holding a bed. (Peffers, 34,493 (5).) The parish minister stated that in the town there were large numbers of houses consisting of one large room. Those houses originally were loom stances ; they were never built for dwelling-houses, but with the develop- ment of the power loom they became empty, and then they were used as dwelling-houses. The windows are small. If there be a second room, very often it is a sort of garret. In many houses one could put one's finger right through the roof. In some of those houses it is difficult to stand straight up ; and in one particular house where a fimeral service was being held, the minister had to stand with his head bowed, unable to stand upright. And yet families are living in this condition. There are very few divisions in these houses. If there is a division, it is a very small one, " where might be put the washing REPORT. 47 ' or the coals." The difficulty of living decently in such dwellings, where there are no conveniences and, in spite of recent improvements, where the water is often outside, need not be emphasised. (Rev. W. G. Donaldson, 34,635, 34,649 ff.) 378. Two-room cottages. — These cottages are, in most instances, of the " but-and-ben " type familiar all over rural Scotland, and still to be found iii diminishing numbers in certain of the burghs. A door enters into a short passage, with rooms to the right and left. Sometimes there is a small third room, or bedcloset, entered either by a door opposite the entrance, or, in some cases, through the kitchen. The chief variation from this type is the " through house." It is the tjrpical form of two-room house in most miners' rows, and, while not common in the burghs in its single-storey form, it is worth mention- ing here to distinguish it from the " but-and-ben." It is probably more satisfactory than the latter from the purely hygienic point of view, as it allows of effective through ventilation, but from the point of view of convenience and privacy it is decidedly inferior. If it is provided with a back door this arrangement has a certain advantage, as it leaves room for a scullery, and enables the dirtier work of the house to be carried on at the back. If there is only one door, or if only one is in regular use, the value of the accommo- dation is seriously limited by the fact that the kitchen is used not only as the family living-room and as a sleeping apartment, but also as a passage through which the occupants of the " room " pass in and out. This disadvantage is a serious one wherever a " through " two-apartment house is occupied by a large family ; and still more so if one of the apartments is sublet. In this case the sink and other con- veniences are all attached to one-half of the house, and an instance was quoted in which occupants of the other room had to walk round the end of the row in order to reach them. (J. Wilson, 3997 (20, 21-24).) 379. Structurally, the old " but-and-ben " cottage is open to much the same condemnation as the " single end." It is the exception to find adequate means of through ventilation, and there is often no window, or only a small fixed window in the back wall. In fact, as regards dampness, the advantage perhaps lies with the " single-end," as, in that case, the kitchen fire may have some effect in drying the house as a whole. (ii) Two Storey or Two Storey and Attic Buildings. 380. This type of dwelling is common in a great many of the smaller Scots burghs, especially those which have not been the centres of large industrial expansion during the latter half of the nineteenth century. It is probably true to say that in that class of burgh this type of house predominates. In the large cities and in rapidly expanding burghs the high tenement is very much in evidence. The high tenement also has held the field for centuries in the older fortified cities, such as Edinburgh and Stirling. It is somewhat curious to note that in a central district of Glasgow, such as Anderston, old village properties of the two storey and two storey and attic type still exist to a considerable extent, and, as might be expected, most of such properties are in bad repair. (Miss Rutherfurd, 22,110 (2).) 381. In some cases the two storey and two storey and attic dwellings under discussion consist of houses formerly of four or more rooms, now subdivided into one- or two-apartment houses. We will describe the evils of this process of subdivisions in detail somewhat later. (Paragraph 404.) In several cases the ground floor and first floor were designed to be used separately. If there is a self-contained house on the ground floor the upper floor is usually reached by an outside stair. In some cases this stair connects with an outside balcony, leading to two or more different dwellings — an arrangement not uncommon in the older property in Dundee. The attics, if there are any, are frequently let apart from the rooms below, but in some cases may be let with the first floor. 382. This whole class of house is old, dating very frequently from the earlier part of the nineteenth century, and consequently it is common to find a lack of conveniences, while floors, woodwork, and windows are in defective repair. Where sinks and water-closets have been introduced they are situated, in some cases actually seen by us, in a dark passage on the ground floor leading from the entrance door, where no direct daylight can enter, and where they ventilate upwards through the whole building. 383. But description of the kind given in the preceding paragraph does not convey an adequate idea of the very bad condition of the structure and the fabric generally of these houses. Adequately to impress the minds of people who have not seen such houses, it would be necessary to give a somewhat intimate picture of the conditions of life of the inmates of these houses. This, however, is not the pur- pose of this chapter, and therefore we confine ourselves to a description of the fabric, structure, etc., for which we find material in the Reports by the Medical and Architectural Inspectors of the Local Government Board, which will be found in the Appendices. There is also abundance of material in the evidence generally, but, meantime, we will confiine ourselves in this regard to evidence which was put before us by Sanitary Inspectors or by other responsible witnesses, such as representatives of a Trades Council as well as by the Local Government Board officials referred to. The descriptions are by no means exaggerated. We visited many of the individual houses referred to in this section ; and, while the instances cited are drawn for the most part from the limited number of towns named below which happen to have been the subject of especially close inquiry, the inspections made by us in all parts of Scotland have left no doubt on our minds that the worst conditions, or conditions little short of the worst, are to be found in a large proportion both of the cities and the smaller burghs. 384. The towns covered by the evidence selected as mentioned above are as follows : — Perth, Galashiels, Inverness, Dingwall, Hamilton, Dimfermhne, Dundee, Lerwick, Wick, Arbroath, and Dumbarton. 385. The houses dealt with were — (a) One-apartment houses. (6) Two-apartment houses, (c) Three-apartment houses. \d) Attics, A large number of houses is covered by the Reports of the Local Government Board's Inspectors and by the evidence from the other witnesses referred to. All these houses may be described as bad, 48 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. some very bad, none of them really are proper homes for famUies, and some are absolutely imfit for human beings to live in. The following defects were to be found in the great majority of the houses : — Ceilings low and requiring repair. Walls very damp. No water in the house and in many cases rooms dark and ill-ventilated. Lighting and ventilation defective. The closes leading to houses dark and evil-smelling. No water-closet accommodation or very little, and that exceedingly bad. Where this accom- modation exists there is often only one water-closet for four, five, or more households. In some cases : — Houses in a very bad state of disrepair. Stairways and floors sagging, even dangerously so. Floors on the ground level are sometimes on the level and sometimes much below the level of the close or adjoining land, with the result that the surface water soaks in through the walls and foundations. Houses without rones. Some with rones but without down pipes. In the case of one house the ground abuts on one side to about the level of the ceiling of the lower room and the walls are damp. This room is dark and badly ventilated. In a good number of cases the ceilings were not 7 feet high, and actually in the case of one two-apartment house in Hamilton the second apartment was only 5 feet long by 5 feet 9 inches wide by 7 feet 4 inches high, containing in all 211 cubic feet. 386. In Arbroath it was stated there are 763 one-room houses, and of these fully 60 per cent, are attic houses. 387. The Medical Officer for Dundee in his Report for 1910 (which Report is cited in the late Miss Walker's statement, 35,103 (43)) points out that the majority of houses dealt with during that year were single attics in which the ceilings were low, 6 feet to 6 feet 9 inches, the hghting and ventilation inadequate ; walls, ceihng and floor in bad repair, and provision of sanitary accommodation insufficient. In Hamilton one attic house visited was very close, dirty and ill-smelling, a smell of Polish or NeapoHtan rdther than of Scotch dirtiness. (Dr Dewar, Appendix CLXXV.) ; 388. Dr Dewar, Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board (Appendix III.) reported in *^ regard to a house at Dunfermline that in front of the window there is a pool of dirty water about 20 square feet in area and 1 J inches deep at the centre, that the tenant put up a wooden barrier to keep the water out of the house where it used to flow right in. In this house there was no flooring under the bed, only earth and loose stones, and the inmates had to use insect powder to keep down the beetles. In this house of one room lived a husband, wife, son, and three daughters. In another house in Dunferm- line Dr Dewar found the roof very defective, coals kept below the bed, floor of brick in poor repair, wall damp at the back. He reported that the tenants had complained since they first came, and had received promises but nothing more. 389. In certain houses in an area in Hamilton it is reported (ex-Provost Keith, Appendix V.) that the plaster work is old and crumbling, the ceiling very imeven, very much broken and in danger of fall- ing ; that all the walls are damp, that the wooden floor under the back bed is in very bad order as it is rotted clean away. 390. One further objection to some of the houses covered by the evidence referred to is the bad state of repair of the woodwork resulting, in some cases, in the house becoming infested with bugs. This is a very unpleasant topic, but, undoubtedly, there is evidence to support a statement that this condition of things is not imcommon in these old houses. The presence of vermin of this kind may be partly due to the uncleanly habits of the tenant, but it may often be and is owing to the ruinous con- dition of the floor, walls, and ceiling. It is cert-ainly desirable that an incoming tenant should be pro- tected against having a house handed over to him in a condition such as we have indicated. It is also in the interests of public health that a strict supervision should be had over houses of this kind, because, as one witness stated, school children in a verminous condition who may have been cleansed at the instance of the School Board often become reinfected on their return home. (R. C. Lyon, 35,549 ; Stuart, 36,460.) 390a. We have made our descriptions of the properties referred to of a somewhat general kind, and therefore we have not inserted particular references to the evidence. Support for the description^ given by us will be found in : — (1) The Reports of Dr Dittmar, Medical Inspector, and J. Wilson, Architectural Inspector respectively for the Local Government Board. Appendices CLXXIII., CLXXVL, CLXXXIX. (2) Report by Dr Dewar, Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board. Appendices III., CLXXV. (3) A statement by J. M. Rae, representkrg the Perth Trades Council. Appendix CXXV. (4) An extract from the Report of the Medical Officer for Dundee for 1910 cited in a state- ment of the late Miss Walker of the Dundee Social Union. (35,103.) (Paragraph 43.) (5) The evidence of A. Fraser, Convener of the PubUc Health Committee of Inverness, and also as Representative of the Incorporated Sanitary Association of Scotland. (14,872 (4).) (6) The evidence of Alex. Knowles, the Sanitary Inspector of Inverness. (14,458 et seq.) (7) A statement handed in by ex-Provost Keith of Hamilton. Appendix V. 391. The descriptions given above are not meant to suggest that there are no sanitary or satis- factory properties of the old two-storey type left in Scotland. They do, however, apply to a type of building which in the main has now been departed from and which naturally comprises a large proportion REPORT. 49 of dwellings which are both out of date and out of repair. The conditions of the structure and fabric generally are bad, and there are many serious defects owing to dampness, want of ventilation, want of sanitary accommodation or inadequacy or unsuitability of sanitary accommodation, leaking roofs, etc. No doubt a great many of the defects are the result of the houses being out of date. None the less, the properties are used for housing human beings ; there are, speaking generally, no other houses available for people to go to. 392. Double-Flatted and Two-Storey Cottages. — Building of working-class houses of any kind had practically ceased for some years prior to the war, but during the last sixty years of active building, in the majority of towns which had grown with any considerable rapidity during that period, this tjrpe of building had been steadily superseded by the regular tenement-block of three, or more commonly four, storeys. This will be described later. (Paragraph 396 et seq.) But there had also been a develop- ment, though Umited in extent, of the two-storey building into improved forms. In the Burgh of Kirkcaldy, for instance, the prevalent type of building had, according to the Sanitary Inspector's evidence, been the two-storey tenement, with four houses to the block, a through passage, and an outside stair at the back leading to the upper storey. (Braid, 3564 (24).) 393. More important, as representing a wider variation from the predominant type, has been the erection of two-storey and double-flatted cottages in different parts of Scotland, in the provision of which building societies have taken a considerable part. The former type of house, with from three to five rooms, the upper rooms generally having storm-windows, represents the nearest approach to the EngUsh type of working-man's house. They are commonly built in long terraces, but have good garden plots, in front or at the back, or both. In some cases the semi-detached cottage had also been erected. The rooms are somewhat larger than those in the typical EngUsh cottage ; and in the more recent specimens of the type, bathrooms and other improvements have been added. 394. That cottages of these types are appreciated by the better-paid workers of the towns where they have been erected is emphatically stated. For instance, the Falkirk Building Society, which has been in existence for upwards of fifty years, had induced many working men, formerly occupying room- and-kitchen houses in tenements, to occupy and acquire semi-detached cottages, of which the Society had built or acquired about 420. (Ramsay, 39,678, 39,680.) These cottages consist of three rooms and upwards, each cottage as a rule having front and back garden plots. 395. There is, however, some difference of opinion as to which type is preferred— the self-contained cottage with internal stair or the " double-flatted cottage " in which each floor is separate with an in- dependent entrance. The building societies at Falkirk and Dumbarton have built cottages of the former type ; but the latter type has been increasingly adopted by the Edinburgh Co-operative Building Company, Limited. The Manager of the Company stated that a great many of the houses had an outside stair for the house above ; that the flatted houses, one above the other, were preferred to the self-contained houses with up and down stairs ; and that the housewife hked to have all her rooms on the same floor. (Mill, 39,393.) The double-flatted cottage has also been erected in considerable, although not propor- tionally, large numbers, usually with two rooms and scullery in each house, in the rapidly-growing towns and villages in certain mining districts. (iii) Tenements. 396. The tenement of three, four, and, in certain cases, five or more storeys represents the final development of housing during the nineteenth century in the great majority of the larger Scots burghs. It is important to understand what led to this line of development, so different from the two-storey self-contained cottages which form the prevailing type in English towns. A clear statement on this point was furnished to us by the City Engineer of Edinburgh, who gave an account of the rise, progress, and decline of the Scottish tenement. 397. If we look to the City of Edinburgh for illustration of such causes, we find an ancient walled city, extending from the Castle to Hotyrood, and comprising the Lawnmarket, with the few cross streets, and the multitudinous narrow closes which fill in the intervening belt of land. Each of those closes is practically a street in itself, fronted or closely hemmed in by tall tenements — centuries old — and at one time, in many cases, the resort and abode of fashion and of society. 398. Unable to extend for fear of attack from the south, whilst upon the north the city was water- bound and rock-bound, the growing population of the city could only expand skywards ; hence, no doubt, those thickly-built closes and their many-storeyed tenements. 399. Upon this agglomeration — reared imder such straits — -there followed the districts of West Port and EUgh Riggs, Potterrow and Pleasance, Richmond Street and the suburb of St Leonard's, all of them now the abode of the labouring class ; taking their type from the tenements of the ancient city, and seeming .to impress the stamp of perpetuity upon the tenement as the pattern of the city's future building growth. 400. The modem reproductions of the tenemented plan, which may be seen in the working-class suburbs of TynecaStle, Gorgie, Restalrig, Easter Road, etc., are not — like their prototype — ^the product of necessity, but that of choice and evil example, from which it appears difficult to depart. 40L The early example of the tenemented system, so set in the Scottish capital, would appear to have given to other Scottish towns the type for their copy in the soaring fiats which have acquired for the towns of Scotland this particular unenviable and distinctive feature. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (22-26).) To the explanation in the last sentence it should probably be added that the example of Edinburgh has been reinforced by that of certain other ancient-walled cities, e.fj. Stirling, where similar conditions produced the same effect, and these may also be seen in very many Continental cities, where building space was limited by the circuit of the city walls. 402. As regards the present condition of different classes of city tenements, a careful account and classification was given by Mr Lome Campbell, F.R.I.B.A., one of the representatives of the Edinburgh Garden City and Town Planning Association. He grouped the existing housing of the working classes, as in the larger Scottish towns at least, in five sections, as follows : — 4 60 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (a) The lower class of subdivided house, viz. better houses that have come upon evil days owing to age and the depreciation of the districts in which they are situated. Subdivided mostly into single rooms, rented at from Is. to 3s. 6d. per week according to size, etc., and tenanted for the most part by the unskilled labouring class. (b) The better-class subdivided house, differing from the above merely in that the locality in which it is situated is sUghtly better, and that the subdivision varies from the single room to the room and the bedcloset, and even to two rooms. The rents here run from, say, £9 to £10 per annum (with, in addition, a heavy charge on account of taxes), and the class of tenant is better. (In both of above sections the sanitary arrangements are, as a rule, common to a number of houses, and situated od a public landing or passage.) ((•) The deliberately erected tenement — having four houses per floor, and sixteen to twenty per common stair. Accommodation of houses varying from room, kitchen, and water-closet to room, kitchen, bed-closet, and bathroom. Rents, £11 to £12, with, say, £2, 4s. of occupier's rates. Tenants of good artisan class. (d) The tenement having three houses per floor, and nine to twelve per common stair. Accommoda- tion, two rooms, kitchen, and bathroom. Rents, say, £18, and taxes of, say, £3, 7s. Tenants superior artisan class. (e) The best class of tenement, having two houses per floor— probably six entering from the common stair, and two forming maindoor houses, with frontages varying from 50 to 60 feet. Accommodation, three to four rooms, kitchen and bathroom, with, in many cases, a small " outbuilt" scullery off the kitchen. Rents varying from £27 to £29 for houses in narrower frontage blocks to as much as £37 for those in the larger. These houses may hardly, however, be correctly described as working-class houses. (A. Lome Campbell, 19,457 (6).) 403. It will be noted that the above classification is similar to that which we will observe in this chapter ; but Mr Lome Campbell distinguishes between two classes of subdi\'ided tenements and omits the balcony type of tenement, which is not common in Edinburgh. As he suggests, his fifth class of tenement falls rather outside the subject of this Report. 404. (a) Subdivided Houses and Tenements. — The subdivided house or tenement was described and its ill-effects strongly emphasised by several witnesses. The practice of subdivision of old houses and tenements, while common throughout the larger towns of Scotland, is met with to a very large extent in Edinburgh, and we shall confine our discussion of the subject chiefly to the facts as revealed in Edinburgh. In the poorer parts of the city many of the old houses accommodated large estabhshments in the days when Holyrood kept couVt, and the aristocracy with its retainers Hved in the immediate neighbourhood. There are many of these houses in the Royal Mile, and they can be recognised by their large, well-proportioned rooms, with panelled walls and sometimes with remains of beautiful artistic workmanship in the plaster work of the ceiUngs or on the mantelpiece or stair-railings. The method of subdivision practised has been to partition the large rooms, add sanitary accommodation in a haphazard fashion where possible, and let them as houses at a low rent to a poor population. The houses are fairly healthy if they are well managed and overcrowding prevented, the objection however being the multitude of families crowded on to each stair. 405. A much more objectionable form of subdivided house is f oimd in the large tenement, built during the first half of last century, and intended originally to accommodate, say, from six to eight families. As the district became unfashionable the proprietor was left with empty houses, and had perforce to reduce the house to the lower standard of its surroundings, and to accommodate the lower and more poorly paid class who were wilhng to five in it. This he did by subdividing the flats, so that they probably accommodated from two to four or even five times the number of families for which the structure was intended. Had this work been done under control and regulation of the Local Authority it might have been a fairly satisfactory way of providing houses at cheap rents for a class of the population unable to pay for modern accommodation. But it was soon discovered to be, from the landlord's point of view, a profitable form of house expansion. So long as the structure was not interfered with, any such subdivision did not until 1891 come under the cognisance of the public authority, and therefore there was no Umit to the number of the families which might be housed, and no compulsion as to the amount of sanitary accommodation required. A few instances are cited in order to show the evil of the condition, and the necessity for very strict regulations in order to prevent it. 406. In one case a tenement of seven houses with a population of about 35 was subdivided into 23 houses with a population of 73 ; in another, eight houses with a population of about 40 was subdivided into 34 houses with a population of 114 ; and in another, seven houses with a population of about 35 was subdivided into 43 houses with a population of 134. It is easy to gather from these instances with what rapidity a district may become an over-populated and densely crowded one. (Williamson, 5539 (44).) To a large extent one- and two-room houses have been created by this subdivision and re-subdivision of large tenements which formerly consisted of spacious flatted houses of from four to six rooms. " The ' subdivision of houses has largely been resorted to in districts of the city already densely populated, and ' this has had the effect of creating over-populated slum areas, with the attendant evils of increase in ' density of population per acre, filth nuisances, overcrowding, general deterioration of the properties ' themselves, and amenity of the districts." (Rutherford, 17,947a (25) ; Eunson, 5699 (9).) 407. Further, in many cases subdivision has not carried with it provision of sanitary accommodation of a proper kind. In Ward II a great deal of subdivision has taken place, and the number of houses with separate water-closets is as low as 18 per cent., while in other wards it rises to 85 per cent. (Ruther- ford, 58 1 8. ) The representatives of the Edinburgh and District Trades Coimcil say : " We speak within our ' own knowledge when we say that houses of six rooms have been converted into six single houses with * one water-closet only opening to the stair, and in some instances not doing that, the only ventilation ' being at the door." (Eunson, 18,155.) " This practice of ' subdivision,' " says Mr Campbell, City Engineer, " has attained a dimension against which it is difficult for even fresh legislation effectively ' to compete, unless it is of a thorough and drastic kind and in its application made to embrace houses ' that have been already subdivided, as well as to regulate and' control future subdivisions. It is one REPORT. 61 * of the chief evils in the housing problem ; profitable to owner, and tempting to the tenant. And the ' difficulty is, notwithstanding local legislation, it still goes on unknown." (Campbell, 18,745 (28).) 408. A certain amount of power is at present available under local Acts in Edinburgh, particularly section 48 of the Act of 1891, for the control of this subdivision, but according to the City Engineer there is much difficulty in finding out when the subdivision takes place in cases where no structural alterations take place. It may be twelve months or more before the City Authorities ascertain through the medium of the Valuation Survey that the subdivision has been made, and the City Engineer says he is advised legally that imless he can specify precise, or at least closely approximate, dates when the subdivision took place, a prosecution for contravention of the existing powers would fail. (Campbell, 18,758 ; Young, 40,460 ; Williamson, 40,726.) 409. It would appear, too, as if by a later Act, viz. that of 1913, the powers imder the local Act were limited in their application to such subdivision as would increase the number of houses above nine in a tenement with an inside stair or above twelve in the case of a tenement with an outside stair or balcony. (Williamson, 40,726 : Young, 40,450.) We consider that whatever the size of the house or the number of houses in a tenement, any subdivision of whatever land or degree should be subject to the approval and certification of the Local Authority. If the owner or other person responsible permits the occupa- tion of such subdivided house without a certificate of the Local Authority or their officers, this should be made a statutory offence punishable by fine. The evil is rampant ; it is, moreover, of a very far- reaching kind in its degrading influence on the inhabitants of these dwellings — physical, moral, and social ; and the remedy must be correspondingly drastic. 410. As will be seen, we have dealt above with the conditions in Edinburgh, but we think it proper to add some confirming evidence from other towns, as the subdivided house is a widespread and important phenomenon. Certain of the particulars given in the immediately following paragraphs regarding the defects of the mid -nineteenth century tenement may be taken as applying to subdivided property. It is indeed difficult to say where subdivision begins and ends ; because, while in some cases a whole tene- ment block may be " made down " more or less systematically, at other times the process goes on furtively by gradual and irregular stages. Subdivision is also found in the smaller towns in the two- storey property already described. Thus it was stated that in Inverness it is not uncommon for a two- storey house, originally occupied by the owner, to be subsequently divided, the upper portion being perhaps let to a young couple, and the downstairs rooms let separately to two old people, the entrance remaining common to the three sets of occupants, (i'raser, 14,940.) The sanitary arrangements, if there are any, will also be common. 411. Descriptions of subdivision may also be quoted from two other towns, very different in most respects, as follows : — Dingwall. — Overcrowding is common in many houses, and the demand for housing accommoda- tion has been so great that many houses which had originally four rooms have been subdivided into two and four separate houses to meet this demand. (Dittmar and Wilson, Appendix CLXXIII. (20).) Hamilton. — Many of the houses were once the residence of the well-to-do, as is shown by the woodwork panels, a marble mantelpiece, etc. (Dewar, Appendix CLXXV. (8, 13, 14).) Street. — Houses of two rooms ; one small, the other extremely so. A poor and dirty place, though the mantelpiece is of white marble covered with decades of black lead. Floor of the " larger " room is very uneven. That of the smaller room has recently been renewed. Street. — Here passages 32 inches broad have been put up within the last ten years on both first and second storeys. (Dewar, Appendix CLXXV.) 412. Two other statements may be quoted, referring to property of very different types. The Sanitary Inspector of Dumbarton said that in the district known as Dennystown, where the hoiises are in fairly good condition and have been specially built as room and kitchen houses for the working classes, with a free air space under 1800 cubic feet, sufficient (on the present standard) to accom- modate a man, his wife, and five children — a great number of these houses have been divided into two, thus forming single apartments, many of which do not reach 800 cubic feet, being barely accommodation for two adults. These. single apartments are let at a rent of 2s. 4d. per week, are generally occupied by a family, and are always overcrowded. (Briggs, 33,929 (2).) Finally, we refer to the evidence of the Sanitary Inspector for Greenock, a town where subdivision has been frequent, and where it has been carried out in tenement dwellings of the same general type as those of Edinburgh or Glasgow. In the majority of these cases the houses are old, and in many instances are approaching the stage when, despite the endeavour to keep them in serviceable condition, they must be classed as uninhabitable. These houses have passed through the various vicissitudes common to houses in towns where, with the changing conditions of life, what in former days had been looked upon as residential quarters have now become the refuge of the poorer classes. To meet the requirements of this class the internal arrangements of many of the properties have been altered and the houses have been made into smaller houses. Thus houses which at one time must have been sufficiently ventilated are now subdivided and so arranged that through ventilation is impossible, and the dwellings answer to the definition of back-to-back houses within the meaning of section 43 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act. (Devine, 33,207 (12).) 413. It is obvious that the larger the building affected, the more serious the result for the tenants in caasing congestion and personal friction in various forms. Miss Rutherfurd mentioned that in Richard Street, Glasgow, 37 dwellings entered from a single stair (a number very similar to that found in subdivided dwellings in Edinburgh) ; and that, owing to the way in which the subdivision had been carried out, the houses were to all intents and purposes " back-to-back " — a point to which we must return immediately (22,144-7.) It is thus clear from the facts already given that the sub- divided house forms a serious problem for not a few of the Burgh Authorities of Scotland. The possibility of checlcing this dangerous process by legislation, or of controlling it administratively, is above discussed in connection with overcrowding in Edinburgh, where the problem has been most acute and on that account has been most seriously faced, and in the chapter on Tenements (Chapter VIII.) we make certain recommendations for the replanning of old tenements, including the control of sub- 52 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. division of houses and tenements. But the problem of subdivision cannot be separated rigidly from the other problems of housing. It is in part an economic one, viz. that of housing decently the working people and more particularly the poorly paid or casual worker. 414. (6) " Deliberately erected" Tenements. — The " deUberately erected "tenement is of the type which multiplied itself in all the chief Scottish towns during the greater part of the nineteenth century. It has many defects, and only one distinct virtue — that the rooms are high and reasonably airy, usually 9 or 10 feet and sometimes more. But as regards arrangement, lighting, and sanitary appliances little that is good can be said of it. The experienced architect already quoted takes as its fimdamental defect the arrangement of houses round a central stair. He states that despite the best efforts of the authorities the stair remains badly lighted (particularly in its lower flights) and badly ventilated. The passage giving access to the staircase from the entrance door, too, seriously curtails the accommodation of the ground-floor houses, and the whole forms a centre for noisy pl^ on the part of the children, thereby creating — in conjimction with the question of rotation of cleaning of the stair — ground for constant quarrelling and bickering among the over-numerous tenants. The situation of the staircase also renders the satisfactory planning of the houses surrounding it impossible, necessitating, as it does, a large unhghted area in the centre of the house which is found generally appropriated to the objectionable dark bed-closet, or almost as objectionable bed-recess. The lack of through ventilation is a defect found in one out of the three houses on each floor of those tenements having three houses per floor, and the whole of the houses having four houses per floor. (Lome Campbell, 19,457 (11-16) ; cf. Roxburgh, 19,451a (27).) A further defect, emphasising the lack of sufiicient light and air, is the arrangement of tenements in hollow squares, with no opening or only a very narrow opening at the corners. 415. These defects of lighting and ventilation apply very widely. As showing that they are not confined to the great cities alone, we may refer to the statement of the Medical Officer of Health for Motherwell, who states that in his opinion the absence of good, bright, unobstructed daylight in any part of a house is a very serious evil, that many of the larger houses have dark or badly-lighted passages and closets, and that he constantly finds that such houses are dirty and smell badly. (R. P. Jack, 34,183 (38).) 416. To this we may add statements from Edinburgh and Dundee. An employee of the North British Railway Company, Edinburgh, gave the following account of his house : — ■ I have a house (subdivided) of three apartments, which I consider myself lucky to have, at a rental of £9, 4s. 6d. per year, or 3s. 6|d. per week. If I have the advantage one way, I lose it another, owing to the kitchen being dark ; therefore I am compelled to burn gas to the extent of Is. per week, or £2, 12s. per year. It is easy to see that this item of Is. per week for gas is a very serious one, for a man who has to support eight persons on an income of 19s., like the witness in question. (Gaynor, 37,841 (13).) (The figures refer to the period immediately before the war.) 417. A similar difficulty is alluded to in the evidence of the Dundee Social Union. One woman informed the Union's Infant Health Visitor that she had to burn gas during the day, using a penny-in- the-slot meter, and generally spending 3d. per day. In the same evidence it is noted that the windows frequently open on a narrow close or pend, sometimes because the stairs leading to upper flats block them. Some houses are noted as having inside stairs ; these are often dark, and in the older tenements the landings are often quite dark and unventilated. (Miss Walker, 35,103 (37) ; R. C. Lyon, 35,555 f.) It should, however, be stated that the Overgate Improvement Scheme will remove a large number of the houses with the worst-lighted rooms ; and that one of the representatives of the Dundee Trades Council stated that the artificial lighting of common stairs was being greatly improved. (R. C. Lyon, 35,552.) 418. Probably the worst type of tenement property from the point of view we have been describing is that which has a long transverse passage on each flat, off which numerous doors open. Sometimes the passage runs to right and left immediately at the top of the common stair ; sometimes, though more rarely, as in the " back lands " in the Cowcaddens (Glasgow) district, referred to later (Paragraph 423), it runs right through the building from the stair which is placed at one extremity ; and not infrequently it forms a large T in the centre of the building. In this last type it is obvious tlaat no direct light can possibly reach the ends of the passage, and very little air. But the defects which are at their worst in the T-shaped passages are sufficiently pronounced in the other types as well. 419. Strong evidence was led before us as to the impossibiUty of maintaining decent or sanitary conditions in houses to which access is gained by such passages, into the dead-ends of which hardly any dayhght ever enters, and which are tolerably lit only at night, thanks to the recent efforts of more than one Corporation to improve the fighting of common stairs. The Rev. Dr Watson, Minister of St Clement's Parish, Glasgow, stated that no ventilation worthy of the name could be got from a passage of that kind, that he had often to strike a match and sometimes carry an electric torch to see the names on the doors ; that no deafening material seemed to be used in these T-shaped passages and some others ; that one night when he was in one of these passages he stood at the end of the passage where it divides and he heard four distinct conversations going on. (Watson, 22,420). In such dwelfings no real privacy is possible. (Ibid., 22,420.) 420. Similarly, in a description of another part of Glasgow, supplied by Mr Motion, the Inspector of Poor, it is mentioned that — • In quite a number of closes in Richard Street and West Both well Street the lobbies are long and badly lighted ; indeed, in broad daylight one cannot make one's way without the aid of artificial light. The houses are badly ventilated and damp, and some of them are quite uninhabitable. (Appendix LXXIII. (x.). See also 20,752 f.) 421 . The Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow described these tenements as presenting an aggravated form of the back-to-back house, although they were really houses contained within one tenement. REPORT. ■ 63 If you will follow me up the staircase (he said) and along the lobby, you will find that to the left you enter a kitchen, and through the kitchen you enter a room ; a little further along the lobby you enter another two-apartment house, of kitchen and room, and so on ; but what I think is worth noticing is that right through this tenement, longitudinally, you have a solid partition, which divides the back houses from the front houses. (Chalmers, 20,219 ff.) Through ventilation is quite impossible. Dr Chalmers further stated that he considered that a house of this type ought always to be considered uninhabitable, and argued that they would be judged so on any common-sense reading of the statutes. He contended that if it is now illegal to build houses of that kind, for the very same reason any houses still existing of that kind should be held to be unin- habitable. (Chalmers, 20,222.) The reference is, on the one hand, to the Housing, etc.. Act, 1909, section 43, in which new " back-to-back " houses are (unless the Medical Ofi&cer of Health certifies that the houses are so constructed and arranged as to secure efEective ventilation) forbidden to be erected, with the implication that the type is uninhabitable. {Cf. paragraph 466.) And on the other hand to section 14 of the same Act, which provides that every house of a rent not exceeding £16 must be in a condition reasonably fit for human habitation at the beginning of a new tenancy. The difficulty is much the same as in the case of subdivision just considered — ^the Courts are unwilling to admit that legislation applicable to new houses must also be applied to old unless the statute states clearly that it is to take effect retrospectively. 422. This view that houses so arranged (even though there are only four on each landing, as in the type specially referred to by Dr Chalmers) constitute back-to-back dwellings was also advanced by the Medical Officer for Greenock in a report submitted in 1912. (Cook, 33,203 (14 (c)) ; cf. Devine, 33,207 (13).) 423. i3ut the tenements with four houses on each landing do not represent the problem at its worst. The worst type is rather that in which a much larger number of houses opens off a long straight passage or a T-shaped passage. These passages have been already referred to, but the following description of them as they exist in the Cowcaddens District of Glasgow may be added from the evidence of the Sub- Warden of Glasgow University Settlement. He stated that there are new houses in the district where the general plan of construction is very good, but in the majority of the properties there are narrow passages branching out from the landings, and as many as six or seven houses opening into them. In many places the passages are not more than 2 feet 6 inches wide, and they are so built that it is impossible for any sunhght to enter them. At all times they are dark and damp, and are pervaded with an unwhole- some smell. (Coultate, 23,780 (22); cf. Ibid. (5) and 23,786 f.) In one street in this district some of our number visited a property in which there are both " front " and " back lands," running parallel with the street, in which the passages had as many as ten or twelve separate dwellings opening off them. 424. The descriptions of tenement property in Glasgow in Chapter II. are also referred to. These descriptions are taken from the evidence of Miss Rutherfurd, the Warden of Queen Margaret Settlement and a member of Glasgow Parish Council. (Rutherfurd, 22,110 (2).) Dr Watson gives an account of some of the worst properties in the Mile-End Ward in the East of Glasgow. He states that a large proportion of the houses in his parish are in his opinion unwholesome from a health point of -view. They are too small. They are overcrowded. They are defective in air space, sunlight, and ventilation. They are cheerless and uncomfortable. He often wondered how any one could read at the fireside in the evening in some of those houses, and he was not surprised that very little reading is done, and that most of the inmates prefer spending their time out of doors. 425. The following notes on the worst properties in St Clement's Parish were submitted to us : — • • Street. — 'Two-storey buildings, with back-land and a small congested court out of repair. Street. — -An old dilapidated back-land, two storeys in height. Court very much out of repair. Houses almost unfit for human habitation. — • — — • Street.— Tvro back-lands built of brick ; houses on ground flat damp, courts unpaved. Eoad. — 'Back-lands, dark and damp. Court depressed and water stagnating. ■ — Street. — Back-lands, damp, rubble courts congested. One house at least illegal, being without ample free space in front of its window. Street. — -Back-lands are very bad. Those on the ground floor are not fit for human habitation. Damp and ill- ventilated, or else very draughty. The drainage is defective, and in wet weather the courts are most unhealthy for children playing in them. This remark applies to a good many other courts, and the result is seen in an excessive amount of fever and other sicknesses. Street can only be described as horrible from a sanitary and health point of view. The houses are rickety and smoky, the stair dark, filthy, and at night dangerous. — — ' — • Street. — -Ground-floor houses are most unwholesome. The smell here frequently makes visiting ladies ill, and they say it is just a breeding-ground of consumption. No matter how clean the houses are kept, or how well they are ventilated by open windows, the damp, filthy smell is there. The closes and stairs are generally dark, and one has to strike a match to find the doors. (Watson, 22,379 (4-5).) 426. At this point we introduce an account from the evidence given by a witness in the employ- ment of the North British Railway Company in one of the Border burghs of the actual inconveniences of life in an old property, much better, indeed, than those just described, but stiU falUng decidedly short of a satisfactory standard : — Galashiels. — ^A good many of the houses in Street are single houses, what is called a " but and a ben," and they are occupied by two tenants. Most of them are very old properties. Take the downstairs houses first. They are about 7 or 8 feet from floor to ceiling, and from front 64 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. to back they are from 18 to 10 and 11 feet. There are two beds in the kitchens, and there is a little bit closet which is both pantry and scullery in which there is a sink. All their cooking utensils are kept there, and there is a small bed in it. A full bed cannot be got into it. The ventilation is by a small window measuring about 12 inches square, which opens out into a coal-house. There is a fanlight in some of them leading into the passage, but these fanlights are all closed and let in no ventilation. Most of these tenants can only open the top of their window for the reason that if they open the other half to let ventilation in, then they are annoyed at night by cats, rats, and might I say, human beings. . . . Then with regard to the press accommodation, the houses have only a single press which goes back only a few inches. There is nowhere to put clothes or anything else, and the little furniture that they may have occupies most of the room. The outside accommodation is not very good — small coal-houses and water-closets which have been put up and which are sometimes 50 or 60 yards from the house, which is a very undesirable thing for the tenants who may have children and old people going out at night. They practically don't use them at night. (J. Rutherford, 16,607.) It is important to note the opinion, strongly endorsed by other witnesses, that the absence of cup- board space, and facilities for storage generally, forms a gi-ave inconvenience and even hardship. 427. Before leaving the consideration of the older type of tenement, we think it proper to add some facts regarding two features which are characteristic of it, though also found at times in other types of old property, viz. {a) underground or cellar dweUings, and (b) box-beds or bed-closets. As these form definite and circumscribed subjects, we shall in this case add some remarks on the state of the law to the' purely descriptive account of these features. 428. Underground Dwellings. — We may distinguish two types of underground or partially under- ground d'welHng : — (1) The sunk flat, which in certain districts is common in the older and more dilapidated tene- ments, and (2) Basements in otherwise sound and respectable buildings, the principal defect of which is their position. 429. The sunk flats are referred to in the description (from Miss Rutherfurd's evidence) in Chapter II. regarding the worst streets in the Anderston district of Glasgow. Miss Rutherfurd further stated, in response to questions, that these sunk flats were, in her opinion, uninhabitable and should never have been allowed to be occupied. In a great many of these closes, she said, the upper stairs are perfectly good, but it is the sunk flats that are bad. When asked whether she would approve of the sunk flats only being closed, she said she would. She did not know how the stair down could be closed, because it generally leads to any washing or drying ground they have, but suggested that the sunk passage might be closed with stanchions. (22,290 ff.) 430. Two members of the Commission visited several of these flats under Miss Rutherfurd's guidance, and can confirm her evidence fully. In one case there were seven steps down to a through passage leading to the back of the building, with three or four doors opening off it. The sunk flats would be about 4 feet below the level of the street, and, especially in the case of those in the front of the building, the lighting and ventilation were most inadequate. If the window were open at all there would be nothing to prevent refuse of all kinds from the street blowing into the living-room. 431. Another instance of a markedly unhealthy underground room was observed by us in a Border burgh. It occurred in a three-storey tenement, built on sloping ground, the ground-floor house being entered from a road at the foot of the slope, and the second- and third-floor houses from a road at the back of the tenement on a higher level. On the ground floor a three-room house was visited. The back- room was very small, dark, and damp, and three-fourths imderground, its back wall being entirely so. Two boys slept there. The housewife informed us that the family would gladly leave but could not find another house- — " Houses is that scarce." 432. The other type of underground dwelling is more difficult to characterise accurately. Members of the Commission saw examples in two different burghs ; in both cases the dwellings formed the basement of a tenement property which was otherwise in good repair, and in one case there was a good open space behind for bleaching, etc. In both cases the row of tenements was on the lower side of the street on sloping ground. The rooms were reached by a through passage and entered from the open space behind. The room first entered (i.e. away from the street) was above ground and reasonably well lighted, but the other room, opening off the first, was underground as to the greater part of its capacity, and was inadequately lighted and ventilated. The Sanitary Inspector of Port-Glasgow stated that there are several undergroimd dwellings in that burgh, the ceilings of which are only 4 inches to 6 inches above the adjoining street, and which are lit and ventilated through an iron grating in the footpath ; but as the underground apartment is conjoined with another apart- ment which has one of its sides entirely above the level of the adjoining ground, the law as to under- ground dwellings contained in section 74 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, does not apply. The air in these imderground apartments is generally humid and heavily charged with dust particles, and during the winter months especially they are very dark and imwholesome. They are most undesirable dwellings. (Halliday, 33,500 (26).) -' 433. There is no clause in the Burgh Police Acts dealing directly with underground dwellings. Even in Glasgow the Local Authority has to proceed under the Public Health Act. (Lindsay, 23,339.) Section 74 of this Act (viz. 1897) is very long and cumbrous, containing a statement which occupies about five hundred words of the circumstances under which underground rooms may be inhabited. It begins as follows :— It shall not be lawful to let separately, except as a warehouse or storehouse, or to suffer to be occupied as a dwelling-place, any cellar or any vault or underground room, whether conjoined or not with another apartment not having one of its external sides entirely above the level of the street or ground adjoining the same, and not having a window or other opening in such side, REPORT. 65 and proceeds to define the height of ceiling necessary, and various other matters. The Handbook of Public Health points out that : — The words " whether conjoined " to " opening in such side " are new, and replace the words in the 1867 Act, " not being entirely open on one or other of its sides." The effect of them is that the section applies to a cellar, vault, or undergroimd room, whether it be let separately as a dwelling or along with another room, unless such other room has one of its external sides wholly above the level of the adjoining street or ground, and has a window or other opening in that side. {Handbook of Public Health, by J. Patten Macdougall and A. Murray, Part I., p. 128.) 434. The Sanitary Inspector last quoted expressed his preference for the older form of the law : — The alteration which was made on the 1897 Act rather, I think, put back the hands of the clock, because those houses that I had in my mind we could have dealt with imder the old Act, but we cannot now, because the room of which I complain is conjoined with another apartment. (Halliday, 33,546.) We point out, however, that in addition to the powers in the Public Health Act, 1897, referred to by the witness, there are further powers in the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, section 17 (7), whereby underground " sleeping places " may be dealt with. We summarise the whole law on the subject in Chapter V., Paragraphs 220 to 222. 435. The Convener of the Public Health Committee of Edinburgh Town Council, referring to improve- ments carried out recently in the city, said that with the exception of subdivided houses, more area dwellings had been condemned than any other description of house, that the existence of the area dwelling is due to the varieties in level, that many areas are even now in better-class houses used as sleeping accommodation by the servants, and that that fact is often pleaded by owners of area houses which are imder consideration by the " open court " {i.e. the Public Health Committee of the Town Council) with a view to the pronouncing of a Closing Order in support of the habitability (alleged) of their particular property. (J. A. Young, 40,434 (4) (8).) 436. The representatives of the Edinburgh Trades Council suggested that the prevalence of phthisis among domestic servants, which had been shown in the working of the Insurance Act, might be in part due to the number who live in basements. (Eunson and Wilson, 17,947a (28 f .), 18,163.) 437. In Liverpool drastic action has been taken regarding cellar dwellings. The Medical Officer stated that in 1908 powers were obtained by the Corporation which prohibited the occupation of cellars as separate dwellings after the 31st December 1912. All the cellars recorded in the registers were visited during the latter part of 1912, and it was then found that 1614 cellars were let and used as separate dwellings. These 1614 cellars were again visited during December 1913, and it was then foimd that 915 had been vacated, the owners having been duly warned. (Dr E. W. Hope, 24,623 (7).) It is worth noting that in Liverpool cellar dwellings are illegal if they are more than 2 feet below street level. (Kyffin- Taylor, 24,313 (44).) 438. Though the two types of underground dwellings described are not now very numerous in the burghs (except as regards servants' quarters in " areas "), there seems to be a strong case for the pro- vision of further powers to control them in both burghs and rural districts. We are of opinion that such dwellings should not be allowed to be erected in future. As regards the existing houses, it has been shown that the powers of the Public Health Act are insufficient, while the provisions of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, already referred to, apply only to underground sleeping places. We consider that following the precedent of that Act Local Authorities should be empowered to frame regulations prescribing the conditions of occupancy of all rooms which are either wholly or in any part below the level of the adjoining street or ground. Any room that does not comply with these regula- tions should be deemed uninhabitable, and the Local Authority should be empowered to close it. The Local Government Board should be empowered to require any Local Authority to frame and enforce such regulations wherever considered necessary. 439. Box-beds and Bed-recesses. — The use of closed-in beds was formerly widespread both in the towns and the coimtry districts of Scotland. The old type of completely enclosed beds, usually with folding doors like a cupboard, has, in the main, disappeared from the towns, though its existence is noted in the evidence from certain northern districts, particularly Orkney and Shetland ; but the bed- recess, which is frequently enclosed for part of its length, is still common. 440. Before discussing the legislation on the subject, we propose to deal with the principal evidence. Dr Dittmar, Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board, dealt particularly with the bed- closet, a small chamber with no direct lighting or ventilation. He stated that when investigating the conditions of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis under home treatment in Edinburgh, he came across " bed-closets." In the older type of house these are simply large dark cupboards with a door off a dark " lobby," and a fixed window in the wall next the kitchen of the house. The cupboards are large enough to hold a double bed, a chair, and a small chest of drawers. They are imperfectly ventilated, and quite unfit for sleeping in. In the newer type of working-men's houses, the " bed-closets " have been somewhat improved. They are large enough to hold a double-bed, a chair, and a chest of drawers, and are situated between a living-room at the front and the kitchen at the back. They are entered by a door from a fairly light hall, and a second door opens into the living-room, but is usually found closed. They are lighted by three windows, all made to open, one above the door into the living-room, one into the kitchen exactly opposite, and one above the door into the " lobby " of the house. There is no fireplace in the room, and no direct commimication with the external air. " Bed-closets " of this kind are quite distinct from the ordinary closed-in or " box " beds so common in the older type of Scottish tenement. The " box " bed is situated in a recess off the kitchen or living-room ; it has no separate entrance from the passage or hall. Dr Dittmar thinks that the construction of " bed-closets " of the nature described above should be made illegal. (Dittmar, 340 (24 and 25).) 441. It has been found that rooms described in the architect's plans as box-rooms are subsequently used as sleeping apartments. Dr Dittmar speaks to this practice in regard to Edinburgh, but it is not 66 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. confined to the city of Edinburgh. For instance, in Coatbridge, the Burgh Surveyor told us that in many cases rooms of less than 100 superficial feet of floor area have been shown on plans and passed in the Dean of Guild Court as box-rooms, but after the building has been completed these rooms have been occupied as sleeping apartments. This, the witness thought, should constitute an offence. (C. Young (Statement submitted by J. Alston), 34,168 (10).) We return to this subject in a later chapter. 442. Dr Dewar, one of the Medical Inspectors of the Local Government Board, dealt more particularly with bed-recesses, and offered a somewhat more guarded opinion. He stated that it is certain these do not make for hygienic advantage, since a plain bed of wood or iron projecting into the central space of a barely furnished room is clearly the ideal sleeping place. But he added that under ordinary conditions of working-class life the partially enclosed bed has its undoubted advantages and that, although endeavours to discourage its construction have repeatedly been made, they have been defeated by popular opinion. (Dewar, 764 (33).) 443. We obtained evidence on this subject from the Edinburgh Trades Council. Speaking of the campaign against these bed-closets and recesses which has been recently carried on by the Sanitary Authorities, the representatives of the Trades Coimcil stated that these closets were originally intended to secure a greater amount of privacy in families occupying small houses, but that results have shown them to be dangerous to health. They told us that in 1911 63 of these dark recesses (in Edinburgh) were ordered to be opened up, owing to its being ascertained that phthisical patients were occupying them. (Eunson and Wilson, 17,947a (27).) The opening up and condemnation of bed-closets as sleeping places no doubt increase the difficulty of occupancy of one- and two-room houses by families. That the scanty room accommodation in working-class houses (witness the number of one- and two-room houses) accounts for the national partiality for the box-bed is supported by a sentence in the Census Report for 1861 : " The box-bed, so prevalent in agricultural districts, forms, as it were, a distinct ' room for the parties sleeping in, so that it affords facilities for a separation of the sexes, and the ' observance of decency, to an extent which is impossible in a single room, where such accommodation 'is wanting." (Census Report, 1861, cited by Patten Macdougall, 1538 (21).) Thus it seems clear that, while at all times inimical to health and especially objectionable in cases of phthisis, this form of bed had an advantage from the point of view of privacy for a family occupying a one- or two-room house. 444. In mining communities similar conditions obtain. The Sanitary Inspector of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire gave evidence on the subject, stating that the provision for sleeping in miners' houses consists of a series of recesses, which, in houses constructed imder the building byelaws, have openings extending from the floor surface to the ceiling, and of a width equal to the length of the bed, 6 feet, whereas in the older class of houses these openings are considerably less in height and width. As their position and arrangement are obstructive to ventilation, the air in the rooms becomes stagnant and impure, and is rendered more so by the presence of dried particles of matter brought into the houses from fouled surfaces outside by the occupants and visitors, and by the expiration of the sleepers during the period of slumber. Owing to the want of any coal storage accommodation the occupants of many of the old miners' houses have no place to put coals except below the bed. This storing of coals under the bed, said the Sanitary Inspector, encourages domestic animals to resort there for their natural needs. This aggravates the impurity of the air. It is a fact that the air within these bed-recesses is grossly polluted, in some instances to the extent of eight times the permissible volume of carbonic acid gas, viz. -06. (Dobson, 36,835 (4).) 445. A vigorous attempt to abolish these beds, at least in their worst form, has been made by Medical Officers and Sanitary Inspectors in a number of difierent burghs. That they have not in all cases been successful is due to the fact that the powers to control recessed beds in the Burgh Police Act, 1903, section 65, are not made applicable to existing houses unless the process of subdivision is going on. The statutory provisions on the subject have already been given. (See Chapter V., Paragraph 112.) 446. In the case of a house visited by us in Port-Glasgow, the owners of which were proceeded against in 1908 by the Local Authority of Port-Glasgow on several grounds, including the existence of " boxed- 'in beds in the dwelling-houses which formed the two upper flats of the tenement," a Closing Order was refused by the Sheriff-Substitute. In an instructive note to his interlocutor, he stated, " I cannot think 'that the Legislature intended in 1897 "—the date of the Public Health Act, imder Clause 16 of which the action had been raised— " that existing boxed-in beds are to be compulsorily removed." He further stated that he had not found a " consensus of opinion among medical men that such beds are not ' healthy." The result of this decision, given on 20th March ] 908, is that practically no further proceed- ings have been taken by the Local Authority for the compulsory removal of box-beds, even though there is a demand on the part of tenants for their removal. (HalHday, 33,500 (5), 33,511 ff.) 447. One at least of the beds dealt with in the case referred to in the preceding paragraph was of a type found in the West of Scotland, in which an economy of space is effected by carrying a recessed bed, which is entered from the kitchen of a "through house," beyond the partition separating the kitchen from the " room." The only opening is to the kitchen— an arrangement which must make the adequate ventilation of the bedding and bed-recess difficult, if not impossible. A somewhat ex- treme example of this type of recess was seen in a property belonging to Glasgow Corporation visited by two of our number. It was in a two-room house' occupied by a man and wife and six children, and the property had been acquired by the Corporation a number of years before our visit on the expectation that it would be speedily demohshed. 448. Powers to deal with enclosed beds in existing houses have, as already explained, been obtained in local Acts, both by Edinburgh and Glasgow. (See Chapter V., Paragraph 112.) As will be seen, the Glasgow Act made the continuance of such enclosed beds illegal in existing houses on the expiry of five years from the passing of the Act in 1900, unless they were opened up in front for three-fourths of their length. (J. Lindsay, 23,235 (56).) . , t> i 449. The Edinburgh Act of 1913, section 78, embodies the first clause of the section m the Burgh Police Act, and also gives power to the Dean of Guild Court, on the application of the Procurator-Fiscal, to " require the owner of an existing house to open up to the same extent any enclosed bed or bed-recess REPORT. 57 ' in such house " under a severe penalty. On this the City Engineer of Edinburgh remarked that it was a new power just obtained from Parliament, and much needed for the abolition and prevention of what are known as " cubicles of consumption," and gave it as his opinion that " power of a similar nature 'should be given to all municipalities." (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (9) (e).) 450. Our conclusions are that box-beds and enclosed beds are unhealthy, and ought at the least to be open for five-sixths of their length, and that there seems no reason why powers to deal with these beds in existing houses, as well as to prohibit them in new houses, should not be granted to all Local Authorities. This may either be done, as in Glasgow, by naming a time limit after which they may be ordered to be removed ; or by giving power to the Local Authority to have them removed wherever the Medical Officer of Health considers this necessary in the interests of public health. 451. Perhaps the most obvious lesson to be obtained from a study of the evils of these enclosed or partitioned-ofE sleeping places, and from the desirability or even necessity for their abolition, is that the provision of houses with more rooms for each family is urgent. 452. Disrepair in Houses. — In an earlier part of this chapter (Paragraph 380 et seq.) dealing with old two-storey property, evidence regarding disrepair was summarised from reports on smaller or medium-sized burghs ; but that the same degree of disrepair may be foimd in a large industrial commimity, and in property of the regular tenement type, is shown by the following extract from the statement submitted on behalf of the Q-reenock Housing Council. It also shows that dampness (that characteristic defect of old rural houses) may be very serious in urban conditions as well. In one house damp is so bad that the pillows had to be dried every morning. When the tenant lay ill with abscess in throat during wet weather, his wife had to remain up part of the night with ' basins placed in position above his head to keep water from falling on him from roof. The ceiling was cracked, and looked as if it might fall at any moment. Other instances of a similar kind can be given. In one case where house is damp and has an offensive smell, a bum flows immediately beneath the flooring. Closing Orders were granted in 1911 for 44 houses, but for reasons stated in the sanitary report these orders were not enforced. Between 500 and 600 houses call for Closing Orders, and we believe that this is recommended by the sanitary department. (Campbell and Smith, 33,007 (14 f.).) One of the witnesses was subsequently asked whether he considered these conditions typical, and repUed : — The Sanitary Inspector at the inquiry last week admitted in general that these details were true. He took exception, possibly, to the dampness being represented as it is in the houses. He stated that the period in which we made our investigations was a very wet time of the year. There were instances where our visitors reported dampness, and the wall had been improved by being pointed outside, but he stated that oui visitors were inexperienced. (Campbell, 33,079 f.) 453. The Sanitary Inspector of Greenock, in his own evidence, freely admitted that dampness was a common and serious defect. He stated that in many cases the houses are damp, and the worst feature of this condition is that the evidence of dampness is frequently covered over with wooden lining. This alleged remedy, although presenting a better outward appearance than the damp walls, only accentuates the defect. The dampness is invariably due to the want of damp-proof courses. Sub-floor ventilation is seldom provided in the houses here referred to. (Devinc, 33.207 (14 f.).) 454. In regard to all three types of dwelling described in this chapter, we have found it needful to quote instances of dilapidation and disrepair, reaching in most cases an extreme point. In tenement property also, as in the older cottages and two-storey properties, there are flagrant instances of dilapi- dation and disrepair, and many lesser but by no means negligible instances of both major and minor defects — that is, of original faults of structure and position, aggravated it may be by recurrent defects due to carelessness on the tenant's side, an evasion of responsibility by the landlord, or a combination of both. In reading the reports from official sources already referred to of dilapidated and insanitary houses in burghs which differ widely in size, in their industrial character, and in geographical position, one cannot but ask how these things continue to be, in view of all the powers given to Local Authorities by a whole series of Acts of Parliament for the oversight, and in extreme cases the closure, of houses. The full discussion of this important question belongs to another chapter of the Report. In the present chapter our aim is descriptive rather than critical — ^to give a general view of the representative types of working-class house, including the worst which are still inhabited. But even at the cost of anticipa- tion, it may be said here that an insufficiency of sanitary staff and the imdue representation of house- owning interests on the Local Authorities were both advanced by various witnesses as contributing causes. But there was a strong tendency — which we think is justified— to emphasise as the chief cause of the persistence of insanitary and ruinous houses, that there is a very widespread lack of alternative and better accommodation, and that it cannot now be supplied at rents within the reach of the poorer, or even of a considerable proportion of the better-off, working class. In the case of Greenock, just cited. Closing Orders actually determined on'were held back owing to the lack of vacant houses of a more healthy type in the burgh (c/. Cook, 33,203 (4)) ; and while this case is especially clear and instructive, a similar arrest of procedure, often at a much earlier stage, has taken place in many other areas where the problem of disrepair has been not less pressing. 455. Having dealt with the older and subdivided tenement, and the underground dwelling and the enclosed sleeping places frequently found in these older properties ; having also briefly referred to the disrepair and dilapidation of many of these old tenements, we have yet to describe the balcony tenement and the modem or improved tenement. 456. (c) Balcony Tenements. — In this type of tenement the inside stair is replaced by a stair, either out- side or at the end of the main structure of the building, from which access to the various houses is obtained by an open " plat " or balcony. A reference to this type of building seems to come in suitably here, since, in Dundee, the Scots city in which it has been most popular, it has come in as a transition form between the older property and the most modem type of tenement. During the period of rapid build- 68 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. ing in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, balcony tenements were erected in large numbers in Dundee, and to some extent in other Scots burghs. In the more recent building boom, however, the tendency for private builders was apparently to return to the ordinary tenement with a central stair. But the balcony design has continued to hold its own in the case of mimicipal dwellings. The houses of the Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, and Hamilton Corporations are to a considerable extent plaimed on these lines. So are some of the Liverpool Corporation dwellings visited by us, and certain of the London County Council's properties referred to below, as well as the large new tenements erected on the cleared area in Port-Glasgow, and the two chief properties of the Glasgow Workmen's Dwellings Company. Thus the balcony tenement seems important enough to deserve separate treatment, especially in view of the very divergent opinions as to its merits. Before setting out the opinions for and against it, it should perhaps be said that the question does not so much lie between it and the self-contained cottages as between the balcony and the ordinary tenement, assuming for the moment that tenements of some kind must continue to be erected. 457. The common stair is sometimes, as already indicated, at the end of the building, and sometimes in the middle, with balconies of approximately equal lengths ruiming to right and left. It is usually to some extent open, and in some of the older instances the uppermost flight of steps is entirely so. If the difficulty regarding stair cleaning is not avoided by the balcony system, that of stair ventilation is solved ; and even cleaning becomes easier where light is abundant. The balconies are always airy, and in some " lands " in Dundee those of the upper storeys command fine views across the Firth of Tay. A less desir- able feature is the stacks of water-closets which have in the course of recent improvements been attached to the stairs. Frequently there are two to each storey, placed half-way down the flight of steps im- mediately below. This is far from an ideal arrangement, but it may at least be said that it is better than the plan, of which instances have been already quoted, by which a water-closet is introduced at some point opening on to a dark lobby or central stair, thus ventilating itself through the centre of the building. 458. The strongest criticism of this type of tenement came from the representatives of the Edinburgh Trades and Labour Council. It followed a definite condemnation of tenements generally, and the witnesses were not disposed to make an exception in favour of the balcony design. (Eunson and Wilson, 18,171 fE.) Mr Wilson said the great objection to the balcony tenement is that the windows of the flat below are under the balcony, and they do not get the amount of sunlight that they ought to get. He instanced Tron Square— municipal buildings — where at certain times during the day the houses are quite dark when they ought to be having good light. Mr Eimson added that the Medical OSicer of Health had published photographs showing how they excluded the sunhght ; and said that he personally had never liked the type, that the stairs and landings have to be cleaned by the people, and it is objectionable for the wife to come out and clean those stairs outside. It is better to have an internal stair with fewer tenants in the bouse. (18,175-8.) 459. A large Glasgow builder gave the following as his reasons for preferring the well-stair — " I ' find that the balcony tenements lend themselves to all kinds of people loafing about, and also, which ' is worse than anj^hing, the accumulation of rubbish which the people here seem to put on their balconies." (Mickel, 22,055.) He added that an enclosed stair, with good windows, but without cupola, could be very well kept by the right class of tenant. An objection not suggested by the witnesses, but probably worthy of consideration, is that the balcony tenement lends itself to the type of " through-house " in which the only access to the " room " is through the kitchen. The disadvantage of this has been pointed out in comparing the " but-and-ben " and the two-room cottage. Even the smallest lobby giving separate access to the " room " represents an important gain. There is, indeed, no reason why this should not be provided in the " balcony tenement," but in Dundee in this, as in the older types of property, the " through-house " with no separate entrance to the " room " is the prevailing two-room dwelling. 460. The City Engineer of Edinburgh supported the opposite view, and argued that with somewhat larger windows any difficulty as to lighting could be overcome, while in respect of ventilation and general healthiness the balcony tenement represented a clear improvement. (Horsburgh Campbell, 19,009 ff.) Similarly, the Manager of the Glasgow Corporation Dwellings gave it as his opinion that there is sufficient light if there is a considerable space opposite the portion of the building where the balconies run. (Menzies, 20,461,) 461. The Architect of the London County Council showed how the difficulty has been anticipated and avoided in certain of their properties. In these great care has been exercised, and there are no residential rooms below the balconies. All the residential rooms look into the garden or yard, but not from the balconies ; and this type of plan is considered to have been successful. In the Tabard Street scheme most of the rooms under the balcony are non-residential. On the topmost floor of all no balcony is necessary, because each house has a self-contained staircase which communicates with the third- or fourth-floor bedroom. (Riley, 25,135.) 462. The two large properties, erected by the Glasgow Workmen's Dwellings Company, in Cathedral Court and Greenhead Court are both built on this system. They are, like certain of the London County Council's tenement dwellings referred to by the witness last quoted, blocks five storeys high ; and they have been built of this height in order to accommodate as many families as possible on a limited and costly site. A useful feature in the Glasgow blocks, as in several others seen by us, is a dust-shoot from each floor, which saves the housewife from one- at least of her daily journeys up and down the long flights of stairs. An original feature in Greenhead Court is that the topmost balcony — a somewhat dizzy eminence — is protected by a glass roof. As to the effect of the balconies and the height of the blocks, Mr Mann, the Secretary of the Company, stated that while there was some force in the criticisms, that the balconies cut off the light of the houses below, and that the rooms are impleasantly overlooked by people from other houses passing backwards and forwards, he thought they were far overbalanced by the advantages, viz. that each tenant has a door on to the open air, and the balconies are available for the children to play on. (Mann, 21,221 f.) 463. On the criticism of want of privacy we may compare the evidence of Rev. Dr Watson regarding the feeling of the tenants about the balconies in one of these properties. He stated in answer to a question as to whether he had foimd any objection in the balcony tenements of the Workmen's DwelUngs Company REPORT. 69 based on the want of privacy owing to the houses entering off the balcony, that he found greater privacy secured by the tenants having their own door, that they are proud of their own door, and they keep it shut. (Rev. David Watson, 22,490.) 464. The other criticism suggested by Mr Mickel, that the balcony promotes untidiness, was partly admitted by another large Glasgow builder speaking of a property which he had built some time before. He stated that he had had occasion to be in that district once or twice, that he had gone roimd to see this property, and certainly the balconies were untidy ; but he could see that most of the doors were open and the children were toddling " out and in," and it seemed to him that the health and the open air that these children could get was worth the untidiness. He accordingly suggested for consideration whether a law should be passed that within a certain number of years all flatted houses should have balconies. He did not think it would be difficult to design a balcony that would suit almost all houses. (J. A. Mactaggart, 22,868.) 465. A further suggestion was made by Mr Lome Campbell, Architect, Edinburgh, that, in tenements of limited size, there might be at the stair-head right and left a gate giving access to a private portion of the balcony in front of each house. He also emphasised the advantage in a balcony house of free access to the air on either side. (19,703.) 466. {d) Improved Tenements. — A survey of tenement housing in Scotland would be incomplete without the addition of certain facts regarding the latest type of tenemert dwelling with modem conveniences, occupied by well-paid artisans and others who can afford a relatively high rent. The balcony tenement — one important type — has just been dealt with ; but, in the main, the best modem tenements built by private enterprise are on the older principle, with a central or well-stair. The lower part of the entry and staircase walls are frequently tiled, and the houses in many cases have their own conveniences, the washing of clothes being provided for either by a boiler in the scullery or by a common washhouse on the back court of the tenement. The most important recent modification in tenement building, so far as legal regulations are concerned, follows from section 43 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, which forbids, subject to certain exceptions, the erection of " back-to-back " houses. This clause was held by three judges of the Second Division of the Court of Session in a case (see Murrayfield Real Estate Co., Ltd., v. Magistrates of Edinburgh, December 2nd, 1911 (1912 Session Cases, 217)), to prohibit the future erection of tenements with four houses on each storey, since the party-wall between each pair of houses makes through ventilation from back to front of the tenement impossible. (The judgment is given in eoienso in the Report of the Local Government Board for Scotland for 1911, pp. 98-100.) It is still possible to erect three houses on each storey, as the two side houses extend through the whole breadth of the tenement, while the "mid -house" obtains through ventilation — which we understand is held siifficient — from its windows in the front wall and from the stair behind. 467. In this respect the practice of tenement builders has, in the better class of dwellings, gone ahead of the strict requirements of the law ; and the same may also be said in regard to the requirements of the Burgh Police Act, 1 903, regarding the width of street front and the free space in the rear of tenements. Id Aberdeen, for example, Professor Matthew Hay stated that the tenements in the more modern parts of the city are, as a rule, fairly spacious. Local Acts (Aberdeen) have regulated in modem times the minimum proportion of open space in connection with dwelling-houses. The minimum is, he said, usually much exceeded in modern tenement buildings. The depth of the feuing stance of such tenements frequently reaches from 125 to 150 feet ; and in few cases in the present day is it under 80 to 100 feet. Professor Hay went on to state that, even where there is a small grass or garden plot in front of the tenement, the free space at the rear extending to the backs of tenements or a parallel street would be from 80 to 200 feet. Within the last twenty or thirty years more tenements have been erected in Aberdeen with six dwellings on each stair than with a larger number. (41,334 (86-92), 41,339 f.) We understand from a letter received from Professor Hay subsequent to his giving evidence, that in certain tenements in Aberdeen there are only three houses in each tenement, " but the tenement is a kind of twin tenement ' with two lobbies, immediately alongside of one another, with a series of three houses, one above the ' other, entering from each lobby and its connected staircase. In fact, it is a tenement with, as it were, ' a divided common lobby and staircase." 468. A further feature of the Aberdeen tenement noted by us during our inspection is that, instead of a stone staircase lined with concrete or tiles, the stairs are commonly of wood with wood lining. This produces an impression of greater comfort and homeliness on entering by the main door from the street — a decided advantage wherever the stair is well kept. It is stated that the danger of fire is not found to be increased by the wooden stair. On the other hand, these stairs tend to become more rapidly dilapidated in the hands of careless tenants ; and it is only because extensive tenements, housing from fifteen to forty families on a stair, are unknown in Aberdeen that their use is possible or tolerable in the older properties in that city. 469. An additional distinction between the modem tenement in Aberdeen and in Edinburgh or Glasgow is that in the former there are no "main-door" houses, but the ground-floor dwelhngs are entered from the stair. Thus, six houses are provided in a three-storey building with two on each storey, and all the house's extend from back to front of the tenement and so have the advantage of through ventilation. Baths are not yet common in two- and three-room houses inhabited by the working-class in Aberdeen, but members of the Commission visited one block where the owner occupies one house himself ; on this stair an airy, three-room house, with a lobby and cupboard, and a bath in the scullery, with a simple form of water-supply, is let at £14, 2s. 6d., excluding occupier's rates. This is slightly lower than the price of a similar two-room flat in Glasgow. 470. Such a house in Glasgow is described by Mr Mactaggart, who erected 2330 houses in the course of sixteen years. Of these all but 44 are tenement dwellings— 58 of one apartment, 1075 of two apartments, and the others of three, four, and five apartments. Every house has its own water-closet, and all but 500 or so have a light bathroom with hot and cold water. (Mactaggart, 22,847 (2).) These figures will give a fair idea of the modem practice in the provision of tenements in the West of Scotland. Mr Mactaggart goes on to describe one of the more recent two-room flats as having two open bed -recesses, side scullery off kitchen, cloakroom, and bathroom, with hot and cold water-supply from range, good 60 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. lobby and wardrobe press ; also back green and washbouse for tbe use of eight tenants, tbere being two bouses on each flat of the four storeys. The internal house space is 543 superficial feet which, with 10 feet ceiUngs, gives 5430 cubic feet, including lobbies, etc. (Mactaggart, 22,847 (8).) 471. Mr Mactaggart points out that in the English plan the same cubic capacity would provide a house with six rooms, most of them small, and adds that it will be noticed that lobbies are not allowed for in the English house, and that stair space would come ofE living-rooms, as it generally does. Also " oriels are assumed to exist in each house." 472. In this connection the question naturally occurs whether the ample cubic space allotted to a two-room house might not have been redistributed so as to provide the additional privacy and convenience of the three rooms. The same remark might also be made regarding some of the dwelhngs provided by the Glasgow Corporation. The average space provided in several representative blocks of the Corpora- tion's houses has already been given, but the following details may be added. Out of 183 one-apartment houses 57 have 2250 cubic feet or over ; the largest one-apartment houses have 2695 cubic feet, the smallest 1890. Of 263 two-apartment houses 87 have over 4000 cubic feet ; the largest have 4996 and the smallest 3380. (Appendix LXXI.) It must, of course, be remembered that the high ceilings customary, and probably necessary, in tenements mean that the floor space is comparatively small in relation to total air space, and thus the housewife's working accommodation is reduced. But, even with this in view, it seems not impossible that, by a slightly different arrangement, the largest modem one- room house could be made into two rooms, and certain of the two-room houses into three. 473. Perhaps the best example of the modem one-room house was seen by us in the Glasgow Corporation's latest dwellings at Kennyhill. It was a pleasant airy room with an oriel window and scullery in a recess, and is described by the Manager of the Glasgow Corporation's Dwellings as follows : — The houses, nominally of one-apartment, contain, in addition to li\'ing-room with bed-recess — — a small sleeping chamber, separated from the kitchen by a 7-foot partition which allows 2 feet of ventilating space between top of partition and ceiling — also a scullery with water-supply and cupboard press. The rents of these houses are £5, 15s. per annum, exclusive of rates, or £7, Is. inclusive. (Menzies, 20,334 (8).) In this case the partitioned-off portion practically forms a separate room, but, while there may be an advantage in the arrangement from the point of view of ventilation, it is certainly inferior to a regular two-room house from that of privacy, as every sound must travel from one portion to the other. 474. We have now traced the one-room house upward from the " single-end " cottage through representative types of dweUing, and we find that, especially in the West of Scotland, it is still foimd in good modem tenement property. Fortunately, it is not reproduced on the old lines. If the one-room house is to persist — a point which we shall discuss later — it is certainly well that it should be built on good lines and provided with adequate conveniences. Summary of Recommendations and SuaGESTioN,s in Chapter VII. (1) That any subdi^nsion of houses should be subject to the approval and certification of the Local Authority, and that any infringement should be made a statutory offence pimishable by fine. (Paragraph 409.) (2) That no new imderground dwellings should be allowed ; and that as regards existing dwelhngs of this nature. Local Authorities should have power to frame regulations as to occupancy, and the Local Grovemment Board should be empowered to require their enforcement. (Paragraph 438.) (3) That box-beds and enclosed beds should be open for at least five-sixths of their length, and that powers should be granted to all Local Authorities to deal with such beds as also to prohibit them in new houses. (Paragraph 450.) CHAPTER VIII. MERITS AND DEMERITS OF THE TENEMENT SYSTEM. 475. Before we conclude the section of our Report which deals with tenements, it is necessary to summarise the views given by several important witnesses regarding the tenement system as a whole. Its relation to land values and to the return obtained by the occupier of tenement property for that portion of his rent which represents interest on the value of the ground, belongs to another branch of the subject (see Chapter XXII.) ; but here it is needful to discuss the tenement simply from the point of view of the accommodation provided and the facilities which it gives for home life. We may first refer to evidence by different witnesses for and against the tenement system, and then proceed to deal with the different points thus raised in greater detail. 476. Perhaps the best summary of the argiiments for the tenement was given by Mr Mactaggart, who stated, however, that personally he felt the arguments against to be stronger. He gave the follow- ing summary of the advantages enjoyed by tenants living in flatted houses :— (a) Tenants suffer less from cold, rain, and storms, owing to more substantial construction. In Glasgow 2-f eet stone walls strapped, against London County Coimcil 9-inch brick walls unstrapped. (6) Being nearer their employment tenants save time in going to and ftom house, and have better- lit streets at night. (c) In four-storey tenements three-fourths of the tenants are further from the damp groimd, and also less liable to have their drains choked. {d) Flats having no inside stairs are more easily worked, especially in illness. (e) Tenants suffer less from burglars, and parties living alone are more secure. REPORT. 61 (/) In flatted houses only good-sized apartments can be let. (g) The statistics of the Glasgow Medical Officer with reference to Kelvinside and Pollokshields, where four-fifths of the people live in flatted houses, seem to suggest that the death-rate among fairly well- educated and well-fed tenants of flats is as low as among cottage residents. The arguments on the other side are also given by Mr Mactaggart (22,847 (7)), but not so fxilly as those in favour quoted above. 477. Almost the only argimient in favour of the tenement in addition to the above was that adduced by the Sanitary Inspector for Inverness Burgh, who pointed out that it is possible to provide con- veniences, especially a good washhouse, which may be shared by several tenants in a small tenement, when the single cottage could not be equally well supplied without unduly raising the rent. (Knowles, 14,500 ; cf. 14,458 (20).) 478. The arguments on the other side were summarised by two witnesses familiar with both English and Scottish conditions. Mr J. E. Wilkes (late Town Planning Engineer for Dunfermline) made the following statement : — Tenements seem to be at a disadvantage for the following reasons : — (1) They are trying to the very young and to the aged, and particularly to women. (2) They are more dangerous in case of fire. (3) Their stairs are nearly always dirty and often insanitary. (4) They are less convenient than well-planned cottages. (5) They are more difficult to police. (6) In hot weather their occupants cannot obtain the relief of a stroll in their own garden. (7) They engender concentrated town-building, and therefore entail wide and expensive streets, thus counteracting several times over possible saving in sewers and mains. (8) They necessitate the provision of far more open spaces than do cottages. (9) Land development for tenements is far more costly than for cottages, especially on modern lines. (10) They are ugly, and in time create a demand for expensive architectural treatment, as in Germany (4296 (8).) 479. We also record the evidence of Mr Horsburgh Campbell, the City Engineer of Edinburgh, who stated that the disadvantages are — the discomforts and inconveniences of the common stair, the greater risks of infection, the diminished floor space offered by the tenement flat system, the higher standard of rent required . . . the diminished light and air upon the lower floors, the absence of any piece of garden ground attached exclusively to each house, and all that this absence means to the physique and to the morale of family life. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (58 f.).) As an offset to this vigorous impeachment, Mr Horsburgh Campbell had only two coimter-balancing advantages to suggest, viz. the benefit to the landowner in accumulating the yield of feu-duties — -a somewhat dubious benefit which we discuss elsewhere — and " the benefit that the tenement system enables workmen to live en masse ' nearer their place of work, if in the city." (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (58 f.).) 480. From these statements we may draw out certain headings or points of view under which the main argimients for and against the tenement may be ranged :— (a) Solidity of Construction. (b) Warmth, Light and Ventilation. (c) Number of Possible Aparttnents. (d) Nearness to Work (Tenement), compared with quieter and mare airy Surroundings with Garden (Cottage). (e) Disadvantages of the Tenement for the Housewife, Children, and Old People, (i) Conveniences of Rooms on one Level. (g) Sense of Security. (h) Common Stairs and Conveniences. (i) Difficulty in controlling jointly-owned Tenements. (j) Death-rates in Old and New Tenement Property. (k) Comparative Building— and Development — Costs. To these may be added certain facts submitted regarding : — (1) The Type of House preferred by Scottish Tenants ; and a discussion of (m) The Extent of the Restrictions desirable in the Future. (a) Solidity of Construction. 481. Some remarks have been made in a previous chapter (viz. Chapter VII., Paragraph 354, etc.) on the tjrpical solidity of Scottish building, a characteristic largely determined by the prevalence of the tenement, and perhaps to some extent by the high rainfall and frequent storms in certain parts of Scot- land. If a building four or five storeys in height is to remain structurally sound and weatherproof for a reasonable time, it must be built substantially, and the specification for all the main timber work must be on generous lines. Attention was called in the evidence to two consequences of this — (1) A handicap is placed on economical cottage building when it has to be carried out under bye- laws drawn up primarily to secure a high standard of stability and sufficient light and air in the loftier and larger type of dwelling. Thus it has been difficult to show what may be done in improved cottage construction m Scotland. (See e.g. Mickel, 21,893 (3 ff.) ; J. Paterson, 33,583 (40 f.) ; Walker Smith, 41,557 (56 f.) ; Aldridge, 41,776 (63) ; and our subsequent discussion in this Report on Relaxation of Byelaws.) (2) The tenement itself tends to have too long a life. It is so strongly built and so much work and money is put into the shell of the building that the walls, and possibly the roof, remain sound after the woodwork and other internal fittings have become dilapidated, and after a new standard of sanitary 62 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. and other conveniences has come in. Many of£our large tenements may even last until the demand for housing of this type has been outgrown. Thus lasting, they tend to become cumbeieis of the groimd, and to constitute an administrative problem, since they can only be brought up to modem standards with difficulty, and their continued presence prevents the erection of houses planned on opener lines. 482. These appear to be the facts which prompt the opinion expressed by several witnesses that the tenement has been constructed with too great solidity. Thus the sanitary inspector of a rapidly growing burgh said that the presentsystem of building with stone throughout is intended for the use of future generations ; but that looking to past experience, he was of opinion that in the course of time these houses will prove to be imiit for healthy occupation owing to the decay of timber and other porous materials. (Barclay, 2141, (16-18), and 2184 fE. ; Mactaggart, 22,852 ; Hair, 38,442 f. ; Dowme, 41,250 (121).) He accordingly recommended that lighter construction should be allowed in the case of two-storey buildings. The Engineering Inspector to the Local Government Board expressed the same view. He said if the houses were of two storeys only, and of a much shallower depth, and were built to last a reasonable time and not to last practically for all time (which is a great mistake, for they become obsolete and not consonant with modern ideas), better provision could be made for the same money. (Walker Smith, 4213 (31), and 4277 ff.) 483. Other witnesses expressed the fear of lowering the standard of solidity and making way for the " jerry-builder " ; and it was pointed out that if houses were built for a shorter life, a difficult position would be reached when that life was exhausted. (Keith, 1357 ; Barker, 13,560 (15).) But probably the difference of opinion is less fundamental than appears, for the upholders of the former view only appeal for a lighter standard of construction in the case of one- or two-storey buildings, and only so far as it can be granted without endangering the weather-proof character of the building. The question of comparative climate and its effect on Scottish and English standards of construction need hardly be discussed here. (Walker Smith, 4213 (14 (6)) and 4278 ; Wilkes, 4296 (13) ; Hamilton, 29,495 (14), and 29,539 f.) On the whole, the evidence appears to warrant the two conclusions already referred to- — that the balance of duration between the outer shell and the inner fittings is especially difficult to maintain in the tenement type of buildings ; and that the solidity necessary to the tenement has been imposed needlessly on cottages where these have been built in Scotland. Thus from the economic point of view, and also from that of freedom of development in the design of cheap houses, we think the tenement has proved costly and obstructive. 484. In another respect also this has been the case. The Scottish investor, accustomed to lending money on bonds over tenement property, has shown a considerable reluctance to grant loans for cottage building. The tenement is not only more solid in structure, but it has the further advantage from the bondholder's point of view that when a single bond is placed on the whole building the risk of loss from empties, etc., is lessened by being distributed over several houses. For these reasons it is stated that, at the period when small dweUings were still considered a sound investment money could be obtained at ^ per cent, or even 1 per cent, cheaper for tenements than for cottages. (Mickel, 21,893 (21) and 21,990 ; Mactaggart, 22,847 (25) and 22,903.) And, if tenements are built less substantially, to have a shorter life, it is possible that the same reluctance to give loans will be found as in the case of cottages. (b) Warmth, Light, and Ventilation. 485. The statement that tenement houses are popular owing to their warmth and dr3Tiess in severe weather was supported by the Secretary of the Dumbarton Building Society. This Society has built both tenements and self-contained houses, and the Secretary stated that the former, especially the middle flats in three-storey buildings, are in demand, as they are felt to be warmer and more comfortable than cottages. " They have not the inconveniences of the roof in the event of leakage, neither have ' they the draughts that you get on the groimd flat." (Lyon, 33,864.) 486. There is also the consideration that in the tenement the majority of tenants are removed well above the damp ground. This may have some weight, but it does not seem to be strong enough to outweigh the preference on other gi'oimds for the " main-door " house, e.g. as it is found in Edinburgh. (C/., however, Stirton, 35,512.) In a well-constructed building the damp from the ground ought not to be a serious inconvenience. The same can hardly be said of the lack of light and outlook in the ground- floor houses of a closely-built tenement district. The objection to sleeping on the ground floor seems to be strong in England ; 'but there it appears as an argument not for the tenement, but for the cottage with all its bedrooms upstairs. The Medical Officer of Health for Birmingham states that, so strong is this preference there that the lower flats of certain otherwise excellent dwellings, which are built on the " double-flatted " principle, were for long almost imlettable. (J. Robertson, 24,876.) 487. There are three factors which enter into the comparison of the tenement and the cottage dwelling in regard to warmth- — first, the actual thickness and weather-resisting quality of the walls, which have just been referred to ; second, the fact that houses built in close proximity tend to gain some additional warmth from their neighbours' fires ; and, third, the fact that in the tenement dwelling the external wall space, including roof space, is less per dwelling than in the semi-detached cottage and probably less than in the teiTaced cottage. This statement, we think, needs to be qualified in regard to the topmost houses which are directly under thff'roof of the tenement. But in most cases they only form one-fourth of the whole number, and they benefit most from the fires and general house-warmth of the dwellings below. But it must be kept in view that this restriction in external wall space reduces the possible number of windows, and, hence, of separate apartments (a point dealt with in Paragraph 489). Dr Dittmar, Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board, drew attention to the difficulty of lighting groimd-floor houses adequately in high tenement property. He held that the 9-feet 6-inch ceilings required by the Burgh Police Act were in this case necessary, while they seriously reduce the floor space and so diminish the convenience of the dwelling. (355 ff., 660 ff.) 488. The Secretary of the Edinburgh Garden City Association stated that the height of the build- ings is objectionable ; especially when built in the traditional hoUow square they exclude sunlight and air. (Roxburgh, 19,451a (27) (2) ; cf. Lome Campbell, 19,690.) REPORT. 63 (c) Nurr^r of Possible Apartments. 489. We have already referred to the difficulty of securing a satisfactory arrangement of houses round the common stair ; but there is a further difficulty in planning the rooms satisfactorily within individual houses. If the alternative plan of a balcony tenement is adopted, then the most obvious design is that of the through house, i.e. the dwelling in which " the room " can only be reached through the kitchen, and the kitchen becomes a passage as well as living- and sleeping-room. These difficulties are due to the relatively great depth {i.e. measurement from back to front) of the tenement block in proportion to the frontage of the individual houses. This handicaps the designer by limiting the number of windows which he can provide. (Roxburgh, 19,451a (27) (4).) It is probably one cause of the reluctance to substitute a large number of rooms, varying in size, for the one or two large rooms typical of Scottish tenement dwellings. Mr Mactaggart mentions it as an advantage of the tenement that " only ' good-sized apartments can be let " ; but he gives the other, and probably more important, side of this fact among his arguments in favour of the cottage, — " Cottage tenants seem to prefer, or at least accept, ' a number of small apartments rather than a few large ones. This conduces to keep the sleeping accom- ' modation of the sexes apart." (Mactaggart, 22,847 (7) (c).) (d) Nearness to Work {Tenement) compared with quieter and more airy Surroundings with Garden {Cottage). 490. The most important argument in favour of the tenement, and the only one accepted as of real weight by more than one important witness (Walker Smith, 4213 (13 f.) ; Horsburgh Campbell cited above), is the fact that it enables large bodies of workers to live within a convenient distance of their employment where such employment is highly centralised, and so saves much of the time and of the money which would otherwise be expended in transit. Whether this be true economy or not, it is obvious that it is not a negligible factor, especially at a stage in family history when more than one of the children become wage-earners, and so several members of the household have to make their way to the business or industrial quarter of the city. 491. It will, however, be readily understood that this advantage of proximity to the centre of employment is purchased by the high density of population which the tenement system makes possible. Thus one of the representatives of the Edinburgh Trades' Council stated that while his Council admitted that it is possible to construct tenements that might not impair the health of grown-up people occupying them, their complaint against the tenement was not so much for the man as it was for the mother and the children. They wished, he said, the people to be well-housed, from a public point of view, but they also wished them to be housed in a humane way, so that they are not cut ofE from gardens and such things. The same witness also pointed out that the want of garden plots for the cultivation of vegetables, fruit or flowers leads to an almost complete divorce of tenement dwellers from nature. (Eunson and Wilson, 18,172 and 17,947a (24).) From this we naturally pass to — (e) Disadvantage of the Tenement for the Housewife, Children, and Old People. 492. We have received further evidence from the same witnesses, who hold that recent improve- ments in the construction and maintenance of tenements do not radically alter their character as affect- ing the well-being of the family. Though admitting that in recent years the three-roomed tenement house has been much improved in sanitation and convenience, that baths and fixed tubs with hot and cold water have been introduced, stairs have been better lighted and ventilated, and that the number of tenants to a stair has been reduced, they declare that even so, their principal objections to the evils inherent in the tenement system still hold good. They point out that it invariably means overcrowding and congestion. It results in confinement to women and young children. Married women with children at best have, during the day, but a brief respite from household duties. The tenement system effectu- ally prevents their spending such leisure time as they do have in the open air, and its social effects in throwing together so many families in close proximity and in daily contact are objectionable. 493. Another witness (Mr Alex. Hair, Paisley), representing working-class opinion, gave a full state- ment of the objections from the point of view of child-life to the tenement in a West of Scotland city. He stated that the evils are that the sun and air cannot get free access to the houses on the ground flat, because the blocks of tenements are generally lined up back and front by similar blocks from 50 to 70 feet apart : that as each of these tenements contains, say, from eight to twelve tenants, there are thus a very large number of persons crowded on to a very small area ; that the climbing up and down of long flights of stairs is neither conducive to health nor to cleanUness, as the disposal of sweepings and house- hold refuse is a difficulty for wives and mothers who have a multiplicity of duties to attend to. Again — he said— mothers cannot have proper supervision of their children of tender years while playing outside, and these must therefore be kept indoors for the greater part of their time. He contended that the lack of proper playgrounds for the children — especially those of from two to six or seven years of age — where they might always be under the eye of their mothers, was one that urgently called for remedy, and was in no way met by the opening of public parks and playgrounds in various parts of the town. He pointed out that the streets were to be avoided, as they had become increasingly dangerous ; that during the year up to May 31, 1914, there had been in Paisley forty-five accidents to children under fifteen years of age caused by motor-cars, tram-cars and horse-djawn vehicles, six of these accidents being fatal. He con- cluded that the backyards of the tenements are limited in area ; that they are grassless and altogether unsuitable for playgrounds, and are often dangerous to the health of the children because of the proximity to the dust-bin, or, as is often the case, through the presence of the walls of some disused midden or dry- closet. (Hair, 38,424 (2).) Witness suggested as a constructive measure that the municipahties should build houses of not 64 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. more than two storeys in height, and that such houses should be built in short rows at right angles to the main thoroughfares so as to minimise the nuisance of dust and the intolerable noise from heavy horse- and motor-traffic, and also to greatly reduce the danger to children who happen to be in the street. (Hair, 38,424 (4).) 494. Other witnesses emphasise the bad effect of the tenement system on the life of the children. The representative of the StirUng Trades' Council said that mothers have not enough inducement to take the children downstairs and out into the open ; that when they do go into the open it is on to a hard street, and owing to the height of the tenements the children do not get anything like sufficient sunshine. (M'Laurin, 18,534.) Wliat the condition is in the worst type of tenement is told by the Rev. Dr Watson, Glasgow : — The children are forced out of doors to give the housewife room to work. This, to me, is the saddest result of wretched housing. In my evening visitation I find the children everywhere — sitting in the closes and on the stairs, trying to play, often half asleep, on bitter winter nights. Some- times they play in the dark, evil-smelhng courts, sometimes in the dimly-lit streets, and they learn no good. They see sights which demoralise, and hear language which corrupts. Any good they learn in the school is neutralised at night. (Rev. Dr Watson, 22,379 (8).) On further examination Dr Watson amplified this statement, and emphasised the need for recreation centres where children could play within five minutes' walk of their homes. (Ibid., 22,411.) He said : — Often I come across them sitting by the dozens in these damp, draughty stairs, trying to play. I have seen them asleep. The other night I wakened a little girl about four years of age leaning sound asleep against a door. I asked her what she was doing there at this time of night — -it was nearly 10 o'clock— and she said, " My maw's no' in." I had seen her earlier in the evening on the ground floor attempting to do a drawing on the wall with a piece of chalk, but this was at the top when I saw her again at her own door, and she could not get in. 495. Dr Chalmers, City Medical Officer, Glasgow, gave similar evidence, stating his opinion that, while the more modern tenements in Glasgow were free from many of the older defects, he did not think that " the problem of open spaces behind the tenements " suitable for children to play in had been solved. (20,283-6.) 496. This difficulty is not indeed confined to the Scottish type of tenement dwelling alone. It occurs wherever there is great congestion of houses, and the Medical Officer for Liverpool spoke strongly of the evil effects, both moral and physical, on the life of the children of the crowded and insanitary court- yards which formerly existed in large numbers in that city. (Hope, 24,623 (14, 31), 24,696.) But while these evils are inseparable from extreme congestion in whatever form, that obviously does nothing to detract from the criticism of the tenement system as one of the worst foims of overhousing. In this connection the comparison of the English cottage with the Scots tenement in their bearing on child- life, given by the Medical Officer for Birmingham, is of interest. He held that the tenement, if reason- ably constructed, may be " perfectly right for adults," but that for children even a defective courtyard dwelling is decidedly preferable. When families are housed in flatted buildings he held that bad results among the children were certain to follow. In little cottages, on the other hand, where the mother puts the child out in the backyard, dirty as the backyard often is, he was quite sure it is better for the child. He pointed out that between the ages of one and five, when the child cannot go down the stairs from a top flat, it can " toddle about " in a backyard, while on a top flat very few of them have any decent air supply other than the rooms afford. (Robertson, 24,898.) This criticism applies, mutatis mutandis, to the case of old people who are unable to go up and down long stairs. More than one witness emphasised the difficulties involved in tenement living for the housewife. 497. Mr Hair, whose evidence regarding the children we referred to in Paragraph 493, went on to describe the washing-day in a tenement and the hardship involved where eight to twelve persons shared one washhouse. In bad weather the washing-ground at the back of the tenement " is very often a ' quagmire," and heavy baskets of newly washed garments need to be carried up the long stairs and dried in the living-room of the family. In addition, the washing may be interrupted several times by the need to come in and cook the husband's meals, with consequent additional journeys up and down the stairs. The number of persons, too, who use the small washhouse generally results in that place be- coming dilapidated and uncomfortable, till the whole process of washing has become the bugbear of the Hfe of the workman's wife. (Hair, 38,424 (3) ; cf. Bishop, 5996 (19).) The witness accordingly re- commended the provision of municipal washhouses in a sufficient number to be convenient to all the tenement dwelhngs in a city. 498. It may be remarked that this experience of the common washhouse does not harmonise with the opinion already quoted from Mr Knowles's evidence (Paragraph 477), that an advantage of the tene- ment is that a good common washhouse for the tenants may be provided at less cost than would be involved in giving separate washing facilities to each. This question of how best washing facilities can be provided is one on which there is some difference of opinion, but it seems clear that though some- thing may be said for the provision of a common washhouse for the small or medium-sized tenement, the large blocks (with many houses on a single common stair, which are common in the cities) inflict much inconvenience and even hardship on the mother of the family. Mrs Laird, giving evidence for the Women's Labour League, said : " Certainly the tenement house and living on the top flat, as I do, does ' not appeal to me. I think it is rather a cruel housing system that women should have to climb 60 steps ' carrying a heavy parcel or basket." 499. There are indeed two advantages on the other side suggested by the next two headings. (f) Convenience of having all Rooms on one Level. 500. This is a point which appears to be of some importance in the eyes of the Scots housewife, and, as Mr Mactaggart suggests, it is of especial consequence in case of illness (22,847 (6) (d)). It is probably a real advantage, but it is one which belongs to the flatted cottage not less than to the regular tenement REPORT. 65 of three or four storeys. It must also be remembered that, while in the tenement the often incon- veniently steep and narrow internal stair is dispensed with, there are still, for all except the ground-floor tenants, the common stairs to be climbed — and cleaned. (g) Additional Sense of Security. 501. Mr Mactaggart also said : — • I myself have lived in flats, and in a detached house also, and I find that there is that feeling among all, that they can lock the door of a flat and go away without having much fear that burglars will come in, because there is a chance of people being below or being opposite them who will notice them ; and certainly there are more burglaries in Glasgow in the outskirts than there are in the tenement property. (22,864.) With a good many tenement-dwellers this is probably a not unimportant consideration ; and it may be taken as in some measure counterbalancing the difficulty in policing tenements and the added danger in case of fire alleged by Mr Wilkes. (See Paragraph 478 (2) and (5)). (h) Common Stairs and Conveniences. 502. This is a point which may be rapidly passed over here— as the care of common stairs and the use of common conveniences will be treated in the chapter on Occupancy. Some light — also in a separate chapter (viz. Chapter IX.) — -is thrown on the difficulties and the lack of privacy involved in the use of common stairs, sanitary appliances, and washhouses. In this respect much depends on the class of tenants present, but it is certain that where the number on the stair is large the effect of a single undesir- able family in lowering the general standard and making life difficult for the neighbours is correspond- ingly great. 503. On this point a reference may be made to Mr Mactaggart's argument that " in four-storey ' tenements three-fourths of the tenants are . . . less liable to have their drains choked." (See Para- graph 476 (c).) As long as the property is in good order, and the sanitary arrangements are carefully used, there may be a certain advantage in having simpler drainage for each individual house ; but in other conditions there is the grave disadvantage that the carelessness of one family may affect the whole tenement, and that it is more difficult to bring home responsibihty to the defaulter than in the case of cottage property. (i) Difficulty in Controlling jointly-owned Tenements. 504. In addition to the administrative difficulty caused by the number of occu piers in a single tenement, who have very different standards in regard to cleanhness and other common duties, there is a further difficulty, less frequent but not unimportant, due to the composite use or ownership of the same tenement. 505. There are two forms of this difficulty. One arises, as was clearly pointed out by the Sanitary Inspectors of Leith and Bo'ness, when the ground floor of a tenement is used for shops and the upper storeys for dwellings. The latter have, in certain cases, reached a point of dilapidation warranting their closure. Their demolition ought to follow, but the shops still have a certain value, and the owner may insist on keeping them open, and may demand that, if the dwellings be demolished, the municipality shall provide a new roof for the shops. In this way a deadlock may be reached. The Leith case is the more complicated one. The shops belonged to one owner, and each of three or four flats above the shops belonged to different persons. Who, then, is to be held responsible for any injury to the shopkeepers or damage done to their goods or property during the process of demolition of the dwelling-houses, and who should re-roof the shops ? The witness suggested that in the case of dwellings requiring to be demolished above shops, the owners of the former should be legally responsible for the re-roofing of the latter, and for any damage done in process of demolition. The other witness who dealt with the point, wished for powers to close the shops as well as the dwellings, holding that, in the case with which he was dealing, the shops were imhealthy for those who had to work in them. (Bishop, 5996 (11 f.) and 6234 ; Louden, 34,388 (11) (1) and 34,444.) In the case of old tenement property we think this would often be so. 506. The other form of difficulty is due to composite ownership, but without the complication of the presence of shops below. Mr Bishop, one of the witnesses referred to in Paragraph 505, said :— There are other cases under consideration where condemned houses are sandwiched between others that are quite good, i.e. good houses above and below, or on either side. An extreme instance of this difficulty was cited by the late Sanitary Inspector for Edinburgh : — There was one case at South St James Street closed last year ; there are 52 houses, and the proprietors on one side of the stair have made beautiful two-room houses, they have reduced the tenancy by one-half, while the other side of the stair is owned by some impecunious person who has not the money to put it right, and therefore that half of the tenement remains closed, and is a menace to the health of the occupants of the other half. The witness stated that the Local Authority had no power to prevent this one-sided treatment, with its consequent drawbacks. (D. Rutherford, 5770 f.) 507. A case of the same kind in the East End of Glasgow was described by the Rev. Dr Watson. A certain court was " notorious for the population that lived there, and for the style of house. ... It ' was a perfect rabbit warren on either side. Houses everywhere, down below, upstairs, outside stairs, ' and so on." Dr Watson then stated that part had been taken for the extension of an adjoining electrical works, but one side was still let. When questioned as to the reason which had delayed the demolition or reconstruction of this side also, Dr Watson stated that the Kyrle Society and the Workmen's Dwelling Company, acting together, had attempted to acquire it for the latter purpose, but that the difficulty was that there were two owners. One owner had the frontage, which was very narrow, and another owner had the back, and inside there was a large court and some of these small houses. The front was of no use without the interior, and the interior was of no use without the frontage. The Workmen's Dwellings Company did not see their way to move tmless they could get the whole property, and the bit that is left belongs now to one owner. (Rev. Dr Watson, 22,385-7.) 5 66 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 508. A clause dealing with this difficulty was introduced into a local Edinburgh Act so long ago as 1879. It provided that in the case of such a compositely owned building becoming insanitary the Dean of Guild Court may ..." call all persons interested therein before the said Court, and order ' such house, building, area, cellar, or open space to be valued." It further provides that such valuation shall distinguish the portions of the tenement belonging to the several persons interested, and give each the option of buying from or selling to the others their respective portions, " and that within a reasonable ' time, to be fixed by the Dean of Guild Court, not exceeding six weeks." (Edinburgh Municipal and PoUce Act, 1879, section 171, cited by Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (32).) It will be observed that these powers are permissive, and are to be exercised by the Dean of Guild Court and not by the Public Health Authority. 509. We do not suggest that such difficulties as these occur wherever tenement properties are divided among several different owners. The reverse is shown by evidence given by the Secretary of the Dum- barton Building Society and the Manager of the St Cuthbert's Co-operative Association Limited, Edin- burgh. Both societies have built tenement dwellings, in which the individual houses are sold separately to their occupants on a system of deferred payments. Both witnesses were questioned as to the system on which repairs are carried out after the occupier has taken possession of his flat, and stated that there was no difficulty in the matter. The evidence of Mr Cairns of the St Cuthbert's Association is especially explicit on the point. Questioned in regard to matters like stair cleaning or repairs to the roof or to the drainage system, which affect the whole of a tenement or the whole of one side of the stair, he stated that these are arranged in the feu-charter, and the general rxile is for each one to pay his share according to the pro- portion of his feu, and that his company did not exercise supervision to see that the things mentioned were carried out. He said the Sanitary Authority of the town did that. When a drain was out of order instructions were given for its repair, and the proprietors paid for it in proportion to the amount of their feu, and there was no friction and no delay. He mentioned that each family had its own sanitary and washing accommodation, and therefore there were no difficulties on these matters. (Cairns, 39,632-7 ; cf. Lyon, 33,902.) 510. This statement shows that the difficulty of securing maintenance in the case of a jointly-owned tenement is not insuperable, so long as the building as a whole is in good order and is occupied by tenants who imderstand their responsibility and take an interest in the care of their houses. But the evidence already mentioned shows how much trouble may arise in the opposite event, and appears to afford a further valid criticism of the system of building in large tenement blocks. (j) Relatively Low Death-rate in Good Tenement Property. 511. This is a matter on which accurate data seems to be not over-abundant. There can indeed be no doubt as to the bad pre-eminence occupied in this respect by tenement property of the insanitary and congested tj^e. The Medical Officer for Edinburgh mentioned cases in which a colony of double- flatted houses is found in the same part of the city as tenement property of the older type. He told us that in the eastern district of the city the general death-rate among the inhabitants of such a colony had fallen to the extremely low and satisfactory figure of 8 per 1000, while that applicable to crowded tenement houses, situated only a few hundred yards distant, reached the much higher figure of 13-2 per 1000. He also found that in another colony of double-flatted houses the death-rate is 9-4 per 1000, while that of tenements in close proximity reaches 14-7 per 1000. (Maxwell WilHamson, 5539 (47).) From Aberdeen another comparison was supplied by Professor Hay, covering a wider area, viz. three of the municipal wards. It is valuable in affording statistics not only (1) of a district (Greyfriars) con- taining a poor population and not a little dilapidated property, though not the high tenements common in Edinburgh ; and (2) of a residential district (Rubislaw) with a well-to-do population, including well- paid artisans ; but also (3) of a new industrial quarter (Torry) inhabited by a vigorous population, mainly engaged in fishing and allied trades, and housed in modem tenements of the type already described. (Appendix CXLII.) 512. The statistics are as follows : — City of Aberdeen Birth- and Death-rates in Three Typical Wards op the City. Annual Averages for the Years 1911 and 1912 {combined). Rubislaw. Torry. Greyfriars. Whole City. Population (1911) .... 20,210 11,428 13,850 163,891 Birth-rate 16-2 32-5 34-1 25-0 Death-rate from all causes (per 1000 of population) .... 10-2' 11-4 16-3 154 Infant death-rate (deaths under one year per 1000 births) 83 115 170 133 Excess of birth-rate over death-rate . 6-0 21-1 17-8 9-6 Death-rate (per 1000 of population) from — (a) Zymotic diseases 0-8 1-6 31 1-5 (6) Pulmonary tuberculosis . 0-6 0-6 1-3 M (c) Other tubercle .... 0-2 0-4 0-7 0-4 REPORT. 67 513. This table is of sufficient importance to warrant our adding a portion of Professor Hay's com- ments on it. He first described the type of house in Torry — tenement houses, erected within the last twenty to thirty years, with plenty of surrounding air space, and an adequate supply of all modern conveniences. The population of Torry, he stated, gives the data for a working-class population living under good sanitary conditions, and, on the whole, in regular and well-paid employment. (41,334 (210).) 514. After remarking on the comparative birth-rate and death-rates from zymotic diseases and phthisis, Professor Hay proceeded that the comparison between Rubislaw and Torry — the one with a predominatingly better-class population, and the other with a working-class population in good employ- ment, and both with good housing, although the usual size of house in Torry is much smaller than in Rubislaw, and is about two to^ three rooms — shows that two such populations yield similar results from the health standpoint, so far as can be judged from vital statistics, with, however, a balance in favour of Torry in respect of the much greater surplus of births over deaths. 515. As between Torry and Greyfriars, Professor Hay pointed out that apart from the birth-rate, Greyfriars shows a distinctly worse record than Torry, its death-rate being substantially higher ; that while part of the difference is imdoubtedly due to a difference in the wage-earning power of the two working-class populations, it is difficult to believe that a considerable part of the difference is not also due to differences in housing conditions ; and that these conditionsHdiffer less in size of house than in quality of house, especially in respect of good lighting and surrounding air space. In reply to sub- sequent questions, Professor Hay added that he considered the bad effects of housing on health to be most serious in the case of infants, and to act in large measure indirectly by lowering vitality and lessening the power of resisting disease. (41,334 (215 f.) and 41,471 ff.) 516. It may be said that no definite conclusion can be drawn from a single comparison of this kind, even though the determining factors are as well marked as they appear to be here. But it seems sufficient to prove the negative conclusion at least — that the mere fact of tenement housing does not itself prove seriously injurious to health if the other conditions are satisfactory, and if the tenements are well spaced out on an open site (in this case (i.e. Torry) a sloping site exposed to the sea winds). The comparatively small difference in death-rate between Torry and Rubislaw is accounted for as to two-thirds by the difference in the zymotic death-rate, and is indeed less than might be expected in view of the very marked difference in the birth-rate. Any conclusions drawn from this or any similar table do not, of course, dispose of the other considerations already brought forward. All that can be stated with confidence is that the tenement, given certain conditions, is not necessarily unhealthy. (k) Comparative Building — and Development — Costs. 517. A question of importance is, we need hardly say, whether the tenement provides a better retiun in accommodation than the cottage for the money spent on it, estimated either in capital value or in rental. It is obvious that a certain economy is effected by housing a number of families in a single building, in which they are protected by the same roof, and in which the drainage system is more con- centrated than would be the case in cottages, and also that the building of flats upwards reduces the area of ground occupied, and so the length of street or roadway needed to give access to the individual houses is correspondingly reduced. But these economies are counterbalanced by heavy expenditure in other directions, and which is the greater saving only experience can show. Circumstances vary so greatly from place to place that absolute precision cannot be obtained, but two tables of comparative costs laid before us seem to give at least an approximate answer to the question. 518. First, in regard to development, Mr Walker Smith pointed out that the economy was not all on the side of the tenements. If, with the limitation of the nxmiber of houses per acre, and the great amount of air space aroimd buildings, land can be so disposed — as I am inclined to think it can- — that the cost per house for street construction and development may be reduced considerably, that becomes a factor for consideration. It will be found that the cost of land and development per house will not increase at all proportionately with the diminution of the nimiber of houses to the acre. (4213 (16).) This is in agreement with reasons (7) and (9) of Mr Wilkes's statement quoted above. (Paragraph 478.) The argument, which we think is sotmd, is that, with open cottage development, there will be less con- centration of traffic, and it will be sufficient to lay down roads in purely residential districts, lighter, narrower in the actual roadway, and thus more economical than the present " byelaw " streets or roads. The economy thus obtained will be an important offset to the greater length of roadway, sewers, etc., necessary in cottage development. (Cf. Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (75 f.).) 519. As to the value obtained in the buildings themselves, Mr Walker Smith gave the results of two separate inquiries. The first was based on a comparison of three cottages at Vickerstown and three at Harbome (Birmingham) with four good modern tenements at Clydebank and two in Edinburgh. The floor areas, including bathroom and scullery, but excluding water-closet, etc., and the amount of floor area obtained per £ of rental, worked out as follows :— 6S ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Kooms, Rent including all Rates. Area. Area per £ Rental. £ 5. d. square yards. square yards. Cottage, Vickerstown 3 and scullery. 13 63 4-8 )j )> 5 and scullery. 16 18 78 4-6 J) )j )J SJ 19 10 80 4-1 Cottage, Harborne 3 11 14 54 4-6 » jj 3 and scullery. 16 18 57 3-4 J) )> 5 22 15 83 3-6 Tenement, Edinburgh 2 14 12 9 36 2-5 J) >j 3 and scullery. 25 1 9 85 3-4 „ Clydebank 2 15 15 40 2-5 jj )> 2 11 10 , , 2-56 j> >j 1 9 10 21 2-2 >> >> 2 17 36 2-1 (Abridged from Appendix XVI. ; c/. 4213 (22 fi.).) 520. It should be added that the witness did not consider the houses at Vickerstown entirely economic. But if we take those at Harborne alone, we find the English cottage giving from 3-4 to 4-6 yards of floor space against 2-1 to 2-5, and, in one case only, 3-4 for the Scots tenement dwelling. The same witness at a later stage of our inquiry submitted the result of an investigation on a broader basis, which brought out a somewhat similar comparative advantage on the side of the English cottage. In this case the average floor space of English cottages works out at 488 superflcial feet (or 54-3 yards), and the tenant pays 8-49 pence per square foot per annum ; while that of the tenement is 428 feet (or 47-6 yards), and the tenant pays 10-2 pence per square foot per annum. (Walker Smith, 41,557 (47 fi.)) 521. In a similar comparison supplied by Mr Horsburgh Campbell, two modem tenements in Edin- burgh, containing in all seventeen houses, are compared with three cottages built by District Councils at Barking (E. London) and Hayes (Middlesex). The figures are as follows :— The tenement houses contain two and three rooms, measuring from 400 to 710 superficial feet, costing for the building only from 6s. 7d. to 6s. lOd. per superficial foot of floor space, the weekly rent for 100 superficial feet ranging from Is. l|d. to Is. 5d. The cottages contain four and five rooms, measuring from 561 to 650 superficial feet, costing for building from 5s. l^d. to 5s. 3d. per superficial foot, the weekly rents for 100 superficial feet being respectively lOd., ll|d., and Is. 4d. (Abridged from table, 18,745 (61).) From these figures the witness deduced the following results, viz. : that a house of, say, 600 feet of floor space would cost, in the case of the tenement, £204 to build,, and in the case of the cottage £174 to build, or a difference in favour of the cottage of £30, or an economy of 15 per cent. ; that taking the • same in rental instead of capital cost, 600 feet of floor space in an Edinburgh tenement costs per annum £19, 10s., and a cottage in London (outer ring) £16, 5s., or a saving by the London cottage of £3, 5s. per annum. (Ibid., 18,745 (62).) 522. It may be objected that the cottages referred to near London are built with lighter walls than would be required in similar dwellings in Scotland, and probably a certain deduction must be made from the comparison on this account. But to show that the discrepancy exists even when the buildings compared are in the same area, we may add to these comparisons between the Scots tenement and the English cottage a comparison between the cost of cottages and tenements both built by the London Coimty Council. The architect to the Council supplied the following figirres regarding the tenements on the Bourne Estate, Holbom, already mentioned in connection with the question of balconies. (See Chapter VII.) Accommodation is provided for 3902 persons in 794 houses, the great majority of which contain two and three apartments. The height of all the rooms is 8 feet 6 inches. The average area of the living-rooms is 150 feet superficial, and of the bedroom 100 feet superficial. Cost per room, approximately ....... £95 10 Cost per foot cube, including foimdations . . . . .00 9-53 Total cost of buildings . . . . . . . . £221,000 Persons per acre, including half surrounding roads .... 703 (Riley, 25,121 (5).) 523. Subsequently the witness gave a comparative figiire for the cottages at Tottenham. He said the cost of cottages on the White Hart Lane Estate is only a little over 4|d. per foot, as against 9Jd. per foot for the Bourne Estate tenements. The explanation of this difference was, he said, the decreased cost of the thickness of the walls on the lower flat and of the construction, in regard to which he pointed out that in the tenement dwellings in London one dwelling must be separated from the other by a fire- resisting construction, and the first thing that has to be introduced is the fire-resisting floor ; that is covered with wood boards, and there is the extra thickness of the walls, and the construction generally is more solid and more costly in block dwellings than in a cottage. We visited both estates referred to in this paragraph. The Tottenham Estate has been more recently developed, and so the buildings there date from a time of higher costs. (15,154 f .) 524. Mr Walker Smith's statement of the reasons for the high cost of tenement building may also be given. If one builds foiu* storeys in height, the walls have to be sufficiently thick to carry the great height and a heavy roof (it is in the external walls chiefly where the excessive cost is), and everything has REPORT. 69 to be thick and strong in proportion ; and further, land is made so dear, that great depth of buildings is provided in order to get the requisite number of houses on each floor. The rooms need to be very high in order to get light at all to the back of these premises, which adds expense to the walls, and the joisting of big rooms needs to be heavy. (4213 (30).) 525. In contrast to this, we may quote the statement of Mr Mactaggart regarding 44 cottages built by him at Scotstoun, and visited by members of the Commission. " The cost, cube for cube, was almost ' similar to that for four-storey workmen's tenements, viz. 4|d. per cubic foot." (Mactaggart, 22,847 (27) ; cf. 22,900.) This suggests that in Scotland, where tenement building has been studied and prac- tised for generations, it is probably less costly in comparison with cottage building than in England. It is also to be kept in view that the comparisons first given were in terms of floor space, not of total cubic capacity, and that the tenement shows better on the latter reckoning, as the rooms are generally higher ; but the general trend of present opinion as represented in the evidence is to lay greater stress on superficial area than on cubic capacity {i.e. on working space rather than on air space alone) as a test of satisfactory housing. It is interesting to find, however, that Mr Mactaggart finally is disposed to con- demn the tenement as uneconomic, and the following statement is of some importance as coming from an expert in this line of building :■ — " It is always rash to prophesy, but it is my opinion that tenements ' will go out of vogue, as I said before, not perhaps because of any prejudice against them, but because ' we cannot produce them, and that we will be compelled to adopt the English system from purposes of ' economy, because I believe we could, if the industry was properly organised, produce that type of house ' cheaper than in England." (23,010.) 526. The general impression left by the above figures is undoubtedly that the tenement is economic- ally inferior, simply as a building, to the cottage. Before leaving the subject, we may refer to two examples of the brick tenement in Scotland. The two large blocks built by the Glasgow Workmen's Dwellings Company cost per cubic foot : — Cathedral Court (1892) Greenhead Court (1900) Building and Laying out Courts. 4-97d. 5-52d. Architects' Fees and all Initial Expenses. 0-39d. 045d. These rates seem comparatively high for the period, but Mr Mann, the Secretary of the Company, explained that they were for dwellings with small, and so comparatively expensive, rooms, and that — as we saw — • all the workmanship and fittings were of the best so as to minimise repairs. (Maim, 21,207 (12).) 527. In this respect the Perth Town Council's dwellings are of interest. There are two blocks— St Katharine's Court and St Johnstoun's Buildings — -both built on the balcony system. The former was built of freestone in 1901. It contains 70 houses with 128 rooms, and cost £12,200, or £174 per house and £95 per room. The latter was built in 1904 of brick and roughcast. It contains 44 houses with 80 rooms, and cost about £6500, or £148 per house aiid £81 per room. St Johnstoun's Buildings has the better appearance of the two, and is better kept, though this may be in part due to the fact that it is in an opener and pleasanter position, and so may attract a superior type of tenant. The witness who gave these facts added the comment that this pointed to the advantage of the use of brick and roughcast in the erection of such buildings, and there seemed to be no great advantage in making a building of this kind too substantial so long as the essential parts are sufficiently strong. (Ritchie, 36,728 (1 f.).) (1) The Type of House 'preferred by Scottish Tenants. 528. The effect of custom is strong in such a matter as housing, both among those who build the houses and those who occupy them. Thus it is not surprising to find a liking for tenement dwellin"^ among those who have always been wont to live in them. Both the witnesses already quoted, repre- senting the Dumbarton Building Society and the St Cuthbert's Co-operative Association Limited, Edinburgh, spoke quite definitely as to the popularity of the flat as a residence, and even as a subject of purchase on the part of the occupier. (See Lyon, 33,902 ; Cairns, 39,632-7.) 529. Mr Mactaggart gave it as his opinion that there was a considerable element of conservatism in Glasgow in this matter, and that the two large rooms, common in tenement dwellings, were preferred to a greater number of smaller rooms, though he did not suggest that such a preference was unalterable. He did, however, say that he had seen Scotsmen in English towns who preferred the tenement to the English system. . (Mactaggart, 22,855-62.) There is, however, strong evidence on the other side, and that given by Mr Walker Smith deserves quotation : — As to the Scotsman liking the tenement, from numerous inquiries that I have made I doubt very much if the working classes of Scotland have any great love for the tenement. I agree that for want of a better choice they do willingly remain in tenements. It is true also that they appreciate proximity to their work, and so does the English working man. It is true also that in Scotland, speaking generally, the working man is not educated to the demand for a high standard of housing. . . . There may be cases, but I have not heard of them, where tenants having once become accus- tomed to the cottage or self-contained system of dwellings, have expressed a desire to go back to the tenement. On the contrary, I have made personal investigations (to which I refer later in Tabulated Statement, vide Appendix No. XV.) among Scottish people who have lived in tenements in Scotland and taken to the cottage system in England, who were unanimous in their praise of the cottage and in their condemnation of the tenement. (4213 (14) (c).) 70 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Mr Walker Smith subsequently added that his investigations at Barrow revealed that Scotch people who are now living in cottages there were paying more for their houses in amount than they were paying in Scotland, but that they were getting very much better value, and they thought it was worth while. (Walker Smith, 41,755.) 530. The opinions given in Appendix XV. (last column) should be read in detail as throwing light on various points discussed above. The Scotswomen who have migrated to English cottages especially emphasise the inconvenience of the tenement as regards washing and the care of children as contrasted with the privacy and relative airiness and commodiousness of the cottage. One engineer's wife, who had been twenty years in England, told Mr Walker Smith that she " would not go back to tenements ' on any conditions, but would like to go back to Scotland if she could take her cottage with her." (C/. Mrs Laird, 23,089.) 531. There is some evidence that in localities where a large number of English workmen have settled the preference for cottage dwellings is spreading to their Scots fellow-workers. (Sims, 5973 ; Walker Smith, 41,557 (4 (c)).) In the case of smaller towns,'we may refer to the evidence of the Sanitary Inspec- tors of Musselburgh and Arbroath. In the former burgh two-storey workmen's dwellings, with two and three apartments, separate water-closet accommodation, and small gardens, are popular. (Barclay (13).) In Arbroath, where there has been a considerable extension of engineering works, the semi-de- tached cottage, with four rooms, bathroom, etc., entered in the Valuation Roll at £14 to £17, is said to be very popular an\ong the better-paid artisans. (Chalmers Smith, 34,800 (14), and 34,825 f .) 532. The work of the building societies in other towns in popularising the small self-contained houses has already been referred to. {Cf. Hamilton, 29,495 (12).) Probably, however, the trend of the more advanced working-class opinion on the subject is best shown by its official spokesmen. The definite condemnation of the tenement system by the representatives of the Edinburgh Trades' Coimcil has been already quoted (Eunson, 18,170 f.), as has the opinion of other representatives of the Labour Movement. But we may add the expression of opinion by Mr Hair (who represents working-class opinion in Paisley, as already explained), that there is a general desire among the working people of Paisley to get away from the tenement system, even if this involves payment of somewhat higher rent. (Hair, 38,456-8.) (m) The Extent of the Restrictions desirable in the Future. 533. The above discussion of the merits and defects of the tenement system naturally leads to the question how far it should be restricted in future. There are certain measures, especially the provision of cheap building land, and effective means of transit, and the relaxation of certain byelaws in favour of cottages planned on modem lines, which, if they could be carried out, would give free play to the desire already existing on a considerable scale to move from the tenement into the self-contained house. There can be little question as to the desirability of providing these facilities for the construction and use of cottages wherever a natural demand for them has shown or may show itself. There is, however, less unanimity as to the direct restrictions which should be placed on tenement building. On the whole, there are two well-marked opinions. Some witnesses would prefer to see all tenement building forbidden in the future. Others hold that this is impracticable and unnecessary, but are willing, practically without exception, to restrict such building for the future to houses of not more than three storeys. The latter restriction has, in fact, been given effect to in several important instances already. In more than one district of Aberdeen the better-class tenements are limited to three storeys. On the Pollok Estate in Glasgow (one of the best examples of private and voluntary town planning) great care has been taken in the case of tenements, besides keeping the building line back with plots in front, to restrict the height (except in a few instances) to three storeys. (Campbell Murray, 23,881 (9).) The Dumbarton and Falkirk Building Societies, where they have built tenements at all, have also limited them to three storeys. 534. As regards the principal effect of town-planning schemes on tenement building, we may note the evidence given by the Town Clerk of Dimfermline regarding the Rosyth town plan. He said that if the scheme were approved by the Local Government Board as drafted it would not be possible to erect tenements of houses which exceed two storeys in height plus rooms in the roof, which, however, were only to be used in connection with the house on the first floor. He pointed out, however, that there is a provision in the scheme whereby a tenement consisting of shops or offices on the ground floor, with two storeys of dwelling-houses over same, with rooms in the roof to be used as part of the top storey, might be erected on certain defined areas which all abutted on wide thoroughfares. (J. L. Jack, 43,150 (37 f.).) 535. The framers of this town plan, however, trust more to the indirect effect of granting a relaxa- tion in the byelaws regarding height of ceilings and other points in favour of the cottage, while maintain- ing the existing regulations for tenements, to discourage the latter type of building. In the same way, the late Town Planning Engineer for the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire holds that in the schemes there a similar effect will be produced by the provision limiting the number of dwellings per acre to not more than fourteen over the whole area, or twenty-two on any one acre (in the Shotts scheme). (Jack, 43,150 (39 f.) ; Ross Young, 43,312 (24 f.).) 536. It will thus be seen that there is unanimity in the opinion that the erection of cottages should be encouraged, but that the leading witnesses do not all consider that tenement building can or ought to be entirely prohibited. Several of these quoted above hold that in cases where a large number of workers, with low or moderate wages, have to be housed near to a highly-centralised industry, tenements are still necessary. But they all argue for modifications in size and plan of the tenement as it was erected in Scotland at the end of the nineteenth century. (See especially Roxburgh, 19,451a (28 f.); cf. Bishop, 5996 (39 (6)).) 537. Having considered carefully the whole evidence, we are of opinion that so far as possible house building in the future should be of the cottage or flatted villa type, but we recognise that in some of the highly-centralised industrial areas this is, or may be, a counsel of perfection. We have, therefore, given a good deal of thought as to the type of tenement which might be allowed, and the conditions upon REPORT. 71 which it might be allowed for districts which contain large and centralised masses of population. Our recomrnendations are :• — ■ (1) That no tenement, including ground floor, should be of more than three storeys. (2) That none of the houses. entering off the common stair shall be in the nature of back- to-back houses. (3) The tenements should be arranged in blocks as separate or detached pavilions, so as to admit of a sufficiency of light and air. (4) There should be sufficient open space about the tenement to provide adequately for ventila- tion, and sufficient space in the immediate neighbourhood to allow : — (a) Children's playgrounds, (6) Public bowling greens and gardens, (c) A certain number of private gardens allotted to the houses, (d) So far as possible each house to have a separate bleaching and drying green. (5) No tenements should be allowed in the form of hollow squares. (6) Where tenements of three storeys are erected, there should not be allowed more than 32 houses per acre ; that where double-flatted houses are erected, not more than 24 houses per acre should be allowed ; and that where single cottages are erected, the number of houses per acre should not be more than 16. (7) That these recommendations- — notably Nos. (1), (2), and (6) — should, in appropriate form, be embodied without delay in an Act of Parliament. We think the conditions enumerated above are necessary if the evils of the tenement system so pre- valent at present are to be avoided in the future. If the conditions referred to are rigidly enforced, the tenement system of two, but not exceeding three, storeys in height may, we believe, fulfil a useful and healthy part in housing the working class in populous districts. We do not consider the tenement system in any form as ideal, but we think from the practical point of view, as above explained, its existence under certain conditions and limitations may be necessary. 538. We have referred in Chapter VII. on " Structure " to the question of subdivision of houses and tenements, and while we make the definite recommendations above regarding the future erection of tenements, we consider that further powers are required to control the subdivision of existing houses or tenements. The suggestion has been made to us by Mr Horsburgh Campbell, the City Engineer of Edinburgh, that just as in an open area or tract of land commencing to change from the agricultural to residential the Local Authority may proceed to " town plan " that area, so should the Local Authority be empowered to proceed to " tenement plan " the old mansion or flat or series of flats as and when signs of subdivision are imminent. (Ibid., 41,170 (40).) He points out that in such cases the external walls and the building as a structure are good and substantial, but that the internal arrangements, i.e. those essentials of daylight in lobbies, also the ventilation, sanitary arrangements, and domestic details, are not adapted and are utterly unsuited to the residence and crowding together of a number of separate families. He suggests that any subdivision or " making-down process " should not proceed until the effect upon the whole tenement has been considered and a proper plan agreed to. The subdivision should conform to a pre-arranged plan, the tenement (or group of tenements) and not the individual house being treated as the imit. We heartily concur in this suggestion, and are clearly of opinion that Local Authorities should have full control over any process of subdivision of an existing house or tenement whereby the number of separate houses in such house or tenement will be increased, and that this control should operate in all cases whether or not structural alterations are contemplated. No subdivision should be possible until the Local Authority has approved the plan showing the rearrangements proposed, the number of families to be accommodated, the provision of effective lighting and ventilation of common stairs and lobbies, likewise the provision of adequate and suitable sanitary arrangements for each house. Indeed any such process of subdivision should be such as will secure that each house shall have all the essential requisites of a healthy house. An appeal on the part of any owner of such property against the refusal of the Local Authority to approve any plan and proposals submitted by him might lie to the Local Government Board. 539. We agree with Mr Horsburgh Campbell that this power should be retrospective in its application, and that the Local Authority should be empowered wherever they see fit (subject to a similar appeal as above) to require plans to be submitted showing the reconstruction or rearrangement of the houses in existing tenements that may already have been subdivided, and empowering the Local Authority to require reasonable improvements, as above indicated, to be made so as to render the premises in all respects sanitary and habitable. In this way effective steps could be taken to improve considerably the conditions existing in many crowded tenements. (Horsburgh Campbell, 41,170 (38-44), 41,233.) Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter VIII. (1) That no tenement (including ground floor) should be of more than three storeys. (Paragraph 537 (1).) • (2) That none of the houses entering off the common stair of a tenement should be in the nature of back-to-back houses. (Paragraph 537 (2).) (3) That tenements should be arranged in blocks as separate or detached pavilions, so as to admit a sufficiency of light and air. (Paragraph 537 (3).) (4) That there should be sufficient open space about tenements to provide adequs.tely for ventilation, and sufficient space in the immediate neighbourhood to allow : — (1) Children's playgrounds, (2) Public bowling greens and gardens, (3) A certain number of private gardens to the houses, and (4) So far as possible, a separate bleaching and drying green to each house. (Paragraph^537 (4).) (5) That no tenements should be allowed in the form of hollow squares. (Paragraph 537 (5).) (6) That where tenements of three storeys are erected, there should not be allowed more than 32 72 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. houses per acre ; that where double-flatted houses are erected, not more than 24 houses to the acre should be allowed ; and that where single cottages are erected, the number of such cottages per acre should not exceed 16. (Paragraph 537 (6).) (7) That the above recommendations, notably Nos. 1, 2, and 6, should, in appropriate form, be embodied without delay in an Act of Parliament. (Paragraph 537 (7).) (8) That no subdivision should be permitted imtil the cfiect upon the whole tenement has been considered and a proper plan agreed upon by the Local Authority. This to apply to existing tenements that have been subdivided. Any appeal by an owner to lie to the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 538.) CHAPTER IX. SANITAEY APPLIANCES AND CONVENIENCES IN "THE BURGHS. 540. In Chapter VII., regarding structure of Houses, there are incidental references to the number and position of the sanitary appliances ; but looking to the vital importance of sanitation, we devote this separate chapter to a survey of the present sanitary conditions in Burghs. Information in regard to sanitary conditions in landward areas will be found in Chapters on " Housing of Miners," of " Agri- cultural Workers," " Crofters," and " Seasonal Workers." Our burghal survey is divided as follows :— (A) Certain Extreme Instances of the Lack of Conveniences or their bad Condition. (B) Particulars of Improvements recently Effected in certain of the Burghs. (C) A Summary of the Position reached in Representative Burghs. (A) Certain Extreme Instances or the Lack of Conveniences or their Bad Condition. 54L We first quote extracts from the Reports of Local Government Board Inspectors regarding (1) a burgh in the West of Scotland, (2) one in the extreme North, and (3) an eastern Burgh. (1) Hamilton. (a) ■ — ■ — — Lane.- — Here the buildings generally, including an old and disused brewery, are somewhat crowded. Repairs, I was informed, are here secured with great difficulty. In the yard were a dirty grating and two large, full, open ashbins. At my second visit, small children were rummaging for pieces of coloured paper among the filthy contents of these bins ! (b) — - — ■ — Lane ■ — ■ — ■ — Street. — Backyard very dirty, and concrete pavement is broken. Passages very dark. At my earlier visit a water-closet in the yard was choked and in a revolting condition. (Dr. Dewar, Appendix CLXXV.) (2) Lerwick (older houses in Burgh). In very few of these houses is the water inside the dwellings. The usual stand pipe on the street is the only source of water-supply, in many cases, for a number of houses. At present, in 1913, the Sanitary Inspector states that there are still 35 tenement houses comprising 74 separate families without water-closet accommodation. In about two-thirds of the nimiber the houses are either old and in an uninhabitable condition, or no suitable places can be found for the erection of these conveniences. In the other third of the cases suitable places are available, as the houses are in a fairly good condition, and the introduction of water-closet accommodation is much required. (Dr Dittmar and Mr Wilson, Appendix CLXXVI.) (3) Dunfermline. • — ■ — — Row.—The water-closet for these houses has been choked for a while. The tenants have sent complaints about it frequently, but hitherto nothing has been done to remedy it. All the tenants have keys to this water-closet, but the lock is broken. (Dr Dewar, Appendix HI.) 542. The difficulty in finding suitable sites for new conveniences when these are added to old pro- perties is not confined to a single burgh. Both the Medical Inspectors of the Local Government Board referred to this. Dr Dewar said that in the congested fisher towns of the Forfarshire and Fif eshire coasts the defect cannot possibly be supplied ; neither within nor without the house is the necessary space available. (Dewar, 764 (49).) Dr Dittmar stated that in the city of Perth the Medical Officer of Health informed him on the occasion of a visit of inspection paid in March 1909, that there was a number of old houses in the city in which there was no water-closet or other conveniences, such as sink or washing-house, and no room to put them in, as the building covered the whole extent of the feu. From these houses domestic refuse, including excreta, was removed twice daily on week days and once on Sundays. In other old towns in Scotland a similar -state of matters still exists to a slight and diminishing degree. Old properties standing on the full extent of their feu present great difficulties to the sanitarian, but, short of closure as nuisances, or demolition owing to their being a danger to the neighbourhood, it is difficult to have the necessary work in connection with them carried out. If a dwelling-house without a sufficient sanitary convenience could, ipso facto, be declared iminhabitable, and if after a certain date it became illegal to let such houses, it would be possible to deal with them effectively. (Dittmar, 340 (26-8) ; Rev. J. D. Robertson, 2031.) 543. From further evidence regarding conditions in Perth, including the statement of the School Medical Officer, we find that water-closets are entirely wanting in many cases ; in fact, there is no water in many of the houses at all, and it has to be brought from a common well, which is frequently situated at some considerable distance from the house. The houses are so closely built together that fresh air and REPORT. 73 sunshine cannot enter. The narrow closes and entries are in many cases littered with human excreta and other filth. The inconvenience and the disgusting conditions caused by the lack of lavatory accommodation- — especially in times of illness— are better imagined than described. (C. C. Stuart, 36,460 (5 and 6). Cf. the evidence submitted by the Trades' Council, Rae, 36,648 (12).) 544. The Rev. Millar Patrick, referring to the investigation (in Perth) of the United Free Church Presbytery at the end of 1911, said that one of the things that astounded them most in their investigation was the discovery that whole streets of houses in the city were without the most elementary of sanitary conveniences. Meal Vennel is a case in point. The description given them by the janitor of the Central District School, which is situated in the Vennel, of the condition of filth in which, as a consequence, he foimd the playground and out-house of the school from time to time, and especially at the week-ends, was revolting in the extreme. In other cases, said Mr Patrick, the provision "of water-closets is quite inadequate, with the result that at the meal hours those who want to make use of them cannot all get the chance. The consequence in single-roomed or two-roomed houses where several people reside must be deplorable from every point of view. Insanitariness is bad enough, but the injury done to the sense of delicacy, and even to decency, is bound, in many cases, to be grave. It is not houses only of the poorer order that are in this case ; there are some rented at from £7 to £12 of which this is true. He added that to some extent this condition of things has been lessened since the investigation was made, as the publication of the Presbytery's exposure of it led to greatly increased activity on the part of the sanitary officials and the Committee of the Council behind them, and the evil had, to a considerable extent, been lessened ; but at the time when he gave evidence he held that much still needed to be done. In one tenement where there were twenty-two tenants, there was not a single sanitary convenience. (Patrick, 40,287 f., 40,308.) These opinions were strongly endorsed by the Inspector of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, who spoke of the degrading character of the " rush on these places during meal hours," and of the difficulty of entering some of the houses where suitable conveniences were lacking owing to " the ' poisonous atmosphere and offensive smells, especially during the forenoon." (G. A. Mackenzie, 36,686 (10-12).) 545. Regarding the effort made by officials of the Local Authority to remedy matters, the Medical Officer of Health for Perth stated, in June 1914 : — The number of water-closets which we recommended in connection with these houses was 156, and the number which have been introduced on the strength of that recommendation up to the present day is 99, and the others are being gone on with. The number of water supplies recommended to be introduced has been 194, and the number introduced has been 81, while the others are being proceeded with. He further stated that the water-tap was being placed in the kitchen in the great majority of cases, and that the standard aimed at as regards water-closets was one to four tenants. (Parker Stewart, 36,521, 36,522, 36,570.) 546. The question was raised by the representatives both of the Perth Trades' Council and of the United Free Church Presbytery whether, in certain instances, the Local Authorities, by insisting on the provision of these conveniences, were not adding to the life of property which ought soon to be condemned outright. A member of the Trades' Council said, " The property is not worth it." (J. Robertson, 36,658 ; Patrick, 40,290 f ., 40,330 f.), and the same witness said that landlords were adding sums of from lOs. to 30s. to the rents on accoimt of the conveniences supplied. (Rae, 36,657 ; Patrick, 40,306.) 547. Further statements regarding the impossibility of finding suitable positions in or adjoining older houses were as follows : — Speaking of the congested properties in Dumfries, the Sanitary Inspector said that no consideration whatever appears to have been given originally to the provision of sanitary conveniences, one common convenience at the foot of the close having been considered adequate for the needs of a very large number of houses, that this arrangement has operated against the introduction of modem conveniences, and while, during the past twenty years, water-closets and slop-sinks with water have been introduced into practically every house or tenement, the situation of many of these fittings cannot be described as ideal. (Barker, 13,560 (1).) The witness added, that owing to the construction of the houses situated in these narrow closes a difficulty had arisen in many cases from want of proper lighting and ventilation. Where they could not get a window they had to accept a skylight, and the result was not satisfactory. (Ibid., 13,562.) 548. The Medical Officer of Health for Kirkwall, referring to the same point, said that in most of the older properties there was no possibility of attaching conveniences to the property, but room might be found outside. Where, however, wages stand at not more than 15s. per week there is an obvious difficulty in asking for the increase of rent required to meet the cost of such improvements. (Bell, 11,696 f ., 11,732.) 549. In Stomoway, wlych has 169 one-room, 232 two-room, and 126 three-room dwellings, the following was stated to be the position by the Sanitary Inspector at the time of our visit : — Only five of the one-room houSes had sinks, 46 of the two-room, and 64 of the three-room houses. Only 58 houses had separate closet accommodation, many of them having no sanitary appliances of any description. An active effort was being made by the Town Council to introduce sinks where possible in the house, and elsewhere on the landings to serve two houses. In the same way the provision of water-closets was being pushed forward at the rate of one to four tenants, and, wherever possible, an attempt was being made to exceed this proportion. (A. Macdonald, 10,914-41 ; Provost Mackenzie, 11,427 f., 11,500.) 550. Although Portree is not a burgh, we may add here the statement of the Medical Officer. He stated that more modem conveniences, such as water-closets, etc., should be supplied in Portree. Many properties are without such conveniences, and even where those are met with, they are often dangerous nuisances on account of position in house or on landings and on lobbies, and on account of condition and structure. The Local Authority had recently laid a new public sewer, and steps were being taken to get owners of properties to connect therewith. (Fletcher, 8236 (52).) 551. Evidence regarding the conditions in Wick was given by the Inspector of the Society for 74 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, who described the extreme congestion and overcrowding at the height of the fishing season, and mentioned that there was no proper sanitary arrangement in any of those houses- — no water or water-closet, and in many cases no outside convenience of any description. The witness added, " They are improving in Wick in that respect, during these last two years especially. ' They have been putting water-closets into the houses, but still the improvement is very slow." (Alex. Macdonald, 16,429-32.) 552. It will be readily understood that the conditions we have described are not confined to the burghs directly referred to. They are only examples of conditions which have recently been— and, with some modification, still are — very widespread in the towns of Scotland. In the small town of Inner- leithen, in the Coimty of Peebles, in one block of houses, occupied by 89 people, there were in 1913 only four water-closets- — 40 yards away — which are used at all hours promiscuously by the male and female occupants or they are not used at all, in which case the state of things in the house was still worse. The witness, a member of the Town Council, who mentioned these facts, added that this block, and another with seven water-closets — 60 yards away- — were in many instances occupied by respectable families, who were able and willing to pay a higher rent for better accommodation, but such accommodation is not available. He further stated that action by the Local Authority had been impeded by a case in which their order to introduce water and water-closets into a property under the Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 246, had been appealed against, and the proceedings had cost the Town Council £19, Is. lOd., or Jd. on the burgh general rate. He therefore suggested that there should be no appeal to the sheriff imder this section in cases where an adequate water-supply is available. (C. M. Robertson, 19,815 (3, 15).) 553. To come to the large centres of population, the following statement was given by the Greenock Housing Council :- — Insufficient Sanitary Accommodation. Our visitors reported cases of insufficient sanitary accommodation from nearly all the parts of the districts visited. In one case walls were very badly cracked, and the roof fell three times in six months, due to overflow from water-closet, which overflow or leakage accumulates in the ceiling immediately above the bed-recess in the house below. This condition exists in a slightly different form in other houses in the same property. There is a water-closet for each flat ; the number of persons who make use of same ranges from 22 to 43. The doors have no locks or catches, and many tenants complained that they were unable, for this reason, to keep the water- closet clean. Roimd this locality there are quite a number of tenements where the water-closet is built immediately over the living-rooms of the houses below. This question of the position of the water- closet is of great importance. From the west central portion of the town one of our visitors reported a case of 54 persons using one water-closet, another water-closet, which ought to have been available, being out of order for a considerable period. Our visitors reported many water-closets in a dirty condition or choked, " never properly flushed," many damp and littered with wet, filthy paper. The men in certain houses said they would not use the water-closet, but went elsewhere to public conveniences. Cases are also known to us where water-closets in certain properties are used " as a public con- ' venience " for passers-by. (Campbell and Smith, 33,007 (11, 13).) 554. The Medical Officer for Greenock in a Report to the Local Government Board in June 1910 stated that many of the dwellings have been kept habitable only by an active sanitary supervision, but that in recent years the condition of these old properties has been improved in several respects, e.g. the back courts and passages have all been paved and drained, and water was being introduced into each house, thus doing away with the objectionable common jawbox. The witness further stated that during the previous year water was taken into seventy houses ; water-closets are provided in every property in the burgh, with one exception, and this one was being dealt with ; that water-closet shafts had been built in many properties to supply accommodation for each flat, while in others closets had been erected in the courts. (Cook, 33,203 (5).) 555. We have already. referred to the difficulty of securing adequate facilities for washing, and of obtaining or providing sanitary appliances in the older types of tenement property in the large cities. Attempts have been made to meet the difficulty in three ways, according to the nature of the property and the extent of free space at the rear : — (a) Where sufficient ground is available and the number of floors in the tenement is moderate, a wash-house and water-closets (and in some cases coal-cellars) are provided in the court or open space at the back of the building. This plan has the disadvantage that it places a hindrance in the way of the use of the water-closets by children and old people, and by women also if the position is too public, and it makes adequate supervision more difficult. (The last point was emphasised by Professor Matthew Hay, Aberdeen, 41,334 (120).) (6) In the case of balcony tenements, or tenements in which the common stair is in contact with the back wall of the building, con- veniences are often provided, one or more to each flat, in a brick " stack." These appendages do not improve the appearance of an already sufficiently depressing type of building, and they are apt to darken the immediately adjoining windows ; but in many cases they represent the best available method of meeting the need, (c) Where neither of thescmethods is practicable, water-closets have to be intro- duced at some point on the common stair or lobby. In this case there is the danger, unless special care is taken, that they may ventilate through the building as a whole, as was pointed out by a witness dealing with the Cowcaddens district of Glasgow. (Coultate, 23,822 f.) The representatives of Edin- burgh Trades' Council described how, when an old house is subdivided, the hall becomes a common lobby, and " a part of that is perhaps apportioned off and made into a water-closet." This is then used by the tenants, or half the tenants, on the flat, and in some cases they have to use a common tap and sink as well. (T. Wilson, 17,980 f.) Thus, while this method avoids the objections urged against (a) on the score of publicity and discomfort in bad weather, it has serious drawbacks of its own. 556. On the score of ventilation, a good deal may be said for the plan of having the sanitary appliances outside the four walls of the actual house. The Professor of Public Health in the Univer- REPORT. 75 sity of Glasgow pointed out the great difficulty of providing a water-closet for every tenant in old tenement property owing to defects of structure and lack of space. (Glaister, 23,525 ; e/. Agnew, 34,067.) 557. These difficulties are not mentioned as an argument for letting things rest as they are. Far from it. They rather enforce the need for careful consideration and planning in the sanitary improve- ment of old city property. They are an argument for the " tenement planning " elsewhere advocated by Mr Horsburgh Campbell (Chapter VIII., Paragraph 538.) On this point Mr Campbell stated his opinion that while old tenepients cannot be adapted to provide a water-closet for each tenant, the standard of one to two tenants might reasonably be aimed at. (18,856.) 558. Before we proceed to detail improvements effected it is necessary to say something of that form of sanitary, or rather insanitary, convenience which was till comparatively lately the prevailing one in many Scots towns— the privy-midden. We refer specially to it in the description of mining commimities, where it has persisted longer than elsewhere, so it is not necessary to repeat a description here of this truly abominable arrangement, in which a closet, adapted for use by one or several individuals is adjacent to, and functions as part of, the general ash- and refuse-pit. Sometimes they are covered by one roof ; sometimes the ashpit portion is open to the sky ; but in both cases all kinds of refuse and filth, organic and inorganic, are collected in the same general receptacle, with results which cannot be described in decent language. Even in comparatively cool weather we found that it was a severe trial to approach close to these contrivances, and the offence to the sense of sight was not less gross than to the sense of smell. 559. So far as the burghs are concerned, these privy-middens happily form a disappearing survival only ; but where they do occur, they are not less objectionable in themselves than those found in land- ward areas. In one large burgh in the West of Scotland (viz. Coatbridge) they were found in a group of old miners' cottages. In two or three instances they were above the general level of the street, and consequently after heavy rain the filth-laden surface drainage from them found its way along the open gutter in front of the rows. 560. We now refer to the investigations of Dr Dittmar into the effect on public health, and particu- larly on the incidence of enteric fever, of the " conservancy system " of dealing with human excreta as compared with the " water-carriage system." The former includes both privy-middens and pail- closets, but the latter — i.e. the pail-closets — are found chiefly in the rural districts, while the earth-closet, properly constructed and used, appears to be unknown in Scotland. An elaborate study of the incidence of enteric fever in the burghs of over 20,000 population yielded the conclusion that the effect of the conservancy system was directly to " favour the spread of enteric fever," owing largely to " the oppor- ' tunity for repeated reinfection of the soil in the neighbourhood of dwelling-houses, and the opportunity thus given for infection of food by ffies and other natural agencies." (Dittmar, 340 (10); 347 ff.) Tables showing clearly the connection of the privy-midden with enteric fever in the burghs of Airdrie and Coatbridge over a period of nearly twenty years are found in Appendices CLXX. and CLXXI. In 1910 Dr Dittmar reported on the facts in Airdrie, that in the sixteen years, 1894 to 1909 inclusive, 420 cases of enteric fever were notified in Airdrie, and 367 of these, or 87-5 per cent., arose in houses served with privies. The smallaess in the nimiber of cases from water-closet houses is very strik- ing, though in the earlier years the proportion of the population served with privies or other conservancy methods for the disposal of excreta was probably more than half of the population, which is about the proportion so served at this date. (Appendix CLXX. Cf. Paragraph 566.) 561. It is thus clear that the case from the point of view of decency and amenity for the abolition of the privy-midden in all large centres of population is reinforced by strong and definite considerations from the point of view of public health. {B) Improvements recently Effected. 562. At one or two points in the evidence regarding the urgent need for sanitary improvement in the burghs, which we have just discussed, statements have emerged regarding the action recently taken in this direction by Local Authorities. Such action has been very general, and in almost every burgh visited we found evidence of an endeavour on the part of the officials to secure an advance in this respect. Probably in no other branch of the housing problem does so much real progress fall to be recorded, although it is abundantly clear that in many places the action has been too long delayed, seeing that powers to require the introduction of water-closets, etc., were given by the Burgh Police Act of 1892. There have indeed been two causes which doubtless have delayed action in many instances — the lack of an adequate water-supply, and difficulties as to drainage and the disposal of sewage. 563. We now give instances of the action taken when there were no such difficulties, or when these preliminary difficulties had been overcome. The Sanitary Inspector for Arbroath stated that when he took up his duties in Arbroath he found that in few cases were there water-closets in tenement property. The town was what might be termed a " dry-closet " town. The cause was not far to seek^ — ^an inade- quate water-supply. Very great nuisance existed in many cases, but he could only ask for the removal of the very worst until a proper water-supply was introduced. In 1903 the Town Council received Parliamentary powers to proceed with a new water-supply, and the same was completed in 1907. In 1905 the Sanitary Inspector felt justified in starting a crusade against the " dry-closet," and from 1905 to 1912 (both years inclusive) 1207 dry-closets were replaced by water-closets. He stated (in Jime 1914) that the worst of the dry-closets had been removed, although a number still remained to be dealt with. That the public had appreciated the change might be gathered from the fact that tenants would now hardly take a house without what they term a " flush-closet," and fimally he stated that ashpits were gradually disappearing. They had disappeared in the same ratio as the " dry-closets," and were being replaced by iron dustbins. (Chalmers Smith, 34,800 (4 f., 13).) 564. In Galashiels up to about 1910 " the pail-system was in use, but was found to be so insanitary ' and objectionable otherwise, that the Local Authority promoted a Provisional Order and promoted ' a drainage and sewage-disposal scheme." The cost was £60,000, and the Sanitary Inspector estimated that probably another £30,000 or £40,000 would be spent by proprietors in introducing water-closets 76 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. and drainage — a large total outlay for a burgh of under 15,000 inhabitants. All proprietors were supply- ing sinks for each house, and water-closets at the rate of one for every two (or, in exceptional cases, every three) tenants. The Sanitary Inspector stated in cross-examination that some difficulty was experienced in the case of the poorer house-owners, who had found it hard to raise the ready money needed for the improvement (i.e. £40 to £50 for a block of four houses). A case was quoted by a factor in the burgh in which an attempt had been made to sell a property where the bondholders were unable to finance the operation, but no offer was made. Still, in practically every case, the money was being found somehow. (Wm. Thomson, 16,783 (11); also 16,789 fE., 16,853 fE, ; Thorn, 16,694.) Another witness complained that the water-closets were inconveniently far from the houses, as there was no room for them within the latter, and so they were often placed on the site of the former dry-closet at the far end of the garden. He held that in some instances a position nearer the hotise could have been found. He also mentioned that a sum of 10s. or 158. has been added to the rent after the introduction of new conveniences. (J. Rutherford, 16,610 f .) 565. We found evidence of a similar movement in various other parts of Scotland. Reference has been made to the difficulty of introducing sufficient sanitary appliances in the older fishing towns and villages ; but the Town Clerk of a group of small burghs in Fife (speaking for Anstruther Easter and Wester, Kilrenny, Crail, and Pittenweem) said that, owing to the action of the Coimcils, there were now exceedingly few houses in these five burghs without water in the house and a separate water-closet. (C. H. Maxwell, 18,671 (13) and 18,707.) In the West of Scotland the privy-midden has been gradually banished from the cities. The Sanitary Inspector of Paisley said, that during the last twenty-five years an active and progressive policy has been pursued by the Corporation. . . . The result is that the town has transformed the privy-midden system of conveniences into the water-carriage or water-closet system. A general principle or standard was followed of one water-closet for each fiat, or one for every three houses. At the same time, nearly the whole of the private drains were renewed, water introduced into the houses, windows improved for purposes of ventilation, boxed-in and press-beds opened up, and back courts and areas paved. (Kelso, 37,911 (5).) 566. The burghs of Airdrie and Coatbridge, in view of the relation of the privy-middens to enteric fever, referred to above, have been urged by the Local Government Board to proceed steadily with the instalment of water-closets in their place. In Coatbridge, between the year 1910 and February 1915, the niunber of privies was reduced from 735 to 232 and 135 " emergency privies," and the number of water-closets increased from 3183 to 3808. In the same period the ashpits were reduced by 193 and ashbins increased by 547. In Airdrie the proportion of privy-middens remaining appears to have been larger, but their replacement has proceeded at an accelerating speed. In four years, from 1906 to 1909, only 151 water-closets were erected in place of privies ; but from 1911 to 1913, 320 were introduced into 153 properties. (Appendices CLXX. and CLXXI. Cf. Agnew, 33,984 (33).) 567. Along with facts previously given from Greenock, Perth, Stomoway, etc., these citations show that there has been considerable activity in this respect, and, if the War had not supervened, it is prob- able that the heavy expenditure by various towns on new water and drainage schemes within recent years would have opened the way to further advance. The evidence of the officials of the Mid-Lanark District Committee on this point is important, as they administer a great area, largely urban in character. An account was given of the energetic policy now being carried out for the abolition of privy-middens. When asked why this had not been seriously attempted till within the last few years, Dr Wilson replied (1) that water and drainage systems had first to be perfected, and (2) that the influence of Glasgow, where the privy-midden persisted much longer than in the East of Scotland cities, had a retarding effect. (36,884-9.) (C) Summary of the Position relative to Sanitary Appliances and Conveniences REACHED in REPRESENTATIVE BuRGHS. 568. We now proceed to summarise the position reached in respect to sanitary and other conveniences in representative Scottish burghs, beginning with the four large cities. 569. In Aberdeen there are no dry- or earth-closets, except in the case of isolated houses in the agri- cultural belt surrounding the city itself. In the city, water-closets are provided in the proportion of one to not more than three tenants, even in the older property. Aberdeen was a pioneer in the abolition of ashpits and the institution of daily refuse removal, which began about 1880. Sculleries are not common in the older properties, but are supplied in the newer working-class dwellings, in some cases fitted with a gas-cooker. Washhouses are provided in the ratio of one to not more than six or eight tenants, and in the newer properties one to three or four tenants. In 1914 about 460 of the older tene- ments still had common sinks on the stairs. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (120 ff.).) 570. In Dundee it is said that less than thirty years ago there were closes in the Overgate with no sanitary accommodation of any kind, and even down to 1901 " Dundee was largely a privy-midden ' town." In 1904, out of 5888 houses visited by investigators of the Dimdee Social Union, 174 occupied houses were found with no sanitary accommodation and no ashpit, and 295 with no sanitary accommo- dation. (Report on Housing and Industrial Conditions in Dundee, page 22a.) Since then much has been done, chiefly by way of erecting " stacljB " of water-closets, to which the Dundee tenement naturally adapts itself. The Medical Officer for the city described the progress made, and explained that the standard aimed at was one water-closet to not more than four tenants. " Ashpits are being ' gradually abolished, and covered ashbins substituted." (Templeman, 35,836 (28-31).) We saw, how- ever, a good many ashpits during our visit to Dundee, some of them not of the best type. Water is now supplied to the great majority of individual tenants, though there are still a few common taps ; and while there are good public washhouses, some tenants, living in properties without washhouses of their own, prefer to wash in their rooms. (W. D. Williamson, 36,093 (8-10).) 571. Edinburgh.— Tables, were submitted in 1913 by the late Sanitary Inspector showing the number of houses with one to four rooms in every ward in the city, and the number possessing separate or common sinks, water-closets, and sculleries. These figures summarised are as follows : — REPORT. 77 Of One-room Houses. — 7106 in Number. 445 or 6-26 per cent, have separate wat^r-closet ; 6661 „ 93-74 „ share a common water-closet. 4060 „ 57 „ have a separate sink ; 3046 „ 43 „ share^a common sink. OJ Two-room Z^ouses.— 23,466 in Number. 15,199 or 64-3 per cent, have a separate water-closet ; 8,267 „ 35-9 „ share a common water-closet. 22,010 „ 93-80 „ have a separate sink ; 1,456 „ 6-20 „ share a common sink. Of Three-room HoMses.— 15,871 in Number. 14,507 or 92-26 per cent, have a separate water-closet ; 1,364 „ 7-72 „ share a common water-closet. While all but 151 (less than 1 per cent.) have a separate sink. Of Four-room Zfowses.— 10,242 in Number. All but 202 (less than 2 per cent.) have a separate water-closet, and all but 18 a separate sink. As regards the provision of sculleries, the figures are as follows : — Of the one-room houses, 63 have sculleries ( 0-2 per cent.). „ two- „ „ 1003 „ „ ( 4-2 „ ). three- „ >> 2975 „ J» (18-7 J> ) four- „ >) 2362 „ >J (23-0 3i ) It will be noted that, at the time at which these figures were compiled, less than one-fourth even of the four-room houses were provided with sculleries ; in all the other cases the sink is in the kitchen or Uving-room, or, in the case of sinks used in common, on the stair or landing. (Appendix XX.) Ashpits have been abolished, and there has for long been a daily collection of refuse in Edinburgh. All the newer tenements are provided with bleaching greens, and the congested portions of the city are well provided with public washhouses. (D. Rutherford, 5699 (17-19).) 572. (rias^oM;.— Corresponding figures for Glasgow have been supplied at our request by Mr Fyfe, Chief Sanitary Inspector, as the result of a survey in 1915 : — Of One-room Houses.- — 41,354 in Number. . 2,947 or 7-12 per cent, have a separate water-closet ; ' 38,407 „ 92-88 „ share a common water-closet. 40,127 ,, 97-0 ,, have a separate sink ; 1,227 „ 2-96 „ share a common sink. Of Two-room Houses. — 111,451 in Number. 42,513 or 38-15 per cent, have a separate water-closet ; 68,938 „ 61-85 „ share a common water-closet. 110,804 „ 99-4 „ have a separate sink, only 647 sharing. Of Three-room Houses.- — 44,791 in Number. 39,694 or 88-64 per cent, have a separate water-closet ; 5,097 „ 11-37 „ share a common water-closet. 44,771 „ 99-9 „ have a separate sink, oiJy 20 sharing. Of Four-room Houses.- — 14,627 in Number. 14,274 or 97-59 per cent, have a separate water-closet ; 353 „ 2-41 „ share a common water-closet. 14,621 „ 99-9 „ have a separate sink, only 6 sharing. In the case of common water-closets, one is reckoned sufficient for four tenants of one and two-room houses. There are 18 public washhouses in Glasgow owned by the Corporation, with 979 washing stalls, and the attendances at these in the year 1913-14 nvmabered 872,976. In the city, as it existed before the recent extension, the proportion of ashpits to bins was about 5 per cent., about 3 per cent, of the bins being emptied daily, and the remainder bi-weekly. In the annexed areas, the proportion of ashpits is about 75 per cent, of the total, and all are emptied bi-weekly except in Govan, where they are cleared once a week. (Appendix CLXXXVIIL, and Report of Baths and Washhouses for 1913-14.) 573. Information from several other burghs of a representative character, as regards population, geographical position, and industrial character, may be given for greater convenience in tabular form ; but the information for Clydebank, as the best example of an almost entirely modem and tenement town, may be given first in full. There is a total of 8748 separate houses in the burgh, the various sizes of which, along with the 78 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. average water-closet accommodation provided for the various houses, is given in the following table, viz. :■ — . Number and Percentage of Houses of various Sizes. Percentage of Houses provided with Water-closet Accommodation in the proportion of— Apartments. One for each Family. One for Two Families. One for Three Families. One for Four Families. 1 2 3 4 1455 (16-63) 5475 (62-59) 1279 (14-62) 197 (2-25) 41 56 83 97 4 6 3 42 31 9 13 7 1 5 and over 8406 (96-09) 342 (3-91) 58 99| 29J 7 8748 (100) 60 5 28 7 The whole of the houses are provided with water. Dustbins are provided for almost the whole of the houses. 574. The whole of the tenement property in Clydebank is provided with one washhouse for each tenement, i.e. in some cases there is one washhouse for six tenants, while in others it may be one to nine or twelve tenants. A separate scullery (except in a few cases) is not provided for each house. In the majority of cases there is just a sink in the kitchen. Coal-houses are not now provided for houses in tenement property, and where they were formerly supplied they are being removed as useless. It is stated that none of the tenants use them, consequently they soon become a nuisance. The explanation probably is that the coal-houses were so placed as to be inconvenient for practical use. A considerable number of two- and three-apartment houses are provided with a bath, while almost all the larger houses have such accommodation. There are only a few tenements with bleaching greens (about two dozen in all), and these would soon disappear were it not for the fact that the property is being looked after personally by the proprietor. There are no public bleaching greens. (G. Ross, 33,719 (33, 34, 45, 51).). 575. The following table gives information as to sanitary appliances and conveniences in certain representative burghs :-:- Burgh Population and Reference to Water-closet. Water. Scullery.. Washhouse. Evidence. Paisley — Pop., In one and two-. Generally in kit- In three-room and Common wash- 84,477. (Kelso, room houses ; chens of one- larger houses. house in tene- 37,911 (5-25).) one to two or three ; three rooms or over, separate. and two-room houses. ments. Leith— Pop., 80,488. One to one, two. Sink in kitchen, Very few in tene- None. (Bishop, 5996 (17- three, or four rarely on land- ments. 19).) houses. ing. Motherwell — Pop., Shared by two. All but three pro- In majority of Usually shared by 40,378. (R. P. three, or four perties. cases. several tenants. Jack, 34,183 (26- tenants (in two 30) and Appendix cases, six). A CXIIL). few separate. Kirkcaldy — Pop., Two - apartment Sink in kitchen. Ordinary type of Two - apartment. 39,601. (Braid, houses, one to two - apartment. one to four. 3564 (25-27).) four. ♦ None. Better type, -'. . Better type of two- Better type, one separate. apartment. Yes. to four. Three -apartment, • • Three - apartment. Three apartment. separate. Yes. boiler in scullery. Inverness — Pop., One to two or Old one - room Very few in small 22,216. (Knowles, three houses in houses, outside houses. 14,458 (18-20).) old property ; majority have separate water- closets. tap for three or four. Newer houses have sinks. REPORT. 79 Burgh Population and Reference to Water-closet. Water. Scullery. Washhouse. Evidence. Arbroath — Pop., One to two, three, In 20 per cent. Forty per cent. Usually two for six 20,648. (Chal- four, or five one-room houses three - room tenants. mers Smith,34,800 tenants in tene- and 50 per cent. houses. (13).) ments. two- and three- room. Port - Glasgow ■ — Five per cent, two- In all, with the ex- , , Ninety-eight per Pop. 17,749. room, 50 per ception of about cent., frequently (HaUiday, 33,500 cent. three- twenty houses. not used. (10-13).) room, separate. Galashiels — Pop., One to one or two It was reported Not common. Usually one to four 14,531. (Thom- (in a few cases sinks are being tenants, with son, 16,783 (11, three) tenants. introduced in all bleaching green. 17, 18).) Daily refuse removal. houses. One-room Houses. Bo'ness — Pop., One to two or 50 per cent. None. - 10,866. (Louden, three outside. 34,388 (16-21).) Two-room Houses. About 50 separate. 85 per cent. -\ Usually one to remainder com- four or five. mon. 1 A few in recently ( erected houses. Three-room Houses. , About 1 00 separate, 97 per cent. others common. - Selkirk— Pop., 5886. Separate water- Laid on in 97 per Separate in about With, 839; with- (Pritty, 17,106.) closets, 416. cent, of houses, 68 per cent, of out, 336. Joint water- outside in 3 per houses. closets, 690. cent. Separate dry- closets, 50. Joint dry- closets, 19. Castle - Douglas- — Introduced for all Sinks in very few a • ., Pop., 3016. (Win- houses (single or working - class trup, 13,168 (3-8).) joint). houses. Innerleithen — Pop., No separate in one- 65 per cent, two- 15 per cent, two- Not in two-room ; 2547. (Bryant, room houses. room ; 90 per room ; 90 per 15 per cent, in 19,866 (10 fE.); c/. Separate water- cent. three- cent. three- three-room. C. M. Robertson, closet in 20 per room. room. 19,815 (15).) cent, of two- room houses, and 75 per cent, of three-room houses. Kirkcudbright — Same as Castle-Douglas (above). Pop., 2191. Lochmaben— Pop., In most houses. Almost all. , , Hardly any. 1086. (HaUiday, A few have pail- 13,092 (11 f., and closets. 13, 113 f.).) 576. We have now given a fair summary of the position reached in the years 1913-14 in the more progressive Scots burghs. It will be seen by comparing the figures given in this chapter with the statistics given elsewhere of the number of rooms in Scots houses, that the progress made in raising the sanitary standard is more notable than the advance in the number of rooms per house or the diminution in the number of occupants per room. As regards other annexes to the dwelling-house, baths have been introduced into some of the higher rented working-class dwellings in several towns. Coal-cellars are not usual in tenement property, though in the case of comparatively small tenements (e.g. in Kirkcaldy ; see Braid, 3564 (25-27)) they are provided in some cases. Elsewhere there is usually a small coal-store in the house i.tself . {Note. — Certain recommendations regarding the provision of sanitary conveniences applying in part to the burghs will be found in a subsequent chapter.) 80 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. CHAPTER X. OCCUPANCY OF HOUSES. 577. To comprehend clearly the subject of occupancy we must concern ourselves with two sets of persons and one subject. The persons are the owner of the house and the occupants. The subject is the thing occupied, viz. the house. In regard to the persons, we shall require to discuss very briefly the nature of their respective duties and obligations : and in regard to the house, we shall require to con- sider what conditions are set forth in the statutes as being requisite in or connected with a house which is to be occupied by a tenant. 578. The first observation is that there is in the statutes no definition of a house. So far as defini- tion is concerned, a person is entitled to let for use as a dweUing, to any other person or to use himself as a dwelling, any building or erection however deficient in everything that makes for comfort, for con- venience, or even in bare necessities. And it is true that such is the poverty — comparative and absolute • — of a large proportion of the population, that habitations of the kind referred to can be readily let. On the other hand, the Legislature has, in various Acts of Parliament, made provision, in some cases positively and in other cases negatively, for a standard or condition of house accommodation which shall be reasonably fit and shall not be a niiisance or injurious or dangerous to health. But it must be clearly kept in view that in Scotland the statutory provisions for fitness or " reasonable fitness " of a house apply only to houses not exceeding £16 rental. Accordingly it must be just as clearly kept in view that, for all houses let as dwellings with rentals over £16, there is no statutory implied condition on the part of the landlord that the houses are reasonably fit for occupancy. 579. There are also to be foimd in the Burgh Police Acts and the Public Health Acts provisions enabling Local Authorities to require certain appurtenances or equipment of a house which make for the convenience and comfort of the inmate. At this stage it is not necessary to give the details of the Local Authorities' powers in this regard ; but the provision of water is a good illustration of what we mean. Both in town and rural districts the Local Authorities have power to insist on the provision of water for the use of the occupants of a house. In regard to water as in regard to many other things, the powers in burghs are more extensive than in rural districts, but these powers have all been discussed in a previous chapter (Chapter V.). Our point at present is that apart from certain provisions (a) in regard to the fitness of a house (limited to houses of rental not exceeding £16, as already explained), and in regard to houses not being nuisances or injurious or dangerous to health, and (6) powers granted to Local Authorities to insist on certain house equipment and conveniences, the Legislature has not hitherto faced the question of whether it is not advisable in the interests of the working classes to insist on a specific definition of a house, which definition would explicitly set forth minimum requirements of comfort and convenience below which no house should be allowed to be let for the purposes of human occupation. That really brings us to the proposition which we shall discuss in oxir policy and recom- mendations ot a minimum standard of habitability. 580. We think it now desirable to show very briefly what are the statutory requirements in regard to a house, and we can do this by showing what the landlord's and tenant's respective duties and obligations are. Landlord's Obligations. House to be reasonably Fit for Occupation. 581. In regard to houses of a rental not exceeding £16, the owner must, subject to the modification after mentioned, provide and maintain the house in all respects in a state reasonably fit for human habita- tion. (Sections 14 and 15 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909.) We have to modify the statement just made to this effect, that section 14 of the 1909 Act contains a proviso that when a house (of the rental stated) is let for a term of not less than three years upon the terms (a) that the lessee must put it into a condition reasonably fit for occupation, and (6) that the lease can not be brought to an end at the option of either party before the expiration of three years, the implied statutory condition that the landlord must provide and maintain the house during the holding in a reasonably fit condition is not to apply. (Section 14, ibid.) House or Appurtenances not to be Dangerous or Injurious to Health. 582. The Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, under Part II., section 16, defines certain physical conditions if found in or about a house as a nuisance, and therefore under sections 20 to 24 of said Act, so far as the landlord is responsible as after-mentioned, rendering him liable to certain civil procedure before a magistrate, sheriff, or justice of the peace. The other parties who are or may be responsible are the " author of the nuisance or . . . the occupier." (Section 20 (1).) The Local Authority may also require " such owner, occupier, or person " to do what is necessary for preventing the recurrence of the nuisance, and may specify any works to be executed for that purpose. (Section 20 (2).) The Act provides (section 16) that,— (1) Any premises or part thereof of such a construction or in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health. (2) Any . . sink, cistern, water-closet, earth-closet, privy, urinal, cesspool, drain, dung-pit or ashpit so foul or in such a state or so situated as to be a nuisance or injurious Or dangerous to health . . . shall be deemed to be nuisances liable to be dealt with summarily in maimer provided by this Act. REPORT. 81 ^ The Act, in the sections above quoted, takes the place of similar but more restricted provisions in the Pubhc Health Act, 1867, although the earlier Act gave more detail in its dehnition. It will probably be necessary for us to discuss briefly difficulties of interpretation of the statutes. . These difficulties turn mainly on what constitutes, or what a judge may tfiink constitutes, injury or danger to health under the 1897 Act. Before passing from the landlord's obligation under this head, we point out that he is definitely held responsible where the premises are unoccupied or where — in the case of occupied premises • — the state of things constituting the nxiisance arises from any want or defect of a structural character. (Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 20 (3(a)).) 583. Under the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, section 17, houses that are in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation may be the subject of a Closing Order by the Local Authority. The occupation of a house in such a state may also be prohibited by a sheriff, magistrate, or justice in proceedings under the Public Health Act at the instance of the Local Authority. (See section 23 of that Act.) These provisions apply to all houses, and are not limited to houses of any specified rent, as are sections 14 and 15 of the 1909 Act already quoted. Certain Types of TJndergromid Dwellings not to be Let as a House. 584. The owner is not entitled to let as a house certain kinds of underground dwellings which have been discussed by us in Chapters V. and VII. We refer to Chapter VII. and to section 74 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, for a description of such undergroimd dwellings. If the owner contravenes this section he is liable under the following section, viz. section 75, in a penalty not exceeding 20s. for every day during continuance of the ofience after conviction. Provision for Whitewashing, Cleansing, or Purifying Filthy or Unwholesome House, Bedding, or Clothing. 585. Where it appears to the Local Authority that any house or part thereof or any article of bedding or clothing therein is in such a filthy or unwholesome condition that the health of any person is affected orendangered, or that the whitewashing, cleansing, or purifying of the house or of any bedding or clothing would tend to prevent or check infectious disease, the Local Authority is entitled to give notice to the owner or occupier to do the necessary whitewashing, cleansing, or purifying, and on failure to comply the person on whom the notice is served is liable to a penalty not exceeding 10s. for every day's default. Further, the Local Authority may, at their own hand, do the whitewashing, cleansing, and purifying. (Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 40.) It is not clear from this section what the respective obligations of the owner and occupier are, but the authors of the Handbook of Public Health (Macdougall and Murray) give it as their opinion that the owner is the party responsible for the white- washing of the house, and the occupier is the person responsible for the cleansmg and purifying of bedding and clothing. 586. In Burghs under section 118 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, the proper officials of a burgh Local Authority may enter houses which they have reason to believe are not in a cleanly condition, and they may cleanse and purify the same at the expense of the owner if the houses are unoccupied, but when occupied, at the expense of the occupier. (This provision may be adopted in Scavenging Districts by landward Local Authorities.) Whitewashing Common Stairs, Passages, etc. 587. The owner of common stairs, common passages, and walls and roofs of closes and walls of open courts must whitewash or (at the option of the owner) paint the same once every year if required to do so by the Sanitary Inspector, and on failure to do so, the owner is liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s. (Burgh PoUce (Scotland) Act, 1892, section 117 ; Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903, Schedule.) (This section may be adopted in Scavenging Districts by landward Local Authorities.) Tenant's Obligations. Overcrowding. 588. Under sections 20 to 24 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, the owner or occupier or author of a nuisance may be proceeded against for committing a nuisance, defined under section L6 (7) of said Act as follows : — " Any house or part of a house so overcrowded as to be injurious or danger- ' ous to the health of the inmates." This provision as to overcrowding is practically a repetition of the provision on the same subject in the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1867. Although " the owner " or " author of a nuisance " are conjoined with the " occupier," as mentioned above, the occupier is apparently the person who is in fact and law held responsible for overcrowding. {Hume v. Local Authority of Kelso, March 17th, 1876, 3 Couper 239.) It will, however, be noted from section 76 of the 1897 Act that the result of .two convictions for overcrowding within a period of three months may be the closing of the house — a proceeding which will affect not the occupier only but the owner also. Provision for Whitewashing, Cleansing, or Purifying Filthy or UnwlwUsome House, Bedding or Clothing. 589. We refer to Paragraphs 585 and 586 under " Landlord's Obligations," which may be held as repeated here hrevitatis causa. 590. Burghs. — Section 119 of the Burgh PoHce (Scotland) Act, 1892, provides that where a person occupying a dwelling house which is in a dirty, unwholesome, or imhealthy condition, having received a notice from the Sanitary Inspector requiring him to cleanse said hoiLse, fails to comply with this notice, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 408., and to a further penalty not exceeding 20s. for every day during which such offence shall continue after conviction. This section (119), unlike section 118, refers to the occupier only. (This section may be adopted in Scavenging Districts by landward Local Authorities.) 6 82 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Sweeping and Washing of Common Stairs, Landings, and Passages. 59L The occupiers of every house, flat, or storey having entrance by a common stair are responsible for sweeping and washing or otherwise keeping clean common stairs and landings, and passages to any area, back green, etc., and all areas and common passages leading to cellars, all to the satisfaction of the Sanitary Inspector. This obligation will be found in section 115 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, which also has elaborate provision for determining the order in which the occupiers of the tene- ment houses using such common stairs, passages, etc., shall fulfil their obligation. (This section may be adopted in Scavenging Districts by landward Local Authorities.) Cleaning and Care of Water-Chsets, etc. 592. Burghs. — The same sort of obligation is imposed by said section 115 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, on occupiers of houses using any water-closet or other closet in comtnon. (This section, as already explained, may be adopted in Scavenging Districts by landward Local Authorities.) 593. We also refer in this connection to sections 30 and 31 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897. Under section 30, if a person by wilfully destroying or damaging any water-closet or any water- supply, etc., connected therewith causes such water-closet to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health, he is liable to a penalty not exceeding £5. Section 31, above referred to, deals with any water- closet, earth-closet, etc., used in common by occupiers of two or more dwelling-houses or by other persons. Any person who injures or improperly fouls such convenience is liable in a penalty not ex- ceeding 10s. for each offence. Further, if any such convenience or fittings thereof are, in the opinion of the Local Authority or its proper officers, in such a state as to be a nuisance or annoyance to any person using or entitled to use the same for want of proper cleansing, then such of the persons having the use thereof as may be in default, or in the absence of proof as to which of the persons having the use thereof in common is in default, each of those persons is liable in a penalty not exceeding 10s., and to a penalty not exceeding 5s. for every day during which the offence continues after conviction. In passing, it should be observed that it is, and probably will be, difficult to get any judge, in the absence of proof of actual default, to convict all the persons having the right of use of the offence referred to in the section. There is an element of unfairness about convictions en bloc, the innocent suffering with the guilty. Reference is also made on this point to Paragraph 935, Chapter XIV., on Miners' Housing in Scotland. Cleaning of Courts, Yards, Areas, and Roofs of Outbuildings. 594. Burghs. — Occupiers are also responsible for keeping clean all private courts, yards, areas, and roofs of outbuildings in the same which are not cleaned by public scavengers. They have to do this at their own expense to the satisfaction of the Inspector of Cleansing or Sanitary Inspector, and failing their doing so, the occupiers are liable in a penalty not exceeding 10s. for each offence. This obliga- tion on occupiers is foimd in section 120 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, and that section, it may be added, confers power on the Local Authorities, if they think fit, to do all the necessary cleansing of such private courts, yards, areas, etc. (This section may be adopted in Scavenging Districts by land- ward Local Authorities.) Certain Type of Underground Dwelling not to be used as Sleeping Place. 595. The occupier is under obligation not to use a certain kind of room- — to be referred to immedi- ately- — as a sleeping place. The kind of rooni referred to is in whole or in part an imderground dwelling, such as we have described in Chapter VII., and which is also foimd described in the Summary of the Statutory Provisions relative to such underground dwellings given in Chapter V. (Paragraphs 220 to 222). The obligation on the occupier not to use such room as a sleeping place is found in section 17 (7) of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909. Obligation to vacate House ordered to be Closed. 596. The occupier is under an obligation to vacate a house in respect of which a Closing Order has been made, on the grovmd that the house is in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be imfit for human habitation. (Section 17 (4) of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909.) 597. The occupier, however, on vacating such a house, unless such house had been made unfit for habitation by his wilful act or default, or by the wilful act or default of any person for whona he is re- sponsible, may at the discretion of the LocaJ Authority receive from them such reasonable allowance on account of expense in removal as they may determine, such allowance being paid to the occupier by the Local Authority, who are entitled to recover same from the owner. 598. It is also provided by section 15 (9) of said Act, that any remedy given for non-compliance with the implied statutory imdertaking on the part of the landlord that a house (of a rental not exceeding £16) shall be maintained in a reasonably fit condition, is in addition to and not in derogation of any other remedy available to the tenant against the owner in respect of such undertaking either at common law or otherwise. 599. In OTir view, where a house has had to be closed on account of iminhabitabifity for which the occupier is not responsible, the Local Authority should not only be entitled but should be bound to make to such occupier a reasonable allowance on account of expense in removal, such allowance to be recover- able by the Local Authority from the owner of the house. Subject of Occupancy, viz. the House. 600. The words of sections 14 and 15 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, carry con- viction. It is said that a house (of the rental stated) must be, and be maintained (during the tenancy), in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation. Section 17 of the same Act provides that houses that REPORT. 83 are in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation may be the subject of a Closing Order by the Local Authority, and the Public Health Act, 1897, and previously the Public Health Act, 1867, contaia similar provisions, whereby on the application of the Local Authority the Court can prohibit the use of a house which is proved to be imfit for human habitation. 601. The ordinary reader unacquainted with the intricacies of the law and, for the purposes of this argument let us assume, ignorant of the facts about housing, would, after a study of these provisions, probably think, as Parliament has enacted such seemingly definite provisions, that the working people of the coimtry must be well and comfortably housed, that houses have been provided with at least sufficient rooms for the separation of the sexes, rooms into which the sunshine and the air can enter freely at all seasons of the year ; that there are convenient offices for the occupants observing cleanliness of their persons and belongings ; that the children have facihties for being trained from their infancy in habits of cleanliuess ; that there are no dirty and destructive tenants because they must have been trained to be cleanly and orderly ; that there are sanitary conveniences which can be used without outraging feelings of decency; that the housewife has a scullery La which she can carry out the household washing; or at . least that the house is provided with a sink with hot and cold water laid on for ordinary domestic purposes. 602. Suppose, then, this ordinary and innocent reader is taken round the houses of the working classes, taken to the slums in our cities, to the old properties described in Chapter VII., to some of the miners' rows and the privy-middens described in Chapter XIV., and to some of the old damp, dilapidated rural houses, and he is then asked for his impressions on the fitness of these buildings for occupancy, would not his reply- — very moderately stated — be that none of these houses are in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation — a goodly number are not in any respect so fit, and what- ever other habitation great numbers are reasonably fit for, they are certainly unfit — and that unreason- ably so — to house human beings ? He would feel that we are doing our best to train a race of human beings in habits of dirtiness and disorderliness, that our housing laws seem to be little better than scraps of paper, that the efiiciency of our working men and women is being impaired, and the health of the children is not being fostered and promoted — as it should be — as a precious asset to the nation. What, then, are the explanations for the inconsistency between the law, or what seems to be the law, and the facts 1 Difficulties of Interpretation of the Statutory Provisions, and Diversity of Opinion as to what Standards Parliament has laid down. 603. Some of the Local Authorities responsible for the administration of the Acts of Parliament have attempted, according to their light, to have the provisions enforced. But there is a great diversity of opinion as to what the words " in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation " mean, or when a house is " dangerous or injurious to health." Expert witnesses of high standing take widely divergent views of what standard is intended in these provisions. In a case, the Cadzow Coal Company Ltd. v. Middle Ward District Cammittee of Lanark County Council (decided on 29th July 1912; County Council Cases, volume 19, page 130), the question tried was whether houses 200 in nxmiber, with a population of 1000, without sinks and inside water-supply — the water-supply then being five outside wells situated in some cases 80 yards from the houses (the outside channels being utilised for the disposal of slop water) — were reasonably fit for human habitation. The Sheriff held that they were. In the course of his judg- ment he stated — There can be no two opinions as to the great convenience of having an adequate water-supply within every house. It means great saving of labour, and I have no doubt Dr Wilson is right in saying that it ensures better health to the mothers, and a consequent improvement in the health of their families. But the convenience or the desirability of the appointments of a house do not help one much in estimating actual human habitability. I do not think that section 15 (of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909) was intended to enable a Local Authority to initiate and enforce a new standard of habitability every few years. .' . . But I cannot accede to the startling doctrine that the general terms of this section enables the Local Authorities to make what are practically " repairing byelaws " for old houses. If Local Authorities desire such powers, they must obtain them directly. 604. In another case, Middle Ward La^mrk District Committee v. Forrest (known as the Benhar case — decided in 1912 ; County Council Cases, volume 19, page 140), the Committee instituted proceedings under section 16 (1) of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, in respect of 155 houses (with a popula- tion of between 700 and 800) in the parish of Shotts, requiring the owner to provide proper sanitary and domestic conveniences, including the provision of a sink and water-supply for each house. The gravita- tion water was laid past the houses, and the properties were supplied by stand-pipes. The owner strongly resisted the Local Authority's demands, and the Sherifi, after hearing proof, issued an interim Interlocutor, stating generally his views on the scope of the powers of the Local Authority as regards the provision of conveniences for housing of the class in question. It will be observed from the report of the case that the Sheriff indicated that the provisions of the Public Health Act do not empower the Local Authority to require the provision of sinks and a water-supply for each house, and it is only on this head that the case is here referred to. (Whyte, 36,833 (29).) 605. It is clear from the last case that in landward areas a house is held not to be in a state of nuisance or dangerous or injurious to health although it has not a sink or inside water-supply. 606. In another case by the Local Authority of the burgh of Port-Glasgow, brought in 1908 against certain owners of houses within their area before the Sheriff-Substitute of Greenock, aslcing for an Order under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, for the removal of a nuisance which they alleged to exist on three grounds — (1) deficient air space in rear of the tenement, (2) insufficient water-closet accommo- dation, and (3) boxed-in beds in certain of the dwelling-houses — the Local Authority averred that these defects were injurious or dangerous to health. The Sheriff refused the Order asked by the Local Authority, holding that the Local Authority had not discharged the onus which lay upon them of proving 84 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. a reasonable probability of injury or danger to health because of deficient air space ; that they had not shewn that the insufficient water-closet accommodation or that the construction of the existing water- closet accommodation was injurious or dangerous to health ; and lastly, that they had also failed to prove their case in regard to the boxed-in beds. (Halliday, 33,500 (5).) We think it instructive to quote the Sheriff's reasoning in dealing with the question of boxed-in beds as follows : — The question of the boxed-in beds has caused me some difficulty on the actual words of section 16 (1), because there does seem to be consensus of opinion among medical men that such beds are not healthy. But then, I again think the section must be reasonably construed, and, looking to the terms of section 65 of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, I caimot think that the Legislature intended in 1897 that all existing boxed-in beds should be compulsorily removed. I am not myself aware that any such drastic procedure has been carried out by order of any Sheriff in Scotland, and although my information may be incomplete, it is corroborated by Mr Devine, the Sanitary Inspector of the burgh of Greenock. 607. Decisions of the kind quoted stereotype the present low standards; they discourage Local Authorities from trying to improve the housing in their district, and encourage owners to resist the de- mands of Pubhc Health Departments when such demands are made. Mr Whyte, the Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire, stated that since the decision in the Cadzow case there has been a growing reluctance on some hands to meet the demands of the Public Health Departments. (36,834 (70).) 608. In the Cadzow and Port-Glasgow cases more especially, the Sheriffs seem to enunciate the doctrine that Local Authorities are not entitled to enforce an advancing standard of habitability as time goes on. If this is correct law, it seems that the standard of habitability which exists in districts or through- out Scotland when an Act of Parliament is passed must remain that standard until another Act of Parliament is passed specifically altering the standard. In our view this was obviously not the intention of Parliament. The Legislature in usmg the words in the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, that houses must not be kept in a condition " injurious or dangerous to health," and in the Housing and Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, that houses must be " reasonably fit for occupation," cannot have intended that the standards to be applied to these enactments should be the standards ruling at the time the Acts were passed. 609. In regard to sanitary conveniences, Dr Wilson, Medical Officer for Lanarkshire, stated that wherever there was a water-carriage system the Committee insisted on water-closet conveniences, but the remedy that was accepted by the Sheriffs was simply a water-closet with water carriage instead of a dry system. Those common conveniences turned out in a very short time to be equally objectionable as the common privy-midden. The District Committee found that they might as well put up with the common privy-midden until they could insist on the provision of conveniences placed adjacent to or within the dwelling, and if possible each house having its own structure. He also stated it was no use fighting for a common water-closet placed at a distance from the dwellings. (36,887-8.) Accordingly, in regard to sanitary conveniences the law, as interpreted by the Courts, lags behind the desires of the public authorities. Sir John Lindsay, the Town Clerk of Glasgow, gives evidence of a similar kind. He stated : " I think the Sheriff accepts a great deal less than what is the spirit of the law as shown in its various provisions." (23,265.) He cited the case of a property in Brown Street, Anderston, Glasgow, which we saw ourselves. It was certainly, he said, in a shocking condition, and he brought the case before the Courts, but the Sheriff allowed the property to remain, and nobody was more surprised than the law agent for the owner who had given up all hope. (23,263.) Again, he said : " It comes back to ' this, that you will not get the Sheriffs to gi-ant demolition orders if they can avoid it." (23,283.) 610. So far as the occupant is concerned, i^ would appear therefore that the law— as interpreted by the Comts- — is that liis house is reasonably fit for human habitation without sink or water-closet inside or even adjacent to the house. It goes without saying accordingly that the house must also be held to be reasonably fit without a scullery or a bath or water inside the house either for drinking or washing. 611. The Acts of Parliament refen-ed to are advisedly general in their terms, and it is often better so. The disadvantage of this practice is that it leaves room for divergence of opinion as to what consti- tutes a house reasonably fit to live in, and as to when a house is in a state dangerous or injurious to health. But admitting this, we are still laced with the fact that there is a distinct intention on the part of the Legislature that a difference should be made between a house which is and a house which is not healthy and suitable for occupation. In Chapter VII. many defects of structure have been pointed out which should without question constitute a house as uninhabitable. These defects, as will be seen, include dampness, bad or imperfect lighting and ventilation, want of sunlight, underground rooms, etc. 612. In cases where the question is not one of structure but of the provision of sanitary accommoda- tion, the standard accepted by some Local Authorities, and adopted by some Sheriffs, is so low, that it is quite out of date, and would indeed seem to be clearly and distinctly in contravention of the letter as well as the spirit of the Act. 613. It IS clear then that the Acts of Parhament referred to in regard to houses have — taking a commonsense reading of their provisions — failed in their purpose. To some extent — ^but after all only to a small extent- — the blame may be laid on difficulties of interpretation, or divergence of opinion, as to the standard intended to be laid down by Parliament. When, however, all that can be said on these heads is said, we must search deeper for the causes of failure. In our opinion, the Acts of Parliament constitute a counsel of perfection, but in giving that counsel Parliament omitted to provide the means for acting up to it or even coming anywhere near it. The real fact is, that there are many thousands of houses that are not fit for occupation and that should be demolished. But Parliament has omitted to note that there are no sources or forces to provide a supply of decent healthy houses to take the places of the houses which should be ruthlessly demolished. Many Local Authorities have been deterred from enforcing their powers to close houses because of the fact that if the houses were closed no others are available for housing the people so dispossessed. (See, e.g., Jack 4616, 43,263 ; Pottinger, 11,825 ; Bremner, 14,712 (4), 14,731 ; Huskie, 32,618 ; W. S. Cook, 33,203 (4) ; Frew, 2802 (2) ; Maxwell Ross, 13,750 f. ; M'Neill, 28,208 f. ; Dunbar, 43,603.) On the other hand, many Local Authorities have REPORT. 85 apparently been content with a very low standard of habitability. In cases where Local Authorities have displayed energy and have endeavoured to seciure a raising of the present standard, the Sheriffs appear to accept a low standard of habitability because that is the standard that has hitherto prevailed, and they incline to look with disfavour on the views of Local Authorities and their officials as being in advance of the times. AVhat is a fit house for occupancy is accordingly determined largely by com- parison with the general type of houses existing. 614. Two questions therefore come out of this discussion on occupancy : — L Should certain minimum conditions that every house must fulfil bo laid down by Act of Parliament ? 2. If so, how and by whom are such houses to be provided ? 615. Both these questions must be answered in any proposals for solution of our housing difficulties, and as they really form part of the wide question of housing reform, we will deal with them in our chapters on a Housing Policy. 61 6. It is sufficient to say here that the statutory rights of occupancy, as explained in this chapter, have not been met, and, in our view, without a drastic change in our housing methods there is not the" smallest chance of their being met in the near or distant future. 617. But the subject of occupancy comprehends the use made of the house by the occupiers. As we have shewn, occupiers render themselves liable to certain proceedings at the instance of the Local Authority : — (1) If they overcrowd their houses ; (2) If they use or abuse their houses or appurtenances in such a way as to render them dangerous or injurious to health ; and they are also bound, inter alia : — (3) To perform certain cleaning operations, such as washing or keeping clean common stairs, passages, courts, roofs of outhouses, etc. Overcrowding of Houses. 618. On this subject we give in another chapter statistics and also instances which make it clear that overcrowding is prevalent amongst large sections of the population, more especially in the houses of one and two rooms, which, unfortunately, form such a large proportion of the total houses in Scot- land. There is applicable to ticketed houses a definite standard of cubic space whereby overcrowding may to some extent be controlled. But the terms of that standard are complied with if the number of persons in the house is within the number allowed calculated on the basis of the standard. It is apparently possible for the persons all to sleep in one room in the house and so overcrowd the room without penalty, so long as the number in the house is not beyond the number calculated as above. (Cf. M'Ewen, 13,995 (10).) A similar standard may be applied by means of byelaws to houses let in lodgings, including farmed-out houses, and to common lodging-houses. But apart from these three classes of houses there is no legal standard for the control of overcrowding, and accordingly the Local Authorities, where they think that there are too many occupants in a house, have to prove, under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 16, that the house is so overcrowded as to be injurious or dangerous to the health of the inmates. This, of course, is not an easy matter. It is the same difficulty which presents itself in regard to the same expression applied to keeping a house in a dirty condition or allowing the structure of a house to become dilapidated. The expression we refer to is " injurious or dangerous to health." The administrative bodies are retarded in their efforts to improve the health and housing conditions in two ways : (1) they find it difficult to prove their case wl;ien they bring it before the Sheriff, and (2) this difficulty reacts on their official activities in administratively dealing with or attempting to deal with overcrowded conditions. The matter does not require any further discussion here, because, obviously, the provision of houses with adequate accommodation would affect this question of overcrowding in so far as the responsible authorities are concerned — -that is, if there were a sufficiency of houses, and if, in- stead of having to rely upon such general expressions as " overcrowding which is injurious or dangerous * to health," there were set forth in the statutes certain more specific indications of what overcrowding would be held to consist of, the difficulties of the administrators in controlling overcrowding would largely disappear. 619. The legal standard laid down for (a) ticketed houses, (b) houses let in lodgings and farmed-out houses, and (c) common lodging-houses mentioned above, is what is called the cubic space standard. There is, however, a manner of overcrowding which would certainly appear to be inimical to the health of the occupants which does not depend so much on cubic space as floor space. There are many houses which are not overcrowded according to cubic space which would appear to the ordinary individual to be overcrowded with human beings. This leads us to consider two minor questions as follows : (1) bed-recesses in kitchens, and the practice of the Scots occupiers of having beds in the kitchen ; (2) the non-use by certain sections of the people of more than one room or two rooms in a house where a second or third room may be available. 620. Before stating very generally what the evidence is on these two heads, we desire to point out that of course the habits and tastes of the working classes in Scotland have been moulded from genera- tion to generation by their physical environment — in other words, so far as the house is concerned, by the class of house in which they have lived. The class of house, on the other hand, depends largely upon the amount which the occupier is able or willing to pay in rent. It is probably true that the bed-re- cesses in the kitchen, which were provided in the old Scots houses, were so provided because they enabled a house to be built within the means of the working people, especially those of the poorly paid class. It is the case that in some of the modern houses, tenements and others, there is still provided one bed- recess in the kitchen. These modem working-class tenements, however, very largely contain houses of two apartments only, or two apartments and a very small closet, hence the provision of a bed in the kitchen. 86 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 621. The practice of sleeping in the kitchen and of having a bed-recess in it for that purpose is uni- versal throughout Scotland. It is very common in the mining areas as well as in the tenements of the towns. It is alleged that unless these bed-recesses are provided the houses cannot be let. (Wilson, 4133 if.) The reasons for the continuance of this practice are not very specific. Dr M'Vail of the Scottish Insurance Commission, and formerly Medical Officer of Health for Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire, thought that the climate of Scotland had something to do with it. (M'Vail, 5328.) This view was supported by the evidence of Mr Davison, Sanitary Inspector for the Dunfermline District of the Coimty of Fife. He stated that the kitchen was the warm room in the house, and that the people liked to live in it. (Davison. 4782. See also Sullivan, 26,968 ; Brown, 18,319 ; M'Vail, 5279 ; Middleton, 30,147, etc.) 622. Dealing with the non-use of the full accommodation provided, we find in the evidence a certain amount of support for the suggestion that amongst a certain number of the working people there is not evinced, actively at all events, a desire for a better house with more accommodation. There is also evidence that in some cases even where there is a second room the whole family, which may be four persons or even more, may be found sleeping in the kitchen, and the second room is rarely used. So far as the evidence goes, this applies more to the miners' rows — where the tradition of the single-room house is strong, and where its presence even now bulks largely — ^than to working-class tenements in the town. We should say, judging from the comparatively small amount of evidence suggesting that the working people do not make use of the limited accommodation with which they are provided, and judging also from our experience in visiting various working-class properties, that it is beyond doubt that the limited • — too limited^ — accommodation in the great mass of houses provided for working people is as a rule fully and adequately made use of. As we have said, the evidence in regard to the non-use, or only partial use, of the whole accommodation in a house comes largelv from the mining centres. (See Dr M'Vail, 5279 ; c/. Robertson, 6788 ; Brown, 18,319 ; Sullivan, 26,968 ; Barr, 27,534.) 623. For the rural districts we had evidence from Mr Smith, Factor to the Marquis of Ailsa (28,498 (5)) ; Mr Middleton, Factor on the Kilmarnock Estate (30,147) ; Mr Christie, Factor and Land Valuator, Aberdeen (28,855) ; Dr Sinclair, Medical Officer of Health, Forfarshire (34,700) ; and Mr Elder, Farmer, East Lothian (30,418). These witnesses gave evidence that in their experience where more than two apartments were provided for rural workers, in a considerable number of cases the third apartment was not used, or was used as a lumber or store room. On the other hand, the late Mr Rothney, Secretary of the Scottish Farm Servants' Union, pointed out that in the far North housing is very bad, the houses being very old ; in the other counties the housing is more mixed, the preponderance being of old houses which are now out of date ; that the typical house provided for farm servants is the old " but and ben," with occasionally a bed-closet squeezed in between ; that most of the houses were built at a time when all that was considered necessary was shelter, but from the number of houses which fail to provide even this, it is evident that it was not considered absolutely essential. He further stated that the majority of houses are draughty through defective building, a very large proportion are smoky, while the number of damp houses is so great as almost to justify one in saying they are the rule, that drainage is either defective or non-existent, rhones are seldom found except in newer houses, while sanitary conveniences are the exception. Where provided they are of the rudest character. (Rothney, 31,841 (7).) Mr Middleton pointed out that ploughmen nowadays shift every six months, and in many cases they cannot furnish three rooms. Mr Christie stated that there was no object in providing too much accommodation, as cottars and labourers as a rule do not possess much furniture, and that there is often a desire among them to sleep in the kitchen, even though it is the living room, as that room, having the fire in it, is the warmest. He added that the parlour is generally the most musty-smelling and dampest apartment in the house. 624. On a survey of the evidence as a w^iole, we are of opinion that it is only a small proportion of the working people of whom it can be said that they do not fully and properly use the accommodation provided. Moreover, where it can be said that the accommodation is not so used, it has to be kept in view that very often the houses are damp, as shewn in Chapter VII., and as brought out in Mr Rothney's evidence, referred to in preceding paragraph, and that, as a witness quoted above says, the parlour is a musty-smelling and damp apartment, that workers have not an unlimited amount of money to spend on coals, and that it is somewhat natural where houses are damp that the people should centre most of their living and sleeping in the kitchen, in which the fire is to dispel the coldness and dampness of that part of the house. Further, as none of the older houses, and not a large propor- tion of the newer working-class houses have any or adequate scullery, press, or store accommodation, it is perhaps not to be wondered at that the second or third room in a house becomes what is called a lumber room. The housewife must have somewhere to put all her belongings. As we point out, how- ever, in the chapter (XIV.) on Miners' Housing, evidence has been given to show that where new houses of three apartments are provided there is sometimes a difficulty in getting them let, and that even in two-apartment houses of a good tjrpe the second room may not be furnished or occupied. Our observa- tions above apply more particularly to the older houses, where dampness is prevalent owing to want of damp-proof courses, defective structure, etc. Standard of Cleanliness. 625. This matter does not, we think, require much discussion. We hold it proved in the evidence and from our visitations to working-class houses throughout Scotland that, taking all the circumstances into consideration, such as the size of the house, the condition of its structure, the nature of the surround- ings, the adequacy and proximity or otherwise of the water-supply, the arrangements for disposal of house refuse, the general absence of press or other storage accommodation, the average standard of cleanliness in these houses is good, that in some cases indeed it is surprising to find, where circum- stances seem difficult and everything- — or almost everything^ — against cleanliness, that the houses are models of cleanliness. Of course the personal element is an important factor in this matter. It materi- ally affects the standard of cleanliness and comfort, and that human element is affected in the most REPORT. 87 important degree by the environmeut. While even under slum conditions some occupiers display remarkable resistance to their surroundings and keep their houses in good condition, there are others whose powers of resistance are not so strong, and who fall to the level of their surroundings. There is a remainder — we are glad to think a small and diminishing remainder — whose habits are so uncleanly, and others whose habits are so destructive, that they require to be specially dealt with. 626. Our inquiries have been chiefly confined to the housing of the working classes ; but while it is the case that houses are not always properly kept, it must not be supposed that they are the only sinners in this respect. We have, for example, the evidence of such an experienced Medical Officer of Health as Professor Matthew Hay of Aberdeen, to the efiect that the cleanest house he ever saw was in a slum, and the dirtiest one in the West End. (41,334 (230).) But while contrasts of this kind may be found, we would point out that, as is seen from previous chapters, the conditions attendant on the high degree of cleanliness that is usually associated with the houses of the well-to-do are nearly always wholly or partially absent in the case of the houses of the working classes, and are almost invariably and wholly absent in the case of houses in the poorest districts. In this connection we quote the evidence of the Rev. David Watson, Minister of St. Clement's Established Church, Glasgow, who is familiar with the conditions existing amongst the working people in a poor and thickly populated city parish. He said : — I am well aware of course that beautiful Christian homes exist even in the slums, but the expenditure of effort and watchfulness is tremendous, and "the anxiety is endless. I am familiar with the " eternal heroism of the slums," but it is a heroism that should be uncalled for in a civilised, not to say professedly Christian, country. (Watson, 22,379 (8).) And in the same connection we give a passage from a lecture delivered in 1888 by the late James B. Russell, M.D., LL.D., Medical Officer of Health for the City of Glasgow, which passage is well worth careful study :■ — There is no way of forming a just opinion as to these habits of the inhabitants of our small houses but by calmly and conscientiously analysing what I might'call the physics of our own morality. If Buckle has successfully proved regarding mankind in the mass, inhabiting different regions of the earth, that there is an " influence exercised by the external world in predisposing ' men to certain habits of thought, and thus giving a particular tone to religion, arts, literature, and, in a word, to all the principal manifestations of the human mind," and I believe he has, then is it possible that the one- and two-roomed house piled up in tenements, and these tenements again ranked in streets and packed into back courts, can produce the same manner of men as the lai^e houses with all the luxurious space and opportunity of the softening ministration of nature without, and the tender wooing of light and warmth and comfortable domesticity within ? I confess for myself that the physical circumstances of the poor in Glasgow are so contrary in their nature to those which have surrounded me throughout my life, and I recognise such a close relationship between my physical circumstances and the general character of my life, that I can come only to one or other of two conclusions : Either the poor belong to a different species of the genus man, or the same relationship must exist between their different physical circumstances and the different general character of their lives. Dirty and Destructive Tenants. 627. It has already been pointed out that under the Public Health Act (which applies both in counties and in burghs) the responsibility for a dirty house rests conjointly on owner and occupier. If the walls and ceilings are dirty and require whitewashing, cleansing, or purifying, it is the business of the owner to have this done. If the bedding or clothing in the house is filthy, then the blame and the penalty fall upon the tenant. Under the similar sections of the Burgh Police Act, however (which apply only in burghs or in scavenging districts, as already indicated), the tenant of an occupied house seems to be wholly responsible if the house is kept in a dirty, unwholesome, or unhealthy condition. 628. There is a consensus of opinion that the law requires strengthening in its provisions for deal- ing with occupiers who persistently keep their houses in a dirty condition. And, further, that the Housing Laws must take cognisance- — which they have not done yet^ — of the tenant who deliberately destroys the structure or the internal fittings. We hold that the evidence is conclusive on these heads, and we do not think it necessary to cite portions of the evidence to support this conclusion. The demand for an amendment of the law on these heads has been put forward by numerous witnesses representing Local Authorities throughout Scotland {e.g. Macpherson, 37 ; Keith, 1249 (27) (43) ; Frew, 2808 (23) ; Devine, 4634 (26) ; Eraser, 14,872 (36) ; Devine, 33,207 (18), etc.) The position was put before us succinctly by Mr Whyte, Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire. He told us that it had been felt in practice by the Local Authorities of landward districts that there was great difficulty in proving under section 40 of the Public Health Act that the filthy condition of a house was such as to affect or endanger health, and that in great measure the section had been found to be a dead letter. Further, that the respective duties of owner and occupier imder the section were not clearly defined, and that it was suggested that Local Authorities of landward areas should (as in the case of Town Councils under the Burgh Police Act) be empowered to take action whenever the conditions are filthy or unwholesome without requiring to shew that the health of the inmates is actually endangered. (Whyte, 36,633 (40).) More drastic action should, he said, be authorised for dealing with persons who keep their houses in a filthy condition. (Ibid., 36,633 (124).) " If," he added, " we could have a person penalised for keeping a dirty house, it would be a much more effective method." (36,922.) We agree with the views of the witness above quoted, and with the evidence on the same lines tendered from many quarters. As we have shown (paragraph 155 of " Summary of Existing Statutory Provisions," Chapter V., and also in this chapter), the powers of a landward Local Authority for securing the cleansing of houses kept in a filthy condition are limited to cases where the condition is such as to affect or endanger the health of the occupants, or where the Local Authority are of opinion that the cleansing would prevent or check infectious disease. * 629. In burghs, proof of the conditions mentioned is not necessary. Action can be taken solely on the ground that the house is in a dirty or im wholesome condition. We think that Landward Authori- 88 ■ ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. ties should be placed on the same footing as Burgh Local Authorities, and that accordingly section 40 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, should be amended so that a Local Authority can proceed to secure the cleansing of the house without first having to prove that the health of the inmates is actually endangered. 630. As we have indicated, our attention was drawn by witnesses to the fact that no penalty is exigible for keeping a house in a dirty condition, the person concerned being liable in a penalty only if he fails to comply with a notice of the Local Authority requiring him to clean the house. We think it should be made a statutory offence, for which a penalty may be imposed, to keep a house in a dirty con- dition, and similarly that it should be a statutory offence, subject to penalty, wilfully to destroy the structure of a house or the internal fittings. It was pointed out to us that the experience of officials generally is that under the existing procedure no permanent improvement of houses occupied by per- sistently dirty tenants can be effected. The result of the notice served by the Local Authority is that a cleaning up of a kind takes place, but the former state of matters soon reappears. 63L Of course there is the difficulty in creating penal offences that thereby there is often created a class of criminal or quasi-criminal, and it is our earnest desire to avoid making any recommendation which would tend in that direction. We keep prominently in view that the dirty or destructive tenant may be, and often is, the creation of the social system in which he lives. Many house occupiers brought up from their infancy in an environment of congestion, discomfort, impleasantness, and extreme hard- ship, not uimaturally assimilate in their habits the conditions by which they are surrounded. This subject is really one aspect of the large and difficult question of individual responsibility, and whether, and how far, human beings are the creatures of circumstances and of environment. Without going into this subject, we think it should be kept in view that while it is necessary to adopt some sort of repressive measures in dealing with the careless, dirty class of house occupier, such measures alone would fail to effect their purpose. Repression by itself would be no cure, and we hope that if the recom- mendations which we are to.make on a national hoxising policy are adopted, this presently proportion- ately small class of tenant woiild gradually tend to disappear ; that the standard of health, cleanliness, and decenc}' of the whole population would tend to rise, and with that rise in standard would come the solution of what is now a difficulty, viz. How to deal with the tenant whose house is kept in a dirty, unhealthy condition without still further degrading or tending to degrade the man or woman who is in default by putting him or her into the hands of the police. With these explanations, and holding these views, we recommend that the present statutory provisions should be amended to the following effect : — 632. (!) The Local Authority should be entitled, where they find that a house is kept in a dirty, imwholesome, or unhealth}'^ condition, or where the structure or internal fittings have been wilfully de- stroyed, to give a warning in writing to the tenant. (2) Where that warning does not have the effect of making the tenant more careful in future, the Local Authority should be entitled to serve the tenant with a complaint to appear before a magistrate charged with the offence of keeping a dirty house or having destroyed the structure or internal fittings. At the diet before the magistrate the Local Authority would require to prove,- — (a) That the warning mentioned above had been given, and (b) That nothwithstanding that warning the offence was being continued or had been renewed. At this diet the magistrate would be entitled to give an admonition, or in his option to impose a fine. (3) On a second conviction, the magistrate would be entitled to impose a heavier fine. (4) On any subsequent convictions he would be entitled to increase the fme each time. 633. We think that before instituting proceedings of any kind the Local Authority should be bound to consider carefully whether or not there were any mitigating circumstances that would justify non- prosecution. We can imagine cases where it would not be reasonable, or at all events expedient, to prosecute. The size and arrangement of the house might not be conducive to cleanliness ; there might be no scullery or any similar convenience, and all the domestic work of the house might have to be carried on in the living and sleeping room ; the house, though of sufficient size judged by the standards of cubic space, might be so limited as to floor area that, from the domestic point of view, having regard to the number and occupation of the inmates, order and cleanliness could not be obtained, or could only be obtained with great difficulty ; or the outside surroundings of the house (e.g. muddy roads, unpaved footpaths and courts, etc.) might be such that it would be next to impossible to prevent the soiling of the house by the dirt and mud brought in by the occupants ; or, again, illness or poor health on the part of the housewife, or insufficient help for the duties she had to perform, might tend to neglect of the house. These and other points — in view of the suggestion that the mere fact of keeping a dirty house should be a police offence — would require to be carefully considered before any prosecution was insti- tuted by a Local Authority. 634. Further, we desire to state that our attention was drawn by one of the General Superintendents * of Poor of the Local Government Board to the difficulty experienced by Poor Law Authorities in deal- ing with those paupers who do not keep either themselves or their houses clean, and who will not allow others to do these things for them. The Inspector of Poor may, of course, threaten to withdraw outdoor relief from such persons. This threat, however, cannot apparently be made effective, because, as is most likely, the person to be dealt with will decline to go to the poorhouse, and in these circumstances the Inspector is bound to see that the pauper does nof suffer from want. (Cleveland Ellis, 3909 (8).) In such cases, the provisions of the Public Health Act. even amended as we suggest above, would not be sufficient. It is clear that such persons would be unable to pay any fine that might be imposed. Accordingly, some other procedure is required for these special cases. The matter is discussed in the Poor Law Commission Report for Scotland, 1909 (Cd. 4922), pages 121 and 230, where it is suggested that Parish Councils should have power if necessary to enforce the compulsory removal to an institution of such cases as are described- — subject to suitable safeguards against abiise. We agree with the re- commendation of the Poor Law Commissioners. 635. Generally, we point out that it is natural that, in evidence submitted by the officials of Local Authorities responsible for dealing with houses kept in a bad condition, prominence should be given to the class of tenant we have been describing, and accordingly we desire to emphasise uur belief that, while REPORT. 89 it is evident that in most comnnmities there are some occupiers of houses of the kind mentioned, the great mass of the working people, inchiding the poorer paid workei-s, keep their houses clean and orderly, and that often under most adverse conditions and in a most depressing environment. Sweeping and Washing of Common Stairs, Landings, Passages, Water-closets, etc. 636. Naturally the keeping clean of staii-s and conveniences used in common gives rise to consider- able difficulty, particularly in the congested parts of the cities. 637. Several witnesses suggested to us that the law in regard to the keeping clean of staii-s and conveniences used in common required amendment. Dr Chalmers, Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow, proposed to shift the burden of stair cleaning from the tenant to the landlord, not because it had been necessarily proved, in his view, that this was the landlord's duty, but, frankly, because, according to his opinion, the administration had broken down. (20,269.) Mr Mann, Secretary of the Glasgow Workmen's Dwellings Company, seemed prepared to put a gi-eater responsibility on the landlord, not that he proposed that the tenant should be relieved of the work of cleaning the stairs, but that it would be the landlord's duty to insist that the tenants do the work efficiently and regularly. Through the landlord, he said, the control over the tenant must be strengthened. (Mann, 21,207 (86).) We cannot accept these views. We think that it would be unfair to ask the landlord to become the supervisor, and, to be effective, the instrument of coercion, where coercion was required, upon the tenants. Nor would the tenants, we think, submit to this treatment. 638. Mr Eunson, of the Edinburgh Trades' Council, suggested that the duty of cleaning common stairs and passages should be taken over by the Local Authorities. 639. On the whole, we do not see reason to recommend any alteration of the law on this head except as after-mentioned (Paragi-aph 640) for landward areas not in Scavenging Districts. In support of this view we refer to the evidence of Sir John Lindsay, the Town Clerk of Glasgow. (23,362-23,368.) The Burgh Police Act, 1892, Section 115, enacts that the cleaning of the common stairs, etc., has to be performed to the satisfaction of the Sanitary Inspector, and the Local Authority have power to frame byelaws under that Act for the proper cleaning, etc., of the stairs. Sir John Lindsay stated that regula- tions for the cleaning of stairs and closes have been in operation in Glasgow for a dozen years, and that they had worked well. There was no difficulty, he said, in handling complaints, and he did not think there were so many as a dozen prosecutions in the year for contravention of the regulations. The advantage of working imder the section of the Burgh Police Act referred to, or under such byelaws or regulations as against the roimdabout procedure of the Public Health Acts, is that proceedings in Court can at once be taken against the offender for the statutory penalty without having to go through the preliminaries of serving intimation or notice. We understand several Town Councils have framed byelaws under the powers of the Burgh Police Act for the cleaning of common stairs. Others presumably find that the powers of the Act are sufficient to secure the necessary cleaning without having resort to byelaws. 640. As we have already indicated (Paragraph 591), the provisions of the Burgh Police Act refeiTed to in regard to the cleaning of common stairs, passages, etc., may be made available in Special Scavenging Districts in landward areas. But oiitwith such special districts the landward Local Authority can take no action except when a nuisance arises through the want of cleaning, and they have to depend on what Sir John Lindsay terms " the roundabout procedure of the Public Health Act." This should not be so, and accordingly we recommend that the provisions of the Burgh Police Act referred to should be made operative in all parts of landward areas. 64L As regards water-closets used in common, we consider that the provisions of the Burgh Police Act in regard to cleaning such closets^ — -which, as has been shown, are similar to the provisions for the cleaning of common stairs — should also be made available to landward Local Authorities, and be opera- tive in any part of their district. As has been explained (Paragraph 593), the existing provisions in the Public Health Act (section 31) for securing the proper keeping of common water-closets are not satis- factory, and accordingly the further powers above suggested are necessary. But we think it right to add that the real solution of the difficulties associated with these common conveniences is the provision of one convenience for the exclusive use of each family. Unfortunately this cannot be achieved as regards many existing houses, but wherever possible in such houses, and certainly in all new or reconstructed houses, there should be one such convenience per house. 642. The subject of occupancy includes occupancy of a one-roomed house. This is a subject on which there is a good deal of evidence, and it has perhaps been more discussed and written about than any other aspect of the many-sided subject of housing the working people of the nation. We propose, therefore, to devote a separate chapter- — the next- — to it. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter X. (1) That section 17 (5) of the Housing, Town Planning etc.. Act, 1909, be amended to the effect of making it obligatory on the Local Authority to make to every tenant who has to remove from a dwelling- house on account of a Closing Order having become operative (unless the dwelling-house has been made unfit for habitation by the wilful act or default of the tenant) such reasonable allowances on account of his expense in removing as may be determined by the Local Authority. (Paragi-aph 599.) (2) That section 40 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, be amended so that any Local Authority may be enabled to secure the cleansing of a house without first having to prove that the health of the inmates is endangered. (Paragraph 629.) (3) That (1) to keep a house in a dirty condition, and (2) wilfully to destroy the structure or fittings of a house, should be made statutorv offences, for which a penalty may be imposed after fair warning. (Paragraphs 630 to 632.) (4) That subject to suitable safeguards against abuse Parish Councils should have powers of com- pulsory removal of paupers to poorhouses. (Paragraph 634.) 90 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (5) That the provisions of the Burgh Police Act in regard to the cleaning of common stairs, passages, etc., should be made operative in all parts of landward areas. (Paragraph 640.) (6) That the provisions of the Burgh Police Act as regards the cleaning of common water-closets should be made operative in all parts of landward areas. (Paragraph 641.) (7) That wherever possible in existing houses, and in all new or reconstructed houses, there should be one water-closet for the exclusive use of the occupants of each house. (Paragraph 641.) CHAPTER XI. THE ONE-ROOM HOUSE. 643. Life in One Room. — Before we can put a proper value on the evidence for and against the one- room house, we must have a definite picture of what life in one room means in actual conditions. Such a picture James Burn Russell, M.D., LL.D., offers us in his lecture, delivered on 27th February 1888, on " Life in One Room." (Public Health Administration in Glasgow, Memorial Volume of the Writings of James Bum Russell, B.A., M.D., LL.D., edited by A. K. Chalmers, M.D., p. 189 : Maclehose & Sons, Glasgow, 1905.*) In his later years Dr Russell was Medical Member of the Local Government Board, but for the previous twenty-six years he had been Medical Officer of Health of Glasgow. He, therefore, spoke of hfe in one room from such intimacy of observation as no other man of his day possessed. In essentials, though less in magnitude, the conditions that led him to his views of life in one room are the same to-day as when he spoke in 1888. We regret that we cannot reproduce the whole paper, for only from a careful perusal of it can a full realisation be obtained of Dr Russell's stem condemnation of the one-room house. Grounding his study in the census figures of 1881, he showed what the figures meant in the concrete life of the occupants of the one-room houses of Glasgow : — Of all the children who die in Glasgow before they complete their fifth year, 32 per cent, die in houses of one apartment, and not 2 per cent, in houses of five apartments and upwards. There they die, and their little bodies are laid on a table or on the dresser, so as to be somewhat out of the way of their brothers and sisters, who play and sleep and eat in their ghastly company. From beginning to rapid-ending, the lives of these children are short parts in a continuous tragedy. 644. These and others of the " worst fruits " of the one-room house he paints with precision, as shown in the following passages : — It is obvious that no manner of occupancy will make the one-room house a home in the proper sense of the word. Not that many an isolated man or woman or aged couple may not find in it a wholesome and suitable dwelling-place, and enjoy therein the privilege of independence. Even the young couple who have " married for love " while yet in the stages of " worldng for siller " may light their first fire on the hearth of the one-room house. These are the anomalies of hfe, and, under certain conditions, I take no exception to the one-room house in itself, because it undoubtedly meets them ; J \ but, I repeat, a home in the proper sense of the word, a place for the nurture of a family, it can i V)^ never be. ^ V^ / 645. Again he says : — \ ,(K But let us ask ourselves what life in one room can be, taken at its best. Return to those x*^ 126,000 1 men, women, and children whose house is one apartment, and consider whether, since the world began, man or angel ever had such a task set before tliem as this — the creation of the elements of a home, or the conduct of family Ufe within four bare walls. You mistresses of houses, with bedrooms and parlours, dining-rooms and drawing-rooms, kitchens and washing-houses, pantries w and sculleries, how could you put one room to the uses of all ? You mothers with your cooks and „ J/ housemaids, your nurses and general servants, how would you in your own persons act all those xO^ / parts in one room, where, too, you must eat and sleep and find your lying-in-room and make your sick-bed ? You fathers, with your billiard-rooms, your libraries and parlours, your dinner parties, your evening hours undisturbed by washing-days, your children brought to you when they can amuse you, and far removed when they become troublesome, how long would you continue to be that pattern husband which you are — in one room ? You children, with your nurseries and nurses, your toys and your picture-books, your space to play in without being trodden upon, your children's parties and your daily airings, your prattle which does not disturb your sick mamma, your special table spread with a special meal, your seclusion from contact with the dead and the still worse familiarity with the living, where would you find your innocence, and how would you preserve the dew and freshness of your infancy — in one room ? You grown-up sons, with all the resources of your fathers for indoor amusement, with your cricket fields and football club and skating pond, with your own bedroom, with space which makes self-restraint easy and decency natural, how could you wash and dress, and sleep and eat, and spend your leisure hours in a house of — one room ? You grown-up daughters, with your bedrooms and your bathrooms, your piano and your drawing-room, your httle brothers and sisters to toy with when you have a mind to and send out of the way when you cannot be troubled, your every want supplied without sharing in menial household work, your society regulated, and no rude rabble of lodgers to sully the purity of your surroundings, how could you live and preserve " the white flower of a blameless life " — in one room ? You sick ones, in your hushed seclusion, how would you deport yourself in the racket and thoughtless noise of your nursery, in the heat and smells oi your kitchen, in the steam and disturbance of your washing-house, for * See also "The Child of the One- Roomed House," by W. Leslie Mackenzie, M.D., published in the Journal of the Child-Study Society, 1913, vol. vi. Nos. 6, 7, and 8. t This figure was taken by Dr. Russell from the 1881 census. According to the census of 1911 there were still 104,641 peojfle living in one-rooraed houses in Glasgow. y y ■\ V- REPORT. 91 you would find .all these combined in a house of — one room ? Last of all when ymi die, you still have one room to yourself, where in decency you may be washed and dressed and laid out for burial. If that one room were your house, what a ghastly intrusion you would be. The bed on which you lie is wanted for the accommodation of the living. The table at which your children ought to sit must bear your coffin, and they must keep your imwelcome company. Day and night you lie there until with diSiculty those who carry you out thread their tortuous way along the dark lobby and down the narrow stair through a crowd of women and children. You are driven along the busy and imsympathetic streets, lumbering beneath the vehicle which conveys your scanty company to the distant and cheerless cemetery, where the acrid and deadly air of the city in which you Hved will still blow over you and prevent even a blade of grass from growing upon your grave. 646. Dr Russell's broad sketch has been filled in by Mrs Mary Laird, who appeared before us from the Women^s Labour League, Glasgow, a body representative of the better-paid working classes of Glasgow." In the evidence submitted, Mrs Laird emphasised with circumstance and intimate detail the objections to the single apartment house " as a home for a married couple." She spoke from the housewife's point of view. She was the only witness that gave evidence from this standpoint, and she spoke from actual experience of life in a one-room house. Her evidence, therefore, has a special value. She pictures some " of the difiiculties of the daily round in a single apartment home. From the first ' false start in the morning, when the household is astir at 5.30 a.m. with husband and wife excitedly ' hunting for a muffler, waistcoat, cap, or sock, as the case may be, there is nothing but friction and ' irritation all day. What with the make-down bed in the middle of the floor and the clothing of ' the family lying about, the scene of confusion is almost indescribable." (23,066 (8).) When the family includes boys and girls, " the mother, in deference to feeUngs of womanly delicacy, and, in the ' interests of her family's moraUty, tries to make up a separate bed for the boys, and this bed has to be ' made down on chairs, etc., every night and packed up and tucked away with no chance of airing every ' morning. All this makeshift entails a very great deal of extra labour on an already overdriven ' class." (23,066 (14).) The labour expended in keeping a one-room house in order is out of all proportion to its size. " It is a constant succession of lifting, folding, and ha;nging up, and if this ' is relaxed for even a short time the confusion is overwhelming." (23,066 (9).) But the insuffi- ciency of the one-room house becomes most manifest when a birth or death takes place. At a birth, the other inmates have to be accommodated elsewhere ; the mother necessarily suffers from the noise and stress of the crowded room ; for days and nights she may have the only available bed ; she has to see that the rest of the family is somehow provided for. She may fail " to get the full use of maternity ' benefit because in this one room they cannot give accommodation to the nurse, who, otherwise, would have given all her time and attention to both mother and child during the lying-in period." (23,066 (6).) If decency at the beginning of life is thus made difficult, decency at the end of it is made impo.ssible. The beloved dead is laid on the bed, and all the usual round of domestic duties, including the taking of meals, has to be done with ever that still, pale form before their view. Night comes on and the household must go to rest, so the sad burden is now transferred from the bed and laid on the table, or it may be the coal-bunker lid. In the morning, to admit of the table being used for breakfast, or to let coals be got for the fire, the body has to be lifted on to the bed again, and so on for the customary three days, the broken-hearted relatives feeling it to be a sacrilege thus to hustle about the mortal remains of a much loved one. (23,066 (7).) 647. Special Illustrations of General Inadequacy. — Of this general inadequacy of the one-room house for the purposes of daily life, it is easy to produce concrete illustrations. Dr Huskie, speaking from a long experience of medical practice in a small town and a rural area, gave his ^^ew that the one-room house is "hopeless altogether." "It should not be anything else but a storeroom." (32,623.) He declared himself against one-room dwelUng-houses. From the standpoint of decency, he has experienced in the course of his practice real inconvenience. You sometimes find it in the case of two rooms, and repeatedly in the case of one room when you have a case of confinement. It is very awkward. You have either to put the people out on to the street in the middle of the night, or you have to get a screen drawn and separate it from the rest of the room as well as you can. Well, it is not a very nice thing, and it is very bad morally. Sometimes there are lodgers in the same room. The worst case I had was a case of one room where there was a widow with a son and daughter and a lodger. The daughter was being confined. The two beds were head to foot ; in the one bed the lodger and son slept, and my assistant was attending the daughter in the next bed. This was all in a little bit of a room. Then, apart from confinement work, how can they dress ? One is dressing and another is dodging back and forward, and there is no chance of decency. It is a hopeless state of things. (32,625.) He would " absolutely condemn the one-room house unless for an old widow living by herself ; but where you have more than one person, I would put a stop to it, both from the point of decency and from the public health point of view." (32,626.) 648. The circumstances here detailed must be repeated, with variations, thousands of times a year in the one-room houses of Scotland. They serve to bring into striking relief the inconveniences, dis- comforts, and indecencies that are normally inevitable where overcrowding occurs. 649. Inadequacy for Housing of Sick Persons : Illustrated by Pulmonary Tuberculosis. — ^When sickness occurs, the stresses of life in one room cannot fail to be a serious aggravation. In tuberculosis, this is too gross to be questioned. On the relation of the one- and two-room houses to pulmonary phthisis and sanatorium treatment, strong opinions were given by Dr William L. Reid, Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council to the Consumption Sanatoria of Scotland, Bridge of Weir, and Dr Ebenezer Duncan, Honorary Consulting Physician to the Victoria Infirmary, and a Member of the same Advisory Board. These two physicians, who have both had prolonged experience of all phases of life in Glasgow, repre- sented notjmerely the Advisory Council named, but the general medical opinion of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. (21,524-21,699.) They agreed that one- and two-room houses. 92 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. particularly where the box-bed continues to be used, were wholly unsuitable. They agreed that it was not possible to carry out open-air treatment in one- and two-room houses with an average of three persons per house and sometimes more ; but — an open window in a house such as that is of very great importance as compared with a shut window. Then, again, in regard to sputum, I think perhaps this is the most important point of all. We t«ach them how to take care of the sputum. (21,549.) But they admitted that, where a mother and three or four children are in a one-room house with a box-bed, education in the care of sputum was not a safeguard " luiless so far as it can go." (21,-550.) But they agreed tliat single-room houses, particularly those with box-beds, were undoubtedly an important factor in the spread of tuberculosis. "There is not the slightest doubt about it." (21,554.) They agreed that the mere proximity of contacts with patients, patients with one another, and adults with adults, were all physical reasons justifying them in saying that those houses are an active cause of the spread of phthisis — " just as we said of typhus." (21,557.) They also agreed that, although the infection is slower and more treacherous and more subtle in every direction, the same would happen in time as would happen in typhus in a short time. (21,558.) It was the unanimous opinion of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons that these conditions were urgent reasons for removal in order to prevent the continued spread of phthisis. (21,560.) Dr Duncan, continuing his evidence, said: "At ' the present moment, under the Insurance Act a very large number of tubercular cases are treated at ' home, and we hold that the houses for the poor at present existing in Glasgow are totally unsuitable, ' taking any room-and-kitchen hovise in Glasgow. At any rate, a great majority are totally unsuitable ' for home treatment." (21,564.) If this be true of the two-room houses, all the more true is it of the one-room houses. 650. Special Ilhstrafion from Tvberculosis. — In reports prepared for the Local Government Board on the Administrative Control of Phthisis in Glasgow many detailed illustrations are to be found of the hopeless inadequacy of the one-room house for the domiciliary treatment of tuberculosis in any form. From Glasgow and other parts of Scotland illustrations could be t^ken by the score. The following cases are taken from Reports prepared by Dr Dittmar, Dr Elizabeth M'Vail, and Dr Dewar. These Reports include a detailed description of the actual housing conditions in about 250 cases of pulmonary tuber- culosis. The cases were taken in the order of notification, that is, in the order of pure chance. The condi- tions, though described in 1911; may still be regarded as fairly typical of conditions still prevalent in the one- and two-room hoiises of Glasgow. In one case, two parents and four children, aged from 11 years to 2 weeks old, occupied a single apartment. There were two beds, one occupied by the patient, a man of 37, the other by the wife and family. {Reports to the Local Governmmt Board for Scotland on the Administrative Control of Pulmonary Phthisis in Glasgow, p. 22.) 651. The series of 100 cases investigated by Dr Elizabeth M'Vail included the following : — (a) House of one front room on fourth flat, with patient and his wife, aged 55 ; patient sleeping in a set-in bed, wife in a chair-bed. {Ibid., p. 62.) (6) House of one front room on the second floor of a tenement building ; four occupants — the patient, his wife and two children, aged 5 months and 2| years ; the husband sleeping in a bed-chair, the rest of the family in a set-in bed. {Ibid., p. 69.) (c) Ticketed house of one small front room on top storey of tenement in a slum locality, entered from a back court ; cubic feet 1014 ; three occupants — the patient, aged 42 ; his wife, aged 38 ; and his daughter, aged 16. The husband and wife sleep in one bed, the daughter in a chair-bed. {Ibid., p. 71.) {d) House of one back room on ground floor of a tenement ; six occupants — patient, aged 42, wife and four children, aged from 4 months to 11| years; two eldest children sleeping on a chair-bed, the other four members of the family, including patient, sleeping in a set-in bed. {lUd., p. 74.) 652. The series of 1 00 cases investigated by Dr Dewar included the following : — (a) House of one dirty room in a very dark and dirty tenement in bad state of repair ; patient, aged 41 , ill for about a year, in advanced stage of illness, and confined to bed when \'isited ; died a few days afterwards. With her lived her son, schoolboy, 13 years, " apparently sharing her bed." {Ibid., p. 144.) (6) Female, aged 24, then in advanced illness with considerable spit ; lived in house of one room ; in bed with husband and infant until death of the latter. The house was airy, well lit, and clean, (7&j(if.,p. 147.) (c)Houseof one room, patient child of 1^ years ; mother died 3 weeks before visit ; remaining family, husband and four children, threp under 10 years old, slept together. {Ibid., p. 148.) 653. Tubercidosis Death-rate higher in One-roa>n Hcnise. — If these occurrences were exceptional, and the numbers small, the relative importance of the one-room house would, of course, be less. But, in the matter of tuberculosis alone, these occurrences are to be numbered by hundreds. Thus, in Glasgow alone, on the 31st of December 1913 there were 474 cases of pulmonary phthisis under treatment in houses of one apartment. There were nearly 1589 cases under treatment in houses of two apartments. {Report of the Medical Officer of Health, City of Glq^ow, 1913, p. 72.) At the same time, there were in Glasgow institutions 230 cases from houses of one apartment, 580 from houses of two apartments. At this point we are not discussing the two-apartment house ; but, for practical purposes, a large number of them are really one-apartment houses. But even if we confine ourselves to the one-apartment houses strictly so called, the fact that 474 cases should be treated in them is by itself a condemnation of the whole conception of " domiciUary treatment." But for want of adequate housing of a better order the authorities have, for the time being, to make the best of an impossible situation. 654. One-room House as Causative Factor in Tuberculosis. — Dr Chalmers, in considering the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis on the one-room house population, drew attention to the house as " a very ' important factor as a cause of phthisis." The housing factor is like the index of a barometer, it is set bad or good, but is not of itself a bad or good thing. The value lies in the use of it. He further stated : — REPORT. 93 You have probably personal habits, you liave working efficiency, you have disease tendencies', you have indifferent feeding, and the one-apartment house is the stage where most of these causes are combined. (20,331.) • He agreed that, as the overcrowding is distinctly greater in the one-apartment houses than in the two- apartment houses, all these personal tendencies, and bad habits, and tendencies to disease are aggravated by the overcrowding. If the people received three times the space they have, he would expect the death- rate from phthisis to go down. 655. Dr Chalmers has shown {The House as a (Jantributory Factor in the Death-rate, p. 14) that in 1901 the death-rate per thousand for pulmonary tuberculosis at all ages in the one-room houses was 2-4, as against 1-8 in the two-apartment houses, 1-2 in the three-apartment houses, 0-7 m the four- ajjartment and upwards. In the years 1909-12 the corresponding figures showed a shght reduction, being 1-76, 1-26, 0-91, 0-66. But at both dates the death-rate from phthisis in the one-room population was distmctly higher. Probably if the figures were more closely analysed they would reveal even more striking differences between the one-room house and the two-room houses. In this connection it has to be remembered that a large number of the two-room houses are badly overcrowded and structurally as defective as the one-room houses. The difference, therefore, is all the more strikingly against the one-room house. If it can be said that with no change m anything but the space to hve in the death-rate from this subtle and treacherous infection falls, surely the one-room house is, by its essential nature, condemned. 656. Higher General Death-rate in One-roam House. — These conclusions receive further support from other points in Dr Chalmers's evidence. In Glasgow, about 104,000 of the population were, at the 1911 census, found to be housed in one-room houses. On the basis of the 1901 census, the death-rate in one- apartment houses was 33 per thousand, in two-apartment houses 21 per thousand, in three- apartment houses 14 per thousand, in four-apartments and upwards less than 12 per thousand. These death- rates showed a great reduction at the 1911 census. But in one-apartment houses the death-rate at that date was stiU 25-9 per thousand, in two-apartment houses 16-5 per thousand, in three-apartment houses 11-5 per thousand, in four-apartment houses and upwards 10-8 per thousand. In the death- rate of the population occupying the one-apartment houses. there is thus a very marked dechne, but relatively the one-apartment population still has a very much higher death-rate than the populations 01 the larger houses. 657. Correction of Death-rates for Age and Sex. — Here, however, it is necessary to make a more extended analysis. Dr Chalmers, working on the details of the 1911 census, made a precise mvestigation of the " age and sex constitution " of the one-room population. He found that m the one-apartment houses there is a distinct excess of children from one to five years of age as compared with the mean of the city as a whole. The one-room houses are found to be occupied principally by children mider five and adults. 658. When, for the purpose of comparison with one another, the death-rates of the one-room, the two-room, three-room, and four-room houses are thus corrected, it is found that the true comparable death-rate in one-apartment houses is 20-14 per thousand, in two-apartment houses 16-83 per thousand, in three-apartment houses 12-63 per thousand, in four-apartment houses and upwards 10-32 per thousand. " These rates," says Dr Chalmers, " are strictly comparable, as the differences which varying age and ' sex distribution would create have been corrected." (20,158.) Even with this correction, the death-rate of the one-room house is much larger than the death-rates of the houses of more than one room. The general death-rate thus confirms the conclusion based on the tuberculosis death-rate. For every ten persons that die in houses of four rooms and upwards, twenty persons die m houses of one room. The whole of this difference is not due to the house conditions alone, but a considerable part of the difference certauily is due to house conditions alone. This conclusion, which was illustrated by the tuberculosis death-rate, is confirmed by the fact that in houses of two rooms the death-rate, as corrected, is such that for every twenty persons that die in a one-room house, only sixteen die in a two-room house. As Dr Chalmers shows elsewhere, there is a constant flow of population through the one-room house, and the difference between the quahty of the populations of the one-room house and the two-room house is not great enough to account for the difference in the death-rate ; part of the difference in death-rate is due to the difference in the houses. It is not necessary to elaborate this point further. The clear result of the analysis is that, as tested by the very gross test of the corrected death-rate, life in one room compares very imfavourably with life in two rooms or more. For this result the general statement oi house conditions prepared us, but the figures put the case beyond question. 659. Higher Infantile Death-rate in One-room House. — As the result of Dr Chalmers's carefully investigated figures, it may be said that male children under one year in one-apartment houses die at the rate of 210 per thousand hving, in two-apartment houses at the rate of 164 per thousand, in three- apartment houses at the rate of 128 per thousand, in four-apartment houses at the rate of 103 per thousand. This relationship, which is calculated on the basis of the 1911 census, is much the same as the relationship between the death-rates calculated on the basis of the 1901 census. The intervals are probably a httle less, but the relationship of death-rates is much the same. It is gratifying to find that the death-rates based on the 1911 figures show some decline, but the relative incidence on the one-room population mifortmiately remains practically the same. (20,169.) 660. UnsuitaMlity of One-room House for Children. — Dr Chalmers, after a full survey of the immense mass of Glasgow facts, concluded that, in the one-room houses, a definite restriction should be made w'ith regard to children. " I do not think the one-apartment house, as we know it, is a place for children." (20,322.) He would admit that "one can think of a widow and daughter, for instance, hving quite ' reasonably " (20,324), but he would hke to restrict the house to exclude the child if possible from it or reduce it to the narrowest margin. I do not think healthy child fife is really possible in a one-apartment house. The tables show that the death-rate at the ages one to five among male children in one-apartment houses is 40-56, in two apartments 30-2, in three apartments 17-9, in four apartments and upwards 10-27. (20,324.) 94 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 661. What is true of the general death-rate, of the tuberculosis death-rate, and of the deaths of infants xuider one is true also of children from one to five : in the one-room house they die in greater numbers than in houses of larger size. For a nation that needs to conserve its population, the first problem in housing is to prevent the one-room house from increasing the death-roll of the children. For every ten male children that die in houses of four rooms and upwards, forty die in houses of one room. For every forty that die in one-room houses in Glasgow, only thirty die in houses of two rooms, and eighteen in houses of three rooms. It is relevant to say that, in this wholesale destruction of childxen from one to five, the house is not the only factor— a comment made already in another connection ; but it is shown by I)r Chalmers to be a real factor of undetermined magnitude. From the cold facts he adduces, it is legitimate to conclude that, when the family passes into the one-room house, the children enter the valley of the shadow of death. 662. Higher Death-rate from Special Diseases.— The one-room house also shows an increased disease rate. In the article already referred to (see Paragraph 655), Dr Chahners has shown that diseases of digestion, diseases of the nervous system, diseases of the respiratory organs, measles, whooping-cough, diphtheria, all show a higher death-rate in the one-room houses than in the two-room or three-room or four-room houses. To take one or two illustrations : in one-apartment houses the death-rate per 1000 from diarrhoea was 25-3, as against 19-72 for two-apartment houses, and 10-48 for three-apartment houses. As to respiratory diseases, Dr Chalmers says : — In relation to house incidence, the principal disease of this group — pneumonia — presents an almost complete contrast to the groups we have been studying. At each age period almost without exception the higher rates fall on houses of one and two apartments. It would, therefore, seem to be a disease entirely of environment and climatic conditions, resembling in its behaviour those of the more definitely infectious type. In infancy, the rate for the larger houses is equal to two-thirds that of one apartment. (Page 17.) 663. Of the principal infectious diseases of childhood already named, Dr Chalmers says : — In order to cover the age period of greatest susceptibility, I have included the ages to 5, and in them there is a definite grading in relation to house room with the exception of cerebro-spinal fever, the house distribution of which, in the period mider review, was apparently quite erratic. (Page 19.) 664. Other illustrations could be given, but these are enough to establish the broad general pro- position that the incidence of all diseases due to the over-aggregation of people within a limited amount of space is higher in the one-room houses than in the houses of more than one room. But the two-roamed house is a close second, so close that in many cases the same criticism would apply to it. 665. Inferences from Excessive Proportion of Children in One-room House'.— The fact shown by Dr Chalmers, that the one-room population has a relative excess of children under five justifies certain inferences. Almost without exception, the witnesses before us are agreed that the one-room house, if it is to be retained at all, should be retained only for old couples, or pensioners, or persons of a single sex, or young married couples. So nearly unanimous is this view, that it may be taken as representing the current view of the country. But it is not a very recent view. The quotations from Dr Russell show that thirty years ago the same view was as strongly held as it is to-day, and, doubtless, it dates back very far beyond 1888. Yet, in spite of all the social criticism so imphed, Glasgow presents us with the extraordinary fact that the one-room house, instead of becoming the resort increasingly of old couples, or yoimg couples without children, or persons of the same sex, has, on the contrary, become, in greater and greater degree, the habitation of an excessive proportion of children mider five. From this it is not difficult to infer that the selection of a one-room house is determined by forces too strong to be controlled by any form of superintendence yet estabhshed. 666. Increased Overcrowding of Glasgow One-room Houses. — -The fact that, in Glasgow, besides bemg occupied by an excessive proportion of young children, the one-room houses were, at the last census, occupied by a greater number of persons per room than at the previous census, shows that the demand for the one-room house, though much less than in 1861, was stronger in 1911 than in 1901. Thus, as Dr Chalmers points out {Report on Census, 1911, p. 35), the number of persons in the one-room houses was 3-196, as against 2-432 in the two-room houses. In 1901, the persons per room in the one-room houses were 3-183. " These figures, representing the average occupancy of each size of house, are dis- ' quieting in respect that the number of persons per one-apartment house has increased." As pointed out in the chapter on " Overcrowding," this increase is principally due to the inclusion in Glasgow during the intercensal period of the burgh of Kinning Park, which had a larger proportion of persons housed in single rooms than Glasgow. In Glasgow the problem of the one-room house presents two serious factors : first, an excessive proportion of young children ; second, a tendency to increased overcrowding. 667. Floating Nature of One-room Population. — In another connection, Dr Chalmers agreed that it was " a reasonable proposition " to say that the general drift shown to be taking place in Glasgow from the one-room houses into the two-, three-, and four-room houses, indicates that the one-room population is very largely a floating population, and that the identical people, when they go from the one-room houses into larger houses, show a lower death-rate. (20,334.) 668. It may, therefore, be suggested that in cities hke Glasgow there is a steady flow of population through the one-room houses. Partly, this population is recruited from newly-married couples taking up house ; partly, and probably more largely, it is recruited from persons of larger family and lessened wages seeking a cheaper house. But whether the population is recruited from the one source or from the other, the result to this flowing population is the same, namely, that during their occupancy of the one-room house they show a higher disease-rate and a higher death-rate ; when they pass to the larger houses, they show a reduced disease-rate and a reduced death-rate. 669. Conclusions from Disease-rates and Death-rates. — The high incidence of death and disease among the one-room population is a proof that, in that particular population, the conditions of hving are more severe than in the populations more adequately housed. The house, it is admitted, is only one factor REPORT. 96 among the agencies unfavourable to healthy hving ; but that it is a real factor cannot be denied. Even if we assume that the one-room population is recruited to a certain extent from the less efficient members of the commmiity, the differences between the one-room population and the two-room population are totally insufficient to account for the enormous differences in the death-rates and disease-rates. Further, m other locahtics, such as certain mining areas, or iron-working areas, or shipbuilding areas, where, to all appearance, the one-room population is as vigorous and as efficient as the two- and three-room populations, we should expect to bnd a higher incidence of death and disease in the one-room populations than ill the others. This could be proved only by careful analysis of such large figures as Glasgow provides. It would be difficult to adduce dehnite statistical proof for individual small groups of population. But it may be taken as estabhshed that, wherever overcrowding of rooms is greatest, the chances of infection are highest. This is a justifiable inference from Dr Chalmers's figures alone. The data furnished by Dr Wilson, County Medical Officer of Lanark, like similar data in many other places, do not show a constant concomitance between the number of one-room houses ui any particular area and the infantile death-rate ; but if the investigation were extended to include the whole house incidence of the acute infections and of tuberculosis, we should expect to ffiid the greater incidence following the greater overcrowding. The mortahty of infants depends upon so many factors, that the effect of overcrowding may readily be masked by other things ; tliat overcrowding plays a part, particularly in the one-room populations, there can be no reasonable doubt. This general view is supported by !Sir George Newman in his Infant Mortality, a Social Problem, pp. 183, 184. It is also supported by bir Arthur Newsholme, K.C.B., in his Report on Infant and Child Mortality, 1910, p. 68; and in his Report on Child Mortality at Ages 0-5 in England and Wales, 1916, p. 68. 670. This is the result we should expect from the nature of the life in one room. The generahsed pictures pamted by Dr Russell and jNIis Laird have been abmidantly verified, not merely in the reports, special documents, and other evidence submitted to us, but in our personal inspections of houses in different locahties of the country. In the chapter on " Overcrowding " will be found detailed instances showing how great the overcrowdbig is in such houses. The one-room houses vary to a considerable extent in size and quahty, but it is rare to find a one-room house of capacity sufficient to let a famiiy of three or four people hve even in orderly comfort. The allegation that one room is easier to keep m order than two may be comiteied by innumerable cases where tlie one room is insufficient to accommodate the furnishings necessary even for the simplest hfe of two people. Doubtless, as Dr Dewar pomts out (764 (37)), there are occasions when single persons may find the keeping of two rooms more exactuig and laborious than the keeping of one room ; but these exceptions are to be met with rather in scattered country places than in the piied-up tenements of the cities, where practically the whole hfe has to be hved witliin the room or in the dark interconnecting lobbies. Compared with such one-room houses, even the " single ends " of the miners' rows have the advantage of immediate access to the outside worid. But even with these advantages, the moment the one-room house comes to be the active focus of the industrial energies, fittings and f urnishuigs have to be increased, the acceleration of hfe goes up, and the result is that the keeping of order, especially where children are concerned, rapidly becomes a task too heavy for the housewife. This is the average case. It is not sufficiently answered by the production of exceptions, where, frequently, the one-room house is not realty the " working man's house," but merely a residence for non-workers. 671. One-room House as marginal Product of Industrial Development. — Above we have given only selected elements from the crude hfe of the one-room house ; but, supplemented from easily accessible sources, they make possible a sufficient picture of the actuality. In the conditions thus merely hinted at, some 400,000 of the Scottish people hve. In 1911 there were approximately 130,000 houses of one room. Li each of some 26,000 of these there were three persons livhig. In nearly 20,000 the inmates were four, m about 13,000 the inmates were five, in more than 7000 the inmates were six, in some 3500 the inmates were seven, in some 1500 the inmates were eight. There were some 800 where the inmates exceeded eight persons. It is true that the one-room houses vary in size and quahty. It is also true that, in some localities, they are better kept than in others. In large numbers the occupants are of excellent character, and are able to maintain an honourable and cleanly hfe ; but this does not touch the fact that, in the large cities, such as Glasgow, and in other large areas of the industrial world, the one-room house hes on the extreme maigui of industrial civihsation. 672. The facts demonstrated on such a large scale in Glasgow may be taken as applying, ui varying degrees, to all overcrowded one-room houses — that is, to all one-room houses with more than two or at most two and a half occupants. But this means that, from the health standpoint, the one-room house cannot be defended. At the best, it has to be tolerated as a transitory necessity ; at the worst, it ought to be immediately discontinued. In view of the facts from Glasgow alone, the defence of the one-room house must henceforward rest not on allegations about its equal healthiness, but on the practical ground that the one-room houses cannot, in any great numbers, be immediately closed without creating admhustiative difficulties. 673. From clirect observation, as well as from a great deal of indirect evidence, we are satisfied that, m a one-room house, it is practicaUy impossible for a housewife with a family of two or three children to mamtain orderly comfoit, to keep clean and dirty clothing separate, to preserve the food supphes from repeated contamination, to keep fioors and beds free from the pollutions due to children, or, generally, to maintain the room m a fit condition to serve as a workuig-man's home. Occasionally, as the Rev. Dr Watson points out (22,379 (8)), we have the " eternal heroism " of the slums ; but " eternal heroism " m the slums is as rare as " eternal heroism " in other classes of society, and cannot be regarded as a counterbalance to the oppression of the one-room environment and the excess of labour and anxiety it normaUy imposes on the mothers and children. 674. To sum up the essential points of this analysis, it nmy be said that hfe in one room is incom- patible with family decency ; it is incapable of affording conditions for a healthy or moral family hfe ; it involves an overwhelming burden on the occupants ; it is marked by a higher disease-rate, a higher general death-rate, a higher infantile death-rate, and a higher tuberculosis death-rate. When, therefore, witnesses express theii preference for the retention of the one-room house, these are reaUy the conditions 96 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. for which preference is oxpres.secl. Nowhere is tliis clearly stated by any witness ; but nojio the less, these are some of the reaUties connoted by the terra " one-room house." It is in the light of these reahties as thus illustrated that we are of opinion that the minimum limit of industrial new housing should be, with certain exceptions, for strictly limited classes and under clearly defined conditions, a house of greater capacity than one room, and that as regards existing one-roomed houses these — subject to "exceptions and under conditions as before — should be got rid of as soon as possible. We shall define the exceptions and conditions, and we shall also state our view of a reasonable minimum limit of working-class housing in our chapters on " PoUcy " and " Recommendations." 675. On the Demand for the One-room House. — This disposes of the general question as to the sufficiency or insufficiency of the one-room house as a fit home for an active working-class family. It remains now to consider and examine the evidence adduced to show that, in the act«al conditions of industry, there is a demand for one-room houses, and that, for certain limited classes of person, the one- room house, with proper conveniences, may be adequate for their requirements, and might be accepted — for such limited classes and imder strictly defined conditions — ^as reaching a minimum standard of habitability. 676. The one-room house, in spite of the disadvantages flowing from it, continues to be in demand. Of this demand, the e\'idence from the iron and mining districts is considerable. Dr Wilson, Medical Officer for Lanarkshire, states " there can be no doubt that a real demand exists for such (one-room) ' houses." (37,139.) But he quahfies this statement by the view that — they are suitable for young married people as well as for old couples whose. famiUes have left them—in other words, for the two extremities of married life. That is the conclusion I have formed after most careful inquiry. He further adds that, to meet the tendency of yomig couples " to settle down " to the one room, he would Uke " more power than we have to compel them to move on." From Dr Wilson's standpoint, therefore, the " legitimate " demand ought to be confined in the way stated. 677. Mr Davison, Sanitary Inspector for the Dunfermline district, also says that there is a demand for one-room houses, but sees " no great objection to a one-room house, so long as the number of occupants is restricted." He admits that the difficulty in restricting the number of occupants would necessitate frequent inspection. (4684-5.) He would even go so far as to say that, in the interests of pubhc health, the miners ought to be compelled to pay the difference in rent between the one-room house and the two-room house. In cross-examination as to the keeping of lodgers, he said, " I think two rooms is the ' minimum for any family." (4764.) He also gave particulars of cases where the Sheriff had given a decision against the overcrowding of two-room houses where the rooms had been sublet. In one case, the house consisted of two rooms — in the kitchen were the occupier, his two brothers and mother, all adults ; and the room was sublet and occupied by a man, his wife and four children. (4818.) 678. Mr Davison's evidence also goes to show that the chief cause of the demand is the general insufficiency in the number of houses. It may further be stated that, in his opinion, these decisions, in the cases above referred to, had no effect in reducing the overcrowding. This also proves the existence of a relative house famine. In the Dunfermline district the conditions for the last few years, partly from the development of the coalfields, partly from the development of the Naval Base, have been quite exceptional. In certain parts of the areas every class of house, from the largest to the smallest, has suffered from overcrowding. These facts, therefore, cannot be regarded as proving the existence of a real demand for one-room houses as such ; the demand rather is for house-room of any kind, including the one-room house, which lies on the margin of available house accommodation. 679. Messrs Ramsay and Milligan, speaking for the Niddrie and Benhar and Arniston Coal Companies, say they think there is a demand for one-room houses for a newly-married couple or an old couple (19,284), and that they would recommend some single-apartment houses being built for the purpose, and to prevent subletting by young married couples. (19,339.) Mr. Forgie, of Wm. Baird & Company, says, " The demand for single-apartment houses is always in excess of the supply." (25,840 (71).) Mr Mowat, Manager of the Summerlee Iron Company, says, " One-room houses are always in demand." (25,841 (20)) ; and Mr Paul, Manager of the Lochgelly Iron Company, says, " One-room houses are much •sought after." (26,523 (23).) Wliile Mr Hendrie, Mines Agent for the Fife Coal Company, says, " Young married people often prefer single-room houses." (7413 (16).) 680. There is also the evidence of Mr Nichol, Builder and Contractor, Motherwell and Hamilton, who .says that " for every two persons wanting a room and kitchen house, there will be ten wanting single- room houses." (27,745.) 681 . In most districts, however, one-room houses have not been built of late years with the exception of Lanarkshire. In that county, out of the 11,750 dwelhngs erected during the past fifteen years, in the Middle Ward alone nearly 13 per cent, have been one-room houses, and in the parishes of Blantyre, I^thwell, Dalserf, and Shotts the percentages have been as high as 18 per cent., 17 per cent., and 13 per cent, respectively of one-room houses built. (Appendix CXVII.) 682. But it is explained that the Local Authority had closed about 600 dwellings, mainly in the jjarishes of Shotts, BothweU, and Old Monkland, and that, apart from this fact, there had been — an abnormal demand for houses owing to the great boom in the mining industry, which has resulted in the reopening of numerous collieries. The coalmasters, with one or two exceptions, have not attempted to meet the demand for houses. (Appendix CXVIII.) It may therefore be inferred that, as in the Dunfermline district, the demand in Lanarkshire for the one-room houses has been largely, if not entirely, the marginal demand due to the rapid concentration of labour. 683. But other witnesses suggest that one-room houses are useful in towns where a large amount of female labour is employed. Such houses are, they say, occupied by single women, or by two or three REPORT. 97 girls who prefer their own house to lodgings. [E.g. Cowan, 16,485 ; Kelso, 37,987 ; Templeman, 35,836 (43).) 684. But whatever the demand in special localities may be as the result of special outbursts of industry, the census leaves no doubt that there is a steady drift away from the one-room house towards the two- and three-room houses. The Registrar-General says : — The numbers of persons living in houses without windowed rooms and in houses of one room have markedly and steadily decreased, while those living in hoiises of two rooms and more have markedly and steadily increased. In the Report on the census of 1861, the persons enumerated in houses without windowed rooms numbered 25,959, and they now number only 12. In that Report 802,968 persons were stated to be Uving in one-room houses, and these now number 403,092, or 50-2 persons less. {Report on the Twelfth Decennial Census of Scotland, vol. 2, p. ci.) He further states that in 1861 the percentage of the total population enumerated in one-room houses was 26-2, a rate that each succeeding census has shewn to be diminished ; in 1871 it fell to 23-7 ; in 1881 to 18-0, in 1891 to 14-3, in 1901 to 11-0, and by this census to 8-4. (Ibid., lac. cit.) He adds that, although it is impossible to estimate how far those changes are attributable to alterations in the methods of counting houses, it is probably safe to assume that the conditions are so marked as to be indicative of a real change in the housing conditions and not to be entirely due to altered methods of counting. (Ibid., loc. cit.) 685. For Scotland, as a whole, therefore, it cannot be maintained that the demand for one-room houses is an increasing demand. On the contrary, it is demonstrably a decreasing demand. In other words, the one-room house may be regarded rather as a marginal survival from a period of lower standards than as a commodity in demand for its own sake. 686. Accordingly, the suggestion made by several witnesses that existing one-room houses should cease to be occupied and that new one-room houses should cease to be built is, in reality, only a suggestion that the continuous process of transit from one-room houses to houses of greater capacity should be accelerated. The figures of the census prove that the demand for one-room houses is essentially a local demand, arising partly from the insufficiency of houses of a better character, partly from imwillingness or inability to pay higher rents, partly from the profitable nature of subdivided and sublet properties. As Dr Jack, late Medical Officer of Health for Motherwell, states, — the single-roomed habit is so marked, and the desire to spend the minimum on house accom- modation so strong in the commmiity, that there is always a very large demand for such houses, and, as single-roomed houses pay the landlord better than any other class of house property, the landlord is very anxious to meet the demand, and is, naturally, commonly a rather strong advocate of the single-roomed house. He also stated that while he was not wholly prepared to condenm the single-roomed house on the ground of health, he thought their occupation by any but old married couples and single persons should be strongly discouraged. (34,183 (34-35).) Reference may also be made to the statement of Mr J. Wilson, the Architectural Inspector of the Local Government Board, that in Lanarkshire the building of certain one-room houses had created an artificial demand for the provision of more. (Ibid., 4013.) 687. Such witnesses as defend the one-room house defend it almost entirely on the ground of economic necessity. It is suitable, they say, for the old couple, the newly-married couple, the poor widow, and so on — all cases where. the income is insufficient, having regard to the other demands on it, to rent a house of larger size. The majority of the witnesses agree that, from the standpoint of domestic decency and social behaviour, the one-room house — except imder the severe limitations indicated — is fundamentally indefensible. If this be so, we are confronted with the problem either of tolerating the one-room house simply on the ground of immediate economic necessity, or of discovering some method by which a more adequate house can be provided on terms within the economic reach of aU householders. In the actual realisation of the housing programme hereafter proposed, we recognise that the disappearance of the one-room house must be gradual, and must be modified by practical considerations ; but, in the evidence before us, we have failed to discover any reason for recommending that the one-room house shall continue to be considered a fit habitation for a family. In our opinion, every Local Authority ought, in its housing programme, to aim at the systematic reduction in the proportion of the one-room houses in their district. 688. It may here be added that the advocates for continuing the existing one-room houses and for building more of such houses agree that no one-room house can be considered fit for occupation unless it is provided with proper sanitary conveniences, and proper accommodation for storage, for scullery work, and for washing. For a large number of the one-room houses, these qualifications amount to abandonment of the case, for even the profitable rents of the one-room houses will be foimd unequal to the provision ofxhe accommodation suggested. 689. We feel boimd to comment upon a portion of the dissent (from our views on the one-room house) by the Minority, as set forth towards the end of their Chapter V. 690. Alleged Want of Desire for Better Housing. — The Minority maintain that there is evidence of a " want of desire for a better house, which is the accompaniment of a low standard of comfort and is con- firmed by the habits of a lifetime." We are not concerned to dispute this allegation ; but we suggest that, where such want of desire is to be found, it is due, in large measure, to the depressing and discouraging efEect of defective housing or to the want of knowledge or want of experience of better conditions. But against any argument based on a " want of desire for a better house " is to be set the fact that the Commission itself came into existence as the result of widespread discontent with the housing conditions of to-day. The discontent we have found to pervade every section of the working classes. That custom should blunt the sensitiveness of many people to defective houses and to the disgusting filthiness prevalent in many of the areas visited is itself a striking condemnation of the present housing conditions. We do 7 $8 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. not attribute " faults in the occupancy of houses almost entirely to theii- defective structure and position " ; but we do emphatically hold that the survey made by us has revealed masses of houses so defective in structure that no amoimt of care among occupants could counteract the discomfort and insani- tation. In particular, this is true of large numbers of houses in the cities, in the mining areas, in the agri- cultural areas, and in the islands. 691. The One-room House as a Causative Factor in Tuberculosis. — The Minority state : " In our ' opinion, the facts adduced in the evidence are not sufficient to found upon in order to establish such ' a direct causative relation as is insisted upon by our colleagues." The facts referred to are the careful quantities educed by Dr Chalmers from an analysis of the conditions affecting tuberculosis in Glasgow. Even if these facts stood alone, they would form a powerful indictment of the one-roomed house, or, more generally, the overcrowded room, as a factor in the causation of tuberculosis. Under the term " causation of tuberculosis " we include all the conditions that favour the spreading of tuberculosis from one infective person to another. Among these conditions, the one-room house, as a type of the over- crowded living room, is iindoubtedly a factor. In coming to this conclusion, Dr Chalmers has the support not only of his predecessor, Dr Russell, but of Sir Shirley Murphy, Sir Arthur Newsholme, K.C.B., and many other investigators. In his book on the Prevention of Tuberculosis, Sir Arthur Newsholme, after a survey of the causes of tuberculosis and the relation of tuberculosis to housing and insanitation generaUy, concludes : " Whatever be the interpretation put upon these experiments, there can be no difference ' of opinion as to the ill-effects of overcrowding, defective light and air, absence of thorough ventilation, and ' stiU more of domestic uncleanliness in favouring the occurrence and spread of tuberculosis. Probably ' these factors operate chiefly by facilitating the spread of infection ; but it is possible that they also tend ' to devitahse the occupants of such houses and render them more ready victims of infection." (Page 193.) Again he says : "It (domestic overcrowding) undoubtedly plays a very large share in the pro- ' duction of tuberculosis ; and to this factor more than to any other attention is required, if the decline ' in the death-rate from tuberculosis is to be made more rapid than at present." (Page 192.) These conclusions find abundant support in the staggering series of cases described in detail in the reports made to the Local Government Board for Scotland on the Administrative Control of Pulmonary Phthisis in Glasgow, 1911. It is at once admitted, by no one more readily than by Sir Arthur Newsholme (ibid., pp. 146 to 149), that the relation between tuberculosis and overcrowding of rooms is complicated and diffi- cult of proof. But, as Dr Chalmers says, " The one-apartment house is the stage where most of those ' causes are combined," namely, personal habits, working inefficiency, disease tendencies, indifferent feeding. 892. His general argument, however, cuts deeper, for he gives reasons for believing that there is a constant flow of population through the one-room house from and to the houses of greater capacity. Nevertheless, the de^th-rates in the one-room house are uniformly higher. In other words, a population largely identical in its units suffers most when it is housed in the most overcrowded conditions. Of this argument, the Minority in their criticisms take no account. We quite recognise that occupation, personal history, etc. , all play a part in causation of pulmonary tuberculosis, and that "It would be interest- ' ing to discover and to make a tabulation of the cases of insanity, epilepsy, and imbecihty in relation to ' the size of house in which the patient has been living." But such investigations, whether the result were positive or negative, would leave untouched the main case against the one-room house ; for this case depends on no single factor, but on the cumulative effect of the whole argument. 693. The Minority suggest that before the overcrowded one-room house could be regarded as a factor in the spread of tuberculosis it would be necessary to ascertain whether the physically and mentally inferior stocks gravitate towards those houses. They obviously take no account of the fact that recent evidence makes it highly probable that the great mass of the adult population — probably in some communi- ties as much as 80 per cent, or 90 per cent.^ — suffer, or have at some period of their lives suffered, from some form of tuberculosis. But if this be true — and there are strong reasons for believing it true- — the conditions in which persons live become all the more important as a factor in reducing the vital resistance of the individuals exposed to infection or already infected. We are satisfied that the conditions described in the one-room house definitely tend to reduce the vitahty of the inmates young and old, and to increase to an \mascertained degree the danger of infection. On the question of low wages in relation to one-room houses, we would point out that one-room houses are common in the mining and iron districts where the stocks are neither mentally nor physicall}^ inferior and where the wages are high. No carefully compiled statistics of the house incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis are available at the moment for workers in those districts or their families ; but there is no groimd for assuming that overcrowding will not have the same effects as in other occupations, allowance being made for the selective effect of the occupations of heavier strain. 694. The Minority agree that a one-room house " is not a suitable place in which to treat a tubercular ' patient." But if the conditions of the house are not a causative factor in the spread of tuberculosis, and do not aggravate the condition of the patient, we cannot understand upon what grounds the Mmority suggest removal of the patient. Apparently they do not consider that in an overcrowded one-room house a patient suffering from advanced pulmonary tuberculosis has a vastly greater n^jnber of chances of infecting the other inmates than if he hved in less crowded conditions, but they do consider that the one- room house aggravates the patient's conditions.'' 695. They regard the house as a " causative factor " in aggravating the patient's ilbiess, but not in predisposing him to it, or in spreading this acutely infectious disease among the other susceptible persons in the same room or bed. In other words, to maintain that the overcrowded one-room house is not a causative factor in the spread of pulmonary tuberculosis, but is nevertheless xmsuitable for the treatment of a patient, is not a convincing argument. 696. Other Death-rates and Disease-rates. — The Minority, as they make only a general statement about the " causative factor," must be presumed to take practically the same view of the other death- rates and disease-rates summarised by us in this chapter. But the only reason they adduce for their dissent is, that the relationship between infantile and other death-rates and the size of house is not a direct relation. But they give no explanation of the extraordinary difference between the death- and disease- REPORT. 99 rates in the one-room house and the death- and disease-rates in the houses of a greater capacity. The only approach to such an explanation is the statement regarding the high birth-rate in the one-room houses in the West of Scotland. They do not state whether they consider that the relatively high birth-rates in mining towns like Hamilton and Motherwell, or iron towns hke Coatbridge, are found among the physically and mentally " inferior " persons that, in their view, may drift towards the " cheaper and dirtier houses " ; but they regard the facts as " remarkable and disquieting social facts." On what grounds they consider the facts disquieting they do not indicate. Apparently, the only disquieting fact is that so many births take place in one-room houses. They " agree in considering that . . . from every point of view it * is most undesirable that children should grow up in them." Obviously, therefore, in their view, the question whether the one-room house is a cause of the high birth-rate or not is quite irrelevant to the argument against the one-room house. But apparently they reject the view that measles, whooping-cough, diphtheria, pneumonia, bronchitis, and the other diseases referred to in Dr Chalmers's figures, depend for their spread, their virulence, and their fatahty in some degree on overcrowding. In the view of the Minority, these diseases are all — ^as the birth-rate is alleged by them to be — merely concomitant with, but not either caused or increased by, overcrowding. These are legitimate, if extraordinary, inferences from the somewhat vague statements put forward by the Minority. £1 common with public health experts all over the world, we accept the view that overcrowding of rooms multiplies the chances of infection to an unknown degree. If this be so, then the question whether the overcrowding in the one-room house is to be called a " causative factor " of infection, or merely a concomitant, reduces itself to a purely verbal difEerence. 697. Family Decency. — ^The Minority do not agree with our statement that " hfe in a one-room house ' is incompatible with family decency." This statement by us must be read in the hght of our whole argument. As the Minority admit that " from every point of view it is most undesirable that children ' should grow up in them," and yet at the same time cast doubt over the efEect of overcrowding on the spread of disease, they presumably consider that the inevitable indecency of hfe in one room is the main groimd for regarding it as midesirable for children. Otherwise it is difficult to see why they restrict the ages of children to seven, and even that hesitatingly. Further, they agree with us that the one-room house should be severely restricted to certain types of occupant — old-age pensioners, sisters, or on occa- sions to young couples beginning life. It is difficult to see why on this point they cannot accept our carefully guarded statement, which is essentially the same as their own. 698. It is well here to emphasise the fact that, at the 1911 census, approximately 233,000 persons were hving in one-room houses at the rate of more than three persons per room. Of this large total, 153,667 were hving at the rate of more than four persons per room. The number of one-room houses occupied at the rate of more than four persons per room was 26,133. With a population of 153,667, this number of houses yields an average of 5-8 persons per one-room house. This figure shows that at least in the houses each occupied by more than four persons the restriction suggested by us could not be largely honoured. Even when the occupants do not exceed four, it cannot be assumed that on the average they consist of father, mother, and children under seven. Accordingly, if the restrictions sug- gested by the Minority are rigidly enforced, a mass of people numbering from 150,000 to 200,000 would have to be displaced from the one-room houses, and this without having regard to any fact except overcrowding. If the number of one-room houses unfit for occupation on other grounds is added, the number to be dishoused would be very much greater. 699. In view of these facts, we have difficulty in understanding on what grounds the Minority dissent from the policy suggested by us in regard to the one-room house. Indeed, they agree with this policy, for they state : " The restriction of the one-room house to what we believe to be its legitimate use would ' involve the dishousing of a very large number of its present inhabitants. This is a process which we desire ' to see carried out with all possible speed ; but there can be no gain, and there may be considerable danger, ' in pressing a policy of restriction ahead of the complementary and far more important task of reconstruc ' tion." As we have made no such extraordinary suggestion as proposing to press restriction ahead of reconstruction, we cannot regard this statement by the Minority as a legitimate reason for a dissent, or a relevant element in that dissent. 700. Nature of the Demand for the One-room House. — The difference between us and our colleagues in the Minority here is essentially verbal. Whether the term " marginal demand " is to be interpreted "as a demand due to the extreme lack of houses," or a demand due to the fact that the one-room house enables a man " to spend less on rent than if he occupied a larger dwelling," is quite immaterial. The term may fairly be used in both senses, but in this connection the main point in our argument is that, in the broad drift of housing improvement, the demand for one-room houses in Scotland as a whole is growing steadily less, and that such demand as persists in special places is due to the fact that better houses are not available at the money. We do consider that where a demand for one-room houses persists, this demand is not due to the preference for a one-room house as the better physical dwelling-house ; it is simply due to cheapness. As the Minority agree with this, we cannot understand their grounds for not accepting our expression of the fact. 701. Mortuary Accommodation. — Among the elements constituting the indecency of family life in a one-room house, we comment on the use of the one room for the retention of the dead. To meet this, the Minority suggest an increase of mortuary accommodation both for the one-room house and houses of greater capacity. Already under the Pubhc Health Act the Local Authority has full powers for deaUng with any nuisance arising from the retention of dead bodies in houses. But even the relief granted by the suggested provision of increased mortuary accommodation would affect very slightly the major indictment against the one-room house. We cannot regard the suggestion as important in the movement for housing reform. Of the inevitable interference with religious customs of immemorial antiquity we prefer to say nothing, except that the provision of mortuary accommodation would tend to increase the inspection of the over-inspected poor. We prefer the method of seeing that the poor are provided with houses that will permit them to live the common life with decency and decorum. 702. The Minority take no exception to our view of the unsuitability of the one-room house for serv- ing as a lying-in chamber or a sick-room. On these points they presumably agree with us. 100 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 703. Condusion. — In the arguments adduced by the Minority, we have failed to discover any adequate reply to our total argument. On the contrary, we find that the dissent confines itself to two or three points, some of which do not affect the main issue, and that, in spite of a few minor differences in detail, they urge the same policy as that indicated by us, namely, that the process of dishousing large numbers of inhabitants should be carried out " with all possible speed." CHAPTER XII. OVERCROWDING. Introductory. 704. In this chapter we propose to deal more especially with the question of overcrowding as existing in the seven large towns. These being the chief industrial centres, this evil is rampant in them. But it is not by any means confined to these towns, and accordingly in addition to reviewing the position as affecting the seven large towns, we shall refer to the question of overcrowding in some of the other burghs. In the chapters on Housing of Miners, Rural Workers, and Crofters, reference is made to overcrowding among these workers. 705. To a large extent this chapter must necessarily be devoted to statistical evidence, and it is true that statistics on this subject of overcrowding- — statistics which we give not only in this chapter but in the previous chapter (XL) on the " One-room House"- — cannot convey a living picture of the actual conditions under which people live in overcrowded houses. They put beyond doubt, however, the value and weight of the evidence adduced to show what these conditions are. Both statistical and factual evidence are necessary to give a fair perception of the living conditions of a great proportion of the workers and their families. This was well brought out by the late Dr. Russell, Medical Of&cer for Glasgow— than whom no one had a more intimate knowledge of the conditions of life in the overcrowded parts of the great city of Glasgow — and we cannot do better at the opening of this chapter than quote- — as we do ■ — ^a passage from the lecture already referred to in Chapter XL Dealing with the question, Dr Russell gives careful statistics, and then says : — Figures are beyond the reach of sentiment, and if they are sensational, it is only because of their terrible, undisguised truthfulness. You must not think of the inmates of those small houses as families in the ordinary sense of the term. No less than 14 per cent, of the one-roomed houses and 27 per cent, of the two-roomed contain lodgers*^ — strange men and women mixed up with husbands and wives and children, within the four walls of small rooms. Nor must I permit you in noting down the tame average of fully three inmates in each of these one-apartment houses to remain ignorant of the fact that there are thousands of these houses which contain five, six, and seven inmates, and hundreds which are inhabited by from eight up even to thirteen. Percentages, though an accu- rate, are but a feeble mode of expression for such facts regarding men and women like ourselves. I have told you that in 1881 the population of Glasgow was 511,520 persons, and that of those 25 percent, lived in one-room, and 45 per cent, in two-roomed houses. But what does that mean ? It means that 126,000 persons live in those one-roomed and 228,000 in those two-roomed houses. f But is that all I can say ? I might throw down that statement before you, and ask you to imagine yourselves, with all your appetites and passions, your bodily necessities and functicns, your feelings of modesty, your sense of propriety, your births, your sicknesses, your deaths, your children — in short, your lives in the whole round of their relationships with the seen and the unseen, suddenly shrivelled and shrimk into such conditions of space. I might ask you, I do ask you, to consider and honestly confess what would be the result to you. But I would fain do more. Generalities are so feeble. Yet how can I speak to you decently of details ? Where can I find language in which to clothe the facts of these poor people's lives and yet be tolerable ? 706. We propose to consider the subject of overcrowding in the seven large towns under two heads : first, the overcrowding of houses and people on the site ; and second, the overcrowding of persons in the houses. Site Overcrowding. 707. So far as this matter is concerned, descriptions are given in other portions of this Report shewing the congestion that exists in many parts of our larger towns whereby houses are crammed together on almost every available yard of ground, with the result that the houses, being without any open space surrounding them, are badly lit and imperfectly ventilated, while the provision of playgroimds or recreation grounds or gardens adjacent to the houses is absolutely impossible. The public street with all its atten- dant dangers to young life or a narrow dirty back court often forms the only space where the children can spend their play -hours. This overcrowding is more particularly in evidence in those towns where the tenement and " back land " system largely prevails. 708. It is therefore unnecessary here to repeat descriptions of site overcrowding, but it may be of interest to give a short statistical survey of the overcrowding. Figures are often quoted comparing the density of persons per acre of one town with another, but in many cases these figures, taken by themselves, are of no real value as indicating the extent of site overcrowding. For instance, the density of persons per acre is stated, according to the 1911 census, to be :■ — 61 -9 in Glasgow, 34-2 „ Dundee, 29-4 „ Edinburgh, and 25-9 ,, Aberdeen. * Corresponding figures are not available in the 1911 census. t The corresponding figures for 1911 are given later. See Paragraph 726. REPORT. ',.... j^^ Assuming the average number of inmates per Ijouse as four, we find that the number of houses per acre in these four large towns is, roughly speaking, 15,8, 7, and 6 respectively, indicating that these cities are models of town planning so far as the number of houses per acre is concerned ! Needless to say, the real state of matters is far otherwise. To any one who knows the conditions in some parts of Edinburgh, the low figure given above is obviously a misleading one. It is arrived at by including in the acreage all the public parts in the city. If the chief parks and open spaces — which in Edinburgh are exceptionally large in area, representing approximately 5149 acres out of a total area within the city boundary of 11,416 acres — are excluded, the density of population per acre is increased to 51. (Eunson, 17,947a (5); Young, 40,434 (7).) No doubt the same state of matters would be found to exist— though perhaps not to the same extent — -in the other large towns. Accordingly a discussion of the density rates of the larger towns on the basis of the figures as shewn in the census returns would not be of much service. 709. The more reliable course appears to be to delimit the more overcrowded areas in these towns and to ascertain the extent of overcrowding in such delimited areas. This has been done as regards Edinburgh by the Medical Officer of Health, who in his Report for 1913 gives a series of ring photographs of certain portions of the more crowded wards of the city covering a radius in each case of approximately 300 yards with a population of 134, 137, and 343 persons per acre. In certain wards of the city occupied almost entirely by the working classes the rates are high, rising in cases from 94 to 231 persons per acre (open spaces being included in the calculation arriving at this result). (Eunson, 17,947a (5).) The witness who gave this information added that in the more congested parts of the wards the density was very much higher, and that even in the newer districts of the city the density rises to upwards of 350 persons to the acre. (ZW., 17,947a (6).) 710. But if even smaller areas in the densely populated districts of the city be taken, the number of persons per acre rises enormously. For instance, the Medical Officer of Health of the City furnishes a table which shows that in certain of these areas the congestion is so great that the number of persons per acre works out at as high as 662, 650, 574, and 544. (Maxwell Williamson, 5539 (35).) 711. The Sanitary Inspector of Glasgow furnishes information as regards specially congested areas in that city in which, judged by the number of houses per acre, and reckoning each house as containing on the average four inmates, the number of persons is as high as 472, 620, and 700 per acre. (Fyfe, 19,870 (14).) Similar figures for Dundee are 314, 377, 556, and 664 persons per acre. (Templeman, 35,836 (25).) When these figures are contrasted with the fifty or sixty persons per acre probably accommodated under town-planning conditions, the extent to which the people are packed together in the older and often— as in Edinburgh — even in the modern portions of our large towns will be better appreciated. In Aberdeen the conditions are much better than those in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee. In the three cities last named the working-class districts have apparently grown up with little or no plan, and with little control. In Aberdeen the development of the city has, to a certain extent, been foreseen, and the streets have been planned accordingly. Further, the tenement house in Aberdeen differs from that in the other cities named in that it is of less height, and there is more space between the tenements. According to informa- tion supplied by Dr Matthew Hay, the Medical Officer of Health of the City, there are only two wards where the number of persons per acre exceeds 100, the figures being 123 and 139 per acre. It may be of course that were special portions of these two wards taken the rate per acre might be higher, but in any case it seems that the congestion in Aberdeen is not so great as it is in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee. 712. So far as the remaining three of the seven large towns are concerned, the 1911 census returns show that the density of persons per acre is as follows : Paisley 24-2, Leith 53-1, and Greenock 27-3. As in the case of the four large cities, these figures are no real index of the congestion that exists. This is shewn by the figures supplied by Mr Walker Smith in the case of the Burgh of Greenock. In three areas investigated by him in that burgh, covering -86, -63, and -56 of an acre respectively, the density of popu- lation per acre worked out in these areas at 426, 717, and 341. (41,557 (21).) No doubt if similar investi- gation were made in Paisley and Leith, serious congestion would be found to exist, entailing in certain areas a very large increase in the density figures shewn in the census returns. 713. That the overcrowding of houses on the site is by no means confined to these large towns is shewn by some figures applicable to two towns with widely varying characteristics. In a report presented in October 1914 to the Town Council of Coatbridge by their Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Committee, it is stated that one property in the burgh occupied a feu of slightly over half an acre, and contained 65 houses and 5 shops, representing (at 5 persons to each house on an average) practically a population of 650 persons to the acre. In another case, the density of persons per acre was 635. The other burgh is that of Inverness, where, according to a pamphlet, entitled " The Houses of the People," published by Bailie Macewan, there are portions of the burgh so congested with houses as to represent a population of from 238 persons to the acre up to as high as 747 and 816 persons per acre. 714. In other portions of this Report we make suggestions for the prevention of a repetition of the conditions that have permitted such gross overbuilding to take place, and also for diminishing as far as practicable the existing overcrowding of houses on the sites. (See Chapter VIII.) Overcrowding in Houses. 715. We do not propose to deal imder this head with the causes of overcrowding. These in a sense constitute the housing problem, and are discussed in various portions of this Report. They include such matters as the sufficiency of houses provided, the nature of the accommodation, the rents charged, the ability or otherwise of the worker to pay the rent asked, the habits and customs of the people, the subletting of houses, the control of overcrowding exercised by Local Authorities, etc. etc. In this chapter we shall confine ourselves to a statistical and descriptive survey of the overcrowding as it is shewn by evidence to exist, and to certain recommendations for fixing a standard whereby it may easily be deter- mined for administrative purposes whether or not overcrowding exists. 716. In an earlier chapter of this Report we have referred to the predominance in Scotland of the one- and two-room house, 129,731 houses (or 12*8 per cent, of the total number of houses) being of one room, and 409,355 houses (or 40-4 per cent, of the total number) being of two rooms ; thus 539,086 houses 102 "ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (or 53-2 per cent, of the total number of houses) are of one and two rooms. Similarly of the total popula- tion of Scotland, 399,876 (or 8-4 per cent.) live in houses of one room, 1,881,529 (or 39-5 per cent.) live in houses of two rooms. Thus 2,281,405, or nearly half of the population of Scotland (47-9 per cent.), live in houses of one and two rooms. It is instructive to compare these percentages with the corresponding percentages in the English census returns for 1911, which show that in England only 3-2 per cent, of the total number of houses are of one room, and 8-3 per cent, of two rooms. Here we are dealing only with the number of rooms ; for relative size of Scottish and English rooms see Chapter VII., Paragraphs 357 to 364. Thus in England only 11-5 per cent, of the total number of houses are of one and two rooms, as compared with 53-2 per cent, in Scotland. As regards the distribution of the population in one- and two- room houses in England, only 1-3 per cent, of the population live in houses of one room, and 5-8 per cent, in houses of two rooms, a total percentage of 7-1 of the population which live in houses of one and two rooms as compared with 47-9 per cent, in Scotland. As regards houses of three rooms in England, they form 13-8 per cent, of the total number of houses, and 12-3 per cent, of the population live in them. 717. It is in the houses of one and two rooms that overcrowding in Scotland is chiefly found. The figures given above apply to the census of 1911. (See Tables XLVI. and XL VII. in vol. ii. of Scottish Census.) The corresponding statistics for Scotland for the two previous censuses are shown in the follow- ing table :• — Year. Percentage of Total Number of Houses in Scotland of Size Percentage of Total Population of Scotland living in Houses of One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. 1891 . 1901 . 1911 . 22-1 17-6 12-8 391 39-9 40-4 16-4 18-5 30-3 14-3 11-0 8-4 39-4 39-5 39-5 17-9 19-9 21- 1 718. It will be noted from the table that there has apparently been a very considerable reduction of one-roomed houses since the census of 1901. The Registrar-General explains, however, that, owing to a change in the procedure adopted in tabulating the census returns whereby, difiering from the procedure imder the 1901 and previous censuses, the room occupied by a lodger is reckoned as part of the entire house and not as formerly as a separate house, the undoubted result is a return of fewer one- roomed houses and of an increased number of houses of more than one room. Accordingly accurate comparison between the 1911 and the former censuses as regards the number of houses of one or more rooms cannot be made. 719. The following table shows the percentage of the population of Scotland as at the last three censuses living more than two in a room, more than three in a room, and more than four in a room, and thus gives a general idea of the overcrowding that prevails :— Year. Percentage of Total Population living more than Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Four in a Room. 1891 .... 1901 .... 1911 .... 48-2 45-7 45-1 25-3 22-9 21-9 11-3 9-6 8-6 720. In considering the above table, it should however be repeated (see Chapter V.) that there is no standard in the law of Scotland for the measurement of overcrowding apart from that for ticketed houses and for houses let in lodgings, farmed-out houses, and common lodging-houses. In the same chapter it is pointed out that the standard of overcrowding which is adopted in the English census of more than two persons per room is not applicable in ScoJ;land as a means of reckoning general overcrowding. But, as will have been seen from Chapter III., we'have for the purpose of arriving at an estimate of the housing shortage adopted a standard whereby overcrowding is held to exist where there are more than three persons per room. According to this standard the census returns show that in 1911 over a million people (1,005,991) in Scotland, or almost a quarter of the total population, were living in overcrowded conditions. But even this standard, or a fixed standard on the basis of a certain amount of cubic space per person, while perhaps satisfactory from the purely health point of view, cannot be regarded as satisfactory from the domestic standpoint, having regard to the age and sex of the occupants. If a moment's thought is given to what three persons per room means in the working-class houses, with their paucity of sanitary conveniences, their absence of sculleries, their want of cupboard and press accommo- dation for storage of food, clothes, etc., their want of coalhouses and washbouses, it will be seen that far from being too high a standard, the standard of more than three persons per room as an index of REPORT. 103 overcrowding errs rather in being on the low side. We will discuss at the end of this chapter (Paragraph 10 et seq.) the question of a standard of overcrowding, and the point is merely mentioned here. 721. With these preliminary observations we proceed to a survey of overcrowding in the seven large towns, viz. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Paisley, Leith, and Greenock. Edinburgh. 722. The following information taken from the census returns for 1911 shows the number of one-, two-, and three-roomed houses in Edinburgh, and the percentage of such houses to the total number of houses in the city at the date of the 1911 census : — • Total Number of Houses in City. Number of Houses t)f Percentage of Total Number of Houses having One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. 69,762 6,588 21,927 15,291 9-5 314 21-9 This table shows that, of the total number of houses in the city at the date of the 1911 census, no fewer than 28,515, or 40-9 per cent.f were of one and two rooms. 723. The following table shows the distribution of the population in houses of one, two, and three rooms in 1911 :■ — Total Population living in Houses of Percentage of Total Population living in Houses of Population. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. 305,881 17,854 94,529 69,598 5-8 30-9 22-8 This table shows that at the date of the 1911 census 181,981 persons, or nearly 60 per cent, of the total population, were living in houses of three rooms and under, and that 112,383 persons, or 36-7 per cent, of the total population, were living in houses of one and two rooms. 724. We have referred to the methods of estimating general overcrowding according to the number of persons per room. The following table shows the figures for Edinburgh in 1911 :— Total Number of Persons living more than Percentage of Total Population living more than Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Four in a Room. Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Four in a Room. 99,773 38,851 12,402 32-6 12-7 4-1 This table shows that according to a standard which regards as overcrowded any room containing more than three persons — a standard which we think cannot be regarded as an unduly high one — there are nearly 39,000 people in Edinburgh living in overcrowded conditions. 725. Our evidence, while showing that overcrowding does exist in individual houses in Edinburgh, contains no detailed account of specific instances of overcrowding. One witness, however, from Edinburgh gives the following two instances of overcrowding that were within his own knowledge : — -In one house consisting oi a room and kitchen there were fourteen occupants. In another case a father and mother, a grown-up son and daughter, and three younger children occupied a tenement house of a room and a kitchen, while at the time of witness's visit another child lay dead in the room of the house. (Lome Campbell, 19,457 (19).) We have no doubt that conditions similar to those existing in the other large towns next described can also be found in Edinburgh. Glasgow. 726. Instead of preparing from the census similar tables for Glasgow to those set out above for Edinburgh as regards the number of houses of one, two, and three rooms, and the number of persons living in such houses, we give some tables from a special summary of the Glasgow census returns prepared 104 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. by the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Chalmers. The first table shows the number of houses of one, two, and three, etc., rooms, and the population occupying these houses, in 1911. It is as follows : — Glasgow, Inhabited Houses. Population. Persons Census 1911. Per House. Per Room. One room .... Two rooms Three rooms Four rooms Five rooms and upwards . 32,742 75,-536 30,775 10,817 13,194 104,641 367,341 160,083 54,238 73,311 3-196 4-863 5-202 5-014 5-556 3-196 2-432 1-734 1-254 0-761 163,064 759,614 4-658 1-827 From this table it will be seen that there are over 32,000 one-room houses in Glasgow, and that over 100,000 of the population are accommodated in such houses, also that there are over 108,000 one- and two-room houses in which over 470,000 people dwell. 727. The second table shows the number of inhabitants per rotim in houses of various sizes in the years 1891, 1901, and 1911 :— Size of House. 1891, Old City. 1891, Extended City. 1901. 1911. All sizes .... 2-033 1-865 1-846 1-827 One room .... 3-232 3-257 3-183 3-196 Two rooms .... 2-475 2-489 2-463 . 2-432 Three rooms 1-839 1-827 1-803 1-734 Four rooms 1-407 1-363 1-332 1-254 Five rooms and upwards . 0-882 0-801 0-787 0-761 The latter table shows that except in the one-apartment houses a decrease in the number of inhabitants per room has been recorded since the 1901 census. The increase in the number of inhabitants per one-room house, as shown by the 1911 census over the 1901 returns, is however principally due to the fact that in the period between the two censuses the burgh of Kinning Park was absorbed in Glasgow, and that burgh had a much larger proportion of its population housed in single rooms than the city itself, the percentage being 22 as against 14 for the city. (Dr. Chalmers's Report on Glasgow Census.) 728. The following further table prepared by Dr. Chalmers shows the percentage of houses of different sizes and the percentage of the population occupying each class of house :— Percentage of House s Percentage of Population of different Size. occupying each Class. Sizes of Houses. 1891. 1891.* 1901. 1911. 1891. 1891.* 1901. 1911. One room 26-4 24-8 21-1 20-1 18-1 16-9 14-1 13-8 Two rooms 45-3 44-3 45-6 46-3 47-5 46-2 47-1 48-4 Three rooms . 16-9 16-8 18-1 18-9 19-7 19-2 20-5 21-1 Four rooms 6-1 6-6 7-0 6-6 7-2 7-6 7-9 7-1 Five rooms and upwards . 5-4 7-5 8-3 8-1 7-6 10-1 10-6 9-7 * Ext^ded aty. As will be seen, columns have been added in the table to show the changes which were effected in the 1891 census figures by the extension oi the city in November 1891. This table shows that in 1911 over 62 per cent, of the total population of Glasgow were living in houses of one and two rooms, compared with 36-7 per cent, in Edinburgh, 63-1 per cent, in Dundee, 38-6 per cent, in Aberdeen, and 47-9 per cent, in all Scotland. The table also shows that 66-4 per cent, of the houses are of one and two rooms, compared with 41-5 per cent, in Edinburgh, 69-9 per cent, in Dundee, 46-6 per cent, in Aberdeen, and 53-2 per cent, in all Scotland. The outstanding features of the table, says Dr. Chalmers in his special report on the Glasgow census, are the continuous diminution over several decades of the proportion of the single-apartment population and the steady concentration REPORT. 105 in houses of two and three apartments. He also explains that the greater decrease in single apartments between 1891 and 1901 compared with 1901 and 1911 is accounted for by the clearance during the former period of considerable areas scheduled under the City Improvements Act of 1897. 729. The following table, to correspond with that already given for Edinburgh, shows the number and percentage of persons as at the 1911 census living more than two in a room, more than three in a room, and more than four in a room, and gives a general idea of the overcrowding that exists :— Total Number of Persons living more than Percentage of Total Population living more than Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Four in a Room. Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Four in a Room. 420,188 210,270 80,954 55-7 27-9 10-7 According to the three persons per room standard already mentioned, this table shows that over 200,000 people in Glasgow are living in overcrowded conditions. 730. As we have just said, this table gives a general idea of the overcrowding that exists, but, as such statistics do not convey any clear indication of the actual overcrowding, we now submit some details of actual cases that have been brought to our notice. 731. There are two types of overcrowding which may be referred to, one which may be termed " domestic overcrowding," where the requisite amount of cubic space is available, but where there are not rooms sufficient to secure adequate separation of the sexes or reasonable working room for the housewife. The second type we may term " statutory overcrowding," where the cubic space per person is deficient. In the former type, so long as the necessary amount of cubic space is provided, the law takes no cognisance of the sex or age of the occupants. A large family of growing boys and girls may with their parents be accommodated in two rooms, and the Local Authority cannot object so long as there is sufficient cubic capacity. The Medical Officer of Health, Dr Chalmers, gives several examples of this form of overcrowding. He says :- — I find one two-apartment house with 11 persons in it, five of whom are males over ten years old and three females over ten. In another two-apartment house there were 8^ persons (two males and four females over ten) ; 11 persons (six males and four females over ten ); 9 persons (four males and three females over ten) ; 9 persons (two males and six females over ten) ; 9 persons (three males and five females over ten) ; 9 persons (four males and three females over ten) ; 10^ persons (six males and one female over ten) ; lOJ persons (six males and three females over ten) ; 10^ persons (three males and seven females over ten) ; 9^ persons (three males and four females over ten). These are all two-room houses. I think that is the peculiar significance of it, for even amongst a respectable class of the population you have not house-room sufficient to afford suitable sleeping accommodation for both sexes, apart altogether from the question of pressure on cubic space. (Chalmers, 20,337.) This experience is supported by that of Miss Rutherfurd, who says that there is a great deal of domestic overcrowding, too large families living in a room and kitchen. (Rutherfurd, 22,187.) The Inspector of Poor of Glasgow instances a case where in a two-apartment house " the daughter (aged 21) was recently ' found to be sleeping with her father (aged 49) and brother (aged 19), and did not appear to think there ' was anything unusual in this." He stated that this was a type of case commonly found by his inspectors. (Motion, 20,919, 20,924-5.) 732. One result of this domestic overcrowding is stated by another Glasgow witness to be that " the children are forced out of doors to give the housewife room to work." " This to me," he says, " is the saddest result of wretched housing. In my evening visitation I find the children everywhere ' — sitting in the closes and on the stairs, trying to play, often half asleep, on bitter winter nights." (Rev. D. Watson, 22,379 (8).) 733. The same witness, referring to the want of adequate " house-room," mentions this as one cause of the break-up of the home life. To quote his own words :■ — I go into a house at 6 o'clock in the evening when three or four young lads all come in from their work ; they are all wanting to wash, and there is no place for them to wash except the sink, and there is a table set for six or seven or eight, and they are all crowded round it, and you cannot wonder at this irritation working on them in the case of over-density of population. He admitted that in some cases a larger house could be taken, but in others the wages earned by the yoimger members of the family as apprentices were small, and that a large sum was required for clothing and food. (Watson, 22,402-4.) 734. Another Glasgow witness (the Sub-Warden of the University Students' Settlement), speaking of the overcrowding in the small houses, cited a case where a medical student in residence at the Settle- ment attended the confinement of a woman whose children were at play in the same room, there being only that place for them to occupy. The same witness instanced a case where he had been called at midnight to attend the bedside of a dying girl. He found she was occupying the only available bed, and the remaining five members of the family could not, had they wished, have gone to rest. (Coultate, 23,780 (21).) 735. As instances of statutory overcrowding as distinct from what we have termed domestic overcrowding we may quote the foUowing : — 106 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (1) Six persons residing in a one-apartment house — one of them a girl of eighteen about to be confined. (Motion, 20,919.) (2) In a tiny house were three men, three women, and one child. (Rutherfurd, 22,184.) (3) Single-apartment house containing (a) man, wife, and two children who sleep in the bed, and (b) another man, his wife and five children, who sleep on the floor. (Motion, Appendix LXXV.) (4) The following case of gross overcrowding of sick people is taken from a Report, dated 20th .January 191 1 , to the Local Government Board by one of their Medical Inspectors, Dr Dittmar : — " In one case visited, where the father was suffering from phthisis, there were in the two-apartment ' house, besides himself, his wife and seven children, from seventeen years to one year of age. . . . His wife was paralysed on one side, and had been in this state since the birth of the first child. Of the children, the eldest, a girl, had facial lupus, a skin disease of tubercular nature, and a second child of five years suffered from hip-joint disease, also of tubercular origin. . . . They slept as follows :■ — In the kitchen bed were the father, with phthisis, the half -paralysed mother, the little girl with tubercular hip-joint disease, and the baby one year old ; in the bed in the room slept the others (five in number), one of them with facial lupus." (See 20,861.) (5) The Rev. Dr Watson, Glasgow, stated that there was gross overcrowding in many of the single-apartment houses, but in some cases it was due to the kindness of heart of the occupiers of the house, who " are very kind to their neighbours in distress, and they will take them in with ' children." One such case he instanced where a single-apartment house was tenanted by a husband and wife and two children aged about eight and ten years. In addition, there were a man and his wife. This man was out of work, and "had sold everything or eaten it up," and so the first family " had just taken them in." (22,451.) Dundee. 736. The statistics for Dundee show that, in so far as the proportion of one-room houses forms a test, the standard of family life is lower than in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, but not quite so low as in Glasgow. The number of one-room houses shows, however, a considerable reduction since 1901, but they still total over 6550, or 16-9 per cent, of the total houses in the city, and they are occupied by 9-9 per cent, of the population. A very large proportion of the houses, rather more than half (53-2 per cent.), are of two rooms, and house over a half of the total population. 737. The details as at the 1911 census will be found in the following two tables : — Total Number of Houses in Dundee. Number of Houses of Percentage of Total Number of Houses ha\'ing One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. 38,637 6,553 20,503 6,677 16-9 53-0 17-3 Total Population Population hving in Houses of Percentage of Total Population hving in Houses of of Dundee. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. 160,489 15,854 85,324 34,678 9-9 53-2 21-5 These tables show the extraordinarily large percentage at the 1911 census of practically 70 per cent, of the total number of houses in Dundee as being of one and two rooms, while over 63 per cent, of the population are housed in these houses, or, to put it another way, out of a population of 164,000 persons, over 100,000 are living in one- and two-room houses. 738. The statistics as to the number of persons living more than two in a room, more than three in a room, and more than four in a room, are shown in the following table :— Total Number of Persons living more than Percentag e of Total Population living moi'e than Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Foui- in a Room. Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Four in a Room. 77,376 32,086 9,817 48-2 20-0 6-1 REPORT. 107 According to the three persons per room standard, it will be seen from this table that over 32,000 persons are living in overcrowded conditions in Dundee. 739. That there is a great deal of overcrowding in Dundee is clear from our evidence. Low wages abound, and the overcrowding in many cases is not so much wilful as unavoidable, the wages of the worker being inadequate to procure more suitable accommodation. These observations may fairly be applied to many parts of the cities and towns of Scotland. It may be, too, that the fact that so many married women are employed in the mills in Dimdee results in their physical inability to attend to and manage a house of more than two rooms. {Of. Walker, 35,103 (30).) 740. The following are examples of overcrowding in Dundee in one- and two-room houses given by the representatives of the Dundee Social Union, and discovered in November and December 1912 :— One-room House.- — Couple and five children. House very bad condition — most miserably furnished. Husband a labourer, idle at present, wife works in the mills. She has had ten children, four dead, one girl in Industrial School. One-room House. — Ten people housed. Husband a labourer, wages 15s. 6d. House very dirty — wife does not work. She has had nine children, of whom three died under one year. The oldest boy is fourteen. Two girls, lodgers, living in house as well as the family. One-room House. — Couple and six children ; house dirty ; man's wages 21s. One-room House. — Wife and five children. Husband a seaman, and goes away with the whalers. House very dirty— no open windows. No sanitary arrangements nearer than end of close. Wife does not work, but draws half pay. One-room House. — Couple and seven children. House dark and dirty- — in a miserable condition. Husband a hawker, wife a spinner. Two-room House. — Couple and five children. Back room very dark owing to outside stair to flat above. Condition very bad. Husband an umbrella maker, work irregular. The wife a hawker. She has had twelve children, of whom seven are dead. (Walker, 35,103 (23).) 741. As examples of the domestic overcrowding referred to, we cite the following cases : — A deserted wife, her brother, and three children, in one room ; a couple with their daughter and her illegitimate child in one attic ; a father and grown-up daughter in one room ; a father and two daughters, both working, living in a single room. (Walker, 35,103 (24).) 742. The witness who furnished particulars of these cases stated that there can be little doubt that such overcrowding tends to increase immorality, the want of privacy lowering the ideal of modesty for the adolescent boys and girls. The conditions have also an extremely grave effect on the children, more especially in cases where immorality may be practised in the houses. The evidence given in the Children's Court proves this. {Ibid., 35,103 (25) ; cf. Williamson, 36,093 (131).) 743. In dealing with overcrowding in Glasgow we have instanced cases of persons suffering from phthisis and living in these overcrowded conditions. Similar conditions can be foxmd in all the large towns, and it is clear that few — if any— of the one- and two-room houses are suitable for such cases. Some instances from Dundee were given. It is sufficient to quote one :■ — A boy of nine suffering from advanced phthisis. Home a poor one, situated in a narrow lane with high buildings. The house is two-roomed ; the kitchen is, however, so small that both beds are in the inner room. There are five children in addition to the father and mother. The father has been irregularly employed. The father and mother sleep in one bed, the baby in a cot. The other four children sleep together in the remaining bed, three at the top, and the phthisical boy at the foot. (Walker, 35,103 (27).) 744. We have said that in Dundee the overcrowding in many cases is not so much wilful as unavoid- able. Some instances are quoted, however, of what might appear to be avoidable overcrowding ; but without knowing more of the family circumstances, one cannot express a definite opinion. The amoimt of wage earned or the weekly income cannot, we think, by itself form the basis of any sound judgment as to whether or not the occupants are able to afford the rent of a larger house. Before any just opinion could be formed, one would require to know what are the legitimate demands on the family income. The cases we refer to, which are quoted subject to the above reservations, are as follows : — (1) One room, seven persons ; father a bricklayer, earning 18s. to 35s. a week, two daughters working as shifters in a mill. (2) Two rooms ; father, mother, and seven children ; two of the children working ; total earnings of workers 37s. lOd. to 40s. 4d. per week. (Walker, 35,103 (29).) 745. Dealing with the question of overcrowding, the Medical Officer of Health of the City says that on an average during the ten years previous to June 1914, sixty cases of overcrowding had been discovered annually, and only eight prosecutions per year have followed, the sanitary officers having in the other cases secured the necessary improvement without prosecuting. (Templeman, 35,836 (34).) Aberdeen. 746. In Aberdeen we find a quite favourable position in relation to the other large cities. It has a distinctly smaller proportion of one-room houses. 747. About a tenth of the dwellings in Aberdeen are of one room, and these are occupied by about one-twentieth of the population. (M. Hay, 41,334 (127).) Within the last thirty years the number of one-room houses has markedly dechned by about 40 per cent., while, during the same period, two- room houses have increased by 40 per cent., three-room houses by 115 per cent., and four-room houses by 120 per cent. There has thus been a steady flow of the population into larger houses. {Ihid., 41,334 (128) ; cf. also Appendix CXLI.) 748. The following tables correspond to those prepared and printed above for the other cities, and the figures are taken from the 1911 census returns. 108 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Total Number of Houses in Aberdeen. Number of House s of Percentage of Total Number of Houses having One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. One Room. • Two Rooms. Three Rooms. 36,159 3534 13,311 10,086 9-8 36-8 27-9 Total Population Population living in Houses of Percentage of Total Population living in Houses of of Aberdeen. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. 158,247 7660 53,516 50,614 4-8 33-8 32-0 749. The number of one-room houses is 3534, or 9-8 per cent, of the total number of houses in the city. Only 4-8 per cent, of the population Uve in such houses, as compared with 6-1 per cent, in Edin- burgh, 13-8 per cent, in Glasgow, and 9-9 per cent, in Dundee. According to Dr Matthew Hay, Medical Officer of Health of the City, fully one-half of the one-room houses in Aberdeen are occupied by single persons, and in the remaining half 817 of the houses have only two occupants each. Thus in about two-thirds of the one-room houses the occupants do not exceed two. (M. Hay, 41,334 (129).) 750. It will be seen from the table that of the total number of houses in the city, 46-6 per cent, are of one and two rooms, housing 38-6 per cent, of the population. These figures compare very favourably with the figures given for Glasgow and Dundee, though they are somewhat higher than those given for Edinburgh. 751. The statistics as to number of persons living more than two in a room, more than three in a room, and more than four in a room, are shown in the following table : — ^ Total Number of Persons living more than Percentage of the Total Population living more than Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Four in a Room. Two in a Room. Three in a Room. Four in a Room. 59,879 19,505 3446 37-8 12-3 2-3 According to the three persons per room standard, this table shows that nearly 20,000 persons in Aber- deen are living in overcrowded conditions. 752. Speaking on the subject of overcrowding, the Medical Officer of Health says that where over- crowding exists it is present in the great number of the cases in only a slight degree, judged by the stan- dard of 400 cubic feet per person, as, for example, when there is one child above the permitted number. In very few cases is the overcrowding due to the presence of lodgers. In most cases it is caused by the famAly being too numerous for the house. Only in a few cases is there gross overcrowding. (M. Hay, 41,334 (106), 41,430.) Paisley, Leith, and Greenock. 753. After Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen, the chief towns are Paisley, Leith, and Greenock, each with a population over 70,000. We do not propose in these three cases to enter into the same detail in discussing overcrowding as we have done in the case of the four larger cities. Considera- tions of space forbid this, and accordingly we shall deal with the subject more generally. 754. We think, however, it will be interesting to show in tabular form the percentage of houses of one, two, and three rooms in each of the three towns, and the percentage of the total population living in such houses. The figures are taken from the 1911 census. REPORT. 109 Name of Town. Percentage of Total Houses having Percentage of Total Population Uving in Houses of One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. One Room. Two Rooms. Three Rooms. Paisley Leith . Greenock . 18-9 8-2 14-1 50-7 45-2 47-7 17-5 24-1 21-6 12-0 5-4 10-0 53-0 44-5 48-9 20-8 26-0 23-5 This table shows that Paisley has a very large proportion of one- and two-room houses and of the population hving in such houses ; there are no less than 69-6 per cent, of the total number of houses of one and two rooms, while 65 per cent, of the population live in such houses. The corresponding figures for Greenock are 61-8 per cent, and 58-9 per cent, respectively, and for Leith 53-4 per cent, and 49-9 per cent. 755. According to the three persons per room standard of overcrowding already referred to, the census returns show that in 1911 in Paisley over 24,000 persons were living in overcrowded conditions, over 20,000 in Greenock, and over 14,000 in Leith. 756. The overcrowding in Paisley, we are told, has come largely from the action of the Local Authority in condemning and closing old houses. The new houses are said to be too expensive for the class of people dispossessed, who belong to the poorest class of the population, who are poor either because of small earnings, irregular employment, sickness, careless living and improvidence, drink, or a combina- tion of any or all of these. (Kelso, 37,911 (9), (22).) The overcrowding, says the Sanitary Inspector, runs parallel with the poverty of the people, though at the same time there are cases where the income would certainly permit of a bigger rent. He admitted, however, that of all the overcrowded houses that he dealt with, nearly the half of the overcrowding was in one-room houses, and that while there was a number of empty two-room houses available, the difficulty was that the population had not the means to go into these larger houses. (Kelso, 37,992, 37,993, 38,053.) 757. So far as Leith is concerned, it is, according to the Sanitary Inspector, "remarkably free from ' overcrowding," judged by the cubic space standard. The figures we have already quoted show, however, how imreliable this method is as an indication of the real overcrowding. Overcrowding, the Sanitary Inspector says, is rarely found due to the keeping of lodgers. As a rule, the persons occupying over- crowded houses are all members of the same family. He added, however, that he knew some one-room houses occupied by young men and women as well as their parents where apparently the cubic space standard was compUed with. (Bishop, 5996 (16), 6104-5, 6180, etc.) 758. The overcrowding in Greenock at the time of our visit in June 1914 was, according to witnesses, nothing short of a scandal. The Medical Officer of Health reported that all available houses had been taken up, and that in many instances two and even more families were sharing one house. The over- crowding, he said, existed to an alarming extent. (Cook, 33,203 (14 f.).) We find, for example, that although the number of one-room houses had fallen since 1891, yet there were, at the date of our visit, eight hundred more persons hving in single rooms than twenty years ago. The two-room houses, though they had been increased in number by nearly 1000, were also said to be more crowded than they used to be. (Devine, 33,207 (19-21).) 759. The Sanitary Inspector gave the following particulars : — Overcrowding prevails to an alarming extent. Four famiUes, consisting of sixteen persons, were recently found in a two-room house. In another case, two famihes, consisting of fourteen persons, were found occupying a one-room house. In many parts of the town famihes occupy sublet rooms, no fewer than eight families having been discovered occupying such rooms in a property containing twenty-four dweUing-houses, and three families in a property of a similar size. {Ibid., 33,207 (3).) 760. The representatives of the Greenock Housing Coimcil instanced the following case : — In one bed were a man and his wife and two children. In the other bed in the same room there was a young woman, a servant girl temporarily out of a place, an absolute stranger to the couple. Through this room passed in and out of the room beyond two other couples, using of course the one sink in the kitchen. ... It was asserted by the couple that this was the only shelter they could find. (CampbeU, 33,007 (19) ; Smith, 33,092.) 761. As a result of these conditions, complaint was made to the Local Grovemment Board, who, after inquiry, reported that there was such a scarcity of houses that those which were admittedly un- healthy could not be closed ; that there was overcrowding in the burgh to an alarming extent ; and also that there was a great dearth of houses for labourers and artisans. (Walker Smith, 41,557 (3).) 762. The beginning of this condition of overcrowding appears to have occurred during a period of bad trade, when, owing to poverty, the people were unable to pay rent and herded together. Un- fortunately, the period of prosperity which has since overtaken Greenock has not remedied matters, as the sudden influx of population has created a genuine dearth of houses, and considerably aggravated the evil. Instances of Overcrowding in other Towns. 763. We have dealt above with the seven large towns, but overcrowding is not of course confined to them. In most of the industrial burghs it is prevalent, and even in many of the smaller burghs it no ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. is by no means uncommon. We do not propose to go in any detail into the question of overcrowding in these other towns. The problem is much the same, whether it be in the great cities or in the smaller burghs, but we think some cases should be cited as shewing the overcrowding outwith the seven large burghs. 764. In Wishaw, the representative of the local Trades and Labour Coimcil told us there was a con- siderable amount of overcrowding. He mentioned the following cases : — In one-room houses : — 3 adults : father and two daughters. 5 ,, widow, two sons, daughter, and male lodger. widow, two male lodgers ; small shop. man, wife, two sons, daughter (age 17). man, wife, two male lodgers. widow, son, two male lodgers. In two-room houses : — 2 adults : 4 children- — 3 children working. 8 „ 4 „ — man, wife, 2 sisters and 4 brothers of wife, 4 children. (Downie, 41,250 (36) (10).) 765. The following case is reported by a Salvation Army Officer in Dumfries, who gave evidence before us : — I was called into a house . . . where a child was lying dead in the room and another was dying in the same room. There were two difierent famihes there. There were at least seven persons in that room where the one child was lying dead and the other child was dying. It was just on the one floor, and there appeared to be three rooms between them, but it seemed from observa- tion that they all lived in the one room. It was their one common sitting-room, and a very small room^ it was. (Carter, 13,540.) 766. Another case is reported from Wick, where, during the height of the fishing season, overcrowding is very prevalent. In the case referred to, there were accommodated in one room six women and three children, and at the week-ends there were three men in addition, husbands of three of the women. (Mac- donald, 16,379.) We are also informed that during the fishing season of 1912, in Wick, there were 238 houses in which 322 rooms were occupied as lodgings by 281 men, 560 women, and 93 children. (Appendix CLXXIX.) 767. The following cases are reported from Hamilton : — Single-apartment house, 1263 cubic feet, occupied by husband, wife, and four children. Single-apartment house, 1058 cubic feet, occupied by labourer and his adult daughter. Single-apartment house, 1028 cubic feet, occupied by three adults and one child. (Appendix No. V.) House of 3 rooms, inhabited by eleven persons. (Appendix No. CLXXV.) House of 3 rooms, inhabited by widow and two little children and four male lodgers. (Appendix CLXXV.) 768. A case of domestic overcrowding as distinct from statutory overcrowding is given by the Sanitary Inspector of Inverness Burgh, who stated that he had found a one-room dwelhng with ten persons in it. The most of these were children. The cubic capacity of the room was over 3000 feet, and consequently on the usual cubic space standard of 400 cubic feet per adult and 200 per child the house was not overcrowded ! (Knowles, 14,489, etc.) 769. While overcrowding prevails in many of the large towns, it should be noted that the census and other returns show that there is in these towns a certain number of vacant houses. No definite information is available as to the condition of these houses, but, as we have already indicated in Chapter III., dealing with the estimated shortage of houses, it is certain that many of them are not fit for human habitation, while many houses are inhabited that are not so fit. Dealing with this point, Mr Bunson, one of the representatives of the Edinburgh and District Trades' Council, says : — 770. " There is a quite a lot of vacant property, but you find that the best available at the money is ' always occupied. There is quite a lot of property that is vacant in Edinburgh that no one would care ' to go into imlesB he was compelled to. The vacant property is in the more midesirable streets." (Eunson, 18,241.) 771. We notice from the lieport of the Scottish Land Enquiry Committee (page 406) that Dr Chalmers, Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow, states (in 1914) that there were 10,000 uninhabitable houses in Glasgow, and that the Convener of the City Improvement Trust stated that other 10,000 were on the verge of being uninhabitable. In giving evidence before us, Dr Chalmers stated that there were 40,000 people in Glasgow who should be dishoused, 28,000 of them because their houses ought to be demohshed, and 12,000 of them because their houses should be repaired. {Cf. Chalmers, 20,355-20,360.) 772. In some of the towns, especially the larger ones, there are also, no doubt, a considerable number of empty houses m certain districts which have become imdesirable from a residential point of view, but are necessarily not available for the working people. Influence of Oveeorowding on Health. 773. From the account given above of the overcrowding of houses on sites and of the overcrowding in the houses, it will be gathered that the conditions described are extremely prejudicial to the health of the people who live in such overcrowded surroundings. The congestion of houses on the site results in want of fresh air and sunhght in the houses — a serious defect when regard is had to the necessity of these for the preservation of good health — ^and the absence of proper playgrounds and open spaces for the REPORT. Ill children is bound to affect their health and retard their full development. That the absence of play- grounds is attended with danger to life and limb of children has already been shown by the evidence of a witness from Paisley (see Chapter VIII., Paragraph 490.) (Hair, 38,424 (2).) 774. In connection with the absence of playing space for the children, Dr Russell says, in the lecture from which we have already quoted (Paragraph 705) : — There is also a sad want of play space for the little children in Glasgow. ... I shall have something more to say on behalf of the children when I come to speak of various forms of private beneficence, but I wish our authorities would think a Uttle more of the toddling " things " who cannot walk to our parks, and whose mothers have not time to carry them thither. One often stumbles over them creeping about dark lobbies, and many a time one has to pick his steps care- fully so as not to interfere with their attempts to play at houses on the stairs. If they venture further, they will find only the dead air and nauseous environments of the back courts or the dangerous street. 775. That the absence of playing spaces for the children of Glasgow is still pronounced is shown by the evidence of the Rev. Dr Watson and Dr Chalmers, referred to in Chapter VIII., Paragraphs 491 and 492. 776. The overcrowding in the houses, with the attendant vitiated and impure atmosphere, must deteriorate the physique and resisting power of the occupants, while in certain forms of disease the opportunity for spread of infection is greatly increased. 777. While all this is so, it is seldom possible to show statistically the amount of sickness and im- paired or poor health due directly to overcrowding or the improvement in health due to the removal of the overcrowding. The overcrowding is one of several factors predisposing to or causing the ill-health, and it is not possible to assign to each factor its definite proportion or share of the resultant ill-health. The Medical Officer of Health of Aberdeen points out that it is imsafe to lay too much emphasis on the apparent relations between size of house and the incidence of disease and death. Other important factors, he says, are involved, such as poverty, alcohohsm, venereal disease, " and the unavoidable descent ' of human wreckage to the cheapest, and consequently the smallest and least attractive, houses." (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (225).) While agreeing that bad housing must influence health in a deleterious way, he said that it is not possible to give any convincing statistical proof of the effect of housing on health. {Ibid., 4:1,4:71, 41,480.) Asimilar warning was given bv the Medical Officer of Health of Dimdee. (Templeman, 35,836 (35), 35,883; cf. Wilson, 37,078; and Appendix CXXIX. (4).) 778. Accordingly we do not propose — even if the amount of evidence on the point justified us — to enter in any detail into a discussion of health statistics as affected by overcrowding. We think, however, that some of the statistics that have been laid before us are worth referring to, even though they may not be accepted in their entirety as showing the effects of overcrowding on health. 779. Striking statistics are furnished by Dr Maxwell Williamson, Medical Officer of Health of Edinburgh, showing the death-rates before and after demolition of certain areas which were the subject of Improvement Schemes imder the Housing of the Working Classes Acts. He states that a few years ago certain areas, comprising 14 acres, and consisting of densely populated dwellings, were dealt with in various parts of the city. In all cases the old densely populated tenements were acquired and removed, and new dwellings were erected in their place. The outcome, so far as health conditions were involved, was, he states, of a most satisfactory nature. The general death-rate fell from 45 to 15 per 1000. , The zymotic „ „ 9 ,, 1 „ The phthisis „ „ 3-8 „ 0-4 „ . Other tuberculosis „ ,, 7-1 ,, 0-4 „ (Maxwell Williamson, 5539 (7), 5560-3.) In examination, however, the witness admitted that the great reduction in the death-rate was not among the same people, a better class of people occupying the reconstructed houses. But, he added in a subsequent examination, that although other factors beside housing came into play, he believed that housing per se had a very important effect on health. {Ibid., 40,716 ; cf. Young, 40,434 (7) ; Chalmers, 20,319-20.) The same witness gave individual instances of the improvement effected. In one district, which consisted of five tenement dwellings of an old type " subdivided to the last degree and so disposed ' as to prevent a sufficiency of sunlight or natural ventilation reaching them," the death-rate was so high as 52 per 1000. After the area had been cleared and new houses of a healthy type erected, the death-rate fell to 15 per 1000. {Ibid., 5539 {8).) 780. Dr Wilhamson also furnished statistics showing the high infantile mortality rate in dense localities as compared with that in less crowded districts, and the high death-rate in the wards of the city having the greater number of one- and two-room houses as compared with that in the wards having a smaller proportion of such rooms. The same relationship he found to exist between the sickness rate as gauged by the' prevalence of phthisis and the density of tenement dwellings, 59 per cent, of the cases of that disease occurring in the city taking place in houses of one or two rooms. {Ibid., 5539 (33)-(40) ; cf. Eimson and Wilson, 17,947a (14)-(19).) In another part of this Report (see Chapter VIII. on Tenements) figures given by this witness have been reproduced showing the much lower death-rate in houses of the cottage type as compared with that in crowded tenements. {Ibid., 5539 (47) (48).) 781. We have already referred to the large number of one- and two-room houses in Glasgow and the large proportion of the population that lives in such houses, and in the chapter (XL) on One-room Houses are quoted statistics submitted by the Medical Officer of Health showing how the death-rate diminishes as the number of rooms in the house increases. (Chalmers, 20,158, 20,169, 20,324.) 782. The Medical Officer of Health of Dundee, while, as already indicated, not desiring to draw any special conclusions as regards housing from mortality statistics, states that it appeared to him to be a significant fact that if inquiry were made into the history of those families, in which the death of an infant had occurred, in order to ascertain the fate of other children bom, it would be found that the 112 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. infant mortality in these families had been enormous. He had investigated this matter from his returns for the past six years ; and, ascertaining the number of children living, the number who had died, and the number who had died in the first year of life, he f oimd that in none of these years had the mortality in those families in which an infant died been less than 400 per 1000 births. An inquiry into this mortality for the three years 1907 to 1909 showed, he said, that the families living in houses of one room in which the infant had died gave a mortality of 535 per 1000 births, those living in houses of two rooms a mortality of 407 per 1000, and those living in houses of three rooms 379 per 1000. (Templeman, 35,836 (36), (37), 35,879.) 783. The Medical Officer of Health of Aberdeen (Dr Matthew Hay) gives certain mortality statistics relating to three of the wards in that city. These are set forth in Chapter VIII., Paragraphs 508 et seq.', and it is not necessary to repeat them here. They show that in the better housed oi these wards the mortality rates are much less than in the remaining ward where the housing conditions are bad, and that, as Dr Hay says, it is difficult to believe that a considerable part of the difference is not due to differences in housing conditions. 784. Figures are also given by Dr Hay shomng the infant mortality in relation to density of room occupancy. The figures are compiled from special reports prepared on infant mortality in Aberdeen in 1907 and 1908. They show particularly how much more the bottle-fed infant suffers from inferior housing and social conditions. The figures show also that the death-rate among infants in the smaller and more crowded houses is very much higher than in the larger houses^ — five to six times higher, for example, among bottle-fed babies in one-room houses than among the same group of babies in houses of five rooms and upwards. Tables are also submitted to show that the percentage of fatal cases among all known cases of scarlet fever, measles, and whooping-cough (or the case mortality as it is termed) is highest in one-room houses, and steadily declines with the increase of the size of the house. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (209) eiseg.) 785. Medical Officers of Health of county areas report similar differences of mortality among well- housed and badly-housed populations. Thus the Medical Officer of Health of Kenfrewshire pointed out that, while the mean infantile death-rate of the upper district of the county, in 1913, was 81 deaths imder one year per 1000 births, and while in some areas in that district, chiefly with villa populations, there were no deaths under one year, in other districts the rate was very high. In one village where the population is entirely packed away in old-fashioned tenements, with one-apartment houses constituting 25 per cent, of the whole, the infantile death-rate was 231 ; in another place, where 21 per cent, of the population occupy one-apartment houses, the infantile death-rate was 133 ; and so on. On the other hand (and this is very striking), in a model village belonging to the Glasgow and South-Westem Railway Company, in which the houses are all of three apartments, there were no deaths under one year in 1913. The witness adds, however : — The death-rates mentioned are not specially associated with the one-apartment house ; they are essentially due to the poverty and the frequently degraded habits of the population which drifts into the one-apartment house. An interesting contrast is revealed by the same witness in the statistics relating to one village, which, however, he divides into two portions, north and south, each being separated from the other only by a highway ; the north portion consists of cottage dwellings ; there are no one-apartment houses, only 2 per cent, of two-apartment houses, 81 per cent, are of five apartments. In the south portion 7 per cent, of the houses are of one-apartment, and 74 per cent, of two apartments. The infantile death-rate in the north portion of the village is only 37 ; in the south portion it is 100. (Campbell Mimro, 37,370 (82-83).) 786. On the question of overcrowding we again quote from the late Dr Russell. Discussing the question of density or over-density of population as affecting health, he says in the lecture before re- ferred to (Paragraphs 705 and 774) : — This means that in the various relations of our lives we are more apt to jostle against and interfere with one another either for good or for evil. As I confine myself at once to physical relations, it is obvious that we are more apt to interfere with one another to our mutual disadvantage. This is absolutely and universally true as regards a physical evil. Take infectious diseases as a typical illustration. Throughout the community as a whole infection, which means the passage of a material something from person to person, must take place in proportion to their average proximity. It is those small houses which produce the high death-rate of Glasgow. It is those small houses which give to that death-rate the striking characteristics of an enormous proportion of deaths in childhood, and of deaths from diseases of the lungs at all ages. There exhausted air and poor and perverse feeding fill our streets with bandy-legged children. There you will find year after year a death-rate of 38 per 1000, while in the districts with larger houses it is only 16 or 17. Of all the children who die in Glasgow before they complete their fifth year, 32 per cent, die in houses of one apartment, and not 2 per cent, in houses of five apartments and upwards. There they die, and their little bodies are laid on a table or on the dresser, so as to be somewhat out of the way of their brothers and sisters, who play and sleep and eat in their ghastly company. 787. While making every allowance for the-xlifierences in the education, habits, and resources of the people occupying the different classes of houses, we think that a careful study of the statistics given leads irresistibly to the conclusion that a large part of the excess of mortality (and ill-health and poor physical development) in the smaller-sized houses is directly due to the congestion of the houses on the site and the insufficiency of house accommodation — intensified in cases of overcrowding. 788. Our view (stated in preceding paragraph) is supported by the results of the housing activities of the Corporation of Liverpool. On this point valuable information was given to us by Colonel Kyffin- Taylor, Chairman of the Corporation's Housing Committee. The statistics he furnished of death-rates, etc., prior to and after demolition of insanitary property are strictly comparable, as in the Corporation's housing schemes the great proportion of the inhabitants are rehoused on the same area. He told us, for example, that the general death-rate among the people formerly inhabiting insanitary courts fell from REPORT, 113 50 to 27 per 1000, a saving of life of nearly 50 per cent. ; also that the mortality rate from consumption in the Corporation dwellings was 1-9 per 1000, " whereas the rate amongst these very people when they 'inhabited insanitary court houses was 4 per^lOOO, a saving in life of over 50 per cent." (Kyffin-Taylor, 24,313 (75)-(84).) He was quite emphatic that the rehousing of the people imder happier conditions had materially contributed to the enormous reduction of sickness and disease that had taken place in Liverpool, and which would not have taken place had the work of clearing the insanitary areas and of rehousing the people not been done. The great reduction in infantile mortality was, he said, contem- poraneous with the period of sweeping demolition and rehousing, which must have contributed consider- ably in bringing about that reduction. {Ibid., 24,313 (74) (72).) Ticketing op Houses. 789. There is one special method of control of overcrowding which it may now be well to refer to. This is the system of ticketing houses and the subsequent inspection by the officials of the Local Authorities. Statutory Provisions as to Tichetiiig. 790. We have already set out in Chapter V. the provisions in the Burgh PoHce (Scotland) Act, 1903, for the control of overcrowding by means of ticketing houses. These provisions, as will be seen, are in operation only where they have been adopted by Town Councils, and they apply to houses of not more than three apartments, and only to such of these houses as contain 2400 cubic feet or less. The ticketing consists in affixing a ticket or other mark showing the number of persons who may sleep in the house. The number is calculated on the standard of 400 cubic feet for each person, two children under ten years of age being reckoned as one person. A defect of this statutory provision has already been pointed out in the Chapter on " Occupancy " (see Chapter X., Paragraph 618), viz. that, so long as the number of persons sleeping in the house does not exceed the total allowed by the ticket, there is apparently nothing to prevent all the persons sleeping in one of the rooms in the house, leaving the other or others vacant. While this is so, we do not think that it would be administratively possible to exercise such supervision as would prevent this practice, and accordingly we do not suggest any amendment of the section in question. 791. Similar provisions as to ticketiag are contained in the Glasgow and Edinburgh local Acts, the difierence from the general statute being that in Glasgow the maximum cubic space that may be ticketed is 2600 cubic feet, while in Edinburgh it is 2000 cubic feet. Dundee operates under the provisions of the Burgh Pohce Act, 1903, above referred to. (Templeman, 35,836 (33).) Li Aberdeen the system is not in operation, though there is power under a local Act to ticket the smaller houses. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (207).) Paisley operates imder a provision in a local Act similar to that in the Burgh Police Act, 1903. (Kelso, 37,911 (48).) Greenock has a local Act empowering ticketing (Devine, 33,311-12), the maximum cubic space being as in Edinburgh, 2000 cubic feet. In Leith ticketing is not in operation to any extent, but the powers of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, are available. (Bishop, 5996 (34).) In all other burghs the provisions of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, are available, but the practice of ticketing does not appear to be resorted to except in the larger towns. 792. In houses other than ticketed houses, houses let in lodgings, farmed-out houses, and common lodging-houses, there is no definite standard of overcrowding, and the Local Authority, if they desire to proceed against the occupier for overcrowding, must proceed under the Pubhc Health Act, and prove that the overcrowding is such as to be injurious or dangerous to health. As regards houses let in lodgings, farmed-out houses, and common lodging-houses. Local Authorities have power, as explained in Chapter v., to regulate the standard of cubic space by byelaws. In Glasgow, however, under a local Act of 1890 (the Glasgow Pohce Amendment Act, 1890, section 28), any dwelhng-house is deemed overcrowded if it is used for sleeping purposes by a greater number of persons than in the proportion of one person of the age of ten years or upwards for every 400 cubic feet of space, or of one person of an age less than ten years for every 200 cubic feet of space. Power is also given imder the same section for any persons authorised by the Corporation entering any dwelhng-house if they beheve that overcrowding exists. No similar provision exists in the general statutes. Origin and Practice of Ticketing. 793. The system of ticketing does not appear to be in operation to any large extent in England. It is said to be in operation in Bradford (Fyfe, 19,939 (a)), and there are ticketed, or sublet houses, as they are called, in Liverpool and Birmingham. (Hope, 24,673 ; Robertson, 24,885.) In Liverpool there is a staff of inspectors who do nothing else but visit the sublet houses and the common lodging-houses by day and night. (Hope, 24,674.) In Birmingham there is no night inspection. The Medical Officer of Health of that City has always resisted any proposal for such inspection. He does not think it is decent. But while there is no night inspection, he has what he thinks is nearly as good — a day inspection and a visit on Sunday mornings. The state of overcrowding, he says, can generally be seen on the Simday morning visit. ('Robertson, 24,885.) 794. As the system of ticketing, so far as Scotland is concerned, is in most extensive operation in Glasgow, we propose to describe its operation in that city. The procedure in other towns is much the same. According to the Sanitary Inspector of Glasgow, Mr Peter Fyfe, the ticketing process was started in 1866 in consequence of extensive outbreaks of typhus fever in the city due to the overcrowding that existed in small dwelling-houses. The reason for visiting these houses at night in order to ascertain what overcrowding, if any, is going on can best be given in Mr Fyfe's own words. He says : — If you ask these people how many are in when you call during the day, you get a very large number of false statements ; but when you go in at night, between 12 o'clock and 5 o'clock in the morning, the doors are usually closed, and you can count the number of people who are hving in these houses. Even then, you cannot always do it, because the one tells the other, and in some streets in Glasgow they are so friendly with one another, that whenever the night men appear at one end of the street the word passes round right through the street, and by the time they get to the closes 8 114 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. further on the inmates have all got up and are dressed, and your night's work in that particular street has failed. Sometimes the people have got into presses, into barrels, and into enclosed places above the bed — sometimes on the roof, hiding behind the chimney-head. {Ibid., 19,936 (a), 19,947.) 795. In answer to a question as to how he discriminated between houses that should and should not be ticketed, he said : — We do not do it with reference to houses ; we do it with reference to tenements. I never ticket where I do not have a suspicion that there is overcrowding going on, but wherever individuals, either from information from neighbours, or owing to a complaint, are suspected of overcrowding, I usually send the night inspectors at night to make a raid though the property, and we often find then when they open the door, after persistent knocking, whether our suspicions are valid. If so, we measure the houses and put these tickets on, after telUng the landlord that we are going to do so. (Ibid., 19,937.) 796. The ticketed houses in Glasgow are practically all one- or two-apartment houses, there being above 15,000 of the former and 7000 or thereby of the latter. (Fyfe, 19,870 (17) (19).) The ticketed houses are occupied by all classes of people, tradesmen, artisans, casual labourers, etc. (Fyfe, 19,968.) In the two years 1911 and 1912, overcrowding was foimd to exist in 6-5 per cent, of the total ticketed houses visited by the night inspectors, a large proportion being cases of overcrowding by the tenants' own famihes. Out of a total of 3005 overcrowded ticketed houses discovered in 1912, the Sanitary Inspector states that 470 had only one-half in excess, 1247 had one adult in excess, and 1288 had over one in excess. (Fyfe, 19,870 (20), 19,971-6.) 797. Through the courtesy of Mr Fyfe, who placed the services of his night inspectors at our disposal, we were enabled, during the late hours of the night and the early hours of the morning, to visit personally a number of these ticketed houses. There is a special stafE of inspectors for the purpose of the night inspection. Each stafE of three pairs of sanitary inspectors is expected to make 100 visits per night on four nights a week. They have a complete Ust of all the ticketed houses in the area. These houses they visit usually after midnight, continuing their systematic inspection generally from midnight to four o'clock in the morning. The inspection covers the farmed-out houses or " sublets " as well as the ticketed houses proper. 798. The method of inspection is simple : the inspector, say at two in the morning, knocks at one of the doors opening on a landing, or perhaps at more than one, mentioning that he is the " Sanitary." Frequently, indeed usually, the inmates have to be roused from sleep, and the result is that the inspection covers much less ground than house inspection in the daytime. At none of the houses visited by us did we find any resentment against the inspectors. 799. In a group of ticketed houses in the Cowcaddens region we found the following : — (a) A one-room house let at 9s. per month. Inmates, a man and a woman ; the house, though within the prescribed cubic space, was badly ventilated and saturated with unwholesome smells. (6) In another house of the group was a single man, an old-age pensioner ; ventilation was bad. (c) In another there lived a woman and her son ; there was only one bed. The house was clean. {d) In another house hved a woman and three children, aged 4, 3, and 1 respectively. Rent 2s. The husband had night occupation as warder of a lodging-house. (e) In another house, where the inmate had lived for nearly three years, a large " washing " was hmig on a rope stretched across the room. There were two people who slept on the floor. (/) In another there were two adults and three children, aged 3 years, 2 years, and 5 months. Rent lis. a month. There were two box-beds. (g) In another house on the same stair there were two adults and three children occupying the one room. Rent 10s. 5d. a month. 800. In another stair there were 34 single-room houses and 7 two-room houses, 41 in all. These housed about 160 people. The property was very old, and in the course of its deterioration it had been broken up into single-room houses. 801. In the great majority of these single-room houses, indeed in almost all, the beds were box-beds or beds placed in recesses that retain a good deal of the objectionable features of the box-bed. There was, as a rule, little possibihty of through ventilation. In a very few cases the windows were open, and in all cases there was a fireplace. In a few cases there was no bed at all in the recess, the inmates sleeping on the floor. 802. In one room we found a woman with bronchitis ; hi another, a woman with a sore arm ; in another, a man, woman, and young child. In the last case, the only furniture was a coal-bunker, which served as a table. Effects of Ticketing. 803. As will be seen, the system of ticketing entails night inspection and the rousing of the iimiates from their sleep in order to admit the officer of the Local Authority. There can, we think, be Httle doubt that the system is successful in detecting overcrowding, but the effects of the system are stated by witnesses to be deleterious both to the occupiers -^id the properties. We have referred to the views of the Medical Officer of Health of Birmingham on the point. These are supported by Mr Fyfe, whose experience of the system is more extensive than that of any other Sanitary Inspector in Scotland. In Glasgow, as we have stated, there are 22,000 ticketed houses, compared with about 7350 in Edinburgh, 3340 in Paisley, and about 2000 each in Dundee and Greenock. In Glasgow indeed there are probably more ticketed houses than in the whole of the rest of Scotland. The experience of the Sanitary Inspector of that City is therefore of special importance. He said quite definitely that the ticketing of houses has a very deteriorating effect upon the property and the tenants, and that it is "a degrading thing to have- ' any family living imder conditions where they are apt to be stirred up at any time during the night by ' men coming in with lanterns and books and taking notes." He added : " If it could be done in any ' other way, it would be better." (Fyfe, 19,938, 19,940.) As Mr Fyfe did not suggest any other method REPORT. 115 of controlling overcrowding, it would almost^appear as if, so far as he is concerned, lie does not think that any less deteriorating method can be devised. Mr Fyfe's views were concurred in by Miss Ruther- furd. Warden of the Queen Margaret Settlement. (Ibid., 22,366, etc.) 804. An unofficial witness from Glasgow, the Rev. David Watson, Minister of St. Clement's Parish Church, Mile End, speaking of ticketed houses, said there is not the same difficulty in preventing over- crowding in them as in the non-ticketed houses. He pointed out that the ticket shows the occupier the number of persons that may sleep in the house. This " gives a sort of standard, and it pulls up the ' careless ones and prevents overcrowding, because they know that the Sanitary Inspector may be round ' any night." (Ibid., 22,451.) This same witness, on being asked whether ticketing was a remedy for overcrowding, rephed that he thought an extension of the system of ticketing would be a good thing, but he admitted that " when you put a ticket on a house you have stamped it with a certain character ' which, in the eyes of the decent working classes, is very sinister." He suggested that, instead of, as at present, placing the ticket on the outside of the door, it should be placed inside. If this were done, he saw no objection to the ticketing of all houses of less than three rooms. (Watson, 22,480-1 ; cf. Temple- man, 35,933, from which it appears that in Dundee the ticket is placed inside the house.) 805. The late Sanitary Inspector of Edinburgh stated that it had not been his experience that ticketing of houses had the effect of depreciating them. (Rutherford, 5755.) The Sanitary Inspector of Paisley, on the other hand, stated that while the ticketing method worked out very well, he agreed that one effect of ticketing was apparently to cause a certain deterioration of the property. The night inspection, he said, was carried out only where there was reason to believe that the information obtained during the day was not correct or reliable, and, in consideration for the occupiers, his inspectors did not visit ticketed houses much later than 1 o'clock in the morning. (Kelso, 38,037-45.) The Medical Officer of Health of Dundee indicated that ticketing had the efiect of deteriorating the property. (Templeman, 35,935.) The Sanitary Inspector of Coatbridge stated that he had not foimd that owners of property resented ticketing, that ticketing was resorted to only where overcrowding was found to exist, and that night inspections were not carried out unless he was absolutely certain that overcrowding was taking place. (Dutch, 34,133-40.) 806. Our evidence shows that the system of ticketing, with its attendant night inspection, is successful as a means of detecting and controlhng overcrowding. But we have no doubt that the night inspection, whereby inmates are roused from their sleep, is open to great objection, more especially if the ticketing of houses has not been carried out with discrimination. That the ticketing is so carried out, however, appears usually to be the case. The evidence suggests that the sanitary officials do not resort to ticketing unless they have good reason to suspect that overcrowding is taking place. In such cases day inspection is not of much service, and apparently the night inspection is necessary. To quote the late Dr. Russell, for many years Medical Officer of Health of Glasgow, and latterly Medical Member of the Local Govern- ment Board for Scotland : — Extraordinary powers, this right of entry and of night inspection, but no one who knows any- thing of the habits of the people affected by them — the unskilled labourer and the grade lower still, our criminal classes — can have any doubt of this necessity nor as to their efficacy and usefulness. If you relaxed your repressive efiorts, the old state of matters would return in a few weeks. We must not be restrained by any squeamishness about ticketing new property and so giving it an ill name, if we find overcrowding has been transferred with the old tenants of our demolished houses. If a landlord finds that such a process deteriorates the value of his property, then he must prevent the overcrowding, otherwise ticketed it must be. 807. The only alternative to night inspection that was suggested to us was that by the Medical Officer of Health of Birmingham, abeady referred to, viz. inspection on Sunday mornings. 808. In face of the opinions of the witnesses we have quoted, more especially those who are so intimately acquainted with the conditions of life in the poorer districts of Glasgow, we cannot recommend that the system of ticketing should be discontinued. Undesirable though it may be in many ways, it is apparently necessary in the interests of public health. But we hope that, as time goes on, and as more and better and larger houses are provided for the use of the poorer classes, and as the people become educated to appreciate the value of a house which is a home and not a hovel, the need for ticketing houses will diminish. We think that, as indicated by one witness already quoted, the ticket should be placed inside the house and not on the outside of the door. This will obviate to some extent the deterioration of the tone of the district and tenement, and the slight alteration in practice will not, we think, interfere in any way with the control exercised by the Local Authority. General Contbol of Overcrowding. 809. We now leave aside the question of ticketed houses and come to consider that of overcrowding generally in houses other than ticketed ones. On this subject we "think some amendment of the existing law is required. As already explained, except in ticketed houses, farmed-out houses, houses let in lodgings, and common lodging-houses, no definite standard exists by which overcrowding may be judged. For any house that is outwith these classes, the standard of overcrowding is the general one of " injurious or dangerous to health." This, as we have shown in Chapter X. on " Occupancy," is an expression capable of varying interpretations, and consequently forms a barrier to effective control of overcrowding by the Local Authorities. We think that the Local Authorities should not be impeded in their efforts to control overcrowding by having to prove that the overcrowding is such as to be injurious or dangerous to health. Some simpler and more effective method is necessary. 810. As we have shown, any standard at present in operation is a standard of cubic space per head. We consider that this standard, which is already accepted, should, subject, as afterwards explained, to the inclusion of a standard of floor space, now be supplemented by a general standard for the determination of overcrowding. As overcrowding is not confined to smaU houses, any standard fixed would, and should, apply to all houses, either new or existing, without any restriction as to size. 116 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. This would carry with it the right of entry and inspection by officers of the Local Authority, but this is not in efEect a departure from the existing practice under the Public Health Act. Under that Act the officers of a Local Authority can demand admission to any house of whatever size where they have reason to believe that there exists a nuisance, e.g. overcrowding which is injurious or dangerous to health. (Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 18.) There is no evidence before us suggesting that the Local Authorities and their officials have used their present powers in a harsh or arbitrary way, and we do not anticipate that the amendment we propose of the statutory requirement of jyroof of over- crowding will make any difEerence in the official methods ;0f obtaining such evidence. The sanitary officers are, as a rule, cognisant of the houses where overcrowding exists or is likely to exist, and they may, we feel sure, be trusted not to exercise the right of inspection except where they have good reason to believe that it is necessary. 811. As we have shown, a penalty is at once exigible in the case of overcrowding in a ticketed house. A penalty is also exigible imder any byelaws for overcrowding in houses let in lodgings, etc. In regard to other houses which, when overcrowding occurs, have at present to be dealt with as nuisances under the Public Health Act, the procedure is somewhat different. Under that Act the Local Authority must, before any proceedings for the removal of overcrowding are taken, serve a notice on the occupier requiring him to abate the nuisance. As a result he very probably does so, and is not liable m any penalty unless proceedings are taken as after mentioned. The Local Authority may, notwithstanding that the nuisance has been removed, take proceedings in Court against the occupier if, in their opinion, the nuisance is likely to recur or to be repeated. The sheriff or other magistrate who hears the case may, in addition to ordering the removal of the nuisance where it still exists, grant interdict against the recurrence ; and where it has been removed, he may grant interdict against the recurrence. Moreover, if he is satisfied that the nuisance arose from the wilful default or culpable negligence of the occupier, and that the occupier had previously been served with a notice from the Local Authority as to the nuisance, he may, in addition to requiring the removal of the nuisance or forbidding its recurrence, impose a fine not exceeding £5. (Public Health Act, section 22.) Penalties are also exigible for contravention of the decree or interdict of the sheriff or other magistrate. (Public Health Act, section 24.) We consider that the procedure should be made more direct ; a penalty should be exigible whenever overcrowding occurs, but we do not consider that the penalty should be sued for, as a rule, on the first offence, and accordingly we recom- mend that similar legal powers and penalties as we have suggested in Chapter X. for dealing with occupiers who keep their houses in a dirty condition should be adapted to meet cases of overcrowding. 812. We have still to consider what standard of cubic space per head should be fixed for determination of overcrowding. At present the generally accepted standard is one of 400 cubic feet per head for adults and 200 cubic feet for each child under ten years of age. From the standpoint of health, on the assumption that a room is maintained well ventilated, these figures are probably satisfactory. The Medical Officer of Health of Dundee considers that they are sufficient. (Templeman, 35,843.) We think that the matter cannot be dealt with entirely from the standpoint of health, and that it is desirable so to raise the standard as to make available for the housewife and the family more working house-room. When one considers that, assuming the height of ceiling as 10 feet — a not imcommon height in tenements- — 400 cubic feet allows of only 40 feet of fioor space — that is, only 8 feet by 5 feet for an adult — it cannot be urged that the present standard, more especially in the case of one- and two-room houses, errs on the side of liberality. 813. Accordingly we recommend, subject to the exception alter -mentioned as regards one-room houses, that a standard of at least 500 cubic feet per adult person should be fixed. It has hitherto been the accepted rule that children should receive only half the amount of cubic space allotted to the adult. The Medical Officer of Health of Aberdeen (Professor Matthew Hay), on being asked his views as to whether this practice was a sound one, replied that he considered that the amount of cubic space allowed to children under ten years should be increased to three-fourths that allowed for adults. {Ibid., 41,549.) We think, however, that as we are recommending an increase in the amount of cubic space per adult person to 500 cubic feet instead of the present 400 cubic feet, the one-half standard for children under ten years of age should remain, and accordingly we recommend that the new standard for children should be 250 cubic feet. {Cf. J. Wilson, Appendix CXCII. 44.) 814. We recommend that these standards should apply to the country generally. It may be urged that it is unreasonable to apply to houses in the smaller burghs and in the cotmtry districts the same standard as to houses in the crowded parts of Glasgow, and that a lower standard should be fixed for the former areas. We think this criticism is met by the suggestion in a subsequent paragraph, that by means of byelaws each Local Authority will be able, subject to approval by the Local Government Board, to fix the standard that they think most appropriate for the circumstances of their area. But we consider that the statute should lay down a standard below which no Local Authority can go, and the standards we suggest are, we think, the minimum that should be allowed either in the country district or the crowded town. As Dr Chalmers, Medical Officer of Health of Glasgow, said, in answer to a question whether the same size of room was needed in the coimtry as in the town, " You can just as readily exhaust ' the oxygen from the air of a room in the country as in the town." {Ibid., 20,34i) 815. While we see no reason for differentiating in respect of a minimum standard of overcrowding between houses in different parts of the country, we think there are good grounds for doing so between houses of different sizes. In another chapter (No:'XI.) we have dealt with the problem of the one-room house, and have described the actual living conditions in such houses. Where the house is composed of only one room, which is the living, cooking, sleeping, eating, and washing room all in one, it is, we think, essential that a greater amount of space should be available than in the case of larger houses. We recommend, therefore, that in houses of this size the amount of cubic space required per adult inmate should be at least 600 cubic feet, and for each child under ten years of age at least 400 cubic feet. 816. But we consider that, in addition to a standard based on the principle of cubic space per head there should be attached two conditions. These we suggest are : (1) that for the purpose of estimating the amount of cubic space in a room there should be a reasonable limitation of height, and (2) that there should be a satisfactory amoimt of floor space per person. 817. Upon these two points we would suggest that the standard height of rooms be taken as at REPORT. 117 9 feet 6 inches, and that, in estimating the cubic capacity of dwellings, particularly of dwellings of one and of two rooms, the imit of height should be 9 feet 6 inches, or less where the actual height permissible by law is less. Unless such unit or standard be adopted, it will be found that the superficial area of the room or rooms is sacrificed and unduly curtailed, because the height of the rooms may be excessive. Thus, for instance, take a case where the height of the ceiling is (as in many of the old and spacious family houses in tenements built a century or more ago), say, 12 feet. With a ceiling of this height it will be seen that a floor area of 42 feet (thus ®i^^=41-6 feet) per person in the case of houses of more than one room, or 50 feet (thus "^=50 feet) in the case of houses of one room, would suffice to meet the demand of the new cubic standard proposed : such narrow restricted floor area, i.e. 42 feet and 50 feet respectively — which would: moreover, be largely absorbed by the bedstead, table, and other bare furnishings— is quite insufficient for the bare necessities, not to mention the ordinary convenience, of a home. Hence, if 9 feet 6 inches be the adopted imit, the floor space per person becomes at once increased by nearly one- third — ^that is, from 42 to 53 square feet for a two-room house and from 50 to 63 square feet for a one-room house. 818. We do not suggest that these minimum standards should be embodied in the statute merely in substitution for the existing provisions. As we point out elsewhere in this Report, there are objections to stereotyping in the statute standards or conditions that may, with the progress of ideas, rapidly become obsolete. Accordingly we recommend that all Local Authorities should be required to make byelaws, subject to the approval of the Local Government Board, regulating the amount of cubic space per person that will be required in houses, and that the amount fixed by such byelaws shall not be less than those we have recommended above. Until such byelaws have been framed and put in operation, the standards we have suggested should be operative in the absence of byelaws. Further, it should be open to the Local Government Board, in any case where they consider the Local Authority by means of their byelaws have fixed or propose to fix too low a standard having regard to the housing conditions in the area of the Local Authority, to require a higher standard to be provided, notwithstanding that the standard fixed as proposed by the Local Authority is the minimum statute standard. 819. The question will naturally be asked — assuming overcrowding is found to exist judged by these new standards, assuming also that such overcrowding is due not to the presence of lodgers but to the insufficiency of the house for the number of members in the family of the householder, and further, that the householder is financially unable to provide himself and his family with a house sufficient for their needs, — ^What action is to be taken to diminish the overcrowding ? This subject of the poor occupier, and the steps to be taken to secure him a house adequate to his needs, is discussed in our Policy and Recom- mendations. That immediate steps are necessary in the interests of health and morals to deal with overcrowding must, we think, be evident from the accounts we have given of the conditions under which many people at present live. Where overcrowding is avoidable, the Local Authority should have no hesitation in dealing stringently with the offenders. Where the state of matters is due to circumstances beyond the control of the tenant- — and in many cases it is due, as our evidence shows, to his poverty — such circumstances are no argument for permitting or acquiescing in overcrowding. Acquiescence does not solve the problems that produce overcrowding, and we state elsewhere our policy for attacking these problems on lines that within a reasonable period should lead to success. It is clear that over- crowding can be dealt with only where the provision of houses of reasonable accommodation for the overcrowded population simultaneously goes hand in hand with the resolute administration of the statutory powers for the prevention of overcrowding. In Chapter XIII. we refer, under the heading " Houses Let in Lodgings," to the question of overcrowding due to the presence of lodgers. 820. The natural corollary to the increase of the cubic standard suggested in the foregoing is an increase in the cubic capacity required in new houses of one, two, and three rooms. As shown in Chapter V., the Burgh Police Act of 1903 provides that, in new houses of these sizes, the cubic capacity (exclusive of any lobbies, closets, presses, and recesses) must be 1000 cubic feet, 1600 cubic feet, and 2400 cubic feet respectively. We consider that these amounts ought to be raised, and that the cubic capacities for new one-, two-, and three-room houses respectively should be 1620 cubic feet, 2430 cubic feet, and 3150 cubic feet, exclusive of window and of bed-recesses, and that in estimating these amounts no height above 9 feet should be taken into account, and that 8 feet be the minimum height of ceiling. These amounts would thereby ensure a floor space (on the 9-feet standard) for such houses of 180 feet, 270 feet, and 350 feet respectively, exclusive of window and of bed-recesses, not, we think, by any means an excessive floor space for houses of these sizes. 821. It is, however, conceivable that a house of two or three rooms, whilst satisfying in the aggregate the new standards suggested above, may yet be under the dimensions in one or other of the individual apartments, with resultant overcrowding in such apartment. This defect in the existing law has already been pointed out. The resultant overcrowding Could, of course, be controlled by the application of the new standard of overcrowding already suggested, but we think that, in addition, there should be a provision regulating the minimum size of an apartment to be used as a sleeping-room, and that this provision should apply both to existing and to new houses. We note in this connection that there is a provision in the Aberdeen Local Act of 1907 to the effect that the cubic contents of every habitable room in any house built after the passing of that Act must not be less than 600 cubic feet. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (160).) We think that in this matter a distinction may be drawn between houses of two rooms and those of larger dimensions. In houses of two rooms we consider that no room used as a habitable room having less than 630 cubic feet should, in the matter of calculation of cubic capacity, be recognised as a habitable room, and that no height in the case of new houses and no height in the case of existing houses, exceeding 9 feet and 9 feet 6 inches respectively, should be taken into account in arriving at this total. As regards houses of three rooms, we think that the minimum size of room recognisable for cubic capacity as a habitable room might be 500 cubic feet (with a similar condition as above as to heights of room) for new and existing houses respectively. Looking to the amount of cubic space we recom- mend for new houses of this size, viz. 3150 cubic feet, we think this will enable the kitchen or living- room and one bedroom to be of sufficient size for their special purpose, while the third bedroom could be much smaller. (Cf. Wilson, Appendix CXCIL, 44.) As regards houses of more than three rooms, 118 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. we consider that no room to be used for sleeping purposes should have less than 500 cubic feet, the same condition as to height of room above referred to being applicable. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XII. (1) That in ticketed houses the ticket should be placed inside the house and not on the outside of the door. (Paragraph 808.) (2) That a standard of overcrowding should be fixed which should apply to all houses irrespective of their size. (ParagEaph 810.) (3) That the powers and penalties suggested as regards dirty householders in Chapter X. should be adapted to meet cases of overcrowding. (Paragraph 811.) (4) That, save as regards one-room houses, the standard of overcrowding should be at least 500 cubic feet per adult and 250 cubic feet per child under ten years of age. (Paragraph 813.) (5) That in one-apartment houses the standard of overcrowding should be at least 600 cubic feet per adult and 400 cubic feet per child under ten years of age. (Paragraph 815.) (6) That in measuring the cubic contents of apartments of houses for the purposes of fixing the above standards, the maximum height to be taken into account should be 9 feet 6 inches. (Paragraph 817.) (7) That for the purpose of controlling overcrowding, all I^ocal Authorities should be required to make byelaws regulating the minimum amount of cubic space to be allowed per person and child in houses ; provided that the said amounts shall in no case be less than those recommended above, and that the Local Government Board shall have power to require higher standards of air space ; provided, further, that until such byelaws are in force, the standards above recommended should be operative in the absence of byelaws. (Paragraph 818.) (8) That the cubic capacities for new one-,, two-, and three-room houses should be 1620, 2430, and 3150 cubic feet respectively, exclusive of window and bed-recesses, and that in estimating such capacities no height above 9 feet should be taken into account. (Paragraph 821.) (9) That all rooms used as habitable rooms in existing and new houses should have a minimum cubic capacity, viz. 630 cubic feet in houses of two rooms, and 500 cubic feet in houses of three rooms and upwards. (Paragraph 821.) CHAPTER XIII. COMMON LODGING-HOUSES, HOUSES LET IN LODGINGS, AND FARMED-OUT HOUSES. (1) Common Lodging-Houses. 822. In Chapter V. we have set out the statutory provisions regulating the control of common lodging- houses. These lodging-houses are to be found all over Scotland, from the small house in the comitry village or rural town which may accommodate a few tramps, vagrants, out-of-works, or casual workers, to the houses in the large cities accommodating perhaps several hundreds of lodgers, composed of all sorts and conditions of men and women from the tramp, vagrant, or casual worker to the labourer and the artisan. In the case of the lodging-houses in the large towns, differing from those in the country districts and small burghs, the houses may, and in fact in many cases actually do, become the permanent home of many of the occupants. (Cf. Dutch, 34, 109 ; Rutherford, 5, 699 (20).) To many of the residents the Ufe and surroundings of the lodging-house are preferred to lodgings in a private house, and in any case it is probable that many of the occupants whose earnings are small and whose work is irregular are more comfortable in a decent lodging-house than in the kind of private lodgings they would be able to afford. While many of the inmates are no doubt steady and industrious workers, others are of the irresponsible and dissolute class. According to the Inspector of Poor of Glasgow, a large number of applications for rehef come from common lodging-houses. (Motion, 20, 689 (13).) Another Glasgow witness alleged that a great number of the women living in the women's lodging-houses in Glasgow were women of the street. (Rutherfurd, 22, 346-56.) 823. Common lodging-houses are chiefly owned and conducted by private persons, but some of the larger Corporations have established municipal lodging-houses, e.g. Glasgow has 7 such houses, Aberdeen 1, Paisley 1, and Leith 1. There are, we are informed by the Local Government Board, according to the most recent return (that for 1914), 423 common lodging-houses in Scotland, of which 18 belong to Local Authorities. The most of the lodging-houses are naturally in the large centres of population and in the industrial districts. Thus 86 of these are in Glasgow, '21 in Edinburgh, 48 in Greenock, 12 in Dundee, 9 in Leith, 6 in Aberdeen, and 7 in Paisley. Wherever any new works are begim necessitating the em- ployment of navvies or casual labour, lodging-houses are quickly established by private enterprise. One such case is Rosyth, in the neighbourhood of which there are several lodging-houses, one of which, accommodating over 600 men (Davison, 4, 634 (4)), was specially built to meet the demands for accom- modation by the labourers who were attracted to this great work. In some places, e.g. Glasgow and Edinburgh, lodging-houses are provided exclusively for women ; in other places, while some of the lodging-houses are used solely by men, others accommodate both men and women. As has already been explained in Chapter V., the power of making byelaws for the regulation of common lodging-houses includes a power to make a byelaw dealing with the separation of the sexes. In Edinburgh, by a local Act of 1896, the Corporation are empowered to register common lodging-houses " in classes," and by this means have secured the successful carrying out of the separation of the sexes. Of the total lodging- house population in Scotland, it would seem that the common lodging-houses in Glasgow can accommodate over 13,000 persons (Report by Sanitary Inspector for 1914) ; those in Edinburgh over 2500 (Rutherford, 5699 (20)); in Dundee over 800 (Templeman, 35,836 (23)); in Aberdeen 720 (M. Hav, 41,334 (202)); in Paisley 1066 (Kelso, 37,911 (45)) ; in Leith 1000 (Bishop, 5996 (28)) ; in Coatbridge 1243 (Dutch, 34,107). 824. Previous to the establishment of common lodging-houses, it would appear that the class of REPORT. 119 population that frequents them was principally housed in private lodgings. When, for instance, the Glasgow Improvement Trust began in 1870 to clear out the slum areas and to consider how best to rehouse the dispossessed, it was found that a large proportion of the people were lodgers. It was felt that these lodgers when dispossessed of their shelter would seek a similar class of shelter elsewhere and intensify the overcrowding in the homes of the poor. Such lodging-houses as did exist were undesirable. Accordingly the Corporation of Glasgow, in order to improve the conditions under which these people lived, erected, between 1871 and 1879, seven model lodging-houses in different parts of the city. (Dr Russell in Public Health Administration in Glasgow, p. 243 ; see also Chalmers, 20,406.) According to the Sanitary Inspector of Glasgow, the erection of these lodging-houses by the Corporation was, done with intent to show how this homeless section of the population might be housed in a sanitary way. To these houses the name " Model " was given ; and private individuals, reahsing the success of the undertaking, took the matter up and built more " models " which went beyond the Corporation houses " in the matter ' of comfort and conveniences." (Fyfe, 20,135.) 825. In addition to these common lodging-houses the Corporation of Glasgow have built a " Family Home," which was opened in 1896, for the convenience of widowers with young children. It contains 144 rooms, each with sleeping accommodation for " two and a half " adults. In this home there are lodged a weekly average of 123 men, of whom 58 are widowers with 131 children. The children are of all ages, from a few months old to 15 years, and are lodged and attended to by matrons and nurses. They are boarded at an average charge of Is. 8d. per week each, while the father.s are supplied with meals at a cheap tarifE. (Menzies, 20,434 (3).) 826. The Aberdeen Corporation Lodging-House was erected in 1897. Its average daily number of inmates is 152. The charge for each inmate is 5d. per night. For this he has a good sleeping cubicle, and has the use of a well-equipped kitchen with a large cooking range, as also the use of a washing-house and fixed hot-water foot-baths, and of a good recreation room. An ordinary hot bath can be got for a penny. The revenue has never in any year been sufficient to meet the expense of running the lodging- house, the annual deficiency being about between £500 and £600. (M. Hay, 41,334 (55).) Apparently the scheme has been criticised as extravagant (41,374), but it would seem that the principal cost lay in the new building provided, whereas other lodging-houses are generally adapted from old buildings, and on that accoimt can be run more cheaply with a smaller capital expenditure. Probably the reason of the failure of this one to pay its way lies in the fact of the prosperity of the city, for the house has never been fully let. It was put up at a time when there was a good deal of activity in the building trade, and it was finished about the time when the boom was passing ofE, and hence the number of working people who might have occupied it was diminished. At the same time it is only fair to say that there are other large lodging-houses in the city, owned by private enterprise, which are fairly well fitted up and decently looked after, and that manage to pay their way. (M. Hay, 41,374, 41,375.) 827. As already stated, Leith and Paisley have each a Corporation Lodging-House. The Leith house was erected in 1894 on the most modem lines at a cost of £8833 (including the cost of the ground and the furnishings of the house). It has accommodation for 200 lodgers. There is a surplus of income over expenditure of £145 per annum (Bishop, 5996 (7)), but it has not apparently paid its way all along since the commencement. According to the Convener of the Public Health Committee, " it is only ' paying now that the debt has been brought down very much." (Lindsay, 6057.) 828. As an instance of a common lodging-house owned by one of the smaller Local Authorities, we may mention that belonging to the Town Council of Forfar. The Local Authority, instead of retain- ing the management in their own hands, let the house to a tenant. We visited this house, and found that the arrangements were not at all desirable. The number of separate rooms for married couples was insufficient, with the result that wards were used without partitions or any attempt at privacy. On the day of our visit we saw a woman with a newly-born infant in an open room with four or five beds in it ; and although such cases are generally sent to the maternity ward of the poorhouse, the woman in charge of the lodging-house said she was in the habit of attending to such cases. (Peffers, 34,612 ff.) 829. As regards common lodging-houses provided by private enterprise, their accommodation and the conditions in which they are kept vary largely. The Sanitary Inspectors who appeared before us, and who in virtue of their appointment as Sanitary Inspectors act also as Inspectors of Common Lodging- Houses, testified that these lodging-houses were on the whole well kept and managed. As part of their mission work, various religious bodies have established common lodging-houses. We visited two of these houses, one in Perth and one in Leith, and were pleased with the arrangements and the general air of comfort and homeliness about each of the two houses. Necessity for Common Lodging-Houses. 830. Probably the chief arguments in favour of common lodging-houses he (a) in the provision of housing for casual labour ; (6) in the housing and control of a somewhat careless class ; (c) in the easier supervision of the above classes in the interests of public health. The Medical Officers of Health for Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee all speak of the advantage of such control from the health point of view (M. Wilhamson, 5839 (25) ; M. Hay, 41,334 (55) ; Templeman, 35,960, 35,965, 35,973) ; while other witnesses speak of the common lodging-house as a necessity where there is a casual population, and where casual labour is required with some regularity (Frew, 3097) ; or for the housing of those way- farers who, in any case, would be outwith family life, and would otherwise find shelter in " lodgings." For these the discipline and control of a common lodging-house are distinctly of advantage. (Mann, 21,495 ; cf. also Fyfe, 20,137 ff. ; Bishop, 6195.) 831. At the same time many of the witnesses agree that life in a common lodging-house is not elevating. The Medical Officer for Glasgow — where, it must be noted, there are lodging-houses provided and managed by the Corporation which are probably the best of their kind — is very strong in his condemnation. He speaks of the lodging-house population as a " permanent sore on civilisation." (Chalmers, 20,408.) He considers it a more serious problem than that of domestic overcrowding, which trouble it was intended to some extent to alleviate. But there is no doubt that, in his opinion, this method of housing has had an unquestionably bad effect (Chalmers, 20,408, 20,430 ; cf. also Motion, 20,9?2 ; Braid, 3627 (9)), and this 120 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. is confirmed by the evidence of Miss Rutherfurd, Warden of the Queen Margaret Settlement, Glasgow, who thinks that there is no need for the large number of common lodging-houses in Glasgow, and especially objects to the housing of women on this system. Certain of the women thus housed would, she considers, be better in the poorhouse and others could find houses of their own, if this encouragement to live in lodgings did not exist. (22,164, 22,167, 22,348.) 832. In a discussion of the use or even the necessity of common lodging-houses, the three classes should be kept distinct. It might very well be that in some places where employment was brisk, and even where it came in fits and starts, a Trades Hotel, such as is to be found at Coatbridge, might fulfil a very useful purpose. There seems no reason why in such circumstances accommodation of the nature of an hotel should not be provided where the worker could stay, either for a short period while there is special pressure in a particular trade, although work might be too uncertain to make it worth while to transfer his family, or in the case of a man who is young and unmarried, who might be more comfortable in such a well-ordered house than in a crowded lodging. At present it is distinctly stated that men of a superior class keep clear of the common lodging-house (Davison, 6203); they go to boarding-houses when they can find them. Also that men of good character desire privacy and " greater homeliness of environment " than can be found in the present kind of establishment. (Sims, 5828 (16) (32), 5902.) This is borne out in the experience of Messrs Easton Gibb at Rosyth, who informed us that instances had arisen there where men could not obtain private lodgings, as the tenants of houses where lodgers were kept (see Chapter XVII., dealing with Housing of Navvies) declined to take them in owing to their being so badly clothed. These men had perforce to go to the Model Lodging-House until they could somewhat improve their position, but as soon as they were able to do so they transferred themselves to the private lodgings. For this better class of working men, it is not an extension of the Scottish type of common lodging-house we would desire to see, but something in the nature of an hotel with moderate prices, which could be used as a temporary expedient. (Cf. Chalmers, 20,431.) For the casual labourer also, as he follows his job through the country, some habitation must be provided, and common lodging- houses, regulated and controlled, are probably necessary for him. We do consider, however, that common lodging-houses are not suitable places for children. We would hope that the rising standard in house accommodation which we recommend will influence, if only indirectly, the standard set up for lodging- houses, and that the byelaws regulating these will gradually adjust themselves to the new and better standard. 833. But common lodging-houses can never be accepted as a means of permanent housing for the poorer classes, and those we saw in some of the big cities have left a peculiar impression of desolation and degradation. The larger the house is. the more it must be regimented ; and as the numbers grow, ideas of individual comfort, and of homeliness sink into the background. There is considerable force in the contention of the Sanitary Inspector of the Dimfermline District, that the size of a common lodging-house should be restricted to accommodate not more than 200 lodgers. (Davison, 4699.) But whatever the size determined on, it should be kept in mind that nothing good can come from the indiscriminate herding together of hundreds of men (618 at the Naval Base, Inverkeithing ; while from 300 to 600 in one house is a common figure in Glasgow) without responsibility, civil or domestic. But even with better byelaws and a smaller number of inmates, the common lodging-houses in our cities can only be regarded as a makeshift, a convenient receptacle where the vagrants and the unemployables can be warehoused ; and danger lies in extending their number and thus making it more easy for their population to be added to. 834. So far as any amendment of the existing statutory provisions regarding common lodging-houses is concerned, we have not received any e\'idence to show that these are in any way insufficient to secure the necessary control. The Legal Member of the Local Government Board has, however, pointed out that the making of byelaws for the regulation of common lodging-houses is optional on the part of a Local Authority. (Macpherson, 2 (489).) We consider that there should be an obligation on every Local Authorit}^ -nithin whose district there is a common lodging-house to frame and enforce such byelaws. We further consider, having in view our recommendations as to the fixing of a minimum cubic space standard for purposes of controlling overcrowding in houses generally, that the minimum we there recommend, viz. 500 feet, should be the minimum allowed in byelaws for common lodging-houses. (2) Houses let in Lodgings. 835. In Chapter XII., dealing with overcrowding, we have referred to the overcrowding due to the presence of lodgers, and in Chapter XIV. we set forth the evidence showing the extent to which the practice is followed in the mining districts of subletting part of a house to a separate family. In Chapter V. we have detailed the statutory provisions in the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897 (section 72), whereby a Local Authority, by means of byelaws, may exercise supervision over a house or part of a house that is let in lodgings or occupied by members of more than one family. As shown in Chapter V., these byelaws are useful as a means of controlling common lodging-houses which, by the expedient of raising the charge per night above sixpence, may not be subject to the statutory provisions and byelaws regulating common lodging-houses. {Cf. Rutherford, 5699 (21) ; Matthew Hay, 41,334 (203).) 836. The powers under the section referred to above to make byelaws appear generally to be sufficient, but, as pointed out above, many of these houses let In lodgings are in reality common lodging-houses, and escape control as such by charging more than sixpence per night. The Medical Officer of Health of Aberdeen is strongly of opinion that the Local Authority should have discretionary power to compel the registration as a common lodging-house of any house let in lodgings where the number of lodgers exceeds six, even although the sum paid for each night was as high as ninepence. In some of these so- called houses let in lodgings, he says, as many as fifty persons are accommodated ; and, while he thinks a distinction is desirable between common lodging-houses and houses let in lodgings, he considers that the Local Authority should be given discretionary powers as to whether or not a house shou'd be registered as a common lodging-house or a house let in lodgings. (M. Hay, 41,334 (203), 41,507-8.) The three important differences between the statutory provisions dealing with the two sets of houses are : — (1) that common lodging-houses jequire to be registered annually, (2) that there is power to remove such REPORT. 121 houses from the register, and (3) that specific power is given to make byelaws for the separation of the sexes in common lodging-houses. The statute does not make provisions for these matters in the case of houses let in lodgings, though, in regard to the third point, we notice that the Model Byelaws of the Local Government Board for bouses let in lodgings contain a byelaw providing for the separation of the sexes. 837. It may well be that the houses let in lodgings of the type referred to by the Medical Officer of Health of Aberdeen should be subject to the same measure of control as common lodging-houses, and we therefore adopt his recommendation, that the Local Authority should have power to require the registra- tion as a common lodging-house of any house let in lodgings. We think, however, that, in order to prevent any abuse of this power, and to prevent any possibiHty of well-conducted houses where lodgers are kept being classed as common lodging-houses, there should be a right of appeal on the part of the occupier and owner of the house let in lodgings to the Local Government Board against any proposal of the Local Authority so to register the said house as a common lodging-house. 838. One witness has pointed out that the powers conferred on Local Authorities for controlling houses let in lodgings ape defective in respect that no provision is made requiring the keepers of such houses to apply to the Local Authority for registration thereof, or to give intimation that they are keeping their dwelling-houses as houses let in lodgings. He accoidingly suggests that all parties who intend keeping lodgers should be required to intimate the fact to the Local Authority and obtain the approval of the Local Authority to their doing so. (Dutch, 34,089 (17) (18), 34,130-2") We are not convinced of the necessity or expediency of the requirement suggested, and we think its operation would be attended with hardship and inconvenience, and would, in point of fact, be in many cases unworkable. No doubt it would simplify the efforts of the Local Authority to detect and control overcrowding in houses where lodgers fire kept, but the disadvantages in our view easily outweigh this advantage. If, as we suggest elsewhere in this Report, a systematic housing survey is made, and if regular periodic inspections of houses are made by the staffs of Local Authorities— which staffs, as will be seen, we consider should be considerably augmented for the duties falling or proposed to be put on them,— we think that cases where overcrowding exists or is likely to exist will be readily detected or become known to the officers of the Local Authority, and that it will be unnecessary to interfere to the extent suggested with the present practice of keeping lodgers. 839. According to present administrative practice, byelaws for houses let in lodgings are not adopted by Local Authorities or required by the Local Government Board except where the special circumstances are such as normally lead to serious overcrowding of the available houses. These byelaws are not pressed merely on the ground that every house with a lodger is necessarily a house to be registered and placed under systematic inspection. The determining factor in the case is the presence, or periodic presence, or the persistence of overcrowding. The byelaws are regarded primarily as additional instniments placed in the hands of the Local Authorities and their officials to prevent and control overcrowding. The statute does not lay down this condition ; but experience has shown that unnecessary hardships and interference with the privacy of well-conducted families are apt to result from excessive regulation and inspection. Accordingly, we suggest that the application of byelaws for houses let in lodgings should be specifically groimded on the persistent or periodic existence of overcrowding. But the inspection for overcrowding can be no real remedy for the inadequacy of the house-supply where, for industrial reasons, the population is constantly increasing. Where, on the other hand, the influx of people is periodic, as at many holiday resorts, and where the chief seasonal industry is the letting of houses in lodgings, the case is different, and here the regiilations may be applied stringently without any serious risk of oppressive and unmotived interference with private families. 840. The witness referred to in Paragraph 838 suggests also that Local Authorities should have power to make byelaws prohibiting two persons (the witness is evidently here referring to persons of different sexes) occupying one room in a house let in lodgings unless in the case of husband and wife. (Dutch, 34,089 (18).) We have already pointed out that, while no specific power is given to make byelaws for the separation of the sexes in houses let in lodgings, the Local Government Board's Model Byelaws contain such a byelaw. If, however, there is any doubt as to the competency of such a byelaw, we recommend that defijaite power to make byelaws for this purpose should be given to Local Authorities. (3) Farmed-out Houses. 841. The difficulties attendant on the control of farmed-out houses are experienced by but a few Local Authorities, for it is only in two or three of the larger cities that such houses exist. Our e\ndence shows that the irregularities associated with the control of these houses persist more particularly in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leith, and Greenock. 842. In Qiapter V. we have set out the existing powers in regard to farmed-out houses. The defini- tion of farmed-out houses in section 72 (2) of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, is extremely restrictive. To come within the definition a house must be of one or two apartments — accordingly, if it contains more, it is outwith the definition ; it must be taken on lease by the person letting the lodgings — consequently, if the person who lets is the proprietor, the definition does not apply ; and it must be let as furnished apartments— so that if let unfurnished the definition will not apply. It would appear that farmed-out houses that do not come within this restricted definition are not subject to the control of the Local Authority. 843. Before, however, we proceed to discuss further the question of powers, we shall give a brief description of the farmed-out houses and their occupants. 844. Number of Farmed-out Houses. — Information is not available as to the number of farmed-out houses in Scotland, but that the problem of suitable and effective control is by no means a small one is evidenced by the figures available for Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Leith. In Glasgow — according to a statement prepared by the Chief Sanitary Inspector, Mr Eyfe, to be laid before the Parliamentary Committee that inquired into the Glasgow Corporation Provisional Order, 1914 — there were, in 1914, 1434 farmed-out houses, 981 of one room and 453 of two rooms. Tliis statement also showed that the number had nearly doubled between the years 1901 and 1914, and that in the latter year there were nearly 122 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND, 4000 persons living in farmed-out houses, of whom about a fourth were children. In Edinburgh, according to the report for 1914 of the Chief Sanitary Inspector, there were in that year 375 farmed-out houses, with accommodation for 1376 persons. In Leith there were, according to evidence given before us in 1913, from 200 to 220 such houses, accommodating between 800 to 1000 persons. (Lindsay, 5988-9.) In Greenock thev are not prevalent (Devine, 33,207 (54)) ; there are none in Dundee or Aberdeen (Templeman, 35,836 (24) ; Matthew Hay, 41,334 (205)). 845. Ocau.'pations and Character of Occupants. — ^According to information obtained by us in Glasgow from house farmers, the occupants of farmed-out houses are dock labourers, hawkers, casual labourers, and people " who have come down in the world." It was also stated that people coming from the country looking for a house or for work sometimes put up at such houses for a time till they get settled. (Appendix LXX., 1. ; cf. also ,J. A. Young, 40,465 ; Henry Watt, Appendix, CLXXXIX., (8) ; Rutherford, Appendix XXII.) 846. As regards the character of the occupants of such houses, the evidence shows that, while there are some respectable people hving in farmed-out houses, the occupants as a rule are not a very desirable class. The Medical Officer of Health of Edinburgh says a large proportion are thriftless (Maxwell Williamson, 5654) ; the Rev. Dr Watson, Glasgow, characterises them as " the unskilled, ujidisciplined, ' vicious, and degraded," and savs that " 99 per cent, are there through drink, improvidence, and laziness." (Zfcw^., 22,379 (10) ; c/. Appendix LXX., 4 ; Rutherford, 22,1-55: Coultate, 23,809 ; Rutherford, Appendix XXII.) In the statement prepared for the Parliamentary Committee already referred to, Mr Fj^e states that 50 per cent, of the couples who occupy farmed-out houses are there through drink ; 20 per cent, through having lost their homes owing to idleness or illness ; 10 per cent, are " peripatetics," and the remaining 20 per cent, are " fallen women." 847. Sanitary Condition, and Cleanliness. — The byelaws which a Local Authority may frame imder section 72 of the Public Health Act, 1897, appear to give ample power to secure that the farmed-out houses to which the section applies are kept in a decent sanitary and cleanly condition. The habits of the occupants and the want of sufficient sanitary inspection probably account for the fact that some witnesses report that the houses and the sanitary conveniences are not kept in a clean condition. (Cf. Campbell, 33,007 (18).) The Medical Officer of Health of Edinburgh, on the other hand, records his experience as showing that these houses are kept on the whole in a cleanly condition. (Maxwell William- son, 5657-9, 40,717 ; cf. J. A. Young, 40,473 ; Devine, 33,322 ; Coultate, 23,816.) 848. Charges or Rents. — It may at once be said that the farmed-out house is not a cheap house. To qiiote the Convener of the Public Health Committee of Edinburgh Town Council, " they are dear houses. ' It is not the people who cannot pay rents who occupy these houses, because they are paying 7s. 7d. a ' week." (Yoxmg, 40,465.) One witness, who was examined in Glasgow and who hved in a farmed-out house, was asked why, with the wage he was earning, he didn't have a house of his own. He repUed that he preferred living in the farmed-out house as it enabled him to move about more freely to jobs in difEerent parts of the country. (Appendix LXX., 7.) According to the information obtained by us in Glasgow, the usual charge is Is. for the first night, and 8d. or lOd. for each night thereafter. The charge is usually paid nightly, but in some cases weekly. In respect of these charges, there are supplied beds, sheets, blankets, bed-mats, chairs, tables, cooking utensils, etc. The occupants have to do their own cooking and pay extra for coal and gas. While many occupants merely stay for a night or two, others stay for considerable periods, some extending into years. (Appendix LXX., 2 and 3 ; cf. Bishop, 5996 (31) ; Robertson, 2039.) We ourselves visited some of these houses in Glasgow. In many places the furniture was a vanishing quantity ; beds consisted of rags or bags or remnants of mattresses laid on the floor, while the bed clothing had lost its identity. 849. Various witnesses speak to the huge profits made by the house farmers. (Cf. Robertson, 2039 ; Motion, 21,203 ; Watson, 22,472 ; Maxwell Williamson, 5666 and 5668 ; Bishop, 6155.) Some Glasgow house farmers, however, urged that owing to the common practice by single-night occupants of stealing the articles of furniture, the high charge had to be made to compensate for such losses. (Appendix, LXX., 6.) 850. Immorality in Farmed-out Houses. — The plea for further powers to control farmed-out houses appears to rest almost entirely on the ground that these houses are very largely resorted to for immoral purposes ; and the evidence before us clearly shows this to be the case. {Cf. Robertson, 2039 ; Coultate, 23,780 (28) (1), 23,809 ; Dr Watson, 22,379 (9), 22,429 ; Rutherfurd, 22,152 ; Motion, 20,689 (12).) As already stated, the Sanitary Inspector of Glasgow estimates that 20 per cent, of the occupants are prostitutes ; an inquiry some years ago in Leith showed that 33 per cent, of the farmed-out houses were occupied by prostitutes. (Bishop, 5996 (29).) The Medical Officer of Health of Edinburgh, in answer to a question whether these houses were used as brothels, replied he hardly thought they were. He added, however, that the character of the occupants was " of the very worst," and that from the moral point of view there were grave objections to these houses. (Maxwell Williamson, 5656, 40,719 ; cf. Rutherford, 5699 (21).) It was also admitted in evidence before us in Glasgow by house farmers that the houses were used by prostitutes, but it was alleged that it was not always easy to check this, as strangers coming invariably said they were husband and wife. (Appendix LXX., 4.) 851. Our evidence is supported by the precognitions prepared for submission to the Parliamentary Committee that inquired into the Glasgow Provisional Order, 1914, some of the persons who were pre- cognosced going so far as to say that, in certain districts of the city, the houses were chiefly or largely occupied by prostitutes. 852. We do not consider it necessary to repeat or summarise the evidence under this head. We hold it clearly proved that these houses are frequented and used to a very considerable extent by persons for immoral purposes. This state of matters may be accounted for by defective management, and according to the evidence given before us and that prepared for submission to the Parliamentary Com- mittee on the Glasgow Provisional Order already referred to, many of the proprietors practically connive at and encourage it, the tenants or house farmers being in many cases yoimg women who are prostitutes. {Cf. Watson, 22,379 (10).) The houses, too, are open to all hours, and there is evidently no difficulty in securing admittance, no matter how late the hour may be. 853. When regard is had to the type of persons inhabiting these houses, it is regrettable to find that REPORT. 123 yoting children are found in them. (Rutherford, 5741, and Watson, 22,379 (9).) It is needless to say how undesirable the conditions are for the upbringing of children. 854. Necessity for Farmed-ont Houses. — The evidence as to the need for f armed-out houses is- con- tradictory. Bailie Lindsay, Leith, is of opinion that the f armed-out house should be controlled rather than suppressed. (Ibid., 5984 (5), 6226.) Dr Maxwell Williamson, Medical Officer of Health of Edin- burgh, holds that in a large commimity such houses, properly controlled, are " very essential," as giving temporary accommodation to married couples ; but he considers that to ensure that there shall be no abuse of such accommodation, the Local Authority should have power to license, and withdraw the license from, such houses. {Ibid., 5662.) Tlie Rev. Dr Watson, Glasgow, points out that the abolition of the farmed-out house would not abolish prostitution, and that a house of this kind is required for hawkers who travel about the country and stay for a longer or shorter period in towns and cities. But, he adds, they should be registered and licensed. {Ibid., 22,379 (11) ; 22,424 et seq.) 855. The Inspector of Poor of Glasgow, on the other hand, considers that the community would not suffer by the sweepmg away of this class of house. (Motion, 21,137, 21,143.) This view is con- curred in by Miss Rutherfurd, Warden of the Queen Margaret Settlem^t, Glasgow, and other witnesses from Glasgow. {Ibid., 22,158, 22,250 ; qf. Coultate, 23810-13 ; M'Kellar, 22,835-7 ; Parish, 23,193, 23,211.) A witness from Greenock is of the same opinion. (Campbell, 33,087-8.) 856. Necessity for Further Legislation. — We are convinced of the necessity for further legislation to enable Local Authorities to control more effectively this class of house. We do not, however, regard it as a practicable step to abolish these houses, as some of the witnesses suggest. In the present state of society, the farmed-out house appears to be necessary, in the larger towns at any rate ; but, while the existing law is probably sufficient to secvire that the farmed-out houses coming within the present limited de&iition are not kept so as to be a danger to the public health, additional powers seem necessary to secure not only an extension of this definition, but also that as far as possible farmed-out houses should not be resorted to for immoral purposes. ' 857. The necessity for these further powers has already been pressed on the central departments concerned. Sir John Lindsay, Town Clerk of Glasgow, stated, in giving evidence before us in November 1913, that five years previously he had submitted to the Secretary for Scotland and the Local Govern- ment Board the necessity for an amendment of the Public Health Act so as to enable more control to be exercised over farmed-out houses, but that though it was promised that the matter would be taken into consideration, nothing was done. Accordingly, he said, that as Glasgow could not wait any longer on the promised general legislation, the Corporation proposed to apply to Parliament for the necessary powers for Glasgow. (Lindsay, 23,349.) The powers sought by Glasgow in their Provisional Order of 1914 {vide Appendix LXXXIII.) were, however, not granted. In 1913 the Corporation of Edinburgh obtained the special powers already referred to in Chapter V., but, as the Medical Officer of Health says, the Corporation did not get the powers they wanted. (Maxwell Williamson, 40,749.) The proceedings before the Parliamentary Committees who considered the Edinburgh and Glasgow Bills seem to indicate that the Scottish Office objected to the special powers desired by these Corporations on the ground that the whole question of the regulation of farmed-out houses was so closely connected with questions of morality that the matter was one for a public Act of Parliament rather than for a Provisional Order. 858. We consider that there should be no further delay in introducing legislation to enable Local Authorities to control more effectively these houses. The need for legislation on this subject is experi- enced by only a few Local Authorities, but these are the large municipalities, and we think they should now receive the additional powers for which they have agitated so long. We recommend that the follow- ing additional powers should be conferred on Local Authorities :— (1) That (following the lines of the precedent of the Edinburgh Act) the Local Authority should have power to declare to be a farmed-out house any house which they have good grounds for believing to be so managed or conducted as to require special supervision and control by the Local Authority and their officers. (2) That there should be an appeal to the Local Government Board by the owner and occupier of such house against the decision of the Local Authority. (3) That in addition to being subject to the byelaws that may be framed under section 72 (1) of the Public Health Act, such houses should be the subject of byelaws in regard to — (a) The keeping and well-ordering of such houses (including the lighting, furnishmg, and general arrangements of the houses ; the suitability and character of the tenant or keeper ; and the keeping of a register of the names and occupations of the persons occupying such houses) ; (6) The separation of the sexes in such houses ; (c) The fixing of the hours for closing such houses for the night for letting purposes, and for providing that persons found in such houses after the hour so fixed shall be reckoned as among the persons occupying such houses ; {d) The' prohibiting of persons under sixteen years of age residing in such houses, imless they so reside with their parents or guardians. (4) That application should be made to the Local Authority yearly by the keeper of the house for renewal ol the registration of the house, that the Local Authority should have power to refuse renewal of registration, that when renewal of registration has been refused, lodgers shall not be received into the house so long as the Local Authority do not withdraw their resolution declaring the house to be a farmed-out house. If renewal of registration is refused, there should be an appeal to the Local Govern- ment Board on the part of the keeper. (5) That no person shall act as keeper of a farmed-out house unless he (or she) has been registered by the Local Authority, who should have power to refuse or withdraw registration at any time. (6) That the owner or keeper of a farmed-out house may at any time apply to the Local Authority to have revoked the resolution declaring the house a farmed-out house, and that if the Local Authority refuse to comply with the application the owner or keeper should have an appeal to the Local Government Board. 124 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XIII. (a) Common Lodging-Houses. (1) That there should be an obligation on every Local Authority within whose district there is a common lodging-house to frame and enforce byelaws for the regulation of common lodging-houses, and further, that the minimum cubic space per person provided for in such byelaws should be 500 feet. (Paragraph 834.) (b) Houses let m Lodgings. (2) That the Local Authority should have power to require the registration as a common lodging- house of any house let in lodgings, with a right of appeal on the part of the occupier and owner of the house let in lodgings to the Local Government Board against any proposal of the Local Authority so to register the said house as a common lodging-house. (Paragraph 837.) (3) That the application of byelaws for houses let in lodgings should be specifically grounded oh the persistent or periodic existence of overcrowding. (Paragraph 839.) (4) That definite power should be given to Local Authorities to make byelaws for the separation of the sexes in houses let in lodgings. (Paragraph 840.) (c) Farm£d-out Homes. (5) That the additional powers for the control of farmed-out houses, as detailed in Paragraph 858, be conferred on Local Authorities. (Paragraph 858.) CHAPTER XIV. MINERS' HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (1) Historical Introduction. 859. — Special Importance of the Problem. — ^As already indicated, the origin of the Commission was directly due to the representations made to the Secretary for Scotland by the Scottish Miners' Associa- tions. Our Remit includes the housmg of all classes of the Scottish population ; but, as the result of the preliminary Reports prepared for the Local Government Board at the request of Lord Pentland, it was decided that the case for an investigation into the housing of miners was so overwhelming that we were directed to make special inquiry into housing in the mining districts. Accordingly, we considered it our duty not merely to obtain very full evidence on the conditions of housing in the mining communities, but also to inspect personally typical areas in the chief mining counties — ^Midlothian, Linlithgow, Fife, Lanark, Ayr, and Stirling. The evidence laid before us by witnesses we have thus been able to confirm by direct observation. Our visits of inspection were made principally during the six months before the War. The masses of evidence adduced and the records of observations made constitute a valuable body of evidence on all the problems connected with the housing of miners, and, in order to convey a substantive impression of our investigations, we are compelled to devote to the mining section an ex- ceptionally large proportion of space. 860. But, as will be shown later, the amoimt of space is not disproportionate to the magnitude of the industry concerned. The mining industries, including shale-mining as well as coal-mining, necessarily give rise to special housing problems ; for the organisation of the industries is determined by the geological situation of coal seams or shale beds, not, as in many other industries, by the availability of power and accessibility to the sea. Frequently, as in the recently simk shafts at Valleyfield in West Fife, the mine- owner sinking such shaft is the only employer having any interest in providing houses near the new shaft. Where, as in Lanarkshire, several mining shafts are within a short distance of each other, existing towns or towns resting on other industries may be in a position to provide adequate housing ; but, as a rule, even in the special mining areas of Lanarkshire and Ajrrshire, the houses have been placed as near as practicable to the mining shafts. The housing of miners, therefore, has a very direct and special relation to the nature of the mining industry. The industry requires considerable numbers of houses all approxi- mately of one class. The convenient sites are not always the best drained or the most easily laid out. For these and several other reasons, the housing of miners presents a series of special problems. 861. Historical Development.- — These problems are not of recent growth. The history of the industry is not without relevance to the conditions of to-day ; for, in some areas, the houses built more than 120 years ago continue to be occupied, and, in at least one place (Bo'ness), a mine has been continuously worked for over 100 years. In such an industry it was to be expected that customs should become too firmly rooted to be easily changed. Where fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and even great- great-grandfathers can be counted in the history of the same local industry, tradition naturally becomes a governing factor in the life of the villages. Here and there the shadows of the early bondage of miners seem still to affect the miners of the present generation. This seems to "be the only explanation of the idea, frequently encountered all over the nlining fields, that the miner's house was really a part of his wa ges and that half a crown a week should be the maximum rent. In the early days of the industry the " tied house " predominated. In certain localities it continues to predominate. As the industry has developed and transit has been better organised, the " tied house " has lost its general predominance ; but probably it is still, in the minds of some communities, a relic of the bondage days. The house is still very largely regarded as a piece of the mining plant, not as a place of free tenancy. There is, however, abundant evidence to show that, where the housing conditions have been improved, the personal interest of the miners in their houses tends to increase. The following historical notes, therefore, have a distinct bearing on present-day conditions. 862. We are informed that in the year 1592 special concessions and protection were given by the Scots Parliament to miners and salters because " they were dailie in the hasart. of their lyves be the evill REPORT. 125 ' air of the saidis mynes." Unfortunately, certain acts of fii-e-raising raised a strong prejudice against the miners ; and the Act of 1592 was repealed and in 1606 an Act was passed by which colliers and salters were brought into a bondage as severe as that which existed in the fourteenth century and quite as cruel as that to be found in the wilds of Africa. This Act prohibited anyone from employing any collier, coal-bearer, or salter without a sufficient testimonial from their last employer ; and in the event of thek being employed without such testimonial, the master from whom they came had power to claim them within a year and a day, in which case the employer was bound to deliver up the worker within 24 hours under a penalty of £100 Scots ; and such deserting colliers as had received " fair wages and fees " were to be held as thieves and pimished in then- bodies. {Acts Parliament Scots, vol. iv. p. 286.) 863. The existence of this state of servitude through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries must be borne in mind in considering the social development of the Scotch coalfields. In 1775 an Act pro- viding for gradual emancipation was passed, but proved ineffective. A young miner who had begun to work in the pits after 1775 felt that he could not leave his father, who was " thirled " to a colliery, and go to a new work. Hence it was that withm a quarter of a century the Government was forced to move and bring in the 1799 measure, which declared that " many colliers and coal-bearers still continued in ' a state of bondage from not having complied with the provisions, or from having become subject to ' the penalties of the said Act." It was, therefore, enacted that from and after the passing of the 1799 Statute "all the colliers in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, who were bound colliers at the ' time of passing of the Act, shall be, and are hereby declared to be, free from their servitude." 864. Even this Act was robbed of its full efiect by a rigorous system of long contracts which then gi-ew up. In 1840 a Parliamentary Commission was appointed to inquire into the conditions of women's and children's labour in mines. Commissioners visited many collieries and mining towns and villages in Scotland, and in their reports, issued in 1842, they give us many interesting glimpses (1) of the housing conditions of the mining population, and (2) of the conditions of labour in the pits of 73 years ago. At many collieries the Commissioners found women at work in the pits, while boys and girls of from seven to eight years of age were daily being dragged down the mines by their parents, and were put to work for which they were quite unfitted. Strange to say, that ia Mid and East Lothian, within a few miles of the City of Edinburgh, the conditions of labour were discovered to be much more revolting than in any other county in Scotland. The Commissioners found that in the Lothians women and young girls (" bearers ") were engaged in the work of carrying coals in baskets on their backs for long distances undergi-ound and up stair pits to the siu"face. Although not so bad as in the Lothians, con- ditions were bad enough in other counties in Scotland, and as the result of the reports by the Commissioners an Act was passed by Parliament on 10th August 1842 prohibiting the employment of women and girls in mines, and stipulating that boys should not be engaged in pits under ten years of age. The Act became operative on 1st March 1843. 865. The Commissioners of 1840 found that the housing conditions in many mining centres were of a piece with the work in the pits. Mr Franks, in his report, deals at considerable length with the housing in East Scotland. He says : " The domestic condition of the collier population presents a deplorable ' picture of filth and poverty. I took the opportunity of examining many of the witnesses at their own ' dwellings, in order that I might become well acquainted with this branch of the inquiry, and it would ' indeed be difficult to witness a more disheartenuig spectacle. The hut is a wretched hovel, perhaps ' 10 to 12 feet square, in which a family of from six to ten individuals are huddled together ; two bed- ' steads, and sometimes only one, nearly destitute of covering, generally a few stools, sometimes the ' hanging of a chair, and some damaged crockery, fowls, occasionally a pig or jackass, dogs and whatever ' animals it may chance they possess, share the room with the family, and the only objects of comfort ' which present themselves are the pot and the fire over which it invariably hangs. The almost general ' absence of all furniture is to be attributed, as the women and men told me, to its giving inconvenience ' ' in flitting.' There is generally an absence of all drainage, and the filth, etc., of each cottage is accumu- ' lated before the door, not even in many cases placed on one side ; indeed, there is rarely any other ' deposit for filth except the entrance to the dwelling." (Report by Robert Hugh Franks in Blue Book, Art. I., Commission on Mines, 1842.) 866. In 1844 the Government appointed Mr Tremenheere, Inspector of Mines, to visit Scotland, and report on the administration of the new Act. Writing of the typical colliery village of Lanarkshire, Mr Tremenheere says : " The common form and arrangement of the colliers' and miners' houses already ' described prevails here very generally ; that of long rows, single or one behiad the other, or in parallelo- ' grams, containing from 20 to 100 houses or more together. They have no upper storey, and consist ' solely of a room on each side of the door. The general characteristics are crowded rooms, dirt and ' untidiness within and without, neglect of garden-ground, where there is any, and all other indications ' of a population either regardless of, or not in a position to observe, the comforts and decencies of ' domestic life." The Commissioner also obtained evidence from other parts of Scotland. For instance, Mr J. Johnston, Manager of the Redding Colliery, Stirlingshire, says : " One-third of our houses are single, ' the rest are double, or a house and a half. We cannot get them all to keep them as clean as we could ' wish. In 1832 we went through them all, whitewashed them, and furnished the people with bedsteads, ' blankets, etc., and cleared everything away about the doors. Since then their habits have greatly ' improved. Pefore that most of them slept on straw ; four or five do so still." In the county of Fife, in 1843, the accommodation provided in most mining villages was meagre in the extreme. At many collieries the custom was to let houses of one room to newly married people, and two rooms to men with families. The ceilings were low and the windows small, and earthen floors were the order of the day. Little attention was paid to drainage. 867. At the same time, in some districts an improvement had begun to be felt. At Shotts, in Lanarkshire, about 26 houses had been built by the colliers, with a little initial assistance from the coal-owner through the agency of a building society to which they paid 2s. 6d. per week. At Coaltown of Wemyss, Fife, and Newbattle, Midlothian, improved houses were being erected ; and it is interesting to note that these two districts to-day possess some of the best miners' houses in the East of Scotland. It is apparent that conditions such as those described by Mr Franks and Mr Tremenheere in the middle 126 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. of the nineteenth century to some extent explain, if they cannot really excuse, the persistence of the conditions which we are about to describe in the older rows in the twentieth century. (2) Chief Mining Counties of Scotland. 868. The Mining Population. — In order to indicate the magnitude of the problem, we append the following table compiled from the Census Report of 1911, giving the number of (1) workmen below ground, and (2) total employed about the mines in the six principal mining comities of Scotland. Coimty. Lanarkshire Fife Ayrshire Stirlingshire Midlothian West Lothian (Luilithgowshire) Xotal ■■••••• Deducting Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Leithf Total " Population dealt with " (Census). 1,400,088 259,787 261,973 155,560 485,756 76,542 2,639,706 1,292,326 1,347,380 Employees working below Ground. 54,390 24,340 13,202 10,345 10,260 9,768 122,305 * Total employed and about the Mines. 64,961 28,577 15,491 12,493 12,567 7,260 141,349 * According to the Report for 1911 of the CJovemment Inspector of Mines the total number of workpeople of all ages, male and female, employed underground and above ground was 138,377. t The number of miners resident in Edinburgh and Glasgow, though considerable, is small relatively to the total populations. Thus the figure, after deduction of these two cities and Leith, is the more accurate, though it does not allow for the non-mining portions of the counties. Even allowing for the fact that in many cases more than one member of the family works as a miner, it is clear that the total population of coal miners (apart from miners in ironstone, shale, etc.) with their dependants cannot be far short of half a million. 869. Burghal and Landward Distribution of Mining Population. — This large population, amounting to about one-tenth of the inhabitants of Scotland, is housed partly in burghs and partly in landward areas. In the burghs some miners hve in types of house similar to those occupied by other wage earners ; but in some others — for example, Hamilton, Coatbridge, and Dmifermline — ^tJiere are to be foimd " Miners' ' Rows " that are at once recognisable as of the same type as those in the landward villages. On the other hand, in some of the county districts, large aggregates of population, amounting occasionally to 15,000 persons are imder county government. Such are Blantyre and Larkhall in Mid-Lanark. In those places a clear majority of the population are directly engaged in coal mining. (Dr John T. Wilson^ Report on the Housing of Miners, Lanarkshire (1910), pp. 100, 212.) Thus, in the mining districts, the apparent distinction between burghal and landward commmiities is more than usually indefinite. The differences between the administrative powers of burghs and counties are not reflected in the external differences of the commmiities. An Inspector of the Local Government Board stated that " a Sanitary ' Visitor would not be able to distinguish which were biu'ghs and which were not in Fifeshire as regards ' their administration." (Dewar, 791.) 870. Certain Comnton Features. — In spite, therefore, of the differences in administrative control the mining communities, whether burghal or landward, show certain common features, and this is true of the various coalfields of Scotland. In all the coalfields there is a well-marked difference between the oldest houses and the newest, between the worst and the best. But there are also great differences between the different coalfields. The differences are showii in such mutters as the proportion of old houses, the prevalence of overcrowding, and the current sanitary standard. Fife and the Lothians, whose development has spread over a long period, show great varieties of housing, and broad distinctions between the older and newer villages. On the other hand, Mid-Lanark shows, in its mining villages, a uniformity of house structure, a monotony of village plan, and a congestion of houses that are probably, to a great extent, due to the very rapid development of its mines during the middle and end of the nine- teenth century. In our accomit of the different types of miners' housing, it is inevitable that the worst conditions should receive most prominence ; but the general impression given can hardly be more de- pressing than the reality. It is worth recalling tliat Mr Walker Smith's estimate of " new houses re- ' quired," on the double test of overcrowding and iminhabitability, amoimts to 18-59 per cent, in the mining districts, as compared with 9-27 per cent, in the large burghs of Scotland as a whole, and 12-11 per cent, in the small burghs. (See above. Chapter III.) 871. The evidence on which the following sections are based is chiefly drawn from representatives (1) of the Central and Local Authorities ; (2) of the coalowners, by whom a large proportion of the houses are provided ; and (3) of the Miners' Unions, of which the largest is the Lanarkshire Miners' Union, with over 40,000 members. (Gibb, etc., 26,365.) We have also used the reports by the medical ofiicers issued in 1910-1912 at the instance of the Local Government Board (see Chapter I.). These vary from a few pages in the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Ayrshire to an elaborate and detailed volume of 242 pages, with plans and illustrations, in the case of Lanarkshire. As already stated, we REPORT. 127 have checked the various descriptions by personal observations in the counties of Lanark, Fife, Ayr, Midlothian, West Lothian, and Stirhng. (3) Sites and Plans of CoiXieby Villages. 872. Determining Conditions. — Li the mining industry, three principles appear to have influenced the selection of sites and the planning of villages ; first, the necessity for labour convenient to the mine ; second, the commercial necessity to economise on the provision of houses as part of the mining plant ; and third, the speculative risk involved in the hmited hfe of the mine. Li the selection of sites, probable proximity to the mine was the predominant factor. Frequently, mines had to be sunk at a considerable distance from populous places and in areas that would not natm'ally have been chosen as building sites. Hence, in the case of older villages, " the site was often ill-chosen, and no consideration was paid to the ' nature of the soil, subsoil dramage, excavation of soil imdemeath floors, etc." (Dr Robb's Report (1912), page 7 ; c/. Dobson (Sanitary Inspector for Mid-Lanark), 36,835 (2).) Li the areas inspected by us, it was the exception to find that, in the]selection of a site, any attention had been paid either to the nature of the soil or subsoil, or the amenities or exposure. 873. Li the planning of the villages, the hne of least resistance has, for the most part, been adopted ; the iouses, built of the cheapest available material, are arranged in the cheapest form, viz. the straight row. Usually the rows are arranged in parallel Imes ; occasionally the grouping is varied by " the ' square." But, whether arranged in rows or in squares, the greater number ol the villages show so Uttle consideration for the conditions of life demanded in a modern town, that privies, ashpits, washhouses, and other outhouses have usually been erected in the most conspicuous places, and on the most primitive designs. How gross the conditions contuiue to be in a large number of the villages, the detailed descrip- tions given below will demonstrate ; but, to speak generally, the design of a colUery viUage is succinctly expressed in Dr M'Vail's description of a typical mining viUage in Stirhngshire or Dumbartonshire. 874. " The village consists of one or more rows of brick or stone or slated houses, opening on a ' private roadway for cart traffic, with a surface channel for di'ainage beyond the roadway, pillar wells ' at intervals beside the channel ; a series of blocks of outhouses beyond it ; and small gardens or clothes ' drying-greens on the further side of the outhouses." 875. Of the Fife coalfields, Dr Dewar remarked that the general improvement in modern miners' houses did not seem to have extended to the setting of the houses. Planning and arrangement he regarded as by no means unimportant ; but it was the aspect in which the recently formed and recently extended mining centres of Fifeshire showed least favourably. He also criticised the want of provision of garden ground in some places. (Report on the Housmg of Miners in Fifeshire (1909), Paragraph 33. Of. state- ment in evidence, 764 (30, 59 f.).) These strictures do not apply universally, as in some mmiug com- munities the taste for gardening is highly developed, but they apply very widely. It is, however, satis- factory to note that quite recently, not only as regards gardens, but in the matter of planning of the village, a reaction against the old careless and monotonous arrangement of the " rows " has begun to make itself felt on the side both of the mineowners and their employees. (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (12 li.), 6860.) The general improvement is, however, very recent. Among the best miners' dwellings seen by us in Lanarkshire was a viUage of 127 houses erected about the year 1905 by Messrs Wm. Baird & Co. The houses, of two and three apartments, were well built of brick on the double-flatted plan, and had con- veniences better than the average. But the number placed on the site was considerable, "' between 26 and 27 per acre " (Forgie, 25,840 (32)), though it was sm-rounded by open fields ; and the arrange- ment of the houses in parallel straight fines, with washhouses, etc., placed at mathematical intervals between the rows, gave a bare and monotonous appearance. Small garden plots had been set aside, but were not made use of. (See plan in Dr Wilson's Report, pp. 168-171.) There is, however, a growing tendency to condemn the straight row. (J. Wilson, 3997 (74) ; D. W. Robertson, 6865 f . ; G. Fraser, 31,115 (6, 7).) 876. At VaUeyfield (Fifeshire), and, in a less degi-ee, at Kii'kconnel (Dumfriesshire); and elsewhere, a definite attempt has been made to reach a more pleasing lay-out. VaUeyfield is a carefully designed new viUage. The site is admirable. The amount of open space is very generous. The houses are arranged in crescents. Each crescent has a certain proportion of three-room houses, and a certain pro- portion of two-room houses — each house with scullery, w.-c. and — ^in many of the houses — bath, with hot water' from the kitchen range for bath and sink, and garden. Every house has a back door openuig to the garden. This apparently small detail has been found a great practical convenience in the management of the smaU houses. On the other hand, it has one drawback : it enables the tenant to subdivide his house into two houses of one room each, with one entrance from the front and one from the back. This has actually happened even in this new viUage, which, at the time of our visit, still had some houses unlet. The village is only partly built ; it will be completed as the VaUeyfield ColUery develops. The usual general conditions of housing are fulfiUed — drainage, water-supply, and removal of refuse. When the village is completed, and the public buildings essential to the life of such a com- munity — a school, a hall, reading and recreation rooms and churches — are established, this viUage will have all the machinery necessary for a sound civic life. 877. Since we visited VaUeyfield in 1913 a number of houses have been built in pairs, with suitable garden ground to each. Similar provision of houses in pairs, with garden, has been made at Shotts, in county of Lanark. 878. In Mid-Lanark, the viUages recently erected at Harthill and Cleland by the District Committee of the Middle Ward have been planned in the Ught of the latest views on garden villages. The contrast between the depressing monotony of the ancient rows and the graceful variety of the new villages is very striking. No doubt the type of house provided is a factor in the general pleasing effect ; but the arrange- ment of the houses is an equally essential factor. For the sake of economy, the cottages are built in groups of two, and occasionaUy in groups of four ; but nowhere is the dreary monotony of the long row repeated. 879. How far the speculative factor in the life of a mine has operated in inducing the owners to pro- vide houses of inadequate stnicf ure, it is impossible to determine ; but it is certain that the failure to close 128 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. uninhabitable houses has frequently rested on the allegation that the life of the mine was about to end, and that the houses would soon become automatically derelict. In some areas the life of the mine has ended ; but it has been found that the houses were transferred to other owniers. But, in other areas, where the mines were alleged to be approaching exhaustion, they are still in full operation, and the defec- tive houses continue to be occupied. (i) Other Defects of Site and Arrangement. 880. There are, however, serious defects of site in many mining villages, quite apart from defective or haphazard arrangement of the houses. In some cases a badly-selected site throws real difficulties in the way of improvements of sanitation by making satisfactory drainage difficult. (J. T. Wilson, 36,974 fi.) In other cases the only outlook of the cottages is upon the " bings " of the pit at which the men find employment, varied in the case of the ironworkers' cottages by " old, obsolete properties," workshops, or needless walls, which cut off all view from the windows. (Gavin, 37,356 ; c/. Irvine, 27,385 (15).) Where this is the case something might even now be done by way of improvement. 881. We may give an idea of the conditions referred to by describing the surroundings of two Lanarkshire "rows" which we inspected. In one case near Hamilton, the site of the cottages was very low lying, a road running past their backs at a considerable elevation, and a large " bing " shutting out all view in front. They were back-to-back houses, for the most part of a single room ; and the out- side privies were peculiarly offensive, even for Lanarkshire. The roadways were in bad condition. In another group of houses in the BeUshill district we noted a dirty combined ashpit and privy ; the premises being grossly exposed and looking, at the time of our visit, as if they were never cleaned. The streets were seas of liqiud mud ; the gutters broken in places ; and there seemed to be no idea of draining off the surface water either from the general area or from the floors of the latrines. At the same time we noted the cleanliness of several of the interiors of the houses, showing that the housewives at least were not responsible for and had not descended to the level of their surromidings. (5) Improvement of Design and Maintenance. 882. That there is no inherent impossibility in designing a mining village effectively is shown by the lay-out of the Garden Village at Woodlands, Doncaster. But the responsibility for the external amenity of a mining village cannot, unfortimately, be taken as ending with a good initial design. On our visit to Woodlands we were struck by the fact that in the upper and more closely built portion of the village there was a degree of neglect of the surroundings of the houses which, to a considerable extent, neutralised the benefits of the original plan. Nor is it surprising that those brought up in the sordid siuToundings of a typical old-fashioned coUiery village in. Scotland, or the north of England, should not, in every case, at once respond to the improved external conditions of a village such as Woodlands. The indiscriminate keeping of poultry, and the scattering of the contents of ashbins were cited by the architect of the Fife Coal Company as tending to lower the standard of upkeep even in the better rows. (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (H).) But these are matters which can only be set right with the raising of the standard of occupancy through education ; and this process cannot begin until the present foul congeries of middens, ashpits, and coal-sheds are cleared away from the fronts of the houses in the older rows, while it can cer- tainly be stimulated by better design of the villages of the future. 883. It seems clear that fuiiiher powers are needed, whether under the Town Planning Act or ex- tended byelaws, to enable Local Authorities to control the site and plamiiug of all new villages. There is imdoubted weight in Dr Dewar's further statement that : — The want of power in the hands of the Local Authorities ... to regulate the formation and laying out of new villages . . . and of elaborating and devismg their general arrangement and dis- tribution before actual building is permitted to be commenced, is fraught with a menace to the welfare of the community for a hundred years to come. {Annual Report for Fifeshire for 1909, page 172.) ' (6) Gardens in Mining Villages. 884. There are three other matters of sufficient importance to be mentioned here, viz. gardens, roads and footpaths, and lighting. 885. A reference has akeady been made to the absence of cultivated gardens m certain even of the more progressive mining communities of Fife, though ground can be had ; and the same observation would apply to the West of Scotland. From this it may be deduced that the miner has no taste for gardening, and it certainly appears that the arduous nature of his eight hours' work below ground must naturally make him disinchned to " work another shift " when he comes to the sui'face. (Dewar, 1112 ff.) But the examples of several villages in the Fife coalfields, of Cowie in Stirlingshire, of Larkhall in Lanark- shire, and Niddrie in Midlothian show that this is not necessarily the case, but that, under favourable cil'cumstances, the miner shows great taste for and skill in gardening. The three chief conditions to be fulfilled if this is to be developed are ; — (a) sufficiently prolonged tenure of his dwelling and garden ; (6) the adequate fencing of the latter ; and (c) proximity of the garden to his house. 886. Where there is constant shifting of the-fliining population, then, as among farm servants, the taste for gardening cannot develop ; but when families remain long in the same village, either as tenarfts or, still more, as occupying owners, their gardens are often the subject of genuine pride. (R. Ramsay, 19,287 f. ; Gibb, 26,642 ; Paul, 26,253 (17).) Thus it happens that, in some villages, especially in East Fife, good and well-cultivated gardens are associated with houses of a somewhat poor and anti- quated type, the reason being that these are inhabited by families who have worked long and steadily in the same locahty. In the same district good houses and good gardens are found in conjunction, but in this case also there has been continuous residence. The manager of the Wemyss Coal Company said in this connection that the occupants of most of the Company's houses " have been resident in East Wemyss ' and Buckhaven, their fathers and grandfathers, and sometimes their great-grandfathers, before them ; ' and although the houses are modern (the old houses have been pulled down and new ones put up), the REPORT. 129 ' families are there, and they have always been accustomed to keep a nice house and a good garden." (Kirkby, 7264.) It is also worthy of note that, where occupying ownership is common among miners, as in the Windygates district (East Fife) and at Larkhall,' gardens are numerous and well kept. One miner, in Larkhall, when his garden was compulsorily taken by the railway company received £400 in compensation. (Dewar, 1131. Dr Wilson's Report, page 43.) 887. In a new village, however, much depends on the extent to which the incoming miner finds the garden plot prepared. It should not be too large, as it was found at Kirkconnel that the large gardens originally provided were not taken advantage of until they were reduced to a more easily managed size. They also need some preparation by the company. (J. Wilson, 4108.) But the chief point is that they should be adequately fenced — a point on which various witnesses laid emphasis. (D. W. Robertson, 7054 ; Adamson, 7525 ; R. Nicol, 38,749 ; M'Roberts, 26,639 ; Sulhvan, 26,894 (28) ; Barr, 27,498 f.) At Woodlands, where, as already stated, the upper part of the village showed signs of neglect, we were informed that the company hoped to remedy this by improving and strengthening the fences. (Gatley, 25,748.) One witness laid great stress on the necessity of having direct access from the house to the garden. (M'Vail, 5274 ; see photographs of gardens at Cowie in his Report on the Housing of Miners in Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire, 1911, p. 54.) But it was stated by a leading representative of the miners that, whore this was not possible, small garden allotments might be provided a little way off. In this case, if the whole garden ground is fenced, the individual plots do not need to be. (Adamson, 7583 ff.) The last point was confirmed by a visit paid by us to two reconstruction schemes privately carried out some years ago in the burgh of Hamilton, the bouses having been chiefly tenanted by miners both before and after reconstruction. Small areas of waste ground have been used to pro^^de garden plots of 260 square feet, which have been taken up and worked by the tenants, with encouragement from the proprietor, who holds a competition and gives prizes every year ; and the success of the scheme has been most gratifying. The offering of prizes has also helped to promote successful gardening in the Cowie district. (Bain, 19,240 ; Moffat, 27,301 ; J. S. Brown, 38,805, 817 ff.) It was stated by Sir Thomas Mimro, the County Clerk of Lanarkshire, and also by one of the representatives of the Mid-Lanark District Conamittee, that a demand is beginning to arise among certain of the miners for small allotments to work in their spare time ; and Sir Thomas Munro suggested that, if the provision of allotments could be combined in the same scheme with that of houses, the results would be excellent. (Munro, 27,593 (41), 25,704 ; Lambie, 36,839.) 888. If Local Authorities receive and exercise in the future larger powers to control the lay-out of new villages, they can in this way secure the provision of garden groimd ; but it must rest with the pro- viders of the houses to promote the actual gardening. If this coiild be generally brought about it would do a great deal to redeem the mining villages of the future from the drab monotony of the past. (7) Roads and Footpaths. 889. In the evidence from all the chief coalfields reference was made to the extremely defective roads and footpaths which are common in mining villages. As representing the public health ofiicials of several different districts, we may quote the following from the Sanitary Inspector for the Dunfermline District of Fife :— " Witness has in many reports referred to the very bad condition of the side streets ' or roads in mining villages. These roads in many cases have not been properly bottomed and drained, ' and in consequence they become covered with mud several inches deep in wet weather. The mud is ' carried with the boots into the houses, and it is impossible to expect that the floors can be kept clean ' while the roads are in such a state." (Davison, 4634 (29) ; Lindsav, 5088, 5206 ; Dobson, 36,835 (45) ; cf. C. F. Macdonald, 37,534 (27).) 890. Dr M'Vail called attention to a photograph in his Report (p. 43) showing a row of " good ' modem houses " with no external doorsteps and no footpath outside, and pointed out how the children, constantly running in and out from the ash-covered roads, made it impossible for their mother to keep anything but a dirty floor. His report calls attention to the extent to which the comfort and amenity of life in any village are influenced by the condition of the roadways within it. (M'Vail, 5305 ; Report, p. 56.) 891. Some strong expressions were used in this connection by the miners' representatives, but after some personal experience we could hardly take exception to their strength. It was stated that in one village in Stirhngshire the roads in wet weather " resembled the miniature bed of a river," and that in another case the Sanitary Inspector had to leave his vehicle at some distance from the village lest it should get stuck in the mud. (Doherty and Barr, 27,465 (11, 18) ; 27,562 f. ; r/. Lee, 17,804a (6 c).) In Ayrshire the difficulty seems particularly acute, perhaps because of the number of isolated " rows " at a distance from a high road. The representatives of the Miners' Union quoted several instances of excessively dirty roads and footpaths, but remarked on the great improvement caused in one row by the laying down of a clean concrete footpath. (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (14, 29, 58 ; c/56).) 892. On the employer's side the evidence varied somewhat, and represented a variety of practice, while it was claimed that considerable improvements had been made. (D. W. Robertson, 6913 ; Borland, 27,188.) The manager of the Wemyss Coal Company expressed himself as satisfied with the footpath made up with ashes in ordinary circumstances (Kirkby, 7361) ; but Mr Forgie, speaking for Messrs William Baird & Co., said, " We are providing all new rows with from 5 to 7 feet wide granolithic pavement ' adjoining the houses, and are also doing this gradually at our older rows. We provide and maintain ' well-made streets, roads, and footpaths where required." Witness added that part of the deteriora- tion of service roads was due to the immensely heavier traffic, including many delivery vans, which they now have to carry, and stated that it was difficult to persuade the Local Authority to take over roads even when they had acquired a definitely public character. (Forgie, 25,840 (78) ; 26,106 ff.) The manager of the Lochgelly Coal Company spoke of the reluctance of landward as compared with burgh authorities to undertake this service, and the same point was spoken to by the representatives of the Ayrshire coalmasters. (Paul, 26,313 ff. ; Borland and Stevenson, 27,183 ff.) The County Clerk of Ayrshire was disposed to admit that " it might be quite a proper thing " for the Road Authority to take over a number of- the roads leading only to small colliery villages. He said the only difficulty was 9 130 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. that in practice it would mean a very large addition to the road mileage for which the District Committees were responsible. (Shaw, 37,716 S. Witness explained that the working rule was that before roads were taken over they " must be put into good order to the satisfaction of the road surveyor," and the proprietor must " show that the rate derived from the property to be accommodated by the road will * be sufficient to maintain it " — which ought not to be difficult in the case of mining commimities.) 893. As against the criticism of landward Local Authorities by the coalmasters, we have to take the complaint regarding many of the owners of miners' houses by officials of the Mid-Lanark District Com- mittee. They stated that in the original lay-out of building land, while attention was paid to the structure of the houses, little or none was paid to surroundings and means of access — as indeed we have seen to be the case ; and also that, when complaints were lodged in regard- to the disrepair of roads, all that has been done is " a little patch from year to year, with the result that matters have never improved." (J. T. Wilson, 37,162 f. ; Ross Young, 43,342.) (8) Powers regarding Roads and Footpaths. 894. But, even though there may have been a disposition in more than one quarter in the past to shirk responsibility for the provision of proper roads and footpaths in mining villages, it was made quite clear by various witnesses, including those last quoted, that the statutory powers of control in landward areas are insufficient. The defects in the statutory powers have already been referred to (see Paragraphs 162, 172, 173, 174, and 176 in Chapter V.), from which it will be seen that there are practically no powers for county areas outwith special scavenging districts to secure the proper upkeep of private streets and footpaths. It seems clear that this matter should be dealt with on the footing that suitable access is necessary to every habitable dwelling rather than imder the " nuisance " clause of the Pubhc Health Act. (J. T. Wilson, 37,164 fE. ; cf. Dr. M'Vail's Report, p. 56, where he mentions that a sheriff had at the date of writing recently given a decision that a road might be a " nuisance " simply through its muddy and dirty condition. ) The decision just referred to will not necessarily be followed by other sheriffs. 895. To a considerable extent the difficulty would be met if all Local Authorities, in counties as well as burghs, received authority to approve of the sites of and access to new houses. As regards the upkeep of private streets and footpaths, there seems no reason why the powers which county Local Authorities at present possess, but which are exerciseable only in Special Scavenging Districts, should not be available outwith these districts, and we recommend that at least this additional power should be given. At the same time we consider that the maintenance of roads should in future devolve largely on the Local Authority. There is a steady movement in favour either of the main through roads being taken over and maintained by the State or of a substantial grant being given from State funds to assist Local Authorities in the upkeep of these roads. It is recognised, we think, that the main roads are in no sense local, and that the nation as a whole should take them over or at any rate bear a proportion of the cost of their upkeep. In the same way we consider that roads, other than the main roads and high- ways, are in no sense private roads, being available to and used by the public generally, and serving their convenience. Accordingly we recommend that, whenever an owner (or a series of owners) puts a road belonging to him (or them) in order to the satisfaction of the Local Authority, the latter should be under obligation to take over and maintain the road in future as a public highway. Wherever a dispute arises between an owner and the Local Authority as to whether a road has been put in proper order, we recommend that the dispute should be referable to the Local Government Board. We are aware that the above suggestions would leave open for dispute between an owner of a road and a Local Authority the question of whether a road was a private road or a public road. Accordingly, we recommend that in the event of any such disagreement the point should be referred to the Local Government Board for decision. While this matter has arisen specially in coimection with roads in mining areas, the same difficulties which we have discussed arise in other areas, and accordingly we consider that our recommendations above should be applicable to all districts. (9) Lighting of Mining Villages. 896. As regards lighting also many of the mining villages appear to have been neglected ; and when the above account of the condition of their roads and footpaths is taken into account — not to mention the even worse conditions of filth that persist in certain of the older and more nelgected rows — ^it seems clear that they have an even stronger claim to adequate lighting than other communities of similar size. It was, for instance, stated that in Fife the colliery villages had imtil recently been entirely unlit. In Stirlingshire it was indicated that only in rows within or adjacent to County Lighting Districts were there any lightmg schemes. (Lee, 17,864 ff. ; Bain, 19,057 (18).) In the West of Scotland the position appears to be the same, as Messrs William Baird & Co. do not provide public lighting in any of their numerous properties ; while the Ayrshire coalmasters stated that " the light- ' ing of villages is not usual," but that, in several instances, gas lighting is provided by the owners, even for villages not lying within lighting districts. (Forgie, 25,840 (79) ; Borland, 26,970 (33), 27,193.) It should, however, be stated that in the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire there are twenty-four Special Lighting Districts, with a total population of 129,813, as against twenty-three Special Drainage Digtricts, with a total population of 124,731. (Whyte, 36,834 (15-21).) 897. In 1914 the Mid-Lanark District Committee obtained a Provisional Order to remove difficulties in putting into force certain powers of the Burghs Gas Supply (Scotland) Act, 1876, which are adoptive in landward areas. They anticipated great benefit from this Order in the supply of certain of the smaller villages. At the time of giving evidence they were hopeful that it might be found possible to establish one or two main gas works, from which gas could be conveyed throughout the whole district. (Whyte, 36,834 (123, 158), 37,060, 37,149 ; Dobson, 36,835 (43).) If, after the war, this scheme proves a success in the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire, it would help to solve the problem of lighting mining and similar villages were the powers now obtained by this District Committee to be made applicable through- out the county areas of Scotland. It is also possible that in colliery villages which could not well be REPORT. 131 lit by a Local Authority, the works' installation might be extended more frequently to the miners' dwellings. (10) Ashpits. 898. Ashpits are not confined to mining villages — they are still found even in towns, especially in the West of Scotland — ^but in the older " rows " they are particularly numerous, prominent, and offensive. In the detailed evidence submitted by sanitary officials and miners' representatives com- plaint as to these structures and their condition is a recurring note. Thus a miners' agent in Clack- mannanshire spoke of the system of ashpits as almost imiversal, and stated that they were emptied about once a week. In some of the older rows they stand along the front, 10 or 12 feet from the windows of the houses. (Cook, 19,415 ff.) Representatives from West Lothian and Stirlingshire spoke of the odour from the ashpits in summer and their harmful influence as a breeding-place for flies. (Irvine, 27,385 (3) ; Doherty and Barr, 27,465 (41).) The evidence on the West of Scotland coalfields is punctuated with descriptions of the filthy ashpits, which in the older rows are commonly combined with privies — an arrangement to which we shall recur below. (See Gibb, etc., 26,365 ; M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661.) The stench from these in summer must add to the harmful effect of overcrowded rooms by preventing the opening of windows. 899. On this point the views of Dr Dewar (now Medical Inspector to the Local Government Board) in his report on miners' housing in Fife are of importance. He says, " If all ashpits were properly ' covered — that is, roofed over — properly drained, properly used, and frequently emptied, they might ' permissibly be erected within 20 or 25 feet of dwelling-houses — a great convenience for those engaged ' in domestic work. But ashpits never are properly used. All sorts of filth, liquid, and solid are de- ' posited therein, and they are emptied at irregular and often at long intervals. In hot, still weather ' such ashpits may prove very offensive even at a distance of 60 feet or more. In view of the fact that ' the overfull and ill-kept ashpit is the rule, I consider that none should be allowed to be erected at a ' less distance than 30 feet from the nearest part of any dwelling." After describing a plan of improved ashpit which has been used extensively and with good results in the Dunfermline district, he continues : " More important than the construction of ashpit is its proper use, and frequent emptying and cleansing. ' It requires but an elementary grasp of socialism to perceive that she who deposits dead animals or ' putrid fish in the open ashpit in the middle of the ' square ' is not achieving the greatest good of the ' greatest number. But when the retort is made, ' How otherwise can I dispose of them ? ' I confess ' I have no answer, for in many of these mining villages there is no available ground wherein such ' extremely offensive matters could be disposed of by burial." (Dewar, 25-29.) This last remark indicates why the twin problems of sanitation and scavenging are at once more urgent and more difficult in the relative congestion of a colliery village than in typically rural surroundings. 900. In view of these facts it was natural that Dr Dewar, like all other sanitary officers who gave evidence on mining villages, laid great emphasis on the establishment of adequate scavenging arrange- ' ments. When examined on the point, he stated that the emptying of ashpits should take place at the. least twice a week, which would enable them to be greatly reduced in size. (Dewar, 941.) But the system of daily collection with portable ashbins is much to be preferred. Both from our oasti observa- ' tion and from the reports of witnesses we can speak with assurance on the improvement that is effected when ashpits are abolished and daily collections of refuse are instituted. In the Blantyre district of Lanarkshire this was particularly marked. (Gibb, 26,365 (12 f.) ; Lindsay, 5086 ; Doonan, 18,596 (9.).) So in the central coalfields. Repeatedly in our visits we noticed the superiority of the villages with a daily removal of refuse over those with ashpits, which, even when they are emptied at frequent intervals can hardly be said to be cleaned. On the other hand, from many recollections of ashpits piled up with refuse of all sorts, we can confirm the statement above that infrequent emptying of ashpits is the general rule. 901. The most satisfactory procedure in this connection is the formation of Special Scavenging Districts ; and it was repeatedly suggested that the restriction by which these can only be formed on a requisition should be removed, as it is sometimes difficult to obtain a requisition from a Parish Coimcil or from ten electors, and, as in the case of Special Water Supply and Drainage Districts, District Com- mittees should be empowered to form them on their own initiative. We have no hesitation in endorsing this recommendation which, though made in this chapter on " Mining," we consider should apply to Scotland generally. The same recommendation applies to the procedure for the formation of Special Lighting Districts. To meet the case of the smaller villages where the colliery company can arrange more economically for the carrying out of scavenging — which they frequently do effectively, even when other sanitary arrangements are defective — we would adopt Dr M'Vail's suggestion, that power should be given to the Local Authority to call on the owners to make arrangements for cleansing to the satis- faction of the Local Authority. 902. These suggestions, which are parallel to those regarding lighting, would bring to all mining villages the improvement already enjoyed by many. If the older " rows " must remain featureless , and monotonous, the surroundings of the houses can at least be made clean and wholesome. (11) The Question of Pit-head Baths. 903. Much stress was laid both by miners' representatives and by County Public Health Officers on the need for some adequate provision to enable miners to wash in comfort on coming off duty. Two forms of this provision were suggested — baths at the pit-head or baths in individual houses. 904. The question of pit-head baths was before the House of Commons during the passage of the Coal Mines Act in 1911. In the original Bill a clause (77) was inserted providing that " sufficient and ' suitable accommodation and facilities for taking baths and drjnng clothes shall be provided at the ' mine for the persons employed underground in the mine." It was further provided that " where ' such accommodation and facilities have been provided, the use thereof shall be obligatory on the ' persons employed underground in the mine, and every such person shall be liable to contribute the 132 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. ' sum of Id. a week towards the expenses of maintenance, including interest on any capital expenditure." When the Bill emerged from Grand Committee this clause (section 76) had been altered so as to be optional. The law now stands that if a majority of two-thirds of the workmen employed in any mine to whom the section applies demand the provision for baths and drying clothes at the mine, and under- take to pay half the cost of maintenance, including interest on capital expenditure, the owner shall be obliged to provide such facilities, so long as the estimated cost does not amount to more than 3d. per man per week. This sum is to be paid, 1^. by the employer and l^d. by the worker. The clause as amended contains no provision for the compulsory use of baths. (Dr M'Vail's Report, pp. 69-71.) 905. So far as we were able to learn, there did not seem much prospect of this section being at all generally enforced. It was stated that the Scottish Miners' Unions were in favour of making the powers compulsory at the time of the discussion in Grand Committee of the House of Commons. (M'Vail, 5291.) But, on the whole, the desire for baths in the houses seemed to occupy a much more prominent place in the minds of the miners' representatives who gave evidence before us, wliile the strongest advocacy of pit-head baths came rather from medical officers. (Robb, 4877 ; M'Vail, Report on Miners' Housing, p. 49; of. 5286 ff.) There was some divergence of evidence as to the extent to which public baths near the miners' houses have been used in Fife. (D. W. Robertson, 6836 ; J. Robertson, 17,682.) On the coalowners' side the difficulty was raised that the limit of cost under the Act would probably be insufficient to provide and maintain such baths ; while a colliery manager in Lanarkshire expressed the decided opinion that pit-head baths would not be acceptable in Scotland, but that baths in the houses would be readily taken advantage of. (Forgie, 25,840 (94) ; W. Stevenson, 26,204 f . ; cf. D. W. Robertson, 6738, 6837.) 906. At one pit belonging to the Wemyss Coal Company the Company were, at the time of our inquiry, proceeding voluntarily to erect a large installation for bathing and for drying clothes. In this case there was a large free space available close to the shaft under the pit-head building, which was to be utilised for this purpose ; and the manager gave as a special reason for the provision of these facilities that many of the miners came several miles to their work by tramcar. At the same time he stated that there did not seem to be much enthusiasm for the project among the men. (Kirkby, 7287 f., 7384, 7409.) (12) Demand for Baths in Miners' Houses. 907. The evidence on this point makes it quite clear that the direction in which demand is in- creasing is towards the bath in the individual house. Several witnesses, both among the miners and the Public Health officials, held that this was the first necessity, while a pit-head bath might be a valuable addition where it could be afforded, especially where miners had to travel long distances in their wet clothes. (Sullivan, 26,894 (30).) This view was clearly stated by a representative of the Lanarkshire 3Iiners' Union, who said, " We want baths in the houses for the families themselves, apart altogether ' from the use made of them by the miners. A bath in the house is essential to a miaer and his family ; ' a bath at the pit-head would be an addition thereto." (Gibb, 26,647.) It was suggested by Dr M'Vail that baths at the public schools might meet the need of the families, but the predominant opinion seemed to be that, if the bath were to be provided anywhere, it should be in the house. (M'Vail, 5286 ; Adamson, 7481 f. ; Maxwell Ross, 13,852 ; J. T. Wilson, 36,984 ff.) Among the witnesses who ex- pressed a desire both for pit-head and private baths was the chairman of the Miners' Association in Leadhills, where many of the miners have built and own their houses. (J. Cameron, 13,944-7.) 908. Another argument, suppoAed by experience in America of one witness, was that the Scots miner has a rooted prejudice against bathing in a public institution. (J. Robertson, 17,732 ; cf. J. T.Wilson, 36,992.) Thus it appears that, while there is considerable hesitation in regard to pit-head baths, the demand for accommodation at home is growing rapidly, though there were differences of opinion in various districts as to how far it had already become urgent ; but one significant fact is that, in their new housing schemes,»the Mid-Lanark District Committee have decided to install baths in all houses erected, with a hot- water connection both from the kitchen range and from the boiler in the scullery. (Whyte, 36,996; Ross Yomig, 43,355; cf. Small and Hood, 27,423.) The feeling against the present arrangement, or absence of arrangement, in the ordinary one- or two-room miner's house was strong and general ; and it was pointed out that, if the demand had not yet in all cases become imiversal, the provision of a bath-room in middle-class houses was, after all, a comparatively recent development, and that the same standard might soon be reached in mining communities, especially when the educative influence upon the children was taken into account. (G. Reid, 3178 (19 f.) ; M'Kerrell, 26,809a ; Sullivan, 26,967.) 909. There was some difference of opinion expressed by representatives of the mine-owners regarding the degree to which baths when installed are made use of. In Midlothian it was distinctly stated that they were largely used ; and elsewhere, where their use was less regular, it was pointed out on the men's side that there was some defect in the installation of the bath. Several witnesses, including the chairman of the Mid-Lanark District Committee, stated that they had no doubt as to baths being appreciated and used if a proper hot-water system were installed-. (Milligan, 19,314 ; cf. Bain, 19,057 (23); Doonan, 18,648; G. Fraser, 31,134.) Others considered that it was also necessary to provide greater privacy than is provided when the bath is in the scullery beside the washing boiler ; and this view was confirmed by the manager of the Woodlands Colliery, who stated that in Woodlands Garden Village about 50 per cent, of the baths placed in that position were used regularly, but that where there was a small separate bath-room the proportion was considerably higher. (Barr, 27,531 ff. ; Gatley, 25,739 ff.) It must, of course, be borne in mind that a separate bath-room involves some extra expense. 910. The plan followed in the new village at Kirkconnel — where space is left for the installation of a bath supplied with hot water from the scullery boiler, the bath itself being only installed on applica- tion by the tenant — appears to work satisfactorily. In this case the extra charge when a bath is supplied is about 3d. a week ; and the view was expressed in other districts that such a small extra charge would be readily paid. (W. Scott, 13,691 ff. ; cf J. Robertson, 17,590 ; Cook, 19,445.) At the time of our REPORT. 133 visit to Kirkconnel 19 houses were under construction, and 13 of the prospective tenants had applied for baths. 911. Thus it appears that this demand, which is very recent in its origin, is already widespread, and that both coalowners and Local Authorities are prepared to meet it in many districts. Dr M'Vail laid considerable stress on the importance of giving Local Authorities powers to require the provision of adequate storage for water and of water-softening plant in districts where water is scarce and hard. This has already been done at Bannockbum. (M'Vail, 5248 (5), 5259.) (13) Facilities for Washing and Clothes Drying. 912. In the taain the requirements for washing in a miner's family are not dissimilar from those elsewhere ; but many of the older houses have no separate washing accommodation. In this case the washing is frequently carried on outside the cottage in fine weather and sometimes even in bad weather — ^in the latter case to the detriment of the housewife's health. In other cases the washing is done in the kitchen, to the accompaniment of general damp and discomfort, which is emphasised in miner's houses by the fact that they are generally fully occupied, and if the man is working on a night shift he has to sleep while the washing proceeds, and the kitchen is filled with steam. In a number of villages washhouses have been provided for groups of tenants, and these are used in rotation, each household having the right to wash one day in the week. In some cases this arrangement appears to work well, but in others the washhouses are seriously out of repair. (M'Vail, 5269.) 91 3. It thus seems clear that Local Authorities should have power to require the provision of suitable washing accommodation in new houses, and its addition to old houses where the water supply and other circumstances permit. There was some difference of opinion as to the relative advantages of the outside washhouse, and the provision of a copper in the scullery. The former has undoubted advantages, but several witnesses from mining districts recommended the latter system on the ground that it enables the mother to keep the younger children in view when she is engaged in washing, while it is not impossible to arrange for the steam from the boiler to be carried up the chimney by a steam pipe, and in this way the amoimt of steam entering the house can be minimised. (Dittmar, 340 (21), 454, 585 fE. ; Dewar, 764 (53 fE.); Wilson, 3997 (83); Hendrie, 7413 (25) •, W. Scott, 13,893; M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (17, 19, etc., 68).) The last-named witnesses suggested as a minimiun one washing house for every three tenants. (Tonner, 36,841 (4) ; Forgie, Appendix CIX.) 914. In regard to the drying of clothes, miners' houses stand in a position by themselves ; provision for this purpose being not less necessary than for farm workers, and much mora necessary than for those who work at a dry and clean occupation. One of the representatives of the Fife and Kinross Miners' Association said : — " From my own experience as a miner, I have known my wife to rise as often as ' six and seven times in the night-time and turn my clothes when I was working in a wet place, and we had to inhale the steam rising from these clothes all night." (J. Robertson, 17,750 ; cf. Dewar, 1087'; M'Vail, 5322 ; M. Lee, 17,897, 17,933.) When it is remembered that the steam given off by the wet clothes may include injurious mineral fumes, it will be seen that the risk to the health of the children is very great when the kitchen (which is also the chief sleeping apartment) is used for this purpose both by day and night. (Keith, 1509 ; Davison, 4634 (19), 4730 ; W. Stevenson, 26,171 (8), 26,233 ff. ; R. R Jack,"34,183 (19), 34,217 f.) 915. There are two possible ways of meeting this need. The best plan appears to be that adopted in Germany, by which drying-rooms are provided along with baths at the pit-head, where the miner leaves his soiled working clothes at the end of his shift. This plan affords a complete solution, and several witnesses urged its adoption. (Dittmar, 584 f. ; Keith, 1510 ff. ; Robb, 48,776 ; Maxwell Ross, 13,761 f. ; 13,823, 13,854 ; Cook, 19,441 ff.) But, as we have shown, the provision of baths at the pit-head seems, so far, to have met with only a quaUfied support. Short of this, or pending its general adoption, most witnesses were agreed that something might be done in providing and fitting up the scullery in new miners' houses to allow of the boiler fire being kept on all night, in which case clothes could be placed on a rack or pipes in the scullery. The atmosphere of the kitchen would thus be purified, nor would it be necessary for it to be overheated on accoimt of the clothes requiring to be dried. (See references already given ; also D. W. Robertson, 7083 f. ; J. Robertson, 17,752.) (14) General Sanitation. 916. In certain of the newer mining villages overcrowding is probably the chief blot upon the housing ; but, taking the coalfields of Scotland as a whole, there is no doubt that the privy accommo- dation is the very worst feature. This is beyond question true of the older villages, especially in the West. 917. In certain small " rows " we were informed that sanitary accommodation is non-existent, and the people have to make what shift they can. (Cook, 19,410 ; M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (52).) But in many other cases it is of a primitive and most objectionable order. We visited a row of old coUiers' houses in the largest burgh in Fife, where the sanitary accommodation consisted of a " trough- closet," only 16. feet from the nearest house ; and from the stench issuing from it at the time of our visit early in spring we were able to form some conception of the nuisance and danger which it would consti- tute in summer. At another " row " (one of the oldest in East Fife) a similar erection served about twenty cottages, and its position, internal construction, and condition at the time made it certain that no woman coidd make use of it. One degree better in design are the blocks of two, four, or six privies which are common in the older Fife villages ; but, owing to their position and the divided responsi- biUty for attending to them, they are frequently allowed to become semi-ruinous — keys lost, doors off, etc. (Examples given by Dewar, Appendix III.) What we saw in Fife confirmed Dr J. T. Wilson's opinion (36,884 ff.), that an external trough-closet common to a row is httle better than a privy-midden. 918. The representatives of the shale miners in the Lothians made very similar complaints. Nor do attempts at improvement appear to be always well judged ; for a case was quoted in which eighteen water-closets had been provided for twice that number of famiUes, but had been placed in two rows of nine at the centre of the village — an obviously objectionable arrangement. (Small and Hood, 27,385 134 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (18 fE.), 27,427.) An even worse form of " improvement " was seen by us at the rows, described later, at Whifflet, in the burgh of Coatbridge. Common water-closets had been erected, but not only had they no doors — the brick partition was so inadequate that the interior of the privy could be photographed from the open space behind the houses. The only explanation given by a member of one of the Local Authorities of this disgraceful arrangement was that the firm owning the houses had been particularly difficult to deal with. (Agnew, 34,028-30.) 919. It is in the West of Scotland, where the " conservancy system " of sanitation has persisted longer than in the East, that the worst conditions are most commonly found in mining villages. Here the privy-midden, or common (Jry-closet combined with the ashpit for a group of houses, till recently formed the rule, and is still found in full offensiveness in not a few places. It seems necessary to quote two descriptions of these erections, one by Dr Dittmar of the Local Government Board, the other by the Sanitary Inspector of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire. 920. " For 20 inhabited houses (with about 100 people) there are two sets of public privy ashpits, ' one with two privies and the other with a single privy. These erections are of brick, with brick floors ' and wooden roofs, and wooden imlocked doors ; a low brick wall with wooden cope provides a seat for ' the users of the privy ; a large ashpit behind receives the droppings and the refuse of the houses. It ' might be added that not only are there no locks on the doors, there are not even catches or hooks or any ' means provided to close them from the inside. The ashpits behind the privies are large, and enclosed ' by brick walls about 2 feet high, with earth floors and without any roof. The floors of the privies ' were littered with fasces on the day of my visit. They constituted a nuisance of a recurring type." This last opinion is confirmed by the fact that, although reported on by representatives of the Local Government Board in April 1903 and March 1905, yet, when another of their inspectors saw these privies in October 1912 they were still in the same condition. (Dittmar, 340 (30 f.),) The same view was taken by Sheriff-Substitute Glegg in March 1912, when, in a Note attached to an interlocutor declar- ing that certain privy-middens of this type constituted a nuisance, he said : — " The evidence leaves no ' reasonable doubt that a nuisance exists, and will continue to recur so long as the sanitary conveniences ' are of the kind and amoimt of those at present in use." (Cited by Whyte, 36,834 (38).) 921. The description of the Lanarkshire privy-middens furnished by the Sanitary Inspector, and confirmed by our personal observation — though in the worst cases too near an approach was neither pleasant nor advisable,— is as follows : — " Generally they are of large dimensions, and, without exception, found to be in an extremely foul condition, so much so that any who have any regard to their person would not enter them ; neither will the occupants undertake the cleansing of them, as they are for common use not only amongst the occupiers but the public as well. For this reason I am quite in sympathy with the people's views, as I consider it a most debasing duty for any person to perform, an opinion recognised by the Court in refusing to commit defaulters under such circumstances. In fact, ' they are an abomination and a danger to the community." (Dobson, 26,835 (23), and Dr Wilson's Report, p. 26 fi.) 922. In view of these strictures, it is not surprising to find a colliery manager in this district stating that he knows of cases " where these conditions are so bad that the people prefer to go out into the fields." (Stevenson, 26,171 (3).) 923. Such evidence might be paralleled from other districts— cgf. a certain number of old " rows " in Stirlingshire and the Lothians shale field, which have not yet been touched by the improver. (Small and Hood as above ; Doonan, 18,596 (3) ; Doherty and Barr, 27,465.) In Ayrshire the proportion of badly constructed privy-middens is very high. (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661.) The vice-convener of the county mentioned as the most frequent causes of complaint the absence of washhouses and coal- cellars, and the existing horrible privy-ashpits. (Wallace, 39,193 (42).) 924. But these general descriptions do not and cannot give a proper conception of the grossly in- sanitary conditions found by us in our tours of inspection, which tours were arranged by the mine-owners and the representatives of the miners' associations. In each case a fully elaborated record of the sani- tary conditions had been prepared by the miners' associations. Broadly, we are able to confirm the reliabihty of the representations made to us in the reports prepared by the miners' associations and printed in our evidence. But, in order to bring out the confirmation in some detail, it is essential to supplement the statements already made by giving the Commission's notes of the various inspections. These notes (which are printed at end of this chapter) were made on the spot, and were — and are — intended to give an impression in some — but by no means full — detail of the concrete conditions. The conditions recorded would alone justify Very strong comments on the failure both of the industry and of the respon- sible authorities to secure and to maintain decent and cleanly conditions for the lives of the many thousands that occupy the houses in question. If, as has occasionally been alleged, the powers of the Public Health Act, 1897, are not sufficiently wide to enable the authorities to take direct and drastic action for the suppression of the primitive and disgusting types of privy-midden, then the Act must be subjected to extensive amendment. But we are not satisfied that the present powers have been as fully used as they ought to have been in the last twenty years. 925. Our impression on this point is confirmed by the fact that since the agitation against the con- ditions of miners' houses became acute, considerable improvements, with and without pressure from the Local Authorities, have been effected in the mining districts ; and even, as we are aware, our visits to some of these districts have been followed by, if they have not resulted in, the Local Authorities being more insistent in enforcing their powers. So far as we can judge, the neglect to secure a reasonable standard of sanitary decency may have some excuse in the inadequacy of the administrative powers, but it has none in the economics of the industry concerned. For in that industry profits, if not imiformly good, have at least been equal to any of the best industries in the country, and the wages of miners have been at least as good as any other industry requiring equal skill. (15) Sanitary Improvement and Retarding Causes— Mid-Lanark. 926. While we saw in the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire the most deplorable sanitation in the more neglected " rows," we saw also many signs of an effort after better things, such as the addition of annexes REPORT. 135 containing scullery, washhouse, and water-closet to individual houses ; and the replacement of large common ashpits by individual bins. The evidence laid before us by the District Clerk showed that much has been done in recent years. In eleven Special Scavenging Districts in the Middle Ward the power to abolish priv}'-middens in such districts has been enforced, with the result that, of 1891 of these erections which existed at the formation of the respective Special Districts, all but 207 have been removed and water-closets installed in their place. In Blantyre this change took place in 1905, and daily removal of refuse was instituted ; and the health of the community benefited, especially in the diminishing prevalence of typhoid fever. (W. E. Whyte, 36,834 (37).) The deaths from typhoid fell from 69 in 1905 and 81 in 1906 to 9 in 1911 and 6 in 1912. The figures are striking, even when qualified by Dr Wilson's statement that typhoid does not invariably accompany privy-middens. (36,891 fE.) The summary of improve- ments effected in the Middle Ward during the first five years' operation of the Housing, etc., Act, 1909, is worth quoting in full at this point, as the properties referred to (nearly 100 in number) are practically all miners' rows : — Summary. Houses closed ..... 699 Sanitary improvements completed . . . 1221 „ „ in progress . . . 1065 „ „ under negotiation . . 1365 Total 4350 (Ibid. (137).) 927. The cost of such improvements naturally varies, according to whether a more extensive recon- struction is carried out at the same time ; but even when the cost of adding a scullery and boiler to each house, and a water-closet for every two houses, is taken separately, it amounted a year or two before the War to about £25 per house. Two such improvements, one of 276 miners' houses in Lanarkshire, the other of about 300 in Midlothian, both brought out this figure, which may thus be taken as typical. (R. Ramsay, 19,358 ; Whyte, Appendix CXXVL (18).) Usually an addition is made to the rent to cover this outlay- — a, reasonable proceeding if the previous rents were reasonable. But this is a point on which it would be hazardous to express too confident an opinon without inspection of the houses before and after the improvement was carried out. 928. Since this extensive, and certainly greatly needed, improvement has taken place in the Middle Ward in very recent years, we naturally tried to find a satisfactory explanation of its having been so long delayed. The explanation advanced was threefold : (1 ) There was the fact that the system of common dry privies remained much longer in the West of Scotland than in the East, and that thirty years ago it might be argued that what was good enough for the city of Glasgow could not be condemned in a mining village ; (2) there was a lack of statutory powers in landward districts — a point with which we deal elsewhere ; (3) till a water-supply adequate for the provision of at least one closet for every two houses was available, no really satisfactory substitute for the common priw could be devised in these congested villages. (Whyte, 36,880 ; J. T. Wilson, 36,884-900.) 929. Of the three matters referred to, that of the water-supply has perhaps the greatest importance ; and it is the completion of the District Committee's very extensive water scheme which has opened the way most directly for the recent advance. (Dr Wilson's Report, pp. 12, 104 ; cf. Whyte, 36,834 (30). The whole cost of the scheme was about half a million.) Across the watershed in West Lothian the Sanitary Inspector told the same tale — the introduction of adequate water supplies had led to a general introduction of sanitation by water carriage at Broxburn and elsewhere. (Frew, 2830 ff. We were struck by the effort to improve conditions in this area.) These facts emphasise the need, which we point out elsewhere, for a systematic survey of the countiy's resources in the matter of water, so that competition for the use of particular catchment areas may be avoided, and the resources of the country in this essential respect economically (and extensively) developed. 930. The possession of a good water-supply is not the only precondition of improved sanitation, however, as the question of drainage works and sewage purification also comes in, and occasions real difficulty both to companies and Local Authorities. This is especially so on high ground, such as Shotts district, both because the streams are small and readily polluted, and because such a watershed is often an administrative boundary, as in this case between Mid-Lanark and West Lothian. (Dr Wilson's Report, p. 12 f. ; Glaister, 23,548, 23,565 ; Forgie, 25840 (88) ; WTiyte, 36,834 (42 ff.).) The representatives of the Lanarkshire Miners' Union, including their consulting architect, argued strongly in favour of the institution of drainage districts co-extensive with the largest water districts, in order to equalise drainage rates, and to extend the benefit of public drainage to villages which are too small to bear the cost of individual drainage schemes. (Cowie, 26,384 ff . , 26,591. ) But doubts were expressed as to whether so large a scheme was practicable. (Sullivan, 26,931 ; cf. Whyte, 37,175 f.) Both elements (i.e. water and drainage) have entered into the acute housing difficulties at West Benhar and Harthill ; nor had any definite solution been found at the time of our inquiry. (Cowie, as above ; Whyte, 36,932 ff ; cf. Sullivan, 26,927.) If a special commission is appointed, or if Government engineers are instructed to survey the watersheds of Scotland, their remit or their instructions might with advantage include the question of drainage schemes in neighbouring administrative areas as well as that of water supplies. The cases in which a conflict of interests arises in regard to drainage are fewer than in regard to water rights, but they may give rise to difficulty if any considerable population lives near the watershed. (16) Sanitary Improvement and Retarding Causes — Ayrshire. 931. In many of the Ayrshire villages we found, as we have already stated, that the privy accommo- dation was of a particularly inadequate order. In his special report in 1910 the Medical Officer for the county said : — In the largest number of cases the privy accommodation is fairly good, but at some rows — e.g. at Rankinston, Coylton Parish, and Bumbrae, Tarbolton — the privies are defective, and are without 136 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. doors. These very unsatisfactory ones are comparatively few in number, and are gradually decreasing. (Report of Medical Officer for County of Ayr, 1910.) The Local Authorities were apparently — ^in our opinion too easily — satisfied with this alleged gradual decrease, as it was distinctly stated by the County Clerk that, apart from the ordinary activities of the sanitary staff, " no special action was taken " on the report. (Shaw, 37,740.) Nor^ was attention generally called to the matter until it was taken up by the Ayrshire Miners' Union, and ty others in the press and elsewhere, as the result of a resolution passed by the Ayr County Insurance Committee on January 17th 1914 calling for action in regard to the insanitary state of many of the miners' rows, which was held accountable for much of the infectious disease in the county. (Wallace, 39,193 (8-10).) So far had the " gradual decrease " of the privy-middens, which was reported in 1910, been from securing their elimination, that the Medical Officer admitted four years later that there was " a great deal of truth " in the sweeping report on the subject prepared by the Ayrshire Miners' Union, and now printed in our Minutes of Evidence. Nor did either the Medical Officer or the representatives of the mine-owners defend the privy-midden as a means of sanitation. (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 ; Borland, 27,125 ff. ; C. R. Macdonald, 37,648; cf. 37,640 fE., 37,703.) In a Minute, adopted after an inspection of the mining districts on Jime 19th 1914, the Housing Committee of Ayrshire County Council passed, inter alia, the heroic resolution that " Privies should have doors and seats." (Appendix CXXX.) 932. At the time of our visit we received the impression that considerable improvements were being carried forward, but that no action was being taken comparable in thoroughness to that of the Mid-Lanark District Committee. The difficulties to be encoimtered are the same in both cases, except that the scattered nature of certain of the Ayrshire " rows " may form an additional handicap by render- ing the introduction of an adequate water-supply more difficult and expensive. (17) Use of Modern Sanitary Appliances and Suggested Minimum Standard. 933. On the whole there was testimony that, where modem sanitation had been introduced, the closets are well looked after in mining villages. Dr Dewar said that he could name districts in Fife where the replacement of the old pri^^es by water-closets had " made an absolute change in the habits of the people " ; and Dr Robb stated in his Report in 1912 that in the previous year he had inspected hundreds of the modern water-closets without finding one out of order, while nearly all were clean. (Dewar 1059 ; Dr Robb's Report, p. 18 ; cf. his statement, 4830 (21).) At the same time there have been instances of abuse in certain localities by tenants who were either careless or unaccustomed to the use of proper sanitary appHances. (Frew, 2925 ; Forgie, 25,840 (49) ; Borland, 27,020 ff.) This experience —which, after all, is limited to proportionally a small number of cases— -is not confined to mining areas. 934. Some of these cases, which, as we have indicated, are the exception to the general statement as to the careful use of water-closets, may be due to the presence in mining communities, as elsewhere, of a certain number of habitually careless tenants ; but in part they are clearly, as was hinted by the witnesses who mentioned them, difficulties due to unfamiliarity with the new appliances provided ; nor is it surprising that individuals brought up from childhood among the privy-middens which we have already described should take time to learn the use of more civilised sanitary arrangements. (Downie, 41,250 (52).) But, on the whole, the adjustment to the new conditions appears to have been rapid. 935. But there are two points, closely connected with one another, which either facilitate or hinder the proper care of water-closets, viz. their position relative to the house, and the number of houses that share the use of each. The Sanitary Inspector of Bathgate mentioned, as showing the bearing of these points, a group of sixty-eight colliery houses which had common water-closets and ashpits between the rows, which were " a continual source of trouble." Ultimately the manager was persuaded to build a scullery with boiler and a water-closet adjacent to each house, after which in three years the Sanitary Inspector had not one choked water-closet to deal with. (A. L. Reid, 3389.) An expression of opinion to precisely the same effect, but based on a larger number of observations, was that of the Architectural Inspector of the Local Government Board, who said : — As the number of families using a common water-closet and its distance from the houses in- creased, the habits of the people and the condition of the sanitary fittings became worse. Colhery owners and others have stated that miners would not keep sanitary fittings in order if they had them in their houses, but where I have seen them in such houses they are kept fairly clean, though they may be abused occasionally. (J. Wilson, 3997 (28 f.).) The representative of one large mining firm gave it as his personal opinion that one water-closet for each house was desirable in mining communities. (Forgie, 25,840 (22), 25,867, 25,926.) Both the chairman and the officials of the Mid-Lanark District Committee spoke emphatically of the impossibihty of tracing delinquents when closets were shared by more than one — or at most two- — ^families. Section 31 of the Pubhc Health Act, 1897, which provides that, in default of proof which user of a common water-closet is responsible for a nuisance, all may be fined indiscriminately, was described as well- meaning but ineffectual ; for no Sheriff will enforce so obviously unfair a provision. (Whyte, 36,834 (35) ; Lambie, 36,839 (10) ; J. T. Wilson, 36,899 ; also Davidson, 4677.) Where one or two— for there was less complete agreement here — families only are eOncerned, the law is readily enforceable. 936. The standard of sanitation suggested by Dr Dittmar of the Local Government Board, with special reference to mining villages, is a water-closet to each house. (Ibid., 340 (37 e).) But where water supply and drainage schemes are prohibitive in expense (which will not often be the case in mining villages), a pail-privy should be provided for each house at the end of the garden, not less than 20 yards from the dwelling, and, if possible, further away. (Ibid., 340 (39).) Dr Robb and Dr M'Vail, however, point out that in selecting a site for earth closets privacy should be aimed at. Dr Robb's experience is that a pail closet is, as a rule, well kept if it is close to the house, or is situated in a well-fenced garden attached ; and he states that if the convenience is attached to the house it ensures privacy, and that there can be no doubt that the further away from a house the convenience is situated the less supervision there can be. (Dr Robb's Report on Housing Conditions of Miners in Midlothian and Linlithgow, pp. 17 and 18 ; REPqpT. • 137 Dr M'Vail's Refort on Stirlingshire and Dumbartmshire, p. 42.) Tlie District Clerk of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire argued that, as regards old houses, some discretion should perhaps be left to the Local Authorities ; but that, broadly speaking, a building should not be considered to be in a state of habita- bility which does not provide (where reasonably practicable) for at least one water-closet for every two separate houses, and that even this concession should only be allowed in the case of old properties. On the other hand a witness from Midlothian argued that water-closets were kept perfectly clean when shared by. two tenants, each of whom had a key. (18) Size of Houses. 937. There are no exact figures obtainable as to the number of rooms in houses occupied by miners, as these are naturally included in the general figures for each area in the Census Report. But statements were made by witnesses, and other figures on this point are to be found in the special reports of the medical officers above referred to ; so that a general idea can be obtained of the proportion of one- and two-room houses in certain of the mining districts. 938. As regards the total number of houses, the following figures may be taken as more or less typical. In the mining districts of Midlothian and West Lothian, Dr Robb estimated that, excluding larger houses for managers and others, about 11 per cent, of the total have one apartment, 65 per cent, have two, and 24 per cent, have three or more. The one-apartment houses are for the most part old, and a considerable number of them have now been joined to form larger houses. In many of the old two-room houses, however, while the kitchen is of fair size, the room is hardly worth the name of room, being very small and frequently without a fireplace. Often it is used only as a store or lumber room. (Dr Robb's Report (1912), p. 9.) The smallness of the second room in certain of the older houses may lead to a discrepancy as to the nimiber of one- and two-room houses respectively. In one instance in Lanarkshire the employers reckoned a group of houses as having two apartments which the Medical Officer described as " houses of one apartment and small bed-closet." (Dr Wilson's Report, p. 156 ; Gibb, 26,382.) The representatives of the Shale Miners' Association estimated the proportions as follows in the Lothian Shale Field : — 13 per cent, one apartment ; 72 per cent, two apartments ; 15 per cent, three apartments. (Small and Hood, 27,385, (18).) 939. The Fife Coal Company own a large percentage of the miners' houses in Fife. Their^houses have less than 2 per cent, one room, about 80 per cent, of two-rooms, and the balance of three. Of 1024 houses owned by the Lochgelly Coal Company, 106 have one room, 121 have three rooms, and the balance two rooms. 940. In the burghs of Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath, which are chiefly occupied by miners, though a large proportion of the houses are privately owned, and which are largely of recent construction, there were, in 1911, 11-5 and 16-6 per cent, of one-room houses respectively ; 65-2 and 58-0 per cent, of two- room respectively ; and 16-2 and 18-4 per cent, of three-room houses respectively. (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (4) ; Paul, 26,253 (10) ; Census Report, 1911.) 941. In Lanarkshire the number of one-room houses is veiy much larger. In 1911 the percentages in the county of Lanark, excluding burghs of over 2000 inhabitants, were as follows : — 21-2 per cent, one-room houses, 48-3 per cent, two-room houses, 12-5 per cent, three-room houses, the balance of 18 per cent, having four or more apartments. But in the large mining burghs the standard was even lower, as the following table shows (the figures represent percentages) :— One Two Total of Apartment. Apartments. One and Two. Coatbridge 27-3 51-4 78-7 Hamilton 24-6 46-4 71-0 Motherwell 21-9 51-9 73-8 Wishaw . 28-5 49-4 77-9 942. • In Ayrshire the proportions of one- and two-room houses respectively in the county, exclusive of the larger burghs, are 15-2 and 44-5 per cent., but in the mining burgh of Galston they are 28-2 and 46-7 respectively. The Ayrshire Coalowners' Association gave the following figures representing the houses owned or leased by their members (Borland and Stevenson, 26,970 (16)) : — (1) One apartment 1095 = 17-0 per cent. (2) Two apartments 4546=70-8 „ (3) Three „ . 516= 8-0 (4) M.OT& than three apartments 269 = 4-2 „ 6426=100 (19) Accommodation in New Houses. 943. The Wemyss Coal Company have built 715 houses in about fifteen years, of which 300 have a room and kitchen and 415 two rooms and kitchen (Kirkby, 7252 (11)) ; and the very fact that this preponderance of three-apartment houses stands out as exceptional, shows how low the standard of accommodation has been even in recent building. The district with the highest standard, however, is a portion of the Midlothian coalfield, in which Provost Brown, speaking for the miners, stated that while there might be one or two single-apartment houses in some of the older villages, he did not know of any. He further stated that at Rosewell houses of three apartments and a scullery were the 138 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. rule, and at Newtongrange ever larger houses were common. (R. Brown, 18,276 (5-7), 18,280 f., 18,317 ; c/., Milligan and Ramsay, 19,271 (9).) As regards the mining areas of Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire,' Dr M'Vail has given full figures showing the standard both of accommodation and equipment of the houses erected in these counties subsequent to the introduction of bye-laws in 1898. We have con- densed the facts in his Report and give them in the following table : — Particulars of 873 Miners' Houses erected in Stirling and Dumbartonshire between adoption of Bye-laws in 1899 and Dr M'Vail's Report in 1910. Walls. — 466 strapped and lathed ; 407 hollow. Rooms. — Number Per cent Cubic capacity of house in cubic feet . One Room. 22* 2-5 av. 2300 Two Rooms. 735 84-2 2963-4440 Three Rooms. 100 11-5 av. 5448 Four Rooms. 16 ^ 1-8 av. 5200 * (16 of these were buUt in 1899.) Back Doors. — 193 or 22-1 per cent. Baths. — 69 or 7-9 per cent. Nearly all are three-room houses in one village. Sculleries. — 422 or 48-8 per cent. Water in House. — 589 or 67-5 per cent, (in 375 in the scullery). Washing Facilities. — ^All. (Boiler in scullery, 127 or 14-5 per cent. ; outside washhouse, 746 or 85-5 per cent.) Coal-houses. — ^All. Sanitary Arrangements. — Water-closet for each House. Water-closet for Two Houses. Dry -closet. Number 53 334 or 38- 281 2 per cent. 539 or 61-8 per cent. 944. In Lanarkshire during the same period the standard was very much lower, as is shown by the fact that of 10,737 houses of which the plans were passed by the officials of the Middle Ward District Committee between the years 1898-1908, 12-5 per cent, had only one apartment, 56-9 per cent, had two apartments, 14' 1 per cent, had three apartments, and the balance four or more. But even this very high percentage of new one-apartment houses does not fully represent the percentage in the purely mining districts ; for in the four parishes of Blantyre, Dalserf, Bothwell, and Cambusnethan, the percentage varied from 19-9 to 13-7. In the following years (1909-1913), of 1555 houses forming part of tenement dweUings erected in the Middle Ward, 281 were of one apartment and 1078 of two. (Dr Wilson's Report, pp. 101 f. ; Evidence, App. No. CXVIII.) (20) Description of Hf>usES. 945. The typical miner's house has only one storey, though in a few recent cases attics have been added, or cottages have been built on the double-flatted principle. In the older rows the houses are conmionly " but and ben " or " single end." It is exceptional for them to be built back-to-back, but even where this is not the case, the window in the back wall is either non-existent or too small to be effective. The more recent rows consist for the most part of " through " houses of two apartments. There is usually a small square lobby inside the door. The kitchen, which also serves as living-room, has two bed-recesses in the wall opposite the fireplace. Usually these are open for their whole width and height, but may be partially screened by curtains. Opposite the window a door gives communica- tion directly into the " room," which commonly has a fireplace on one side and a single bedplace on the other. Dr M'Vail estimates the average size of these apartments in. the central coalfields as : — Kitchen, 15 feet by 10 or 11 feet by 9 feet, its cubic capacity being about 1400 cubic feet, or with the bedplaces about 2000. " The room is of the same width and height, but is probably somewhat shorter from front ' to back." (Dr M'Vail's Report, p. 15 f.; c/. Dr Robb's Report, p. 9.) 946. While this description may be taken as very widely applicable, it is necessary that we should briefly describe houses which are respectively below and above the common standard. (21) Defective Houses. 947. One of the best descriptions of these was supphed by the Architectural Inspector of the Local Government Board. He stated that in many parts of Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, and Fifeshire the old houses occupied by miners and other workmen are barely above the habitable standard, this being due to these houses being from 60 to 100 years old ; that they have, as a rule, the plaster placed hard on REPORT. ' 139 the outside walls ; that there are no rones or dovm-pipes to carry ofE roof water, no damp-proof course at the ground level of the outside walls ; that they have tile or brick floors with the bare earth exposed under the beds, and where wood floors have been laid that there is no ventilation iinderneath them ; that in many cases the roof timbers have sagged and the tile or slate roof covering has been left unrepaired ; and finally, that all these defects tend to bring a dwelUng-house into such a state of structxu-al disrepair that the house sooner or later falls below the habitable standard. (Wilson, 3997 (3) ; cf. Dittmar, 340 (36) ; and Miners' Evidence, passim.) 948. As an extreme example of imsatisfactory housing, we may quote the following description of the Rosehall rows, Whifflet, given by the Lanarkshire Miners' Union, which, after visiting the rows, we can fully endorse. They consist of four long parallel rows of single-storey hovels ; most of them have not rones to carry the rain from the roofs. Rainwater simply runs down the roof and then runs down the walls, or falls off as chance or the wind decides. There are no coal-cellars ; coals are kept below the beds. There are no wash-houses. Water is supphed from stands in the alleys. The closet acconomodation is hideous. A number of these hovels are built back-to-back. (Gibb, etc., 26,365 (33).) 949. From reports on other districts we take the following, showing that the same defects are apparent in the older rows in most of the coalfields. A group of 92 houses at Broxburn was described in the following terms by the Medical Officer for West Lothian in 1912 : — Single-storey brick houses in rows situated close to refuse bing ; 48 one-apartment houses back- to-back, 24 two-apartment houses back-to-back, and 20 two-apartment " through " houses ; 20 houses have np coal-cellars ; no washhouses ; water outside ; open channel drainage ; privy midden conveniences very imsatisfactory ; plaster work defective in places ; dampness in walls in wet weather, very bad in some ; rones, etc., defective. Nearly all tenants complain of " smoky " chimneys, probably due to position of houses near refuse bing ; surroundings and streets unsatis- factory ; inferior houses. (Dr Robb's Report, p. 48 f.) A group of 23 one- and 5 two-apartment houses in the Bellshill district, Lanarkshire, was described by the Medical Officer for Lanarkshire, in terms in which negatives predominated : — Erected probably about eighty years ago ; stone built, one storey ; no damp-proof course ; plastered on sohd walls ; wood floors, imventilated, one or two of cement ; internal surfaces of walls and ceihngs in fair condition, but some are damp. No overcrowding ; apartments fair size. No gardens ; no washhouses ; no coal-cellars. Three lots midden privies, two being ^of recent con- struction. No sinks ; drainage by open channels. Water supphed from two standpipes. To which description it may be added that, owing to the absence of coal-cellars, coals were kept below the beds ; and that there were no rones on the houses, which extended to the extreme limit of the feu and had no openings in the back wall. (Dr Wilson's Report, p. 112 ; Gibb, etc., 26,365 (67) ; Cowie, 26,507 (6).) 950. In two other squares in the Parish of Old Monkland (Lanarkshire), of which the older was built in 1846, we saw two-storey houses built on the double-flatted principle in which box-beds with doors were still to be found. Apart from dampness and defective plaster-work, the ash-pits, etc., in the centres of the squares were the cause of very serious nuisance ; and it was stated to us that the water-supply from standpipes in the squares was defective, and that water had often to be carried round from the front street. Four years before the date of our visit Dr Wilson had reported : — Action has been taken with regard to the defective and foul condition of the outside sinks and drainage arrangements, but improvements have been of an intermittent nature. (Dr Wilson's Report, p. 184 ; Gibb, 26,365 (32) ; Cowie, 26,507 (1-2).) The accuracy of this last remark was fully apparent to us on our visit in March 1914. 951 . As regards Ayrshire, very full evidence was given by the Miners' Representatives and also by the Vice-Convener of the County who gave independent evidence, strongly dissenting from the official Report of the County Officers. As an example we may take the Drongan rows, of which the witness last named says : — The houses on the west side here are simply awful, and should be closed. -They are damp and practically irreparable. Nothing but reconstruction from the foundations will make these houses fit for human habitation. (Wallace, 39,193 (38 f.).) (See fidler description, M'Kerrell, 26,661 (2).) We visited this district, and noted the absence of lath and plaster, the very damp walls, and the damp floor consisting of tiles in the open portion but of bare earth undej the bed. These houses, admittedly among the worst in the coimty, were receiving some tardy attention, and a few had been closed. (22) Specific Defects — Damp. 952. In the evidence of Miners' UnionB, as in that of farm servants, the most frequent complaint regarding the structure of the houses was that of persistent dampness, the chief causes being lack of damp-proof courses and the frequent absence of proper rones and conductors. Several instances have already been given, but the following, in the evidence of one of the Medical Inspectors of the Local Govern- ment Board regarding mining villages, can be added : — They may be without a damp-course, and the walls may be unstrapped, with the result that they are damp ; eaves spouting and rainfall spouts may be absent or defective ; means for surface drain- age may also be absent or defective. (Dittmar, 340 (36) ; cf. Dewar, p. 764 (24).) 140 . ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. In .regard to the Ayrshire villages, the complaints of damp were particularly frequent. In addition to the houses at Drongan just described, we noted another house in the district where the bedroom was so damp that the paper came off the wall in masses. In the Old Cumnock district the reporter of the Miners' Union noted the same, quoting the phrase of a woman in one of the houses : — " Ane has nae ' heart to clean them, for your work is never seen." In another row the same Avitness stated that he saw a basin set to catch the drip of rain. (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (57-58) ; r/.,J. Robertson, 17,552.) A square in Stirlingshire was described as having no gutter pipes, so that the rain from the tile roof dripping down the sides made the houses very damp and formed a channel for itself. (Doherty and Barr, 27,465 (4) (7); Gavin, 37,324.) (23) Defective Floors. 953. The state of the flooring of the older houses also provided considerable occasion for complaint, especially where the floor was of bricks unevenly laid, or of wood without proper ventilation beneath. Indeed, this defect is closely connected with the more extreme cases of dampness which have just been referred to. In one house at Kelty, when a new floor was provided, six inches of clay and water had been fomid below the old one. (Dewar, Appendix III. to Evidence, page 8.) In other cases the making up of the roadway has resulted in the floors being below the level of the adjacent ground. The architect of the Fife Coal Company admitted that in 1913 there were still some houses in which this was the case at Kelty, and explained that, where the roof was not high enough to allow of the floors being raised and adequate ventilation provided, such a condition could hardly be remedied. (D. W. Robertson, 6756, 6885 ff.) In the same year Dr Dewar, reporting to the Local Government Board on the miners' houses at Townhill, which had become the property of Dunfermhne Town Council, called special attention to the state of the floors — one being " of brick, partly in poor repair," another " rotten towards the back ' wall," and still another " of wood, very old .... one hole in the centre of the room admitted my boot ' and leg to the vertical distance of 15 inches." (Dewar, Appendix III., pp. 4 f .) 954. The representatives of the Ayrshire Miners' Union gave similar evidence regarding brick •• floors in the older rows, cracked and uneven through subsidence. They described one house in which half the floor was of wood which had rotted, the other half of the original brick. In another village they reported that the coals are kept below the bed ; that the floors are of the usual brick-tiled type ; and, as is the case wherever they have seen this kind of floor provided, that the surface is very uneven and cracked, and it is a heartbreak to the housewife to keep it clean ; that if waxcloth is laid on it it is cut up in a short time ; and where no covering is put on, the children carry the " muck " in from the quagmire of a road outside ; and that there is no covering on the earth below the beds. (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (2, 7, 14, 26).) 955. Dr Dewar called special attention to these points : — A floor of old and cracked bricks, lying unevenly and full of crevices, reduces the possibility of cleanliness and comfort in a home. In some houses no proper flooring has been laid in the bed-recesses ; and the place of a floor is taken either by earth beaten down, or by rough fragments of stone and lime, debris left from t^ie erection of the building. In the former case the surface becomes gradually befouled and cannot be properly cleansed ; in the latter case cockroaches and other undesirable animals are sheltered. The remed}'- clearly is that an impervious floor through the whole extent of the living-rooms should be considered an essential condition of habitability, and that any house not so furnished should be con- sidered as eo ipso in a state of " nuisance." (764 (28 f.) ; 1074.) When coals are kept below the bed, " coal-dust is rarely the most objectionable material that is found." (Ibid., 764 (58).) * (24) Defective Windows. 956. Other speciflc defects in the structure of houses in the older colliery villages are similar to those found in houses of the same age and type elsewhere. Such, for instance, are windows inadequate in point of size, or failing to open through faulty construction, disrepair, or disuse ; with the consequence that lighting, ventilation, or both are permanently defective. (M'Vail, 5300 ; M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (4, 10) ; Downie, 41,250 (77).) It was argued by the Medical Ofiicer of Health for Ayrshire that when windows are made to open, this fact is often not taken advantage of ; and that miners, coming up from work at a high temperature, are sensitive to draughts and cold houses. (C. R. Macdonald, 37,667-9.) The argument, which may indeed be true for a time, before habits have had time to change, would, if taken hterally, dispose of all motives for reform. This would simplify matters certainly, but it can hardly be questioned that the provision of windows of adequate size and suitably hxmg is a consideration of the first importance. (25) Improved Modern Houses. 957. From this description of the common defects in miners' houses of the older type, we pass to a consideration of the newly erected houses, of which we personally inspected a certain number. It was freely recognised, both by county officials and by the witnesses who spoke for the miners, that these newer houses represented not only a decided improvement on the standard common even in the fairly recent past, but also a commodious and satisfactory type of miner's dweUing. (We may refer to the following :— Frew, 2990 ; Davison, 4634 ; Robb, 4830 (15) ; Wedderspoon, 6505, 6545 ; Louden, 34,388 (36 ff.) ; Shaw, 37,533 (47) (county officials) : J. Robertson, 17,533a ; M. Lee, 17,915 ; R. Brown, 18,300 ; Doonan, 18,596 ; M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (9, 36, 41, 45, 60) ; Hood and Small, 27,385 (23, etc.) ; Doherty and Barr, 27,465 (miners' representatives).) The miners' representatives in some cases added reservations regarding the rent charged or the sufficiency of the sanitary accommodation or provision of baths ; but in all the cases referred to their attitude was one of cordial recognition of the improved houses now being supplied by the coal-owners. In a considerable proportion, while the structure and surroundings of the houses and -the sanitary arrangements were described as adequate, REPORT. 141 the houses themselves were still of the room and kitchen type, though in some cases a large scullery was added. Elsewhere, however, there was a welcome increase in the proportion of three-room houses. In some of these there is a large attic bedroom with storm windows : but in most cases the traditional plan of the one-storey house is adhered to. On the whole the occupiers probably prefer this ; and as suflBcient land is usually obtainable in mining villages, it is argued that there is no need to build above a single storey. The double-flatted cottages found in two or three of the more modem villages are said to be noisy for the family on the ground floor ; while, although the self-contained two-storey cottage is not common in Scotland, two of the miners' representatives stated that where such cottages had been built the occupants soon became accustomed to them. (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (14), 6826 f. ; R. Brown, 18,319 ; Paul, 26,275 ; M'Kerrell, 26,875 ; c/. SulUvan, 26,959 ; Barr, 27,536, ff.) The provision of gardens and the greatly improved lay-out of certain of these villages has already been commented on. 958. It may be worth while for us to refer in more detail to three or four examples of the improved miner's cottage. Provost Brown claimed that the houses at Newtongrange (Midlothian) were probably the best miners' houses in Scotland, as they contained a kitchen and four or five rooms, with conveniences and gardens. The rents of the best houses are 10s. 6d. a fortnight, and these large houses are taken chiefly by famiUes with several members working. (Brown, 18,276 (7), 18,317.) In West Lothian good houses have been built in several centres, some of them being arranged on the garden suburb principle. Those contain, in addition to three rooms and a scullery, a small pantry off the kitchen, bathroom, etc., the rental being 6s. per week, including all rates. (Hood and Small, 27,385 (26).) In a group of new three-room miners' houses in the burgh of Bo'ness, the house has a total size, interior measurement, of 6171 cubic feet. (Louden, 34,388 (36).) In Raasay, the island adjacent to Skye, a West of Scotland iron firm has built a group of miners' houses which are stated to have set a new sanitary standard for that part of the world. (Wedderspoon, 6545.) As regards Ayrshire, the miners' representatives specially called our attention to the cottages built by the DalmelUngton Coal and Iron Company, at Broom Knowe, and we consider that their description and comments are sufficiently important to quote :— The cottages are built in two rows, and are of brick and roughcast. There is a small garden-plot of ground, surrounded with a wooden railing, in front of every house. Each house has both a front door and a back, and the accommodation provided is two rooms, a kitchen, a scullery, with washing- house, boiler, and a water-closet and coal-house. The dimensions of the apartments are as follows : — Kitchen, 21 feet by lOJ feet (exclusive of set-in beds). Room No. ], 11 feet by 10 feet. Room No. 2, 11 feet by 10 feet. Back kitchen or scullery, 10 feet by 9 feet. The rent of this house is 4s. per week, including rates. The kitchen is fitted up with a large press reaching from the ceiling to the floor, and is arranged so that one compartment serves as a wardrobe and another serves as a cupboard. The back kitchen, the water-closet, and coal-house are built like outhouses, but joined to the main building. There is no ashpit, but the people put their refuse in pails, and this is collected by the scavenger every day. This is almost an ideal house for a miner's fami.ly. The addition of a bathroom would have made it complete, and it will be observed that the length of the kitchen, 21 feet, leaves almost sufiicient room to take a portion of it for a bathroom, and still leave an ordinary sized kitchen. This could have probably been done at a cost of another 3d. per week on the rent. We are of opinion that if this were done, and houses of that description suppHed to the miners, the housing problem, so far as these workers are concerned, would be practically solved. (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (9).) • In Fifeshire, the Fife Coal Company have provided new houses of a superior type at High Valley- field, a description of which we have already given. (See para. 876.) (26) How FAB Lakger Houses are Appreciated. 959. The question naturally arises how far miners are prepared to take advantage of the improved accommodation now being provided in certain districts. In Midlothian and West Lothian there was strong testimony as to their appreciation, though it was indicated that at first the additional rent might be felt to be something of a hardship. There was evidence also regarding the improvement in the use made of the houses when families formerly housed in inferior dwellings had grown accustomed to them. The manager of the Pumpherston Oil Company spoke strongly of the desire for improvement on the part of foremen and managers as well as of miners, and still more of their wives. (R. Brown, as above ; Doonan, 18,607 ; Bryson, 40,815 ff.) 960. On the other hand, it was stated by witnesses speaking for coalowners both in Fife and Lanark- shire that the urgent demand was for houses of two rooms, and that larger houses sometimes stood vacant. There can be little doubt that in the mining districts of Lanarkshire there was till recently, if not actually up to the present, a demand for one-room houses among a certain class of miner ; though this, we are glad to say, has been strongly discountenanced both by Local Authorities and by the men's own leaders. The figures already given regarding the building of new one-room houses up to about 1910 are significant, and are borne out by the statement of the chairman of the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire : — That there is no doubt whatever that you will let a one-room house very much quicker than you will let a larger house. (G. Fraser, 31,120.) Mr Fraser was arguing for the prohibition of the one-apartment dwelling as a family house. Mr Forgie, of William Baird & Co., said : — Recently we have been providing a larger proportion of three-apartment houses to accommodate our workmen with large families, but have had difficulty in getting them let. And similar evidence was given by the architect of the Fife Coal Co. as regards certain rapidly growing districts in Fife. (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (17), 6819 ; Bain, 19,096 ; Forgie, 25,840 (69, 93).) Mr Forgie 142 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. also stated that in many cases the " room " in two-apartment houses is left imfuxnished, or if furnished is little used and seldom ventilated, even where there is a fairly large family. He gave particulars of 536 two-apartment houses in Kilsyth, in 62 of which the " room " was unfurnished and in 71 was only furnished with a bed. In another case (the double-flatted houses at Bedlay already referred to) the state- ment was made that 40 per cent, had only one room out of two furnished ; but a revised statement, given by Mr Forgie about a year later, showed that the percentage, while still high, had been reduced by 11 per cent. At the beginning of 1914, 10-84 per cent, of these houses had only a bed in the room and 18-07 no furniture at all. (Forgie, 25,840 (73), 25,855. Appendices CIV., CV., CVI.) Mr Forgie suggested that the furnishing of 11 per cent, more " rooms " in the course of a year was probably due to a period of good wages. (26,120.) 961. The same village was one of those in which three-room houses stood vacant for about a year after being opened, in spite of the fact that employment was good and men were needed. In this case the houses were isolated, and some of the men preferred to live in Coatbridge, four miles away, and travel to and from their work, finding apparently that Coatbridge was an attractive place of residence. This and similar difficulties in newly established colliery villages are largely due to the fact that a newly opened colliery tends for a time, until conditions become settled, to attract a shifty and unsatisfactory class of workmen. In these cases efforts made by the colliery owners to initiate improved conditions met with less response and greater difficulties than would be the case in a more settled area with a steady type of miner. This difficulty was recognised by more than one of the miners' representatives. (D. W. Robertson, 6848 (referring to difficulties at Valleyfield) ; J. Robertson, 17, 613 f . ; Gibb, 26,497.) 962. But while the response to the new stap.dard is not immediate, especially in the newly opened coalfields, the evidence goes to show that on the whole it is both rapid and progressive. Mr Forgie summed up his opinion on the difficulties referred to by saying : — Example, I think, will have a wonderful effect in time — a far better effect than compulsion. The opinion of Mr Gibb of the Lanarkshire Miners' Union was as follows : — We are prepared to say that there are some miners who do not want a better class of house, but we also say that the majority of our people want a better house and would be willing to pay a bigger rent than they pay at the present moment for that better class of house. To which Mr M'Kerrell of the Ayrshire Miners' Union added that he was in favour of the drastic treatment of any man who, while a house of three or four rooms was available, overcrowded bis familv in order to save 6d. or Is. 6d. a week. (Forgie, 26,122 ; Gibb, 26,459 ; M'Kerrell, 26,804.) 963. The representatives of the Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire miners also gave instances from their practical experience of the readiness, and in some cases eagerness, with which new houses were taken advantage of in their districts, as did the town planning engineer of the Middle Ward District Com- mittee of Lanarkshire. (Dykes, 26,373 f. ; M'Roberts, 26,470 ; Gibb, 26,551 ; Doherty, 27,492 ff. ; Ross Young, 43,369. cf. G. Fraser, 31,280 ff.) This evidence relates to new houses at rentals of from 4s. to 5s. 9d. per week, involving a rise of perhaps £5 or £6 per annum on the rent previously paid. The last-named witness stated that in their recent building schemes they had increased the proportion of three- and four-room houses over that originally contemplated owing to the readiness with which the larger houses were applied for. 964. One of the miners' agents specially referred to the anxiety of the women to obtain better houses. (Barr, 27,493, 27,539.) But as regards the readiness of the women to make good use of a better type of house, we feel that the strongest evidence consists in a care and cleanliness which were very widely, though not, of course, universally, shown in the keeping of houses which are structurally defective, spoiled by damp, or cracked by subsidence. Our own observations on this point are confirmed by two of the Ayr- shire witnesses, representing the divergent views on the Local Authority. The Housing Committee of the County Council were, we were informed, in the course of their inspection, — much struck with the way in which many of the occupants, notwithstanding the adverse con- ditions which prevail, succeed in keeping the houses they occupy fairly comfortable, clean, and neat. Similarly the Vice-Convener of the county summed up his impression in the statement that, as a rule — the dwellers even in the worst places showed a remarkable and successful ingenuity in making bad houses, damp walls, cracked ceilings, defective and uneven floors appear attractive, and in putting the best face upon their surroundings. (Shaw, 37,533 (48) ; Wallace, 39,193 (44).) (27) Historical Cause of Low Rents. 965. The question of the average proportion of wages paid by miners in house rent received a good deal of attention from various witnesses. The facts appear to vary so widely that they are not readily summarised. This variation is due to the fact that the last fifty years have seen a gradual change from the old system, under which the miner received his house free but was bound to a certain term of service — a system which still holds in the case of the farm-servant in Scotland — to the state of things in the newest and best-appointed colliery houses, where the rents charged are not much below those paid for similar accommodation to private landlords. One witness mentioned that he had himself lived in a rent-free house in the Dalkeith district as a young man, and that in 1874, when nominal rents were first charged for the houses, there was considerable discontent ; and other witnesses mentioned that the effect of this tradition still persisted, as — The miner has grown up in the belief that he has his house at a cheap rent as a perquisite, and he naturally resents a higher rent. (R. Brown, 18,287 ; M'Kerrell, 26,821. c/.Adamson, 7486, 7602.) Mr M'Kerrell said that the traditional idea of the Ayrshire miners was that they ought not to pay more than Is. 6d. or 2s. 6d. a week in rent, but spoke strongly of the necessity of that standard being altered. (26,799.) In the North of England REPORT. 143 the system still persists of giving the miner his house rent free as part of his wage, while those not living in colliery houses receive a cash allowance. This does not appear in practice to be far removed from the Scots system, by which employees of the companies housed in their dwellings have the rent deducted from their wages at the time of payment. (Forgie, 26,124 ; c/. English Land Enquiry Committee's Urban Report, pp. 197 ff.) In cases where the houses owned by the companies are old and poor in type, as well as low in rent, the system appears to have a bad effect both on the miner, who is reluctant to pay a larger rent than he has been accustomed to, and on the company, which can plead when improvements are demanded that the houses are yielding a very low return. (28) Instances op Rentals in Colliery Districts. 966. Bearing these facts in view, we may proceed to give certain examples of the rents charged. We give first certain figures furnished by the Ayrshire miners regarding bad and old houses in their county : — single apartments. Is. 5d. per week. Is. per week, 6s. 6d. per month, 7s. lid. per month, Is. 6d. per week, Is. per week. Is. 3d. per week ; two apartments (one very small), 2s. Id. per week ; two apart- ments, 2s. per week, 9s. 6d. per month, 8s. 7d. per month. Is. 3d. per week. (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (14, 22, 28, 32, 38 f.).) The range of rents in this county were stated by the Coalowners' Associa- tion as from Is. to 2s. Id. for one-apartment houses, from Is. 5d. to 3s. 4d. for two-apartment houses, from 2s. 6d. to 5s. 9d. for three-apartment houses, and from Is. 8d. to 6s. 4d. for more than three-apart- ment houses, the average rent per week being the following : — s. d. Single-apartment 14-5 Two- „ • . . . 2 219 Three- „ 3 0-94 More than three 3 6-32 (Borland, 26,970 (9, 22).) The witness added — " The rents of houses in towns, with similar accommoda- ' tion, are much higher than in mining villages. " In the Valuation Rolls for Stirlingshire and Dumbarton- shire in 1908-9, 2735 colliery houses in landward areas were rented on the average as follows : — 495 one-apartment houses, £2, 14s. 9d. ; 2096 two-apartment houses, £6, Is. 4d. ; 126 three-apartment houses, £10, 9s. 5d. Dr M'Vail, in quoting these figures in his Report (p. 57 f.), pointed out that 760 two-room houses in East Stirlingshire, where the villages are old, had an average rental of £4, 13s. 8d. ; 466 two-room houses in East Dumbartonshire (somewhat newer) averaged £5, 14s. ; while in central Stirlingshire, which includes the newest villages, the average rental of 946 two-room houses was £7, 5s. In the case of one large Lanarkshire colliery village with 458 houses the rents are elaborately graded from £4, 17s. 6d. for a one-apartment house with water outside, through seven intermediate stages (of which £10, Is. 6d. for two rooms with separate conveniences may be taken as typical), to £14, 6s. for three apartments with all conveniences and bath. (Dr Wilson's Report, p. 114.) 967. It has to be kept in view that in some mining centres the standard of habitability is so low (a house so called — consisting of very little else than four walls and a roof — ^no scullery, no water-closet, no coal accommodation, no presses, water to be carried from a distance) that " rent " in its ordinary significance does not enter the minds of either colliery owner or the miner tenant. The houses — such as they are — are simply looked on as part of the colliery plant — and that the least expensive — for pro- ducing as large and as remunerative an output as possible. (29) Proportion op Wages Paid in Rent. 968. Thus any wide generalisation as to the proportion of wages spent by miners in house rent must be subject to considerable corrections at both ends of the scale. The Sanitary mspector for Musselburgh stated that it was very difiicult 'to give an average rental for houses occupied by miners, owing to the extreme variations from £3, 10s. for a single room to a maximum of £16 ; but that in his opinion the average might be taken as about £9. On this basis a miner in regular work, who was the sole wage- earner of his family, would in 1913 have been paying from one-tenth to one-twelfth of his wages in rent. This proportion was lower than that paid by shop assistants (from one-sixth to one-eighth), by skilled workmen in the building trades (from one-eighth to one-ninth), and by a group of miscellaneous workers (from one-ninth to one-tenth). The only trade mentioned by witness in which the proportion paid was lower was that of builders' labourers, paying £5 rent, or about one-tweKth of their income : but here there would be much broken time. (Barclay, 2208, Appendix IX.) The evidence shows that miners living in towns pay a higher rent to private house-owners than those living in colliery rows do to their employers. In Cambuslang, miners were in 1914 paying up to £17 or even £19, 19s., including rates, for three rooms and bathroom. (Tonner, 37,267.) It is somewhat hazardous to generalise from the conditions in one or two towns ; but, so far as we can judge, the proportions given above appear to be representative, except that in the majority of miners' rows owned by the companies, the average rental would not amount to £9. Dr Dewai-'s estimate, based chiefly on experience in Fife, was that the average rent amounted to about £5, 14s. per annum, while the family income would in most cases, even at a period when " short ' time " was common, be in the neighbourhood of £100. (Dewar, 764 (10).) This gives a proportion of rent to income of less than 6 per cent. The rents of colliery houses invariably include occupier's rates. Two witnesses distinguished between the case of a single earner, who might pay from 8 to 10 per cent., and that of a household with more than one wage coining in, where the proportion would be about that named by Dr Dewar. Witnesses representing the coalowners of Fife mentioned similar figures. (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (2), cf. 6739, 6790 ; Kirkby, 7252 (6), 7258 f. ; Hendrie, 7413 (5) ; Paul, 26,253 (3).) 969. But, while certain miners, especially those living in towns, spend a much larger proportion of their wages in rent than that just indicated, there are also extreme variations at the other end of the scale. The Managing Director of Messrs William Baird & Co. mentioned five instances of earnings at Bothwell collieries going into one house. In the first, a father and three sons earning in all £7, 4s. 3d. 144 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. per week were paying £7, 7s. 4d. per annum for a two-apartment house occupied by thirteen people. In the second and third cases, the rent and accommodation was similar, and there were eleven occupants : while in one three workers were earning £5, lis. 6d. per week, and in the other two workers were earning £4, 6s. 6d. In the fourth case, a father and three sons were earning £7, 4s. 5d. per week and paying £7, 48. per year in rent ; while in the fifth, the earnings amounted to £10, lOs. and the rent to £14. Witness stated that there were larger houses readily obtainable ia the district at the time. (Forgie, 25',840 (13, 61), 25,907, Appendix XCVIII.) Mr Forgie estimated the average rent paid by Messrs Baird's workers living in the Company's houses at 2s. 9d. per week inclusive of rates, as against 4s. 6d. in outside houses. (25,840 (27).) 970. The Clerk to the Mid-Lanark District Committee supplied us with full details of the wages received and rents paid by iron workers as well as miners in that district, which supported the general conclusion that rents do not vary with wages to the extent that might be anticipated. For instance, the smelters and smelters' helpers employed by a well-known firm were before the war receiving wages varying from £6, 58. to £2, 3s. per week ; but in spite of these variations they are all stated to occupy two- and three-apartment houses with rents running from £11 to £16, 10s. In the case of another firm, " first ' smelters " receiving £8 per week were said mostly to reside in houses built by their Union, containing two apartments and bathroom, and rented at £13, 10s. ; while " under hand puddlers," who only received £1, 8s. per week, and labourers in receipt of £1, 3s. were occupying works houses of one apartment at 2s. 9d. per week (£7, 3s. per annum), or two apartments at 4s. 3d. per week (£11, Is. per annum.) In a third case, labourers with a wage of 22s. to 24s. and furnace fillers receiving 40s. to 44s. per week were both returned as occupying houses of one large and one small apartment at 18s. per month. (Whyte, Appendix CXXVII. 1^(1' 2. 4).) . .... 971. In the cases cited above, showing disproportion of rents paid to earnings or family income, it is probably true to say that the rents paid were as much as the houses were worth, and the problem is, on the one hand, to get better houses provided and, on the other, to induce miners to break with environ- ment and long tradition and to occupy improved houses when provided — at a higher rent. (30) Willingness to Pay a Higher Rent for Better Accommodation. 972. The great majority of witnesses stated that miners would generally be foimd willing to pay a higher rent if improved houses were provided. Dr Dewar said that he had never known a case of complaint regarding the rent charged unless the condition of the house was being complained of. (906, 1101 ; cf. Robb, 4830 (38).) Of the miners' representatives who appeared before us, the great majority took the same line, though in certaia cases some qualifications were made. Two of the witnesses from Fife, while emphasising the urgent need for better houses and indicating that they would be well used, were unwilling to pledge themselves to any considerable increase of payment. Another witness held that " workmen ' would not be averse to paying what would be reasonable and fair under all circumstances for the increased ' conveniences," but that they would not be willing " to pay such an increased rental as to enable ' employers to reap an increased return from their houses." The representatives of the shale miners urged that Government should advance money at a rate which would permit of a house with all improve- ments being provided at 3s. to 4s. per week. (Hynds, 7229, ff. ; Adamson, 7538 ; Cook, 19,421-19,435 fE. ; Small, 27,399.) But the majority of the miners' witnesses were willing to accept the general principle that improved housing implied the payment of higher rents. They recognised, indeed, that there would be reluctance on the part of certain of the men ; for, in the words of Provost Brown, " There will always ' be some who will raise objections to any increase whatever the benefits are to be." But the general feeling appeared to be that such opposition would give way before education and example, while one or two witnesses were prepared to apply compulsion to men who refused to pay for adequate accommodation for their families. The representatives of the Lanarkshire Miners' Union were quite emphatic that no State subsidy was desired, but that if their constituents were not able to afford to pay for the improved house on an economic basis, " then the fight must be in another direction " — i.e. for increased wages. (Gibb, 26,459 (2, 4, 6).) It should, of course, be noted that this evidence was not given in view of war prices, although in March 1914 building prices were already high. {Of. Adamson, 7493; J. Robertson, 17,700 ff. ; Doonan, 18,609 ; Sullivan, 26,947 ; Gavin, 37,362.) One of the representatives of the Ayr- shire Miners' Union took the same ground, but another expressed more hesitation. (M'Kerrell, 26,799, 26,821, 26,853; c/. Brown, 26,789.) In the same way representatives of Local Authorities or mine- owners spoke to the ability, and in most cases the probable willingness, of miners to pay an enhanced rent. (Ramsay, 19,275, ff. ; W. E. Whyte, 36,834 (84) ; cf. Shaw, 37,533 (57).) But it should be noted that in more than one case representatives of the mine-owners criticised the estimates of building costs on which the miners' statements were f oimded as decidedly too low. (Bryson, 40,769 ; Forgie and Mowat, Appendix CIX.) (31) Increased Rents for Improvements in Old Houses. 973. There was some difference of opinion as to the readiness with which an addition to the rent is paid in consideration of improvements carried out on the older houses. Two of the inspectors of the Local Government Board said that they had found that miners did not at all grudge such an increase. (Dewar, 799 ; Wilson, 3997 (10).) On the other hand, we' were informed that in somecases the increase was con- sidered excessive. This is a matter which greatly depends on the extent of the improvement carried out, and the way in which it is done. It was, for instance, stated that Messrs William* Baird & Company were requested to bring water into certain houses and place sinks in the kitchen ; but no agreement could be reached regarding the terms, as the owners claimed that an increase of 7d. or 8d. per week would be required to cover the cost of the improvement, while the house occupiers were unwilling to pay more than 3d. But this case was complicated by a difference of opinion as to where the sinks should be placed, the miners wishing them to be in the kitchen, while the mine-owners preferred on hygienic gi'ounds to place them on the stair heads. (Forgie, 25,868.) The majority of recent improvements carried out in the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire have been charged for, although in at least one case expensive improvements have been REPORT. 145 carried out without any addition to the rent. In some other cases a compromise has been arrived at, and the muiers occupying the houses have agreed to pay half the additional rent originally asked for. (Wilson and Touner, 37,230a. ff.) That there may be a willingness to pay an enhanced rent when old houses are reconstructed and enlarged and have sanitary arrangements added (as at Baird's Square, Holytown, where the increase was from 2s. Kkl. to is. Id.) is not inconsistent with a reluctance to pay a double rent where the improvement only consists in adding sanitary accommodation shared by several tenants. We were informed that the latter was the position in several properties in Wishaw. (Downie, 41,250 (66) f.) (32) Return on Houses Owned by Colliery Companies. 974. Here also we have to distinguish between cases in which the tradition of " free houses " still largely determines rent, and others in which the Colliery Company charge a rent for modern houses which gives a moderate return on the capital involved. To judge by certain comprehensive statements sub- mitted by coalowners in the West of Scotland, the former is the more usual position. Mr Forgie gave elaborate figures regarding the return on 976 worlanen's houses built in Lanarkshire by Messrs William Baird & Company since 1874. These houses cost £128,593, and yield an annual gross rental of £7167, or 5-57 per cent, of the capital. The total annual burdens amount to £3640, or 2-83 per cent, of the capital. In the burdens are included 0-57 per cent, for scavenging, factor, etc. ; 0-29 per cent, for land (this only represents a portion of the cost of the land, it being nearer 0-75 per cent.); 1-15 per cent, for rates and taxes ; and 0-82 per cent, for repairs and materials. If depreciation were allowed for, the return would be reduced to 1-65 per cent ; nor does this figure take account of the proportion of rental expended in some years upon improvements. (Forgie, 25,840 (53 f., 90) ; Appendix CIII.) The Summerlee Iron Company have built 903 houses, containing 1678 apartments, with a gross rental of £5360, 19s. 7d. The return in this case is very similar, viz. 2-83 per cent., or 1-77 per cent, after a deduction has been made for depreciation. (Mowat, 25,841 (3 £E.), Appendix CVII.) The representatives of the Ayrshire Coal- owners' Association stated that a two-apartment house costing £160 could not be let at £6, 10s. — the average rent for a house of this siise before the war — without a definite loss, and that rents would need to rise by about 100 per cent, if an ordinary return were to be obtained. (Borland, 26,970 (28) ; A. Steven- son, 26,972 (21 f.).) The architect of the Association mentioned that the cost of upkeep and repair, includmg taxes, commonly amounts to 50 per cent, or 55 per cent, of the rental received. (33) Return on Old Houses. 975. It must, of course, be borne in mind that, if the rents charged for the oldest type of house were often very low, the houses had been erected originally at a small cost. The'only definite figm-es which we obtained on this subject were those related|to houses erected by Building Societies in the middle of last century. The houses already referred to at Shotts were built about the year 1842 at a cost of £38 each. (Report (in 1844) by Mr Tremenheere, Inspector of Mines, appointed by Government to report on adminis- tration of Act of Parliament dealing with female and child labour in mines passed in 1842.) The Raploch Building Society, Larkhall, began, in 1860, building houses with two large apartments and garden, costing £95 each. (Dr Wilson's Report, p. 41.) The discrepancy between these prices seems very large, but probably it is in part accounted for by the more substantial character of the houses at Larkhall. The data are too slender to form the basis of a definite estimate ; but probably it may be assumed that houses in rows built seventy or more years ago, some of which are still in use, did not cost on the average much over £50. If they were rented at Is. or Is. 6d. per week, as was not imcommon, this represents a return of from 5 to 7| per cent gross on the capital, which cannot be called extravagant. But in some cases where houses of this character changed hands at the end of a colliery lease, the rents appear to have been largely augmented, and in this case the revenue obtained would be excessive. {Cf. J. Robertson, 17,691 ; Downie, 41,250, (66-68).) We consider that the main question which should be steadily kept in view is, not whether these houses are bringing in an excessive return to their owners, but whether they are fit to be let as dwelling-houses at all. The Medical Ofi&cer for the coimty of Lanark gave as his decided opinion that many of them had been built only to last for one generation, but had been made to serve two or three, and especially cited the cases in which property had been bought up by private individuals as having had " most disastrous results." (Wilson, 37,220 ; cf. Cowie and Gibb, 26,507a ff . ; and on age of houses, Gavin, 37,284 (15, 31).) (34) Overcrowding in Mining Communities. 976. There can be no doubt that overcrowding is particularly prevalent in the mining areas of Scot land. This is clearly indicated in the evidence, but it is also shown by the last census ; and in this con- nection one may note that the overcrowding in several of these areas has been emphasised since 1911, as the recent movement of population has been towards the great industrial centres, especially those engaged in the irou and steel trades. (Cf. remarks in Chapter III. on " Distribution of Shortage."). 977. As a statistical test of overcrowding, we take the proportion of the population living more than three in a room, as shown by the Census of 1911. We find that, applying this test, the seven burghs and the eight counties (and we see from the Census Report (Table 43, Vol. II., 1911) that burghs imder 2000 are included in -counties for this statistical test) where overcrowding is most prevalent are all occupied to a considerable extent by miners. We give a table showing the percentage of population in these areas living more than three in a room and more than four in a room, and also the percentage living in houses of one, two, and thi-ee apartments respectively ; and we add for purposes of comparison the figures for three typical agricultural counties, viz. Aberdeenshire, Berwickshire, and Wigtownshire. 10 146 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Counties. Ayrshire . Clackmannanshire Dumbartonshire Midlothian Fifeshire . Lanarkshire Linlithgowshire Stirlingshire Percentage of Population living more than Three Persons per Eoom. 29-7 22-1 24-8 22-5 21-3 39-7 36-2 28-4 Percentage of Percentage of Popula Population Houses of living more than Four 1 Persons per One Two Room. Room. Rooms. 14-2 10-9 45-9 9-1 7-3 47-9 9-3 6-9 46-2 8-9 5-0 44-5 7-4 4-1 47-0 ^20-2 16-5 51-3 16-1 9-4 56-7 12-2 8-1 49-0 Thre(! Rooms. Typical Agricultural Counties. Aberdeenshire Berwickshire Wigtownshire 4-6 10-9 8-4 0-9 3-6 2-0 1-4 3-9 1-6 14-() 31-5 15-5 15-3 18-3 20-7 22-7 24-9 13-6 18-2 18-4 25-] 22-2 30-1 (The only other county area (excluding large burghs) which showed a proportion of over one-fifth of the population living more than three per room was Shetland, with 20-4 per cent.) Burghs. Airdrie 40-1 20-2 19-3 51-5 14-4 Armadale . 52-7 34-8 27-1 55-7 10-6 Coatbridge 45-0 23-7 22-4 54-1 13-6 Hamilton . 40-3 19-7 18-7 49-5 16-4 Kilsyth . 47-8 28-2 26-5 48-0 13-2 Motherwell 40-3 19-2 16-8 53-7 20-3 Wishaw 45-f 24-2 23-0 53-1 13-7 978. We do not suggest that the prevalence of a low standard of accommodation in the mining communities is the only cause of this correlation between coal-mining and overcrowding, for these areas contain many other industries, and in some cases they have developed with great rapidity. Consequently, it is only to be expected that, at a time when there is a general scarcity of houses, they should show greater pressure on the available accommodation than agricultural districts with a stationary or declining popula- tion. But there is no doubt that in mining districts, especially in the West of Scotland, the movement from one and two rooms to three rooms as the standard family house has been slower than among other sections of the population. But in this connection it must be kept in view that, until recently, few, practically no, three-room houses have been built in mining villages. (35) Particular Instances of Overcrowding. 979. The general impression given by these statistics is borne out by certain instances of acute overcrowding in mining villages which were cited in the evidence. In the Dunfermline district of Fife the Sanitary Inspector mentioned the following :- - A two-room house, the kitchen occupied by a husband and wife and three children and two lodgers, and the bedroom sub-let to a husband and wife and one child. In another case the kitchen was occupied by the tenant, his two brothers and mother, all adults, and the room by a man and wife and four children. In another case there were two families, consisting of five adidts and eight children, in a two-room house ; and in still another a family of twelve, six adults and six children. In the last three cases cited the Sheriff ordered the abatement of the nuisance, and gave expenses against respondent, but did not impose a fine. (Davison, 4641, 4818.). The representatives of the Ayrshire Miners' Union during their investigation foimd a husband, wife, three children, and three lodgers in an old house with a kitchen and very small room. In another house of one room they reported two married couples, besides a girl of eighteen years and three children. (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (2, 44).). Other extreme instances in houses largely occupied by a mining population in the burgh of Wishaw will be found in the evidence of the representative of the Wishaw Housing Coxmcil. (Downie, 41,250 (36).) Nor is overcrowding confined to old and defective properties. It was also reported as prevalent at Valleyfield (Fifeshire) (where at the same time there was a large number of new empty houses waiting tenants), and in the Lothians, where houses are good. At Winch- burgh, where 161 houses out of 230 recently erected have three apartments, there were sjiid to be many yoimg married couples living in rooms, and numerous cases of sub-letting to a distinct family owing to the great scarcity of houses. (Hood and Small, 27,385 (23).) In some cases, where vacant houses are not REPORT. 147 available, the occupier and his wife will allow a married daughter and son-in-law to live in their house rather than postpone the marriage indefinitely. (Sullivan, 26,894 (19), 26, 955). (36) The Question of Sub-letting. 980. But a more frequent caiise of overcrowding than that just named is the custom of sub-letting a portion of a house to another family, and the constant difficulty regarding the accommodation of lodgers. It was reported that in Lanarkshire — in quite a number of cases you get families living in both room and kitchen, although the tenants of the room must pass through the kitchen, as there is only one door. (Sullivan, 26,894 (5).) This state of matters was said to be more common elsewhere when the house either had a front and back door, and the door between the kitchen and room could be temporarily closed, or was built with a lobby from which each room, or all three rooms, issued independently. In this case there is not the same objectionable association of the domestic life of the two households, but there is the very serious dis- advantage that the family to whom " the room " is sub-let have no proper conveniences ; e.g. being without a sink, the housewife is apt to empty all slop water into the open gutter in front of the row. One witness stated that in his opinion the provision of two beds in the kitchen of the miner's house promoted sub- letting, by encouraging him to carry on his full family life in one room, leaving the other free. (Davison, 4634 (10 f.) ; D. W. Robertson, 6718 (9), 6745, 7035 ; Milligan, 19,301.) A further reason given was that the rental of the new houses was considered high, and that to sub-let the room assisted with the rent ; while the manager of the Wemyss Coal Company said that, after building a large number of three- room houses, they had to resume the construction of two-room houses, as when young miners marry they are, as a rule, unwilling to take and furnish a three-room house. (Davison, loc. ait. ; Kirkby, 7334. Cf. Hendrie, 7413 (15), 7459.) The last-named witness mentioned that he had seen sub-letting in a two- room house, but not so often as with three rooms. A case was cited in Hamilton where a miner occupied a five-room house at a yearly rent of £10, 4s., using two rooms himself, and letting the other three to lodgers at a weekly rent of 5s. each apartment, although the latter rooms could be described as being " in a ruinous condition." (Appendix V., p. 14.) In this case the inducement to continue sub-letting was sufficiently obvious. (37) Lodgers in Mining Villages. 981. Several references were made to the difficulty which young men find in obtaining accommodation when their work takes them away from home. The problem is a difficult one, as the introduction of a lodger or lodgers into a two-room house occupied by a family, especially where the room opens from the kitchen, is obviously a grave social evil. It was stated that at Armadale, which heads the list of over- crowded burghs, this does not form a serious difficulty, as a certain number of regular workmen take advantage of the common lodging-house there. But we had considerable sympathy with the protest of one of the representatives of the Fifeshire miners against this arrangement becoming general. (Frew, 3090 ; J. Robertson, 17,727 ff. ; Forgie, 25,840 (64 f.).) If an improved type of lodging-house could be devised embodying some of the comforts and social advantages of home, this might form an excellent solution of the problem ; but, as lodging-houses are at present (see chapter on " Common Lodging Houses "), it appears to us that the taking in of lodgers by families forms the lesser evil. But for this purpose it is clear that larger houses than those commonly found in mining districts are imperatively required, and that some supervision is necessary. At present lodgers are frequently taken into houses which are already fully occupied by the family- — whether from good-nature on the part of the occupier or from the desire to make some extra profit, or because of the entire absence of alternative accommodation. (38) Responsibility of the Colliery Companies for Overcrowding. 982. As was not unnatural, somewhat widely differing opinions were expressed on this point. The Sanitary Inspector (Davison) already quoted stated that he did not consider the provision of 168 houses erected by one company was sufficient tor a new mine employing about 620 workers. In the same district, in West Fife, a mine had been started employing over 500 men ; but when our evidence was taken nothing had been done to provide houses, owing, it was said, largely to the unwillingness of the proprietor to grant a site. About 60 men had found houses in a village nearly seven miles away ; and so they had to suffer the inconvenience of living a long distance from their work, while overcrowding had resulted in the village in question. In the Harthill district of Lanarkshire new pits were being started that would employ 900 men, these attracting a population of about 3000 people. (Davison, 4634 (36), 4645 ff. ; Sullivan, 26,908.) In such cases it is clear that, whatever subsidiary measures may be taken, the only direct way of diminishing overcrowding is by providing a sufficient number of new houses. 983. In regard to the control actually exercised by the companies in the villages which they own, opinions were also somewhat divergent. On the one hand it was stated that no effective control was exercised, and that the companies seemed to be content to let things take their course. (Davison, 4749 ; M'Vail, 5326 ; Doonan, 18,652. Gf. paragraph on " Tenure of Companies' Houses " above.) But repre- sentatives of the companies mentioned that considerable efforts had been made to control sub-letting (though they differed somewhat as to the success of these efforts), one expedient being to "intimate ' a charge of double rent." In another case it was stated :• — We do not allow overcrowding. Whenever any case is reported by the factor, the occupant has either to remove the excess occupancy or is served with a notice of ejection. In still another it was claimed that, while the company had not found it possible to deal with lodgers, they discouraged sub-letting to a separate family as much as possible, and it was consequently " very ' rare." (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (9) ; Bain, 19,057 (15) ; Forgie, 25,840 (63 f.)) The witness who men- 148 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. tioned the first plan said that several expedients had been tried, but " had not served any good purpose," and that the only ultimate remedy in the hands of the proprietor was ejection. (D. W. Robertson, 6952 ; c/. Kirkby, 7334.) 984. On the whole the weight of evidence was in favour of placing on the Local Authority the duty of checking sub-letting ; but it is clear that if this is to be done efiectively, the co-operation of the colliery company or other house-owner is essential, in addition to the provision of new and larger houses. With or without such co-operation, if the Local Authorities rigidly enforce their powers in this matter, colliery owners will be compelled to build more houses where required, and at the same time overcrowding wiU diminish and eventually disappear. The legal powers conferred upon Local Authorities by Section 72 of the Public Health Act, 1897, appear ample, and are stated to have been satisfactorily applied in Lanark- shire about the year 1902, when there was a great influx of Lithuanian workers, mostly yoimg unmarried men, who came to live with their compatriots, and caused acute overcrowding. (Dr Wilson's Report, p. 22 f .) But this active policy does not appear to have been persisted in, as during five years prior to 1914 only thirty-one cases of overcrowdmg had been reported to the Sanitary Inspector for Mid-Lanark. (Dobson, 36,835 (17) ; c/. J. T. Wilson, 37 142 ff.) (39) Proportion of Houses owned by Employers. 985. It is of importance to give some idea ot the number of miners who are housed in dwellings belonging to the companies who employ them. The figures supplied to us were incomplete except in the case of Lanarkshire, but we give certain typical examples. In the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, out of 2329 houses occupied by miners, 921 were owned or leased by the mine-owners ; in the Middle Ward the number was 7026 out of 17,364, and in the Lower Ward 294 out of 1564, giving a proportion over the landward areas of 38-7 per cent. It must, of course, be remembered that of the miners who live in burghs a larger proportion lease their own houses. In Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire, out of 12,276 miners employed in 1908, 4555 lived in houses belongmg to mining firms in the landward areas. In Mid-Lothian and West Lothian the proportion was much higher, amounting to 7247 out of 9621. In Ayrshire it was roughly estimated that about 30,000 miners lived in rows belonging to the companies, while 10,000 resided elsewhere. (Dr Wilson's Report, pp. 59, 99, 216 ; Dr M'Vail's Report, p. 14 ; Dr Robb's Report, p. 6 ; Dr Macdonald's Report, 1910, p. 39.) In Fife it was estimated that at least 90 per cent, of the miners resided in houses owned by the coalmasters. (Dr Dewar's Report, paragraph 14.) This, however, hardly squares with the figures supplied by the Fife Coal Company, which employed before the war about 12,700 workers, as they owned^2952 houses, accommodating on an average about If workers a piece, or with the figures .given by the manager of the Wemyss Coal Company, who only house 34f per cent, of the workers. (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (1-4) ; Kirkby, 7252 (7).) 986. The estimate of the average number of workers per house in dwellings owned by the Wemyss Coal Company, the Fife Coal Company, and the landward parts of Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire vary only slightly, being respectively 1-6, 1-75, and 1-65. (Kirkby, 7252 (7) ; D. W. Robertson, 6718 (2) ; Dr M'Vail's Report, p. 7.) This is an important point in its bearing on the question as to the pro- portion of their income which miners commonly spend in house rent. (40) The Question of Houses provided by the Employers. 987. Several witnesses dealt with the general attitude of miners to the system of the " tied house,' by which the miner occupies the dual position of employee and tenant of the company. We have already given figures showing the number of houses owned by certain of the more important companies, which show that the question is a large and important one. Certain witnesses emphasised the advantages of the system, the chief being that the miner is supplied with a house near his work at a cheaper rent than he would have to pay elsewhere. On this account one colliery manager stated that the men desired to come into his Company's houses, adding that the payment of the rent in small fortnightly instalments was an additional attraction. (Kirkby, 7398 f.) A miners' agent in West Lothian mentioned that in some districts the privately owned houses were, if anything, below the standard of the companies' houses. (Doonan, 18,596 (24).) It is felt to be an advantage from the employers' point of view that they can coimt more steadily on the work of men who live in the colliery houses, especially where the pits are removed from centres of population. (Bain, 19,256 ; Borland, 27,038.) 988. This very fact, however, constitutes the chief drawback to the system from the standpoint of many of the men, who are said to have a greater sense of independence when they occupy privately owned houses. Another coUiery manager in Fife stated that, owing to the rapid development of the tramway system, men often preferred to Uve in a centre within reach of several pits rather than to be tied to working in one. (Hendrie, 7413 (24) ; Dr Wilson's Report, p. 38.) It was also argued that the double position of employer and landlord gave the owner too great a hold over the movements of the men. The repre- sentatives of the Ayrshire Miners' Union, who used this argument, stated that m their behef the majority of the employers themselves were anxious to assist in the improvement of housing conditions, but that a considerable fear of intimidation by employers' subordinate officials still existed among the men, although probably with less reason than at an earUer time,' (M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (66), 26,709, 26,749 ff. ; Hood and Small, 27,385 (40).) In such cases we take the point of this evidence to be that the miners hesitate to demand improvements from their employers. (41) Tenure of Companies' Houses. 989. The method of letting these houses in Fife was described as follows : — A new employee lodges an apphcation for a house, stating his requirements, which are met as nearly as possible ; and the miner, if he wishes, can see the house before accepting it. The period of let is commonly fourteen days, and the tenant must vacate the house when his employment terminates : although it was also stated that he is commonly allowed to stay on for a fortnight, or even a month, during which time he frequently pays no REPORT. 149 rent. When there is a pressure upon the houses of the company, men employed elsewhere cannot obtain these houses, and in one case we were informed that " lodgers employed by other companies are not ' allowed to be kept." (Forgie, 25,840 (44 f.) ; Paul, 26,253 (13), 26,323 fE. ; cf. Robb, 4830 (17).) This proATision regarding lodgers seems to add some weight to the suspicion that the " tied-house " system may tend to encourage colliery companies to connive at overcrowding in the case of their own employees. 990. In addition to the evidence from the representatives of mine-owners and miners on this subject, Dr Dewar, of the Local Government Board, described at some length administrative difficulties which he had found to occur in the case of " tied houses " which had fallen into disrepair. He stated that in certain villages, whether in Fifeshire or Lanarkshire, " One is adjured in every second house ' no to say that ' I was complaining,' or is told brusquely on entering that ' the house is all right,' when a further inspec- ' tion shows that its defects are many and serious." He also suggested that owing to the magnitude of the operations of the larger companies, complaints were apt to take an unduly long time to reach anyone in effective control. Defects which are not remedied until successive complaints have been made to the factor, and then the manager, after which the Sanitary Inspector may be appealed to and write to the owner, are not flecessarily serious in themselves, but the delay in their rectification may inflict great inconvenience. (Dewar, 764 (13 f.), 806 ff., 898.) Dr Dewar suggested that a solution would be found " if owners of a large number of houses would lend an ear personally or by deputy to all reasonable com- ' plaints." (869.) Mr Forgie, of Wm. Baird & Co., said emphatically that they " gave every encourage- ' ment to any householder to complain past the official in charge of the houses if he does not get repairs ' done," and that no man woiild be dismissed for so doing. (26,168.) Dr Dewar also mentioned that a higher rent was in some cases charged to pon-employees. (In this case the justification would be that houses are suppUed to employees at less than the economic rent.) (1134, cf. Adamson, 7608.) At the same time, Dr Dewar admitted the advantages of the system in securing the supply of houses, and stated that it worked well in the case of new houses. (898, 989 f.) 991. The general opinion of the Miners' Unions is without doubt in favour of housing by a public authority rather than by the employer. The majority of their witnesses did not specify what they considered the second best policy, but Mr Adamson, M.P., stated' clearly that, during the interval which must elapse before housing by public bodies becomes the rule, the colliery owners cannot " divest them- ' selves of the responsibihty to their workpeople for providing reasonable housing accommodation at ' reasonable rents." (7484, 7621 f. ; cf. Gibb, etc., 26,365 (9) ; M'KerreU and Brown, 26,661 (66) ; Hood and Small, 27,385 (40).) Other witoesses maintained that t^xQ first responsibihty lay with the employers ; and it was stated that the chief objection raised by certain of the coalowners was that provision of houses for their workpeople was not by any means the most remunerative use to which they coidd put their capital. (A. L. Reid, 3346 (19), 3486 ; Robb, 4897 ; W. Stevenson, 26,181.) It was also argued by Mr Forgie, of Messrs Wm. Baird & Co., that the provision of houses gave great trouble, and formed a re- sponsibihty not generally assumed by employers in other trades. On the other hand, it was stated by Mr Mowat, who also represented the Lanarkshire Coal Masters, that the majority of firms would be willing to build any class of house that the miners wished, provided that they saw their way to secure 4 per cent, net return. (Forgie, 25,872, 25,971 ; Mowat, 25,930.) 992. On the whole, the provision of houses by the employers is regarded on both sides as the second best course ; but in isolated districts at all times, and in all districts for a considerable period before the war, outside builders had shown no readiness to step in to fill the gap. Thus the practical choice appears to he between building by the employers or by the pubhc authority, or partly by the one and partly by the other — ^a large question of general policy which we discuss elsewhere. (42) The Prospective Exhaustion of Coal-Mines in its Bearing on Housing. 993. The problem of the effect on housing when the pit or pits for which the houses were provided approach the stage of being worked out was referred to at length by several witnesses. There can be no doubt that the possibility of this has been used as an excuse for the neglect to repair dilapidated houses or for the continued use of houses that are practically iminhabitable ; and a real administrative difficulty has thus been created. (Dewar, 764 (17) ; Whyte, 36,834 (84).) We endeavoured to discover how far the difficulty was a genuine one, as it would be if coalowners were either faced with the loss of good houses or compelled to spend on the renovation of old houses a sum out of proportion to their prospective utihty and value. On the whole, we came to the conclusion that, looked at from this point of view, it had been very considerably exaggerated. The clearest testimony to its existence was that of the Medical Officer for Midlothian, who stated that " in certain districts there are many houses uninhabited owing to the ' closing of a pit or work, with the consequent departure of the occupants to other places " ; and he cited the case of Bonnyrigg (in Midlothian), where " some very good houses were being gradually emptied " from this cause. (Robb, 4830 (12), 4987.) One case was quoted from Lanarkshire and one from Ayrshire, in which houses had to be removed because of the abandonment of the colhery from the practical exhaus- tion of the minerals. (Mowat, 25,935 ; Forgie, 25,944.) In the former case the houses were rebuilt eight or nine miles, away. No other clear case {i.e. where the houses were not subjects of complaint on the groimd of dilapidation) was quoted, while several witnesses drew attention to the fact that the question is now less one of the life of the individual pit than whether the coalfield as a whole is approaching ex- haustion. In certain cases [e.g. in the Slamannan district, Stirhngshire) the latter may occur, but other cases were quoted in which coalfields well over a hundred years old had entered on a fresh term of activity. Owing to improved methods, thiimer seams can be worked now than formerly ; nor will mine-owners readily erect the expensive plant now necessary if the pit is only likely to last for a short term of years. On this point Mr Forgie's statement is authoritative regarding Lanarkshire. There is little doubt, he says, that new colheries (with few exceptions) will have expectations of at least thirty to forty years* life ; and he adds that the coalfields in Lanarkshire will go on for a long time yet, so that there is not much chance of any house property, built even at the present moment, being left unoccupied. (Forgie, 25,840 (88), 25,951 ; cf. Provost Brown's statement regarding certain Midlothian collieries, that " If ' anyone had asked a hundred years ago if they were done, he would have been told that they wer.e. Now 150 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING tN SCOTLAND. ' they are just beginning." (18,305),; see also Robb, 4830 (13) ; Doonan, 18,596 (34) ; Glaister, 23,491 ; Mowat, 25,939 ; Cadell, 34,439.) It must also be remembered that the advent of the bicycle and the electric tramway have, as we have already pointed out, made it possible for workers to travel regularly to pits at a considerable distance from their homes. 994. Thus this particular form of the difficulty does not seem to be one which need cause much trouble in the case of houses erected in the future. But undoubtedly the tendency to reopen mines which had been closed or were on the point of closure, and the increased facilities for locomotion just referred to, have quite definitely led to the continued use of houses which had ceased to be habitable. (M'Kerrell, 26,731 f . ) The notorious case of the houses at West Benhar, in the county of Lanark, illustrates the danger that houses which have fallen below present standards and have been transferred at a cheap rate to a private owner may continue to find occupiers, because of the lack of alternative accommodation. (For different views on this case see the evidence of feain, 19,186 ff. ; Mowat, 25,939 ff. ; Sullivan, 26,897 ff. ; Gibb and Cowie, 26,472 ff.) The County Clerk of Ayrshire stated that he only knew of one case in that county where the termination of the lease had led to special difficulties regarding housing. (Shaw, 37,618 f.) This was the case of Damconner, and here there could be no question of hardship to the owners, the only question being whether the houses should not have been closed long before. {Cf. M'Kerrell and Brown, 26,661 (7) ; Wallace, 39,193 (38). ) These houses belonged to Messrs Wm. Baird & Co. (43) The Question op Termination of Colliery Lease. • 995. Thus, while under present conditions there appears to be little danger of colliery houses becoming derehct through lack of occupants while they are still in good structural condition, there does appear to be some cause for dissatisfaction with the arrangements for the disposal of houses at the termination of the company's lease of a particular mine. In such cases the houses may be handed over to the superior for a comparatively small sum. One case was quoted in Lanarkshire where at the end of a twenty-one years' lease (in 1904) a company had to clear away a large number of houses which it had erected, not on account of the exhaustion of the minerals, but simply because the lease had terminated, and by its provisions the lessees were bound to remove the houses. (Mowat, 25,953 ff. ; cf. D. W. Robertson, 6779.) Mr Forgie stated that, owing to the heavy capital expenditure involved in present-day mining, the limita- tion of leases of land for housing to thirty-one years (which was formerly the limit on entailed estates) was not now desirable. (26,163.) We agree, and think a colHery owner should be entitled to a renewal of his lease on terms to be agreed on between him and the superior, or failing agreement on terms to be fixed by an arbiter. Apart from any possible hardship to the companies on account of termination of lease, an undoubted administrative difficulty is raised when, owing to tha termination of the colliery lease, the houses have become the property of some party other than the company from whom the company rent them for the use of their workers. The company may accordingly be held responsible for the condition of the houses so long as they are so rented by them, although the houses do not actually belong to them. This is precisely the same difficulty which commonly occurs in the case of farm-servants' cottages — the difficult)' being to determine whether the landlord of the farm or the farmer who rents the farm and cottages from him is responsible for the upkeep of the houses. Several of the worst groups of houses which we saw in Fife were instances of this divided responsibiUty, which was said by the Clerk of Works of the Raith estate to be "a very bad system, as the proprietor is held responsible by the Local Authority for ' the upkeep and condition of these houses, over which he has no control." (A. Graham, 29,583 (6), 29,666. ) We do not enter into the case of the houses belonging to the Corporation of Dunfermhne, at Townhill, as many have now been closed. In this instance the Town Council let the colliery along with the houses on a nineteen years' lease, the rent obtained for the ninety-seven houses being £50. For many years the Local Government Board had the greatest difficulty in securing the repair or closure of the houses, the divided responsibiUty between the Town Council and the colhery companv forming one element of difficulty. (Dewar, 1096, App. III. ; Jack, 4518 (38 ff.), 4541 ff.) 996. There appear to be two possible solutions of these difficulties. The best«(and the one we recom- mend) is that the colliery company should obtain the land required for building houses as a feu indepen- dent of the mineral lease. This is the policy now followed by Messrs Wm. Baird & Company ; and even in the event of the colliery having to be abandoned, the company would be in a stronger position regarding its houses, as they would not revert to the superior. (Forgie, 26,164.) The other alternative, which appears less desirable but would still be an improvement on the present system, is that there should be a definite valuation of the houses at the termination of the lease. (Stevenson, 26,183.) If this were carried out by a representative of the Local Authority, there would be a guarantee that the state of the houses and the degree of wear and tear which they had suffered would be taken into account in the price awarded. In this » rise the superior woiild have some guidance as to the sanitary condition of the houses, and consequently their prospective life. Dr Dewar made the further suggestion that, in cases which are not compUcated by the question of the transference of the houses, where the prospective exhaustion of a coal-mine is advanced as a reason for avoiding necessary expenditure on houses, a short time Umit should be fixed, at the end of which measures would be taken " to secure that the houses in question be either ' renovated or closed and demolished." (764 (17), 1069, 1137 f.) The principle of the time limit is open to the objection that during its currency nothing will be done for the upkeep of the houses. 997. On the whole, we consider that the recommendations made (1) that mine-owners should be entitled in future to obtain ground for their houses under feu-charter, and (2) that where they presently own houses built under leasehold tenure but do not desire to convert them into a feu, that such houses should, at the termination of a lease — if the superior is reletting the minerals to a new tenant — be taken over by the superior at a valuation, should go a long way to remove the evils which presently exist by reason of the dual ownership of the collieiy site for houses. In this connection we hold strongly that a mine-owner and his assignees should — under statute — ^be entitled to a renewal of his lease of the minerals and of the sites for housing on terms which — ^failing agreement between the parties— would be fixed by a single arbiter. This point would have an important effect on good housing, as it would give the mine- owner security of tenure. In regard to the remaining class of case, viz. that in which the mine is or is REPORT. 151 averred to be nearing exhaustion, we do not recommend any alteration in the law, but we do suggest that the law should be rigorously applied. We cannot be any party to recommending any time-limit arrangement which would have the effect of allowing houses unfit for occupation to remain inhabited. If houses are unfit for occupation, and the owner will not or cannot make them fit for occupation, they should be closed. It will be for the Local Authority then to consider what steps they should take to pro- vide sufficient housing accommodation for the people to be dishoused. If the houses are near other mines or other centres of industry, it may be that the Local Authority would, in the exercise of their dis- cretion, deem it their duty to erect new houses. If, on the other hand, the mine is remote from any other centre of population, and if the Local Authority decide not to build new houses, they shall be entitled to require the mine-owner to erect such temporary houses as we reconamend for cases where a mine is being opened and the minerals have not been proved, and failing the mine-owner erecting such houses the Local Authority should be entitled to do so themselves and to recover the cost from the mine-owner by way of special assessment. We refer to the recommendation which we make for temporary housing in the case of a mine being opened, and its being difficult or impossible to prove whether the minerals will be workable at a profit until a year or two has elapsed. (See succeeding paragraph.) (44) Difficulties at the Start of New Mines and Question of Temporaby Housing. 998. More than one witness famihar with the conditions imder which new mines are started called our attention to the uncertain prospects of some mines in the early stages of their development. Some time must elapse before it is apparent whether they will prove successful. Unexpected " faults " or other hindrances may occur, and the mine may even have to be abandoned. In these cases it is urged that the proprietors cannot at the outset commit themselves to the full capital expenditure required for the housipg on permanent lines of the whole staff of the mine. (Hendrie, 7413 (20) ; Glaister, 23,493 ; Borland, 27,047.) It seems obvious, however, that no one else can reheve them of responsibility ; and in many cases, both in isolated situations and in populous districts where there is no margin of unoccupied sanitary houses, new accommodation must be provided to meet the newly arising need. On this subject the words of the District Clerk of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire are worth quoting : — This is a new industry coming to the district, with the full knowledge that there are no houses available for the workmen. They (i.e. the promoters) must, as a conmiercial venture, reckon what it is to cost the concern to have the workers brought there, or they must be prepared to make adequate provision themselves. He added that it would not be reasonable for an employer to " start his works and then say, ' We ' request the Local Authority to provide houses.' " (Whyte, 37,109 f.) 999. Thus in most cases of this kind it seems clear that the responsibility for the provision of houses must lie with the employer. If there is a limitation in the mineral lease to thirty-one years or some similar figure, the portion of the rents set aside for depreciation must be sufficient to wipe out the cost in that period. But if the difficulty springs from a real uncertainty as to the success of the mine, it is more difficult to indicate a remedy. It was suggested by Mr Walker Smith of the Local Government Board that in such cases temporary housing might be provided by means of sectional buildings. (4213, (78) ). This plan wa.s criticised on the ground that such wood and iron buildings, if they are satisfactorily constructed at all, are themselves somewhat costly, and that when they go wrong they do so very quickly. (Glaister, 23,494 ; Forgie, 26,117.) But though they may not last as long as brick and slate, they may serve a temporary need at two or three different places ; and at all events they can more easily be moved from place to place, if, as in the Lanarkshire case already referred to, it is necessary to take down a number of houses, transport them some miles, and re-erect them. Our inspection of the " Hut village " at Rosyth makes us incline to the view that the principle of transferable housing, there applied on a large scale by Messrs Easton Gibb & Co., may be commended to the attention of mine-owners entering on a new and uncertain development. But the plan and occupancy of such houses should be fully con- trolled by the Local Authority — (we refer to our recommendations in regard to the Housing of Navvies, Chapter XVII.), — ^and some undertaking should be entered into that, if the mine proves profitable, per- manent houses will be erected within a definite, and not too great, number of years. 1000. We recommend that imtil it is proved in the case of a new mine that it is carried on at a profit and likely to be permanent, or at all events that it will have many years of fife, the Local Authority should have power — -where permanent houses are not otherwise available — to allow the mine-owner to erect temporary housing, which would probably take the form of huts constnicted of woad and iron. These would, of course, be adequately ventilated and placed on carefully chosen sites approved by the Local Authority. They might be registered to accommodate a given number of adults and children, regard being had to the proper separation of the sexes. 1001. If such a system for the control of construction and use of temporary houses were adopted at the outset, it would be possible to place a time limit, say of ten years, on the use of these buildings as dwellings for families. Before this period had elapsed it would be possible to judge if the mine was likely to be permanent, and, if so, the duty would then lie on the Local Authority to see that permanent housing was provided — either by the mine-owner or, failing his doing so, then by the Local Authorities themselves, subject to a power of special assessment on the mine-owner. This we shall further discuss in our Genei-al Policy and Recommendations. (45) Occupying Ownership among Miners — ^Leadhills and Larkhall, 1002. In the West of Scotland the building of houses by miners for their own occupation has been, in the main, confined to two districts. In the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire, out of 574 houses owned by miners, 299, or more than half, are in the parish of Dalserf, which includes Larkhall. (Dr Wilson's Report, p. 100.) The other district comprises Leadhills,. and the adjoining village of Wanlockhead, in Dumfriesshire, which together form a very interesting community. They are the two highest villages 152 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. in Scotland, and they are inhabited by workers in the lead mines of a race long accustomed to this employ- ment. They have also, like the crofters of the Western Highlands, been accustomed to a large extent to build their own houses ; and in many cases they are sufficiently skilled in construction in concrete to erect dwellings capable of withstanding the weather at an altitude of about 1300 feet. The houses are small, and for the most part lacking in modem conveniences, but they are scrupulously well kept. The Leadhills houses are held from the Marquis of Linlithgow on a somewhat vmusual tenure. These villages give an interesting example of what can be done in the provision of houses by an independent commimity, even though wages have commonly been low (from about 208. to 258.) ; but space does not allow us to enter into full details, as the lead-miners form a type by themselves, working under conditions very different from those obtaining in the great coalfields. (See full details in the evidence of Mr .John Cameron, chairman of the Leadhills Miners' Association, 13,900-13,992 ; also regarding Leadhills (where 155 miners out of 201 owned their own houses in 1909) ; .see Dr Wilson's Report, pp. 63-69 ; and for Wanlockhead, Maxwell Ross, 13,743 (12), 13,769 f.) 1003. At Larkhall, an old weaving community, now chiefly engaged in mining, the building-society movement goes back for a little over 100 years, as the pioneer Society was founded in 1815, a quarter of a century before that already referred to at Shotts. Unlike Falkirk, Dumbarton, and other towns, where the building-society movement has flourished, Larkhall, instead of one large society, has had a succession of at least sixteen smaller societies, by which the best houses in the town have been erected. The pro- cedure followed has been very similar in all. A number of miners or others desirous of obtaining houses have formed a Society, and paid regular contributions imtil enough money was in hand to start the erection of the first group of houses, the occupancy of which was determined by ballot. It was then pos- sible to borrow on the houses erected sufficient sums to enable the scheme to be completed. The pro- cedure was so expeditious and the building so economical that one Society, starting with eighteen members in 1898, in a little over two yeai-s had provided eighteen houses at an. average cost, including fencing and road-making, of £105 per hoiise. It was expected that the debt would be entirely cleared off in about nineteen years. The rents were £6 for the first four years, and £5 thereafter. There was also a contri- bution to sinking fimd, making (with the rent) a total of £10, 4s. per aimum. (Dr Wilson's Report, pp. 39 ff.) 1004. In regard to the finance of these societies, it is interesting to note that the money has all been found locally ; and in some cases a single lender has financed a society. The highest rate charged has been 4 per cent., but money has been usually obtained at 3| per cent. The Inspector of Poor stated only a month before the outbreak of war that no difficulty was found in obtaining capital — " We have ' quite a number of men who will give us money at 3i or 3| per cent." This indicates the confidence felt locally in the stability of these societies, and the regularity with which instalments are paid ; and the business capacity of their members is shown by the fact that they save expense by doing much of their own legal work. (Nicol, 38,745 ff. ; cf. Dr Wilson's Report, p. 43.) The care and economy with which these societies have done their work is shown also by the figures for cost of construction just given. Even in view of the fact that the houses were built just before the sharp rise of prices of the last twelve or fifteen years, £105 is a remarkably low figure for the inclusive cost of a stone-built and slated house with two large rooms, a coal cellar, sink and water-closet, and a garden. 1005. In these houses the rooms are of a good size — about 18 feet by 16 feet in the houses built about 1860 (the intention here having originally been to use the " room " as a weaver's shop), and somewhat smaller in the case of the Society which started in 1898. Till recently, no attempt has been made to modify the usual miniijig custom of keeping two beds in the kitchen, but in the three- and four-room houses, which represent the best result of the Building Societies' work, this has become needless. Of the forty four-apartment houses recently built, twelve are semi-detached cottages of good design, the rest being built in terraces ; but in both types the parlour has a large bow window, and all these houses are provided with baths. 1006. We visited examples both of the older and newer "building-society houses," and found ample evidence of " house-pride " ; and the contrast in one case between the care taken of two-apartment houses of this type by their owners, and the state of one-apartment rented houses in the immediate neigh- bourhood was very striking. The strong expression of opinion by the Inspector of Poor was fully borne out that — comparing the condition of the workers dwelling in their houses with those in the (ordinary) miners' rows, the standard of comfort, cleanliness, and frugality are vastly improved, and a higher moral tone pervades the lives of the families. There was also strong evidence of the interest taken in the gardens and the profit derived from them, (Dr Wilson's Report, pp. 40, 43 ; R. Nicol, 38,748 ff.) As regards other districts in Lanarkshire, Mr Forgie, Director of Wm. Baird & Co., said : — Only to a very small extent do miners own their own houses. A few of our provident workmen who have had good health and constant employment have, with the aid of the Building Societies, become owners of their own houses. He gave particulars of seven employees of his firm at Bothwell who owned houses containing from three to eight apartments, in every case with- water-closet and bath with hot and cold water. (25,840 (28).) (46) Occupying Ownership among Miners^other Districts. 1007. Of other coalfields, a portion of East Fife is the district in which this arrangement is most usual ; but the manager of the Wemyss Coal Company stated that he would only estimate the number of miners owning their own houses at 3 per cent. Those who do so usually build a small block of houses. of two .and three rooms alternately, occupying one themselves, and letting the other or others. Accord- ing to this witness these houses are of about the same class as the Company's houses, and are not pro- vided with baths. (Kirkby, 7255 f.) But the mines' -agent of the Fife Coal Company in East Fife spoke of the miners as building a superior type of house — REPORT. 153 these generally take the shape of a four-roomed cottage, with bathroom and water-closet com- bined, and have a garden attached. (Hendrie, 7413 (9).) It is worthy of note that the relative frequency of house-owning by the miners in East Fife is associated with a widespread interest in gardening ; and that, especially in the village of Windygates, sites have been chosen in the centre of a large mining district, from which varioiis pits are accessible by cycle, and so the miner is not tied by the possession of his house to employment in any one mine. 1008. Among the miners' representatives there seems to be some variety of opinion as to the extent to which this policy should be encouraged. The miners' agent for West Lothian said that he thought that the number of miners owning their own houses in that district was under 5 per cent., and added that the miner's calling is such that he cannot, even if he had saved sufficient money to build, take the risk of doing so. He has to change his work often. (Doonan, 18,596 (23).) The general secretary of the Shale Miners' Association, dealing with the same district, argued that the burden of repayment of the cost of the house at the rate charged by the Building Societies was found to be too great, and that in consequence the purchaser was sometimes glad to escape from his obligation even at a sacrifice. He indicated, however, that if money could be more cheaply obtained from Government his opinion might be modified. (Hood and Small, 27.385 (42), 27,456 fE.) The representatives of the Lanarkshire Miners' Union also argued in favour of the latter proposal, stating that the percentage charged by Building Societies, and the heavy legal fees, formed a barrier to their extension. While declining to commit themselves to any definite figures, they expressed their belief that — there is a desire on the part of a good number of people to build their own houses. If the miners were to get the offer of money on the conditions stated, they would readily take it up. (Cowie, 26,606, 625 ; M'Roberts, 26,626.) 1009. On the whole the experience of the few mining districts where the principle of occupying ownership has taken root suggests that, in view of the good wages commonly earned by miners, it is capable of being adopted more widely. (Sir T. Munro, 27,612 ; Cadell, 34,440.) But we doubt whether it will ever be widely popular amongst the mining or any other working-class community which, generally speak- ing, looking to its occupational conditions, is subject to change, or the risk of change, of residence from one district to another. (47) Summary of Stjbjects on which Recommendations are made in later Chapters. 1010. Before dealing with the special question of damage caused to the surface by subsidence from mineral workings, we wish briefly to indicate how and where we propose in this Report to deal with the questions in regard to the housing of miners which arise out of the discussion and description in this chapter. 1011. There are, as will be gathered from this Report on the housing conditions in mining areas, many matters in respect of which improvement is urgently called for. Most of these, however, are not peculiar to mining communities, but obtain generally in housing conditions through Scotland — though perhaps not always in the same acute degree. Accordingly, we propose to deal with these matters in detail in the portion of this Report where we set out our policy and recommendations, and meantime we content ourselves with enumerating the subjects that we will discuss later, and upon which we will give definite reconomendations. These subjects are : — (1) The responsibility for providing houses in mining areas. (2) The maintenance of houses and the control of subletting. (3) The conditions on which defective houses will be allowed to continue to be occupied in cases where the " life " of the mine is, or is alleged to be, very limited. (4) Increased control over the plaiming of new villages, including approval of sites of houses, lay-out of streets, number of houses per acre, provision of garden and recreation ground, etc. (5) Provision of proper water and drainage schemes, and introduction of water into houses. (6) Provision of suitable and adequate sanitary conveniences and of baths, sculleries, coal-stores, etc. (7) Increased powers to obviate difficulties associated with the adoption by landward Tjocal Authorities of the Burghs Gas Supply (Scotland) Act, 1876, (48) Damage caused by Subsidence. 1012. The hardship caused by damage to house-property through subsidence due to mineral workings was prominently brought forward by various witnesses both from Fifeshire and Lanarkshire. The emphasis laid on it seemed indeed somewhat out of proportion to the areas actually affected, but where damage on a considerable scale has occurred it is felt as, and in our opinion is, a very definite grievance that the house-owner has to bear the whole loss. The feu-charters in use in these districts expressly exclude any claim for compensation on account of mineral workings altering the level or affecting the stability of the sife. 1013. In both the counties named we were able to verify by observation the accounts given of the process by which properties are damaged and in a few extreme cases destroyed. The first sign of loss of stability in the site is the appearance of cracks in sills and lintels. These may be followed by cracks nmning up the whole height of a wall ; and by this time floors become uneven and difficult to clean, shelving gets warped or broken, doors refuse to open and shut ceilings bulge and crack, and falls of plaster become frequent. In some cases partition walls may begin to part from the main walls. 1014. Mr Paul, manager of the Lochgelly Coal and Iron Company, told us that at this stage the main support of the building is the ceiling joists, which tend to hold the building together. With the passing of the subsidence, the walls sometimes gradually resume their former perpendicular position, but as a general rule some repairs or.irebuildingjiare necessary to make the house habitable. (Paul, 26.253 (20).) One cause of very real hardship to occupiers is that house-owners, whether Colliery companies or 154 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. others, prefer to wait till the subsidence is over and the site has resumed its stability at a lower level before executing repairs, as it is more economical and more effective to perform the repairs all at one time — when the subsidence has ceased. Thus the tenant may have months to wait, with his rooms draughty and every part of his dwelling cracked and uneven. In some cases emergency measures must be taken to prevent accidents, though, owing to the gradual working of subsidence, there is much less actual danger to occupiers than might have been anticipated. In one row of comparatively new houses belonging to the Fife Coal Company (Adams Terrace, Kelty), some of the houses had been closed at the time of our visit, but others were still occupied, though daylight was visible through the clacks and the structure had to be shored up with stout timber posts placed in one or two instances insi&e the rooms. It should be explained that the reason for this subsidence being so hurtful to the property was the existence of a previously unknown old-fashioned " stoop and room " working of an upper seam near the surface. 1015. It is obvious that the water and gas connections of houses so damaged must be seriously interfered with ; and the danger to health through injury to drains and sewers is even more serious. The Medical Officer of Health for Motherwell stated that—" frequently the normal fall of drains and sewers is reversed in their whole length or in parts. The sewage is left stagnant and only escapes by overflowing into the sewer lower down or on to the street, whichever point is lowest. (R. P. Jack, 34,183 (13, c/. 44).) The same reversal of flow has been known to occur at Thornton in Fife. (Dewar, 764 (38).) It was also reported that fear of injury through subsidence had been one factor in hindering the formation of a much-needed drainage district in Mid-Lanark. (Sullivan, 26,927.) The expenditure incurred by the Corporation of Hamilton over a period of several years through damage of this character averaged about £1000 per annum or 2d. on the rates. In this sum the largest item was loss through leakage of gas, above the leakage normal in other towns, £686 per annum. (Dittmar, 603 ; Moffat, 27,195 (22 f.).) The burgh has, however, in the past received a very large revenue from mineral royalties. (Ibid., 27,332, f .) In November 1913 the Town Council of Motherwell expended £5] 3 on the repair of a main sewer damaged through subsidence, and somewhat later found themselves confronted by an expenditure of about £1000 on repairs to sewage purification works which had cost £8000. (Burns, 41,087 (4-6).) These figures do not include the expenditure of private individuals on repairs to pipes and drains damaged through subsidence. 1016. As regards the expense and inconvenience to private individuals, the Provost of Hamilton gave particulars of damage to eight properties, with a large number of tenants, portions of which had to be taken down and rebuilt, and in six of which tenants had to be warned out. The expenditure amounted in seven of the eight cases to more than one year's rental ; while in the case of two small pro- perties, with rentals of £50, 10s. and £53, it reached the sums of £500 and £450 respectively. Mr Findlay, ex-M.P. for North-East Lanark, mentioned sixteen houses which he had erected for his workers and which had been wrecked be3^ond the possibility of repair ; but in this case compensation was given ex f/ratm by one of the beneficiaries of the estate in question. (Moffat, 27,328 ; Findlay, 32,916 (2).) 1017. The structural damage caused in Motherwell was estimated as £20,000 in twenty years, or an average of £1000 per annum, not including minor repairs to plaster, gas-pipes, etc., or the loss of rents during the period of repair : but this estimate was criticised as being below the mark. (J. K. Murray, 32,418 (8), 32,527 ; W. Wilson, 32,950.) 1018. Other indirect difficulties may also result from the sense of uncertainty caused by the fre- quency or fears of subsidence. Our attention was called to the impossibility, owing to such fears, of obtaining new loans over house property in the towns specially affected. (J. K. Murray, 32,418 (6, 11) ; W. Wilson, 32,940.) On the other hand, Mr Fraser (the Dalzell estate factor), while admitting that it was impossible to secure loans for house-building, attributed the responsibility for this state of matters to the public " agitation " for securing compensation as a right. (Fraser, 31,244.) It was also said that the congestion of certain parts of the biugh of Hamilton, which contain from 70 to 144 houses per acre, in spite of the fact that there is considerable free space in other parts, " must to a certain extent be ' attributed to the difficulty of securing stable sites." (Moffat, 27,195 (9, 10, 16).) (49) Suggestions begarding Subsidence. 1019. Suggestions for a remedy fall under two heads : — ^Prevention; and Compensation for damage caused. 1020. Prevention. — It was suggested by more than one witness that the damage which we have described is in some cases due to the unsuitable design or defective construction of houses, and that if attention was paid to the proper drainage of sites and provision of substantial foimdations it might be much reduced. (Kirkby, 7286.) This witness recommended the construction of single-storey houses with strong concrete foundations in groups of three or four. The houses previously referred to in Adams Terrace, Kelty, had two storeys, and the architect of the Fife Coal Company attributed the severity of the damage largely to this. (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (8) ; G. Fraser, 31,262.) The restriction of houses to a single storey and the avoidance of long continuous rows is possible and desirable in some districts, but, so far as the practicability of building single-storey houses is concerned, hardly affords a solution for the congested urban areas of Mid-Lanark. At the same time, this is an additional reason why new developments in mining districts should be on " Garden City " Unes ; and with modern improve- ments of transit, it may become possible to remove many of the houses from the actua,l mining area. Another form of prevention consists in the working of the coal in such a way as to avoid a sudden or irregular lowering of the surface ; but this is a highly technical question regarding which we can do no more than call attention to its obvious importance. (G. Fraser, 31,305, f. ; Findlay, 32,969 ; Bums, 41,100 ; Ross Young, 43,385.) 1021. There is, indeed a third possibility— that the main seams of coal under dwelling-houses or public buildings or works should be left unworked in order to support the surface; but no witness seriously REPORT. 165 suggested this coui'se. The value of the minerals required to support a given area of surface represents many times the capital value of the surface for ordinary building purposes ; and, in addition to the capital value, there is even the more important question of the general industrial prosperity of the district and of the wages which are paid when the coal is being extracted. In certain cases where public buildings or other edifices of special consequence are involved support has been left, but when such blocks of coal are left, the damage, if subsidence should occur, to the surrounding property is much greater. 1022. In other areas, where the feu-charter provides for compensation being paid for disturbance and damage, only about one-third has been extracted, large pillars, about two-thirds, being left to support the surface. One such case is that of a colliery, now closed, which, for thirty-j&ve years, extracted coal under the burgh of Hamilton. The closing of the colliery has resulted in a considerable loss of revenue to the town and of employment to workmen in the district. (Moffat, 27,195 (28-31) ; G. Fraser, 31.115 (51).) Thus there was general agreement that the coal must be taken out, the only questions being how to do so with least chance of damage, and in the event of damage by whom it should be made good. (.1. Robei-tson, 17,654, ff. ; W. Wilson, 32,918 (31).) 1023. One method was brought to our notice by which the stability of the surface can be secured, and which has been largely practised in the North of France and in Westphalia. It is that of " hydraulic ' stowage," by which the place of the coal removed is taken by sand or fine gravel introduced imder high pressure, which rapidly sohdifies. In one mine near Bothwell on the Dalzell estate, where there was the , danger of an inrush of water from the river Clyde, this operation has been successfully earned out. This also is a technical matter on which we cannot afford to pronounce, further than to state that its adoption in favourable circumstances (i.e. where water and suitable stowage material are readily obtainable) was strongly recommended by one or two competent witnesses ; but that the majority of tliose who dealt with the matter gave their opinion that under Scots conditions the expense would be greater than that of providing compensation for surface damage. (Keith, 15,221, ff. ; Moffat, 27,195 (32 ff.), 27,345 fi. ; cf. W. Stevenson, 26,218 f. ; G-. Fraser, 31,276 ; A. Wilson, 40,988 ft'.) This expense would, we understand, amoimt to about Is. 6d. per ton, or more than an average colliery profit.* 1024. Compensation for Damage through Subsidence. — While we wish to emphasise the importance of taking all suitable measures for reducing injury to buildings through subsidence, it appears that there will still remain a number of cases in which damage is likely to be caused ; and here the state of the law is of importance. In certain of the older feus, compensation was, as a matter of fact, given for loss through mineral damage, and this is apparently still the case in certain estates in Lanarkshire where damage has not been frequent. (Alston, 34,167a (26); cf. Lee, 17,830.) But in the majority of cases in Mid-Lanark, and also in Fifeshire, in which land has been given off for building or other purposes of recent years, a stringent clause is introduced into the feu-charter exempting the superior from all liability in this connection. The land acquired by Local Authorities for drainage and other schemes has been acquired on these terms. It was represented to us that this form of charter contracts the superior out of his liability at common law to provide a stable surface for building where he exacts a rent or feu-duty for the land ; but whatever may be said as to the equity or inequity of this, the clauses in question have been upheld in the Courts, nor is their legal validity now challenged. (W. Wilson, 32,918 (giving examples of the contracting-out clause) ; Whyte, 36,834 (102-6).) It was authoritatively decided by the House of Lords in the case of Buchanan v. Andrew, 10th March 1872, 11 M. (H.L.), p. 13, that as the contracts were volimtarily entered into, they must receive effect according to their terms, however great the hardship might be. 1025. Three arguments were advanced in defence of the present arrangement. (1) Following the line of the House of Lords judgment just quoted, it was stated to us that feuars enter into the contract with full information as to its nature and bearing, and consequently there is no case for legislative inter- ference. To this it was rephed with much cogency that the freedom of contract enjoyed by the feuar is more apparent than real, since houses must'be found within reasonable distance of the mines or steel- works which provide employment. Where all estates disclaim responsibility for damage through sub- sidence there is no effective choice, and the whole risk falls upon the proprietor of the dwellings. (These opposite views are represented by Macpherson, 268 f. ; G. Fraser, 31,265. on the one side; and on the other, Dittmar, 601 ; J. Robert-son, 17,657 ; Murray, 32,454 f. ; W. Wilson, 32,918 (33).) 1026. (2) It was represented by the factor on the Dalzell estate, Motherwell (one of the chief estates concerned), that the risk had been discounted when the feu-duty was fixed. On this estate the feu-duties vary from £10 per acre for buildings for religious purposes and public works to £20 to £24 per acre for dwelling-houses, but the latter figure includes the cost of making feuing roads for opening up the estate for feuing purposes and providing the land for roads ; and it was contended that the fact that certain portions of ground had been sub-feued at an increased rate showed that the feu-duty was reasonable. On other estates the terms regarding road-making and development are not so generous. (G. Fraser, 31,115 (41 ff.), 31,300 ; A. Wilson, 40,966 ft'.) But even on the assumption — which we think has not been proved — that feus in Motherwell and Hamilton are lower than burghs of similar character elsewhere, this would not meet the case of the individual feuar or tenant, as the damage caused by subsidence is very capricious and imequal. 1027. It was suggested that his case would be met by a system of mutual insurance equalising the risk, but so far no such scheme has proved practicable. One was indeed initiated by the Dalzell estate in the year 1907, but did not come into action, the reasons being variously given as — that a majority of the feuars thought it unnecessary, and that the proposed initial premium was too high and would have constituted a considerable burden. (G. Fraser, Appendix CLIV. (3) ; W. Wilson, 32,918 (34).) The suggested premium at the commencement was 10s. per cent, on the rental capitalised at fifteen years' purchase, or 7^ per cent, on the annual value. This would eventually find its way into the rent of the property and with the increased rates and taxes on the higher rental would, we think, prove a serious burden to working-class occupiers— especially the poorer paid workers. But the fundamental objection * The Town Council of the burgh of Hamilton, after considering a special report obtained by them from mining engineers in regard to the adoption of the hydraulic stowage system in the coUierie-s at Hamilton, resolved not to pro<^epd with such work on the ground that the expense involved would render the working of the minerals unprofitable. 156 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. from the feuar's or tenant's point of view to a system of mutual insurance, is that it would result in making them pay as a class for the damage caused by subsidence to individual properties — damage for which, in their view, the superior should be made statutorily liable. 1028. (3) The third argument in defence of the present system is that full information regarding the thickness and depths of seams and plans for working them is commonly placed at the disposal of feuars before the contract is completed ; and the factor on the Dalzell estate said that, if he had any doubt as to the stability of a site, he was increasingly careful not to feu it. (W. Stevenson, 26,216, 26,222-4 ; G. Fraser, 31,115 (40), 31,254.) But while this information is no doubt given in perfectly good faith, both on the part of colliery managers and estate authorities, there is some occasion to question its permanent accuracy. For plans for securing minerals may be extended, and the working programme of a mine may change, while the worst damage is often caused at some distance from the actual working or along the margin between different workings — all of which factors may reduce the value of the information given. Nor can it be claimed that the colliery managers can themselves predict with certainty the areas of subsidence ; for if they could do so accurately they would not themselves build new houses to be wrecked in a few years, as at Kelty. (Weir, 32,420 ; Murray, 32,450, 32,531 ; Findlay, 32,921.) Referring to Kelty, the architect of the Fife Coal Company says, " It is usual to select ' sites for the workers' houses where damage is likely to be least, but it is impossible to completely obviate • ' the trouble. The conditions in this instance were not known when the site was fixed upon." (D. W. Robertson, 6718 (8), 6812.) For these reasons it appears to us that the protection given to intending feuars in the form of information, in many cases verbal only, as to the prospective removal of under- l3ang minerals is seriously inadequate. 1029. The recognition of a strong moral and equitable claim to compensation is not a new thing. One case has already been mentioned in which a lady, the beneficiary of a trust concerned, gave liberal compensation for damage caused. On a leading estate in Lanarkshire compensation was formerly given ex gratia in serious cases, but the attitude of the estate changed when efforts were made by the feuars to secure support for a Bill in Parliament giving them right to compensation. (Weir, 32,560 ff. ; Findlay, 32,916 (2), 32,931 ; W. Wilson, 32,993 ff. ; Fraser, Appendix CLIV.) Generally this state of matters discriminates unfairly between different feuars or lessees, nor is it a satisfactory arrangement that the majority should be denied what a minority receive at the option of the superior. 1030. The force of these arguments was recognised by the Select Committee on Feus and Building Leases, which reported in 1894, summing up their view as follows : — A majority of the Committee think that there is gi'ound for the legislature interfering to rein- state or reserve this common-law claim to damages, both in the case of past and future feu grants, though not for requiring that support should be left for the surface and the buildings upon it, and thus in effect prohibiting the working out of the minerals. A minority dissent from this view, in so far as it relates to feu grants already existing, but think that it might properly receive effect as regards future feu grants. (Parliamentary Paper 288, 1894. The Committee included the late Lords Kinross and Pearson and the present Lord Shaw.) The majority of this Committee thus endorsed the principle of the One-Clause Bill which has been frequently brought forward, but has never received facilities in the House of Commons, providing that the " contracting-out " clause in feu-charters with respect to damage through subsidence due to the working of minerals should be null and void. (Findlay, 32,928 ; W. Wilson, 32,980.) 1031. There remains, however, certain important points in the application of this principle, which we shall indicate. 1032. There is, first, the question of the. extent of compensation. The factor of the Dalzell estate near Motherwell stated that — in every instance where a house or any part thereof is rendered uninhabitable it would be equitable to bind the mineral tenants to restore such abnormal damage. (Fraser, 31,115 (63) ; cf. 31,265.) But, against this limited application of the principle, it was argued with much reason that it is not these " abnormal " cases in which a property is rendered definitely uninhabitable which occasion the most frequent hardship, but cases in which the damage falls short of this but yet necessitates a heavy, and not infrequently a recurrent, expenditure to make good. (W. Wilson, 32,989.) On the other hand it seems needful, while admitting the claim of such cases, to give security against claims being run up to an exaggerated and fanciful figure. The Town Clerk of Motherwell (Mr Bums) stated that he himself had repaired damage to his own house (" simply . . . putting plaster and paper on the walls ") at a cost of about £10 twenty years before, but that in an ordinary arbitration he " could have got a couple of hundred pounds out of somebody." Mr Bums's estimate of what he might have got by arbitra- tion seems too optimistic even for a compensation claim, but the idea underlying the cheerfulness of his figures serves to illustrate the danger — amounting practically to a certainty— of exaggerated com- pensation being given under the ordinary process of arbitration relative to claims connected with land or heritable property. (Bums, 41,107 ff. ; cf. 41,087 (2).) Mr Fraser stated that damage to the Town Hall, Motherwell, estimated at first at £3500, had eventually been repaired for £33. (31,256.) It is only fair to say that when £3500 was mentioned, it was feared that practically the whole building would collapse. This fear happily turned out to be unfounded, because, as a result of the outcry, or of the appearance of the building and the seeming imminence of the fall of the tower of the hall, the superior and lessee of the mine left in sufficient mineral to avoid wrecking the hall. (Burns, 41,141, 41,142.) Again, Mr Fraser stated emphatically that his fear, from the point of view of the superior, was not so much that of the actual amoimt of compensation, as the protracted arbitration proceedings and legal expenses which would be involved. (G. Fraser, 31,255.) But this appears rather to be an argument for granting redress limited to proved and necessary expenditure in making good damage, and simplify- ing the machinery by which it is assessed, than for refusing it altogether in cases where the building is not actually destroyed. If an arbiter were appointed officially who was competent both to assess REPORT. 157 the amount of damage and to determine its cause, the procedure need not be either lengthy or expensive. (W. Wilson, 32,991 fE. ; A. Wilson, 41,057 f.) 1033. We are in agreement with the unanimous finding of the Select Committee on Feus and Build- ing Leases (Scotland), already quoted, to the effect' that there is ground for the legislature interfering to reinstate or reserve the common-law claim to damages. We think on grounds of public policy, and particularly in the interests of good housing of the working people, " contracting-out " by the superior of the surface of his common-law liability for damage by subsidence owing to mineral workings should be disallowed. We also agree with the majority of the Select Committee that the common-law claim to damages should be reinstated in the case of existing feu grants, subject, however, to' the proviso that compensation should not be payable in respect of past damage, but only in respect of damage that takes place after the passing of the Act giving effect to the views of the Select Committee. In our view the feuar or lessee — being the proprietor of the buildings (or other works) — should be entitled — subject to the proviso aftermentioned in regard to subsidence caused by damage owing to working under a mineral lease existing at the time the Act of Parliament is passed — ^to compensation, limited and assessed, as above explained, from the superior of the surface from whom he (the feuar or lessee) has obtained his title. Where the superior of the surface is also the superior of the minerals the matter would end there, for, as will presently be seen, we consider that the superior of the minerals should be the person ultimately responsible for payment of the damage. But in our view, where there are two superiors, viz. (a) of the surface, and (6) of the minerals, the superior of the surface should be entitled to relief for any com- pensation for which he is foimd liable against the superior of the minerals. True, in future contracts the superior of the minerals may be able to transfer the burden or a portion of it to the mine-owner, and the mine-owner may be able to pass it on to the consumer. Even if that be so, we think that the coal industry and those interested in it, including the consumer, may be left to adjust the burden for subsidence damage as they may find themselves able to. Our point is that individual owners of pro- perty on the surface should not be left,' as they are left at present, to bear the burden of the damage caused to their properties by subsidence from the working of minerals, the income from and the con- sumption of which benefits various other persons. 1034. We, of course, have in view that damage may be caused to buildings after the Act of Parlia- ment which we have recommended is passed, but under mineral leases entered into prior to the date of the Act of Parliament. Even so, we think the owners of property on the surface should have com- pensation, but it becomes a matter for consideration in what equitable manner in such cases should the compensation be allocated over the different parties interested. From the public and administrative point of view, as we have indicated, it is essential that damage to house property should be made good, and it is not in the pubhc interests that the operation of the law in favour of giving repairing damage should be postponed until all the existing mineral leases have run out, which really would postpone the beneficial operation of the new Act of Parliament for an indefinite number of years — ^at least, in many cases. Our recommendation is that the damage caused by subsidence from working imder mineral leases existing at the time the proposed Act of Parhament is passed should — on the principle of dividing the cost amongst the different parties interested in an equitable manner — ^be borne as follows : — -When the superior of the surface is different from the superior of the minerals, each superior should bear one-third of the damage limited and assessed in the manner above explained, and the remaining one-third should be borne by the feuar himself. In the case of the superior of the surface and the superior of the minerals being the same individual, he should bear — in respect of his double interest (a) in the surface, and (6) in the minerals — two-thirds of the damage as before, and the remaining one-third should be borne by the feuar. 1035. Several witnesses before us urged that some liability for compensation in the mine-owner's case would have a salutary effect in promoting the working of the minerals in the way least likely to damage the surface needlessly. The fact that on the Continent the responsibility of compensation for damage lies with the mine-owner is said to have had much to do with the introduction of " hydrauhc ' stowage " to protect the surface. (Keith, 1525 ; Moffat, 27,311 ; G. Eraser, 31,314 ;. Burns, 41,087 (3) ; cf. R. P. Jack, 34,212.) Whether that be correct or not, our recommendation that the superior of the mineral royalty should be hable for subsidence damage will no doubt result in a careful bargain with the mine-owner as to how he shall work the minerals so as to obviate, so far as possible, the risk of such damage. 1036. We think there should be an obligation upon the superior of the surface where he is different from the superior of the minerals to obtain from the superior of the minerals a plan showing the worJdng of the mineral field, both as already worked and how it is proposed to be worked in future, and there should be a counter obligation on the part of the superior of the minerals to furnish this plan. The superior of the surface should be bound to exhibit this plan to proposing feuars. He should also be bound to exhibit his feuing plan to the superior of the minerals. In this way there would be a guarantee that the feuing of the surface would have a direct relation to the working of the mineral field under- neath. There would thus be some safeguard against the superior of the surface or proposing feuars giving or taking ground for building purposes where there was imminent or probable danger of subsidence. 1037. There is only one further matter which it is probably right to discuss in this connection. Tliere may be cases — ^they have occurred already at Bathgate and elsewhere — of damage through some move- ment in old and disused workings or of damage which cannot be clearly attributed to a single working in the immediate neighbourhood of the feu. (A. L. Reid, 3397 f. ; Alston, 34,167a (17) ; cf. Kirkby, 7320.) In these cases difficulty might arise in the superior of the surface operating his relief against the superior of the minerals. We are of opinion that in these cases the arbiter should be entitled to make inquiry and to decide in the first case whether the movement in the old and disused workings was caused by the working of adjacent minerals, and, if so, which adjacent minerals ; and in the second case what mineral workings were really responsible for the damage caused by subsidence. The arbiter would thereafter be entitled to fix the responsibility. In the event of his finding that the working of adjacent minerals had not caused the movement in the old and disused workings, the surface superior would have no right of relief against anyone. 158 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 1038. We liave clearly in view that our recommeiidationa will apply to houses which may be owned by tlie colliery company who are working the minerals equally with houses owned by anyone else. We think this is only equitable. ■ Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XIV. (1) That where the owner or owners of a private road put it in order to the satisfaction of the Local Authority, the latter should be under obligation to take it over and maintain it as a highway ; provided that any dispute as to whether a road is or is not private, or whether it has been put into a proper state of repair, should be referred to the Local Government Board for decision. (Paragraph 895.) (2) That landward Local Authorities of themselves should be empowered to form special sca,venging and lighting districts without having to obtain any prior requisition from either a Parish Council or from ratepayers. (Paragraph 901.) (3) That in the case of smaller mining villages the Local Authority should have power to call upon the owners to make arrangements for cleansing to the satisfaction of the Local Authority. (Paragraph 901 .) (4) That Local Authorities should have power to require the provision of suitable washing accommo- dation in hew houses and in existing houses where facilities permit. (Paragraph 913.) (5) That if a survey of the country's watersheds is undertaken by Government engineers, their remit should include the question of drainage schemes as well as of water-supplies. (Paragraph 930.) (6) That an impervious floor — wood or other — through the whole extent of the living-rooms should be considered an essential condition of habitability, and that any house not so provided should be dealt with as a nuisance. (Paragraph 955.) (7) That a colhery owner should be entitled to a renewal of his lease on terms, failing agreement, to be fixed by an arbiter. (Paragraph 995.) (8) That colliery owners should obtain the land required as a site for houses imder a feu distinct frorn the mineral lease, or alternatively that there should be a definite valuation of the houses at the expiry of the mining lease. (Paragraph 996.) (9) That in all cases where the superior is reletting the minerals to a new tenant, outgoing mine-owners owning houses built imder leasehold tenure but not desirous of converting them into a feu should have the houses taken over by the superior at a valuation on termination of the lease. (Paragraph 997.) (10) That where the mine is, or is averred to be, nearing exhaustion, the statutory requirenlents as regards housing should be exercised with power to the Local Authority, if need be, to require the provision of temporary accommodation by the mine-owner, whom failing, the accommodation may be provided by the Local Authority themselves, and the cost recovered from the mine-owner by special assessment. (Paragraph 997.) (11) That in the case of new mines, mine-owners may be permitted to provide temporary transferable accommodation for a limited period, subject to the control of the Local Authority. (Paragraphs 999 and 1000.) (12) That there is ground for the legislature interfering to reinstate or reserve the common-law claim to damages for subsidence, subject to the reservations and provisos specified. (Paragraph 1033.) (13) That the superior of the surface should be entitled to relief from the superior of the minerals for any compensation for which he is found hable in respect of subsidence due to the working of minerals. (Paragraph 1033.) (14) That in mineral leases rurming at the time of the new legislation the compensation paid in respect of subsidence (ocgarring subsequent to the legislation) should be borne as follows : — (a) where the superior of the surface is different from the superior of the minerals, one-third by each superior and one-third by the feuar ; and (b) where the superior of the surface and of the minerals is the same individual, two-thirds by that superior and one-third by the feuar. (Paragraph 1034.) (15) That where the superior of the surface is different from the superior of the minerals there should be an obligation on the former to obtain from the latter — and on the latter to furnish — a plan showing the mineral workings existing and proposed. (Paragraph 1036.) (16) That the superior of the surface should be bound to exhibit the above plan to intending feuars and his feuing plan to the superior of the minerals. (Paragraph 1036.) (17) That the arbiter in assessing compensation should ascertain whether the damage is due to the movement of disused workings, and whether the movement was caused by the working of adjacent minerals, and should fix the responsibility accordingly. (Paragraph 1037.) (18) That where subsidence is not clearly attributable to a single working, the arbiter should determine what workings are responsible for the subsidence and award compensation accordingly. (Paragraph 1037. ) Notes of Conditions found by Commission at Visits referred to in Paragraph 924. C'mmty of Fife. {Visited 2Uh April 1913.) Coaltown, Wemyss. — Typical houses here have been built at a cost of £160 ; rent, 9s. 2d. a fortnight (approximately £13 a year). Accommodation — ^three rooms ; two beds in main room : water-closet in house ; coal storage. Several of those houses have been reconstnicted on the old foimdation. This probably reduces the price. The usual rules of house construction — under-floor ventilation, etc. — have been fidfiUed. In the same village a house twenty-five years old, with three rooms, was rented at 2s. 6d. a week ; water-closet and scullery, in the house. This village is interesting as showing, first, an older type of miners' houses ; second, a progressive improvement in the standard of accommodation — ^the improvement being effected partly by construction, partly by provision of entirely new houses. In these rows there is a tendency to subdivide the houses. In one case, a room of a two-room house was let at 2s. per week. A common rent for a two-room house is 4s. 3d. per week. Formerly, there were gardens attached to these houses ; now discontinued. The feu-duty is £40 an acre. This is commonly regarded as high. The area is well crowded with houses. REPORT. 169 Methilhill. — Here, there is au older type of miners' house. A cue-room house can be had at Is. 4d. a week. In this row of very poor cottages there is no washhouse. Some of the cottages are damp. There is no water-closet for women. There is a filthy common trough-closet for men. The sanitary conditions generally are very defective. The ashpits are cleaned out once a week. Most of these houses are unfit either to be rebuilt or repaired. Adams Terrace. — ^Here a whole street of recently built houses has been destroyed by subsidence. Arrangements were in course of being made for repairs as soon as the subsidence settled. At the date of our visit the subsidence had been in action for three months. It was supposed to be due to unknown ancient worldngs. Tawnhill (Dunfermline). — The features of this colliery village are the large numbers of defective houses and the large amoimt of repairs. For many years the older houses of this village have been recognised as unfit for habitation. Some of them have been repaired. But, to take several of those visited as samples, the houses were not worth repairing, and are not very habitable even after repair. But, as in some other places, the demand for houses in this locality has been such that the margin of occupation has remained very low. County of Lanark. (Visited 10th to lith March 1914.) Roselmll Colliery Rows, Whifflet. — These rows consist of one- and two-room houses. In a one-room house visited the rent was Is. 3d. per week. The room contained two beds. No scullery, no bath, no water-closet within house. The closets outside were not used by women. The house was very clean. Inmates, parents and three children. This is a fair type of the one-room house. In some of these rows, seven or eight persons occupy a single room. The sanitary conveniences were in a state of revolting filth. Calderbank Square. — In this old square there are four outside privy middens. The conditions of filth were such as could not be described in decent language. So far as this and a large number of other conveniences in this county are concerned, the Public Health Acts might as well not exist. At this time of day, such conditions of filth are incapable of defence from any standpoint. Thorneywood Rows. — Dirty combined ashpit and privy. The premises were grossly exposed. They appear never to be cleaned. An old man is said to look after them ; but they are so constructed that no.personal service can keep them in a state of cleanliness or decency. The gutters were broken in places. There seems to be no idea of training the surface water either from the general area or from the floors of the latrines. A one-room house in these rows costs Is. 8d. per week. (Craighead Rows. — ^A house of two rooms— rent of 2s. 8d. per week. A beautiful infant of less than one year old was having his morning bath in the kitchen. Even this small performance was a severe test of the available space. Merry's Rows. — In a one-room house there were six persons — two parents and four children, of whom two were girls, one aged about 16, the other about 18. There was one baby. In order to make a wash- house, one house has been sacrificed for every six tenants. Washing accommodation is thus very good. Two water-closets provided for six tenants. In one house, two beds in kitchen, the mother was in bed with an infant nine days old. The whole work of the gi'ossly overcrowded house was proceeding as usual. This child was the twelfth of the family. The house-room was grossly inadequate ; but the inadequacy was, to a certain extent, redeemed by the splendid vigour and vitality of the father, mother, and children. Holytown, Baird Square. — In Baird Square the houses have been partially reconstructed. T'he old ashpits, with privies, have been abolished. There is now a water-closet for each house. Washing-houses are provided. Genertd repairs have been carried out. The rents have been increased to cover the out- lays on repair and reconstruction. A house formerly rented at 2s. lOd. per week is now raised tol4H. The houses mainly consist of room and kitchen, with accessories. Comparatively, the houses are " mi- proved," but this is only another way of saying that they have been taken from a state of primitive and intolerable insanitation to a state of relatively good sanitation. West Benhar JRows.— These rows have all been closed by the Sheriff at the instance of the Local Authority. This case is a very important administrative precedent. The gi'ounds adduced by the Local Authority for closure were want of repair, dampness, want of proper sanitary conveniences. On these grounds the Sheriff granted the petition of the Local Authority. This decision constitutes an important mterpretation of section 16 (1) of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, viz. : " And premises or part, thereof ' of such construction or in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health." What has been done with these rows may, on the same grounds, be done with many other rows in the county. But we were informed that, although the tenants at West Benhar Rows were then under notice to quit, they would probably be left in the houses for some time longer, because there were no other houses available for them. Meanwhile the Local Authority were promoting building schemes with the object of providing houses in the near neighbourhood. County of Ayr. (Visited llth and ISth March 1914.) Drongan Rows (Old Taig £Mrw).^-Here there was only one set of closets for fifteen houses, fiut these houses^were all being dealt with by the Local Authority. The water-supply was good. In one house visited there was no lath and plaster ; the floor was laid with tiles. In another house the floor was damp and the walls very damp. No washhouses. In a one-room house there were two beds. The coals were kept under the bed. There were five inmates. Rent Is. 5d. per week. Under the bed there were no tiles, but simply the damp earth. At another part of these rows there was the same primitive type of closet, badly constructed and filthy. There is one closet for six houses. In one of the houses in this area the " room " of a two-room house was very damp. One house was so dark that lamplight was necessary for half the day. In another house the floor was very damp, but the house itself was very prettily kept. In yet another house the bedroom was very damp. The paper came off the wall in masses. 160 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Connel Park. — Here, outside lilthy privy-middens, the same as elsewhere. In one case two such structures serve twenty-three houses. Practically, these structures are not capable of being properly cleansed, and, in the great mass of cases visited, were foimd to be infa state of gross nuisance. Mosshlown.—T\ii& is a more recently-built village. The ashpit is of the new pattern, in which pit and closet are separated. This certainly is an improvement on the usual structirre. A two-room house is let at 2s. 6d. per week (including rates). The kitchen is a large room. There is one water-closet for three houses. The ashpits were found fairly clean. New Row. — Here there was a good pavement in front of the houses. One washhouse for six tenants. There were also small gardens, which were well kept. Some of the rows are built in blocks of six houses, well disposed. These houses form a somewhat favourable specimen of the type ; but it would have been much better if the houses had been provided with scullery, water, and water-closets inside. Some of the new houses of two rooms and kitchen are provided with water in the house. Rent 5s. a week. Common Loch Row. — Here there was an attempted septic tank system ; but at the time of visit the tank was flooded by stream water. There are about ninety-six houses, with a population of over 500. In several of the houses there were many signs of dampness. In one of these houses, rented at Is. 7d. per week, the woman of the house stated that they could not afford to pay 5s. except where there is a worker or two. The walls were very damp. New windows were to be put in. The woman complained also of the want of room for work. " In the afternoon," she said, " the whole kitchen is in an uproar, and it is night afore you get it right again." Another woman, commenting on the filthy privy-middens in front of the houses, wanted to know what was the use of putting doors on to places where the water came in by the roof ? " They objects should be oot o' there." These " objects " were the only im- portant outlook for the people at their front doors. There was a general expression of opinion that the closets should be at the head of the garden, one for each house. This row is about 500 yards long. The filthy privy-middens, placed at intervals along the row, stand out only a few feet in front of the houses. They were all in a state of greater or less nuisance. All the privy-middens, and some of the houses, could legitimately have been certified under the Public Health Act. At one of the mining villages in Dreghorn Parish the access roads were not properly made, and, at the time of visit, were covered with about a foot of mud. The result was obvious on the floors of the houses, which in other respects were very good and well kept. County of Linlithgow. {Visited 8th April 1914.) Armadale—Russell's iiow.— This row illustrates a not uncommon occurrence. The houses had be- longed to a company now extinct. They had been built for a small sum. They had been acquired cheaply. Probably the income from the subjects has already exceeded several times over their capital value. In many mining districts this occurrence is repeated. Houses built at the opening of a colliery may out- last by many years the productivity of the colliery itself. Consequently, the houses, being no longer of any functional value for colliery purposes, are disposed of for trifling sums, but they may be kept in occupation for a generation or two. Several times, in the course of their Adsitations, the Commissioners were informed that action by Local Authorities had been delayed on the ground that the pits concerned were nearing exhaustion. Of the houses visited in Armadale, one had two rooms, with the usual two beds in the kitchen. Very clean ; one outside water-closet for four tenants. The former ofiensive privy-middens had been converted into water-closets. The Commissioners were informed that every house in the burgh was now provided with water-closet accommodation. In this particular house there was no coal storage. The floor was below the level of the ground. One well hydrant for every twelve houses ; rent of two-room house £7 per annum, exclusive of rates. ' Another house contained a single room with a small closet. No coal storage. No washhouse. Two beds in kitchen. Bed also in closet. Eight occupants — eldest aged 19. There is a daily collection of refuse. Bents — United Colliery West Lothian Housing Company. — This is a new group of houses, built on the garden city model. Each house has two rooms, scullery, and bath. Rent 5s. a week. The houses are spaced at about sixteen houses to the acre. This Company has built about 160 houses. They are worked by the Public Utihty Society, with loans from the Public Works Loan Commissioners to the amount of £40,000. A house of kitchen, two rooms, bath, scullery, coalhouse, washhouse, is rented at 5s. 6d. per week. Stoneyburn. — A new house contained kitchen, two rooms, scullery, with garden. Rent 4s. 9d. per week, including rates. Water-closet for each house. Daily removal of refuse. In the old rows of this group the houses contained three rooms, but no scullery. They were rented at 4s. 3d. per week, including rates. From the areas visited in Linlithgow, it was apparent that there had been a steady and considerable movement both in the reconstructing of old houses and in the provision of new houses. Relatively, the amovmt of active improvement was very striking. There are still many unsatisfactory groups of houses ; but there was evidence of a general desire on the part of the tenants and a general wish on the part of the owners to secure all practicable imprevements. Cownty of Stirling. {Visited 9th April 1914.) Lwariston— Redding Square.- — In these rows there were some six two-room houses and fourteen one-room houses. The usual filthy privy-middens still exist. Some years ago walls had been lathed and plastered. Opening windows had been put in the back walls. Ventilation had beeii improved. The walls had been pointed. Refuse removed three times a week. The village is a scavenging district. In one of the one-room houses there were two parents and four children. The Visit coincided with washing day ; there were two tubs in the kitchen, which was in the usual disagreeable state incident to washing day. In another one-room house there were also six iimiates. REPORT. 161 There were only three closets for nineteen houses. In the one-room houses the rent was Is. 9d. per week. There was a complaint of want of room. The houses were, on the whole, very clean. California Rows. — These were repaired in 1900. Ventilation put under floors. Slate roof put on. Rones provided. Some of the houses lathed and plastered. No washhouse. There were six dry closets and one street well for twenty-four families. There were signs here of recent cleaning, probably in view of our visit. The ashpits and dry closets were not very clean. We were informed that this colliery will soon be exhausted. This fact has apparently, here as elsewhere, restrained the owners from carrying out necessary repairs ; nevertheless, the houses have been somewhat improved, but very little. Refuse removed twice a week. Drain at back and front. Standburn Rows. — Daily removal of refuse established two years before date of visit. General im- provement was manifest. The ashpits, though not now used, have still been left. They are still associated with the closets. It is difficult to imderstand why the owners should have left ashpits that are not now necessary. They are apt to become a soirrce of nuisance. The type of privy, except for the empty ashpit, is the same as elsewhere. Very foul-smelling. A washhouse at this village was in somewhat poor repair. It is said that the colliery here will be exhausted in some seven or eight years. For some of the houses there are no washhouses. Carron View Terrace. — This terrace had been newly built. The houses are of a new pattern, each containing two rooms, with scullery, water-closet, and coal storage. Daily removal of refuse. Rent 4s. a week. The keeping of the houses was manifestly superior to the keeping of those with the usual filthy ashpits. Over and over again this has been illustrated in the mining counties. The difference between the villages with a system of daily removal, and the villages with ashpits, is so great that, apart alto- gether from the question of disease, the formation of scavenging districts is abundantly justified. The accommodation, even in the fairly good two-room houses, is so poor in relation to the large families, that no village can be kept in a satisfactory state of sanitation so long as the combination privy-ashpit survives. These notes are sufficient to show that the county of Stirling has, in considerable proportion, much the same types of miners' houses as in the other mining counties. There have been many improvements, but the state of sanitation is still very primitive in a considerable number of places. There is evidence of an increasing demand for larger houses and for better accessories in the smaller houses. CHAPTER XV. RURAL HOUSING. Peculiar Position of the Farm-Workers. 1039. The housing of farm-workers in Scotland presents features quite distinct in several ways from the housing of any other class of workers, and can be rightly understood only if we keep in mind the position of the farm-servants in the economy of the farms, the relations that exist between them and their employers, and between these and the owners of the houses. This will be more clearly appreci- ated if we sketch very briefly the history of the farm-servants since farming began to be developed on the lines of the larger farms, which are the rule to-day in Scotland. 1040. Prior to the time in the eighteenth century when the enclosure of flelds took place, and improved methods in agriculture were introduced, such labour as the small farmers required, in addition to the members of their own families, they obtained by taking the sons of small craftsmen and subtenants into their homes as servants, who received bed and board and material for clothing, and in addition a small money fee at the half-yearly terms. These servants were in effect members of the farmers' own families, and the employers bad such rights over them as the head of a family could claim. 1041. Besides those servants, over whose lives and labour the farmers had very extensive control, there were subtenants or cottars, who lived in houses they had built themselves, and who, in return for the land that they were allowed to till for their own use, were required to give definite services, such as ploughing a certain extent of land for the farmer, assisting with the crops, and so on. This was a develop- ment of feudal tenure. 1042. With the introduction of^improved£methods of farming, the drainage and enclosing of fields and the rotation of crops, the subtenants were gradually cleared out and the farms as definite units ■ cultivated on a more extensive plan. It became necessary for the farmers to retain larger staffs of men regularly employed, and cottages were built on the farms to house the married men, who were engaged on a yearly contract of service, receiving their cottages and certain allowances of the produce of the farms as wages. At first the wages were paid almost entirely in kind, but in the course of time certain of these allowances were commuted for cash payments. 1043. The system did not develop equally in all parts of Scotland. If a rough division is made of the country, it will be foimd that the counties lying south of the Tay show the greatest development of the system of cash payments, the wages being paid weekly or fortnightly, and the allowances forming a very small part of the earnings. North of the Tay, the old system obtains of engaging for an annual fee, with allowances of meal, milk, potatoes, and fuel, the cash payments being made by way of advances of a proportion of the cash fee every month, and the balance being paid at the half-yearly terms. 1044. South of the Tay the enclosiu-es were carried out earlier and more completely, and there the cottage system is found most completely developed. 1045. North of the Tay, and in Ayrshire and the South-West, the process was slower, and the smaller farms have persisted in greater numbers. This is true also of the higher lying gi-oimd in Scotland generally. On such smaller farms the system of engaging young immarried men as servants, boarded and lodged by the farmers, has continued. Except on the smallest farms and on certain dairy farms, it is not usual for the young men to be lodged in the house, but separate sleeping accommodation has been provided, U 162 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. although at first that was often secured by fixing up a bed in a part of the loft above the horses. In the counties north of the Tay, however, it is still the custom, on the larger farms, to employ a considerable number of single men, and these are generally housed in bothies and given fixe and light and an allowance of meal and milk, with a money fee payable half-yearly. (Rothney, 31,841 (17-20).) 1046. It will be seen from this very brief outline that the relations existing between farmers and their servants still retain many of the features that were quite common to all classes of workmen more than a century ago. The farm-worker is still a servant who enters into a contract of service of a binding nature and for a lengthy period. He resides on the farm in a house provided by his employer. The tenancy of the house begins and ends with his employment. He is paid partly in cash and partly in kind. If he fails to fulfil his engagement, the farmer may confiscate any part of the wages that may be due to him, and may sue him for damages for breach of contract. If the farm-servant deserts his master and another farmer employs him before the date of the expiry of his engagement, the first master may sue the second for " harbouring a deserter." It may be urged that, in this respect, he is in no different position from any other workman who breaks a contract of service, and that is true so far as the common- law rights of master and servant are concerned ; but in all other industrial employments engagements are entered into for short periods, wages are paid weekly or fortnightly, and the relations of employer and employed are so regulated that the old common law has fallen into desuetude. Phrases that remind us of feudal times, and have lost their meaning so far as the mass of the workers are concerned, have still a real meaning to the farm-servants because of the conditions of their employment. The very name " farm-servant " marks off the position of the farm-worker from that of other workers. Except in domestic service, the term " servant " is not used now in the industrial world, and modern legislation has discarded the use of the term in consonance with the changed position the workers occupy. The farm-servant occupies a peculiar position owing to the length of his engagement, the methods of payment of his labour, and the conditions on which he occupies his house. This has a distinct bearing on the housing problem. Current Systems op F.4rm Housing. 1047. Farm- workers in Scotland are almost invariably housed by their employers ; the married men in cottages provided by the estate ; the single men in {a) bothies in which- they live and cook their own food, or (6) sleeping chambers in or about the steading, in which case they are boarded by the farmer, or (c) in the cottages with their fathers, where fathers and sons are both workers on the same farm — double binding. 1048. The following table shows the method of housing single men that prevails in each mainland county. (Rothney, 31,841.) County. Married Men. Caithness Sutherland . Ross and Cromarty Inverness Nairn . Elgin . Banff . Aberdeen Kincardine . Forfar . Perth . Fife . Kinross Clackmannan Stirling . Dumbarton . Argyll and Bute Rerirew Lanark Ayr Linlithgow . Edinburgh . Haddington . Berwick Peebles . Selkirk . Roxb\ugh Dumfries Kirkcudbright Wigtown Hiring. Yearly. Yearly and half- yearly. jj Yearly. Half-yearly. Yearly and half- yearly. j> Yearly. Single Men. Hiring. Half-yearly. Yearly. Half-yearly. Housing. Kitchen. Bothy and kitchen. J» ?>> Kitchen. Bothy. Bothy and kitchen. Kitchen. Double binding and kitchen. Double binding. Kitchen. REPORT. 163 1049. We shall describe first the cottages provided for married men and their families : next the bothy and chamber systems. Types of Houses. 1050. The old type of house common to the small farmers and cottars, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, was a primitive erection of four walls of stone, or a mixture of turf and clay and stone, thatched with turf or straw, without chimney and often without windows, the floors of clay — the whole erection being not much different from the " black houses " found in Lewis to-day. A rough division into two apartments, known as the " but " and the " ben " was effected by the box-beds which were erected across the centre of the dwelling. (Tweedie, 13,435.) In course of time stone and lime walls were built, two rooms were provided with a proper partition between, floorings and ceilings were added, and the internal finishing of the rooms attended to. The transition is illustrated from Wigtown- shire, where, fifty years ago, or less, " almost every cottage . . . had a thatched roof, with mud ' walls, and, perhaps, two apartments, or one apartment ; but that is all changed now." (Stair M'Harrie, 28,331-2.) 1051. In Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century, Graham relates how in 1702, Morer, an English chaplain, describes " the houses of the vulgar as low and feeble, their walls made of a few stones ' jumbled together without mortar to cement them, so ordered that it does not cost much more time ' to erect such a cottage than to pull it down," and then proceeds to say that the houses were without chinmeys, and had only holes in the turf -covered roofs for smoke to pass. He adds, " This description ' will apply to the homes of the people through a great part of the eighteenth century." (Graham : Social Life of Scotland- in the Eighieenth Century, pp. 181, 182.) The houses of the tenantry, were very httle better in most cases than those of their ploughmen and herds, and it was such a dwelling that Burns described in " The Vision " : There, lanely, by the ingle-cheek I sat and ey'd the spewing reek, That fill'd, wi' hoaat-provoking smeek, The auld clay biggin' ; An' heard the restless rations squeak About the riggin'. 1052. The common type of cottage to be found in Scotland to-day is the old " but-and-ben " with the room and kitchen entering right and left from the door, and a small closet or pantry let in between the two rooms. (Reid, 3178 (14).) Various attempts have been made to secure a different type of cottage, notably by the Highland and Agricultural Society, which, from 1832, offered premiums for plans, and did a great deal to encourage a better type. Premiums were also given to landlords for the best schemes of improvements in cottages carried out on their estates. Plans were published, and every encourage- ment was given to proprietors to improve the dwellings. An Association for Promoting Improvement in the Dwellings and Domestic Condition of Agricultural Labourers in Scotland was formed in 1854, and was supported by most of the large landowners. It endeavoured to set as a standard a cottage of three rooms' with suitable offices; but, except in isolated instances, little progress has been made in promoting such improved standard of dwelling. Occasionally cottages, consisting of a ground floor and attics, are to be met with but they are exceptional. Site and Position. 1053. The cottages are generally built in pairs, or in rows on the larger farms, though in many parts, and of course in the hill districts, single cottages are found. The site has too often been selected not for its suitability as a site, but for economy of land and the convenience of the farm work. The result is that the site is often a contributing factor in the prevaihng dampness of the houses and aggravates the difficulties of water-supply and drainage. (Barrie, 28,693 (3), 28,700-1 ; Dobbie, 30,839 (4).) 1054. Thus in the pastoral districts of Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Dumfriesshire, the " thack " houses, common forty or fifty years ago, were displaced by houses of higher standard ; but these were low, slated cottages, without rones or drainage, and with flagged or wood floors laid on the bare earth. They were often built against a bank, with no division between the soil and the masonry. They were plastered on the stone, and were mostly very damp. The sites, too, were often badly chosen. Many of them are " stuck in hollows where the sun does not get at them ; perhaps they put them there because they thought ' they were best out of the way." (Barrie, 28,693 ; 28,700.) " I faiow dozens of houses where, within ' a hundred yards of their present site, they could have got magnificent sites — dry sites, a fine outlook ' and a cheery situation." (Ibid., 28,701.) From a natural reluctance to scrap fairly good walls, the new houses were often built on the old sites. Midlothian furnishes similar insttmces. Many cottage floors are level with the land surface, with the land at their back sloping towards the house, so that the wall is virtually-a dam for surface water. (Dobbie, 30,839 (4).) Size of Houses. 1055. Among farm cottages, one-room houses are a small proportion. Except in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, they are rarely met with. (Middleton, 30,074-5 ; Anthony, 32,321-5.) Even in those two coimties the standard of accommodation for the farm-workers is higher than for the miners. The typical house is a house with kitchen, room, and mid-closet. The kitchen is generally large enough ' to hold two beds. The floor space may be put at an average of 15 feet by 12 feet. (Rodger, 29,693 (4) ; Ralston, 30,187 (4); Ross, 31,004 (2).) The room is usually of the same size, sometimes a httle smaller. There seems to be very little variation from these sizes. The mid-closet is, as a rule, little more than a large cupboard, or pantry, or scullery, without window (Elder, 30,521-5), or it may be large enough to hold a bed (Ross, 31,004 (2).) In one county it was found frequently to be a 6-foot closet,, with the result that a grown-up person could not " lie across it " (Dobbie, 30,846-8.) It is not 164 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. suggested that the closet is often used as a bedroom — a purpose for which it is unsuitable ; but when families are large, " there must be a lot of them put into this closet." {Ibid., 30,848.) The great majority of the farm cottages in Scotland may be classed as cottages of two apartments. In some individual instances, cottages of three rooms have been provided (Duff, 31,756 (14) ; M'Harrie, 28,334) ; even four rooms have been admitted to be desirable, " as having only three means putting a bed in the kitchen ' for the boys after they have reached a certain age, or when they return after going to work ; but I have ' been unable to find a plan for a double cottage giving four rooms to each family without greatly increas- ' ing the cost" (Duff, 31,756 (14).) But these developments have not been on a sufficient scale to affect the general statement that the type of Scottish farm cottage is still a house of two rooms (reckoning the kitchen as one room) and a closet. 1056. Such houses as have been built in recent years include a larger proportion of three- and four- room houses, and some estates, although they are a small minority, have made a praiseworthy effort to increase the accommodation and to improve the conveniences. In some instances where new cottages have been built with modem conveniences, including baths, and in other instances where cottages have been reconstructed, and similarily provided, they have attracted a good type of men ; they have been well kept, and greatly appreciated. (Tweedie, 13,472; Johnstone Douglas, 2390; Wintrup, 13,206.) The plan usually favoured is to provide all the rooms on the ground floor, and these are generally smaller than those in the typical two-room house. " The cottages we have been putting up recently have had ' four apartments, with a washhouse and a scullery, and a place for putting coals and sticks. We have ' also supplied a dry closet." (Fenwick, 31,696-7.) In certain cases, notably in Eoxburgh shire and Morayshire, the attics have been used to provide either one or two bedrooms. (Barrie, 28,708. ) Structure of Houses. 1057. Farm cottages vary greatly in structure, from the old clay and stone buildings of uncertain age, to the modern cottage. The proportion of the older clay-walled, low-ceihnged liouses, with thatched roofs, and clay or earth floors, is not large, and fortunately is decreasing every year as the houses become uninhabitable. 1058. Among the northern counties, Caithness is mentioned as, from a variety of causes, the locality where the ploughmen's and farm-labourers' houses have been allowed to deteriorate, or have not kept pace with the improvements common elsewhere. (Rose, 15,465 (16).) But such stagnation is not con- fined to any one county. A witness from Lower Annandale states that, as a great many of the older houses were " just one large room, and subdivided sometimes by these old beds that they used to have, and ' sometimes by wooden partitions," with clay floors, it means practically a new house " when you begin ' to do anything to these houses." (Tweedie, 13,435.) The necessity for reconstruction has acted as a deterrent in the provision of improved houses. In Forfarshire, " the walls of the old thatched houses ' would not bear reconstruction, because they were mostly clay walls. We have a number of them standing ' yet, quite well." (Swan, 31,483.) In Banffshire, the " old cottages mostly have earthen floors, but ' in the newer ones they are putting in concrete." (Esslemont, 31,324.) 1059. The type of structure that superseded these was the house built with stone and lime walls, thick, sohd, and substantial. Unfortunately, these houses were built before the use of 'damp-proof courses was understood generally and at a time when little attention was paid to the selection of a good site. They were set down on the soil without properly prepared foundations, and consequently they have suffered almost universally from dampness. Radical repair is difficult and expensive. The result is neglect and great deterioration of the structure. The site was not properly drained. Under-floor ventilation was not provided. The want of rones at the eaves, the neglect of them where they have been provided, and the general carelessness in the maintenance of the structures have all contributed to render a large proportion of these older, yet relatively new and improved, houses less serviceable than they might have been had a few simple precautions been taken at their original erection. (M'Kerrow, 29,958 (9).) 1060. Illustrations of these conditions might be taken from almost any county in Scotland. Mr Wintrup, County Sanitary Inspector of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, presents a classification of older houses according to their structural condition. This classification is based on over twenty-five years' administrative experience of the housing in his county, and should serve as a good general description of the farm-servants' houses in the southern counties generally. 1061. Not taking into consideration the houses erected within the past twenty years or so, the older houses may be classed somewhat as follows : — • (a) Good walls and roof ; no damp course, no ventilation under floors ; eave rones, plastered on the stone inside ; windows, small parts made to open, others fixed. No sculleries or washing- house ; drains fair. Walls and floors inclined to be damp and the rooms where floored with timber fusty. (6) Much the same construction as (a), no damp course or eave rones ; windows fixed, often stuck with paint ; waUs and fioors much damper than (a) ; no scullery or washing-house ; no drains ; and the general condition all over not so good. (c) AH over a general deterioration from (6). Walls much damper ; floors in bad repair ; windows loose and not working ; no sujjsoil drains ; ^earth against walls, outside walls want painting ; and roof in poor order. (d) Very poor structure when erected, and now so damp from old age and neglect as to be uninhabitable. (Wintrup, 13,168 (14).) 1062. In Ayrshire, it is stated, the older cot-houses were built some fifty to seventy years ago and ttrough natural decay are now rather dilapidated and not too suitable for human habitation. In many cases the walls are damp and the roofs leaky. The plaster work is often quite rotten. The floors in most cases are of flags or bricks and are generally damp. (Middleton, 30,059 (4).) In Perthshire, a great many of the houses are " very old and suffer from dampness, caused in many o^ses by the want ' of a damp-proof course and unsuitable sites." These conditions are accentuated by want of lath and plaster and the rough building of the walls. (Graham and Nicoll, 36,297 (11).) A witness from Roxburgh REPORT. 165 states that he has known cases where the houses have been " offensive through the floors going with dry ' rot," repairs being successful only in covering up the defects, not in removing them. (Eamage, 32,657 (3).) " An old house means continual repairing." (Ibid., 32,715.) 1063. It is not necessary to give further illustrations of conditions that commonly prevail wherever older houses have survived in any numbers, and that means in every rural area of Scotland. Judged by these radical structural defects alone, large numbers of the farm- workers' houses may properly be regarded as unfit for habitation. 1064. The majority of the houses occupied by farm-servants in Scotland are houses of this type of structure, which have been improved by renovations in several directions. The walls have been heightened and better roofs put on : efforts have been made to drain the sites, and to mitigate the worst effects of the bad foundations by providing ventilation under the floors. Walls have been Hned on the inside with wood, and in some cases strapped and lathed and plastered. Windows that did not open or that contained only a single opening pane have been replaced by sash windows, though many of the old type remain. In many cases rones have been provided. In many cases, too, another room has been added. (Smith, 28,684 ; Paxton, 32,779 (1) and 32,780 ; Barrie, 28,693 (3) ; Graham, 29,671.) 1065. While a great deal has been done in this way to make the best of old houses so defective in essential matters, it cannot be said that the improvements have been on the whole more than a shght mitigation of the evils of such defects in site and structure. All that can be said is that efforts have been made to make the best of bad conditions, but it has been possible only to stave off for a time the work of displacing those older houses by others more adapted to modem requirements. (Paxton, 32,783 ; Barrie, 28,697.) Interior : Finishings and Fittings. 1066. The interior finishing of farm cottages is simple in the extreme. In the older houses, the inner surface of the wall is finished by plastering direct on the stone. This results in an uneven surface, and, where dampness is so common, tends to mcrease the chilliness of the room. This surface may be colour-washed by the occupier, or papered. In the older houses it is not uncommon to find thick coats of paper, each new occupier pasting a new paper over the old. Where the walls are damp, as is usually the case, it is difficult to get such papers to adhere to the wall (Rothney, 31,849 ; Ramage, 32,667), and the effect is often an appearance of untidiness for which the occupier is in no way responsible. " It is ' a continual complaint from the housewives that the paper gets destroyed ; the walls are damp and they ' gain nothing from any trouble and effort put out to try and make the houses look a httle bit more com- ' fortable." (Rothney, 31,849.) It is not unusual for the proprietor to place a wooden lining reaching from the floor half way up the walls, so as to improve the room and mitigate the damp, but as this does not remove the damp but simply hides it, however much it may add to the amenity of the room, it does not help to remove the defect. (Ogilvie, 34,959 ; Rothney, 31,841 (9a).) In the older houses that have been renovated, and in the houses built in more recent years, the walls are generally lathed and plastered. 1067. The floors in the kitchens generally consist of cement or stone flags ; in the other rooms, of wood. As we have aheady shown, there are still a number of old houses in which the kitchen floor consists of clay, or even of earth, beaten down by the feet of several generations. Such floors can never be kept even, and as the kitchens have to serve as sculleries, it can be understood that they are thoroughly unsatis- factory and unhealthy, especially when the site of the house is damp and unsuitable, as it too often is. 1068. The " ceilings " are often formed of boards laid across the top of the betims, but this is not without its advantages, as the occupier can drive pegs into the beams and use them for hanging articles for which accommodation is not otherwise provided. 1069. Press or cupboard accommodation is generally deficient, and where provided is of the most primitive character. Grates are of the simplest and frequently of the most wasteful pattern. Ranges or ovens are rarely provided. The mid-room or closet may be fitted with rough shelves and used as a pantry, and may have a window. Often, however, it is not ventilated at all and may be merely a large press. It is frequently used as lumber-room or coal-cellar and in most cases is not fit to be classed as a room. Yet probably it is everywhere included as a room in the census enumeration. This has a very important bearing on the estimate of house accommodation and shortage. 1070. Altogether it may be said quite fairly that the interior finishing of the best of the typical houses of the farm-servants provides rooms of four walls, with floors and ceilings and a minimum of other fittings. Such conveniences as are required to make the rooms habitable have to be found by the occupants them- selves, who have also to do all the papering and painting of the walls. They must provide the storage for clothes, and often for food and household utensils. Even where the structure is satisfactory, the houses lack comfort and convenience, because no skill has been expended on designing or planning the interiors. A httle more expenditure on fittings and on the storage accommodation would have gone far to make the houses more habitable. * 1071. In the newer houses, where more rooms are provided, the internal fittings are usually better, and while the rooms are smaller, they are better arranged and more convenient for family purposes. General Defects. 1072. (a) Dampness. — The complaint — almost universal — about farm cottages is that they are damp, and considering their age and the neglect of site and drainage, this can be quite well understood. Damp- ness is common in all classes of rural houses, but the evidence submitted to us is conclusive that, in a majority of cases, it is so pronounced in farm cottages as to be injurious to health, and it may fairly be regarded as a factor in the promotion of the chronic rheumatism common amongst farm-workers. (Huskie, 32,576 ; Dobbie, 30,859.) How far dampness of walls is a cause of specific diseases, is a question of great difficulty, but medical authorities never hesitate to regard dampness of walls and fioor as injurious to health. In this they are at one with the views of the occupants and the owners of houses. Bad sites, absence of drainage, or defective drainage, want of rones, defective roofs, want of imder-floor ventilation, and badly laid or broken floors (Dobbie, 30,839 (1 and 3)), all contribute to this radical defect 166 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. of the farm cottage, and render any means of dealing with the evil, short of reconstruction, quite abortive. In many cases the houses have been set down against a bank, and the earth rises several feet up the walls, with no drainage of the site, and so the condition of the houses can be imagined. It is quite common to see houses with the vegetable mould rising a foot or more above the floor level at the back, and the damp can be seen rising up the wall. {Ibid., (4).) Even where this evidence of damp cannot be seen at once by the loose wall-paper or by the discoloration of the walls, both of which are quite common, the musty smell of'so many of the houses shows the prevalence of this evil. This is particularly the case where one of the rooms may be used as a " best room," in which fires are rarely lit. 1073. It should be added that none of the witnesses disputed either the prevalence or the undesir- ability of dampness in the walls and floors of houses. It is on all hands admitted that no modem house can be accepted as fit for occupation unless every practicable precaution has been taken to secure a dry or well-drained site, and to prevent chronic dampness of the walls and floor. These precautions are no longer dictated merely by considerations of health or disease, but essentially by considerations of reason- able comfort. For the reasons broadly suggested in this sketch of conditions, the farm cottages seem to have suffered more than almost any class of houses from primary defects of structure and the difficulties of reconstruction. 1074. (b) Deficient Lighting, Ventilation, and badly constructed Chimneys. — Other defects of con- struction are deficient lighting and ventilation, and badly constructed chimneys. In the older houses it is quite common to find the fixed windows, sometimes with a single small pane that can be opened, but frequently without any special means of ventilation. Sometimes the lower half of the window can be opened, but as it is not hung, it has to be propped open with a book or piece of wood. These windows are small and each room may have only one small window on the same side of the house as the door, thus producing the evils of the back-to-back houses, so far as ventilation is concerned. Even in houses other- wise of fair construction, the tendency is for the windows to be too small. (Huskie, 32,585.) Ventilation is usually secured by leaving the door open during the day, but this means that when the family is in bed the ventilation is very defective indeed. Defective construction of chimneys and badly constnicted fireplaces frequently lead to smoke being a nuisance in the rooms. (Rothney, 31,841 (7).) This, besides involving expense by the soiling of the wall-papers, is a source — a quite inexcusable source — of incon- venience and discomfort. 1075. (c) Neglect of Maintenance. — ^All such defects of structure are greatly aggravated by the general neglect of maintenance, which is the greatest source of trouble to the inmates of the cottages. This neglect of maintenance arises to a large extent from the conditions of tenancy, and the dual responsibility of the landlord and the farmer, to which we shall refer later. To this cause may be attributed the neglect of pamting of the external woodwork, leading to defective and leaking window-frames ; the neglect of timely repairs to doors and other woodwork ; neglect of repairs to roofs and rones ; broken plaster not attended to, and consequent decay of the walls ; and broken floors. (Anthony, 32,326 ; Huskie, 32,591 ; Soutar, 30,822 ; Christie, 28,951.) The natural decay of houses so old as the majority of farm cottages are, has been aggravated by this neglect, and by the fact that the want of proper conveniences such as sculleries, washhouses, and cellars, etc., and the lack of cupboards or presses for storage purposes, all make the wear and tear of the house greater. Carelessly selected sites ; indifferent planning and struc- ture ; age and neglect, all contribute to the present unsatisfactory condition in which the majority of the houses are foimd. General Absence of Sanitary Accommodation and Conveniences. 1076. In the rural cottage there is seldom to be found any of the conveniences that are necessary for the ordinary carrying on of family life, such as water-supply, scullery, washhouse, coal-shed, bath, or water-closet. (Huskie, 32,586-7 ; Ramage, 32,693 ; Esslemont, 31,336.) 1077. When most of the existing farm cottages were built, all that was considered essential was four walls and a roof with the necessary division into apartments. Such other essentials as those named were considered as conveniences merely, and little effort was made to equip the cottage with any of them. Efforts have been made from time to time to supply these deficiencies, but it is still generally considered that these are mere conveniences and hence most cottages are defective in respect of some of those essentials, and many are without any proper provision at all. (Fenwick, 31,700 ; Christie, 28,855 (9-10).) 1078. To-day there are many signs of an altered attitude to the question of sanitary provision. But there is still a widespread view, which is not unknown even among men engaged in public-health adminis- tration, that the open life of the country makes the provision of sanitary conveniences largely superfluous and that conditions intolerable in a town or even in a village are merely a matter of inferior amenity on a farm. It is also frequently alleged that the farm- workers themselves are indifferent to the whole question ; but we have had from dirS'ct observation as well as from witnesses evidence to prove that, whatever may have been true of a former generation, the present generation is far from indifferent either to the minimum essentials for decent cottage life or to the dangers of the indiscriminate dissemination of domestic filth. On public health grounds, the absence of facilities for the control of the disposal of sewage and house refuse, even where only small groups of cottages or single cottages are concerned, is no longer to be regarded as a trivial difference of amenity. The typhoid-" carrier case " has changed all that. It is possible to produce from the reports of Medical Officers of Health and other sources evidence to show that consider- able and numerous outbreaks of typhoid fever in the towns have been definitely traced to " carrier cases " living at country farms. As the rural dairies provide the towns with immense quantities of milk, which may at any time be exposed to typhoid infection from country carrier cases, the question of the effective sanitation of rural cottages has, at a bound, become a matter of urgency. The uncontrolled diffusion of human filth at the farms and farm cottages is now known to be a serious danger to the populations of the towns. "What is true of typhoid fever is true, with differences, of diarrhoea and other diseases that may occasionally arise from human contamination of milk. But the danger from carrier cases of typhoid fever is sufficiently definite to be of itself a ground for pressing forward with all speed the improvements now suggested, REPORT. 167 « 1079. But, apart from the dangers to public health, several witnesses, who spoke from personal experience, expressed on behalf of the farm-workers and their wives the strong desire for the provision of sanitary conveniences. (Dobbie, 30,869 ; Reid, 32,131 ; Ramage, 32,717 ; Anthony, 32,380.) This is further discussed under a special heading. Sculleries. 1080. Except in rare instances, sculleries are unknown in farm cottages. Generally a table placed near the window has to serve for this purpose, the water being stored under the table or in the passage near the door. No fittings of any kind are provided to lessen the labour of the housewife or to enable her to do the work that can generally be confined to the scullery in a better-equipped houjse. All this work has to be done in the kitchen. Washhouses. 1081. These are rarely provided. Occasionally a shed is erected which is meant to serve as wash- house, coal-shed, or storage for other articles (Ogilvie, 34,975), but the invariable rule is for the kitchen to be made the washhouse, except in the summer-time, when, if the weather is suitable, the wash-tub may be set up beside the cottage door and the washing done hi the open air. Not only has the washing to be done in the kitchen, but the man's wet and dirty clothes have to be dried in it ; with an inconvenience and discomfort that need no emphasising. Any hot water required has to be got from the kitchen fire, or, in the summer-time, from a fir.e lighted outside. (Christie, 28,855 (10).) The effect on the kitchen as the chief living-room, however, is very bad. Where floors are so often uneven or broken the result of washing in the kitchen is to add to the prevailing dampness, and the effect of the steaming atmosphere in rooms where ventilation is indifferent at the best, carmot add either to the comfort or to the cleanliness of the apartment, and cannot be other than prejudicial to walls and the furniture. Closet Accommodation. 1082. The lack of proper closet accommodation for rural cottages is one of the most glaring defects among the many that the occupiers have for too long been obliged to suffer. Very many cottages have no sanitary accommodation at all. (Huskie, 32,586 ; Paxton, 32,779 (3) ; Graham and Nicoll, 36,355.) 1083. The evidence for this is so overwhelming that detailed proof is uimecessary. Illustrations may be taken from any county in Scotland. Dr Huskie, who is familiar with county conditions in the south of Scotland, states that the women complain very strongly because " it is not nice for a woman ' to go out with the men hanging about. It is very trying. Then it is also very trying to go out in the ' middle of the night if there is snow on the ground or if it is pouring. It is a scandalous state of ' affairs." (32,587.) The privies, says another witness, are " often placed so close to the house windows ' as to be a nuisance, so that they are not used." (Paxton, 32,779 (3).) In another county a witness said that privies for farm-servants' cottages were being gradually provided, but that " a good many ' men themselves don't express a desire for that." (M'Nicoll, 36,355.) " We endeavour if we can to ' get a convenience for each." (36,356.) 1084. Where any attempt has been made to remedy this state of affairs privies are provided. Generally these are primitive wooden erections situated at the end of the gardens, or where a number of cottages are built in a row, one privy may be provided to serve all the families in the row. Where such is the case the evidence submitted showed that they were rarely used, which one can well under- stand and appreciate. (Reid, 32,089 (3)-32,133 ff.) Continual friction and difficulty is bound to arise as regards the proper cleaning of the privy, and nuisances are consequently created. 1085. From what is said as to water-supply, it is at once understood that water-closets are rarely met with. 1086. Those who have no intimate knowledge of the conditions of farm cottages in Scotland will scarcely credit the statement that in the twentieth century houses are provided for workmen and their families without any sanitary provision whatever ; but the evidence submitted to us on this point is conclusive. Our own visits confirmed that evidence. We foimd that the complete absence of any provision is only too common. 1087. The farm-servants often endeavour to erect privies for themselves ; but as they are yearly tenants, and migrate frequently, this is very unsatisfactory where the effort is made. One witness told us it was not unusual for the cottars to possess several old doors which they set up to serve the purpose, these being " flitted " with the other articles of furniture when the tenants moved. (Essle- mont, 31,337.) It can well be realised that such complete lack of sanitary conveniences, especially in houses where there are families of children, causes much discomfort and inconvenience besides adding uimecessarily to the labour of the housewife in the exercise of her daily work. 1088. Where most of the requisites of home life are absent there is no inducement for a man to settle down and make a home. It almost creates a ban against a farm-worker with a large family, as it is impossible for hinj to get accommodation in which to live in any sort of decency and comfort. (Anthony, 32,355-7 ; Paxton, 32,786.) A sense of dissatisfaction with such conditions of life is fostered, which no doubt tends to increase rural depopulation and constant changing of situations among farm-servants. (Esslemont, 31,326-410 ; M'Connachie, 14,301 (20) ; Wintrup, 13,213-5 ; Rothney, 31,974 ; Ramage, 32,735.) Baths. 1089. Except in rare instances in some of the houses built or renovated quite recently, baths are never provided. Coal-Houses and Storage. 1090. These range in the more recently built houses from properly planned erections to the rough sheds which have been added to the old houses. Frequently no provision at all is made, and coals may be found stored in the mid-closet between the " but " and the " ben," 168 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Water-Sxjpply. 1091. It is only in very rare cases indeed that water is brought into the cottages of farm- workers. Sculleries supplied with water and drainage are so rare as to be practically negligible. (Ogilvie, 35,082.) Where water-supplies exist, the best that is generally done is to bring the water to the door of the cottages, or to the end of the row, or to some other point adjacent to the cottages, where it can be drawn off at a stand-pipe. The housewife has to carry the water from a well. This may be a deep well, from which the water has to be pumped, or it may be a dip well, which is merely a gathering place for the surface water from the fields. In too many cases the water-supply is not above suspicion of con- tamination, but it is the only supply conveniently accessible. The water-supplies of the farm cottages constitute a very large item in the administrative work of the medical officers and sanitary inspectors. (Huskie, 32,596-601 ; Paxton, 32,841 ; Kothney, 31,841 (10) ; Ramage, 32,681.) 1092. The occupier is by statute entitled to have a proper water-supply " at or reasonably near " his house ; but there is no standard of what is " reasonable." Cases of water having to bo carried 150 yards are quite common. (Hamilton, 36,167 ; Christie, 28,855 (9) ; Wintrup, 13,168 (3).) While instances of distances ranging to 400 yards are to be found. (M'Connachie, 14,320 ; Rothney, 31,853 ; Ramage, 32,683 ; Reid, 32,089 (3).) Frequently these supplies, such as they are, are precarious and run dry in summer. This and the distance from the house constitute a great hardship and inconvenience, and the difficulties of cleanliness, both as regards house and person, are thus enormously increased, especially in winter or bad weather. The work of the house is made more laborious, and the women especially have real cause for complaint. (Rothney, 31,973.) 1093. Besides the element of distance, however, the question of accessibility enters in, and the labour of carrying the water necessary for household purposes may be as great over the shorter distance, because of the situation of the well. The result is that extra labour is thrown upon the housewife. Where the accommodation is so limited, and the kitchen has to serve for so many purposes, the storage for the water can never be satisfactory from the point of view of health. Drainage. 1094. From what has been said about water-supply, it will be understood that, except for the " jaw- ' boxes " or traps, or minor drains used for disposal of slops, house drainage is practically non-existent. 1095. In the course of twenty-seven years of public health administration by the District Committees, much has been done to improve both water-supplies and drainage ; but the amount still to be done is enormous. Standards of Habitability. 1096. It is not possible for us to give any reliable estimate of the number of farm cottages that are below any given standard of habitability, keeping in view all the factors of structure, repair, and essentials -of sanitation that may reasonably be required to enable a house to be classed as satisfactory. Before that could be done a very extensive survey would have to be made, and an agreed-upon standard erected by which the houses could be judged. Nothing of this kind has been done, nor has it been possible to secure even a proper beginning under the 1909 Act. It may be interesting, however, to give the opinions of three witnesses from different districts as to the condition of affairs within their own knowledge. Mr J. Milne Home made an estimate for his district of Dumfriesshire, after an inspection of 1034 houses, 290 of which were farm-servants' houses. His estimate was that of the 1034 houses, 39-3 per cent, were good or very good ; 50 per cent, were fair ; and 10-7 per cent, were poor or bad. As the principal landlord in this district is in a position to maintain his houses in good condition, and does so, his estimate may be taken as more favourable than the normal. (Milne Home, 29,842 (5) and (6).) 1097. Mr George Wintrup, Sanitary Inspector of the Stewartry, made a classification of the older houses, excluding those built within the past twenty years. He estimated that 50 per cent.- could be included in the highest class, which he described as :■ — Good walls and roof, no damp course, no ventilation under the floors ; eave rones ; plastered on the stone inside ; windows, small parts made to open, others fixed ; no sculleries or washing- houses ; drains fair ; walls and floors inclined to be damp, and rooms where floored with timber fusty. 1098. The remaining houses he classed in three groups, each group showing a progressive decline from the standard set above ; and he estimated that the numbers in each of the other groups would be about equal. (Wintrup, 13,168 (14).) As most of the houses on Scots farms had been built more than twenty years ago, and the conditions in the Stewartry are about the same as in other parts of Scotland, the estimate is an illuminating one. 1099. Mr Ferric, Parbroath, speaking for the north of Fife, a district which he stated is particularly well off in the way of housing, estimated that 10 per cent, of the houses were bad, 50 to 60 per cent, were of the middle class, and 10 per cent, were superior. (Ferric, 32,202-4.) Overcrowding. 1100. Overcrowding is not serious in farm cottages. The conditions of tenancy preclude the keeping of lodgers, and it is rarely that other than members of the family are accommodated in the cottages. The accommodation provided is not sufficient for the families usually to be found in the cottages (Ross, 31,099), but the tendency is for the family to disperse early, so that the number of adults to be housed is generally less than in the case of families in towns. In the Lothians and Border coimties, where the double-hinding system obtains, a larger number of adults has to be accommodated in the cottages ; but the number of houses with more than two apartments is generally greater than where the double- REPORT. 169 binding system is not common. There is urgent necessity for greater accommodation everywhere. The accommodation of the average house is not adequate to the needs of the average rural family. Ownership of Houses : the " Tied House " : divided Responsibility for Repairs. 1101. Practically all the houses in rural districts have been built by landowners for the equipment of their farms and estates. Farm cottages are part of the equipment of the farm, are owned by the estate, and let along with the farm. The usual arrangement is that they are let to the farmer, who accepts them as habitable, and undertakes to maintain them during the currency of the lease, and to leave them in the condition in which he found them. Structural repairs fall to the landlord to provide, but minor repaii-s are supposed to be done by the farmer. (Smith, 32,869 (3).) The farm-servant attends to the internal painting or papering of the house himself. The farm-servant does not know whom he is to look to for necessary repairs, but it would appear that he has a claim against the farmer, while the proprietor is responsible to the' Local Authority. (Wintrup, 13,223 ; Maxwell Ross, 13,810-1.) The farm-servant gets his house as part of his wages, and has no recourse against the proprietor if he is dissatisfied with the accommodation or neglect of repairs. It seems very difficult for a farm-servant to get any repairs done to his house, however necessary they may be. He may complain to the farmer or factor, but, beyond promises, very often nothing is done. The shepherd or ploughman is helpless, and has to suffer the discomfort of defective roofs, damp walls and floors, or leave at the term. (Rothney, 31,945 ; Anthony, 32,330-7 fE. ; Huskie, 32,591-4 ; M'Kerrow, 29,987.) These defects have been brought to the notice of the Sanitary Inspector and ignored (Rothney, 31,954), while one witness states that he gave up his place and left his house, as the doctor was never out of it owing to dampness and its generally ruinous condition. (Ramage, 32,755.) 1102. This divided responsibiUty is a constant source of difficulty and delay, and between the two stools of landlord's and farmer's interests the occupier falls to the ground. (Soutar, 30,829 ; Cobban, 29,128.) The occupier has to make his complaint to the farmer, and the question then arises whether the repairs necessary are such as the farmer or the landlord is responsible for. The farmer generally tries to shift the bm'den on to the shoulders of the estate, and the estate is generally desirous of com- pelling the farmer to meet what it considers to be his obligations. (Cobban, 29,127 ; Barrie, 28,742.) Until the responsibility is settled the complaint remains. (Soutar, 30,829 ; Cobban, 29,128.) This element of friction is a serious deterrent to the proper maintenance of the house, and a fruitful source of delay in getting the necessary repairs timeously done, with serious effect to the house. The occupier cannot exert direct pressure on the owner of the house, who is the person responsible under the Statutes for its proper maintenance in a state of habitability. (Anthony, 32,337.) 1103. Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors, however anxious they may be to remedy this state of affairs, are much hampered in carrying out their duties. If they bring the serious defects of a house to the notice of the proprietor, they are often met by the reply : " Then we will close the ' house altogether," and occupiers have even urged the Medical Officer of Health not to press the case for fear of being turned out of the house, with the prospect of not being able to find another convenient for their work. Local Authorities are very averse to having to fight cases in Court, and consequently are reluctant to issue closing orders. Members of Local Authorities have actually been threatened with opposition at elections if they press the issue of closing orders. (Maxwell Ross, 13,749.) Farm Steading versus Farm Cottage. 1104. There is, too, a considerable weight of evidence to show that farmers generally have shown less interest in the condition, of the cottages than might have been expected. (Wintrup, 13,375.) Up till recently the farm-workers have made few demands on the farmers for improvement of housing accom- modation, and this has probably led the farmers to accept the cottages on the farm and to make few demands on the landlord in regard to the cottages when the conditions of the leases were being discussed. In the depressed condition of agriculture in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, farmers generally found their demands for improvements to their steadings were more than landlords were prepared to meet, and the cottages were generally neglected in the effort to secure the improvements on the business side necessary on the farm buildings. (M'Kerrow, 29,964 ; Maconnachie, 14,360-2.) 1105. The tenant arranging the conditions for a new lease, or making an offer for a farm, after stipu- lating for everything required to put the farmhouse and the steading into good order, does not care to risk asking too much, so the cottages are left out of account. (Wintrup, 13,376 ; Dawson, 40,160 ; Milne Home, 29,886 ; M'Connachie, 14,360-2.) Effect of the System of Engagement. 1106. The neglect of the cottages has been further increased by the system of engagement of farm- servants. Married men are engaged by the year, except in certain districts in the West of Scotland, where six-monthly engagements are the rule. The contracts of service are made for these long periods, and alterations can be effected only when the terms come round. If a man finds himself in a house which is not suitable, or about which he has made complaints that have not been attended to, the general practice is for that man to seek a fresh employer at the next term. Indeed, so much has the difficulty of getting repairs done come to be regarded as a normal condition of farm service, that the great majority of the men never take the trouble to complain, but decide to make the best of the conditions until the next term. (Anthony, 32,351.) When they move a fresh occupier is found for the house, who may also remain for a year only, during which the necessary repairs are not done, and the condition of the house is getting worse. 1107. Another matter that must be considered in connection with the system of engagement is that the man makes his engagement generally in the market-place, and does not see the house he is to occupy until after the engagement is concluded. He has to rely on the farmer's assurance that the house is suitable, or to trust to hearsay from other sources as to the condition of the house. (Ogilvie, 34,967 ; 170 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Anthony, 32,387 ; Kamage, 32,752 ; Reid, 32,176 ; Wintrup, 13,218.) Frequently the man does not have an opportiuiity of seeing the house until he goes to it with his furniture on the term day. If he should by chance hear that the house is not satisfactory after he has made his contract, or if he finds that the house does not answer to the farmer's description, he cannot withdraw unless he is prepared to run the risk of an action of damages for breach of contract. An instance is given where a man with a large family particularly asked as to the accommodation, and was told by his new employer that he would find it quite sufficient. On arrival he found a " but " and " ben," in which it was quite impossible for him to house his family in decency. He there and then refused to ratify his engagement. He was taken to the Sheriff Court and fined 50s. for breach of contract, although his employer had distinctly con- tracted to give him the sufficiency of accommodation that he had demanded. (Rothney, 31,969 ; Wintrup, 13,168 (49), 13,219-21.) Farm-Servants' Difficulty in Securing Repairs. 1108. It has to be kept in mind, too, that the farm-servant is at a disadvantage in any effort he may make to secure improvement in his house. As a rule he is not conversant with the procedure that has to be adopted to get the Sanitary Inspector to come to his aid, and the evidence we received from the farm- servants tended to show that they were sceptical of the help that could be got from that quarter. (Ramage, 32,678, and Appendix to Rothney's evidence, not printed.) If he wishes to bring pressure to bear on his employer, his only effective weapon, during the course of his engagement, is to break his contract. (Ogilvie, 34,971.) In the majority of cases that means he runs the risk of forfeiting the balance of wages, which his employer retains, and he also runs the risk of being cast in damages for breach of con- tract, unless he can prove that the house is not habitable. A greater difficulty, however, is that he can be prevented from securing employment, because few farmers will run the risk of being sued for " har- ' bouring a deserter." It is little wonder that the farm-servant decides to " thole " the house until the term. Effect of Migration on Housing. 1109. From various causes, of which the housing is only one, although an important one, migration is frequent amongst farm-workers. The occupants of a particular house may change from year to year or every few years. The maintenance of the internal structure depends to a great extent on the changing occupants of the house ;, but where changes are frequent, it is obvious that the wear and tear are bound to be greater. Minor defects, which a resident occupier could do a great deal to mitigate, are aggravated by the continual change of occupier, and the whole condition of the house is adversely affected. 1110. The conditions, too, under which the engagements are made often preclude the condition of the house from being known to the man who is to occupy it, and so there is not the natural selection acting to drive the more defective houses out of habitation. The house is only one of the factors a man has to consider in making an engagement, and the fact that he has to secure a housd as part of his wages prevents the occupier from selecting so freely as the rent-paying tenant can do. He has not an open market in which to select the house he desires, and he has not the power a rent-paying tenant has to secure what he is prepared to pay for. Inspection. 1111. The inspection of farm cottages under the Housing Act of 1909 has never been regularly under- taken, and, with the present staff in coimty areas, cannot be properly overtaken. Such inspection as has taken place has been incidental to other action in dealing with zymotic diseases, or has been under- taken in the rare cases where complaints have been made by the occupiers. Gardens. 1112. Farm cottages are provided with gardens varying from 100 square yards to J of an acre. Manure is provided by the farmer, or, where pigs are allowed to be kept, may be produced in the pig-stye. Little effort is spent in trying to make the gardens add to the amenity of the cottages. The crop is invariably potatoes, with a small patch of other vegetables, although occasionally efforts may be made at the cultivation of flowers. On the whole, however, gardening is not popular amongst farm-workers, and considering their hours of labour and the nature of their daily work, it is unreasonable to expect that it would be. The produce, however, is a considerable item in the family income. Pig-keepinq. 1113. Pigs are kept in the Border counties, and in Perth and Forfar, and to a less extent in some of the other counties. Except in the Border counties and in Forfarshire, pig-keeping has decreased greatly amongst farm- workers. Various causes are assigned for this, and the byelaws enforced by certain Local Authorities have been blamed. As, however, there are no byelaws regulating pigrstyes in the majority of the county Local Government areas, and no definite connection between the introduction of the byelaws and the decay of pig-keeping bythe cottagers can be traced, it does not seem to be a principal cause of the decay. Many farmers have discouraged pig-keeping because they suspected that the pig was being fed from the corn-bin, and in some counties the disappearance of the pig can be traced to the veto of the farmers. The swine-fever regulations have had a good deal to do with increasing the difficulties of pig-keeping, but probably the high cost of feeding stuffs, and the relatively low price of pork until recent years, had more to do with the decay than anything else. Where -pigs are kept the gardens are generally better used. Housing of Single Men. 1114. As already stated, there are three well-defined methods of housing single men employed on the farms, known as the kitchen system, the bothy system, and the double-hinding system. Under REPORT. 171 the kitchen system the yoiing men are boarded by the farmer and get their meals in the kitchen ; under the bothy system smgle men are provided with a room which serves them for living and sleeping purposes, and fire and light and certain allowances of meal and milk : beyond that they have to provide and cook their own food ; under the double-hinding system single men are hired along with their parents on a joint contract, and reside together with them in the farm cottages. 1115. (a) The Kitchen System. — This obtains generally upon the smaller farms, and is simply a slight development of an old custom where the farmer and his servants all sat down to meals at the same table. On some of the smaller farms the custom still obtains, and the young man may be given a bedroom in the farmhouse. Generally, however, sleeping accommodation is provided for him either in a part of the steading that has been converted into a " chaumer," as it is called, or in a small separate building erected or adapted for the purpose. Cases are still to be found where the sleeping acc(5mmodation is in the stable-loft, a part of which is divided off by a rough partition from the hay-loft, and the entrance to it by a steep stair or ladder, often through a trap-door. No fireplace or furnishing of any kind is given to these apartments, and they arc cheerless, disagreeable places. Fortunately, these are disappearing, and chambers built for the purpose are taking their place. These may be part of the steading or a separate building near the stable. They are substantially built stone-and-lime structures, with slate-roofs, and sufficiently lit. The walls are generally lined with wood half-way up, and the rest of the walls plastered on the stone. The floors are cement or stone flags, and fixed-in wooden beds are provided. The furnish- ing is the barest possible. A table may be provided and some strong chairs or a form or bench, but the men have often to make their wooden chests, in which they keep their clothes, etc., serve for seats. A few nails driven into the walls serve for clothes pegs, but the wall space is frequently required for hanging harness. (Esslemont, 31,340; M'Harrie. 28,385: Anthony, 32,313; Wintrup, 13,197; M'Kerrow, 29,976 ; Rothney, 31,875.) 1116. The whole aspect of the place, even where the building has recently been erected, is bare and cheerless, and this is particularly the case where fire is not provided in the " chaumer." In such cases the men have the right to sit at the kitchen fire until nine o'clock at night. The " chaumer " is simply a place for shelter and sleeping, but has little in the nature of a home. The necessary attendance is provided by the farmer, but seldom exceeds a perfunctory sweeping of the floor daily, and the making of the beds. Two single men in the " chaumer " is a common number ; occasionally more men may be so housed together. In Aberdeenshire it is not unusual for married men to leave their wives and families in the villages and hire as single men, living in the " chaumer," and returning for occasional visits or week-ends to their families. 1117. (6) The Bothy System. — ^Probably no aspect of rural housing has received so much attention as the bothy, and no system has been so roundly condemned ; yet it survives, little changed from the days when the first onslaught was made on it about seventy years ago. The worst of the old hovels have disappeared, but there still remain instances of bothies that are not fit to house animals. Generally speaking, however, the actual structures of the bothies will compare quite favourably with the cottages. Where the bothy fails is in the internal arrangements and the social conditions produced by herding young men together with no proper provision for food or comfort. It combines a maximum of discomfort with a minimum of civilised conditions. 1118. The older bothies consist of a single room with floor of stone flags or cement, the interior walls of which are finished and whitewashed in a manner similar to the byres. It provides bare shelter and no more. The furnishings provided by the farmer are of the very rudest and simplest character ; beds and bedding, towels, a basin, a kettle and a pot, a few simple articles of crockery, a form or bench, and sometiiries a few chairs. The men usually have two chests each, one for clothing and one for food, and these complete the furnishings. Anything more bare and cheerless than the ordinary bothy can hardly be imagined. (Esslemont, 31,348 el seq.) 1119. In this room the men sleep and make their own meals. The only attendance provided them by the farmer is a daily visit from the kitchen-maid at the farm, or from a ploughman's wife who is engaged for the purpose, and who makes the beds and sweeps out the room ; but this is often done very per- functorily. (Esslemont, 31,317 (4).) In one coimty, Morayshire, the woman who attends to the "bothy may light the fire in the middle of the forenoon and put on the kettle or boil the potatoes ; but it is rare that any more help is given. (M'Connachie, 14,301 (21).) The bothy is supposed to have a thorough clean-out every six months, and the walls are usually lime-washed at the same time. The statement quoted by one witness that they " were aye muckit oot aince a twal month " is expressive and illuminating. (Rothney, 31,841 (13).) The same witness said that, even in the best bothy he had seen in Scotland, a " double-apartment place modemly got-up," the grievance the men had was it was cleaned only once a week, and " it looked like it." " They saw no reason why they should not have it cleaned once a day, ' the same as the gardeners on the estate got." (31,889.) 1120. In addition to the structural defects and the lack of conveniences which the bothies share with the cot-houses, not to speak of the discomfort and lack of everj-thing that makes for a home atmo- sphere, this system of housing single men has disadvantages inherent in it. With the best will in the world the occupants cannot make their bare room anything more than an uncomfortable shelter. It cannot be made decently habitable or homelike when it is nobody's business to see that it is cleaned and properly kept. The men have no time for housekeeping. The fact that all the dirty and wet working clothes have to be brought into the room, which is at the same time kitchen and bedroom, that no provision is made for drving clothes, or for proper storage of clothes or other articles, all tend to create a condition of dirt, disorder, and discomfort. (Graham and Nicoll, 36,297 (11).) 1121. The men, even when they have the ability to cook, have not the time. Cooking can be done only in the short interval at mid-day or in the evening after a long day's work, and so it becomes a makeshift, and no proper meals are cooked. (Ferric, 32,232.) Mr Esslemont, a farmer with experience of more than one county and familiar with the " chaumer " system, informed us that the bothy system was new to him when he came to Kincardineshire ; that, previously, they had fed the men in the kitchen ; that they always got a cooked dinner ; that there were girls specially engaged to look after them ; but that he was very much struck with the food they made for themselves in the bothy 172 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. They bought fish, meat, and tins of fruit, but they were abominable cooks. They had to throw out a lot of stuff. Sometimes they had not time to cook it again, and they had just to eat it as it was. I felt that it was not a thing that should have been, but I could not see my way to do other- wise. I arranged with the grieve's wife to make the best of it by having a good fire on and the kettle boiling. It may be because it was new to me that it impressed me so strongly. (31,358.) If the bothy is a large one, there may be as many as six or eight men living in it, and the difiiculties of decent habitation become thereby intensified. The herding of young men together in a bothy, as elsewhere, does not tend to develop the best in the men's character. Several witnesses have spoken strongly as to the pernicious effect of this system on the character of a young man, by ruining all the finer instincts which are innate in him. (Esslemont, 31,355 ; M'Connachie, 14,301 (21).) 1122. We visited bothies ia several covmties, and found great differences as to structure and main- tenance. Where the farmer took an interest in the keeping of the bothy, the best was being made of what is at best an unsatisfactory method of housing. In too many, however, there was evidence that the farmers believed their duty had been done when a room was provided, and the conditions were depressing in the extreme. The beds usually provided consisted of wooden frames, with a chaff mattress, enclosed iu a wooden frame, which did not permit of proper ventilation of the bedding. Dirty clothes were to be found lying about anywhere, and a row of dirty socks drying on a string across the fire was a common decoration. The evidence of neglect in the cleaning of the room was most noticeable in the heaps of ashes which spread from the fireplace into the room. The floors bore little evidence of ever being washed or scrubbed, and dirty pots and dishes were lying about in disorder. 1123. That an improvement can be effected at the expense of a little thought and trouble is shown by some of the more modem bothies, where there may be two rooms, both of which are used for sleeping purposes, the latter of the two serving also as kitchen. (Rothney, 31,566). 1124. In several districts, notably in Morayshire, bothies have been built consisting of a sitting- room, which is used as kitchen, and a cubicle for each man. This type of bothy, which is a great improvement on the old single room or hovel in the steading, is unfortunately not very common. (Fen wick, 31,729). The evidence is practically unanimous that the bothy system in any form is radically bad and demorahsing to young men. (M'Connachie, 14,301 (21).) Only one witness expressed content- ment with it, and seemed to think that it was sufficiently good for young men entering farm life. (Ealston, 30,246.) 1125. (c) The Double-hinding System. — This prevails in the Lothians and Border counties. In the double-hinding system a father hires with his sons and the family live together. The obvious difficulty in this is the want of accommodation in the cottages, but one witness who has experience says it is pre- ferable to the bothy. (Dobbie, 30,890). Housing op Women Farm- Workers. 1126. Women who are employed on the farms as kitchen-maids or dairymaids are lodged in the farmhouses and boarded by the farmers. In the Lothians and Borders, and to a less extent in some of the other counties, women are employed in outdoor work, but they are generally members of the plough- men's families and reside with their parents. Occasionally widows may be engaged and a cottage provided for them. Shortage. 1127. While there is general agreement as to the lack of sufficient houses of a reasonable standard for farm-servants, there is practically no evidence of a statistical nature to show the shortage of houses of any kind in the rural areas in Scotland. A very complete survey would have to be conducted, having reference to the agricultural conditions prevailing in each area, before this could be ascei-tained. In the coimties on the east and south of the Forth there would appear to be a sufficiency of houses, and in some districts even a surplus. In the coiuity of Haddington the Sanitary Inspector gave us figures to show that 15 per cent, of the farm cottages were unoccupied. (Reid, 3178 (7).) It would be wrong, however, to take these figures, and indeed any figures as to unoccupied houses, at their face value. Owing to the changes in farming and the laying down of land to grass, cottages on particular farms may no longer be required, but they may be in situations that make them quite unsuitable to supplement the demands in the same county where a shortage exists. (Dobbie, 30,839 (11).) In this connection the figures given by a witness for a parish in Kincardineshire show that, out of a total of 42 farm cottages, 5 are used for other purposes than housing farm-workers and 7 are unoccupied, while at the same time 6 farm-workers are accommodated in houses other than farm cottages, and the witness was strongly of opinion that there was a serious shortage of houses for married men. More than half the men employed on farms in this parish were lodged in bothies. (Cargill, 31,610 (3 to 5).) 1128. The general trend of the evidence we received was that there was a shortage of houses for the married men, and that, even where the shortage was not acute, it was desirable that the number of houses for family occupation should be increased. (Douglas, 2586 ; representative of the Association of County Councils of Scotland, 27,796 (38).) 1129. In the counties on the north-east, ranging from Elgin to Fife, there was practically imanimity as to an acute shortage (Fenwick, 31,725 ; M'Connachie, 14,305-6 ; Esslemont, 31,319 ; Duff, 31,756 (2) (15) ; Christie, 28,857 ; Cobban, 29,088 (6) ; Cargill, 31,610 (3 to 5), 31,687 ; Soutar, 30,711, 30,745-8 ; Ferric, 32,250), and in the county of Ayr (Middleton, 30,059 (3), 30,078-85). In these counties the proportion of single men employed is large, in many districts in the north-east the propor- tion of single men to married men being as high as 3 to 1. While it may safely be reckoned that the number of single men engaged in the districts where small farms are the rule will always tend to be larger, we are convinced that the lack of housing accommodation in these counties has had a great deal REPORT. 173 to do with the employment of single men, and that the provision of cottages would do a great deal to help to induce men to settle on the land, and lead to a more stable agricultural population. Rural Depopulation. 1130. This leads us to a consideration of the question how far the housing conditions in rural districts have been a cause of rural depopulation. Some witnesses held the opinion that the lack of proper housing facilities was the principal cause of rural depopulation. (Ramage, 32,725 ; M'Connachie, 14,305-8.) Others were quite as positive that depopulation was not in any way due to unsuitable housing. (Ralston, 30,187 (22) ; Swan, 31,451.) Most of the witnesses, however, were inchned to think that it had an effect on the drift of workers from agriculture, and the general opinion was that, while it could not be said to be the principal cause, it was a considerable factor. (Douglas, 2582 ; Middleton, 30,108 ; Cargill, 31,625 ; Esslemont, 31,326.) 1131. It is difficult to estimate the effect of the housing conditions on depopulation, since there is nothing to guide us except expressions of opinion. As to the effect of actual shortage, we think there can be no doubt but that there is here a prime cause of depopulation, and in this connection the ex- pressions of opinion by the members of the Chamber of Agriculture, who are all farmers or landlords, is important. (Douglas, 2586, and Appendix X.) Where, because of this shortage, the number of single men employed has to be greater, only a proportion of them can marry and settle down in the country, however willing they may be to do so. This means that the greater number of them have to look elsewhere for the future, and the prevailing sentiment in the district is such as to lead to general unsettlement and to create a desire to get away. Where, too, the demand for married men is less, they cannot command the same wages as the single men, and this in itself tends to lead the single men to look elsewhere for employment if they mean to settle down. It is significant, also, that emigration makes its strongest appeal to the men in the districts where the shortage of houses for married workers is greatest (Rothney, 31,923). and that in the counties where houses are more plentiful fewer workers go abroad (Logan, 30,322). 1132. Depopulation has been going on, however, in the coimties where the actual shortage of houses has not been acute, and in these coimties it is much more difficult to assess the effect of the housing conditions in this direction. Various causes are assigned : the desire to keep the family together, and tx) provide better facilities for education and for such openings in other directions as the country docs not afford ; the earnings and conditions of labour on the farms ; the greater attraction of social life in the towns, and the dulness and monotony of rural life. These causes have operated to accentuate the depopulation caused by the laying down of land to grass, the introduction of labour- saving machinery, and the concentration of manufacturing industries in the larger centres. A reduction in the rural population was inevitable ; but it is admitted that in Scotland it has gone so far that farmers cannot now secure the quantity or quahty of labour they desire, and that a continuance of this reduction will seriously jeopardise the industry of agriculture. 1133. An improvement in housing conditions alone would do something to help to stem this drift, but would not be sufficient. We are inclined to think, however, that it would be an important factor, and that housing conditions have entered more largely into the other causes indicated than would appear on the surface. More commodious and better-equipped houses would tend to keep the family together longer, and would lead to more of the houses being considered homes, instead of merely temporary dwellings in the migrations from farm to farm. The desire of the women to get to towns is probably greater than the desire of the men. It can be understood from the descriptions already given how hardly present conditions of housing bear on the women. The houses, too, in the agricultural industry are much more intimately bound up with the general conditions of employment, as we have already indicated, and where so many are unsatisfactory they are bound to be a source of friction between employer and employed, to increase the prevailing unsettlement, to add to the unattractive conditions of farm service and to create a general dissatisfaction with rural industrial life. A man cannot easily make a home where so many of the requisites of a clean and comfortable home are absent ; where elementary provision for the major decencies is conspicuous by its rarity ; where a plentiful water-supply is considered not a commonplace but a luxury ; where the provision of a bath is regarded as an ideal ; where the house is a " tied " house from which the inmates may be ejected at a moment's notice for the most trivial of reasons, and where, by the conditions of engagement, the labour still suffers from the traditions of servile labour and is governed throughout, not by the conception of a free contract of service, but by the least progressive form of the master-and-servant relationship. Add to this that, in the country, the house must always be a more important factor in the social life of the people than it is in the towns, where the fuller life flowing from the richer social environment can be expanded by public provision for the occupation of those periods of relaxation and leisure that are essential to the whole- some growth of every community. On such grounds as these we base the strong opinion that as a first step in a better social life the provision of adequate housing is a primary necessity if we are to retain the workers in agriculture. Causes op Present Conditions of Housing. 1134. We have touched incidentally on certain of the causes operating to produce the present un- satisfactory condition of houses for agricultural workers ; but it may be well to deal more fully with these here. In the counties where there is an actual shortage of houses improvements in agriculture were later in being effected, and much of the land was brought in at a later date than was the case in the southern counties. Smaller farms persisted until a later date, and to-day there is a much larger pro- portion of small than of large farms in the counties where the shortage is greatest. The old custom of hiring single men who were boarded and lodged by the farmer was continued, and the existence of weaving villages and small towns provided a source of supply for this class of labour, while there were no other large industries competing for the labour. As the crofts and smaller farms were absorbed — and the process was a gradual one, continuing to the present time, — the old houses were found unsuitable or 174 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. were allowed to fall to ruin. As the farms increased in size, the practice of boarding the men became troublesome, and bothies were resorted to as the cheapest way of housing the men required. When it is realised that from fo^ir to eight men can be housed at a cost of building no greater than that required for the housing of a married man, the temptation to this form of housing can be understood. On the larger farms in Fife, Perth, Forfar, Kincardine, and Morayshire the bothy system prevails, while in Kincardine, Aberdeen, and Banff smaller farms are the rule and the kitchen system prevails. 1135. A proportion of the men were always housed in cottages or lived on small crofts (pendicles, as they are called in Forfarshire), and hired to the farmers as married men. So long as there was a plentiful supply of young men no great difficulty was found in securing the necessary labour supply, and the intro- duction of labour-saving machinery and the decrease of cultivation, although comparatively less in those counties than elsewhere, all tended to postpone the time when the difficulty would become acute. The depopulation of the villages and small towns, and the increase in emigration, have now so reduced the number of families from which the single men can be obtained that the farmers are not now able to get the class or the quantity of labour they desire, and so for farm-workers in those districts there has come to be an increasing demand for cottages. It is becoming evident that even the supply of single men is dependent on the supply of cottages, and the shortage is now being acutely felt. 1136. Further, the general causes that have produced the shortage of satisfactory houses all over Scotland are being felt in the counties referred to. These causes are to be foimd in the position of agri- culture during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The fall in the prices of grain in the years after the boom period of the seventies left the landlords unable or unwilling to maintain or increase capital expenditure on their estates. Landlords received a decreasing return in the form of rent from agricultural subjects, and saw no prospect of return from any expenditure they made on cottage building. Farmers could not press for capital expenditure at the time when they were endeavouring to secure abatements in their rent, and they were generally, as we have explained, too occupied in trying to secure the necessary repairs and renewals for their steadings to be able or willing to press any claims for im- proved housing. 1137. At the same time, no great pressure was exerted upon either farmers or landlords by the farm- servants. They had been accustomed to the low standard of housing which had been general in rural districts. The conditions of farm service, with the fixed time for making contracts and the frequent changes and migration, blunt the edge of demand. The dual responsibility of landlord and farmer, which has already been referred to, make effective pressure difficult. But the principal causes of the weakness on the side of demand for better houses was that the farm-servant found that his easiest way of escape from unsatisfactory conditions was to leave the occupation and go elsewhere. He found plenty of demand for his labour in the towns, and in the other great industries where his country rearing and better physique gave him an advantage in competition with the men in the towns. (Middleton, 30,059 (13).) 1138. So long as the land under cultivation was decreasing, and fewer men were required, the worst of the houses could be allowed to fall out of use and the best of them could be maintained at less cost. There was not the same demand for the building of new houses to replace those that had become too decayed and uninhabitable. But in recent years staffs of farms had been reduced to a minimum. Mean- while there was a rising standard in housing, and that at a time when the natural wear and tear of the houses was rendering their period of occupation a matter of a few years. On many of the estates considerable outlays had been made, mostly on renovations ; but in several instances a considerable amoimt of rebuild- ing had taken place. (M'Harrie, 27,472, 28,332 ; Smith, 28,536 ; Graham, 29,583 (1 to 5) ; Milne Home, 29,842 (38).) But rebuilding has not been general. Of this the evidence is to be found in the fact that a large number of unsatisfactory houses, lacking in the essentials of sanitary equipment, are to be found in every county in Scotland. 1139. Another factor of which account has to be taken is the cost of erecting cottages for some years prior to the outbreak of war. We had a good deal of evidence submitted to us as to the cost of building, and, while it varied greatly according to the district, it was evident that, including the cost of cartage and architect's fee, it was rarelv possible to erect a cottage of three apartments at less than £200. (Milne Home, 29,842 (20) ; M'Caig, "'30,571 ; M'Garva, 15,777 ; M'Harrie, 28,325 (5) ; Fenwick, 31,692 (7) ; Ferrie, 32,197 (11).) In Aberdeenshire rates were rather lower, houses with three large rooms being erected at £116 (Duff, 31,782), and four rooms at £143. (Cobban, 29,088 (1).) It should be kept in view that the costs above mentioned probably do not include the auxiliary modern conveniences and accommodation which it is to be hoped will have their place in modern houses in the future. It is interesting to compare with the figures just given, the estimates for building houses in 1834, given by the architect who received the premium from the Highland and Agricultural Society for his essay and plans for the improvement of farm cottages. He gives a plan of a double cottage, with kitchen 16 feet by 13 feet, and room 14 feet by 12 feet, with porch, scullery, pantry, cellar, and privy on the ground floor, and a bedroom 14 feet by 12 feet in the attic — the cost being £80 per cottage, without cartages. (Smith on the Construction of Cottages. Blackie & Son, 1834.) 1140. It must be evident that, where a cottage has to be replaced, the increased cost weighs very considerably with the proprietor. The existing houses are generally entered in the valuation roll at £4 per annum, and most of them were probably erected at an original cost for which this figure would be a fair valuation. For such renewals, during a tenancy, the landlord gets no increased rent. Where an increase in the number of houses is required, the farmer may agree to pay an increase on the farm rent for such houses, and that may be fixed at the rate of interest, or perhaps at the conventional figure of £4 per annum, or less. (Duff, 31,756 (9) ; Middleton, 30,059 (7).). 1141. There was general agreement amongst the witnesses best qualified to speak for landowners, that one difficulty in the way of improving the houses that are unsuitable, or in replacing them, or in biiild- ing more houses where a shortage exists, is to be found in the lack of capital on the part of the proprietors. (Douglas, 2572.) Many of the estates are in the hands of trustees or are heavily bonded. (Cargill, 31,675 ; Ferrie, 32,201 ; Smith, 32,897 ; Kose, 15,576.) Where this is the case, it is difficult for the proprietors, even if they desire to improve the housing, to borrow money. Land does not attract lenders as it once did, and such estates ffnd it difficult to raise sums necessary for capital expenditure. Even REPORT. 175 where the estate is comparatively free of mortgages or other burdens, the rate of interest before the war meant a rent charge of 6 to 7 per cent., and from what we have said as to the impossibility of getting any increased rent from the new houses provided, this charge is a sufficient deterrent. (M'Kay, 15,665 (23)-) 1142. Even on estates that are not in an impoverished condition, the capital charges have been increasing in recent years. The normal costs of equipment and management are increasing, and represent a considerable proportion of the annual rent. (Milne Home, 29,842 (37), 29,924 ; Ralston, 30,187 (36, 37, 38) ; Duff, 31,804.) In view of the condition of agriculture for the past thirty years, the landlords, in evidence, state they have not felt sufficient confidence to justify them in spending further capital on their estates. 1143. It has also been represented to us that landlords have been deterred in recent years from capital expenditure because of legislative enactments that, in their view, have produced an increased feeling of insecurity. We do not discuss whether or not this view is well founded, as no definite evidence of the effect of legislation was laid before us, and in any case, the legislation referred to was of so recent a date that its effect on cottage building could not be judged ; but the opinion was stated by several witnesses as a cause of the reluctance of landlords to incm' capital expenditure. (Constable, 29,316 et seq. ; Douglas, 2596.) Proposals for Improvement. 1144. There was agreement amongst the witnesses who appeared before us, whether representing landlords, farmers, farm-servants, or public officials, that the present condition of farm cottages was generally unsatisfactory, and that there was need for drastic improvement in the majority of the houses at present existing. On this point most witnesses were agreed, although naturally there were differences of opinion as to the causes of the present state of affairs, and as to the means by which improvements were to be effected. Most persons interested in agriculture realise the important part that housing conditions play in the industry, and the need for making housing conditions more attractive, if the workers are to be retained on the land. 1 145. Many of the proposals we make for dealing with housing generally apply to rural conditions ; but there are several aspects of the problem peculiar to farming conditions as they exist in Scotland. We believe that farm-servants are entitled, as other workers are, — not to houses that just escape condem- nation as " dangerous or injurious to health," but to dwellings that are of the standard of good houses in respect of structure, accommodation, and equipment. It may be difficult to prove that an individual damp house is dangerous or injurious to health, but it ought not to be difficult to create a standard by which damp houses could be determined to be unsuitable dwellings ? Every site should be so drained that the surface water shall be carried away from the dwelling, and provision should be made for rones, and for proper disposal of the water from the roofs and walls. Clay or earth floors should not be per- mitted, and under-fioor ventilation should be provided. The finishing of the internal walls, so as to provide a comfortable dwelling, ought to be obligatory, and proper storage accommodation shoidd be provided. 1146. In respect of these necessary conditions of a reasonable dwelling-place, many farm cottages are particularly deficient. It is, however, in the provision of sanitary conveniences and proper water- supply and scullery accommodation that farm cottages are notoriously defective. We are strongly of opinion that the provision of water-supplies is the most essential requisite for the satisfactory improve- ment of rural dwellings, and we make proposals elsewhere for dealing with this problem on comprehensive lines. 1147. There was a conflict of evidence as to whether it was desirable to insist on water-closets being provided for farm cottages, and in view of the difficulty in many cases of disposing of the sewage, we are of opinion that it would be imwise to insist on such being provided universally. We are strongly of opinion, however, that every cottage should be provided with a properly equipped water-closet or privy, and that the present disgraceful conditions should be ended at the earliest possible moment. There is nothing in the situation or character of a farm cottage that can justify the present state of affairs, which, in the interest of health and decency alike, has been allowed to continue too long. 1148. We heard a good deal of evidence as to the necessity or otherwise of providing baths for farm-workers' houses. Where so little had been done in the way of making such provision, most of the evidence submitted was merely of the nature of opinions without any basis of fact on which to found. The witnesses representing farm-servants stated that there was a demand amongst the men for such firovision being made. (Hamilton, 36,182 ; Ramage, 32,718 ; Rothney, 31,959 ; Paxton, 32,848.) n the evidence submitted to us by the witnesses who had experience of cases where baths had been provided, it was brought out that the baths were regularly used, were much appreciated by the occupiers, and were of particular value where there were young families. (Johnstone Douglas, 2390 ; Tweedie, 13,474 ; Wintrup, 13,206.) We make recommendations elsewhere as to provision of baths in houses. Public Health Staffs, 1149. So far we have been dealing with the minimum requirements of a good house which should be made applicable to all farm cottages at present in existence. The responsibility for seeing that the houses are brought up to this standard and are maintained at it should be placed in the first instance on the Local Authority. That carries with it the necessity for an increase in the staff of the Public Health Departments in county areas if the work is to be overtaken in a reasonable period of time. At present the staffs are not sufficient for such work, and it will be necessary to increase these staffs if any forward movement is to be inaugurated in rural areas. A very complete and detailed survey of farm cottages will have to be undertaken, and the present staffs are not sufficient for this purpose. 176 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Responsibility of Landlord. 1150. A furtlier difficulty peculiar to farm cottages emerges at this point. We have already referred to the efEect of the dual responsibility for the maintenance of farm cottages. The landlord is responsible for the structure and the tenant (the farmer) is generally held bound by his lease for maintenance during the lease. The system has not worked satisfactorily. (Wintrup, 13,310 ; Smith, 28,539 ; Graham, 25,591; Ralston, 30,193; Barrie, 28,740.) Sanitary , inspectors find that the divided responsibility leads to difficulty and delay in getting their requirements attended to, and landlords allege that the fanners do not carry out the stipulations of the leases. The farm-servants state that the difficulty of getting the responsibility fixed is so great that they have become indifferent to pressing for the repairs necessary. (Anthony, 32,351 ; Hamilton, 36,169 ; Ramage, 32,703.) They can exert pressure only on the farmer, who is their employer and responsible to them, while the sanitary inspector can deal only with the proprietor of the house. The result of this system is that the condition of the houses can come up for efEective dealing only at the commencement of a lease, and the party who makes the bargain for any alterations in the houses is not the occupier but the farmer. The farmers are only indirectly interested in the condition of the cottages, and unless these are so unsatisfactory as to imperil his prospect of getting workers, it is rarely that he raises any question as to the condition of the cottages or makes any demand on the estate for expenditure upon them. Where a low standard is general, as is the case in farm cottages, this danger does not emerge in an acute form, and consequently it is rare for farmers to make any demands. Several witnesses went so far as to say that they had never heard farmers make demands of this nature. (Win- trup, 13,375 ; Graham, 29,592 ; Johnstone Douglas, 2417.) It is contended on behalf of the farmers that they are handicapped in pressing for necessary expenditure on cottages or housing as they cannot make too many demands on the estate at the setting of a lease ; their direct requirements for the business side of the farm are usually sufficiently great, and they cannot afford to increase them. (M'Kerrow, 29,964.) 1151. From the point of view of housing alone, and without considering the effect on the economy of farming conditions in Scotland, it would be better if the occupiers, the farm-servants, were to enter into direct relations with the proprietors of the cottages, and this was urged by the representatives of the farm-servants and by one farmer. (Esslemont, 31,386 ; Hamilton, 36,187 ; Ogilvie, 34,991 ; Ramage, 32,695 ; Rothney, 31,946.) This, however, is a question of the conditions of employment, and not strictly within the range of our remit. We are, however, of the opinion that the statutory responsibility for the proper maintenance of the cottages on the farms should be placed upon the pro- prietors, and that the Local Authority should be empowered to require that the houses provided by the proprietors satisfy the necessary minimum of accommodation and conditions indicated in this Report, and are maintained in satisfactory condition, and that it should not be legal for the proprietor to contract himself (by lease or otherwise) out of this responsibility. This would enable the authorities to carry out their statutory duties and to effect the statutory remedies with the least possible difficulty and delay. If such a statutory responsibility were placed upon the proprietor, the farmer in negotiating a lease should have no hesitation in stipulating for adequate accommodation for his workers. Financial Considerations. 1152. So far we have been dealing with the question of the improvement of existing cottages that are deficient, and with the proper maintenance of existing houses, and it may be convenient to deal, at this point, with the financial difficulty. It has been represented to us by those best qualified to speak that the defective cottages are mostly to be found on impoverished estates, and that is borne out by the evidence. (Esslemont, 31,389 ; Elder, 30,402 ; Douglas, 2587 ; Cargill, 31,675.) If the standard of housing is raised, as we recommend it should be — and the general desire amongst all classes interested in agriculture for such an improved standard has been strongly represented to us — the difficulties, in view of the increased outgoings of recent years, are likely to be felt by many estates. Most of the witnesses representing the landowning or farming interest suggested that the only way in which such improvements could be secured would be for the State to advance money on loan at a low rate of interest for such purposes. (Duff, 31,805 ; Elder, 30,519 ; Logan, 30,385.) The same suggestion was made for enabling estates in financial straits to increase the number of cottages where a shortage exists, but it will be more convenient to discuss that proposal separately as the cases are not quite analogous. 1153. Where houses exist and the condition of these houses is unsatisfactory, we recommend that the Local Authority should have the statutory duty laid upon it to bring these houses up to the standard of good houses we have specified. The Local Authority will proceed in the ordinary way to serve notice upon the proprietors to have the necessary repairs and alterations effected, or, faihng this, the occupation of the house will be prohibited, just as happens at present in the case of a house that is declared dangerous or injurious to health. But in cases where the house is capable of being brought up to the required standard of habitability, and the expenditure in so doing would be economic, and the proprietor is unable to find the capital necessary, it would be iagainst the public interest to have such a house closed and the workers driven off the land. In such a case the Local Authority should be empowered to advance the sum necessary for any approved expenditure, and to recover the capital and interest by an assessment on the proprietor sufficient to cover the cost. The Local Authority could arrange the terms, and spread the payments over a number of years to suit the circumstances in each case. The terms should be arranged so that no loss falls on the Local Authority or the Exchequer. If the proprietor failed to avail himself of the assistance offered, the house would have to be closed, and if this led to a shortage of housing in the district, the Local Authority would require to provide the houses necessar)% as we propose later in cases where a shortage of housing exists. 1154. It was chiefly as a means of enabling landlords to meet the admitted shortage of cottages for married farm-servants that the proposal of State loans was made, although, as we have indicated, it was also suggested as a way of providing for the improvement of existing houses. This proposal REPORT. 177 was strongly urged by practically all the witnesses representing the landowning interest, and certain representatives of farmers. Local Authorities and other organisations supported it. (DufE, 31,756 (15) ; Elder, 30,405 ; Milne Home, 29,842 (21) ; Rodger, 29,693 (15) ; Smith, 32,895 ; Association of County Councils, 27,903 ; Douglas, 2576.) Suggestions were made that loans should be granted by the State, acting through Local Authorities, at a charge of 4 per cent, per annum to cover capital and interest, spread over a period of fifty years, the loan to be a first charge on the estate. The reasons advanced in support of this proposal were that the provision of houses might be beyond the financial resources of estates where housing deficiencies exist ; that it is in the public interest that the houses should be provided ; that the landlords have always provided the houses and are best able to do the work efficiently ; and that it is undesirable that the system by which the estate equips and maintains the houses on the farms should be departed from. It was further contended that unless such assistance were given at a low rate of interest, proprietors would be unable to provide the houses, as the cost of building rendered the raising of money in the open market at ordinary rates of interest prohibitive. 1155. Although this suggestion that State aid should be given at a low rate of interest which would not be remunerative to the State (M'Kay, 15,721 ; representatives of the Association of County Councils in Scotland, 27,796 (48)) was made in several other instances, the demand came principally from the witnesses representing the landowning interest, and was advocated in view of the special position of agriculture in recent years. Analogy was drawn between the assistance given to smallholders under the Small Holdings Act, and the proposal we are discussing ; but it seems to us that there is a difference, from the public point of view, between assistance given to an individual to assist him in erecting his own house, especially in a case where the State has decided that it is in the public interest to encourage smallholders, and assistance given to a landowner to enable him to equip his estate as a revenue-pro- ducing asset. In the first case, the assistance is given direct to the individuals because the State wishes to encourage such smallholders in the public interest ; in the second case, the assistance would be given from pubhc funds, at a loss to the public, to enable a proprietor to maintain the equipment of his estate and so the revenue therefrom. It would be in the nature of a special subsidy to a particular business interest, and would be given to an individual whose inability or unwillingness has created the problem we are dealing with. 1156. The plea, too, that the position of the agricultural industry at the present time justifies such special treatment would imply that the difficulty is merely a temporary one, and that the subsidy asked would not be a permanent subsidy to the landlord, but would cease when the present difficulties were overtaken. Such a contention does not accord with the known facts. The housing of farm-servants in Scotland has always been unsatisfactory, and, even in the days before the agricultural depression set in, conditions were worse than they are to-day. In the essay on the " Construction of Farm Cottages," which received the premium from the Highland and Agricultural Society in 1834, the writer says :— From the very fact of the Highland Society having found it advisable to hold out premiums, as an inducement for the improvement of this class of houses, it is but too evident that they have until now been neglected. (Smith on the Construction of Cottages, Blackie & Son, 1834.) 1157. The Directors of the Association for Promoting Improvement in the Dwellings and Domestic Condition of Agricultural Labourers in Scotland, in their sixth Annual Report in January 1860, say :— This Association maintains that a deficiency of decent acconunodation is at the root of many of the evils complained of in the present relations between master and servant in the rural districts. (Blackwood & Sons, 1860.) In the memorandum prepared by the Senior Assistant Commissioner to the Royal Commission on Labour, 1894, on the Report of the Royal Commission on the Employment of Children, Young Persons, and Women in Agriculture, 1867 (C. 6894, xxiv., Section II. A, 57 and 59), the following quotation might almost apply to present conditions : — Notwithstanding, however, all that has been done of recent years, there is still great room for improvement, both as to quaUty and quantity of cottage accommodation. As regards the quality of cottage accommodation, the greatest amount of deficiency is to be found on outlying portions of large estates and on those smaller estates which have become subject to heavy burdens under the present system of entails. The Senior Assistant Commissioner adds : — ■ None of the other Assistant Commissioners speak of farms completely supplied with cottages for this accommodation of hired labourers, and indeed the general effect of their reports is to indicate a great deficiency in the number of cottages and the deplorable results which arose from that deficiency. These quotations, covering a period of forty years prior to the time of the agricultural depression which is now given as a reason for the inabihty of the landowners to provide the necessary housing accommodation, show that the estates have never properly equipped the farms with sufficient houses of a reasonable standard either as to quantity or quality. Hence the claim that agriculture is in a pecuhar position to-day, and that special assistance should be given to enable the proprietors to erect houses, is not one that can be defended by a reference to the known facts. 1158. Nor is there anything to show that the inability of the landlords is due to the present position of agriculture. A good deal of evidence was laid before us to show that estates were impoverished or burdened, but the causes of the impoverishment, or the purposes for which the burdens were laid upon the estates were not declared. (Esslemont, 31,412 ; Elder, 30,515 ; M'Kay, 15,753.) If it could be shown that the estates were in difficulties because the returns to the landowners were not sufficient to enable them to meet the charges for capital expenditure in the maintenance of the estates, there might 12 178 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. be a stronger claim for such special treatment ; but we have no reason to believe that the impoverished estates are in difficulty for this reason alone, and it would seem to us essential that that should be proved before the claim for such a subsidy could be considered. 11.59. If the State were to grant loans to landlords at a, low rate of interest to build cottages on their farms, conditions would have to be laid down requiring proof of financial inabihty of the landlord to provide the houses, and to prevent the landlord increasing rent. Other restrictive conditions would probably be found necessary. We do not therefore think that the policy suggested contains much promise of fulfilment of the purpose in view, namely, the improvement of the houses of the workers, the only gi'ound on which State assistance can be defended. 1160. There is the further and fundamental difficulty that the offer of loans to the landlords would not of itself ensure that the necessary houses would be built. In the case of proprietors whose estates were heavily burdened, they would be very reluctant to impose further burdens and charges upon their estates, and accordingly the estates which were probably most in need of new housing would be the least likely to benefit by this policy. If any landlord preferred not to incur any burden for housing, on the terms laid down by the State, it could not be made compulsory that he should accept the loan offered. Accordingly, from the practical point of view, as well as on the ground of pubhc policy, we cannot re- commend the granting of such loans. 1161. We recommend that the Local Authorities in rural areas should — with State assistance — have the statutory duty laid upon them of making or securing provision of a sufficiency of houses of a proper standard for the workers required in any district — -if proprietors or others fail to do so. If the Local Authority should decide that there is a shortage of houses of a proper standard, opportunity should be given to the proprietors of agricultural estates, or any other persons, to provide the necessary houses ; but, where the proprietors or other private persons fail to provide the requisite houses, the Local Authority shall build such houses and let them to tenants. Where the Local Authority decide to build houses, they should be entitled to acquire compulsorily, either by feu or purchase, the land necessary for sites. 1162. Objection was taken by several witnesses representing farmers and landowners to the houses for farm- workers being built by Local Authorities, on the grounds that farmers who employed men living in such houses would have no control over the houses, and might be prejudiced in their dealings with such employees ; that the men living in such houses would be independent of their control, and that it would seriously interfere with the working of the farm if the men were able to continue to reside in the houses although no longer employed on the farm. The witnesses representing the farm-servants urged quite as strongly that they ought not to be required to remove their dwellings every time they changed their employment. 1163. We believe that the difficulty from the farmers' standpoint has been over-emphasised. It is not suggested that the whole of the houses should be taken over by the Local Authorities, nor do we think that the whole of the houses required to reduce the shortage will be built by Local Authorities. The opportunity will first be provided for the proprietors to build the houses, and the conditions on which they will be occupied will be left to be decided by the conditions of engagement as at present. If the farmers do not wish to have houses that are independent of their control, it will be to their interest to bring pressure on the landowner to provide the necessary accommodation. The Local Authority wiU step in only when the other parties interested have failed to meet the need. In any event, we cannot believe that public sentiment will permit of public funds being used to erect houses whose occupation shall be in the absolute control of the employer. The public interest is served when proper housing for the workers is provided ; but it cannot be expected to expend public funds in safeguarding an employer against a risk that every employer has to undertake, and against which he provides in the ordinary course of his dealings with his workpeople. Further, if there is a sufficiency of proper housing accommodation in every district, as we propose there should be, the farmer will have no difficulty in getting labour sub- stitutes for men leaving him. There will, in a word, be sufficient houses in a district for the labour require- ments of the district. It is also only reasonable that the Local Authority will arrange the tenure of houses to suit the conditions of employment, and, in any case, in the interests both of landlord and tenant, the houses will be given on short lets, so that if a man in a particular district ceases to be employed he may be able to remove to another house in a reasonably short time. If there should be any intention on the part of a tenant to hold up a house and so prevent it being occupied by a worker necessary for the district, the Local Authority are not likely to allow him to stay on indefinitely in their house. The Local Authority will not, by their own action, contribute to a shortage of houses which they will be responsible for making good imder our proposals. 1164. We believe that much could be done to help to make rural life more attractive if Public Authori- ties would endeavour, where they find it necessary to build houses, to build these, as far as practicable, in groups or small villages. The increase of such small communities would do a great deal to stimulate the social life which is so lacking for farm-workers, and which is a potent cause of the drift to the towns. In many districts such groups could be made to serve the needs of several farms, and would enable yovmg people to secure employment without the necessity of leaving their own homes. There would not be the same necessity for men removing their homes every time they changed employment. This would tend to a more settled population, and that is most desirable if we hope to build up a rural population. This system is common in England, and it was pressed upon us by several witnesses. 1165. On the other hand, it was contended that the system would not suit Scottish farming condi- tions. We think that the truth Ues between these two points of view, and that it would be well to experi- ment with the proposal. We believe that conditions of farm service that are capable of change, and are changing rapidly, would adjust themselves to the new mode where the experiments were made. We do not suggest that all houses erected by Local Authorities should be built on this plan. The Local Authori- ties, who would have the requisite local knowledge, would be able to decide what was required in any district ; but we do urge that the problem should be faced with an .open mind to fresh suggestions, and that it should not be taken for granted that we must slavishly follow methods simply because they happen to have been found suitable under conditions that no longer obtain. We would also suggest that Local REPORT. 179 Authorities should experiment with the creation of holdings such as a ploughman could properly cultivate in his spare time, or with the aid of his family, and upon which he could keep a pig and poultry. We are not advocating here small holdings in the ordinary sense, but something of the nature of allotments attached to the dwelling-house, extending to half an acre or an acre. There is always a demand for such holdings. They attract the best type of men, and help to create links to retain them in a more settled occupation. Housing of Single Men. 1166. We are hopeful that a vigorous pohcy of improvement of existing houses, and the provision of more cottages, will do much to ease the problem of housing of single men. The best home for a young lad or girl is that provided by the parents, and the provision of more commodious cottages would do a great deal to secure that such a home was available for the young people. Alike in the interest of their education, which in the future is likely to be continued to a later age, and to secure the best atmosphere in which the future citizens will be trained, every effort should be made to encourage the young folks to retain their home influences longer than they can do at present in the districts where the bothy and kitchen systems play such a large part in the life of the agricultural community. There will always be cases, however, where the young men and women require to leave their homes in search of training or employ- ment, and it is essential that the conditions under which they are housed should be improved. 1167. Bothies. — Some witnesses urged that the bothy system should be abolished entirely (Macon- nachie, 14,342), and practically all were in favour of the system being reduced as far as practicable. Some witnesses advocated the kitchen system for young men in preference to the bothy, but the evidence from the bothy districts was that the young men preferred the bothy to the kitchen, and there is no doubt that there is less friction with the bothy than with the Icitchen system. The provision of food by the farmer's wife adds another element of friction. Complaints are frequent, and tend to become a source of grievance which leads to further unpleasantness in the daily relations of employers and employed, and there is an increasing reluctance on the part of the farmers' wives, on farms where a few yoimg men are boarded, to have the men in the kitchen. Often difficulties arise because of the female servants who have to attend on the men, and in farmhouses the difficulty of getting female domestics is as great as it is in other households. The men, too, prefer the freedom of the bothy. They like to have their own house and to be free to come and go as they please, and they are somewhat jealous of any interference. 1168. We do not think that it is practicable to abolish the bothy system entirely, and we think if a resolute effort were made to improve the conditions, that many of the objections could be removed. Many of the defects in the bothy system would disappear if the structures were improved and if the accommodation were better planned, and we shall make proposals later to this end ; but the system itself could be greatly improved by better regulations and by a better system of attendance. Most of the witnesses were agreed that the system was at its worst where a large number of men were housed together, and we believe that the provision of more cottages would remove this cardinal defect. It seems to us that the limit to be aimed at should be four men in a bothy ; when a larger number share one habitation, the difficulties are increased in every way. The farmer ought to make provision for better attendance on the bothy, for more regular and thorough cleaning, for more comfortable furnishing, and the men should be encouraged to secure assistance in cooking meals. These are matters in which specific regula- tions cannot be laid down, and any efforts towards an alteration of present methods in this direction should be judiciously made. We quite reahse that difficulties might be created by many of the men who have grown up imder the old system and who will not look kindly on any change. The bothy man is inclined to carry his independence to an extreme point, but we feel confident that if a general effort, is made to secure an alteration in the direction of more reasonable standards of comfort, the majority of the men will respond readily. Much of the difficulty in the past has been caused by the fact that no interest has been taken in the bothies, except in rare instances, and there has grown up a sentiment that the bothy has been outwith anyone's interest, and the men have never been encouraged to make more rational arrangements in their dwellings. 1169. The great defect, however, has been that the bothy, in the great majority of cases, could not be made decently habitable, and it was not expected to be anything else but a human stable. There seems no reason why bothy life should not be humanised and improved. We reconomend that the same standards should be applied to bothies as are made applicable to cottages. The structure should, in every case, be made as satisfactory as that of a cottage, and the accommodation should be on the same scale. A single room should not be inhabited by more than two persons. If more than two persons are to be housed, then separate sleeping accommodation should be compulsory, either on the cubicle system or by the provision of separate bedrooms. The house should be properly finished in the interior as we propose for cottages, and water should be brought into the house under the same conditions as we suggest for cottages, and scullery and sanitary accommodation provided. Proper storage accormnoda- tion should be insisted upon, so that food can be stored and clothes preserved. If this were done the inmates would have some sense of privacy, and a higher standard of personal conduct would be possible than rmder present conditions, and we believe this would in itself do much to raise the whole conception of the bothy above the standard at present prevailing. The first necessity is to provide the conditions of a tolerable home, and when that is done the provision of arrangements to secure a higher standard of occupancy will be more easily effected. There is nothing in the nature of the young farm-servant to justify less reasonable standards of housing in his case than those applied to other people ; he is as much affected by his surroundings as others are. The age at which he enters the bothy is the most plastic age, and we cannot be surprised if he should respond readily to the conditions prevailing. We are confident he would respond as readily to the improved conditions it he had the opportunity. 1170. The Kitchen System. — ^What we have said as to the structure and accommodation of the bothy applies, with slight modifications, to the sleeping chamber of the men who are boarded by the farmer. The only difference between the two is that the bothy requires accommodation for storing food, cooking utensils, and table-ware, and this is not necessary in the chaumer. Here also, however, a single room should not be habitable by more than two men, and there is the same necessity for a second room, or for 180 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. separate sleeping accommodation where more than two men are to be lodged. In the case of the chaumer there is the same necessity for a water-supply and washing accommodation, and for sanitary provision, and for better attendance and more thorough cleaning, than is at present provided. Other Rural Workers. 1171. Workers other than farm-servants have been gradually leaving the rural districts. The con- centration of industries in the larger centres, the organisation of the distributive trades in larger concerns, and the development of transit have all made this inevitable. 1172. The demand for casual labour, such as ditchers, drainers, hedgers, dykers, etc., is much less than formerly. The difficulty of making a living at such employment probably had most to do with these men leaving the country, but several witnesses stated that the lack of houses had an influence. (Esslemont, 31,409 ; Fenwick, 31,742.) A certain number of workers, such as postmen, railwaymen, roadmen, etc., have to reside in rural districts, and these have found increasing difficulty in securing houses. 1173. Rural Postmen. — ^Evidence was submitted on behalf of the postmen as to the difficulties they often encountered, and the handicap placed upon the employment of married postmen in rural areas because of the housing difficulty. (Stuart, 3769.) Postmen are obliged to live reasonably near their post offices, probably not more than a mile away, and this, of course, limits their choice of residence {Ibid., 3781.) An instance was given where a postman died, and the Postal Authorities wanted to put another, a married man, into the house, but the house was required for an estate man ; (this was a case where a proprietor had rented his house previously for use of a postman, but, later, required it for his own estate purposes) ; and consequently the Post Office vacancy had to be filled up by an unmarried man, because there were no houses available for married men. (Milne Home, 29,858-60.) The Post- men's Federation take up the position that the Postmaster-General should be responsible for providing housing accommodation for the staff. (Stuart, 3770.) They base this on the regulation of the Post- master-General that the postman is required to live within a certain distance of the office to which he is attached, and that this ought to be met by the provision of suitable housing by the Department. The Department took the position that the provision of housing accommodation was no part of their business, and that they arranged for single men being employed where housing was not available. (Kirkwood, 3838, 3843.) We think that in the case of a public servant it is not in the public interest that this handicap should be placed on the employment of married men. 1174. The difficulty might be met by the Local Authority building houses, to which should be attached small pieces of land or gardens, which rural postmen and their families could work to advantage. This would form part of a larger scheme which might be undertaken in rural districts to meet the general housing difficulties. As far as rural districts are concerned, it would seem reasonable that the Local Authorities should do something to meet this need. Within the last ten years postal facilities in the more remote districts have been largely extended, and this service, while of the greatest convenience to the inhabitants, is carried on at a loss to the Post Office. It would not, therefore, seem imreasonable to ask the Local Authority representing those districts to provide houses for the postmen engaged in these services, for which they would be quite ready to pay rent. It would not be a serious obligation, as cases of " proved necessity " are not numerous, and are to be found principally in the remoter parts of rural districts. (Stuart, 3804-5-6.) 1175. Railwaymen. — The housing of railway servants in rural districts is generally inadequate and poor. Many railway employees have to put up with anything they can get, and make no complaints for fear of being turned out and losing their jobs, no other convenient house being available in the district. This shortage leads to overcrowding and discomfort, not to speak of the uncertainty of the accommodation available. (Johnstone Douglas, 2404 ; Fenwick, 31,743-9 ; Middleton, 30,122.) 1176. Provision is made in certain cases by the companies, and in such cases they should be treated in the same way as proprietors of estates are. If they fail to provide proper accommodation, the Local Authority should have the same power to deal with them as we have suggested in the case of estate owners for the houses of farm-servants. 1177. Local Authority Employees. — ^A beginning has been made in the provision of houses for roadmen and for the servants of the Local Authorities. (Dobbie, p. 337 (12) ; Mihie Home, 29,862 ; Ralston, 30,285 ; Smith, 28,676.) We had a good deal of evidence, however, that the difficulty of finding houses for road- men was serious in many districts, and that little was being done by the Local Authorities to meet the difficulty. The men are left to secure such houses as they can, and in many instances have to fall back on farm cottages not required by the farmers, or on other houses which may happen to be vacant. (Elder, 30,491 ; Esslemont, 31,407 ; Fenwick, 31,745 ; Middleton, 30,114.) This seems to us to be entirely unsatisfactory. Such houses as they may secure in this way are, in the nature of things, likely to be the less satisfactory farm cottages, or houses so inconveniently situated as to add to the daily labour of the men, and the Local Authorities are bound to suffer. It is hardly to be expected that landowners will find houses for men not directly or indirectly in their service, and the Local Authorities who employ the workers referred to have hitherto been reluctant to build if they can avoid it. It is true, however, that Local Authorities are beginning to realise their responsibility to their workpeople, and, further, that it is" in their own interest to do so, because better houses attract better men. In some parts the Local Authorities are building or renting cotta'ges for their men, while in other parts they appear to leave them to find accommodation where they can. Many of these workers are, as we have indicated, housed on " sufferance," e.g. in a cottage belonging to a farm that may not for the time be required. If, how- ever, a married ploughman or carter is engaged for the farm, the workman (usually a roadnlan) so housed on sufferance has to quit. We recommend that Local Authorities should be responsible for the provision of satisfactory houses at convenient centres for their own employees, — roadmen, policemen, and other like officials. Observations upon Minority Proposals. 1178. Our colleagues of the Minority differ from us on two principal questions, viz. (1) the granting of loans at a low rate of interest to landowners to enable them to build cottages, and (2) the proposal REPORT. 181 to make the farm tenant fully and solely responsible for all ordinary upkeep during the lease. We have given our reasons why we cannot agree to the granting of loans to landowners, and have stated that, in our opinion, the owner of the house ought to be the party who is responsible for the condition of that house. We see no reason why the ordinary law should be altered in the case of the owner of farm cottages, nor do we think that the course proposed by our colleagues would achieve the end we all have in view. Indeed, the proposal they make does not remove the responsibihty from the owner, but simply gives the power to the tenant to carry out any necessary repairs and reclaim from the landlord in the Civil Court the cost of such repairs. There is no evidence to show that the farmer would be more alert in attending to such repairs ; indeed, the opinion of our colleagues is that he has been more remiss than the landlords in the past. Nor would the power to reclaim such cost of repairs remove the element of friction between the parties ; it would simply alter the incidence of that friction, and the difficulties and un- certainties of such a method of reclaiming would be a sufficient deterrent to prompt action on the part of the tenant. The farmer, in order to keep himself safe, would always be anxious to secure the consent of the landlord, and that would simply result in a reversion to the present position. The great majority of farmers would — ^naturally — do very little without the proprietor's consent, and would not execute repairs if they knew or believed they would have to sue the proprietor to recover the cost. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XV. (1) That — ^under reference to the standard of accommodation and habitability prescribed in a later chapter as applicable to houses generally — the following are essential conditions of proper housing for rural workers : — (o) Every site should be so drained that the surface water should be carried away from the dwelling. (6) Provision should be made for rones and for the proper disposal of water from the roofs and walls. (c) Clay or earth floors should not be permitted, and imder-floor ventilation should be provided. {d) The finishing of the internal walls so as to provide a comfortable dwelling should be obligatory. (e) Proper storage accommodation should be provided. (Paragraph 1145.) (/) Provision of water-supplies. (Paragraph 1146.) {g) A properly equipped water-closet or priAry should be provided for every cottage. (Para- graph 1147.) {Note. — Recommendation as to provision of baths is dealt with in another chapter.) (2) That responsibility for seeing that existing houses are brought up to a standard of habitability sketched in the previous recommendation, and as set forth in a subsequent chapter, should be placed, in the first instance, on the Local Authority. (Paragraph 1149.) (3) That a complete and detailed survey of rural cottages should be undertaken at once. (Paragraph 1149.) (4) That the staffs of the Public Health Departments in coimty areas should be increased to enable them to overtake the work which will be rendered necessary by the above recommendations. (Para- graph 1149.) (5) That the proprietors and not the farmers should be responsible for the proper maintenance of cottages on the farms, and that the Local Authority should be empowered to require that the houses provided by the proprietors shall satisfy the necessary minimum of accommodation and conditions recommended above and elsewhere, and that the proprietors maintain such houses in satisfactory con- dition. (Paragraph 11-51.) (6) That it shall not be legal for the proprietor to contract himself (by lease or otherwise) out of this responsibility. (Paragraph 1151.) (7) That in fulfilment of their duty to have houses brought up to the standard specified, the Local Authority should proceed (where houses are not up to that standard) to serve notice upon the proprietors interested to have the necessary repairs and alterations effected, or, failing this, that the occupation of the house shall be prohibited. (Paragraph 1153.) (8) That in cases where the house is capable of being brought up to required standard of habitability, and the expenditure in so doing would be economic, and the proprietors are unable to find the capital necessary, the Local Authority should be empowered to advance the sum necessary for any approved expenditure, and to recover the capital and interest by an assessment on the proprietor — over a period of years — sufficient to recoup the Local Authority. (Paragraph 1153.) (9) That in the event of the proprietor failing to avail himseK of the offer of assistance as above, the house should be closed. (Paragraph 1153.) -^ (10) That if closing houses of this kind leads to a shortage of housing in the district, the Local Authority should make good the shortage. (Paragraph 1153.) (11) That the Local Authority should (with State assistance) have the statutory duty laid upon them of seeing that sufficient houses of a proper standard are provided for the workers in any district (if proprietors or others fail to do so). (Paragraph 1161.) (12) That the Local Authority should be entitled to acquire compulsorily, either by feu or purchase, any land necessary for housing purposes. (Paragraph 1161.) (13) That so far as practicable. Local Authorities should build houses required in rural districts in groups or small villages. (Paragraph 1164.) (14) That Local Authorities should experiment with the creation of holdings such as a ploughman could properly cultivate in his spare time, or with the aid of his family, and upon which he could keep a pig and poultry. (Paragraph 1 1 65. ) (15) That the bothy system of housing single men could be greatly improved by better regulations and by a better system of attendance. (Paragraph 1168.) (16) That the provision of more cottages as recommended should reduce the necessity for housing together a large number of men in a bothy. (Paragraph 1168.) 182 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (17) That the limit of men housed in a bothy should be four. (Paragraph 1168.) (18) That the farmer should make provision for better attendance in the bothy, for more regular and thorough cleaning, and for more comfortable furnishings, and should encourage the men to secure assistance in cooking meals. (Paragraph 1168.) (19) That the same standards of habitability should be applied to bothies as are made applicable to cottages. (Paragraph 1169.) (20) That the structure of a bothy should, in every case, be made as satisfactory as that of a cottage, and the accommodation should be on the same scale. (Paragraph 1169.) (21) That a single room should not be inhabited by more than two persons, and if more than two persons are to be housed, separate sleeping accommodation should be compulsory, either on the cubicle system or by the provision of separate bedrooms. (Paragi'aph 1169.) (22) That the house should be properly finished in the interior in the same way as is proposed for cottages. (Paragraph 1169.) (23) That water should be brought into the house under the same conditions as is suggested for cottages, and that scullery and sanitary accommodation should be provided. (Paragraph 1169.) (24) That proper storage accommodation — so that food can be stored and clothes preserved — should be insisted on. (Paragraph 1169.) (25) That in the kitchen system of housing single men the recommendations above as to structure and accommodation of the bothy should apply with slight modifications as to the sleeping chamber of the men who are boarded by the farmer — the only difference between the two being that the bothy requires accommodation for storing food, cooking utensils, and table-ware, and this is not necessary in the chaumer. (Paragraph 1170.) (26) That in the kitchen system — as in the bothy system — a single room should not be inhabited by more than two men, and that there is the same necessity for a second room or for separate sleeping accommodation where more than two men are to be lodged. (Paragraph 1170.) (27) That a water-supply, washing accommodation, sanitary provision, better attendance, and more thorough cleaning than is presently provided are all as necessary in the case of the chaumer as in the case of the bothy. (Paragraph 1170.) (28) That where required for rural postmen. Local Authorities should provide houses — to which should be attached small pieces of land or gardens. This provision of houses for rural postmen would form part of any laiger scheme which might be imdertaken in rural districts to meet general housing difficulties. (Paragraph 1174.) (29) That in the case of railway-servants in rural districts, the railway companies should be put in the same case as we have suggested for proprietors of estates. (Paragraph 1176.) (30) That where railway companies fail to provide proper accommodation for their employees, Local Authorities should have the same powers to deal with them as have been suggested in the case of estate owners for the housing of farm-servants. (Paragraph 1176.) (31) That in the case of employees of Local Authorities (such as roadmen, policemen, etc.), these Authorities should be required to provide, or see that there are provided, proper houses at convenient centres for such public servants. CHAPTER XVI. HOUSING CONDITIONS IN FISHING COMMUNITIES. Introductory. . 1179. In this chapter it is proposed to give a short descriptive account of the housing conditions of the permanent population in representative fishing communities. This accoimt will be quite distinct from that given, in another chapter, of the housing of the temporary workers, such as herring-gutters, who migrate from port to port according to the duration of the fishing season. 1180. In our inquiry into the housing conditions in the fishing communities two points specially emerged, and we propose to refer to these before describing the existing housing conditions. The first of these is common to other districts of Scotland, but seems to prevail in greater proportion in the fishing communities. We refer to the question of the number of persons who occupy a house of which they are the owners. This state of matters prevails largely in the fishing communities. It has been common for the more successful fishermen to invest their savings in the improvement of their dwellings or the erection of new houses, which they proceed to occupy. The system of occupying ownership can be studied in these communities under various conditions, and the most widely differing results are seen to follow from it. In certain districts there has been a rapid increase of prosperity, which is clearly reflected in the houses ; but in others there has been a steady; if somewhat less rapid, decline, owing to the change in the methods of fishing from the old sailing vessel to the steam trawler and the consequent concentra- tion of the trade in and around certain large centres. In the villages which, through some failure in initiative or adaptability, or through the departure of the industry from their neighbourhood, have fallen into decUne, there is apt to be left a deposit of extremely defective housing, for which no person assumes effective responsibility. In such cases it is almost impossible, owing to the impoverishment of the owners of the houses, to secure necessary repairs and improvements being executed, more especially where the house has become much dilapidated. But, as we have said, this state of matters is not peculiar to the fishing communities, and in another part of this Report we discuss fully the whole question of the poor owner in relation to the upkeep and maintenance of his house. It is not necessary therefore to deal further here with the matter in relation to the housing of fishermen. REPORT. 183 1181. The second special point to which we would refer is the peculiar tenure on which the sites of many of the houses in the fishing villages are held. In some places the houses are bmlt on feus. In other places, however, the practice appears to be for the owner of the house to pay to the estate authorities a specified sum annually for the stance, but the owner has in law no title to the ground on which his house is built. When the owner sells the house, he informs the estate authorities, and the latter make the necessary alteration of ownership in the estate books. Our evidence does not show that this ill-defined tenure has ever been broken through from the landlord's side, or that the fisherman's house or improve- ments have been confiscated on account of the irregularity of his tenure. But the position cannot be regarded as a satisfactory one, and in Chapter XXIII. of this Report, dealing with Leasehold Tenure, we refer to this particular practice and make suggestions for the owner of the house obtaining a proper title to the site of his house. 1182. We will now proceed to a description of the existing housing conditions in these commimities. There are three main groups of villages on which we obtained evidence — (A) Those in the south, especially along the Filth of Forth ; (B) those in Aberdeenshire and Banffshire ; (C) those in the North and North- west of Scotland. In addition to obtaining evidence from witnesses conversant with the conditions prevailing in these localities, we visited several of them and verified for ourselves the accounts with which we had been furnished. (A) Housing Conditions in FismNO Communities in the South op Scotland. 1 183. As regards the fishing communities in Berwickshire, the Medical Officer for the coimty reported that the housing conditions in St Abbs were fair, while in Eyemouth they were bad, and in Bummouth very bad. In the last-named place it is stated that the houses are placed at the foot of precipitous cUffs, and that the cliffs have fallen in until the houses are almost buried. (M'Whan, 38,272-3.) Another witness stated that in this village sites for new houses could only be found if the old houses were pulled down. In these villages, as in the fishing villages of East Lothian, there is said to be a serious lack of sanitary appliances. (Skinner, Appendix I. (2) ; M'Whan, 38,274.) 1184. The housing conditions in the group of small burghs in East Fife that are chiefly inhabited by fishermen are reported to be good. (Maxwell, 18,671 (5) (21), 18,701 ff.) We did not visit these burghs, and accordingly we are unable to confirm this statement from personal observation. 1185. Evidence was also given regarding the fishing village of Dunure in Ayrshire, where, according to one witness, there is much overcrowding. He states that in one case four adults and two children reside in a one-apartment house, while in another similar house a man with his wife and five children reside. About half of the village is composed of houses of one apartment. The same witness also cited a case in which practically the whole of a large family resident in one of these one-room fishermen's houses had been carried off by consumption. In cross-examination he stated that the fishing in Dunure, after passing through a period of depression, seemed now to be prosperous, as all the fishermen had acquired motor-boats, and they could supplement their earnings by letting their houses to summer visitors. Thus there appears less reason for congested housing in this than in many other cases. (Buchanan Lang, Clerk to the Maybole Parish Council, and representative of the Society of Inspectors of Poor for Scotland, 38,351 (5-9), 38,400 ff.) (B) Housing Conditions in Fishing Communities in Aberdeenshire and Neighbouring Counties. 1186. (a) Stonehaven and Aberdeen. — The fishing communities in this part of Scotland vary in the extent to which houses are owned by their occupiers. In the course of our visit to Stonehaven we found that the fishermen there, whose number seems to be diminishing, live for the most part in rented houses which are well kept. Many of the old and defective houses have been either demolished or improved at the instance of the Local Authority. Rents appeased to be moderate, £6 or £6, 10s. being charged for " a half house," i.e. two rooms, one above the other, the stair being shared with the tenant of the otl er half of the dwelling. The rooms are of good size and well kept, and sometimes there is a small garret for nets in addition ; but the complaint was general that the storage room for lines and nets was insufficient. A further drawback is that the baiting of lines for line-fishing, which takes from five to seven hours, is frequently done in the hving-rooms. 1187. In the city of Aberdeen, the new quarter of Torry is largely occupied by men engaged in fishing with trawlers or drifters. The modern type of tenement here, which is in some cases owned by men engaged in fishing, is referred to elsewhere. (See Chapter VIII., Paragraph 513.) 1188. (6) Aberdeenshire Villages. — ^We may take Caimbulg, Inverallochy, and Boddam, visited by one of our number, as typical of the fishing communities in Aberdeenshire. In these villages the houses are old and damp as well as very irregularly placed. At Cairnbulg many of them stand end-on to the street. This is also the case in Pitullie, a little east of Fraserburgh, where the space between houses is very narrow. The Sanitary Inspector for Banffshire notes the same conditions in Whitehills, where the back walls of the oldest houses are only separated by narrow spaces of from 18 inches to 5 feet, and so the houses approach very near to the type of back-to-back houses. (Appendix CLVII. (15).) 1189. Sanitary accommodation of any kind is the exception, even in the solid two-storey houses built by some of the more prosperous fishermen. The drainage scheme and the water-supply in Caimbulg and Inverallochy are not good enough for water-closets to be practical politics, and though the water- supply is recent and has been expensive, the Coimty Authorities are pressing for its improvement. A further difficulty is the lack of space round the houses, particularly in Boddam. 1190. Boddam has a good water-supply, stand-pipes being fairly numerous, and also forms a ' drainage and scavenging district, but there is no lighting scheme. 184 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Typical Fishing Centres in Banffshire. 1191. It may be convenient to describe one or two of the fishing communities of Banffshire. As an example of the most progressive type of fishing community we may take Findochty, which was formed into a police burgh in the spring of 1914 — the only new burgh, so far as. we are aware, created in Scotland during the period of our inquiry. Gardenstown may, on the other hand, be taken as repre- sentative of the villages, which in the main have retained the old type of houses. 1192. Dr Ledingham, the County Medical Officer for BanfEshire, points out that there are consider- able differences between the different villages. Enterprise and progress are well marked in some, and these qualities may be estimated by the character of the housing and the number of steam drifters belonging to the village. Some villages have remained practically stationary. In one village a fisherman's ambition is first to own a house and afterwards a drifter, while in another the first ambition is a drifter and afterwards a house. (Appendix CXC, Paragraph 1.) 1193. Findochty. — This village (or rather burgh) is, according to Dr Ledingham, the most progressive in the matter of housing of all the villages on the Banffshire coast. Up to twenty-five or thirty years ago it was a small fishing conamunity. The older houses were of the kitchen, room, and closet type, built as near to the sea as possible, and with httle or no regard to any system of town planning. On accoimt of the great development in the fishing industry, particularly in drifter building, there has recently been a period of considerable prosperity. A village has sprung into existence with housing of a very superior type, water being introduced into the newer houses, water-closets being provided, and also accommoda- tion for storing fishing-gear. Many of the older houses have been reconstructed, mainly by adding to the height of the walls to provide over the dwelling-house a store for fishing-gear. Water and water-closets are gradually being introduced into the older houses. In some parts of the original village the orginal houses remain, but even with these in a general way there is little fault to find except that water and sanitary accommodation are not very generally provided. 1194. There are 366 separate families in the village, and of these 264 own and occupy their own dwellings. There are 114 houses rented at under £5, 161 between £5 and under £10, and 91 at £10 and over. (Ledingham, Appendix CXC. (2).) 1195. Gardenstown. — This village is situated on the narrow ledge or series of ledges at the foot of great overhanging chffs, and between them and the sea. It is a prosperous little village, and has been particularly enterprising in the matter of steam-drifter building. There has not, in recent years, been much activity in house building. Perhaps on an average one house a year is built. There has been little extension of the village on new ground. Such houses as have been built have been erected mainly on old stances. By the extension of the water system to the area above the cliffs new feuiag groimd is being laid off, and Dr Ledingham states building would have commenced here had the war not interrupted the scheme. The building space being so hmited and the preparation of a house foundation so costly, every available foot of ground is occupied by a building, the houses in some parts being packed together as closely as they can stand. 1196. Fifty of the houses in Gardenstown have sinks, with water and sewer connections. The others draw their water from the street wells. Only ten houses have water-closets. A few may have dry-closet accommodation, but the majority have no sanitary accommodation of any kind. 1197. There are 254 separate famihes in the village, and of these 148 own and occupy their own houses. There are 180 houses rented at under £5, 65 between £5 and imder £10, and 9 at £10 and over. (Ledingham, Appendix CXC. (28).) 1198. The village is a special water, drainage, scavenging, and fighting district. (Ledingham, Appendix CXC.) 1199. General. — It will thus be seen that the fishing villages in Aberdeenshire and on the Moray Firth contain a wide range of housing conditions. In Findochty and elsewhere rapid progress has been made in providing substantial houses, while the, older and poorer houses are well kept. Only in the inadequate provision of sanitary appliances can the majority of these villages be considered seriously deficient. At the same time, in the crowded and irregular placing of the houses we see a product of the older individualism. In more than one of the Banffshire villages this is due to the restricted sites at the base of cliffs, but the same defect appears in other villages where there is no similar natural obstacle. This, however, can be overcome by better planning in the future. (C) Housing Conditions in Fishing Villages in the North of Scotland. 1200. Very full evidence was laid before us regarding a group of fishing villages on the eastern sea-board of Eoss and Sutherland. These represent a very different, and much less progressing and prosperous, type of community than the fishing villages of the Moray Firth. 1201. (a) Avoch and Hilton (Ross-shire). — The houses in Avoch are small and old fashioned, and are irregularly placed and crowded together, and there is considerable overcrowding ; but we noticed that both the exterior and the interior of the houses were extremely well kept. 1202. In the small village of Hilton, further north, there is said to be serious overcrowding, as the population tends to increase. There are forty-four famihes in twenty-two houses, owned by the people themselves, and it is not to anyone's interest to provide new houses. 1203. (b) Cromarty. — The fishermen's houses in Cromarty are very small, and are so crowded to- gether that it is practically impossible to enforce the provision of water-closets. (J. Ross, 15,890 ff.) On the occasion of our visit, the effect of the baiting of lines and other shore work in fouling the surround- ings of the houses was very apparent, and a drastic reconstruction of this portion of the burgh would appear to be urgently called for ; only the financial difficulty intervenes at every turn. It is only fair to add that the Provost stated to us that, through the steady pressure exercised by the officials, there had been a marked improvement in the previous fifteen years ; much, however, remains to be done. (J. Ross, 15,891.) REPORT. 185 1204. (c) Embo, Golspie, Brora, and Helmsdale (Sutherlandshire). — North of the Domoch Firth there is a group of small fishing communities at Embo, Golspie, Brora, and Helmsdale. According to the county Sanitary Inspector, the fishermen's houses in these villages are going from bad to worse, the main cause being the poverty of the fishermen, who still work small hand lines and small boats for white fishing, with which they eke out a precarious living during part of the year. The younger men go as hired hands on the steam drifters and liners during the herring season. 1205. The Sanitary Inspector reports that the houses are mainly of the " but-and-ben " order, with dark centre closet and defective roof. In many cases they are without plaster, the walls being generally covered with layer upon layer of wallpaper. They are damp to a degree. The kitchen, which is used as the general utility room for eating and sleeping in, is also used for baiting lines, and the earthen floor is often " in a mucky state with fishy liquid and decaying bait." 1206. The villages, too, are reported to be dangerously overcrowded. In Brora and Golspie, 35 per cent, or thereby of the population live in single-room houses, as many as seven persons being found in a room of 1090 cubic feet capacity. In a number of instances in these villages, in cottages of four small rooms and back-closet each, three families are housed, with anything from twelve to eighteen persons entering by the same door. 1207. Sanitary conveniences are practically non-existent. The great majority of the houses (90 per cent, according to the Sanitary Inspector) are, in the circumstances, very clean inside, the surrounding appearances of the dwellings forming a contrast. The seagull is responsible for a large precentage of the scavenging. Water-closets and privies, except in the few newer houses, are the exception. (Rose, 15,465 (3) etc.) 1208. The conditions in Embo itself are described by the county officials as bad. The interiors of the houses are on the whole well kept, but there is a great lack of scavenging. " Refuse of bait, empty ' shells, etc., are thrown out and allowed to lie practically anywhere. . . . There is one striking fact, ' that the infant mortality in Embo, the most insanitary village in the county, and where the houses all 'belong to occupiers, is always exceedingly high." Indeed, the Medical Ofiicer for the county, from whose evidence this statement is taken, went so far as to say that " practically the only infants that ' die in the count)- die in Embo." There has also been great difiiculty in securing a suitable water- supply for Embo, and even after some £11,000 had been expended by the Duke of Sutherland, Mr Carnegie, and the County Council, the result was still unsatisfactory. The placing of the houses in long parallel rows, and the fact that each row claims the ground behind as far as the next row, causes difficulties in regard to cleansing and drainage. (Brenmer, 14,712 (19-23), 14,780 fE. ; Rose, 16,001 fE.) 1209. A few of the fishermen in Embo — ^thirteen in nine or ten years— had built, conform with the Local Authority's building byelaws, good new houses containing a but and ben and closet downstairs and two attics upstairs, with sheds for the nets outside. But this only represents a small proportion of new houses in a village with a population of about 800. (Rose, 15,603 fE.) 1210. (d) Lower Brora (Sutherlandshire). — The conditions in this village were amongst the worst we saw. The number of houses in the village is not large, but we venture to describe in some detail the conditions we found in order to show the degree of dilapidation which may prevail in the housing of a community which has fallen into poverty and in which no resources are available for the most necessary improvements. A descriptive accoimt of the housing conditions is given by Dr Dittmar, the Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board, in the evidence he placed before us (340 (44)), and our own investigations on the spot confirmed the impressions made by his evidence. 1211. With few exceptions the houses are all old and chiefly single-storey cottages ; a few have two storeys, the upper rooms merely lofts under the sloping roofs, and provided with the usual form of sky- light window in the roof. In some cases the space under the roof is used for storing fishing-gear only, but in others (and these the majority of cases) it is used for bedroom as well as for storeroom purposes. The houses are built of stone, but there are no damp courses in the walls, and the inside walls are not " strapped " or lined with lath and plaster. The condition of the floors cannot be better described than in Dr Dittmar's own words. He says : — In almost all cases the floor consists of the bare earth. In some instances a layer of boards has been laid direct on the earth, in others there is a flagstone floor, or, in a few cases, a brick one. In other cases again, linoleum has been laid on the ground in one or several layers, or on top of sacking. The floors in most houses- are very irregular, there being depressions and elevations all over them. I was informed that in wet weather water collects in the depressions, and from the structure of the houses I could well believe it. 1212. The roofs of the houses are mainly of slates, and, according to Dr Dittmar, are in a fair state of repair. In some cases, however, the houses are roofed with tiles, and these roofs are very defective. Rain gets into these houses through the roofs, and also snow. One house is reported to be partly straw- thatched and partly roofed with felt. There are no rainfall spouts and no eaves spouting, except occasion- ally a stretch above the doorway. Rain-water thus falls directly on the ground, and is allowed to soak into the soil immediately around the house. The subsoil is of sand, as already indicated. 1213. This village of Lower Brora presents several diSiculties. Traditionally, a rent is charged for the stance on which the house is built, but no rent for the house itself. The owner of the ground disclaims responsibility for the structure or repair of the houses. The tenants themselves have not sufficient capital to maintain the houses in repair. Most of the houses, as indicated above, are unfit for occupation. The result is a deadlock. The owner of the ground, who draws a rent for the stances, declines to put the houses into habitable condition, and, apparently, there is no legal power to require him to do so. The tenants themselves, on account of their economic condition, are unfit to execute repairs, and, in many cases, repairs would have to be so radical that they would cost more than a new house. 1214. (e) Lerivick — Garthspool. — So far the difficulties encountered have been those caused by the decline of certain fishing communities through the shifting of the fishing industry, or by the failure of the enterprise of the people ; but corresponding problems are raised in the districts which benefit by the growth of the fishing industry. The extreme overcrowding in Wick, referred to in Chapter XII., 186 ROYAL COMMISSION ON -HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Paragraph 766, is due to this cause. But there are two special cases in which houses built in a temporary form to meet a sudden influx of population have remained in use when they ought to have been con- demned, since permanent housing was not provided to supersede them. 1215. The first case is that of the " Scotch colony " at Gartbspool and Holmsgarth in the landward portion of the town of Lerwick. The members of the colony migrated from the Moray Firth about 1897, attracted by a successful haddock fishing ; the haddock fishing has since become comparatively unremunerative, and the colony seems simk in poverty ; some of the more enterprising have secured substantial houses, but the majority continue to hve in congested and insanitary wooden huts. (Skinner, Appendix I. (5).) This description by the representative of the Fishery Board was amplified by a local witness, whose words those of us who visited Garthspool can fully endorse : — The bulk of these houses are simply wooden erections neither wind- nor water-tight. They stand on bad sites, with no drainage, and the surroundings of them are filthy in many cases ; they are surrounded with . . . fish ofEal and refuse of every description. (Pottinger, 11,838.) Nearly eighteen months before our visit, the houses had been condenmed by the Medical Officer for the county as unfit for habitation. (Yule, 12,009, 12,039 ff.) 1216. Since these houses, if they can be dignified by the name, were erected by or for the original incomers, they have passed into different hands, and now a rent of £4 to £6 per room is being charged for buildings, the capital (i.e. firewood) value of which was estimated by the Sanitary Inspector as £6, 10s. — the sum actually obtained for one which had been condemned. (M. White, 12,056, 12,145 ff.) 1217. The reasons why these houses have continued to be occupied during a number of years, in spite of reports by the Local Authority and representations by the Local Government Board, are apparently two. (1) There is a lack of alternative accommodation, and the perpetually recurring question, " If you ' close these houses, where are the people to go ? " In this respect these houses form merely the most acute portion of the general housing problem of Lerwick. But (2) while this is so, they are outwith the burgh, in the county area, where the total rates in 1913 were 8s. 5d. in the £ — greatly above that in the burgh. Thus a deadlock had been reached, as the county could not afford to take drastic action, while the burgh naturally objected to extend its boundaries to take in an area burdened with an unsolved problem of this kind. (Sinclair, 11,954 fE; cf. Yule, 12,045.) 1218. (/) Mallaig (Inverness-shire.) — ^A somewhat similar state of things has arisen lately at Mallaig on the West Coast, where a community of fishermen live in wooden houses under conditions of consider- able overcrowding. The huts are crowded close together with no idea of order or appearance. They are of simple arrangement, consisting of a single apartment usually divided up by partitions to ac- commodate beds, making the living part of the hut very small and inadequate for cooking, baiting lines, washing, etc. The roofs are of felt, and no provision is made for carrying away the roof water. There is only one door and usually one or two small windows, which in most cases are simply panes of glass fitted in a space in the wall and are fixed ; a few open in the form of a French window. The usual form of fireplace is an American stove projecting into the room and with an iron pipe through the roof. The atmosphere is thus much too warm and badly ventilated, and seven and eight occupants are often occupying this small space, rendered worse, if that is possible, by the work carried on in it on a wet day, e.g. baiting lines. Water is carried by the occupants from a tap fitted up on the area. Water-closets are provided at the rate of six for over twenty families. They are not much used, however, owing to their position, the approach to them being so rough and the locality not being lighted at night. House refuse and excreta are carried down to the sea, but a good deal of the refuse from the baiting, such as shells, etc., is left scattered about, adding to the general untidiness. (Mrs J. Macrae, 27,948 (2).) 1219. As indicative of the overcrowding that exists in these huts, one witness stated that in a two- apartment hut, size 26 feet by 24 feet, divided into two rooms, there were four children and two adults. One of the children was confined to bed with tuberculous disease, and occupied a cot in the living-room, the only ventilation being the open door in good weather, as in neither room did the windows open. In a similar two-apartment hut there were living a father, mother, and eight children. (Mrs J. Macrae, 27,948 (2).) 1220. The same witness said she knew of one or two cases of overcrowding where there were eight children and the parents, and lodgers in addition, in a one-room house with a partition. The over- crowding is largely seasonal, as there is an influx of about 150 girl workers at two different seasons of the year. Separate accommodation has been provided for only a few of these ; consequently the majority have to be taken as lodgers into the already overcrowded houses or huts described above. (Mrs Macrae, 27,971, 27,981 ; Alison, 15,296.) 1221. It was distinctly stated by the Sanitary Inspector for the county that these houses were not intended to be permanent ; they were erected about 1902 " as a trial, first of all, to see if the fishing ' was to succeed. They are erected on ground belonging to the railway company, with nominal pay- ' ments of £1 a year for the site." It appears, however, that the only available piece of ground suitable for the erection of permanent dwellings is across the bay on the opposite side from where the huts are, but there is no road to that site. The cost of providing a road and of introducing water-supply and drainage would be very considerable. The Local Authority considered some years ago the question of undertaking these works, and made application for a grant-in-aid to the Congested Districts Board. The application was refused, and nothing further has been done. (Mackintosh, 15,294 ff.) 1222. At Mallaig the exceedingly rocky and restricted site of the village forms an exceptional source of difficulty ; but the whole situation there emphasises the necessity of securing the provision of permanent houses for such a colony of fishermen as soon as it passes the first experimental stage and becomes an estabhshed centre. Permanence of Fishing Centres. 1.223. As was to be expected, the evidence on this subject varied widely in the three groups of communities just dealt with. The most decided progress in recent years has certainly been made by the REPORT. 187 towns and villages on the Moray Firth and in N. Aberdeenshire. In these there appeared to be no lack of confidence regarding the future ; and in many places much has been done by the fishermen to erect new and substantial houses out of profits since the steam-drifter came into vogue. 1224. In the other districts dealt with the question of the permanence of the fishing was repeatedly raised. The conditions of the fishing communities in the Outer Islands are a distinct problem and are dealt with in Chapter XVIII. As regards the remaining districts, the most definite conclusion seemed to be that the large centres had a much greater chance of stability than the small. (Skinner, 695 £f.) 1225. The Sanitary Inspector for Sutherland mentioned that some of the fishermen in that district had given up fishing altogether because their own boats were behind the times and could not compete with the steam-drifter and motor-boat. These men were now seeking work on land. The Medical Ofiicer, on the other hand, stated that, while Helmsdale had undoubtedly lost seriously because of the growth of the Wick fishing, the smaller villages, such as Embo, had not gone down in recent years. In winter they had the small-boat fishing inshore, and in summer could make their living with their own boats or as hired men at Wick or elsewhere. (Rose, 15,488 ; Brenmer, 14,822 ff.) 1226. Thus the Sutherlandshire villages might come to hold the game relation to Wick as Rose- hearty, Caimbulg, etc., hold to Fraserburgh, although the greater distance must be a disadvantage. There is much to be said in favour of any policy which would help the smaller fishing communities to persist in their own districts rather than that they should be absorbed in a few large centres. The ability of fishermen to find the capital necessary for the provision of improved housing is largely bound up with the stability of the industry in their particular district. In another portion of this Report we deal with the whole question of the responsibiUty for the provision of improved or new houses, and the matter in relation to the special position of occupying owners- — such as the fishermen referred to — is discussed. Temporary Housing. 1227. As already indicated, the special problems associated with housing in fishing communities will be discussed, and a policy suggested in later portions of this Report ; but it seems desirable here to consider the case of housing at new fishing stations whose value and permanence is not yet proved. (This is, of course, separate from the question, dealt with elsewhere, of accommodation for the girls employed on seasonal work.) As Garthspool and Mallaig show, there are grave dangers in allowing family housing to grow up without regulation and on temporary lines, and then gradually to harden into a permanent system. If similar new colonies should be founded in future, it is important that they should be regulated from the outset. It does not seem essential that the houses should be of the usual substantial stone-and-slate type ; but if they are of lighter construction, they should still|be adequately ventilated and placed on carefully chosen sites. The approval of the Local Authority should be required to the site and method of construction. The Local Authority should prescribe the number of persons which each house could accommodate, regard being had to the proper separation of the sexes ; and any excess of persons beyond this maximum should constitute overcrowding, in respect of which penalties would be exigible. If this regulation were enforced, such seasonal over- crowding as exists at Wick, Mallaig, and elsewhere, through the admission of lodgers to houses already full, would be checked. The fishcurer who desired to have additional hands during the busy season would then need to provide special and suitable accommodation for them. 1228. If such a system for the control of construction and use of temporary houses were adopted at the outset, it would be possible for the Local Authority to place a time-Hmit, say of ten years, on the use of these buildings as dwellings for families. Before this period had elapsed it would be possible to judge if the station were likely to be permanent ; and, if so, the duty would he on the Local Authority to see that permanent housing was provided. Summary op Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XVI. (1) That where new fishing colonies are established, and housing of a temporary nature is to be pro- vided, the approval of the Local Authority should be required to the site and method of construction of the houses. (Paragraph 1227.) (2) That the Local Authority should prescribe the nxaximum number of persons who may reside in each house, any excess beyond this maximum constituting overcrowding, for which a penalty would be exigible. (Paragraph 1227.) (3) That the Local Authority should prescribe a time-limit on the use of these temporary buildings as dwellings for families. (Paragraph 1228.) CHAPTER XVII. HOUSING OF MIGRATORY AND SEASONAL WORKERS. Introduction. 1229. In the beginning of the nineteenth century httle attention was given to the housing of temporary workers. Hugh Miller relates that a northern laird, when asked why he left a cra2y building standing behind a group of well-appointed offices, replied that the hovel would be useful when a drove of pigs or a squad of masons had to be put up. Any sort of odd building was considered an adequate dwelling for the temporary worker ; an old limekiln open to the sky, fitted up with beds of undressed stone slabs, sufficed for twenty-four men ; a hay barn, so dilapidated as to have become "a roof- * covered tank of green stagnant water three-quarters of a foot deep," drew forth an angry comment 188 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. from the unhappy workmen for whom no other shelter was forthcoming : " Are we eels or pudtiocks, ' that we are sent to live in a loch ? " An employer having decided to pull down his cow-house and erect a new one with the old materials, considered the condemned derelict a suitable place in which to house the workmen engaged on the job of demolition and reconstruction. " We did our best," says Hugh Miller, " to solve the problem by hanging up at the end of the doomed hovel— which had been a salt store in its day and was in damp weather for ever sweating salt water — -a hanging partition of mats, ' and, making our beds within, we began pulling down piecemeal, as the materials were required, that ' part of the erection which lay outside. We had very nearly unhoused ourselves ere our work was ' finished ; and the chill blasts of October, when they blew in at the open end of our dwelling, rendered ' it as uncomfortable as a shallow cave in an exposed rock front." (My Schools and Schoolmasters.) 1230. In the course of our inquiries our attention was especially directed to the housing conditions of certain migratory and seasonal workers. These were navvies, potato-diggers, berry-pickers, herring- gutters, and tinkers. We propose in the following papers to deal with the housing of these workers in the order named. From the narrative of conditions which follows, it will be judged that in many places in Scotland the want of care of the housing conditions of seasonal workers is, in the beginning of the twentieth century, not much less pronounced than it appears to have been in the beginning of the nineteenth century. On the other hand, in some districts, e.g. in certain of the fruit-picking areas in Perthshire, the standard of housing seasonal workers has during recent years been much improved. (a) Housing of Navvies. 1231. Accommodation for the housing of navvies is usually provided in huts erected for the purpose, the works (comprising the construction of railways, waterworks, and the like) commonly being under- taken in sparsely populated districts where there is no surplus housing accommodation. 1232. Description of Accommodation provided. — As is shown by the evidence of the legal member of the Local Government Board, the first inquiry by that Board into the housing accommodation of navvies was made towards the end of 1903, when the Board obtained reports from the sanitary officers of the districts where public works were at that time in course of construction. These reports appeared to indicate that on the whole, taking all the circumstances into account, the accommodation provided was fairly satisfactory. (Macpherson, 2 (454), etc.) 1233. As regards the structure of the huts, this appears to have been generally suitable, and in one county (Perthshire) especially so. (Macpherson, 2 (460).) This is stated to be due to the co-operation that existed between the contractors. Huts of a satisfactory type were provided some years ago in Dumfriesshire during the construction of the Cairn Valley Light Railway. (Maxwell Ross, 13,743 (24), 13.831 S.) 1234. The reports referred to showed that lack of arrangements for ventilation and deficiency of cubic space were not uncommon, but it was pointed out that the lightness of the stmcture and the exposed situation of the huts tended to counterbalance these defects. A common defect noted, however, was that the sleeping-room was also the room in which food was kept, cooked, and eaten, while double beds were also common. Water-supply was considered satisfactory; adequate privy accommodation was provided, but frequently was not used. (Macpherson, 2 (456-9).) 1235. Supervision of Huts.— -The practice as to the control of the huts when erected and occupied was evidently very varied. In some cases they were dealt with under building byelaws ; in others under byelaws for common lodging-houses, for houses let in lodgings, or for tents, vans, and sheds. But it seems clear that no one of these methods of control was sufficient for the purpose. (Macpherson, 2 (460, 461, 463).) The ordinary building byelaws are not applicable to this class of erection ; the common lodging-house byelaws do not always apply, as often no charge is made for the accommodation provided ; the byelaws as to houses let in lodgings, and tents, vans, and sheds, do not enable any control to be exercised over site and structure. There can be no doubt that the housing of this class of workers requires to be carefully supervised. Mr Mackintosh, Sanitary Inspector for the Lochaber district, says that navvies make the site and the surroundings of their premises very objectionable. (15,140b (36).) Mr Davison, Sanitary Inspector for the Dunfermline district of Fife, states that the premises occupied by this class require to be kept under constant supervision, as owing to the migratory habits of the men there is always danger of their importing disease into the district. (4634 (39).) In this connection the legal member of the Local Government Board says that it was the general opinion of the officials from whom reports were obtained in the inquiry already referred to, that infectious diseases, especially smallpox, were spread by the common practice of housing tramps for a few nights in the huts. (2 (464).) Dr Miller, Medical Officer of Health, Lochaber district of Inverness-shire, emphasises the need for supervision both in regard to structure and size and internal fittings. (15,140a (23).) The re- sponsibility for cleanliness in the huts seems to vary at different places ; sometimes the contractor is responsible, elsewhere he lets the huts to a hut-keeper who is then in charge. (Macpherson, 2 (454, 462).) Dr Dewar, Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board, states that though huts for navvies are of a uniform type they vary greatly in detail. " They may be almost entirely satisfactory, ' or they may be defectively built and defectively kept to a degree." (764 (72).) Dr Dewar finds no real excuse for inadequate accommodation in the plea that the occupation of a hut is only for a time, but points out that so-called " temporary " works may last two or three years or more. He suggests that special byelaws should be framed to deal with this class of housing. (764 (73).) 1236. Description of Hut Village at Rosyth. — ^We think it may be of use as well as of interest if we give here a summary of a statement furnished to us by Messrs Easton Gibb & Son, Limited, the con- tractors for the work at Rosyth Naval Base. This statement gives particulars of the special accom- modation provided by the firm for part of their workers, by means of the erection of a "hut " village. It is realised, of course, that it is only on works of especial magnitude, extending over a period of years, that such provision can be made. 1237. The works at Rosyth had been in operation nearly four years before it was decided by the contractors to establish this village. It was felt that the housing accommodation in the neighbourhood REPORT. 189 would not be nearly sufiBcient to meet the prospective requirements. Accordingly, the contractors at the end of 1912 arranged to construct a self-contained village containing the following habitations, etc. : — 10 habitations, each containing accommodation for 26 lodgers. V J) 4 9> 12 8 )» 8 4 >) 10 5 JJ 6 7 J> 5 Model lodging -house for . . 133 habitations for navvy missionaries ; habitation for superintendent of the village ; police station ; church and village hall ; village recreation-room ; grocery and provision and general store ; bakery ; butcher's shop ; newspaper shop ; savings bank ; canteen ; mortuary ; disinfecting house. This village was in full use six months later. 1238. In 1914 the following additional accommodation was provided : — 23 habitations, each with accommodation for twelve lodgers ; 80 habitations for married couples, each containing kitchen and three bedrooms ; 80 habitations tor married couples, each containing kitchen and two bedrooms ; and 40 habitations for married couples, each containing kitchen and one bedroom. All the habitations through- out the village contain the usual scullery and pantry. 1239. Construction of Buildings. — ^All the buildings are constructed of wood framing, covered ex- ternally with galvanised corrugated sheeting laid on felt, and internally with match boarding. They are erected on piles driven into the ground, so as to permit of adequate air-space under the floors, and also as a precaution against vermin. All the floors have been covered with linoleum by the tenants, and no complaint has been made as regards draught entering through them. 1240. In the case of habitations erected in the early part of 1913, the fireplaces were built of brick, but self-setting stoves, with the flue pipe passing through the roof of the building, were provided in the habitations erected in the early part of 1914. These stoves are fixed about 2 feet from the wooden partition, and protecting plates of galvanised iron are secured to the partition. A wrought-iron hearth plate, insulated with asbestos sheeting, is placed imder each stove. 1241. The interiors of the habitations are either varnished or distempered periodically, but the papering of the walls and ceilings is forbidden, as it is considered that this would be conducive to the harbouring of vermin in cases where, owing to unforeseen circumstances, a dirty tenant happened to be in possession of the habitation. 1242. All the habitations for lodgers are provided with sleeping quarters for the men, at the opposite end of the building to those for the tenant. In the case of the larger habitations, a separate dining-hall, fitted with cooking range, is provided for the lodgers ; and an ablution chamber, having lead-covered table with draining channel at back, is also provided — the washing bowls being of the portable type. In the smaller habitations the lodgers wash in the scullery. 1243. Model Lodging-house. — The model lodging-house provided in the village consists of dining- hall, dormitories, and ablution chambers for the men, and quarters for the caretaker. A hot-plate for the use of the men in cooking their food is also provided, and is erected in an annexe to the dining-hall. 1244. The sleeping quarters are divided into twelve dormitories, while night latrines, easy of access, for each dormitory are provided, as well as day latrines. 1245. Sanitary Arrangements. — The closets are on the pan system, and drains are provided for carrying away the sink water. The pans of the closets are emptied three or four times a week, at which times the refuse from the houses (for the reception of which sanitary dust-bins are provided) is also carted away. 1246. Lighting. — The roads, the shops, canteen, village hall, and village recreation-room are lighted by electricity. In the case of habitations, oil-lamps are used for lighting purposes. 1247. Conditions of Tenancy. — All the habitations are tenanted by married men working for the firm, or by the widows of men who have died while in their service, and are let on a weekly tenancy. The rent charged for the habitations for lodgers is at the rate of Is. per week per lodger, except in the case of the habitations for twenty-six lodgers, when the rent is £1 per week. That is, a habitation for five lodgers would be 5s. per week rent, and for eight lodgers 8s. per week, and so on. No rates or taxes are paid by the tenants. Coal is supplied to them at cost price, plus the cost of handling and carting. 1248. The contractors provide the bedsteads and bedding for the lodgers free of charge, and the tenant is not allowed to charge them more than 5d. per night, or 2s. 6d. per week for their lodging, and only men working for the contractors are allowed to live in the village. A separate bed is provided for each lodger, and one man only is allowed to sleep in each bed, — what is known as " double-shifting " the men as regards sleeping is forbidden. 1249. A large plot of land at the back of the habitation, and a smaller one at the front, is provided for each habitation, the former for vegetable growing and the latter for flowers. In the habitations for the smaller numbers of lodgers they (the lodgers) have their food in the same kitchen as the tenant, who either boards them, or cooks the food for those who prefer to buy it themselves. In the larger habitations the men have their meals in their own kitchen, but the tenant's wife does the cooking for them if they desire it, or they are at liberty to use the range for cooking their own food. 1250. In all the habitations for lodgers, two bedrooms are provided for the use of the tenant and his family. 1251. As regards the habitations for married couples, the following are the rents charged: — Habitation with kitchen and 1 bedroom . . . .3s. 6d. per week. „ „ 2 bedrooms . . . . 48. 3d. ,. «t H <^ M .... OS. 190 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 1252. Cost of Habitation. — The cost of the habitations for married couples , excluding roads and drainage, water-supply, lighting, etc., was as follows : — Kitchen and 1 bedroom £185 „ „ 2 bedrooms £225 » „ 3 „ £265 and the cost of the other habitations was approximately proportionate, based upon the cubic contents of the buildings. 1253. Village Social Council. — The social work of the village is imder the general guidance of the social council, composed of six members nominated by Messrs Easton Gibb & Son, Limited, from the staff, and twelve popularly elected representatives from the village. A meeting must be held at least once a month. The village hall is under the committee's control, except when it is required by the Rosyth Mission. The committee also has a fund, placed at its disposal by the firm, from which it draws to start different branches of social work. The aim of the council, however, is to endeavour to make the activities of the village self-supporting, and thus remove the atmosphere of philanthropy. 1254. Medical. — ^Each workman pays l|d. per week for medicine and medical attendance for his wife and family, and for himself in case of accident, none of these being included in the National Insurance Scheme. A resident doctor is in the village, and a surgery is provided for his use. Medicine is delivered to the habitations twice daily. This is part of the general medical organisation for the works, and is under control of the medical committee, on which the village is represented. 1255. Special Statutory Powers of Control. — Having given this description, we now deal with the special statutory powers of control over navvies' housing. Mr Macpherson draws attention to an im- portant provision contained in No. 101 (a) of the General Orders imder the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1899, to the effect that, in the case of every Provisional Order for the construction of works outside any burgh of 50,000 inhabitants, the Commissioners to whom the Order is remitted must consider the sufficiency of the accommodation to be provided for the workers and for the treatment of sickness, and, if they think further accommodation, etc., necessary, they must insert clauses in the Order ensuring that this will be provided. (2 (466).) We note that advantage has already been taken of this provision, and it may be interesting to summarise shortly the provisions on this subject, contained in one of the most recent Acts, viz. the Glasgow Water Order Confij'mation Act of 1915. 1256. Section 27 of that Act provides that the Corporation must provide (a) such huts or other accom- modation for the workmen employed on the works authorised by the Order, and (b) such hospital accom- modation for the treatment of cases of sickness or accident among the workmen, including accommodation for c^ses of infectious disease, as is reasonably necessary, having regard to the accommodation available in the neighbourhood or conveniently accessible from the works. Sufficient sanitary accommodation must be provided. 1257. The works authorised by the Order are, of course, not within the area of the Local Authority of Glasgow, but in the area of another Local Authority. Accordingly, provision is made in the Act whereby the Medical Officer of Health of the latter Local Authority is entitled at any time to enter into and inspect the accommodation provided, in order to ascertain whether overcrowding exists, and whether proper and sufficient sanitary arrangements are provided. If the Local Authority of the area in which the works are being carried on are at any time of opinion that proper accommodation is not being provided, they may require the Corporation to provide it. But in the event of the Corporation disputing the reasonableness of the Local Authority's requirement, the matter is referred to the Local Government Board for decision. Further, the Board themselves, if satisfied at any time that sufficient provision is not made, are given power to require the Corporation to make provision to the satisfaction of the Board. 1258. Similar provision to the above has been inserted in other local Acts, and we presume will be inserted where necessary in future Acts promoted by Local Authorities or other public bodies or companies. If the powers given are fully exercised, there should be no further complaint as to the bad housing con- ditions of navvies on works carried out under such special statutory authority ; but we note that there is no provision in the section for consultation prior to the erection of the huts or other accommodation between the Authority who are to carry out the works and the Local Authority of the district in which the works are situated ; and, further, that the former Authority may not be aware of what are the require- ments, if any, of the Local Authority. There may, too, be cases where a Local Authority or other body under existing statutory powers propose to carry out works which will necessitate the employment of considerable numbers of workmen for whom special accommodation had to be provided. 1259. RecomnLendatioris. — To meet these and any similar cases that may arise, we consider that Local Authorities should be endowed with further powers than are at present possessed under the Public Health Act. Accordingly, we recommend that every Local Authority should have power — and the Local Government Board should, where they consider it necessary, be empowered to compel a Local Authority to exercise that power — to frame byelaws dealing with the housing of navvies in respect of the following matters : — (1) The approval by the Local Authority of the site and plans of the huts before building is com- menced, including approval of the material of construction, method of construction, arrangements for carrying off rain-water, provision of roads and footpaths. (2) The provision of beds and bedding, including the arrangement of the beds. (3) The lighting, ventilation (including cubic space), cleanliness, and furnishing of the accommoda- tion provided. (4) The provision of suitable accommodation for the storage of food, for cooking and eating, for the washing of clothes, and for the drying of wet clothes. (5) The provision of a suitable water-supply and of suitable water-closet or 'p^ivj accommodation. (6) The provision of washing, cooking, and feeding utensils and towels. (7) The arrangements for the disposal of liquid and solid refuse matter and for the keeping clean of the surroundings of the huts. (8) The determining of the person responsible for carrying out the byelaws. REPORT. 191 (9) The inspection by the Local Authority or their officers of the huts. (10) The prevention of the spread of infectious disease among or by the occupants of the huts. (11) The provision of suitable accommodation for the treatment of accident cases. (12) Such other matters as the Local Government Board may from time to time by Order prescribe. The byelaws would be subject to the usual provisions of the Public Health Act as to byelaws, i.e. they would require, after due advertisement having been made and any objections heard, to be con- firmed by the Local Government Board before coming into operation. A Local Authority would of course be entitled to adopt such byelaws, even though no works of the nature to be controlled by the byelaws were contemplated or in progress in their area. If, however, such works did eventually come to be constructed, it might happen that the authority carrying out the works — ^who of course had no interest to object at the time the byelaws were framed — ^had objections to the byelaws or some of the provisions therein. In such a case we recommend that any dispute should be referable to the Local Government Board for decision. (6) Housing of Potato-Diggers. 1260. The housing of potato-diggers has received special attention since 1907 when the Local Government Board made inquiries on the subject. As a result of these inquiries improvement is stated to have been effected in numerous instances, and in 1910 the Board issued a circular to Local Authorities impressuig on them the desirability of systematic inspection of the premises where diggers were housed, and the need for the exercise of all available powers for the prevention of overcrowding and insanitary conditions generally. (Macpherson, 2 (471) (477).) 1261. The growing of potatoes on such a scale as to require for their lifting the employment of gangs of workers is confined to comparatively few areas in Scotland. While evidence placed before us shows that such workers are employed chiefly in Ajrrshire, Haddingtonshire, Midlothian, Renfrewshire, Dum- bartonshire, Fifeshire, and Perthshire, the largest number is employed in Ayrshire, where potato-grow- ing for the early market has become a most important part of the agricultural industry of that county. This industry in Ayrshire developed very rapidly after the railway was extended to Maybole and Girvan in or about 1860, and it had a big expansion in the " seventies." (M'Creath, 12,754, 12,757, 12,761.) The soil and the climate of the Ayrshire seaboard are specially suited for the cultivation of the early potato. {Ibid., 12,759.) The evidence before us shows that the type of housing provided for potato- diggers is very similar in all the counties named, and accordingly we propose to confine our description of the conditions under which such workers are housed to Ayrshire, where all varieties of housing are met with and where we ourselves made a special visit of inquiry and investigation during the digging season. 1262. It may be pointed out that the potato-diggers are not necessarily the servants of the farmer on whose fields they may be working. In the majority of cases the potatoes are harvested in the in- terests of the potato merchant who has bought the standing crop and the diggers are his workers. {Report of Ayrshire County Medical Officer for 1910, p. 47.) The question of the responsibility for the housing of the workers will be discussed later (see Paragraph 1283). 1263. Description of Accommodation. — It is seldom that accommodation specially erected or pro- vided for potato-diggers is found to exist. (Macpherson, 2 (472).) They are usually housed in such farm buildings as lofts, bams, potato houses, byres, loose boxes, and other outhouses. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (119).) Some of these places, such as bams and potato houses, if provided with wooden floors, form fairly satisfactory sleeping-places, but others, such as byres, are the very reverse. Byres have a cold and cheerless aspect and are often badly lit They have also stone floors. Earthen floors are the exception. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (121-2).) In one case it is reported that the accommodation pro- vided, besides being badly lit and ventilated, was situated over a hen-house and was complained of as verminous. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (123).) Our visits were made during the daytime, and we found the ventilation good as a rule, but we were informed that at night the workers declined to have doors or windows open. Dr Ehzabeth M'Vail points out, however, that she found the atmosphere often close and malodorous, as it was apparently no one's business to see that the windows were opened in the morning. {Ibid., 1570 (128).) The information before us indicated that there is Uttle actual overcrowd- ing. (Macpherson, 2 (473) ; E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (125-6).) 1264. Beds and Bedding. — Beds are seldom provided. As a rule, straw or hay supplied by the farmer is placed on the floor of the apartment. In cases where the floor is of earth it is needless to say the arrangement is anything but satisfactory. In some cases the straw is placed on upturned wooden potato boxes, thus forming a kind of rough wooden bedstead. Blankets and rugs are supplied by the merchant. (Appendix No. XXIX. (14) ; E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (133).) 1265. Arrangements for Washing. — There is little or no provision made for the comfort of the diggers in this respect. According to the County Medical Officer of Ayrshire, there are practically no arrange- ments for personal ablution. The diggers wash in any pail they can get a hold of, at a spout or any- where, and even the women do not have a covered-in place where they can wash in private. (Mac- Donald, 12,648-9). With one or two exceptions, no special provision is made at the farms for the washing of clothes. At Girvan Mains, one of the largest potato-growing farms in the county, special washing-houses have been constructed which serve both for personal washing and for the washing of clothes. At Carlung, near West Kilbride, there are troughs with an adequate supply of water, where such washing maybe done. {Report of Ayrshire County Medical Officer for 1910, p. 52.) The water- supply as a rule is sufficient, but sometimes at some distance away. (Appendix XXIX., 12.) 1266. Arrangements for Cooking and for Drying Wet Clothes. — Perhaps the greatest hardship which seasonal workers have sometimes to endure is, according to Dr Ehzabeth M'Vail, the want of proper convenience for drying of clothes and for cooking in wet weather. (M'Vail, 1570 (6).) At five of twenty- five farms visited by her in Ayrshire, the only fires provided were on the groimd in the open. In a number of other cases they were in chauffers outside, and these were said to be carried under cover in wet weather. Some fires were built on the groimd under sheds 'which were often of the roughest de- scription, affording little protection from wind and rain. {Ibid., 1570 (134).) In one case, however. 192 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. where a furnace and hot-plate under cover had been provided, Dr M'Vail was informed by the fanner that the diggers had persisted in building the fire on the top of the hot-plate and that, in fear of the build- ing being set on fire, hB had removed the furnace altogether, returning to his previous arrangement of providing chauffers outside. Dr M'Vail adds — " This is another instance of the need for a caretaker." (Ibid., 1570 (136).) • 1267. The provision of a fire under cover seems to us an absolute necessity, more particularly in the later period of the digging season, as the following extract from the Annual Report for 1910 of one of the Sanitary Inspectors for the Kilmarnock District of Ayrshire will show : — Outside fiires may be all very well under favourable climatic conditions, but during wet weather they are totally inadequate. We foimd workers coming in soaked to the skin, and with absolutely no means of drying their saturated clothing. To quote Dr Elizabeth M'Vail, " the discomfort and danger of sitting in wet clothes after work and putting ' them on again still damp in the morning are obvious. The diggers on several occasions complained ' very bitterly on this score." (Ibid., 1570 (135).) Even when the fiires are under cover, it is stated that there is often an insufficient number for the diggers using them. In one case Dr M'Vail reports that there was only one fireplace for thirty-two people, as compared with one for fifteen as required by the English Local Government Board's Model Byelaws for hop-pickers, and she adds that as the staple food of the diggers is potatoes, which are supplied free by the merchant, it is important that there should be a sufficient number of fireplaces on which to cook. (Ibid., 1570 (137).) Fireplaces for drying wet clothes are sometimes provided in the sleeping apartments. This practice is objectionable. (Macpherson, 2 (475).) 1268. Apparently no accommodation is, as a rule, provided for the storing of food. Tables, too, are seldom provided. (Appendix XXIX., 11.) 1269. Suitability of Existing, Accommodation. — ^From the description given above of the accommoda- tion, it will be seen that the housing provided is, to use the words of Dr Campbell Munro, the County Medical Officer of Renfrewshire, " of a rough-and-ready character." He considers, however, that for people in good health it is not unsatisfactory, and adds that, in view of the shortness of residence of the diggers at any particular farm-steading, it is impracticable to insist upon any elaborate arrangements for their housing. (See Macpherson, 2 (476).) We may point out, however, that although each squad of diggers may stay only for a short time at one farm, some diggers are engaged at the occupation for five or six months in the year, whilst farm buildings are occupied for total periods of from one to six weeks by different squads. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (120).) Accordingly, even though the evidence before us indicates that there is little illness among the diggers (Appendix XXIX., 17; MacDonald, 12,621), we consider that the existing accommodation is imsatisfactory and should be improved. Further, apart from the actual accommodation provided, there are two matters in respect of which the evidence shows the housing arrangements to be lamentably deficient. 1270. Separation of the Sexes. — The first of these is the separation of the sexes. It may be said without exaggeration that this is practically non-existent. Even where separation is possible, it is seldom practised, as apparently it is no one's business to see that it is carried out. At one farm we inquired of the farmer whether the sexes were separated, and his reply was — " I bdieve just now they are ' separated." At another farm we were informed that the workers, including husbands and wives, were separated ; but one worker whom we interviewed said that in at least one of the buildings on this farm the sexes were not separated. At one place visited by us a cattle byre was used for housing the workers, but the stone trevasses dividing off one stall from another constituted the only means of separation. Where any attempt was made at separation, it was seldom sufficient to prove effective. In one case the door between the apartments for males and females was missing, and the doorway was hung with a sheet of canvas cloth. In other cases there was a wooden partition between the apartments, but it did not extend to the roof and was easily chmbable. In one case the only separation apparent was that the men slept on one side of the apartment, and the women on the other. At one farm children accom- panied their parents, and men, women, and children all slept together. Our experience is supported by the evidence. (See Macpherson, 2 (473) ; E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (130, etc.) ; MacDonald, 12,556, etc. ; Russell, 12,742.) 1271. It was repeatedly stated to us by farmers that, even if separate sleeping accommodation were provided, the workers would not use it. One farmer, however, remarked that " separation could be ' managed with firnmess." (Appendix XXIX., 8.) This is corroborated by the evidence of Dr M'Vail, 1570 (132).) The question of separation is a difficult one where several squads are housed at a farm at the same time. It appears that members of different squads refuse to occupy the same apartment. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (130).) The men of different squads will not go together, neither will the women. The women, it is said, prefer to be in the same place as the men of their squad, as they are then free from interference by men of other squads. (Appendix XXIX., 7 ; Russell, 12,742.) 1272. In cases where the workers came from Ireland — and a large proportion of them do — we were invariably informed that no harm resulted from the want of separation. " Their conduct is exemplary," said one witness (Appendix XXIX., 8) ; while another referred to " their high standard of morality." (Dewar, 764 (71).) But the problem is being aggrayated now because the diggers are not all Irish, but a certain proportion of them are being brought from the slums of the great cities. There is no doubt that these last require to be very carefully supervised and kept imder control. (MacDonald, 12,561 ; Appendix XXIX., 8.) 1273. Sanitary Arrangements. — The second matter in respect of which the arrangements were very defective was the lack of proper sanitary conveniences. In many cases no privy accommodation was provided, and in such cases the workers made use of an adjoining wood or plantation. It was stated to us that, where privies were provided, the diggers seldom used them. Judged by the condition of some of the privies we saw, it was evident that the privies had been used, but when we saw them they were quite imusable owing to their filthy condition. Considering, too, the open and exposed situation of some privies we saw, it is not surprising that the workers, more especially the women, did not use them, REPORT. 183 e.ij. where the privies for women immediately adjoined those for men. In some cases, too, no proper seats were provided for the privies. (Appendix XXIX., 9 ; E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (139).) 1 274. The condition of the privies appeared to us to be due largely, to a want of supervision, and even though it be the case, as is suggested, that many of the diggers are unaccustomed to sanitary arrange- ments of any sort {Re-port of Ayrshire County Medical Officer for 1910, p. 51 ; see also Dewar, 764 (71)), we nevertheless think that, if properly constructed privies (separate for the sexes) are provided in suitable locations, and if adequate control is exercised over their use by some responsible party, the workers would become educated to the proper use of the conveniences. As the number of workers to be provided for at a farm varies greatly in different seasons, it would perhaps not be necessary to erect sufficient permanent sanitary accommodation for the maximum number for the short periods they are housed, but, as sug- gested by Dr M'Vail, we consider that the squads should be supplied by the potato merchant who employs them with suitable portable privies. 1275. General Habits of the Diggers. — Reference has been made by some witnesses to the want of cleanliness and general untidiness in the habits of the diggers. 1276. The Sanitary Inspector for the Carrick District of Ayrshire speaks of " disregard for methods ' of cleanliness, want of care, no system for keeping their beds tidy or of cooking their food properly, ' and carelessness in the disposal of refuse." (Russell, 12,705.) The conditions are worst after meals. There is no provision for sweeping up, and although rough deals are provided for fitting to the tops of the potato boxes to act as tables, this is often not done by the workers, with the result that the meals are taken without the convenience of a table. (Russell, 12,720-1.) 1277. Dr Elizabeth M'Vail also refers to this want of cleanliness and gives instances of the imtidiness of the surroundings of the workers, though she states that the Irish diggers are as a rule personally clean. In two cases described by her, the riumel outside the door of the sleeping apartment was blocked by potato-skins, which, she says, the diggers had been too careless to throw into the ashpit a short distance ofE, and the floors were flooded with water. In another case, there was a stinking heap of decaying organic matter at the door of a barn, thrown there by the inmates. The ashpit was at some distance, but it would apparently have been a simple matter to put the refuse into a barrel, which could have been emptied daily. The farmer, however, said that he had not been asked for a barrel, and the gaffer that he had not been offered one. It seems as if the floors are rarely if ever swept, and, Dr M'Vail concludes, the condition goes from bad to worse till the diggers depart, when the farmer is left with his buildings often in a very filthy conditio}!. In Dr M'Vail's opinion, the state of dirt and untidiness in which diggers live is to a large extent preventable, but the great defect is that no one is at present responsible for seeing that the premises and surroundings are kept clean. The farmer says that he has no power over the workers, and the gaffer (or head of the squad) says he carmot look after them, as he is in the fields all day. 1278. There is no doubt cause for complaint as to the dirty and untidy condition of the places where the workers are housed and of the outside surroundings ; but it must, we think, be admitted that the kind of accommodation provided does not tend to make the occupants take a pride in it. It has also to be remembered that the diggers' work is by no means light and their day is a long one (ten hours). If an hour is lost on one day owing to rain, it is made up on another. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (118), (127), (129).) We can understand that the diggers, who have to cook their own food, are not much inclined after their long and tiring day in the fields to pay any great attention to the cleanliness of their surround- ings, more particularly as their stay at a farm may be very short. We agree with Dr M'Vail that the chief defect of the present system is that no one is responsible for seeing that cleanliness is observed, and we are of opinion that, if this responsibihty were fixed and if some person or persons — not necessarily members of the squad — were appointed by the potato merchant to attend to the cleaning up of the premises, a very considerable improvement would soon be apparent. The persons so appointed would correspond to army " orderhes," and there should be an obligation on the potato merchant to appoint such " squad orderlies." 1279. Recommendations. — Having carefully considered the evidence tendered by witnesses, supple- mented as that evidence is with the impressions left on our minds as a result of the visit to the potato- digging districts of Ayrshire, we conclude broadly that the housing of potato-diggers in Scotland is thoroughly unsatisfactory. We keep in mind, of course, that potato-digging is a seasonal occupation, and that the housing required is for a period — greater or lesser according to the circumstances— of the year only. We have already pointed out that diggers may be engaged at their occupation for five or six months ni the year, moving from place to place during these months, but continually subject during that time to the conditions of housing which we have described. In our view it is therefore of importance that the housing should be much improved. The present " rough-and-ready " standard is one which should not be permitted to continue, and we are, at the same time, glad to think that a considerable improvement can be effected without the necessity of great expense being incurred. (See M'Creath, 12,772, etc.) 1280. The first essential towards improvement seems to be to fix the responsibility for the housing. At present, as the evidence clearly shows, there is divided responsibility. We found that there is an attempt, first of all, by the farmer to fasten the responsibility on the potato merchant, who, in his turn, seems to throw it back on the farmer. The consequence is that the liOcal Authority are impeded and obstructed in their duties. (Macdonald, 12,510, etc. ; Appendix XXIX. (19).) 1281. At present the farmer supplies the structure of the housing — -such as it is, — the water, the sanitary accommodation — if any, — and the means of making a fire. The merchant supplies blankets, and the farmer supplies the straw for sleeping on. (Macdonald, 12,469 ; M'Vail, 1570 (120) (136).) 1282. Before recording our opinion as to what should be the allocation of responsibihty, it is necessary, for the sake of clearness, to state who are the parties interested in the industry and what are their relations to one another. There is first the landlord or proprietor of the farm, who presumably gets a rent pro- portionate or at all events in some degree relative to the profits made in the industry, Second, the farmer who tiUs the groimd, grows the potatoes, and, as a rule, sells them to potato merchants as growing crops. Third, the potato merchants who buy the potatoes in the groimd, send workers to dig them up, do the carting and railing of the potatoes, and eventually sell them on the market. Fourth, there are the potato- xo 194 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. diggers who are employed by the merchants. The potato industry as we know it now, really only began to occupy an important position in the late " sixties," took a big expansion in the " seventies, "^and has gone on increasing. This, of course, is the period of the development of the " early " potatoes. Just as in industrialism, so in this rural industry, the housing of the workers did not keep pace with^the success of the industry ; and so it seems to us the people are suffering now from an accumulation^ofj want of thought and planning for housing the workers of an industry which developed rapidly in the last forty or fifty years. If the position had been realised sooner, the probability is that the^first three parties whom we have mentioned above as interested in the potato industry would, by the constant interchange and interplay of their different but by no means irreconcilable interests, have produced by this time reasonably satisfactory housing for the workers. On these lines we are of opinion that the responsibiUty for improving the housmg conditions should be so allocated or allotted that free scope is given to ordinary economic or commercial conditions being brought into play, so that in the end the financial burden will be shared by the landlord, the farmer, and the potato merchant according to their interests. 1283. Responsibility for Housing. — From the practical or administrative standpoint, definite responsi- bility must be fixed. We are of opinion that the farmer is the party who should be responsible to the Local Authority for the proper housing of the workers, subject to a certain responsibility which, as we afterwards explain, should, we think, be placed upon the merchant. What, then, is the extent and nature of the housing accommodation which the law should require of the farmer ? 1284. We think that there should be an obhgation on the part of the farmer to provide a certain amoimt of acconmiodation on his farm. It may be that the amount required or used will vary from year to year according to circumstances, but the farmer knows what is the average number of workers usually accommodated at his farm at any one time during the potato-hfting season. The Local Authority through their officers should also be able to form a fairly correct estimate of this number. Accordingly we suggest that the farmer should be bound to provide accommodation to the satisfaction of the Local Authority for the normal housing requirements of the potato-lifting season. It may be that this suggestion will necessitate the provision of accommodation at the farm additional to the existing buildings. In such cases we consider that the farmer should be empowered to call upon the landlord to provide the accommodation required by the Local Authority on terms to be arranged between them, and failing agreement on terms to be settled by an arbiter to be appointed by the Board of Agriculture. 1285. We accordingly recommend that any farmer on whose farm it is necessary to house workers for the purpose of digging potatoes grown on the farm should be required to report to the Local Authority in, say, the month of March in each year (or such other mouth as the Local Authority may determine) the number of workers he proposes to provide accommodation for, and the extent and nature of the accom- modation to be provided, and that the approval of the Local Authority should be required both to the extent and nature of the accommodation. The application by the farmer for approval of the Local Authority, as above, would give details not only of the housing structure, but of the living and sleeping accommodation, the water-supply, the sanitary arrangements, and also the arrangements for separation of the sexes, and for cooking, drying wet clothes, etc. The Local Authority on receipt of the application would instruct their officers to visit the farm, and report to them whether or not approval should be given. In intimating their approval, the Local Authority would stipulate the number of workers who could be housed. In the event of the Local Authority disapproving both of the amount and nature of the accommo- dation proposed, they would intimate this to the farmer, and it would then be a punishable offence if the premises were used for housing purposes. If, however, the Local Authority consider sufficient accommodation is not provided, they would then call on the farmer to provide the additional accommo- dation they deem necessary. Pending a settlement of this matter, the Local Authority would, of course, be entitled to approve, so far as it went, the existing accommodation if satisfactory. 1286. The responsibility for securing that proper use was made of the accommodation provided would be allocated as follows : — The farmer's duty would be — having got the approval of the Local Authority to a certain number of occupants — ^to intimate the number to the potato merchant or merchants. The merchant would then be responsible for any overcrowding of the premises, and it would be a punish- able offence on his part if he allowed overcrowding. The complication of two or more merchants who wish to dig potatoes on the farm at the same time requires solution. Obviously, if the matter were to be left as suggested above, viz. that the merchant is to be responsible for overcrowding, there would be danger of the Local Authority having difficulty in fixing responsibility between one potato merchant and another. Accordingly, we suggest that the potato merchant's duty, when intimating to the farmer the date on which he is to send his gang of workers, must be to ask the farmer whether there are any workers presently on the farm, and, if so, what is the extent of the accommodation, and how far it is not fully occupied. If the answer is that a gang is already there, then the responsibility for any overcrowding must rest upon the second potato merchant. The law should provide that the second potato merchant must not send his gang of workers to the farm unless and imtil he knows that there is sufficient accommo- dation for the number of workers he is to send. True, this may — if careful arrangements are not made between the farmer and the potato merchant — ^lead to difficulty in having the potatoes lifted. We think, however, that the importance of the housing question is such that the law on the matter ought to be clearly defined, and we are confident that if it is clearly defined the parties responsible will very soon produce proper business and working arrangements which will prevent overcrowding, and will not, on the other hand, in any way handicap the industry. 1287. Accordingly, having dealt with the question of the amount of housing accommodation and the prevention of overcrowding, we are of opinion that the responsibility for the use of the premises must thereafter rest upon the potato merchant during the time that his gang of workers is in occupation. The premises at the beginning of the season will have been certified by the Local Authority as suitable, and they will also have certified the number of persons who can legally occupy them. This certificate the farmer will be under obligation to have duly exhibited in some place where it can be readily seen. He will, as we have said, be responsible for sending the information contained in the certificate to the potato merchant or merchants. When the merchant has assumed occupation, he will take over the entire responsibility for the conduct of the workers, for keeping order, and for the cleanliness of the premises. REPORT. 195 He will also be responsible for leaving or restoring the premises at the termination of the occupancy in or to the condition in which he received them. All action during the time of occupation for breach of any requirements of the Local Authority will he against the potato merchant. The farmer will have acquitted himself of responsibility in providing the premises in the first instance in a condition to the satisfaction of the Local Authority. 1288. The farmer must give iatimation to the Local Authority of the date on which he expects workers to arrive, giving the number thereof, male and female, ia order to enable the Local Authority to satisfy themselves as to whether or not there is overcrowding. 1289. The responsibihty for the proper administration of the housing laws during the occupancy of his workers being put upon the potato merchant, he would probably, in his own interest, appoint a caretaker. At all events he would make the necessary arrangements for observing the requirements of the Local Authority. The responsibihty having thus been allocated, the burdens on the industry would adjust themselves. In the end the consumer would, in some form or other, have to share or bear the financial burden, but there is no reason why the consumer should benefit, as he is benefiting at present, by a certain measure of cheapness which is possible only because the worker is compelled to live for a good part of the year under housing conditions which can only be described in many cases as conditions of hardship and even of degradation. 1290. General. — Generally, we may say that we are not at all satisfied with the class of buildings often used for housing the workers, and we should imagine, under the powers which we recommend immediately should be conferred upon Local Authorities, there would be requirements laid down for minimum housing, which, in a number of cases, may necessitate erection of new and improved buildings. We do not think it necessary to go into the question of the nature of such new buildings if and where required. These can be left safely to the experience of the Local Authority and the Local Government Board, who will not demand more than is reasonable, considering that the buildings will only be occupied part of the year, and also having in view, no doubt, what the industry can afiord. We consider that the Local Authorities should permit the use of tents, provided that their approval is obtained to the sites on which the tents would be placed, and that the other conditions of the byelaws are compUed with. JxL the end of the day the accommodation should, we think, if our recommendations are carried out, be much improved. There is certainly great room for improvement in regard to the supply of water, sanitary arrangements, firing, lighting, bedding, and separation of the sexes. There may not be, as some of the witnesses said, much demand on the part of the workers themselves for improved accommodation, but we do not think that this fact — even if it were more universally applicable to the workers than it is — in the slightest degree detracts from the duty of those responsible for providing a higher standard of accommodation. Indeed, the fact that complaints may not be rife seems to us to make it the more neces- sary to try, by raising the standard of these people, to improve their habits and conditions of life. 1291. Local Authority to frame Byelaws. — In order that machinery should be provided to carry out the recommendations which we have made, we suggest that the various matters referred to should be regulated by means of byelaws. Every Local Authority should have power — and the Local Government Board should, where they consider it necessary, be empowered to compel a Local Authority to exercise that power — to frame byelaws dealing with the housing of potato-diggers. 1292. The byelaws should provide that in cases where special huts or other accommodation are being erected for the housing of such workers, the approval of the Local Authority should be obtained to the site and plans of the huts before building is commenced, including approval of the material of con- struction, method of construction, arrangements for carrying off rain-water, and proper means of access to the huts. 1293. In addition, the byelaws should deal with the following matters : — (1) The provision of suitable living and sleeping accommodation, with separation of the sexes, and suflacient cubic space. (2) The provision of beds and bedding, including the arrangement of the beds. (3) The hghting, ventilation (including cubic space), cleanliness, and furnishing of the accommodation provided. (4) The provision of suitable accommodation for the storage of food, for cooking, for the washing of clothes, and for the drying of wet clothes. (5) The provision of a suitable water-supply and the provision of suitable water-closet or privy accommodation for the separate use of the sexes. (6) The provision of washing, cooking, and feeding utensils, and of towels. (7) The arrangements for the disposal of liquid and solid refuse matter, and for the keeping clean of the surroundings of the accommodation provided. (8) The determinuig of the person responsible for carrying out the provisions of the byelaws. (9) The inspection by the Local Authority, or their officers, of premises where such workers are, or are beheved to be, housed, and for the yearly approval by the Local Authority of any such premises. (10) Requiring the person responsible for carrying out the provisions of the byelaws to give previous intimation to the Local Authority of the proposed arrival of such workers at any place within the jurisdiction of the Local Authority. (11) Such other matters as the Local Government Board may from time to time by Order prescribe. 1294. The byelaws would be subject to the usual provisions of the Public Health Act as to byelaws. If the requirements of the Local Authority were embodied in byelaws, the farmer and potato merchant would thus be aware of the duties devolving on them. It should also be a requirement that a copy of the byelaws of the Local Authority should be hung in every building or apartment occupied by the workers, who would thus see for themselves the nature of the accommodation to which they were entitled. (c) Housing of Berry-Pickers. 1295. The fruit-growing trade, so far as carried out on any large scale, is confined to the counties of Lanark and Perth, and only to certain parts of those coimties, viz. the Upper Ward District in Lanark- 196 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. shire and tlie Blairgowrie and Central Districts ui Pcrtlislme. We paid a visit to both these counties and investigated the conditions on the spot. 1296. The essential difference between the housing of potato-diggers and berry-pickers is, that in the case of the former the responsibility for the housing accommodation is, as we have already shown, divided between the farmer, who merely provides the buildings, and the merchant, who supplies and pays for the labour, whereas in the case of berry-pickers the fruit farmer alone would appear responsible. He employs and pays for the labour, and he provides the accommodation. A further difference between the two occupations is, that the fruit-picking season is a comparatively .short one, varying from four to six weeks, although in the case of weeders it may extend to three months. (E. M. M'\ail, 1570 (28) (57).) 1297. Wages and Length of Day. — The practice as to payment of wages varies in the two counties. In Perthshire pickers are paid by results, viz. at the rate of |d. per lb. of fruit pulled. An experienced hand may make 3s. to 4s. a day. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (58), and Graham, 36,434.) In Lanarkshire they are paid, according to the age and ability of the picker, from Is. to 4s. for a day of ten hours, and overtime in proportion to the usual wage paid. These are all pre-war figures. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (29) ; Logan, 12,812 ; and Appendix XXX., 10.) 1298. Work commences generally at 7 a.m. and lasts till 5.30 p.m., with half-an-hour off at mid-day. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (29).) It is, however, quite common at times for work to start at three in the morning and go on to eight at night. (Logan 12,820. See also E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (43).) It is apparently very difficult for the farmer to forecast the number of workers he will require at any particular date. The fruit may ripen more slowly than was expected, and in consequence the workers are kept idle. On the other hand, a night's rain may bring the fruit forward very quickly, and if the farmer does not take advan- tage of the services of tramps and casual workers, he may lose tons of berries. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (21).) 1299. Description of Accommodation. — The pickers, generally speaking, are of four kinds — local workers (including school children), for whom no special housing is required. Labour Exchange workers, Industrial School boys, and tramps. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (21); Logan, 12,819.) The accommodation provided is much the same as that for potato-diggers, already described, and, as in that case, cannot be regarded as satisfactory. In some cases special provision was made for the workers, but ia most cases any odd or vacant accommodation was considered suitable, such as disused cottages, byres, stables, granaries, loose-boxes, sheds, lofts, bothies. In one case at least tents were used. (M'Vail, 1570 (31) (36), 1584 ; M'NicoU, 36,424.) A description of the conditions generally would be more or less a repetition of what we have said in regard to the housing of potato-diggers, and accordingly we content ourselves with noting some of the more imsatisfactory types of accommodation that came under our notice, and as a contrast indicating what has been done in a part of Perthshire to provide accommodation of what we regard as a most satisfactory kind. 1300. Conditions in Lanarkshire, (a) Nature of Accmnmodation. — Dealing first with the housing conditions as we saw them in the fruit-growing districts of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, we must say that with a few exceptions we were very unfavourably impressed with the accommodation. As already indicated, any odd or vacant accommodation was evidently deemed sufficient. In one case a coachhouse, sufficient to accommodate only a small conveyance, had two iron beds in it, and accommodated two women and one man. The window did not open. The beds were dirty and untidy. Further accommodation at this same place consisted of a room in a very broken-down, dilapidated cottage. The inside and the general surroundings of many of the places provided were very imtidy. (Appendix XXX., 1, 2.) One bothy, partly constructed of old sleepers, had an earthen floor and a fixed window, ventilation being secured through a hole in the gable. It will be seen from the evidence of Dr Elizabeth M'Vail that she too, in the course of her inquiries, came across several unsatisfactory conditions. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (31-36).) Remarking on the want of cleanhness of the buildings occupied, she points out that at only one of twenty-five farms visited was anyone paid to clean the bothy during working hours. At all the others the responsibility for the cleanliness of the bothy lay with the workers themselves. In these cases the results were not satisfactory. " Unmade beds, tables covered with'un washed dishes and broken food, floors Uttered with straw and papers, and unused garments in all odd corners were very common." She adds, however, that these conditions, while to a large extent preventable, were partly due to the structure of the premises. [Ihid., 1570 (42).) In this connection we can but repeat what we have said on the same subject under the description of the housing of potato-diggers, viz. that the nature of the accommodation provided does not tend to foster any kind of " house-pride." 1301. So far as privy accommodation, arrangements for cooking, washing, drying clothes, etc., are concerned, our observations in regard to potato-diggers in Ayrshire apply substantially to the fruit-pickers in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire. (See Appendix XXX., 4-8; E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (43-49); J. T. Wilson, 12,877-9, 12,912-5.) 1302. (b) Separation of the Sexes. — Want of separation of the sexes prevails, but not to the same extent as amongst the Ayrshire potato-diggers. At some of the fruit farms female workers only are employed, and at others males only. Where, however, the two sexes were employed on the same farm, separation in the strict sense was practically non-existent. In one shed, divided into two for men and women, entrance was easily obtained from the one part to the other. In another case the women's apart- ment opened off the men's by means of a ladder, which was not drawn up at night. (Appendix XXX., 3.) Our experience is corroborated by witnesses (see_J)rysdale Robertson, 2057 ; Logan, 12,802-8 ; J. T. Wilson, 12,884), although Dr Ehzabeth M'Vail states that except in the case of married couples there were only two farms in the Upper Ward where it was necessary for the two sexes to use the same sleeping apartment. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (41).) It has been suggested that in this connection a practical solution would be for some farmers to take men only and others women only, and, as we have already stated, this system has already been adopted by certain farmers. Our evidence shows, however, that this is not a complete solution, in that after working hours the men frequent the places where the women are employed. (J. T. Wilson, 12,858 ; Paterson, 12,859 ; Appendix XXX., 3.) 1303. (c) Responsibility for Cleanliness. — This leads to the question of management. Dr Ehzabeth M'Vail finds that the need for caretakers is very apparent. The workers were almost invariably respon- sible for the cleaning of their lodging, this operation being usually postponed until the evening, and some- REPORT. 197 times not performed till Saturday night, so that an atmosphere of untidiness prevailed in most of the places, though to this condition there were also exceptions. {Ibid. , 1570 (17), (42). ) One witness suggested that the presence of a caretaker to clean the premises and do the cooking for the workers would do much to lessen the drinking which prevails amongst them (Logan, 12,835.) In the opinion of Dr J. T. Wilson, the Coimty Medical Officer of Lanarkshire, effective management could be best carried out by means of a central bothy with a suitable caretaker, though he admits the disadvantages under that arrangement of the workers being probably housed at a distance from the farm. {Ibid., 12,892, etc.) Speaking of the character of the workers in this part of Lanarkshire, Dr M'Vail reports that she foimd them on the whole decent and respectable. {Ibid., 1570 (50).) 1304. {d) Number of Workers.— We have no information before us to show the extent of the housing problem in Lanarkshire so far as the number of these workers is concerned ; but it may be noted that the County Medical Officer estimates that the workers will number from 3000 to 4000, though, of course, many of these are recraited from local labour, for whom special housing is not necessary, as they return to their own homes each night. (J. T. Wilson, 12,869.) 1305. Conditims in Perthshire, (a) Number of Workers. — The problem in Perthshire so far as numbers go is greater than in Lanarkshire. One witness estimated that in the Blairgowrie district of the former coimty about 6000 pickers were employed at the height of the season, and that this number would increase in the future, as more land is gradually being put out in fruit. Of that number probably 1500 are housed by the growers or in common lodging-houses in Blairgowrie ; the remainder have " to ' find shelter where they can — some in outhouses, some in tents or ' kraals,' others in woods or by the river ' side, where the trees and bushes furnish them with cover." (Gunnison, 35,308, 35,287 (1).) In the central district of the county, where, as already stated, fruit is also grown on a large scale, it would seem from the evidence of Dr Ehzabeth M'Vail that probably 1000 pickers are employed for whom accommoda- tion is provided by the fruit farmer. {Ibid., 1570 (60), (72), (89), (101).) It may, therefore, be said with a fair degree of accuracy that during the height of the fruit season in Perthshire at least 7000 persons are employed as pickers. 1306. (6) Nature of Accorrtmodatiort, for Casual Workers. — The housing conditions of the berry-pickers in Perthshire differ somewhat from those in Jjanarkshire. We found the accommodation in most cases rather better than in the latter county. But before we proceed to give an account of the conditions as we found them on the fruit farms and as described by witnesses, we first desire to refer to the large class for whom, as already shown, no special accommodation is provided. Many of this class are of the tramp or vagrant type, but apparently very many of them are inhabitants of Dundee, who spend their annual holiday week in working in the fniit fields. The conditions under which these workers are housed are far from satisfactory. The problem is, of course, aggravated by the fact that the period of employment is very brief, and that a very large number of persons require to be housed during that period. The average season is of about six weeks' duration, but is at its height for only two or three weeks (Cimnison, 35,287 (1)), and, as already indicated, the congestion is very acute during the Dundee hoUday week towards the end of July. 1307. The Sanitary Inspector of Blairgowrie gives particulars of a glaring case of overcrowding that came under his notice about the end of July 1913 in one of the houses in a terrace within a mile of Blair- gowrie. We cannot do better than quote his own account of the conditions found. He says : — I visited the place at midnight, and found in a two-roomed house, with a cubic capacity of 4005 feet, 45 grown-up persons, with 1 or 2 children — 20 men and 2 women in the living-room, and 23 women in the adjoining room. This works out at 89 cubic feet to each person, instead of 300 as required in common lodging-houses. They were all lying On the floor, with the exception of 2 women, who were cooking food in the living-room, and 3 young women who could find no floor space to lie on, and were seated on a box in the centre of the room. Some of the men had their boots off ; none of the men or women had their clothes ofi. In other houses in the same terrace I found numbers far in excess of the cubic space necessary, but the place related was the worst. (Gunnison, 35,287 (2).) 1308. The same witness also states that it is a common sight during the picking season to see men, women, and children camping by the river side near Blairgowrie under coverings of every conceivable kind, from the " kraal," already mentioned, to bits of canvas, old bags, and pieces of linoleum spread over the branches of trees and bushes, and held down by ropes loaded with stones. In fine, warm weather the hardship may not be great, but in wet weather the conditions are deplorable. {Ibid., 35,287 (3).) 1309. (c) Nature of Accommodation provided at Farms. — We may now proceed to describe the con- ditions where accommodation is provided by the growers. The farms in Perthshire are larger, and the bothies where berry-pickers are housed are also larger than in Lanarkshire. As a rule caretakers were provided, but in several instances they presented a rough and slovenly appearance, and were not of the type to be effectual. A general absence of washing accommodation was noted. It was observed that bousing in tents was carried out at one of the farms in a fairly satisfactory way, though conditions in wet weather would be less satisfactory. In connection with this method of housing there was a cooking hut, a good privy, and washing accommodation for women. This is the only instance where berry-pickers are housed in tents. (M'NicoU, 36,424.) At one farm visited, a low class of worker was accommodated in old corrugated iron buildings, badly designed and badly kept. There was a sleeping place for men, and another place divided for famiUes — charge, 4d. per night. These rooms were badly Ut and badly ventilated. The occupants were locked in at night. Another farm had poor accommodation in a row of sheds, another had somewhat better provision in an old disused mill. In contrast to these was a small farm of 38| acres, accommodating forty-two workers, for whom is erected a neat bothy, with brick walls, wooden floor and wooden fittings, and good washing and sanitary provision. The bothy and the bedding were perfectly clean. The farmer supervises things himself, employs women only, and gets a good class of worker. Meals are provided at a small charge in an outhouse on the steading adapted for use as a dining-room. We found this an interesting example of what can be done by a small grower independently. 1310. Of the three farms in the Central District of Perthshire which house workers, two are large estates, one belonging to a limited company and one being run on syndicate lines. On one of these 198 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. estates two fanners had holdings and looked after their own workers ; on the third farm the occupant was responsible for the housing. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (53).) 1311. The different classes of workersTwere differently accommodated on the estates referred to. Tramps were housed in farm outbuildings, such as lofts, byres, cartsheds, etc., no charge being made ; the sexes were separate except where they were married or " said to be married," in which cases all such couples occupied buildings in common. No beds were provided, but loose straw was laid on the earthen, stone, or wooden floor ; there were no bedclothes, the workers as a rule covering themselves with any extra clothing they had brought with them. Water supply was from a pump well. Sanitary accommo- dation consisted of pail-privies. In the opinion of Dr M'Vail the arrangements for housing this class of workers left something to be desired. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (52-114).) 1312. The Labour Exchange workers were well housed in bothies ; the farmer provided straw for bedding, also blankets and sheets. On one of the farms the workers were all women. One hundred were housed in three good bothies, with corrugated iron roof and walls ; the floors were of wood ; these bothies were well lit and well ventilated ; arrangements for dividing the apartments into four by par- titions in the event of an epidemic breaking out were provided. There was sanitary and washing accommodation, but no provision for drying clothes. A shop erected on the steading provided food for all classes of workers in common ; besides the shop a large open shed was in use as an eating room. This was taken advantage of by the Labour Exchange workers, many of the tramps preferring to cook and eat their meals in the open. In none of the bothies had the workers access to a fire under cover, either for drying clothes or for cooking. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (66-70).) 1313. On a farm of about 40 acres of raspberries, the workers were all boys from an industrial school in Glasgow ; the majority were between twelve and sixteen years of age. A superintendent and eight teachers accompanied the boys. They were accommodated in six dormitories, with good lighting and ventilation ; beds with wooden frames were given, most of the bedding being provided by the school. A dining-room and kitchen and storeroom were attached to the buildings ; an emergency dormitory was also provided. The sanitary accommodation consisted of pail-privies ; water was carted from a sunk well near to the bothies, or from the farm if the former ran short ; a rain-water barrel provided water for washing. The boys made their own beds and looked after the bothies, which were well kept. The cleanliness of the hands of these workers was noted as compared with the adult workers. (E. M. M'Vail, 1570 (94-97).) 1314. (d) Special Accommodation at West Essendy. — -The most successful attempt to cope with the housing difficulties was made at the farm of West Essendy, about three miles from Blairgowrie. 1315. The estate was bought by a company, and over 200 acres were resold to 14 fruit-growers in lots varying in size from 5 to 25 acres. The price was to be paid by instalments over a period of ten years, any unpaid balances bearing interest at 4 per cent. Most of the land was planted in raspberries, and the growers agreed to work on a co-operative basis. An agent was appointed to sell the fruit and pool the price obtained, each individual being paid on the basis of the average price per ton obtained for the fruit during the season. 1316. As part of their working plant, the co-operators agreed to erect buildings, and the first of these, to accommodate 200 pickers, was erected in 1905 at a cost of £733. Since then further expenditure amounting to £2708 has been incurred, and accommodation is now provided for about 1000 persons. (Keay, 12,930 (3), (10).) 1317. The buildings, well spread out, are erected on a piece of moorland about 9 acres in extent, and consist of dormitories, dining-room, kitchen, and stores, some built of brick with corrugated iron roofs and others entirely of corrugated iron. The dormitories are furnished with iron bedsteads, with chaff bed, pillow, pair of blankets, sheet, and bedcover for each bed. A superintendent, matron, and seryant are provided to look after the dormitories, while the kitchen and dining-halls are run as a restaurant, where about twenty servants are employed cooking and serving food. (Keay, 12,930 (4) (5), (12), (13).) 1318. The workers of course pay for the accommodation provided, but the annual expenses of run- ning it are more than the sums received from the workers. Mr Keay, one of the directors, points out that on this head the company lost £107 in the year 1912, and that the food prices are so low that the restaurant is usually run at a loss. (Ibid., 12,962.) It has, however, apparently been found that it is very inconvenient to have all the workers living together at one part of the estate, as, owing to the extent of the land under fruit, too much time is taken up in going to and fro to meals, etc. It would seem that since our visit the settlement at Essendy has been broken up, and the accommodation has been scattered over the estate. This must add considerably to the cost of all the services hitherto pro- vided at one centre. (Keay, 12,930 (14) ; Graham, 36,419.) 1319. Rating Difficulties in Perthshire. — -The directors of the Essendy experiment just described allege unfair treatment by the assessing authority. The buildings put up for the purpose of housing the pickers are only used for about two months of the year, and yet the owner is assessed on the same basis as though they were occupied all the year round. The directors claim that they should be re- lieved of occupiers' rates during the period the buildings are unused, i.e. that for the ten months of the year they should be treated as unlet. (Keay, 12,930 (8).) 1320. Further, the Directors claim that the accommodation provided for the pickers should get the benefit of relief under the Agricultural Eates Relief Act, 1896. Houses used by the ordinary farm servant are treated as part of the farm buildings "by the assessor, and the occupier is only assessed on three-eighths of his rent, but the fruit-grower gets no relief for the buildings he has put up for the accommodation of the workers, who are equally necessary to his industry. (Keay, 12,930 (6-8).) 1321. It is held that this method of rating is a direct discouragement to the erection of decent accommodation for the pickers. So long as they are crowded into outhouses and other farm buildings the farmer has relief to the extent of five-eighths of his rent and no expense for new erections (Keay, 13,016) ; but the moment decent houses are provided (and the better they are the higher the valuation), rates on the full rental are charged. " You are asking us to provide better housing. It is not our interest to provide better housing. We could let the people sleep out in the hedge-rows, and get our fruit picked in the same way, and we would escape all these rates." (Keay, 12,968.) REPORT. 199 1322. An additional ground of complaint is the rise in the valuation of the land. At the time it was bought the price was equivalent to lis. 7d. per acre, which included moor and arable land as well. About 200 acres were discarded and sold to a neighbouring proprietor, and the remaining land, now in fruit, averaged about 15s. per acre. The directors claim that the increased value of the land — it is now assessed at £3 an acre — is due to their own labour and the purpose to which it has been put. (Keay, 12,980.) 1323. Recommendations. — -At present any action that is taken by the Local Authority for dealing with the housing of berry -pickers is under section 73 of the Public Health Act. That section is intended to regulate the occupation of tents, vans, or sheds, but does not seem entirely suitable for the regulation of housing, which, although temporary, is stationary. For example, it is pointed out by Dr M'Vail that under some of these byelaws 200 feet of cubic space is allowed per person, which is really insufficient for the accommodation of potato-diggers or berry -pickers, but is only permitted because tents, vans, and sheds are structures commonly used by itinerants, and hence convenience and cost of transit have to be taken into consideration by the authorities framing the byelaws. (M'Vail, 1570 (12).) 1324. Further, although a Local Authority may make byelaws under that section for the promo- tion of cleanliness, the prevention of overcrowding, and the checking of infectious disease, they have apparently no power to deal with such questions as the separation of the sexes, and the expression " habitable condition of tents, vans, and sheds " in the section does not appear to cover accommodation for cooking, for drying of clothes, and arrangements for Washing. 1325. It will, we think, be seen from the descriptions we have given above that the housing of these workers is practically the same as the housing of potato-diggers, except that the former case is not com- plicated by the position of a middleman such as the potato merchant between the farmers and the workers. Accordingly we consider that our recommendations already made in regard to the housing of potato-diggers are equally applicable to the housing of fruit-pickers ; subject, however, to this provision, that the responsibility for the housing wiU in the latter case rest entirely with the fruit grower or farmer. (d) Housing of Herring-Gutters. 1326. In 1906 the Home Office drew the attention of the Local Government Board to the conditions imder which women engaged iu the herring-curing industry at various Scottish ports were housed. As the result of reports then obtained by the Board from Local Authorities concerned, and of subsequent communications from the Board, some improvement was efEected in the conditions (Macpherson, 2 (467), (477)) ; but the evidence before us (which of course applies to the pre-war period) and our own inquiries show that there is still room for considerable improvement. We investigated for ourselves the conditions prevailing in Orkney and Shetland, as well as in some of the seaport towns on the mainland. In many places special hut accommodation is not provided for the workers, who find accommodation in houses in the town or village where their work is carried on. The consequence is that at the height of the fishing season in these places there is a great amoimt of overcrowding. An instance of this is given by a witness from Wick. In one case there were six women and three children in one room, and at the week-ends the husbands of three of the women joined them, all living in the one room. This state of overcrowding, he says, is common in the fishing season, and continues from the beginning of May till well into September. (Macdonald, 16,379-84.) If more effective control were exercised by the Local Authority in regard to overcrowding — as we suggest in another part of this report (see Chapter XII.) — ^the curers would be compelled to provide special accommodation for their workers. This special accommodation would also be subject to further control by the Local Authority, as we suggest below ; and that some control is required will be seen from the description of the huts or other such accommodation at present provided. 1327. Places where Workers employed. — ^At the time of the herring fishing there is a large influx of workers to the following places : — Aberdeen, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Wick, Stronsay, Stromness (Orkney), Lerwick, Stomoway, Castlebay (Barra), and Mallaig. On the East Coast, in Orkney and Shetland, and at Mallaig, wooden huts are as a rule provided for the women gutters. {Cf. Skinner, Appendix I., 9, 10.) 1328. Number of Workers. — ^According to information supplied by the late General Inspector of the Fishery Board for Scotland, the number of fish-workers normally resident in Peterhead is 1343. During the fishing season there is an influx of 775 workers. For Fraserburgh the figures are 1249 and 1216 respectively ; for Wick, 890 and 656 ; for Orkney, 195 and 956 ; for Shetland, 1248 and 2365. (Skinner, Appendix II.) These figures give an indication of the extra demand there is on the available accommodation during the fishing season. In Stronsay (Orkney) it is stated that at the height of the fishing season every available house is packed to overflowing, and that the same holds true of Mallaig. (Skinner, Appendix I., 11 ; also Macrae, 27,971, 27,981.) ' 1329. In the years before 1914, with the increase of steam- and motor-boats, the herring industry enormously expanded ; the fishing season was lengthened and the area of operations increased. The result was that a larger number of persons was engaged in fishing and new fishing stations were opened up. (Dittmar, 340 (66).) The greater number of workers are women engaged in gutting, curing, and packing the herring. They flock to the fish-curing stations in large numbers during the summer months, where temporary acconomodation is provided for them. They usually work in groups — or as they are termed, " crews "—of three, two gutting and one packing. The men who are employed are usually coopers. There is one man for every four crews. (Paterson, 2367.) The men are better provided for than the girls. (Ibid., 2369-70.) According to Dr Dittmar, Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board, their acconomodation may be regarded as adequate. (Ibid., 340 (67) (e).) 1330. Description of Accommodation. — Speaking generally, the houses that are put up for herrmg gutters are constructed of wood or of wood and corrugated iron. They are placed on a stone or concrete foundation, and are thus about a foot above the surface of the ground. The roofs are of corrugated iron, though in some cases wooden roofs covered with tarred felt are used. The partition between rooms frequently does not extend to the roof. The outer walls are only one plank thick and the fissures between the boards admit the air. Even when sheathed with corrugated iron, the walls cannot be made air-tight. As a general rule, fairly efficient means for lighting and ventilation are provided. Sleeping-bvmks are 200 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. placed in two tiers against one of the walls of the room. The girls sleep three a bed, and there are usually two beds to a room. The cubic space per person in the rooms is usually between 200 and 260 cubic feet, but Dr Dittmar considers that, looking to the construction of the huts and other circumstances, this may be regarded as sufficient. (Dittmar, 340 (67) (b), (c), and (e). ) The girls provide their own bedding and furniture. As stated by Miss Paterson in her Annual Eeport for 1905 as Inspector of Factories and Workshops imder the Home Office, the hut as it comes into the possession of the temporary' workers " is 'merely a shell" ; the workers have to make it a "home." A grate or oil stove and the wooden frame of the beds are the only furnishings. The single room of the hut constitutes the only provision for the comfort of the workers ; there is no common living-room apart from the sleeping-room, no washing- house, and no special cooking-room. Dr Dittmar remarks on the cleanliness of the rooms, and adds that the occupants were, as a rule, healthy looking and rosy cheeked. {Ibid., 340 (67) (c).) 1331. At Fraserburgh and Peterhead, barracks have been built by the curers adjacent to the yards. Tlie buildings are generally used for curing purposes on the ground floor, or for storage purposes. The upper floor is divided into large cubicles or small rooms all entering off a long passage runnmg along the back wall of the building. The curers provide bedsteads, tables, and fireplace or stove, as in the huts, but the women have to clean, paper, and furnish the rooms for themselves. Water is generally got from a tap and sink at the ends of the passage, and in one or two cases water-closet accommodation has been provided. A description of one such building will be foimd in a Report to the Local Government Board by Dr Dittmar, an extract from which is printed in Appendix CLXXIV. 1332. Water-Supply. — ^Mr Macpherson has shown that the difficulty of providing water-supply in the fishing centres is well known to the authorities, and states that the Local Government Board have been advised that it is not the duty of the Local Authority to provide a water-supply sufficient to meet the needs of the temporary fishing populations. {Ibid., 2 (49).) The chief difficulty is not so much scarcity of water as the expense of bringing it to the areas where it is required. Mr John Skinner, late General Inspector of Fisheries, pointed out that the fishing might at any time fall off, and the Local Authority, having no guarantee that the temporary population will return regularly, are unwilling to face the expenditure of a water-supply. {Ibid., 695.) We are led to understand, however, that this argu- ment does not now apply to the same extent as formerly, and that in view of the extended use of steam- and motor power for fishing vessels, the permanency of fishing stations is in future likely to be more assured. The absence of an adequate supply of water during the summer months amongst the large population that gathei-s at some centres is a serious matter, and, as Dr Dittmar points out, with such scarcity of water little can be spared lor personal ablutions. The trouble about want of water applies only at some of the fishing stations in the county areas where the workers have to go a distance for it to a well or bum or pump. The burghs have usually a plentiful supply of gravitation water. {Ibid., 340 (67) m, (70).) 1333. Sanitary Accommodation. — So long as the water difficulty remains imsolved, the provisioii of water-closet accommodation at curing stations that have a scant supply is not possible. Resort has, therefore, to be had in such cases to privy accommodation. The reports obtained by the Local Govern- ment Board in 1906 showed that the want of privj' accommodation was one of the chief defects of the housing. Even where it was provided, it was so close to the men's privies, or in so open a position, that the women did not use it. (Macpherson, 2 (469).) Dr Dittmar, Medical Inspector of the Local Govern- ment Board, reports in similar terms. (Dittmar, 340 (67) {k) ; see also White, 12,156 ; Sutherland, 12,329.) Miss Paterson, referring to the fact that such conveniences are not used, points out that the class of women employed as gutters, more especially the West Highland women, are very easily offended in their sense of decency. (Paterson, 2333.) The result is that, as Dr Dittmar expresses it, " the women ' go to the hillside and commit a nuisanc* along the sides of the walls separating one field from another, ' and also in any old ruinous house that is to be found." He is of opinion that large cloak-rooms with lavatory basins and water-closet accommodation should be provided, but admits that in the absence of an adequate water-supply this is not practicable. (Dittmar, 340 (67) {k).) Miss Paterson is of opmion that there is no use adding to the kind of accommodation already provided. (Paterson, 2333.) In the absence of a sufficient water-supply and suitable drainage, it would seem as if the privy system must con- tinue, and it should be made possible for the Local Authority to require the provision of suitable accom- modation in places where it would be likely to be used. It is alleged, however, that even where proper water-closet accommodation is provided, difficulty is experienced in getting the women to use it, and that this is the experience at Yarmouth and Lowestoft, especially among the Highland women. (Paterson, 2335.) We understand that this is true only of the accommodation in the yards on the Dunes where the accommodation is public. Where proper accommodation is provided in the yards there is said to be no difficulty. 1334. An improvement on the ordinary conditions is foimd at Wick, where the " Fish-Workers' Rest " seems to meet the difficulties of the situation. Of these Rests there are two in number, and they comprise a common room, where the girls can spend their spare time and have a meal, and where sanitary accommo- dation is provided. At each of the Rests a woman is in charge. The Rests are stated to be provided by the Harbour Commissioners. (Paterson, 2335, 2357.) This is evidently the type of accommodation that is required and appreciated by the female workers. 1335. Becomm^ndations. {a) Control by Officers of Local Authority. — There does not appear to have been much done by the Local Authorities hitherto in the way of regulating those huts that are specially provided for the herring gutters. The site and method of construction are apparently not open to control, but a certain amount of supervision would appear possible by means of byelaws for houses let in lodgings. (Macpherson, 2 (469).) Dr Dittmar, however, does not think that anything would be gained by register- ing these dwellings as houses let in lodgings. He says that if this were done the supervision now exercised by the curers would probably fall into abeyance and the places would be left to be supervised by the utterly inadequate staff provided by a rural Local Authority. (Dittmar, 340 (67) (n).) 1336. We recognise that, especially as regards the fishing stations in Orkney and Shetland, it is a matter of considerable difficulty for the Local Authorities with their present staffs to exercise anything like sufficient control over the occupancy of these huts. In another part of this Report we deal with the REPORT. 201 question of the insufficiency of the sanitary staffs of Local Authorities for the duties placed upon them, and we make suggestions for combinations of the existing health authorities with a view to the more effective exercise of the public health powers. These proposals will, we think, help to overcome the difficulties hitherto experienced by several Local Authorities in securing efficient superinteridence by their officers of the huts provided for the herring-gutters. 1337. (b) Supervision by Officers of Local Government Board.— Miss Paterson in her evidence considers that the Local Authority are imable to provide the necessary supervision, and she suggests that there should be attached to the staff of the Local Government Board some capable women inspectors who could go from one curing station to another and exercise the supervision that is required. (Ibid., 2343, 2354.) We are of opinion that such women inspectors should be attached to the staff of the Local Government Board, and that during the fishing season they should inspect the various stations and assist the officers of the Local Authority in securing the proper use of the accommodation provided. Such women in- spectors would also be available for the inspection of the housing conditions of potato-diggers and berry- pickers and for general inspectorial work throughout Scotland. There need, we think, be no fear that their time would not be fully occupied throughout the year. 1338. (c) Local Authority to frame Byelaws. — As we have already indicated, the powers of Local Authorities require strengthening to enable them to control the erection and occupancy' of these huts. We consider that, as in the case of huts for navvies, the approval of the Local Authority should first be obtained to the site and plans of all such erections before building is commenced. This would secure the buildings being placed on a healthy site and a proper form of construction being observed. In addition the Local Authority should be empowered to frame byelaws for herring-gutters similar to those we have suggested for potato-diggers and berry-pickers, and the Local Grovernment Board should be empowered to require any Local Authority to frame such byelaws. We do not consider, however, that the byelaws as to provision of washing, cooking, and feeding utensils and towels should be made applicable to herring- gutters. We understand they are not appropriate to the special circumstances of the housing of the herring-gutters, and our recommendation above as to the application of the byelaws for berry-pickers and potato-diggers is made subject to this modification. 1339. {d) Provision of Water-Supply. — Reference has been made to the water-supply difficulty. We have shown that in the past there has been uncertainty as to the permanency of fishing stations, but that this imcertainty will in future more or less disappear in consequence of the extended use of vessels fitted with steam- and motor-power. It may be, therefore, that in future the fishing stations will be chiefly centred at the principal fishing ports, and that the establishment of new fishing centres in isolated districts where water is scarce or can only be obtained at heavy expense will not be likely to occur. In the former case the ports are probably already well supplied with water, the Local Authorities having provided a supply for the ordinary inhabitants. Any surplus over what is required for the ordinary domestic needs will be available to the curers on terms to be arranged with the Local Authority, and in such cases our evidence does not show that the supply is insufficient. The difficulties as to water-supply arose at some of the more outljring stations within the areas of Local Authorities who were financially unable to under- take the carrying out of the necessary scheme. Where at any fishing port the existing supply is no more than sufficient for the needs of the ordinary inhabitants, or where a new station is established in a situation where no supply is readily and easily available, we do not think it would be reasonable to enact that the Local Authority must provide the necessary supply and take the risk of being or not being recouped their expense in so doing by the charges paid by the curer for the water consumed. Even assuming , that the multiplication of vessels fitted with steam- and motor-power will tend towards the fiehing remain- ing in an established centre or will ensure that a new station will be a permanent one, the Local Authority have no guarantee that this will be so, and we do not see that they as at present constituted and with their existing restricted finances should be required to launch out on what may prove to be heavy expenditure in providing a water-supply for boats or huts that may disappear in the course of a year or two. Improved water-supply is, however, much needed in many places, and we think the responsibility for providing it for his workers should, in cases where no pubhc supply is already provided by the Local Authority, rest under present circumstances on the curer. The method of providing it must, of course, rest with the curer. He may be able to arrange with the local proprietor for a supply from his lands. Should the proprietor be im willing to agree to do so, the Local Authority should be empowered, on being approached by the curer and on a sufficient guarantee being given by him to bear all the necessary costs, to obtain the water under their existing compulsory powers. If the Local Authority should fail to take any action, the curer should have the right of appeal to the Local Government Board, who should have power to require the Local Authority to take any steps considered necessary. In any case, we consider that no plans should be passed by the Local Authority imtil they are satisfied that an adequate supply of water will be available for the workers to be housed in the buildings. 1340. (e) Removal of Trade Refuse. — The scavenging arrangements as regards the disposal of house- hold refuse appear as a rule adequate. (Dittmar, 340 (67) (1).) But it is pointed out that difficulty is experienced in securing the removal of trade refuse. The Local Authority have no duty to remove such refuse and, however disagreeable the consequent state of matters may be, they cannot take action until a nuisance injurious or dangerous to health arises. This position cannot be regarded as satisfactory, and accordingly we recommend that a Local Authority should have power to require the removal of such refuse without having to wait imtil a nuisance actually arises. (Macpherson, 2 (470); Dittmar. 340 (67) (m).) 1341. (/) Provision of Recreation Huts. — The recommendations we have made above should secure considerable improvement m the housing conditions of these workers. But we consider that still further accommodation to meet the social needs of the workers is desirable. As will have been seen from the description given above, the hut provided consists but of one room, which must therefore be both living- and sleeping-room. It seems to us that it would cost very little more were each hut given an additional room which could be used as a sitting-room and kitchen, and, while not making the provision of such extra Toom a statutory obligation, we would commend the suggestion to the favourable consideration of the curers. We would also commend to the attention of the employers in the industry and of social workers 202 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. the Bi^ggestion that recreation huts, such as those with which the war has made us familiar, might be established 99 £36,390 £204,639 £622,997 £1,042,855 £1,392,741 £1,532,287 (estimated value) £2,977,454 (estimated value of completed estate) The total area is 816J acres, of which 89J are open spaces, and the estimated number of houses when completed is 9053, or about 11 to the acre. (" Copartnership Tenants, Ltd.," Report for 1914.) 270 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 3. Function of a Centeal Society. 1771. Before we go on to describe the aims and methods of individual copartnery associations, it may be well to indicate the place in the movement of the central societies to which many of these local bodies are affiliated. Of the central societies we may take Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., as repre- sentative, the others being the Welsh Housing and Town Planning Trust, Ltd., and the Housing Organ- isation Society, Ltd. (formerly the Rural Housing Organisation Society), which has worked chiefly in agricultural districts in the south of England. No such society has been foimded in Scotland. 1772. Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., works along several lines. (a) It assists federated societies in the raismg of capital, and from the date of its registration in Jime 1907 to December 1913 the total sum raised in shares, loan stock, bonds, and on mortgage for the various societies was £896,571. Up to the latter date the sums invested in Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., were £313,666. (See Amiual Report for 1914, from which certain of the following particulars are taken also.) » (6) It provides expert advice in the initiation of new schemes regarding the constitution of the societies (for which it provides model rules), and also on questions of development, architecture, and finance. The knowledge and experience of these matters which have been acquired in eariier schemes, and which are being constantly confirmed and corrected, are thus placed at the disposal of those pro- moting new copartnership building societies. (Vivian, 40,633.) (c) The central society also acts as agent for the local societies in the purchase of building material ; and, in virtue of its special experience and the wholesale character of its dealings, it claims to effect important economies. In 1914 Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., expended a sum of £72,484, 14s. lOd. on the purchase of materials, surveying estates, and architectural work. (d) It pubhshes a journal, Copartnership, organises town-planning exhibitions, has instituted travelling scholarships, and thus carries on a propagandist work in some ways similar to that of the National Housing and Town Planning Council, and of the Garden Cities and Town Planning Association. (e) Two subsidiary enterprises. Woodworkers, Ltd., Letchworth, and Brick and Tile-workers, Ltd., Madeley, have been established for the supply of materials to garden suburbs. 1773. The extent of these operations shows the usefulness of the Society. At the same time, it should be noted that several bodies run on copartnership lines have preferred to remain independent. Boumville Tenants, Ltd., is a case in point ; and Mr Barlow, Secretary to the Bournville Village Trust, said that he believed the " feehng of the Boumville tenants was that they wanted liberty of ' purchase, and greater independence than they felt would be left to them if they joined the federation." (25,048.) Similarly, Mr Bulmer, chairman of the Hereford Society, said that it was felt that more interest would be taken locally, and capital would more readily be subscribed, if the Society were organised on an independent basis. (Appendix CLXXXV.) 1774. With reference to the suggestion that there might be a sacrifice of hberty on the part of the local societies in agreeing to purchase materials from the central society, Mr Vivian said that he con- sidered that on the balance local societies independently organised " could not possibly get the facilities ' they get from the central organisation." He added that if any local society happened to hear of a particularly advantageous bargain, they were a.dvised to communicate at once with the Central Buying Committee of Copartnership Tenants. " All the local officials are advised to let us know directly they ' discover an)rt,hing that is apparently cheaper than anything we are supplying." He also emphasised the advantage to local societies of benefiting by cash transactions and by the credit of the central body, which stands very high owing to their regard for prompt payment. (40,694.) 4. Aim of the Movement. 1775. From the figures just given it will be seen that the operations of the copartnership move- ment are on an exceedingly small scale compared with the magnitude of the housing question in Britain. It is true, however, that down to the outbreak of the war they were increasing in England, although it is clear that the operations have not comprehended in any notable degree ordinary working-class housing. In Scotland — except at Ros}rth, which is practically an Admiralty venture — the movement has made almost no headway. 1776. The root idea is to make the interest in the houses not individual but collective, by giving the householder a stake in the prosperity of the whole group and a share in its self-government, thus stimulating communal interest and pubhc spirit. Further, because he holds shares in the society which has built the houses and manages the village or suburb, he can realise the value of his house, if he is forced to leave the district, with less trouble, delay, and risk of loss than if he had to sell it outright. (Walker Smith, 4213 (75 a) ; Roxburgh, 19,556.) 5. Method of Working — General. 1777. The underlying conception is that both the arrangement and structure of the houses (i.e. the " garden city " or " garden suburb " element) and the form of tenure and management (the " co- partnership " element) will make a higher standard of interest and occupancy possible. The Secretary of the Edinburgh and East of Scotland Garden City Association brought out both points in his evidence and showed how they interact. . . , The idea is that groups of co-operative house-owners are not merely co-operators owning houses, but they form a society among themselves, with certain social relations ; and in that way you tend to organise your whole community, rather than having your city consisting of a mass of individual tenants quite unrelated to one another. (Roxburgh, 19,672.) It is true that this end can be attained in other ways, as in Messrs Rowntree's village of New Earswick, which is owned by a Trust estabhshed for that purpose, but where there is a " village council " REPORT. " 271 ■ which controls the " Folk Hall," and to which all plans for new buildings are submitted by the Trust. But such autonomy in the life of a village or district is naturally allied with the copartnership prin- ciple. Other advantages claimed are that the community is not composed of mere " casual tenants," but of neighbours who have " a corporate life," which gives them a pride in the condition of all the houses and makes them all anxious to minimise repairs, or to find tenants for any vacant houses. (Roxburgh, 19,557, 19,672 ; Boyd Auld, 39,944.) A further point in the management of these societies is that any surplus profits which may remain after the payment of the fixed interest on loan stock and shares are allocated to the tenants. They are not, however, paid in cash, but are credited to each tenant in the books of the society, thus increasing his interest in its'prosperity. (Boyd Auld, 39,819 (2f).) 6. Tenants' Contribution to Capital. 1778. In the majority of societies a contribution is demanded from the tenant to the 5 per cent, share capital of the society. {Of. Vivian, 40,751 (61) for the various plans followed.) In the Liverpool Garden Suburb at Wavertree, tbe tenants take up 4| per cent, loan stock, which is a preferred stock, and so safer, though the return is less ; but this arrangement is apparently exceptional. At Westertoii (Glasgow Garden Suburb) the deposit required for each house is, as a rule, £50, which can be paid either in a single sum or by instalments, the payments being adjusted to suit the tenant's income. (Ibid., 39,826-9.) At Harbome (Birmingham) shares are chiefly contributed by the tenants. A tenant has eventually to take up £50 in shares (five shares of £10 each). The compulsory payments by tenants are £2 on allotment of the first share, and a minimum subscription of 2s. 6d. per month afterwards. Share interest is not paid in cash, but is added to the tenant's principal. (Waite, 25,061.) ] 779. Mr Boyd Auld pointed out, however, that the sum stipulated would naturally vary according to the class of tenant whom the suburb was designed to attract. (39,945.) In point of fact, it is much lower in some cases in England, e.g. in the original Society, " Tenant Co-operators, Ltd.," it was fixed as low as £1, and in the Hereford Garden Suburb, where a large proportion of the tenants are labourers earning not much over £1 per week, " the minimum instalments required from tenants are Is. down ' on entrance to tenancy, and 3d. per week after till £3 is reached." In this case two of the Tenants' Committee have seats on the Board of the Company, and this arrangement is found to work well, though it is not compulsory under the constitution. (Appendix CLXXXV., paragraphs 6, 8.) In (jther cases an addition of 6d. per week is made to the rent as a repairs fund, which mounts up till it equals one-half of the gross rental, and thereafter is placed to the credit of the tenants' capital account. However this is arranged in detail the tenant's contribution, over and above his weekly rent, to the capital, of the society is of great importance, as this gives him his practical. interest in the property — an interest which, it Is claimed, is none the less real because it is not confined, as in the building society method, to his individual house. Mr Nettlefold was asked in this connection whether this relatively small payr ment was a sufiicient inducement to make a tenant careful of his house, and answered that in practice it was ; and that there was the further safeguard that an unsatisfactory tenant could be deprived of membership in the society, while there was no danger that the members as a whole would suffer through the action of one of their number in selling his house to a bad tenant. The letting of the houses is the concern of the whole society. (42,753 (9) ; 42,857 f.) 1780. A question naturally arises regarding the holding of any tenant who is obliged, or desires, to leave the district and find a house elsewhere, since the copartnership movement is not yet nearly wide enough in extent to afEord a probability that he will find a similar organisation awaiting him in the district where he settles. On this point the evidence of the Secretary of Harbome Tenants, Ltd., is important. He first stated that their removal fist amounted to scarcely 5 per cent, per ammm, as compared with 25 per cent, in many working-class districts ; and he went on to say that the Society made use in such cases of the powers given by the Industrial and Provident Societies Act to repay and extinguish shares. In this way the Society's credit was maintained ; nor had any difficulty been ex- perienced in adhering to a rule that not more than 5 per cent, of the share capital should be so repaid in any one year, as the demands had never approached tha^ amount. (Waite, 25,077 f.) Mr Nettlefold, chairman of the Company said : " We pay out small sums when they are asked for, but obviously we dare not agree to pay out any sum when it is asked for." (42,915.) This appUes, however, rather to the loan stock subscribed^by the general pubhc. It appears to be the general practice so far, among copartnership societies, to relieve outgoing tenants of their shares, even though there is no legal obhgation to do so. But the creation of these societies is so recent that their ability so to relieve outgoing tenants has probably not been severely tested. 7. Tenants and Repairs. f 1781. One advantage of the above arrangement is that the society has a certain sum in hand, con- sisting of the tenant's share capital and accumulated interest, which can be used to meet arrears of rent, if these should occur, and which also forms a reserve for repairs. The witness last quoted stated that internal repairs, painting, decoration, etc., were the business of the tenants— an arrangement which appears to be commoner in England than in Scotland, — and that the chief item faUing on the society was "outside painting, repairs to roofs, and minor details." He added : — That is one of the good points about copartnership] ^estates, I think: they make the tenant respon.sible for his repairs, but at the same time set up machinery for repaying him the money he would otherwise be out of pocket, so that an inducement is held out to the tenant to take care of his house. (Waite, 25,062, 25,069.) 1782. The Secretary of the Glasgow Garden Suburb expressed a similar opinion, and said further that in case of any doubt as to the repairs which were necessary, the Tenants' Committee were the judges, thus providing a guarantee against unfair demands by the Board of Management. (Boyd Auld, 39,986 f.) As all surplus on the working of copartnership societies goes to the tenants, they have a direct interest in reducing the society's bill for upkeep. 272 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 8. General Results. 1 783. On the whole, the arrangements just outlined seem to have worked well. Mr Vivian stated that two months after the beginning of the war arrears in the first Hampstead Tenants, Ltd., were £40 on u rent-roll of £9500, and in the Liverpool Garden Suburb arrears were about £53 on £7000. (40,642.) At Hereford, a much smaller scheme but with a poorer class of tenant, arrears were at the same period only 9s. on a rent-roll of about £1200. (Appendix CLXXXV. (8) (5).) Mr Vivian gave it as his opinion that the attempt frequently made to name an average percentage of the rental to cover arrears or repairs was a futile one, as everything depended on the class of tenant and the type of manage- ment adopted ; but it is also trae that such figures as those just given showed the soundness of the copartnership method. Another essential point is that in the copartnership society, as in the building society, personal discrimination and allowance for individual circumstances is possible. Thus Mr Vivian remarked : — These things require considerable tact, and they are vital to the success of an estate. If you deal with these thuigs stupidly by wooden regulations, then you will have a big element of waste. (Vivian, 40,644.) 9; Rentals ov Houses and Class of Tenant provided for. 1784. The economic question is an essential element, and deserves notice. Mr Vivian gave the following statistics regarding the societies federated to Copartnership Tenants, Ltd. : — Number Rental, of Houses. Bellow 6s. weekly 564 From 6s. and below 8s. 736 „ 8s. 10s. 753 „ 10s. 12s. 662 „ 12s. 15s. 151 „ 15s. 20s. 110 Over £52 per annum 201 3177 Mr Vivian subsequently explained that the lowest figures (3s. 3d., 3s. 6d.) were exclusive of rates, and that the minimum for a self-contained house was about 4s. 6d. (Vivian, 40,571 (50 f.) ; 40,680 f.) At Harbome Garden Suburb, which contains some of the cheapest houses included in the above table, " a ' general advance of rents took place " during 1914 {Report of Harhorne Tenants, Ltd., for 1914, Cf. Walker Smith, 4213 (58).) 1785. Before this rise the rentals at Harbome ranged from 4s. 6d. to 15s. 6d. per week, uicluding all rates and taxes. There were a few houses at £35 and £40 per annum, excluding rates : — 60 houses were rented at 68. and under ; 100 between 6s. and 8s. 9d. ; 100 at 8s. 9d., and the balance of 240 at over 8s. 9d. 1786. The costs of houses at the following rentals were approximately : — At 48. 6d. per week ...... £120 „ 6s. 9d. „ 184 „ 8s. 9d. „ . . . . • . . 230 „10s. 6d. „ ...... 290 (Waite, 25,061.) 1787. The same witness mentioned that the members of the Society inhabiting these houses might be classified according to occupation as follows :■ — The strongest would be clerks, and among them there are a great many of the lesser officials of the Corporation. Working jewellers are very strong here. Then there are skilled artisans, postal employees, labourers. We have a good many genuine labourers, including Corporation employees, a good many building-trade employees, a good many servants Uke coachmen and chaufEeurs, with a certain number of warehousemen, travellers, a few manufacturers, schoolmasters, and profes- sional men. He added that about 10 per cent, of the tenants would be earning under 30s. per week. (Waite, 25,065, 25,081.) 1788. The chairman of the Hereford Garden Suburbs, which has perhaps the largest proportion of cheap houses of the Enghsh copartnership seCieties, stated that " a large majority of the tenants ' are unskilled labourers, and only earn the wages of unskilled labourers in Hereford ; that is to say, ' about £1 a week." (Appendix CLXXXV.) 1789. In the Glasgow Garden Suburb (at Westerton, outside Glasgow), where the lowest rental is £18, 18s., " the average wage is £2, 10s. per week " ; and the Secretary's estimate was that the lowest would be about £2. The Sanitary Inspector for the county of Dumbarton said that the tenants were chiefly clerks, warehousemen, etc. (Boyd Auld, 39,857 f. ; Dunbar, 42,982 f.) This Society, it will there- fore be seen, can hardly be said to be catering for working men. The two societies at Gourock, one being a public utihty and the other a copartnership society, both provide exclusively for well-paid employees in the Admiralty's new torpedo works. (James Paterson, 33,610 fE. ; Richardson, 33,710.) REPORT. 273 1790. in general, the evidence points to the fact that these schemes are best adapted for well-paid artisans, clerks, municipal employees, and for wage-earners of the same type. 1791. It was suggested that it is important, if possible, to introduce houses at different values within the same scheme. This has a double advantage : it enables a certain proportion of houses to be provided at a lower rental than might otherwise be possible, and larger houses being accepted by the Public Works Loan Board as " collateral security " for the loan. 1792. The other and more important advantage is that this arrangement prevents the separation of different classes, and avoids that segregation in sharply defined districts which is too common a feature at present. We deal with this subject in Chapter XXVII. on Town Planning. 10. Hereford. 1793. The Hereford Garden Suburb is much smaller than those already described ; but there are two points of special interest in regard to it. (1) It has been made possible by a closer co-operation between the Local Authority and the Public Utihty Building Society than has occurred elsewhere in Great Britain — a result largely due to Mr E. F. Bulmer, chairman of the Society, who was Mayor of Hereford when it was foimded. This co-operation led to (2) important economies which have enabled the Society to house a larger proportion of tenant farmers of the labouring class than any similar body, so far as the information submitted to us goes. (Vivian, 40,571 (56 f.) ; Nettlefold, 42,840 f. ; cf. 42,883.) The scheme had its origin in the effort to provide new houses on newly developed sites on the outskirts of Hereford at the same time as a clearance of slum property was effected in the centre of the town. The total area of the Garden Suburb is 9^ acres, including l\ acres of open spaces, and the total number of houses is 86. The land cost £158 per acre, and the cost of development and legal expenses was only £84 per acre, or £242 for land and development. The low cost of development is interesting, as showing what can be done on a basis of narrow service roads in a purely residential district. It also shows that a town council can develop land within its borders most economically ; but the Hereford Town Coimcil were fortvmate in possessing a Private Act which enabled them to construct roads themselves without regard to the provision of the byelaws regarding width of carriageway. 1794. The estate is leased to Hereford Co-operative Housing, Ltd., who pay interest and sinking fund on the cost of land and development to the Town Coimcil ; but when the capital expenditure has been extinguished it will become the property of the Society. The rents are very moderate, as at the outset nearly half the houses were let at 4s. 9d. per week, including rates, the rents of the others ranging from 5s. 6d. to 7s. 9d. ; but more recently the rents have had to be sUghtly raised to meet an increase in borough rates. In spite of the low rentals, the Society earned a satisfactory profit in 1912 — ^the first year in which there was no unproductive capital on which to pay interest. , This result is a striking commentary on the benefits of cheap estate development. One minor point of interest in this con- nection is that the bricks fi'om the slum houses which were being demohshed were used as bottoming for the new roads in the Suburb. (Appendix CLXXXV. ; c/. Nettlefold, Practical Town Planning, p. 104.) 1795. The accommodation provided consists as a nile of living-room and back kitchen (or scullery), containing bath downstairs, and three bedrooms, one of which is small, upstairs. The larger houses have a separate bathroom upstairs. The cheapest houses, which cost £165, including fencing, are those in the centre of blocks of five ; while semi-detached houses cost £190 or £195, the prices being those current in 1906-1908, when the scheme was carried out. 1796. A large number of those housed are labourers earning Uttle over £1 per week before the war. The tenants elect the Committee, which has two representatives on the Board of the Company — an arrangement which is not compulsory under the constitution of the Company, but is said to work well. The preference is given in the choice of tenants to those who have children — a preference seldom shown by the ordinary landlord. (Appendix CLXXXV., paragraphs 4-8.) 1797. Hereford is also of interest as possessing a municipal housing scheme, more recent than the copaitnership scheme ; and the borough officials claim that, owing to better borrowing facilities, they are able to give a more airy and substantial house at a rent only slightly above that charged by the Copartnership Society. On the other hand, the space round the mimicipal houses is smaller, as they are built from 9 to 16 to the acre. {Ibid., paragraphs 12 f. Of the municipal houses, 36 are rented at 5s. or 5s. 3d. ; 22 at 6s. or 6s. 3d. ; and 4 at 8s. or 8s. 6d.) As a supplement to these two schemes for housing families on the outskirts of the town, there is also a small independent society (of which Mi- Bulmer is chairman) which has utilised part of the area cleared in the centre of the town to provide small houses at a low rent for pensioners and other old people, at rents of from 2s. 9d. per week for two good rooms. 11. Scottish Experiments. 1798. In Greenock and Gourock there have been three housing societies recently registered under the Industrial Provident Societies Act. 1799. Gourock and Ch'eenock Tenants, Ltd., which was registered on 27th February 1912, claims to be the first copartnership housing society in Scotland, Its membership is drawn almost entirely from the Admiralty workers in the new torpedo factory, who numbered about 400 when our evidence was taken. Out of a capital of £1660, all but £100 has been raised among the workmen. The Society has closely followed the constitution and methods of the English copartnership societies. It borrows the larger part of the cost of the houses (in practice somewhat less than two-thirds) from the Public Works Loan Board ; but the difficulty of raising the balance of capital required has proved serious. 1800. Each tenant is required to take up ten £5 shares, paying £2 on allotment, and not less than 4s. per month per share. In June 1914 there were 112 members taking up 216 shares. Owing to the difficulty of finding capital, only 12 houses had then been built, at a density of about 13 to the gross acre. The rent charged was £22, 2s., exclusive of rates. This sum was " fixed on the basis of from 7^ to 7| ' per cent, of the total capital cost," including provision for reps,yment of the loan in forty years. (A. G. Richardson, 33,710.) 18 214: ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLANi). 1801. The cost of internal decoration is paid by the tenant. When asked what proportion of the total wage received by members the rent would represent, the Secretary replied, " About one-fifth of the ' earnings." A recent ballot had shown that about 75 per cent, of the members desired self-contained cottages with separate back-door, and the remainder double-flatted cottages. The average rent that they were prepared to pay was 7s. 9d. (Richardson, 33,704.) 1802. Owing to the small proportion of the houses actually built to the membership of this Society, houses have to be balloted for as they are completed. Various attempts to raise additional capital by the assistance of the Admiralty, the co-operative movement, or the trade union to which most of the men belong, have all broken down ; and the secretary stated that they would be only too glad to receive a larger proportion of the cost from Government, if that could be arranged. (Richardson, 33,675 fi. ; Campbell, 33,067.) 1803. Greenock Garden Suburb has been started by the promoters of the Glasgow Garden Suburb at Westerton, and on the same lines. Groimd was obtained from Sir Hugh Shaw Stewart at £20 per acre — a moderate feu-du*y in view of the fact that in the neighbourhood the " charge was £70 per acre ' for tenements." Only six houses were actually built, and about twenty apphcations were sent in ; but many of these were subsequently withdrawn, vmder the impression, we were informed, that the applicants might receive better value under the building scheme of the Corporation. (Boyd Auld, 39,819 (17 f.); see also 39,895.) 1804. The third Society, Gourock Garden Suburb Tenants, Ltd., has provided houses almost entirely for the Admiralty's workers, and has had the advantage of support from the Admiralty, which has given a guarantee " to the extent of £200 a year against the loss of rent through unlet houses." But the secretary remarked that " in the present state of trade and the demand for good houses of the cottage ' class, there is not much likehhood of the Admiralty being called upon to pay anything under their ' guarantee." . (J. Paterson, 33,583 (24).) 1805. The Society is not a copartnership one ; for the Admiralty — the Secretary of the Company informed us — had not encouraged a copartnership scheme, but preferred one without restrictions, so that their employees could obtain houses without a deposit. {Ibid., 33,611.) 1806. Land has been obtained for which a feu-duty of £20 per acre is charged. The site slopes somewhat steeply, and the cost of road-making, which has fallen on the Company, and open spaces brings the total ground rent up to £29 per acre. The houses are built 14 to the acre. The lowest rent charged is £22 per aimum, or 8s. 6d. per week — a figure which the workmen are said to feel very high. (Paterson, 33,613-5 ; Campbell, 33,070.) 1807. The Secretary indicated that the higher rental, as compared with certain of the Enghsh Garden Suburbs, is in part due to more sohd construction, 14-inch hollow brick walls, rough-cast outside, with lath and plaster inside, in place of a 9-inch soHd wall. 1808. The houses are divided into two classes built on (a) the Enghsh system, with hving-room and Htchen-scullery downstairs, and three bedrooms and bathroom upstairs ; and (6) the " Scots system," with the same accoromodation downstairs, but only two bedrooms upstairs^ — one of which can be divided by a curtain. The latter houses have larger rooms and are more expensive, but we gathered on our visit that the additional room in the former was appreciated. The 8s. 6d. houses cost £240 per house in blocks of three, four, and six, the period of redemption being forty years. (Paterson, 33,267 f.) 1809. The Company has shown a profit each year, but has paid no dividend, desiring to use its net revenue for further building. (Paterson, 33,627-37.) 1810. Some time ago the directors of the Company intimated that they were prepared to start a scheme by which employees of the torpedo factory could purchase their own houses. The response is said to have been disappointing ; but the rate of interest and repayment appears to have been high, and the term of repayment too long for the proposition to prove attractive. (Paterson, 33,583 (35), 33,622 ff.) 12. Glasgow Garden Sububb, Westerton. 1811. Reference has already been made to Westerton, the chief copartnership housing society so far started in Scotland, but one or two additional points may be added. 1812. The first sixty houses were completed early in 1914, and already by the middle of that year a large number of additional tenants had joined the society with the hope of getting houses the follow- ing year, while there were also numerous inquiries. A year later, 85 of the houses were occupied, but by this time the war and the cessation of Government loans had stopped further progress in building. Consequently it is too early to say whether Westerton will prove a success financially, and the same apphes to schemes which have been started at Renfrew and Irvine. (Boyd Auld, 39,819 (711), 39,881 f., 39,970.) It is necessary to repeat that Westerton can hardly be looked on as an experiment in ordinary working-class housing. 1813. Westerton is laid out on a steeply sloping site ; and while this has added to the expense of development, it has helped to give an excellent architectural effect to the suburb so far as it is yet laid out. Mr Raymond Unwin has assisted in the preparation of the plans. An option over about 200 acres of land has been obtained at £15 per acre feu-duty, which, at twenty years' purchase, equals £300 capital value per acre, or £60,000 capital value for the 200 acres. The superior constructed a road connect- ing the suburb with the western boundary of Glasgow at a cost of £2000. AH the other expenses of development are borne by the society, 13. Finance. 1814. It will have been gathered from a perusal of the previous part of this chapter that the great difficulty with which pubhc utihty societies have to contend with is that of finance. There has been comparatively httle money placed with these companies by the pubhc either on shares or on loan. In Scotland the contributions from the pubhc are neghgible. Consequently it is not surprising to find that the witnesses representing copartnership societies who gave evidence before us were practically unanimous that the loans from the. Government should be increased to a higher proportion of the total value of the house and that the period for repayment should be extended. REPORT. 275 14. Amount of Loans from Government^ 1815. The witnesses representing the pubhc utihty societies operating in Glasgow and Greenock pressed for such an mcrease, laying emphasis on the difficulty under present circumstances of raising the required proportion of one-third. The Secretary of the Glasgow Garden Suburb thought that if 80 per cent, were provided by Government, the societies could reasonably be expected to raise the remainder. (Boyd Auld, 39,963 f., 39,980 f. ; cj. Pateison, 33,641 ; Richardson, 33,718.) Speaking from a wide acquaintance with the copartnership movement in England, Mr Nettlefold emphasised the same point. He argued that, in cases where the Government department was thoroughly satisfied with the soimdness of the scheme, they might safely advance nine-tenths. (42,753 (7).) 15. Period of Repayment. 1816. In connection with Harbome, the garden suburb of which Mr Nettlefold is chairman, the present difficulties in the society's ffiiance are due to the burden of repaying the Government advance in a term of thirty years. This neccessitates the society raising additional loan stock every year in order to pay the full sinking fund. (Nettlefold, 42,906.) This difficulty would obviously be aggravated if the proportion of the Government advances were increased to a considerable extent, especially at the higher rate of interest now ruling, without any extension of the period of repayment. Consequently the balance sheets of the copartnership societies would only be further upset unless the period of re- payment were extended as well as the proportionate amount of its loans. Mr Nettlefold advocated a sixty years' period of repayment. (48,836, c/. 42,914.) Mr Vivian, while he stated that Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., bad advised all the societies federated to that body to adopt a thirty years' term of re- payment, submitted that there were strong arguments for a longer term up to fifty years, but he safe- guarded his recommendation in the case of colliery districts where the life of the colliery is hmited. (40,688.) 1817. Mr Walker Smith considered that imder favourable circumstances, and in^ the case of a scheme on a considerable scale, the proportion of 90 per cent, was not excessive. (41,574.) In point of fact, this is the proportion that has been advanced to the Scottish National Housing Company, Ltd., which has been entrusted with the task of housing the Admiralty workers at Rosyth. We observe upon this case, however, that this can;'ot be taken as a precedent for the ordinary pubhc utility society. Rosyth is entirely an Admiralty proposition, and it may be looked on as one where the Government have really to provide the housing for their own employees. Even if 100 per cent, had been needed, the Government would have required to have found it, as the workmen must get houses, otherwise the Naval Base would be of no use. 16. Views of Pubuo Works Loan Commissioners. 1818. The Loan Commissioners are opposed to any extension of terms either in increase of loans or extension of period of repayment. As regards the repayment of loans to pubhc utility societies, the following is a statement by them : — The Pubhc Works Loan Commissioners consider that the present maximum period of forty years for loans to pubhc utihty societies is sufficient, and they are opposed to any extension of the period, having regard to the nature of the security. If any extension of period were conceded in these cases, no doubt the same case would be made out for loans to pubhc companies and private persons. Moreover, section 67 (2) (c) of the Housing of the^ Working Classes Act, 1890, would re- quire amendment, as that section provided that, in the case of leasehold estate, " not less than fifty ' years shall be unexpired at the date of the advance." If the maximum period for repayment were extended, this provision is obviously inadequate. (Appendix CLXXX. (A) 3 (c).) 1819. We remark that the modification of the section quoted from the Act of 1890 would not present much difficulty if the question of the margin of security were determined. The question of security has been the determining point in the past transactions of the Commissioners, as their statement proceeds to say : — Under the Pubhc Works Loans Acts of 1875, the Commissioners, in grantmg any loan, are obhged to have due regard to the sufficiency of the security for its repayment, and they are the sole judges of this. {Ibid., (8).) They are advised by the Office of Works in regard to the security, but the decision rests in their own hands. 1820. Further, the observation occurs that if 90 per cent, of the capital were to be lent as a normal condition of the development of pubhc utihty societies, such societies may be formed by groups of men with httle knowledge of business methods, and the future development on wise hues of a movement of some social importance may be endangered by their failure to adopt these prudent and good business methods which are essential to success and which have evidently characterised the operations of the societies associated with the Copartnership Tenants Housing Council. 1821. There is yet another danger. It is that societies may be formed by small groups of men financially interested in building operations, and that these groups of men will find ways and means of getting up societies which, in regard to the letter of the law, will be bona fide public utihty societies. 17. Copartnership Housing — Constructive Suggestions. 1822. Mr Nettlefold suggested that suice the financial position of a society is afEected by the fact that investors look on their loan stock as " a lock-up," this difficulty might, when the movement has advanced further, be met by poohng " the loan stock of all the societies that are federated, and then we • would have a big stock that could be put on the Stock Exchange and dealt with there. That would ' mean a great difference to many people. Of course we pay out small sums when they are asked for." (42,915, cf. 42,922.) Any measure which, either by spreading financial risk over a number of schemes 276 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. or otherwise, would render tlje stock of public utility societies a negotiable asset, would be a clear advantage from the point of view of the general investor. On the other hand, it is not clear that the investor would not prefer to have the element of direct interest in a local scheme. At all events that element is valuable. Perhaps the loan stock might be treated in the way suggested, and the ordinary share capital allowed as a rule to remain a local concern ; but in connection with the proposition generally, it may be said that there would probably also be difficulty in bringing about such a " pooling " of stock on account of the difEering circumstances and conditions of the schemes with their varying liabilities and prospects ; and there is this further feature, which counts for something in such matters, namely, the absence of community of interest as between the difEerent schemes and the fact that investors, generally speakmg, will become investors on local grounds and considerations. 18. Central Society and its Relation to Local Authorities. 1823. Mr Henry Vivian, discussing the best line of future development for the movement, emphasised the part which may be played in it by the central organisation (Copartnership Tenants, Ltd.) in an enlarged and strengthened form. He indicated that the directors of the society hoped to reach a position which would justify Parliament in granting a charter settmg out the main aims and course of procedure of the society. He suggested that a public official or department commanding the confidence that the Public Trustee commands in England " should be made the authority for seeing that the charter is observed." (Vivian, 40,672.) The aim of the movement is to promote the public interest, and it might well lie with some public official to see that this aim is steadily observed. A similar policy was stated in some detail by Mr Walker Smith. His leading idea was that " the society or organisation which would ' build or undertake development upon the copartnership principle must be thoroughly representative." On the approval of its constitution and directorate by the appropriate Government department it should receive a royal charter, its expenditure being subject to Government audit. (Walker Smith, 4213 (73).) 1824. The account already given in Paragraphs 1770-1774 of the work of Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., has shown the chief ways in which a strong central society, with a growing experience of conditions of building and management in different parts of the country, may help local societies, especially in the early stages of their growth. Mr Vivian emphasised the importance of finding men of busmess capacity in the different localities, mentioning that some societies had been formed without such control, and had " ceased to be without laying a brick." But he argued that, — Faihng local societies being able to command the men and money, arrangements might be made with central pubUc utility societies to undertake housing in certain districts, especially the larger schemes in towns. ... If central organisations find the money and enter into contracts and obligations, moral and otherwise, they must control policy. (Vivian, 40,571 (59), (62), cf. (85).) 1825. Mr Walker Smith further stated that "the scheme should be designed and carried out by the ' chartered society, acting with and receiving advice from the local board, which would contain repre- ' sentatives from the Local Authority and from the tenants, but always provided that, the chartered ' society would retain the control until the society had reached a certain condition of prosperity and ' security which would justify them in leaving it in the hands of the Local Authority and the tenants." He also argued that, if powers were given to acquire land compulsorily at reasonable rates, such a scheme would be of advantage to all concerned, (a) The advantages to the tenants have aheady been noted. (6) The central association, working on a large scale and with a charter implying the confidence of the Government, would attract the best brains in the housing movement, and gain in financial strength. Economy in construction and continuity in management would also be insured. (4213 (75) ; cf. 4256.) 1826. Our view is that it is not essential that copartnership developments in every district should proceed on identical lines, or be organised by the same body. In some areas the assistance of a strong central society, such as Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., or of an advisory society, such as the Scottish National Housing and Town Plarming Council, might or would prove invaluable, while in others the Local Authority might be prepared to initiate schemes. 1827. On the whole, in the larger towns the ideal procedure seems to us to be that the initiation should be taken by a local society, if such a society can be formed. In this case technical advice and financial assistance can be received from the central or advisory body without sacrifice of independence. But this presupposes the presence of interest and business capacity on the part of those in the locality who initiate the movement. The problem is more difficult where there is a need of houses, but where no individual or group of business men or workmen is prepared to start a society to meet the need on approved lines. In such cases the central society would have a field favourable or, at all events, open to its enterprise. 1828. We are inclined to think that the advantage of a Government chart.er to a central society can easily be overestimated, but when a central society has proved successful, they might have a good case for then going to the Privy Council for a charter. 19. Local Authorities and Copartnership Movement. 1829. Certain suggestions were put before us fot Local Authorities taking an interest in copartnership societies. We propose to deal with these very shortly, because the question of the responsibility of Local Authorities assisted by the State of meeting the vital housing needs of the working-class population is part of our constructive policy. 1830. Mr Walker Smith suggested that the Government might lend, say, 90 per cent, and the Local Authorities might contribute 5 per cent, or 10 per cent., and that private enterprise might be got to concentrate upon the problem and do it in a commercial manner. This, he thought, would be an ideal arrangement. (Walker Smith, 41,561 ; cf. 41,571.) 1831. Two other witnesses, viz. Mr Malcolm Stuart, a member of the Town Planning Committee of the Edinburgh Town Coimcil, and Mr Horsburgh Campbell, the City Engineer of Edinburgh, made REPORT. 277 suggestions of a similar kind. Both witnesses set out from the acknowledged difficulty of gettmg capital for public utility societies, even although a large percentage is advanced by the State. Mr Malcolm Stuart suggested that the responsibility for taking the initiative of forming a society should be placed upon the Local Authority, who should have a direct relation to the tenant members, and he indicated the financial lines and the amount of contributions which he would propose should be laid down for the society and obtained from the prospective tenants respectively. He pointed out that under such an ari'angement it would be open for any group of working men who desired better housing to apply to the municipality to initiate a scheme, and if the latter failed to do so there might be an appeal to the Local Grovemment Board. (Malcolm Stuart, 19,454 (15 ff.), 19,632 ff.) Mr Stuart also argued that Local Authorities should make it their duty to acquire and develop land and let it on favourable terms to building societies. We have, however, dealt with the subject of acquisition of land by Local Authorities fully in Chapter XXIV., so we do not discuss it further here. 1832. Mr Horsburgh Campbell laid stress on the fact that in the " tripartite arrangement " the burden of capital should rest on the State. He suggested that the State should find the whole amount necessary, while the Local Authority would be responsible for the repayment of the loan, and thus a twofold check would be imposed to prevent extravagant expenditure. He said : — The financing by the State of the housing problem would prevent the risk of improvident local expenditure, whilst it would not deter needed action on the part of the Local Authority, nor remove their responsibility as trustees for the safe administration of State housing funds. The housing accounts and expenditure of the suggested Housing Board would be the subject of State audit. (18,745 (55), 18,794, 41,212.) 1833. The advantages claimed for the supply of the whole capital by the State were the reduction of interest charged, and the saving of the " professional and works staff, offices and establishment " of the proposed central society, which would, to some extent, duplicate those of the mimicipality. Mr Campbell held that where a body of individuals desiring to obtain and live in the proposed houses existed, an " authorised society " should immediately be formed. But where this condition was not fulfilled, he argued that the Local Authority, as the direct instrument of the State, and having at its command the best of local knowledge and advice, should not only be entrusted, but have the duty imposed of carrying out this provision — so essential to the public health and morals of the people— -of housing the workers up to rents not exceedirig a standard of, say, £20 per annum in the suburbs. (Horsburgh Campbell, 41,170 (22 ff).) 1834. These suggestions agree in placing the responsibility for taking the initiative on the Local Authority. We develop the subject of Local Authority responsibility (which is adumbrated in a limited form in the suggestions of the witness, as above quoted) in our constructive policy. That the Local Authority should obtain the benefit of management where they can by copartnership societies or by voluntary bodies of tenants, is a course which we approve of. That might be carried further in connection with the great co-operative societies. In regard to them, Mr Horsburgh Campbell made the suggestion that they might be willing to place their highly developed and highly skilled organisation at the disposal of Local Authorities in connection with housing schemes and tenants' management societies where such house building and management would be of benefit to their members. 20. Proposals in Regard to Loans. 1835. On the whole we cannot recommend, looking to the nature of the security, that the amount (which, as it stands at present, must not exceed £66, 13s. 4d. per cent, of the value of the security subjects) and period of repayment of loan (which, as it stands at present, must not exceed forty years) from the State to public utility societies should be extended. The Public Works Loan Board, as representing the Treasury, are not and cannot be properly cognizant of the circumstances surroimding the formation of such societies, nor of the personnel and status of the promoters, directors, officials, and professional advisers. Loa/l Authority Loans. 1836. The matters just referred to, however, are or can readily be in the knowledge of Local Authorities, who can satisfy themselves as to the bona fides of any society formed to conduct building operations in their area. Accordingly, we recommend that Local Authorities should be empowered to grant loans (out of monies which they may have borrowed from the State for housing purposes, or out of other funds at their disposal) to public utility societies — subject to a distinction in regard to these societies to be noted immediately (Paragraph 1838) — ^up to £76, 13s. 4d. per cent, of the value of the properties. Our proposal would enable a Local Authority to give loans up to the full amount mentioned, or where the Public Works Loan Board had granted a loan to a society of a certain amoimt, to give an additional loan, but not exceeding the difference between the amount granted by the Public Works Loan Board and £76, 13s. 4d. per cent, of the value of the security subjects. The Local Authority would be entitled in giving the loan to make such conditions as they deemed proper with regard to class or classes of houses or other buildings to be erected, the areas for building operations, and any other relevant matters. Period for Repayment of Loans froin Local Authorities. 1837. At present the Public Works Loan Board can allow a period of repayment up to forty years. In the event of a Local Authority giving the whole loans of the amount suggested, we think the maxi- mum period of repayment should be fifty years, and in the case of the Local Authority giving a loan of the amount suggested in addition to a loan granted by the Public Works Loan Board, the period of repayment should begin at the expiry of the period fixed for repayment of the PubUc Works Loan Board's loan, and should be for such term of years as shall be fixed by the Local Authority, but not to exceed fifteen years. 278 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Class of Society to which Local Authority Loans may be granted. 1838. The distinction referred to in Paragraph 1836 which we think should be made in regard to societies which might get the benefit of loans from Local Authorities is between pubUc utility societies which are, and those which are not, based on copartnership principles. In the case of societies which are not so based, we do not recommend that our proposals for Local Authority loans should apply. Such societies may be practically private proprietary concerns. Indeed, we were informed of one such concern formed by an industrial company which obtained a State loan, and which, when the loan was repaid, dissolved itself, after selling the houses to the industrial company whose nominees held all the shares in the society. Accordingly, our proposal applies only to pubhc utility societies which are pro- moted on tenants' copartnership Unes. We think that public utihty societies should be empowered (if they are not already empowered) to maintain both a copartnership branch and also a branch for the provision of houses to members who prefer the individual ownership of their own dwellings to the copartnery principle ; further, that the powers conferred on County Councils by section 72 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, whereby they may make advances to building societies on a co-operative basis, should be extended to Town Councils (Keith, 1249 (47)), and the amoimt which may be advanced should be increased from two-thirds to £76, 13s. 4d. per cent, of the value of the property. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XXVL (1) That Local Authorities should be empowered to grant loans — or additional loans — to public utility copartnership tenants' societies — up to £76, 138. 4d. of the value of the security subjects,— in the case of the loans being exclusively by the Local Authorities, the maximum period of repayment being fifty years; and in the case of the loans being additional to loans from the PubUc Works Loan Board, the maximiim period of repayment being fifteen years, beginning first repayment instalment on the expiry of the period of repayment of the loan from the Public Works Loan Board. Further, the Local Authority may attach such conditions to granting loans as they think fit. (Paragraphs 1836 and 1837.) (2) That public utility societies should be empowered (if they are not already empowered) to main- tain both a copartnership branch, and also a branch for the provision of houses to members who prefer the individual ownership of their own dwellings to the copartnery principle. (Paragraph 1838.) (3) That the powers conferred on County Councils by section 72 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, whereby they may make advances to building societies on a co-operative basis, should be extended to Town Councils, and the amount which may be advanced should be increased from two-thirds to £76, 13s. 4d. per cent, of the value of the property. (Paragraph 1838.) CHAPTER XXVII. TOWN PLANNING AND, TRANSIT. 1839. Whilst development of burghs and county areas in Scotknd has for a good many years pro- ceeded under statutory provisions and statutory regulations which have had for their object the preservation of the health and safety of the public, it was felt for some years prior to the passing of the Housing and Town Planning Act of 1909 that the existing statutes were defective in that they took no cognisance of public convenience or amenity, and were, in other respects, too rigid to permit of more enlightened modes of town development and modem methods of house construction. 1840. The result of development under the old order ias been in the main monotony, overcrowd- ing, absence of open spaces, stereotyping of widths of streets without regard to the amount of traffic that they would ultimately have to bear, and a total disregard of amenity in many places as evidenced by the erection of incongruous buildings of various kinds in close proximity to one another. 1841. The Act of 1909 was designed for English conditions, and was subsequently, and at a late hour, applied to Scotland. The Act itself defines the purposes for which a town-planning scheme may be made, viz. : — To secure proper sanitary conditions, amenity, and convenience in connection with the lay- ing out and the use of land in course of development or likely to be built upon. 1842. The relation of town planning to the housing problem is pe/haps not sufficiently appreciated and not popularly understood. Unless the areas within which housing schemes are projected have been planned with careful foresight, the result may be not only that the arrangements for the houses them- selves will be unsatisfactory, but future development will be found to have been prejudiced, and the convenience and amenities as well as the sanitary conditions (vide Act) which it is possible to provide under properly conceived town-planning schemes will be found impossible of attainment. 1843. Before housing schemes of any magnitude are undertaken, many important features — such as the location of the main roads, the allocation of the works areas, etc. — should be determined. We are satisfied of the great potential benefits that are to be derived from operations under the town-planning sections of the 1909 Act. It is far from the truth that, whilst housing is a practical question, town planning as is sometimes supposed is purely sestheticism, and we think it is desirable that a proper imderstanding should be created in the pubUc mind of the inseparable connection of appropriate town planning with the question of housing reform. REPORT. 279 Present Position of Town-Planning Schemes. 1844. The present position of town planning in Scotland is that the Local Government Board have received 32 apphcations from Local Authorities for authority to prepare schemes. The Board have authorised the preparation of 20 of these schemes ; and of these, 3 schemes have been submitted to them for approval. The list of Scottish authorities who have made apphcations for authority to prepare town- planning schemes is encouraging as indicating that many Local Authorities — especially of the more populous districts — ^have already shown an appreciation of the benefits which the Act confers. 1845. We regret to note that no schemes have yet been finally approved. A good many have been prepared, as we have said, but for one reason or another no scheme has yet reached the stage of being sanctioned by the Local Government Board. Conditions have, of course, been entirely abnormal (during the war), and consequently the progress of the last three years cannot be taken as a criterion. Even so, however, we think there is a desirability, indeed necessity, for a speeding-up of the framing of schemes by Local Authorities and the consideration of these by the Central Authority. It is very essential that schemes should be ready so that building progress may be made immediately the war is over, and therefore town planning is an eminently fit subject to engage the attention of both the Local Authorities and the Central Authority during the war. Town Planning in Relation to Bueghal Extension. 1846. Mr H. R. Aldridge, dealing with the question of town planning, said : — It may be urged that a Town Council in taking an interest in adjoining land would be ipso facto estabhshing a case for municipal extension ; but, on the other hand, one might in meeting a rural council suggest that they should town plan because again ipso facto they would show that they were alive to their work. (41,789.) This view seems perfectly sound. The matter might be stated in another way, viz. : — If a burghal authority does not use every endeavour to properly regulate the development of its own area by the use of such powers as are available under the Town Planning Act, it could be urged strongly that they should not be permitted to control even greater areas ; and if a landward area fails to exercise such powers as are available to regulate the development upon the confines of a populous burgh, in a hberal spirit for the good of the community as a whole, that neglect could be uiged with effect by a burgh in application for an extension of boundaries. Thus the advantages are with the progressive authority. If burghal and landward authorities make fuU use of the powers and opportunities offered, the advantages in manoeuvring for position in regard to burgh extension seem to us to be ruled out. Fortunately, therefore, this vexed question need not be allowed to interfere with operations under the Town Planning Act. Contents or Provisions of a Town-Planning Scheme. 1847. Town-planning schemes are capable of providing for certain essentials of improved develop- ment. The principal of these may be enumerated as follows : — (1) The main arterial roads can be prescribed ; and in connection therewith special tramway tracks may be provided for high-speed tramway traffic. We deal with this important question later. (2) Having determined the hues and mode of construction of the main arterial roads, the remainder of the roads required merely for estate development can, whilst permitting of an adequate space between buildings, be provided of a narrow width and of a hght form of construction, thus cheapening develop- ment and facihtating building operations. (3) The character and the height of the buildings can be prescribed, and thus the erection of high tenements can be prevented in places where they have no real justification. (4) The density of the buildmgs per acre can be prescribed. This important provision will have a beneficial effect upon the general health of the district. This is one of the most important provisions contained in the Town Planning Act. (5) The air space about buildings can be prescribed. The area of open space required in relation to any building can be determined in such a way* that the houses will have in perpetuity a full measure of fresh air and sunshine. (6) Areas can be set aside for recreative purposes. Certain areas, such as the valleys of streams, woodlands, and other areas of that nature which have no value for building, could, with advantage, be earmarked for purposes of this nature. (7) The present restrictive building regulations can be relaxed. These regulations have been of considerable value in the past in securing suoh building development as would not entirely neglect the interests of public health and the requirements of public safety. They have, however, served their day for rigid application to all descriptions of dwellings. Even now there is comparatively small complaint to make against them as applied to the type of building for which they have been designed — that is, the tenemental class of building. At the present time, however, they apply equally to the erection of cottages, in which case their terms generally are unnecessarily severe and restrictive. Under the provisions of a scheme full power may be given for elasticity in the application of building regulations, so that those suitable for tenemental development may apply to tenemental areas, and those suitable for cottage development may be applied thereto. (8) The building lines of existing streets may be fixed in such a way that the main arteries of a town are not unduly restricted — as so often occurs at the present time — within burghs and populous centres and on the confines thereof by buildings being erected close up to the existing main roads. (9) Suitable areas— ?.e. flat level land alongside railways and canals— may be reserved for public works 280 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. and industrial xmdertakings. It is no longer necessary to utilise obvious works areas for the erection of domestic buildings, nor need the converse obtain. (10) Adequate sanitary conveniences, in the fullest sense of the term, may be required — ^that is to say, with regard to the adequate provision of water-closets, baths, food stores, coal-houses, and other domestic facilities. (11) The preservation of the amenity and the natural features of the area may be ensured ; and areas which are developing as residential areas can be prevented from being spoilt by imsuitable building being imdertaken in close proximity thereto. 1848. The principle of compensation and betterment — whilst provided for by section 58 of the Act of 1909 — does not apply to the restriction by the provisions of a scheme of the number of buildings per acre. There is specially excluded from compensation by the provisions of section 59 of the Act such restrictions as the Local Government Board " having regard to the nature and situation of the land ' affected by the provisions consider reasonable." The restrictions imposed will, no doubt, be equitably graded so as not to impose undue hardship upon any particular proprietor. This gradation should be accompanied by provisions ensuring the construction of such roads as will open up for immediate de- velopment the land upon the outskirts for which the lowest density is provided. 1849. One of the chief objections that has been urged against town planning is that the instincts of the town planner need to be prophetic to such a high degree that town planning becomes impracticable. It may be urged, and is urged, that it is absurd to prescribe for the development of land which may not develop for one hundred years, as conditions by that time may have changed enormously. It is urged that it is a waste of time to prescribe detailed development for areas which will not become ripe for develop- ment for many years. Even, however, if it were necessary that a town-planning scheme should pre- scribe in close detail for the whole area, there is machinery in the Act whereby a scheme can be varied and revoked. This, of course, involves the somewhat cumbersome procedure being commenced de novo with all the attendant expense and delay. But from a close examination of the Act it does not appear that it is at all necessary to prepare schemes in great detail. 1850. To attempt to prescribe closely for the development of any considerable area which may take many years to develop is undesirable, not only in that it delays the preparation of the scheme for consider- ably longer than is desirable, but because it introduces a degree of rigidity which it was one of the objects of the Act to remove. Mining areas, especially, present a serious difficulty in the matter of attempting to forecast liaes of development. It is not possible to determine ahead of the development where pits may be opened. Many considerations determine the working of minerals and the location of shafts, and a closely detailed scheme of town planning would probably, in many cases, be fomid to be wholly unsuited and entirely unworkable in the light of the development which might take place. An area marked out for domestic buildings might require to be appropriated for mining purposes, and it is obviously out of the question to suggest the sterihsation of the minerals or the undue hampering in any way of operations which are so intimately connected with the development and prosperity of particular districts. Then, again, ther&is the question of subsidence which must be taken into account. In such areas, it is believed that it will be possible to make such general regulations with respect to their development as will not unduly prejudice any interest. 1851. There are obviously some features — such as main arterial roads — which must be defined initially ; but the internal development or infilHng may with advantage be deferred and dealt with as each particular area becomes ripe for development. At such time each particular area should be planned in detail in the light of circumstances existing and contemplated at the time and, of course, always in consonance with the broad general principles laid down in the scheme as originally approved. 1852. This principle has, . in some measure, we understand, been accepted in certain schemes as approved in England. One difficulty that suggests itself in adopting this principle of elasticity or de- ferred detail development is that it might be regarded as a variation of the scheme for which the Act has provided specific procedure. It is, of course, quite clear that variation of a scheme is provided for by section 54 (6) of the statute itself. That section provides, quite rightly, that any variation of a scheme — ^which has the force of an Act of Parliament — shall require an instrument of at least equal value, i.e. an amending scheme. 1853. We see no conflict, however, between this statutory provision for variation and our proposal for deferring the infilHng of a scheme until each particular part of the area is ripe for such detail infilhng, for such an arrangement would be clearly and suitably provided for under the scheme. 1854. We propose, therefore, for the combined purposes of expediency and expedition that the schemes as approved by the Local Government Board should be of the most simple possible nature. The fullest discretion permissible under the Act should be given to the Local Authorities, subject always to those interested having a simple reference to the Central Authority in cases of objection. 1855. We consider that, as a general principle — realising, of course, that local and exceptional cir- cumstances may require considerable departure from the lines suggested, — town-planning schemes should be largely of a skeleton nature. Such skeleton should provide definitely for : — Main roads and the widening of existing roads ; the definition of land units, preferably by physical or ownership boimdaries ; the prescription of the number of houses for each portion of the area covered by the scheme ; the prescription' of the minimum building lines in streets of various widths ; the allocation, so far as possible, of areas for residential and industrial purposes respec- tively ; and— in order to accelerate development and cheapen building — ^the relaxation of the present building regulations. 1856. The principal matters in respect of which such relaxation is needed are the following, viz. : — The grading of width and construction of new streets in intelligent anticipation of the future trafiic ; the lowering of the height of ceihngs ; the permitting of hollow brick walls ; tile-hung external walls and new materials of construction, e.g. concrete blocks ; the removal of the require- ment to carry party walls through roofs ; the permitting of combined drainage, etc. REPORT. 281 1857. These relaxations should themselves be graded so that where intense tenemental building is allowed to proceed upon areas already more or less fully developed with that class of building, the present Burgh Police Regulations, or similar regulations, would apply ; but where an open type of cottage development is prescribed which would provide amply for light and air, the maximum relaxation should be permitted. 1858. Having definitely settled these features and general provisions by the scheme itself, it should be left to the future for the detail planning of the various areas either in land units or parts thereof. This could be done by Orders— for which authority would need to be provided in the scheme — -issued by the Local Authority and confirmed by the Local Government Board, to whom any objections by inter- ested parties would be submitted. 1859. We understand that in an opinion recently obtained by the Local Government Board for Scotland from the Law Ofiicers of the Crown, the view has been expressed that the Board may grant approval to a town-planning scheme wholly or partially and subject to any such conditions as to sub- sequent considerations of details as it thinks fit to impose. In conveying the foregoing Opinion, the Local Govemement Board said : — The general effect of that will be that Local Authorities will be enabled to plan their areas definitely in the first instance so far as certain features may in the first instance be appropriately defined, and may defer the infilling of details until the various areas become ripe for detailed development. Transit and Construction of Main Arterial or Traffic Roads. 1860. These are questions which are closely correlated. We received in evidence valuable informa- tion as to the desirability of full consideration being given to the traffic or transit question in relation to the provision of proper housing accommodation. It must be obvious that restricted and cramped travelling facilities — such, for instance, as exist in certain cities where the tramways are in the hands of a commercial company, who are entitled to regard the tramways imdertaking as a separate entity — ^will result in a closer aggregation of the population. Regarded strictly from the tramways point of view, the shorter the tramway routes per thousand of population, the better paying is the project likely to be. For instance, it is well known that the best paying routes are those more or less in the centre of a city ; whilst the extensions into the sparsely populated country are, from the tramways point of view, only a paying proposition in that they are feeders to the main system, but of themselves they do not pay. That is, of course, the narrow view without regard to the questions of improved housing, public health, and amenity. 1861. We are much impressed with the necessity for the construction of main roads out of cities and populous places in such a manner that new cheap land may be opened up for building purposes. This principle of opening up new land and spreading the population involves the necessity of providing cheap and rapid transit. At the present time, the average speed of tramways in the centre of a city Uke Glasgow along, for instance, Argyle Street is extremely slow. The speed increases more or less pro- portionately to the distance from the centre ; but even in the suburbs a speed of twelve miles is usually the prescribed maximum. Such restrictions are, no doubt, quite right in the interests of public safety in the present order of things, and we have become accustomed to accept such average speed as sufficient or perhaps as the best obtainable. It is however, altogether insufficient, and we consider that the housing requirements are such that special tracks should be provided upon sufficiently wide roads, so that the maximum speed along these exclusive tramway tracks should reach a maximum of thirty miles per hour. Mr J. A. Brodie, the City Engineer of Liverpool, gave valuable evidence of the work which has been carried out in Liverpool upon these lines, and at the same time he indicated the very great economy which was effected by foresight in prescribing adequate widths of these main arteries in order to prevent sub- sequent widening, which invariably is required. In Liverpool tramcars have been running for over two years at twenty miles per hour, with a maximum of twenty-five miles per hour, and we were informed by the City Engineer that " with slight modifications which had been provided for, a speed of thirty miles ' per hour could be safely attained." (41,857 (27).) We entirely endorse the views of Mr Brodie, as ex- pressed in the following terms, viz. : — I am in favour of specially fenced-off tracks, with speed at present twenty miles per hour and in future up to thirty miles per hour, or full limit of acceleration between stopping places of 300 to 400 yards apart. (41,857 (22).) 1862. Apart altogether from the enormous national economy which must result in the saving of time from the increased speed which a special track permits, it was clear from the evidence of this witness that economies are effected by providing a special track for tramways not only in first cost but in sub- sequent maintenance. Our views in respect of these wide roads and more rapid traffic facilities are supported by Mr J. Dalrymple, Manager of the Glasgow Tramways, who, in the course of his evidence, said : — If we had been starting to make all our extensions to-day, I think we would have endeavoured to have had all the main arteries leading out of the city widened so as to give more room for traffic. In the outskirts of many of the American and Continental cities there are beautiful tramway tracks laid on wide thoroughfares. This enables the tramway authorities to have a high speed, which is a great matter in bringing passengers to the city in the morning and taking them home in the evening. The car, of course, has its own right of way. (42,092 (30).) 1863. Again, he said : — High-speed tracks are much cheaper both to construct and to maintain, even taking into account the purcha se of the ground. (Ibid. , 42,092 (34). ) 1864. Mr Dalrymple was not able to point to any action being taken upon the lines of Liverpool, 282 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. except in the case of Anniesland and westward, where he explained that Glasgow are trying to obtain a new wide road with an exclusive track for tramways designed for high-speed service. (42,159.) 1865. It was one of the fundamental propositions submitted in evidence by Mr J. S. Nettlefold that provision should be made for frequent, rapid, and cheap transit to the suburbs. With the reservation that the building density should be previously restricted against what he terms " land sweating," he was strongly of opinion that improved communications upon liberal lines should be made well in advance for opening up cheap land for building. (42,796.) 1866. The question of providing new main roads is not without administrative difficulty, because their construction ceases to be a matter of local interest and local concern and becomes one of regional or semi-national importance. This question has received careful consideration in the metropolitan district. {Ibid., 42,778, 42,796 (1).) It was explained to us in evidence that six central conferences had been set up by the Government, and were sitting in London to investigate arterial road problems and the extent to which they might be facihtated by town planning. The Greater London area embraced in their remit is one of fifteen miles radius, and includes over one himdred Local Authorities and four County Cou n cils. (Aldridge, 41 ,790. ) 1867. The City of Liverpool have an excellent example of the manner in which work of this kind can be carried out. They have special powers conferred on them by their Streets and Buildings Act of 1908, whereby they may require certain streets to be constructed of a width of 80 feet, with practically no cost to themselves initially. The powers which enable that city to make such provision may be con- veyed to other authorities under town-planning schemes, and indeed are conveyed by schemes already. From Mr Brodie's experience he considered it was of the utmost importance for proper planning that the main arteries for general trafiic should be laid down well in advance of the development of building. That not only was his opinion, but was the practice in Liverpool. (Brodie, 41,857 (16), 41,957-9.) This view was strongly supported, and indeed there was no other view submitted to us. "We think there can be no doubt but that the future will see a great extension of self-propelled traffic ; that there will be a strong tendency for the populations of cities in populous areas to spread over a wider area ; and therefore this question of main-road construction becomes of paramount and urgent importance. From the very nature of the proposals they must be of more than local interest, and to be of real benefit comprehensive schemes comprising areas probably within the jurisdiction of three or four or more different authorities must be considered. Most new roads are at present made by private enterprise. Unaided and undirected private enterprise is not in the least likely to provide such roads as we have in contempla- tion. Its interests are not sufficiently wide to justify it and its powers are not sufficiently great to enable it to carry such schemes into effect. 1868. What seems to us to be required is that co-operation among the various authorities in such matters should be seaired, and we think that this could be done by an addition being made in the following terms or substantially in these terms to section 56 (2) of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909 : — • Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions and to the provisions of section 55 (3) the regula- tions hereinbefore referred to may also make provision requiring Local Authorities to confer and co-operate for the purpose of preparing joint schemes (o) in cases where more than one Local Authority have made application for authority to prepare a town-planning scheme for the same area or for part of the same area, and (b) in cases where application is made by different Local Authorities for authority to prepare town-planning schemes for areas adjoining each other, and which, by reason of the contiguity or relationship of such areas to each other or for any other reason, it would, in the opinion of the Board, be desirable they should be dealt with together. 1869. It is generally recognised that co-operation among all interested parties is the keynote of success in town planning, and apart from the statutory references, the regulations issued by the Local Government Board have made co-operation one of the essential requisites of all procedure. In order to a scheme being mapped out there must be full knowledge and recognition of all the interests concerned, so that the scheme may have due regard to these, and make every effort to meet particular circumstances and conditions in the planning out of the details of the proposals to be applied. Moreover, town planning will not permit of arbitrary boundaries being selected for its purposes. The whole area which requires town planning must be delimited and included irrespective of the boundaries of Local Authorities or of any other considerations. And even when the area is wholly within the boundaries of one authority, due regard must be had to adjoining areas and what may be the potential needs, conditions, and growth of these areas. Local Authorities, therefore, must essentially co-operate with their neighbours in the fullest sense of the term. In this connection, of course, the town plan need not be evolved under one and the same scheme ; it may be prepared quite as efficiently — perhaps more efficiently — ^under correlated schemes. We consider that, as a matter of principle, each Local Authority should have the oppartanity of evolving or propounding town planning over its own area. No authority other than the authority of the area can be presumed to know its conditions and possibilities so well ; no other authority has the same responsibility or interest in the area : it is the authority for the purpose of enforcing the Public Health and other Laws ; for the levying of assessments, and for guarding and developing every side of communal activity. It is suggested, therefore, that with the requirement of co-operation so prominently set out in the regulations there should be no reason foj any one authority usurping the particular functions or place of another authority unless in quite exceptional circumstances. The purposes for which co-opera- tion wiU generally be required are in connection with the wider features of a scheme, e.g. through roads, character and location of buildings, etc., and surely the officials of the various Local Authorities concerned can confer together and come to a mutual agreement on such matters. If they cannot, then surely their Local Authorities can ; if the Local Authorities cannot, then the Local Government Board will be called upon to decide. It might be that a joint consultative committee, consisting of representatives of the various authorities concerned, would be found to be the medium most likely to harmonise the various views and opinions, but, in any case, by means of co-operation and all that that involves, we consider that all and every'phase connected with the^preparation and promotion of town-planning schemes can be safeguarded, regulated, and provided for. REPORT. 283 Town-Plautnino in Bxtilt-up Abeas. 1870. Mr Aldridge, Secretary of the National Housing and Town Planning Council, tendered evidence with regard to this phase of the question (41 ,784 ff.). In the course of our inspections also the desirabiUty for some action in this direction was brought vividly before us. Those Local Authorities who may wish to avail themselves of the town-planning provisions of the Act of 1909 can include, together with the undeveloped area, a certain amount of land that is already bailt upon. The Act is obviously not intended to apply generally to areas already built upon. By the terms of section 54 (3) a Local Authority needs to show to the Central Authority special justification for the inclusion of any land already built upon which they desire to include within the area for which they ask authority to prepare a scheme. It needs to be shown that such " piece of land abeady built upon is so situated with respect to any land hkely to ' be used for building purposes that it ought to be included in any town-planning scheme." 1871. The City of Dunfermline have obtained authority to town plan a very considerable area surrounding the old burgh, but have left the centre — which is more or less built up— unaffected by the scheme ; that is to say, building can proceed within the central zone unrestrictedly, except that it must ■ comply with the existing bu ilding regulations. The effect of this may be unfortunate. The undeveloped land on the outskirts will be covered by town-planning restrictions framed with the intention of raising the standard of housing, preserving the amenities, and improving the general conditions of Hfe. The built-up portion of the burgh is left open to the operations of those who are prepared to play down to the lack of appreciation of improved housing conditions. The central zone is left to those who would not only leave existing buildings with the very inadequate air-space which they at present possess but, by the erection of other and higher buildings, will make the existing congestion very much worse. They are permitted to demohsh existing cottages and erect high tenements in their stead. They may cover any particular acre with about one hundred two-apartment houses in four-storey tenements in lieu of the ten or twelve houses per acre which the town-planning scheme provides. One-room houses may also be built. It will be permitted to retain narrow streets which largely exclude sunshine and fresh air, and generally to continue the creation of potential slums which the present regulations permit, Mr J. A. Young, Convener of the Public Health Committee of the Edinburgh Town Council, contended for the control by the Local Authority of the future development of an unhealthy area. (40,434 (22).) 1872. In other cases in the west of Scotland there are evidences that enormous developments of the ship-building industry will in due course require the demolition of considerable areas of congested and slum property. It is obvious that advantage ought to be taken of these possibilities to replan the centre of these burghs in such a way that the existing slums with congested and narrow highways and insanitary dwelhngs may give place to a better and more worthy development and the erection of proper accommodation. 1873. Part I. of the Principal Act of 1890, and not the Town Planning Act of 1909, is the machinery originally designed for dealing with these congested areas. It is very seldom used on account of the great expense involved, and where slum clearance is undertaken it is more frequently done under special local Acts. In any case, it is proved by long experience that this method of removal of slum areas and remodelling built-up areas is an extremely costly one. 1874. The powers of a Local Authority to ensure proper development of their presently unbuilt upon areas by operations under the town-planning section of the 1909 Act are so far an advance upon those previously possessed, and are capable of being exercised without undue payment of compensation, that we have considered whether the areas already built upon should be brought into line with the unbuilt upon areas which are controlled by suitable town-planning regulations. We have concluded that there are such obvious advantages in an extension of the principles of the town-planning section of the 1909 Act, as apphed to an undeveloped area, to a congested area, that those principles should be extended to the town planning of built-up areas in order that future developments in such areas may be suitably regulated. 1875. It should be competent to effect the replanning without the owners of slum and other pro- perty being permitted to benefit by the improvement at the public expense. The amended legislation should provide that no new building should be erected within the built-up area, and no alteration to an existing building should be made, unless such new building or such alteration conforms with the new town plan ; that is to say, no new interest should be permitted to be created that would ultimately need to be bought out at the public expense. "Where an owner desires to demolish or rebuild, the Local Authority should have power to purchase, under special safeguards for the public purse ; that is, on the basis of compensation recommended in Chapter XXIV. The Local Authority should have power of compulsory excambion as amongst the various owners, and should have vested in them the ownership of the solum of streets that may be closed under the town-planning scheme. 1876. From examination of witnesses with regard to Dunfermline, we ascertained that there is at present no intention to town plan the central zone, but that the Local Authority are content with such piecemeal improvements as the sporadic circumstances of new buildings may offer. At the same time, the Town Clerk, Dunfermline, said : — I certainly think that the Local Authority should have power to restrict the heights of build- ings in existing burghs. If a man cares to build any monstrosity, he can do it if he hkes, so long as he goes skywards. (Jack, 43,283.) 1877. We certainly had no evidence, formal or otherwise, against the proposal to replan existing areas, and whatever evidence we had upon this subject was favourable to the extension of power of control over the areas already largely developed. 1878. The town-planning engineer for the Middle Ward District of Lanark called our attention to the desirability of applying to areas already developed the more general provisions now being in- serted in town-planning schemes, e.g. those provisions enabling the Local Authority, without paying compensation, to limit the height of buildings, to secure proper space about buildings, to fix building lines, to prevent building on back-lands, etc. The provisions could be gradually applied where build- ing or rebuilding took place. (Ross Young, 43,312 (49).) 284 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 1879. Unless the areas already built upon are capable of being reasonably controlled, we are of opinion that the advantages that may potentially result from town-planning operations in suburban areas and on the outskirts of populous districts will be seriously prejudiced. The restriction of the building density upon the outskirts will tend to inflate the value of the land — if unrestricted — ^in the central districts. 1880. This will be appreciated when it is remembered that whilst town-planning operations usually restrict the intensity of building to about ten houses per acre, development under existing regulations may be ten times that intensity even with a restriction of height — which is not statutorily restricted — to four storeys. 1881. There are evidences in many cases already — even without the additional incentive to which reference is made above — of cottages being demolished and in their place high tenements erected which are in many cases not only bad in themselves, but which inflict considerable hardship on the owners of the cottages and buildings of more open development already erected in the surroundings. This undesirable process will continue unless the outskirts are rendered attractive to the builder, firstly, by opening up by means of main arteries and cheap and rapid transit the open area upon the environs of a populous district ; and secondly — in order to remove unfair competition and the incentive to make housing conditions even worse than at present, — ^by imposing suitable restrictions upon the interior. We are satisfied that the whole interior in many quarters, both in burghs and in populous landward districts, where development is unsatisfactory, where there are narrow streets and courts, where the sanitary and other conditions are not all that could be desired, should be replanned, so that upon any alterations being made such alterations shall conform to a prescribed remodelling. This should not be done under circumstances which have obtained in the past, whereby owners have profited enormously by their ownership of slum property. The existing deterrents to the clearing and replanning of these areas should be removed by the adoption of certain principles which should govern, inter alia, the follow- ing important factors in the question, viz. : — Rehousing of the dispossessed ; The Acquisition of Land ; and Compensation to Owners. Rehousing op the Dispossessed. 1882. By section 11 of the Housing Act, 1890, it is provided that an improvement scheme shall, if the confirming authority so require (but it is not otherwise obligatory), provide for the accommodation of such number of those persons of the working classes displaced in the area with respect to which the scheme is proposed in suitable dwellings to be erected in such place or places, either within or without the Umits of the same area as the confirming authority, on a report made by the officer conducting the local inquiry, may require. The requirement, therefore, is not that the dispossessed should be rehoused within the limits of the area cleared or in the vicinity thereof. Suitable houses might be provided in the outskirts of the town if, in the circumstances of the case, that course were deemed desirable. The pro- vision of the houses must, however, be for a number of the working-class householders displaced. If, in any particular instances, it were considered that the situation was capable of being best met by the provision of suburban houses for families other than those actually dispossessed, that might be done, but no legislation is necessary, because the confirming authority, in the circumstances, would refrain in such a case from requiring any provision for the accommodation of the displaced. Acquisition op Land. Compensation to Owners. 1883. We deal with these subjects in Chapter XXIV. Compulsory Town Planning. 1884. It was submitted to us in evidence that all urban authorities should be required to prepare town-planning schemes within a stated period, and that this obligation should apply also to those rural areas m which cottages are likely to be built or in which new arterial roads are needed. (Aldridge, 41,776 (20)-(64).) The case for compulsory planning, as submitted to us, may be stated shortly thus : — The advantages to be obtained from town planning are so great and so obvious, whilst the defects which arise from development under existing regulations are so bad and so obvious, that Local Authorities ought to be compelled to take advantage of the powers of improvement which lie to their hand in the form of the Town Planning Act. {Ibid., ff. also 41,784-7.) 1885. With the advantages which may result we are in general agreement ; we also realise fully the defects of development which may and do accrue from mere compliance with existing regulations. At the same time we have grave doubts whether a universal compulsitor of the nature proposed upon Local Authorities is practicable — at least in the near future. 1886. In many of the rural and in Highland areas, including the small burghs situated therein, the building of houses is carried out on a very limited scale, and, even though this is increased consider- ably in the near future, consequent on the recommendations in this Report, we do not consider town- planning, in the generally accepted sense of the term, will be necessary in such cases, having regard to our recommendations elsewhere that, in the absence of a town-planning scheme, the approval of Local Authorities should be required to the sites and lay-outs of houses, including the height and character of the buildings. 1887. We are of opinion that the central authority should take every opportunity to bring the town- planning movement and its advantages prominently before Local Authorities, and, so far as practicable REPORT. 285 and desirable, to get each Local Authority to set up a properly organised town-planning department. This local to vm -planning department — like the central department, to which reference is made later — ehould be fully equipped both from the administrative and the technical aspects. We make recom- mendations elsewhere for unification of certain administrative areas for public health and housing. 1888. While the Local Authorities of many of the more populous areas are alive to the advantages of town-plaiming schemes, and have such schemes in. preparation, and while we have no doubt that as the advantages of town planning come to be appreciated by Local Authorities generally, more schemes will be prepared — nevertheless, although we do not consider it practicable to recommend that Local Authorities generally be required to prepare town-planning schemes, we do consider that some more direct method of compulsitor than that by application to the Court of Session, at present embodied in the Town Planning Act, section 67 (6), should be in the hands of the Local Government Board. Accordingly, we recommend that the Local Government Board should, at its own hand, have power to require any Local Authority to prepare and submit a town-planning scheme for the whole of their area, or for such part thereof as may be specified by the Board ; to adopt any scheme proposed by owners of any land in a case where the. scheme ought to be adopted ; or to consent to any modifications imposed by the Board ; and that it should be obligatory on the Local Authority to comply with the requirements of the Board. Amendments to the Town Planning Act. 1889. We have already discussed the general amendments that would be required for the purpose of town planning in built-upon areas, and also in the matter of co-operation among Local Authorities. We now restrict our observations to the question of the extent to which the Act needs amendment for the purpose of facihtating operations thereunder as applied to the areas for which it is designed. In considering what amendment is necessary, we have naturally sought very carefully for evidence of defects that have already manifested themselves in the practical application of the Act to specific localities. Therein we are bound to say that complaints of defects in the Act, and of difficulties in applying it, do not appear to arise to any great extent from those who have troubled to apply their minds to it seriously with a desire to operate it as it exists at present. 1890. The chief defect appears to be the delay that occurs during the period between the date of application for authority to prepare a scheme and the approval of a scheme, i.e. the steriHsation period, or the period during which there would appear, from a strict reading of the Act, an appreciable risk in building anything within the area for which a town-planning scheme has been authorised to be prepared. 1891. In regard to land purchased by a Local Authority, Mr J. S. Nettlefold suggested that the Act should be amended so as to enable Local Authorities the more freely to exercise their right of pur- chasing land. His complaint»was that, imder the Act as at present, a Local Authority cannot purchase land for the purposes of a town-planning scheme xmtil they have a scheme complete, so that the purpose for which they desire the land may be known. His point, in short, waS that subject to the price proposed to be paid by the Local Authority being reasonable, the purpose need not be specified. (42,821-3.) 1892. We heard in evidence from the Town Clerk of Dunfermline that the procedure required too many notices. (Jack, 43,150 (17).) That is, however, more a question of procedure regulations than of amendment of the Act, and we deal with that subject under a separate heading. 1893. The same witness, in his evidence, explained that he shared the view originally held by most representatives of Local Authorities in Scotland, that the 1909 Act would not be satisfactorily applied in Scotland, in that it was designed to meet English conditions and then appUed to Scotland. He ^elt compelled to say, however, from an intimate knowledge of the working of the Act, that his fears have not been realised ; and he proceeded to say : " Generally speaking, the Act has been foimd in practice to ' work without much difficulty." (Ibid., 43,150 (2) (3) (7).) He considered that operations would be •even more satisfactory if they could, in the first instance, settle definitely on the main roads and the main features and leave the remainder to be fiUed in subsequently. (Ibid., 43,150 (21).) This de- siderated condition, we think, does already apply, and we are strongly of opinion that schemes should be framed upon these general lines. We refer to this more fully under the subheading " Contents or Provisions of a Town-Planning Scheme." (See Paragraphs 1847-1859.) 1894. In evidence by Mr Ross Young, who has also had considerable experience in the operation of the Act, he explained that town-planners were well pleased with the Act. (43,452.) " As time goes ' on," he said, " we will see where improvements can be made, but we are not yet in a position to suggest ' any amendment." (Ibid.) He thought that more experience in the actual working of the Act was required, before amendments could be suggested. With regard to procedure regulations, he observed : " We think that the procedure regulations are somewhat irksome, and might with advantage be ' simplified." (43,453.) 1895. Nevertheless, we understand that Local Authorities generally are perturbed at the delay which occurs in the early stages of town planning. Section 54 (2) provides that the Local Government Board may authorise a Local Authority to prepare a town-planning scheme if the Authority satisfy the Board that there is a prima facie case for making such a scheme. 1896. This requirement is represented as one of the most serious causes of delay in promoting town planning. If the procedure regulations giving effect to it are referred to, it will be observed that several months must necessarily be occupied before authority to prepare is given. Presumably the pro- vision is intended to secure that every interest will be duly notified and informed at the earUest stage that a town-planning scheme is proposed for a particular area, for, under this stage of the procedure, advertisements require to be made and conferences require to be held with owners and others interested. It may at once be said that, in practice, this stage of procedure does not, and cannot, serve any useful purpose. The proposal at this particular stage simply consists of the submission of a plan showing the area proposed to be planned. No details of the projected scheme are shown : none are required : the Local Authority do not know what their scheme may be ; and they cannot, therefore, and are not re- quired to, inform owners and others of any detailed proposals affecting their lands or interests. 286 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Experience has shown (1) that no benefit or protection is secured to anyone by having this stage of procedure ; and (2) that no one would suffer by its ehmination. 1897. (Section 54 (4) of the Act of 19uy provides that if, within twenty-one days of the publication of the intention of the Local Government Board to approve a scheme, any person or authority interested objects, the draft Order shall be laid before each House of ParUament for a period of not less than thirty days, during the session of Parliament ; and if either of these Houses, before the expiration of those thirty days, presents an address to His Majesty against the draft or any part thereof, no further proceedings shall be taken thereon. ^ 1898. We consider that this is an unnecessary proceeding. The interests of all persons and authori- ties are amply protected throughout the various stages, and it is suggested that the decision of the Board (as arbiter), after parties have been fully heard, is adequate and all that is necessary. It should be remembered (1) that compensation is payable to any person whose property is injuriously affected by the making of a town-planning scheme ;'and (2) that a town-planning scheme is very much a matter of local interest and detail, and not well suited to the consideration of the legislature. Reference might be made to the procedure followed in connection with the formation of special districts imder the Pubhc Health Act. If the retention of certain rights were desired by Parhament, it is suggested that this is sufficiently conferred under section 55 (2), where they are entitled to review any proposal suspending any enactment contained in a pubhc General Act. 1899. Possibly the appeal to Parhament would not often be used, and would seldom or never prove effective, and the opportunity for creating trouble and delay in this manner should, we think, be abohshed. 1900. There is one matter requiring urgent amendment at the present time, viz. that which relates to the sterihsation of the area affected from the date of apphcation for authority to prepare a scheme. This is a point of some importance, and unless the defect is remedied the full benefit of the Act is not hkely to be reahsed. 1901. Under section 58 (2) of the Act of 1909, no person is entitled to obtain compensation on account of any building erected on or contract made with respect to land included in the scheme after the time at which the application for authority to prepare a scheme is made, or after such other time as the Local Government Board may fix for the purpose. The Local Government Board have exercised this power to assist Local Authorities. In these cases they have fixed a date anterior to that from which claims for compensation would have ceased under the provisions of the statute. The result of the pro- vision in the Act is that any person who desires to erect buildings of any description within a town- planning area must do so always subject to the risk of having to demohsh these buildings at a later date without any compensation. That, of course, is a very serious aspect, and does tend to prevent the erection even of .workmen's dwellings, which are at present a clamant necessity. A town-plamiing scheme may get through its various stages within twelve months, but tinder existing conditions (in- cluding the fact that the staff of the Local Government Board have been called upon to undertake work in coimection with the war, and town-plaiming work has in great measure had to be suspended) land has been sterihsed for a period of several years, ddeed, it became necessary, so far as the Rosyth area of Dunfermline was concerned, to pass an Emergency Act in 1915 by which it became possible to erect with safety dwellings for Government employees within the town-planning area, pending the approval of the town-planning scheme. 1902. There are certain means whereby the embargo imposed during this period of sterilisation may be removed. One means would be by the Local Government Board post-dating, instead of ante-dating, for the purpose of compensation. That would have the effect of hberating the land for building pur- poses, with no other restrictive provisions than had previously existed. It would most probably tend to accelerate the activities of the Local Authority who were preparing the scheme. At the same time, such an alteration might result during this period in development which would not conform with the town- plaiming ideas of the Local Authority. 1903. In the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire, the experience of Mr Ross Young was that this period of ateriUsation was not so serious in practice, and he proceeded to say : — We have never had to hold up any plans of buildings presented to us for approval to be erected within a town-planning area. Immediately we get power from the Local Government Board to town plan an area, we lay down our skeleton plan, and from that time onward we feel we are in a position more or less to know whether any plans submitted to our committee for their approval will be in accordance with the scheme. So far we have had no difficulty in approving of any legitimate plans that have been submitted. (43,318.) The same witness mentioned one case where a considerable number of houses had been erected in accord- ance with the provisions of the Local Authority's draft town-planning proposals. (43,312 (8).) That, of course, is a common-sense way out of the difficulty. If an owner desires to build something which the Local Authority approve as being conform with their intentions and proposals, it is difficult to see that there is any real risk whatever in the matter. The draft scheme will, of course, need to be con- sidered by the Local Government Board, and any objections thereto will also receive their consideration. They may then approve the scheme, with any modification that they may think desirable, and subject to such conditions as they may think fit to impose. 'These modifications and conditions might conceivably be such that the buildings erected under arrangement with the Local Authority constituted a contra- vention of the scheme. That contingency would suggest — in order that buildings of approved types might proceed with safety — that the Local Government Board should also concur in the agreement between the Local Authority and the owner or builder. The difficulty of that course is that, strictly speaking, the Local Government Board could not give their approval, as they will need to consider the scheme judicially when it comes before them. 1904. Having regard, however, to our proposal for the elimination of the first stage of procedure, we think that the situation should now be met in this way, viz. that a Local Authority should pass a re- solution immediately they had decided to prepare a scheme for an area, to the effect that they were to ! REPORT. 287 prepare the same, and at once transmit a copy to the Board, the date of the resolution to be the date from which the section would operate. Even if this were not considered a sufficient substitute, there would not be serious objection to the date for the operation of the section being fixed as the date when the scheme was first formally submitted to and adopted by the Local Authority. Having regard to the fact that schemes of a fairly general character may now be propounded {vide the opinion of the law oflScers of the Crown, and previously referred to), schemes could, we think, be prepared in a very short time. Even under present conditions a Local Authority, when it decides to make apphcation for authority to prepare a scheme, must have a fair general idea of what its scheme is to be, otherwise its application cannot be considered as other than nebulous and unsubstantial. 1905. A minor but useful amendment of the town-planning scheme would be a provision that, as regards Scotland, notices requiring to be served upon owners within any area which is being made the subject of a town-planning scheme would be sufficiently served if addressed and posted to the owners as appearing in the Valuation Roll for the time being ; and further, that the approval of the Local Government Board to a town-planning scheme would be held de facto and de jure to infer that all necessary preliminary procedure and notifications had been duly and regularly carried through and given. 1906. There appear also to be a few matters more of drafting and interpretation than of principle which may receive attention in the event of review of this Act. They are not, however, of sufficient importance to need special mention by us, and arise out of the apphcation to Scotland of an Act designed in Enghsh terms. Procedure Regulations. 1907. By section 56 of the Act, the Local Government Board are empowered and required to make regulations to govern the procedure to be adopted with respect to the applications for authority to pre- pare and for obtaining the approval of a town-planning scheme. It is required that provisions shall be made by these regulations for certain purposes mentioned, which include the securing of co-operation on the part of the Local Authority with owners and others interested, by means of conferences and such other means as may be provided by the regulations ; and also for securing that notices of the proposals to prepare a scheme should be given at the earhest stage to any council interested in the land. Regula- tions are also required to be made for deahng with matters mentioned in the fifth schedule to the Act. 1908. As authorised, the Local Government Board have made regulations for securing the co-opera- tion desired, and for giving the requisite notices. They have not yet prepared regulations dealing with the very important and comprehensive matters referred to in the fifth schedule. 1909. We have considered carefully whether or not amendments are desirable, to the Scottish pro- cedure regulations, and have concluded that the Central Authority might with advantage take into consideration the amendment of their procedure regulations. 1910. The general amendments which we consider desirable are the following, viz. : — Procedure anterior to and for the Purpose of an Application for Authority to Prepare a Schmne. (a) The number of advertisements of intention to make apphcation to the Board should be reduced. (6) The present requirement for a pubhc meeting of owners and others interested, " for purpose of ' considering the proposed scheme," should be excised. There is at this stage no scheme at all, and frequently this meeting is more hkely to create friction than to render assistance. The respective owners should be conferred with separately, of which arrange- ment intimation should be given in the initial advertisements. (c) The information at present required upon maps to be submitted to the Board is too extensive. It should be optional on the part of the Local Authority to show any proposed works at all. {d) The number of maps required might, with advantage, be reduced. (e) The information with reference to the estimated cost of a scheme — ^for which authority to prepare is sought — seems difficult to supply. The article requiring this and a considerable amount of statistical information might, with advantage, be amended, [The suggestions under this head will not be applicable if our recommendation, that a Local Authority should have power to frame a town-planning scheme without prior approval of the Local Government Board, is given effect to.] Procedure during and after the Preparation of a Scheme and after the Approval of a Scheme. 1911. Operations under this section of the regulations have not been been very extensive. Hence the same demand has not arisen for amendments in this section as have arisen with regard to Part I. — ^the section already dealt with. (a) Firstly, it is suggested that some simplification would result from not separating the regulations into two parts, but from allowing the numbers of the articles to run consecutively throughout. In this part of the regulations similar criticism of the existing regulations may be offered, viz. : — (b) Too much detail is required by the maps, e.g. the proposed lines of sewers, water mains, gas and electricity mains. (c) Too many notices are required, e.g. upon lessees and occupiers, irrespective of the term of occupation. (In his evidence the Town Clerk of Dimfermlrne explained that his Local Authority had served " two thousand notices, and not a single occupier came forward except one, who was an owner." (Jack, 43,221). They had not a single representation from a lessee or occupier.) (d) The formal meeting of the Local Authority to consider objections might be dispensed with. There is not, however, the same objection to this meeting when the scheme has been piepared as there is when no specific proposals can be put before those attending the meeting. At the same time, we consider that after all has been done that is possible by private and informal conferences to meet the views of owners, the position is not hkely to be improved, probably the reverse, by a formal and public meeting at which discontent and discord may arise. The objections of owners will have been received 288 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. by the Local Authority, who will need to send copies to the Local Government Board, and in due course the objecting owners will have an opportunity of stating their objections to the Board. 1912. Generally, we are of opinion that the complaint as to procedure regulations being imnecessarily exhaustive has some foundation. We consider that the Central Authority could with advantage revise these regulations in such a way that, whilst they will comply with the requirements of the Act, they will render operations thereunder more simple and less expensive. Need for a Strong Central Authority. 1913. We have throughout been particularly impressed with the necessity of having a strong and properly equipped Central Authority. In view of the extent to which housing and town-planning matters will predominate after the war, and having regard to the need for special concentration on the subject at the instance of the Central Authority, and the importance of a close and constant connection and siu-vey being maintained throughout the country, we consider that it is imperative the Central Authority should be enlarged as regards the number of its members, and that such additions as are necessary should be made to ^e technical and clerical staff in order adequately to secure that both the Board and the staff will be able to overtake speedily and effectively the vast work which will be thrown upon them. As regards the Central Authority, we consider that at least two additions should be made to the Board, and that particular regard should be had to the personnel of the persons to be appointed, so that outstandingly capable persons, quahfied and skilled as regards their knowledge of the housing conditions and the housing and town-planning laws of Scotland and their administration, will be appointed. Upon those new members of the Board will devolve work of the very highest importance, and it is necessary to the success of housing and town planning that the greatest care should be exercised in securing the best possible nominees. We suggest that the new members should be placed in the same position and have the same status as the present members of the Board, and that while that is so they should primarily be charged with the care of housing and town planning, and it should be made a first call upon their time. Summary of Eecommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XXVII. (1) That the Housing and Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, should be amended and extended somewhat in the manner aftermentioned, so as to provide : — (a) That it shall not be necessary, notwithstanding the provisions of the Act, and particularly the provisions of sections 54 (2) and 56 thereof, for the Local Government Board, as a preHminary to the preparation of a town-planning scheme by a Local Authority, to authorise a Local Authority to prepare a to^vn-planning scheme, or for a Local Authority to satisfy the Board that there is a prima facie case for making such a scheme, or for such procedure being reqiiired anterior to the preparation or adoption of a scheme ; but in lieu of such provisions and requirements a Local Authority may prepare or adopt a town-planning scheme with reference to any land within or in the neighbourhood of their area, and having passed a resolution adopting the same, may thereupon (or after such advertisement and such conferences with oAvners or others interested, or otherwise as the Board, by the regulations hereinafter referred to, may prescribe) submit the said scheme to the Local Government Board, who shall consider and deal with the same under and in terms of the provisions of the Act and of the regulations to be made as aforesaid. (Paragraphs 1896 and 1904.) (6) That the Local Government Board shall make all necessary amendments upon their regula- tions for regulating the procedure to be adopted with respect to town-planning schemes prepared or adopted under the provisions of the Act. (Paragraphs 1910-1912.) (c) That the proviso to section 54 (4) of the Act, viz. : — Pi'ovided that, before a town-planning scheme is approved by the Local Government Board, notice of their intention to do so shall be published in the Edinburgh Gazette, and, if within twenty-one days from the date of such publication any person or authority interested objects in the prescribed manner, the draft of the Order shall be laid before each House of Parliament for a period of not less than thirty days during the session of Parliament ; and, if either of those Houses before the expiration of those thirty days presents an address to His Majesty against the draft, or any part thereof, no further proceedings shall be taken thereon, without prejudice to the making of any new draft scheme, should be repealed. (Paragraphs 1897 and 1898.) {d) That Local Authorities should be clearly and definitely empowered to replan areas already wholly or partially built up which are unsatisfactory on accoimt of their age, their initially imsatisfactory planning, or which are of an insanitary or unhealthy kind. (Paragraph 1874.) (e) That in order to secure co-operation amongst the various Local Authorities, an addition should be made to section 56 (2) of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, as follows : — Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions and to the provisions of section 55 (3), the regulations hereinbefore referred to may also make provision requiring Local Authorities to confer and co-operate for the purpose of preparing joint schemes (a) in cases where more than one Local Authority have made application for , authority to prepare a town-planning scheme for the same area or for part of the same area, and (6) in cases where application is made by different Local Authorities for authority to prepare town-planning schemes for areas adjoining each other, and which by reason of the contiguity or relationship of such areas to each other or for any other reason it would, in the opinion of the Board, be desirable they should be dealt with together. (Paiagraph 1868.) REPORT. 289 (f) That notice requiring to be served upon owners within any area whicli is being made the subject of a town-planning scheme should be held to be sufiSciently served if addressed and posted to the owners as ippearing in the Valuation Roll for the time being ; and, further, that the approval of the Local Government Board of a town-planning scheme should be held dejado and de jure to infer that all necessary preliminary procedure and notifications had been duly and regularly carried through and given. (Paragraph 1905.) [All necessary and consequential modifications of the statute should, of course, be enacted in order to give efEect to the foregoing suggested amendments.] (2) (a) That the Central Authority should be enlarged as regards the number of its members, and that such additions as are necessary should be made to the technical and clerical staff in order adequately to secure that both the Board and the staff will be able to overtake speedily and effectively the vast amount of work which will be thrown upon them in connection with housing and town planning. (Paragraph 1913.) (Note. — It is suggested that two members be added to the Board, who will be primarily charged with the care of housing and town planning.) (3) That the Local Government Board should encourage the preparation of schemes of a very simple nature, it probably being sufficient for such schemes to provide definitely as follows : — (a) Main roads and widening of existing roads, (6) The definition, as far as possible, of land units— preferably by physical or ownership boimdaries. (c) The prescription, as far as practicable, of the number of houses per acre for each land unit. {d) Provisions for the relaxation of present building regulations in order to cheapen building and development, for instance, — (1) The grading of width and strength of streets to meet future weight and volume of traffic. (2) Lowering of the present required height of ceilings, permitting hollow brick walls, tile-hung walls, and new materials such as concrete blocks and slabs. (3) Removal of necessity to carry party walls through roofs, the permitting of combined drains, etc., and that Orders should thereafter be issued by the Local Authority, with the approval of the Local Government Board, which should deal with and prescribe in detail for each area as and when it became ripe for development ; and further, should contain such modifications or amphfication of the principles • contained in the scheme as the local circumstances at the time of development may require. (Paragraphs 1854 and 1858.) {Note. — It will be kept in view that under the provisions of section 54 (6) a town-planning scheme may be varied and revoked by a subsequent scheme ; consequently, even if a scheme is of the open character, and has the full measure of elasticity suggested in above recommendation, such scheme could be amended should it become undesirable or obsolete on account of extraordinarily changed circumstances and conditions.) (4) That while, for the reasons set forth in this chapter, we do not recommend the introduction of universal compulsory town planning meantime, we do recommend that the Local Government Board should — without requiring to have recourse to the Court of Session — ^have at its own hand power to require any Local Authority to prepare and submit a town-planning scheme for the whole of their area, or for such part thereof — built or unbuilt upon — as may be specified by the Board ; to adopt any scheme proposed by owners of any land in a case where the scheme ought to be adopted ; or to consent to any modifications imposed by the Board ; and that it should be obligatory on the Local Authority to comply with the requirements of the Board. (Paragraph 1888.) CHAPTER XXVIII. POWERS OF PUBLIC WORKS LOAN COMMISSIONERS. 1914. In Chapter IV. we have suggested that the funds at the disposal of the PubUc Works Loan Com- missioners should be increased so as to enable them to grant loans for all the purposes of the Housing Acts. We have also, in the same chapter, suggested that in regard to loans obtained by public utility societies the Local Government Board and not the Office of Works should be consulted by the Loan Board before the loan is granted. 1915. In this portion of the Report we propose to make some general observations on the policy of the Loan Board in regard to the granting of loans for housing purposes. The conditions governing the granting of loans by the Board are set out in Appendices CLXXX.-CLXXXIIL, being rephes to certain queries put to the Board by us. One of these queries related to the interpretation put by the Board on the expression " working classes " in granting loans xmder the Housing Acts. Definition of Working Classes. 1916. As will be seen, the Pubhc Works Loan Commissioners are of opinion that a ffiir construction to be put upon the term " working classes " would include the following :— Mechanics, artisans, miners, and skilled or unskilled workmen, or labourers, working for wages ; hawkers, costermongers, and persons not working for wages but working at some trade or handicraft without employing others, except members of their own family, and persons other 19 290 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. than domestic servants, whose incomes from all sources do not exceed the sum of £2 a week, and the families of any such persons who may be residing with them. (Appendix CLXXXIII.) This definition is adopted from the schedule to the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1903, as modified and made applicable to Scotland by the third schedule of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. Two alterations have, however, been made ; as the words " miners and skilled or unskilled ' workmen " did not appear in the original definition, and the words defining the income hmit were " whose income in any case does not exceed an average of 30s. a week." 1917. In view of the rise in the price of commodities, we think that, to enable Public Authorities to proceed with schemes, the definition of " working classes," as above set forth, should be extended, 80 far as income is concerned, to persons whose incomes do not exceed £200 per annum, or such larger sum as may from time to time be fixed by the Central Authority. We suggest this power to the Central Authority to give elasticity to the income standard to meet changing circumstances. We think that it would also be of advantage that the Public Works Loan Commissioners, on the advice of the Local Govern- ment Board, should have power to advance monies to Public Authorities for houses to be provided for persons whose incomes exceed that amount — this to enable a properly planned housmg scheme to be carried through. It is obviously inexpedient to segregate classes in any such scheme, and this might be the result if it were rendered impossible for the Public Works Loan Commissioners in any circumstances to grant loans to PubUc Authorities for housing persons whose incomes exceed £200, or such other sum as may be the standard for the time. Control of House Rents. 1918. In reply to a query as to the control exercised by the Loan Board over the rents of houses included in a housing scheme, for which a loan was applied, the Board, it was stated, do not in the case of schemes promulgated by Local Authorities exercise any control — As long as the balance-sheet submitted with the application for the loan shows that rents to be charged will be sufficient to meet all the outgoings, with the exception of the repayments of jyrincipal, which may be allowed to fall on the rates, and need not necessarily be met out of the rents. The payments of interest must be met out of the rents with all the other outgoings. As long as this condition is complied with, the Board do not interfere with the rents to be charged, but, if this condition is not complied with, the rents must be increased sufficiently to comply with it, or the loan must be obtained from some other source. (Appendix CLXXX. (7).) We refer to Paragraph 1988 for our recommendations in regard to control of rents charged by Local Authorities. 1919. As regards the control of the Loan Board over rents to be charged by borrowers other than Local Authorities, the Board inform us that — The rents proposed to be charged are submitted to this Board, who satisfy themselves that they are such as could be paid by persons (in the particular locality for which the scheme is pro- posed) coming within the definition of the term " working classes " adopted by the Board. Wlien those rents are approved, a covenant is inserted in the mortgage to the effect that they must not be altered without the approval of the Board, during the currency of the loan. After that this Board have, obviously, no control over them. (Appendix CLXXX. (7) (6).) 1920. In this connection Mr Vivian (of Copartnership Tenants, Ltd.) stated that he thought that, owing to the number of claims made upon the Loan Board, their supervision over rents to be charged was becoming more strict. He mentioned £26 a year, or 10s. a week, as the maximum rent upon which advances were given (c/. Boyd Auld, 39,984), and he added that the Board would insist on a certain proportion of the houses being provided at lower rents. Thus, if the maximum were 10s. a week, they would insist on a certain number at a lower figure, say 8s. 6d. He said fvuiiher : — " You must send in ' the rents that you are proposing to charge, and you are not permitted to raise them without written ' consent. In London they would advance on a bigger maximum than they would, say, in the Midlands, ' but they would object to your building all your houses of that maximum." (Vivian, 40,571 (46), 40,675-9.) Administrative Financial Control. 1921. On the subject of finance and financial administration, we note a proposal of the Minority for the estabUshment of a separate temporary financial board for the granting of loans. We cannot approve of this proposal. We are anxious for a simple, effective procedure, and we fail to see the neces- sity for the establishment of such a board as the Minority contemplate. Local Government Board to advise Public Works Loan Board as to Loans and Treasury as to Chants. 1922. We are convinced that the Local Government Board, increased and strengthened in the manner suggested in this Report, working in conjunction with the Public Works Board as the lending department and the Treasury as the department whose approval would be necessary to any grants, are quite capable of rmdertaking the work we propose to put upon-fhem. To set up another Board, even for a temporary period, is simply providing opportrmity for unnecessary delay and complication, and would, in our view, hamper the efforts of the central administration. Our colleagues in the Minority state that the proposed temporary Board would apportion grants or loans among the various Local Authorities, etc., and that the Local Government Board would retain full control through its inspectors on the town-planning, constructional, and architectural side. The position imder their proposals would therefore appear to be that the Local Government Board would require to consider carefully the full details of every housing scheme put before them, including the estimated cost thereof ; having done so, and adjusted all details with the promoters, the Local Government Board would then require to pass the scheme on to the new Financial Board, who, in their turn, to enable them to advise as to loans or grants, would require to go REPORT. 291 into the whole details again. It is not clear to us that there is anything that the new Board could do that cannot equally well be done at present by the Public Works Loan Board or the Treasury. In our view, the Local Government Board, with its staff of experts and with its knowledge of local conditions, would be better able to determine what the loans or grants should be than a Board selected for financial pmposes only, with no staff to advise them in regard to the planning and constructional aspects of the subjects put before them. Under our proposals the Local Government Board, after having gone fully into the merits and finances of any housing scheme submitted to them, would recommend to the Loan Board the granting of a loan to be repaid in a specified number of years, and to the Treasury for approval the giving of a grant tmder any specified conditions. There would thus be obviated the necessity for the establishment of a new and separate and admittedly temporary department. 1923. Generally, we think that the proposal of the Minority under discussion would introduce dual control or division of interest in an important matter, and this would be a great mistake. Differences would be introduced, and expedition (which is so much desired) would not be assured. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XXVIII. (1) That the Public Works Loan Commissioners, on the advice of the Local Government Board, should grant loans for the purpose of erecting houses for the working classes, as defined in Paragraphs 1916 and 1917, and for persons whose incomes from all sources do not exceed £200 a year, and the families of any such persons who may be residing with them. (Paragraphs 1916 and 1917.) (2) That the Public Works Loan Commissioners, on the advice of the Local Government Board, should be entitled, on cause shown, to grant loans to Public Authorities for the erection of houses, part of a housing scheme being carried out by a Public Authority, for persons whose incomes exceed £200. (Paragraph 1917.) CHAPTER XXIX. HOUSING POLICY. Introductory. 1924. The housing problem is not of recent origin. It is now in a highly acute stage, but it had reached that stage a good number of years ago. The importance of its solution has been emphasised by two facts : first, the large increase in our urban population, as the result of the great industrial expansion of the last half century; and second, the rise in the interest rate and in the cost of building materials, which were serious items in the problem before the war, and which war conditions have made even more serious. 1925. The problem began to be urgent about the beginning of last century, but it was only when the overcrowding in the towns and cities became too great to be safely ignored that the question forced itself prominently upon public attention. Li the report published in 1842 of the Poor Law Commissioners on the sanitary condition of the labouring population, there was some striking evidence on the question of overcrowding. This report attracted considerable attention. It was at this time that Lord Shaftesbury (then Lord Ashley), who was one of the earliest pioneers of the movement for prevention of overcrowding, warned the country in Parliament of a coming social catastrophe if reform was not effected. 1926. In 1855 the Dwelhng Houses (Scotland) Act was passed. It was entitled " An Act to Facihtate ' the Erection of Dwelling Houses for the Working Classes in Scotland." 1927. In 1851 Lord Shaftesbury passed through Parliament a Common Lodging Houses Act and Labouring Classes Lodgings Act, which, however, did not apply to Scotland till, by the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1885, power was given to Local Authorities in Scotland to adopt said Acts. It is interesting to note, however, that, in giving evidence before the Royal Commission of 1884, Lord Shaftes- bury stated that the Acts referred to had never been carried out, and that he thought he was the only Englishman who ever knew of their existence. In 1856 there was passed a Nuisance Removal Act.. 1928. In 1850 an Act was passed dealing with sanitary conditions and public health in the burghs of Scotland, and in 1862 an Act, termed the General Pohce and Improvement (Scotland) Act, 1862, was passed. This latter Act was the forerunner of the Burgh Police Act of 1892. 1929. In 1867 was passed the great Charter of Public Health, viz. the PubHc Health (Scotland) Act of that year; and in 1868 the burghs of Scotland obtained the Artisans and Labourers Dwelhngs Act. This Act, which was amended in 1879, provided for the gradual improvement and demolition of the dwelhngs of the working classes and for the building and maintenance of improved dwellings. 1930. Next in date. Parliament passed the Artisans and Labourers Dwelhngs Improvement (Scotland) Acts of 1875 and. 1880. 1931. Notwithstanding all the legislative attempts to deal with the housing of the working classes, as typified in the Acts of Parliament above referred to, it was found that although improvements had taken place in some ways, the condition of matters was generally getting worse, particularly in regard to overcrowding. Accordingly, in the year 1884 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the whole conditions of the housing of the working classes. Reference is made to the evidence before that Commission. It dealt very fully with the housing conditions in England, but it did not make any exhaustive inquiry in regard to the conditions in Scotland. Sufficient, however, was put on record to show that the housing conditions in Scotland at that time were very bad. It was clear from the findings of the Commission that in spite of all previous efforts in the course of forty or fifty years the evils of overcrowding were a pubhc scandal, and were becoming in certain locaUties more serious than they ever were. In 1885 there was passed a Housing of the Working Classes Act, and the Report of the Commission eventually resulted in the passing of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. 292 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. This latter Act explicitly repealed all previous Housiug Acts, and gave full powers for providing healthy dwellings for the workers, and removing anything that might be dangerous or injurious to health. Then, in 1897, another great Public Health Act was passed for Scotland, and in 1900 and 1903 Housing Amending Acts were passed, but these were not applied to Scotland until 1909, in which year the Housing and Town Planning Act was passed. 1932. In face of all the legislative attempts to solve the question, the housing conditions of Scotland were, in the beginning of this century, little, if any, better than they were fifty years before ; in some ways they were worse. In many areas they were worse because of the inevitable overcrowding resulting from the influx of rural dwellers into the towns, the result of the industrial revolution which had been going on for fifty years, and because the building of healthy houses had not kept pace with the increase in the population. Private enterprise had prior to the war almost completely ceased to provide working- class houses. That these general statements are correct is sufiiciently vouched by the institution in 1912 of this Commission. The Commission was the result of a growing discontent, which found organised expression in the large industrial areas, more especially the mining districts. But the discontent was not confined to those areas. The gradual and continual depreciation of the old houses in the country districts was stirring the rural workers and generating its own forms of expression and agitation. How widely spread the discontent is, both in the active industrial areas and in the relatively unorganised rural areas, the evidence shows in convincing detail. The moment an opportunity was ofEered witnesses came forward from all classes of the working community. This alone shows how deep-set the desire for improved housing now is. OVEBCROWDING. 1933. We have, we think, estabhshed our proposition that the housing problem is not recent. We desire to state very shortly the present position. As stated in Chapter XII., Paragraph 720, there were, in 1911, 1,005,991 people in Scotland — or almost a quarter of the total population — living in overcrowded conditions, if we take more than three persons in a room as our standard. That standard is itself one that perhaps can hardly be recommended as securing healthy or comfortable conditions. In England the standard of overcrowding adopted in the Census returns is more than two persons per room. It is true that in England the rooms are on an average about 20 per cent, smaller than the rooms in Scotland ; but overcrowding is not a matter of cubic space alone. The question of domestic overcrowding is equally important. If, as many people would think, a standard of overcrowding of more than two persons per room is a moderate and reasonable one, the result of applying this standard to Scotland would be that there are Hving in overcrowded conditions in Scotland 2,077,277 people, or 45-1 per cent, of the total population. From the Census of 1911 we find that, out of 1,010,531 inhabited houses, 744,392, or 73-5 per cent, of the total number of houses, were houses of three rooms and under, and in these houses 3,287,540 people (or 69 percent, of the total population) lived. There were 539,084 houses of two rooms and under in which 2,281,405 people (or 47-9 of the population) lived. If it be assumed that practically the whole working-class population and the small salaried man and the man with a small income live in houses of three rooms and under, we find that something like 73 per cent, of the whole of these classes live in houses of two rooms and under, many of these houses, be it noted, without any, or any adequate, provision of sanitary conveniences or of scullery or food-storage accommodation. This is a highly unsatisfactory state of matters. Shortage of Houses. 1934. From the above statistics it will be understood that the estimate given of the shortage of houses in Chapter III. is a moderate one. We estimate that 121,430 additional houses are required merely to enable the nation to get rid of the overcrowding due to more than three persons to a room and to take the place of the houses requiring instant demolition. In addition, we have estimated that 114,560 houses are required to take the place of 50 per cent, of the one-room houses and 15 per cent, of the two-room houses — the percentages that, in our opinion, should disappear as soon as possible. This demand we think very moderate. The fact is that, if the English standard of overcrowding of more than two persons to a room were applied to Scotland, we should find that 695,842 people would be dispossessed. This would increase the estimated shortage of houses very seriously. Condition of Houses. 1935. Apart from overcrowding, we refer to the masses of evidence on the question of the bad condition of a very large proportion of the houses both in town and country. This evidence has been sifted by us and presented in considerable detail in Chapters VII., IX., X., XL, XII., XIIL, and XIV. to XVIII. 1936. We do not propose to dwell further here on the many evils that result from the bad housing conditions prevalent all over Scotland. It is beyond question or argument that the housing conditions of the working classes throughout the country are at the present time wholly unsatisfactory. If any one chooses to make an independent study of the evidence, he will find that our statement of the case is moderate and restrained. 1937. We are driven to the conclusion that the sources and forces that were available for the pro- vision of working-class houses had — and this quite apart from the difficulties which have been brought about by the war — failed to provide anything hke a sufficiency of houses, and that in particular they had failed to provide houses of a reasonable standard of accommodation and habitabihty. As we have shown in this Report, sufficient legislative powers to build were granted to the Pubhc Authorities, but these powers have not been exercised except to a very small extent. Private enterprise was practically the only agency that undertook the building of houses, and most of the troubles which we have been investigating are due to the failure of private enterprise to provide and maintain the necessary houses sufficient in quantity and quality. REPORT. 293 Responsibility fob Provision of Houses. 1938. In our investigations and discussions we have taken every means to discover the best methods of providing the necessary number of working-class houses of good quality. The urgency of the problem compels us to consider it in circumstances that necessarily involve the granting of State assistance. The War Cabinet, we understand, have decided that such assistance shall be given. For the time being the giving of such assistance necessarily excludes private enterprise in its ordinary form. To this point we recur later. Meantime we have to consider the nature and probable extent of the obligations that, in our view, the State mast accept so long as the commercial provision of satisfactory houses at pro- fitable rents is impossible. We have come to the definite conclusion that for the boasing of the working clksses the State must accept direct responsibility. But we are also of opinion that no satisfactory programme of housing can be carried out unless a definite obligation is placed upon some person or Authority to see that a sufficient number of satisfactory houses is systematically provided. It is im- possible to place such an obligation on a private individual or a' private body of persons. From the nature of the case the obligation must be placed either on a Central State Department or on the Local Authority. The most convenient method, in our view, is that the State should impose the obligation on the Local Authority. We are satisfied that in no other way can the shortage of housing be overtaken in a reasonable time. Later, we suggest how the Local Authority should be related to the Central Authority, and in what form the obligation to see that houses are provided can be made effective. Our proposal, therefore, is that the State must at once take steps to make good the housing shortage and to improve the housing conditions ; and it can only do so by or through the machinery of the Public Authorities. It is true, as has been pointed out, that the Riblic Authorities have already been granted by Parliament powers which, if exercised, would have resulted in a sufficiency of housing accommodation. These powers in the 1890 Act were adoptive (and therefore optional merely), and it was not till the 1909 Act that the legislature provided that the Central Authority, after an inquiry following on a complaint by certain specified parties, could, if they saw fit, ask the Court of Session to direct the Local Authority to exercise these powers. In point of fact, the larger Local Authorities had their housing energies paralysed by the conditions imposed upon them when they sought to remove the plague spots in the slams. They were mulcted in such enormous sums by way of compensation (in the case of Edinburgh, for instance, something like £12,000 per acre of ground with derehct buildings), that they were deterred from extending the sphere of their operations. Whatever be the cause, the fact remains that they did not exercise their power, and, on the other hand, private enterprise, which was not in any way prejudiced by competition from Public Authorities failed to provide the houses required. 1939. The Local Government Board, as we have said, when complaint is made to tbem from certain specified parties, and when satisfied that the Local Authority have failed to exercise their power to erect houses for the working classes in cases where it ought to have been exercised, have power to apply to the Court of Session, who may, if they think fit, require the Local Authority to carry out the necessary housing scheme. This is a circuitous and cumbrous procedure, and at the end there is no method or machinery for enforcing any decree of the Court, except perhaps through a charge of contempt of Court — rather an impracticable step in the case of Local Authorities. 1940. We think, as above explained, that in addition to their present optional powers. Local Authorities should have a definite obhgation put upon them to provide or see that there are provided for the working classes sufficient and suitable houses, otherwise housing in many areas will go from bad to worse. If Local Authorities do not fulfil this obligation, the Local Grovemment Board should be empowered on their own initiative and notwithstanding that they have received no complaint from any public body or outside source to issue an Order requiring the Local Authority to take immediate steps to carry out the requisite housing schemes. If Local Authorities refuse to do so within the time specified in the Order, they should be liable to a penalty not exceeding £100 for every day during which they delay, and the Board themselves should have power to carry out the work and to recover the cost from the Local Authority. The Local Government Board should, we think, have no hesitation in at once putting these powers in force in the case of any defaulting Local Authority. Finance of Housing Schemes after the War. 1941. If, then, the State muSt now, at least for a certaia period, face the responsibility of providing the bouses, it is material that some indication should be given of the extent of the burden. We prDpose to assume that the 235,990 houses that we find necessary should be built within a period of fourteen years. The above estimate does not make allowance for the shortage which has accumulated since 1911 or will accumulate during the fourteen years referred to. The standard of accommodation we recommend is that the houses to be built should have not less than three rooms, with all sanitary and domestic conveniences. At present (that is, subject to war conditions) such houses cost about £450 and upwards. Before the war, Mr Wilson, Architectural Lispector of the Local Government Board, stated in his Report to us that such houses would, in and around the industrial areas of Scotland, average about £225, and in the districts north and south of the industrial areas would average about £275. These figures he gave as at July 1914. (Appsndix CXCII.) We do not think that the cost of materials will, within the period of fourteen years recommended for the building of the houses, fall sufficiently in value, nor do we anticipate that the rate of interest, which is a serious item, will fall sufficiently to enable houses to be built at pre-war figures. We think it safe to assume that on an average during the next fourteen years the houses will not be built for a less cost than £350 each. As Mr Wilson pointed out, the cost will probably be less in industrial areas than in districts remote from such areas, but we have taken £350 as an average figure for the houses throughout the coimtry. On the basis of that average the total cost of 235,990 houses would be £82,596,500. 1942. The next question to consider, and it; is an important one, is : what portion of that cost may be assumed to be uneconomic — that is, on what proportion of the total cost of a house as above estimated may it be assumed that no return can be obtained in rental from the working classes ? As will be seen 294 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. from calculations whict we give later, we are of opinion that at the present time it must be assumed that at least one-third of the above-mentioned cost will be uneconomic, and that that proportion must, therefore, be contributed by the State in some form or other. Spread over fourteen years, and assuming that an equal number of houses is built each year, the cost will be £5,899,750 per annum. One-third of this would require to be made up by a State subsidy. This would represent £1,966,583 per annum by way of grant if the grant were given as a capital sum. 1943. We are inchned to the view that the best method of finance would be to charge the full economic rate of interest (at present not less than 5 per cent.) on building loans, and that the amoimt required by way of grant should not be paid by way of a capital sum when the houses are put up. We. think the necessary estimated grant should be funded or earmarked, and that the difference between the house rentals and the total outgoings should be made up to the Local Authorities each year. We suggest the funding of the grant because we have in view that at the end of a period of seven years the Government should have the houses which have been erected during that period valued, and should then wipe off the whole loss by paying the difference between the cost of the houses and the ascertained value. This procedure would have the advantage that it would provide for the very clamant housing needs of the country during a period of seven years, and at the end of that period it would enable the State to review its whole housing policy in the light of the conditions obtaining at that time. If, at that time, conditions are such that it would pay private enterprise to enter the field, the State can review its own policy of building, and leave the provision of houses to private enterprise, subject always to the proviso, which we consider of paramount importance, that there must always rest on the public authorities the duty of seeing that a sufiiciency of habitable houses in every district is provided for the use of the working classes. 1944. On the subject of interest on loans, we think that housing loans should be granted to PubUc Authorities at the lowest rate at which the national exchequer can obtain money. • Inability of Private Enterprise to provide Houses for the Working Classes. 1944a. It is perhaps right to contemplate that the average cost of the houses, instead of being £350, might be somewhat more, and it is certainly necessary to provide for the possibility that the actual cost of the houses during the first two or three years of the period referred to may be more than £350. In our inquiries before the war, we obtained a considerable amount of evidence to the effect that PubUc Authorities would require to provide housing for the working classes. This evidence was based upon the pre-war figures of costs and rate of interest. That it was impossible at these figures, as a commercial imdertaking, to put up a house of three rooms and all ordinary accessories for the working classes for some years prior to the war cannot be gainsaid. There are various reasons put forward why this was so, but that it was so is admitted on all hands. 1945. Mr G.Fraser, factor on the Dalzell estate at Motherwell, who has had large experience as a County Authority administrator, being a member of the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanark- shire, stated : — With matters as they stand at present, the witness is of opinion that the necessary housing in Mid-Lanark will not be provided by private enterprise, and the only way by which satisfactory housing can be secured is to extend the powers of the public health authorities, and for Government (under the supervision of the Local Government Board) to grant loans for building on advantageous terms. The Local Authorities have first-hand knowledge of the needs of each district, and by local factoring, combined with local sanitary inspection, they are in the best position to prevent abuse, or to sue for punishment. (31, 115 (64)-(65).) 1946. In cross-examination, Mr Fraser was emphatic that in present circumstances (and these were pre-war) there was no alternative to the State building houses for the industrial population. He stated that he was prepared to face the housing of the whole population of Scotland by the nation. (31,160.) The witness was here referring to the working population, as his next answer (31,161) makes clear. Mr Andrew Wilson, Civil and Mining Engineer, Motherwell, a gentleman of experience in municipal adminis- tration (he was Provost of Motherwell at the time he gave evidence), supported the proposition that the State should help Local Authorities to carry out building schemes by loans over long periods. (41,001-4.) And further, he stated that a private builder could not obtain money as cheap as Local Authorities and that he would like Local Authorities to provide all the housing for the working classes. (41,024-31.) Mr Aldridge stated that the private investor cannot build as cheaply as municipaUties, and that the housing of the poor was not possible as a financial proposition from the builder's point of view. (41,826.) Other witnesses stated that municipal building is cheaper than private enterprise. (Eunson, 18,252.) Sir Thomas Munro, the Coimty Clerk of Lanarkshire, stated that where work is bemg lost through lack of housing, the duty of remedying the defect lies with the Local Authorities if without undue burden on the ratepayers. (27,593 (109).) 1947. Colonel Kyffin-Taylor, chairman of the Liverpool Corporation Housing Committee, who gave very important evidence in regard to the housing pohcy of Liverpool, stated :— It is interesting to note that at the present time it is generally recognised that it is impossible in respect to many thousands of people to build for them cottages or dwelUngs on an economic basis, and that bad housing conditions are responsible for those evils which are costing the coimtry millions of money in workhouses, asylums, hospitals, infirmaries, sanatoria, reformatories, and prisons. The remedy for this state of things, and a remedy advocated by every party in the State, is that financial aid should be afforded by the State or the municipality, or both, on the ground that as a mere matter of business such financial aid would prove an economy. In the future, therefore, mumcipahties will be clothed with even greater powers than they have to-day. (Kyfiin-Taylor, REPORT. 295 Colonel Kyffin-Taylor stated later that, in Ms opinion, private enterprise could not house the poorest classes of the people, and then added : — I go further, and I say to-day that private enterprise is unable to house even the better-off man. I am not talking of a well-off man, but of a man getting, say, 30s. a week. If one assumes that he ought not to pay more than 7s. a week, then I don't think private enterprise can build suitable accommodation for him under 8s. 3d. a week. {Ibid., 24,324.) This is a statement made prior to the war, and it can be truly said that, even assuming that of the weekly wage of 30s. so large a sum as 7s. should be paid away in house rent, what it was impossible in Colonel Kyffin- Taylor's opinion to do for a man with 30s. a week at that time, is equally impossible to do for a man with a considerably higher wage at this time. The evidence of Mr Fletcher Turton, Deputy Surveyor of Liverpool, supported Colonel Kyffin- Taylor's evidence. Mr Turton's opinion was that in any great scheme for housing the poor in a great city like Liverpool, the only course was for the municipality to undertake it, and further, that it was a good business proposition, although not a good financial one. Various other witnesses supported the proposition that where private enterprise could not provide for the housing needs of a section of the population, the only alternative was for the State or the Public Authorities to do so. (Berry, 25,417, 25,418, 25,419 ; Campbell and Smith, 33,038 ; Lemmon, 33,404 (6) and 33,425.) Mr Berry, the Assistant Housing Manager of the London County Council, stated that his remarks on this subject were confined to cottages of three rooms. He evidently thought that it was possible to erect block dwellings at a price that would pay. But he added, " not small or ' three- or four-room cottages." (25,417, 25,418, 25,419.) In reply to a further question as to whether private enterprise in London had failed to meet the demand for the cheaper class of houses. Mi- Berry's reply was, " I do not think there is any doubt about it." (25,425.) 1948. Ex-Provost Keith of Hamilton, in his evidence before us, discussed the difficulty of housing a man whose wage cannot pay for a proper house. In reply to questions put to him, he replied : — If therefore the State does not subsidise housing so as to provide houses below economic value, the only other alternative is to raise the minimum wage of adult labour. (1249 (42).) Of com-se I have indicated towards the close of my precis that it seems to me a question for the State. The State should interfere and make provision for adequate housing for a certain class of the population who have not an economic wage that will enable them to pay for the proper accom- modation they require at the standard that we think should be the living standard. There is the other side of it, that the minimum wage should be raised to enable them to pay for it — that is the other side. (1274.) 1949. Various witnesses objected to Local Authorities building houses on groimds which we after- wards discuss, viz. that it would deter private enterprise, and that municipaUties build extravagantly, or conversely that private enterprise is able to build more cheaply than a Corporation. (Mann, 21,207 (100)^(104) ; Mickel, 22,079-81 ; M'Kellar, 22,790 ; Mactaggart, 22,948 ; Eraser, 38,189-38,193.) As we have stated, we discuss the objections to Local Authority housing later on. Meantime we point out that whatever the merits or demerits of the objections, the underlying assumption in them is that private enterprise can build or could build the necessary number of houses. That assumption imder present conditions, or even under conditions existing for some years prior to the war, cannot be substantiated. 1950. To sum up this part of the argument : Prior to the war it had become impossible to provide houses for a certain section of the population on an economic basis, and where State assistance is required to enable the houses to be built for any section of the population, the State should, on grounds of public policy, give such assistance through the medium of the Public Authorities. 1951. While it is certain that for a period of years after the war it will be impossible to build a house of three or four rooms and the ordinary accessories at a cost which would yield a commercial return, we caimot assume that such a state of matters will always prevail. Wages may rise to such an extent and the cost of construction may fall in such degree as will permit of houses being erected for the working classes at a rent which would not import a loss to the State or the Public Authority. At this stage, therefore, we confine our argument to the period following on the war, and propose to show in detail that during that period it will be impossible to build houses of the accommodation mentioned at a cost at which a rent could be obtained providing an adequate return. 1952. If it is assumed that a house would cost on an average £350, and that a rent of £18 would be obtained for this house (this figure being used simply by way of illustration and as indicative of the average rental that may be obtained in many districts throughout Scotland), we estimate that the outgoings would be as follows : — Feu-duty .... Insurance .... Owner's Rates at 2s. in £ . Repairs at 1 per cent. Allowance for empties at 2J per cent. Collection and management at IJ per cent. Sinking Fimd^ — £350— at 5 per cent, for sixty years Total outgoings . If this sum of £6, 10s. 4d. is deducted from the assumed rental of £18, there will remain a sum of £1 1, 9s. 8d. to provide interest on £350, the cost of the house. This would represent a return of about 3^ per cent., which is certainly insufficient. If to the total outgoings of £6, 10s. 4d. we add £17, 10s. — ^the interest at 5 per cent, on the capital expenditiire of £350 — we get a total outgoing of £24, Os. 4d., as against an income from rent of £18, showing an annual deficiency of £6, Os. 4d. If we capitaUse this at 5 per cent., we get a loss of £120 on each house, or a little more than a third of -the cost. £ s. d. .10 5 3 1 16 1 16 9 4 6 19 7 . £6 10 4 296 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 1953. We may say that these outgoings have been taken on a very moderate basis. The amount of £1, 16s. for repairs on this class of house is moderately stated as the annual sum which will be required to be expended over a series of years. The 2| per cent, for empties is on the assumption that the house is empty one year in forty, and the allowance for collection and management is put at a minimum. 1954. It is clear from the above analysis that commercial enterprise cannot engage in the building of working-class houses under present conditions. By commercial enterprise we mean the provision of the skill, organising ability, and labour, and of the necessary capital required. Commercial enterprise necessarily imphes an expectation that there will be a sufficient return not only for the skill and trouble expended, but also a profit on the capital invested. The above analysis shows that in the near future the return which would be got would not be sufficient to provide the cvirrent rate of interest on the capital without any consideration in the shape of profit or payment for other services. It is plain, therefore, that if private individuals or companies are to enter upon building schemes they will require to be sub- sidised in some form, and this subsidy will ipso facto take the enterprise out of the category of ordinary commercial enterprise. The provision of the skill, organising ability, etc., would still be required, but the element of the provision of capital in the ordinary way, with the prospect of a retarn carefully weighed, would disappear. The portion of ordinary commercial enterprise which would remain might perhaps be termed private enterprise ; but it would be much more akin to the private enterprise of the builder who puts up houses under a contract with an employer. 1955. But there is another factor which will effectively prevent commercial enterprise from providing working-class houses in the near future. A builder who puts up houses in the usual way cannot afford to hold the houses. He must sell them so as to employ his capital in other ventures. Any one proposing to purchase such houses to hold them as an investment, would require a return on his capital of some- thing more than the current rate of interest adopted in our calculations. Such an investor would not take the risks and trouble associated with the owning of house property unless he were to get a return for these in the shape of a higher rate of interest. This, put another way, means that he would only pay for the house a sum less than its cost, because the rent would only provide him such a return if the capital cost were reduced by the required amount. That is to say, the builder could not sell his houses except at a loss, and there would be required, as an inducement to him to imdertake the building enterprise, a subsidy not only of the amount required to give him the ordinary return on his capital, but also of the amoimt which would be required to be written off the capital cost to induce the investor to come in and relieve him of his houses. 1956. It is calculated above that a subsidy of one-third would be required to enable the house to be built on the basis of a 5 per cent, return. We do not attempt to calculate what subsidy would be re- quired to induce the investor to come in. We may, however, point out that when loans could be obtained at 3^ per cent, (some years before the war), an investor obtaining a loan of two-thirds at that rate might be expected to get a return of perhaps 7 per cent, upon the one-third capital put in by him. It was imder such conditions that nearly all the house-building before the war was financed, and the raising of the rate of interest even to 4 per cent, before the war had an effect in restricting house-building. Objection to Subsidising Private Enterprise. 1957. With every desire to obtain assistance from all possible sources in the serious situation in which the comitry finds itself in regard to working-class houses, we are unable to recommend that the State should attempt to obtain the houses on any such basis as subsidising private individuals. The difficulties and risks attending such subsidies require careful consideration. Subsidies of this nature would mean that a builder would be using the State resources to enable him to make a profit on the small share of capital supplied by him. The security for the State money — assuming that the loan were cortirucd as mertioncd in Parrgraph 1960 — would, apart from subsidy, in many cases be doubtful. The houses would pass into the possession of many private individuals, and there would be no security that in localities where the demand for houses was great in proportion to the supply, excessive rents would not be charged, unless a very intricate system of control were established, and such a system of control would deter investors and so militate against the prospects of getting houses built under this method of finance. It must be borne in mind that an investor in houses has frequently the possibility of obtaining higher rents, and the control of rents would affect the price which an investor would pay. 1958. The control of these privately-owned houses would require to be exercised in many directions. Thera would require to be supervision of the construction of the houses and the materials and labour employed. If inferior materials and workmanship were employed, the builder's profit might be greater, but the upkeep of the houses would also be greater, and the security for the payment of the interest on the loan would be endangered. Ordinary byelaws cannot control quality of materials and workman- ship to the extent required for buildirgs which are to form security for State loans. 1959. It would be necessary to create a department to deal with the supervision of the properties and the collection of interest and sinking fund, or of the repayment by instalments of the loan from time to time. The department would require to watch every change in ownership. A local depression in trade might affect the value of houses in a particular district to such an extent that the value of the houses would fall below the amount of the State loan. It might be necessary for the State to take over many of the houses so as to prevent the further drop in value which would follow the putting in the market of a number of houses. 1960. Some control would require to be exercised not only over the original builder but over every subsequent purchaser if the State loan is to be allowed to lie on the building. We assume that one of the conditions of the financing of private individuals would be that the loans would be continued to the investors. If that were not done, if it were required that the loan should be repaid by the builder when he sold the house, the investing circle would be so narrowed that the private builder or building proprietor would not put a stone on the ground. 1961. In this connection we may be allowed to quote an extract from a report of remarks made by Mr J. D. Wallis, a well-known Manchester surveyor of great experience, and a member of the Council of the Surveyors Institution, in a discussion on a paper read by Mr J. G. Head, F.S.I., before the Sur- REPORT. 297 veyors' Institution on 16tli April 1917 (see Surveyors' Institution Transactions, vol. xlix., pt. vi.), as it is confirmation from a responsible authority in a great industrial centre of the conclusions which we OOTselves have arrived at. Mr Wallis's remarks were as follows : — He should like to see the establishment of trade banks and other institutions to assist the development of trade in this country, but, at the same time, he was bound to say that the proposal to advance 80 per cent, of the cost of erection of small dwelling-houses was one which called for much caution, because that class of property had, he supposed, let down more mortgagees than any other class of property. It would require very exceptional conditions before he should advise anybody to lend more than two-thirds on the security of houses let at weekly rentals. Although they all acknowledged, and gave full credit to private enterprise, which, as Mr Head had stated, was responsible in the past for the provision of 97f per cent, of the working-class houses, that had been done under conditions not prevailing to-day, and the housing problem, to his mind, was now too great to be tackled by private individuals, and should be considered jointly with the question of unemployment which might arise after the war. If those questions were to be dealt with in a proper manner — ^to provide decent houses for the people, to improve existing buildings, to clear slums, to obtain more healthy surroundings, and to meet unemploy- ment after the war — they could only be dealt with effectively by the nation with national funds. 1962. It has been stated that, with loans from the Government, private individuals would put up all the houses that are required. If this means loans at the market rate of interest, it is a statement which, we think, cannot be substantiated. But it has been suggested that loans, even up to 75 per cent, of the cost at a rate of interest below the market rate, say 4 per cent., should be given, and, in addition, some form of capital subsidy up to, say, 10 per cent, of the capital. This in effect, assuming the market rate is 5 per cent., is eqxiivalent to a Government grant in all of 25 per cent, of the total cost. But, as we have shown in our illustration above, even that would be insufficient. This is further brought out by the following illustration. Assume that a house costs £350, with a rentail of £18, the outgoings would be as before, £6, 10s. 4s., subject to an adjustment of the sinking fund in respect of the loan of three- quarters at 4 per cent, and the subsidy of 10 per cent. This adjustment would bring the outgoings up to £6 15 9 Add interest on the money borrowed, £262, 10s. at 4 per cent . 10 10 Interest on builder's capital £87, 10s., less subsidy of £35=£52, 10s. @ 5 per cent. . . 2 12 6 £19 18 3 Assumed rental ' 18 Annual deficit of . . £1 18 3 This annual deficit, capitahsed at 5 per cent., is equal to £38, 5s. per house. Accordingly, this calcu- lation shows that, simply to give the builder a return on his money, he would require more than a 20 per cent, subsidy in addition to the low-rate loan of three-quarters of the cost. But that would not be sufficient, as that would not provide him with a profit. He would therefore, even with the additional subsidy, be unable to sell to an investor at a price that the investor could afford to pay. 1963. If, as will certainly happen in a period of some years after the war, the cost of the house is more than £350, the deficit will be correspondingly increased. "We would in this connection desire to utter a word of caution in regard to either our calculations on assumed costs of houses or any other calculations. It seems pretty clear that a cost of less than £350 caimot be safely assumed, and accordingly any calcu- lations based, as we have seen in the Minority Report, on an assumed cost of £300 would be seriously mis- leading. On an assumed cost of £300 and an assumed rental of £18, with proper outgoings debited, there would be an annual deficit of about £3, or a capital deficit of about £60. This would represent a loss to the builder of 20 per cent. The result would be that the State, having begim with a programme of providing houses for the industrial classes by subsidising individuals on the basis of a 20 per cent, loss, would find that this was not sufficient, and it would then require simply to give whatever inducement was necessary to get the houses built. Our point is that the nation cannot afford to act on anything but a certainty. It cannot afford to make a mistake in this matter, because of the delay which would occur. If, having started out on a wrong assumption of the loss to the State on a system of giving or offering subsidies to individuals, it were found necessary to revert to what we consider the sounder policy of allowing State money or subsidies to be used only by PubUc Authorities, much time would have been lost and the housing crisis would have become more serious than ever. Cessation of House-Building. 1964. We have indicated that in our view private builders had for a long period prior to the war failed to provide in anything like adequate numbers the houses necessary for the working-class popula- tion, and it remains for us to consider what causes, apart from the fundamental one, that an economic rent could not be got, operated to prevent or impede the provision of such houses. As we have said, we are desirous of preserving all sources which can contribute towards the erection of working-class houses, and while, in our opinion, it is beyond the realm of argument that commercial enterprise cannot provide the houses necessary for a considerable period after the war, we desire to assist as far as we can any form of private enterprise which in that difficult period will produce a number of houses, gieat or small, and so far as we can to remove all impediments to commercial enterprise entering the field at as early a period as possible when more normal conditions obtain. Moreover, to enable the public authorities to produce houses as cheaply as possible, it is necessary from that point of view to consider whether any causes of the cessation of house-building can be removed. 1965. Various difficulties in the path of the house-builder were mentioned tu us in evidence, The 298 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. three most serious of these difficiilties are undoubtedly : — (1) the excessive cost of land, (2) the rise iu the rate of interest, and (3) the advance in the cost of building materials and wages. Excessive Cost of Land. 1966. We have dealt fully with this subject in Chapters XXII. and XXIV., and have made recommen- dations to which we refer. Rate of Interest. 1967. This is a matter which it is impossible to control, and it is no solution of the question to suggest, as is suggested by our colleagues in the Minority, that loans at a rate of interest which is less than the State has to pay should be granted to private individuals. 1968. We have explained the bearing of the rate of interest when the market rate was low upon the finance of house-building, and how an investor, being able to borrow two-thirds of the value of the house at 3^ per cent., was enabled to obtain a comparatively high or at all events a sufficient return on the one-tlurd of the value which he had to put in himself. With the rate of interest at 5 per cent., no such opportunity is available to him. It may be that the suggestion of the Minority, just alluded to, is to meet these altered circumstances ; but, in our opinion, such an attempted solution is not justified. Advance in the Cost of Building Material and Wages. 1969. That there was, during a period of years immediately preceding the war, an increase in wages and a serious increase in the cost of materials is public knowledge. We do not think it necessary to burden this Report with much citation of evidence to support this statement. We refer to a statement of an Edinburgh architect, whose evidence was to the effect that for five years ending in 1913 the increase was from 20 per cent, to 25 per cent. (Lome Campbell, 19,455 (41), 19,710.) Mr Walker Smith's evidence on this point will be found in Appendix CLIX., and also at 41,557 (6). His final conclusion is that the total increase during the ten years prior to the war was 19-18 per cent. In regard to increases during the war, it is difficult to give any accurate statement, but we are informed by the Architectural Inspector of the Local Government Board that the following materials have increased by the percentages noted : — (a) Composition brick 90 per cent. (6) Firebrick 71 „ (c) Cement 180 „ (d) Fireclay goods fully 100 „ We are also aware that timber costs about three times as much as it did prior to the war, and that all metal goods have risen very largely in price. 1970. We have some evidence before us that large combines, organised by makers of building materials, had, before the war, raised the cost of certain materials. (Mickel, 21,932.) Mr Vivian mentioned a case of which the Copartnership Tenants, Limited, had an experience. Before the war, that Society was purchasing baths from a certain British manufacturer at a price of 47s. 6d. When war broke out the price was at once advanced to 63s. Id. — the reason being that foreign competition had been eUminated. (Vivian, 40,668.) In so far as building costs have been influenced by excessive charges brought about by combines, we think there is a case for the Government, after the war, controlling the manufacturers who furnish such materials. We would suggest that in all cases where it can be shown that excessive prices — as a result of such combines — are being charged for building materials, Government should regulate the price of such goods. 1971. In regard to timber, it may be that, when the war is over, certain departments of the Govern- ment may have considerable stocks in hand, and some of the military huts, which will be broken up, might be of service for some of the carpencer work of houses. We think that such stocks should be made avail- able for house-building at as cheap a rate as possible. We also recommend that the Board of Trade should make arrangements to facilitate supplies by means of regulation of transit and proper distribu- tion of building materials. This, taken in addition to our suggestion that where prices have been artifi- cially inflated the Government should regulate the price, should be of material advantage to those who will be engaged in providing working-class houses. Rates. 1972. A small point on this subject should be dealt with. The larger question under this headiug — viz. that, as has been said by certain witnesses, the owners' rates on these buildings and perhaps also the occupiers' or some part of the occupiers' should be remitted — is, in our view, a question with which we are not called on to deal. It is a part of a large question of public rating which can only be dealt with as a whole. For an explanation of the system of rating in Scotland, we refer to the Report of the Royal Commission on Local Taxation of which Lord Balfour of Burleigh was chairman, and which Report was issued in 1902 (Cd. 1067, 1902, Chapter I.). -We further refer to the Report of the Departmental Committee which has recently been investigating the whole question of rating. At the same time we think it is worthy of consideration whether a system could be evolved whereby the smaller working- class houses could be relieved to some extent of the disproportionately heavy burden which falls upon them in the matter of rating. 1973. The small point referred to in previous paragraph is that at present there is some hardship on builders of houses in respect that immediately the house is ready for occupation, which is taken by the assessing authorities to be when the windows are in, the house becomes liable for rates even if no tenant has been secured. We think new houses, certainly houses for the working classes, should not be rated until they are actually occupied, and we recommend accordingly. REPORT. ' 299 Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910. 1974. Several witnesses made complaints in regard to the effect of this Act, and suggested that it had impeded house-building. The complaint generally was one that a feeling of apprehension had been created, but only one or two of the witnesses condescended on particulars. We are unable to agree with the suggestion that there is any evidence to show that the difficulty of finding capital for house- building has been, to an appreciable extent, brought about by the Finance Act. We refer to the evidence of Mr Fraser, the factor on the Dalziel estate, Motherwell, who was one of the few witnesses who made any direct statement which it is possible to discuss. He said that : — The Grovemment valuers oapitaHse feu-duties at twenty years' purchase, and as it takes over twelve years to wipe out the cost of development (without allowing anything for administrative costs or for the fees of the engineer and others), at least one-half of the capital value of the feu-duty is represented by the expense of development. . . . The practice of the Inland Revenue since the passing of the Finance Act is to demand the Government's statutory share of any increment in land on the basis of the market value of said land, with the result that in several instances they have actually penalised a superior for being generous. (Fraser, 31,115 (45)-(47).) 1975. We are inclined to think that some of the apprehension referred to above maybe due to misappre- hension of the provisions of the Act, such as we think underlies the above evidence. The witness appears to us to overlook the fact that the expense of development is excluded from the value in determining the increment duty. Further, we can only understand from the witness's statement that he believes that if a superior feued land at less than the market value, he is charged increment duty on the basis of the market value, whereas, as a matter of fact, he is only charged increment duty based on the actual cash consideration for the transfer, or, if the consideration is an annual feu-duty, on the capitalised value thereof. LuMSDEN Judgment. * 1976. This judgment, which was arrived at by a difference in the House of Lords of -two Judges against two, resulting in an inferior Court judgment standing, resulted in increment duty being charged on a sum which was not limited to the increase in the value of the site. We imderstand that the Government propose to deal with this question, and to amend the Act to give effect to the intention of the legislature at the earUest possible moment. Estate and Succession Duties. 1977. Certain witnesses complained of the heavy burden of death-duties on landed estates, and stated that these have the effect of checking improvements or even of making all capital outlays impossible for several years, to the serious detriment of tenants and tradesmen. (W. Mackay, 15,665 (10) ; Milne- Home, 29,842 (37) ; c/. Constable, 29,322 (f).) We cannot recommend that the death-duties on landed property should be at a rate less than the death-duties on any other form of property. It is true that where two or three deaths of proprietors of the same estate occur in quick succession, the burden of death-duty is serious, but where the successor in the estate cannot find the money to pay the duty.his option is to sell the estate or a portion of it sufficient to enable him to pay the duty. If he prefers, as the law allows him, to retain the estate and pay the death-duties by instalment, he may be hampered financially for some years. This complaint on behalf of landowners is also given in other matters affecting land. For instance, it is stated as a reason why landowners do not afforest their lands. The real answer, in our view, is that the estate system, as the unit of rural organisation, is possibly destined to pass away in time. We doubt whether it is the best arrangement for getting capital svmk in land. The estate is not usually run as a commercial undertaking. The landowner who is in financial difficulties or even practically bankrupt can struggle on, when a business in a similar condition would come publicly to grief. But there is no competition amongst estates. Accordingly, in our view, the complaint in regard to the burden of death-duties, as an impediment in the provision of houses on the estate, is not one the solution of which would legitimately be the lessening of the death-duties on that form of property. Small Landholders (Scotland) Act, 1911. 1978. Mr Douglas, speaking for the Chamber of Agriculture, stated that one cause why new cottages were not provided on farms, was " a feeling of insecurity that is ascribed to recent legislation," and he complained of the Small Landholders' Act. (Douglas, 2587-2608.) 1979. The suggestion is that there is apprehension on the part of proprietors in regard to the policy of the Board of Agriculture, in respect that they are uncertain as to what portions of a large estate may be taken by the Board for the creation of holdings. The first observation that occurs on this class of evidence is that the shortage of rural houses and the extreme disrepair and dilapidation of many of these houses existed long before 1911. It must be kept in view that the Board of Agriculture do not acquire the land when they get a compulsory order from the Land Court for constituting new holdings. What they do is to create compulsory tenancies on other people's lands. In actual practice, what is rented tends to be the unimproved lands. If possible, the landowner gets the Board to buy all the improvements, especially any buildings on the land. For these the landowner has hitherto got a very good price, such price being fixed by the arbiter appointed to award compensation. The taking of parts of farms is ex- ceptional, and in such cases the landowner gets heavy compensation due to the fact that the residue left is overweighted with buildings. Hence, it is not correct to insist that the Small Landholders Act has had, or need have, from a financial point of view, a deterrent effect upon the would-be improving landowner. If he spends money on cottages on a farm, which is afterwards taken for small holdings, he gets all his outlay back (possibly subject to allowance for depreciation). 1980. It is manifestly impossible to do what is suggested in the Minority Report, viz. : to state what class of farms— all over Scotland — are to be taken for small holdings. The choice must necessarily depend largely upon the local demand, which is not a fixed or estimable entity. Moreover, the Board will 300 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. naturally take farms coming out of lease, because they have thus no tenant to compensate for breaking his lease. In these circumstances it will be seen that to suggest that the Board should now schedule land which they are to take is one which would render the working of the Small Landholders Act impossible. 1981. In view of the criticisms in the evidence of the Finance Act, 1910, and the Small Landholders Act, 1911, we think it right to point out that the difficulties which confront private or commercial enterprise in the building of small houses existed independently of and prior to both of these Acts, and that even if these Acts had not been passed the difficulties in the way of private enterprise undertaking the building of small houses would have been as great as they are now. Legal and Registration Expenses. (a) Legal Expenses. 1982. In respect that we have recommended in Chapter XXI. that building restrictions should be placed in the hands of Public Authorities, it would be unnecessary, if that recommendation should be adopted, that the lone clauses of restrictions which presently enter all modem feu-charters should any longer have a place there. If this be so, legal expenses should be reduced. Further, we recommend that the same privileges as regards exemption from stamp-duty should be given to Local Authorities under the Housing Acts as is given to them under section 168 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897. This will effect a very considerable saving to Local Authorities. (6) Registration Expenses. 1983. In regard to the expenses of registration in so far as land in and buildings on certain town-planned areas are concerned, we think that a special system of registration can be adopted ; and we refer to the Reports (Cd. 5316), published in 1910, by the Royal Commission on the Registration of Title in Scotland, of which Commission Lord Dunedin was chairman. These Reports show that in regard to old properties and sites, it would be difficult to simplify registration. In regard to sites, however, in town-planned areas, either where no population existed, or even where the areas were sparsely populated, we think that it should not be difficult to introduce a system of registration by maps. These official maps would register by number or letter the different plots or areas of ground bought and feued on each town-planning scheme. Thereafter, so far as lands under town-planning schemes are concerned, it appears to us that any long descriptions in feu-charters or conveyances of sale or other deed affecting the property would be dispensed with, the reference number or letter being sufficient, or it might be that the property could be transferred on an official registrar's certificate, which would be the supreme criterion of right to the property. Objections to Housing by Local Authorities. 1984. We have stated that so long as housing of the working classes is an imeconomic proposition, there is no alternative in our view to the State assuming the responsibility for building the houses through the medium of the Public Authorities. We are conversant with, and we do not desire to minimise, the objections to this course, but we think too much stress has in various quarters been put upon them. In any case, we look on the objection that if Local Authorities build the houses, private enterprise will not enter the field as, in present economic circumstances, nothing more than a verbal dilemma. If commercial enterprise cannot build the houses, and if the objection to Local Authorities building the houses is sustained, no house-building will be done. We are not disposed to give any countenance to a proposal for delay in order to enable commercial enterprise after the war to consider all the circum- stances, and see whether it can build the houses. We are convinced that it cannot. To adopt any programme which would involve delay is, in our view, leaving the working classes to the sport of chance. Any policy now set forth must be one of certainty, and that for various reasons. (1) Arrangements for starting housing after the war must be made now. (2) That cannot be done if there is to be a period of imcertainty and delay. (3) The only policy which connotes certainty and promptitude is that the State through the Local Authorities should make their plans now for acquiring land, town-planning areas, and there- after using these areas for immediate building. (4) This involves survey at the earliest possible moment by the Local Authorities to ascertain in what areas there is the greatest shortage and what houses will be immediately necessary. 1985. These being the conditions, we are not deterred by a verbal dilemma from advocating the policy which we do advocate, and it follows that, in our opinion, whatever objections there are to Public Authorities undertaking the building of the houses for the State, these objections must be met and, in so far as possible, removed or mitigated. Public Authority Building as a Deterrent to Private Enterprise. 1986. It is, we believe, the case that between 1890 and 1913 the Public Authorities in Scotland have only put up 3554 houses, and these almost entirely in connection with slum clearances. In point of fact, therefore, Public Authority housing cannot be averred as having in the past been a deterrent to private enterprise, and yet the shortage of houses and the extremely bad condition of a vast number of existing houses points to the fact that private enterprise was unable to house the worldng classes of Scotland. For many years most of the houses put up in the large towns of Scotland by the speculative builder were financed from a profit made on the site. We have described this in Chapters XXII. and XXIV., and although it was probably the only way in which a builder could finance himself, it has led to intense house density for the purpose of getting a sufficient number of householders on an acre of ground to enable a high ground rent to be obtained. The original feu-duty was probably high, but, wherever possible, the builder created an additional ground burden, which he sold at so many years' purchase, and this was very often the only profit he had on the transaction. The result is that these properties with small rentals are burdened for all time with this ground rent. As the properties become dilapidated it becomes more difficult to obtain sufficient rental to pay all the outgoings and to execute repairs. It REPORT. 301 may be said, therefore, that one chief cause of the disappearance of the speculative builder has been, that of recent years, owing to the rise in interest, he has been unable to continue the financial system under which he lived, viz. making a profit out of land speculation. In our view there is no reason to regret that this system has come to an end. The evils of it were obvious and clamant, and in all the large cities in Scotland the i-esults may be seen in any of the industrial quarters — great serried masses of tenement buildings, where the consideration of space, air, and light does not appear to have entered into the calculation of those who were house-providers for the working classes. 1987. One of the outstanding evils of the system is that the high ground rents eventually fall upon the working-class tenant. They are included in his house rent. In this way the speculative return obtained by the builder to finance himseK is obtained by mortgaging in an undue degree the future earn- ings of the whole working-class population dwelhng in the houses erected on the site for which a very large ground rent is exigible. Accordingly the working-class tenant is prejudiced in respect that in the rent he pays there is included an excessive charge for ground rent which should have gone for the provision of a house with better accommodation and with more ground space about it. SxjpEEVisioN OF Rents of Local Axtthorities' Houses. 1988. We have now come to a new era, and undoubtedly the housing accommodation for the working classes will require to be very different. We are anxious, if it be possible, when stable conditions return, that any sources of house building, the most important of which (although inadequate) in the past has been private enterprise, should be able to come into the field. The cause which would probably operate most unfavourably against private enterprise would be if Local Authorities acting not very wisely should let their houses at rents below the standard for similar houses in the neighbourhood. We propose to meet this objection by making it a condition of loans obtained by Local Authorities from the Pubhc Works Loan Board that that Board, acting on the advice of the Local Government Board, should supervise or approve rentals to be charged for houses on which such loans are obtained. A similar control should follow in the case of grants from the Treasury. The Local Authority may, of course, borrow in the open market, and in that case the Local Government Board acting at its own hand should, as a condition of granting consent to the loan, approve the proposed rentals. AU schemes for working-class housing by Local Authorities should be submitted to the Central Authority. Further, we propose that there should be a power to any ten ratepayers of a district at any time to require the Central Authority to consider the rentals being charged for houses provided by a Local Authority and to determine thereanent as to them (i.e. the Central Authority) may seem fit. The Central Authority should also be empowered to act in this regard on their own initiative, and the Local Authority should be bound to obey any order of the Central Authority on the subject. Alleged Extravagance of Municipal Building. 1989. As against the averment that municipal housing is extravagant, we refer to evidence previously quoted in this chapter, which shows that certain experienced administrators take a contrary view. We also refer to the well-known cases of Homsey and Highgate Municipal Housing Schemes. These schemes have been successful financially and otherwise. In so far as housing schemes in Scotland have resulted in a serious burden on the rates, we point out once more that the housing done by the Local Authorities has been connected with slum clearances, that these have involved enormous sums for compensation, but that if an analysis of the cost be made it will be found that the actual work of erecting the houses has not been done extravagantly. We illustrate our point on this matter from the case of Edinburgh. Edinburgh since 1890 has erected 525 houses on slum-cleared sites. For these sites and derelict buildings a sum of £134,000 was paid. There were 1500 old houses on the sites, so that the price paid averaged £90 per old house. The 525 new dwelUngs, which were for the poorest classes, were erected at a cost of £73,000, or, say, £139 per house. This proves both branches of our argument : (1) that the burden on the rates is entirely caused by the enormous sums paid for compensation, and (2) that with a well-supervised scheme Local Authorities do not necessarily build extravagantly. In the Edinburgh cases referred to it will be seen that, whereas the cost of buildmg was £139 per house, the cost of the site for each new house averaged £255. We do not think it necessary to burden this Report with an analysis of the Glasgow and other schemes, but we think it is safe to say that the conditions in Edinburgh would be found more or less reproduced in other city schemes. We have set forth in Chapter XXIV. various suggestions for cheapening the acquisition of sites, so that in future we should hope that slum clearances would not be so costly as in the past. What we are at present arguing, however, is more for the building of three- and four-room houses for the artisan class, and there is no reason to doubt that Public Authorities, certainly all the large Public Authorities, and we think the smaller ones too with a little experience, can build as cheaply as any one else. 1990. Contractors to Public Authorities can buy in large quantities, and that is an advantage. We point out that one important element of private enterprise will still be preserved under Pubhc Authority housing. We contemplate that Pubhc Authorities will largely employ builders to act as contractors for them and build the houses for a contract price. The builder indeed, in our view, will be better off than he was when acting as a speculative builder. Not many of the speculative builders (for working- class housing) in the past ultimately made much headway. Indeed as the builder often worked on a very small margin of profit, he had to finance himself at high interest, and many of these builders either became bankrupt or had to cease such building operations. Under our proposals the building trade of Scotland, employers and employees, will be fully employed. The master builder will thus be able to employ his capital as a contractor, and in building houses for Pubhc Authorities he will be enabled to carry on business like an ordinary manufacturer or commercial man. Conclusions re General Housing Policy. 1991. There are other minor objections sometimes stated to Municipal housing. These, however, are riot important, and, in our view, do not require to be discussed here. The main point which we wish to emphasise now, even at the risk of reiteration, is that a definite policy must be set forth, 302 ' ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND, and that the only pohcy which involves certainty for the working classes is that the State should undertake, during the period following the war, the housing required for the industrial population. At an earlier stage in this chapter we stated that we thought there should be an attempt to make good the shortage in a period of fourteen years, that an annual grant should be given to meet the difference between rental and outgoings, and that the capital deficit at the end of seven years be ^certained in the manner set forth above and be then wiped ofE by the State. We are strongly opposed to public funds being used to subsidise private individuals. This would lead to great practical difficulties, apart from the question of the policy, which we think is unsound. It is suggested in the Minority Report that certain employers, such as land- owners, should get a State subsidy in the shape of a loan at a loss to the State and a capital grant, either or both. This is a policy to which we are quite opposed, and we point out that it would have the result of enabling such individuals to put up houses at the expense of the State, or largely at the expense of the State, and so would make the State a participator in the "tied-house system," to which rural and industrial workers are strongly opposed. Whatever be the merits or demerits of that system, it seems to us that the employers or proprietors interested should bear the whole burden of erecting such houses. 1992. We have referred in Chapter XXIV. to a Report of a Special Committee of the Surveyors' Institution made to the Council of the Institution in December 1916. The Committee was set up to con- sider the problems hkely to arise at the termination of the War, more particularly in connection with possible unemployment, and, deahng with the questions in the hght of the special knowledge possessed by surveyors as distinct from other professional men or from representatives of trade and industry, to suggest preventive or curative schemes. They investigated very carefully the question of housing emergency schemes to meet the possible unemployment referred to in the remit to them. As that Report is by men specially famihar with the conditions of the building trade, we propose to finish this chapter with one or two quotations from the Report, as follows : — It must be borne in mind that the greater part of the work of supplying working-class dwellings has fallen upon the small builder, who possesses but little capital, and who is usually dependent upon a sohcitor or some other agency to finance him. He builds to sell, not to let, and is prepared as a rule to take a very small profit, often obtained by the sale of an improved ground rent, and not a percentage on the cost of the building. It is possible that the decrease of late noticeable in the number of houses built has been mainly due to the difficulty these men have experienced in obtaining the capital to carry on their operations, and that if money were made available they would be ready to continue what, it must be remembered, is their usual business, and therefore the one which they would presumably wish to follow if circumstances permitted. On the other hand, although they would be meeting a pubhc want, it is unhkely that pubUc money would be provided for them except under somewhat stringent conditions as to the class of buildings erected, and possibly as to the profit permitted. WTiile the Committee are of opinion that in order, after the war, to encourage biiilding and to meet the housing deficiency, something might be done to stimulate private as well as public enter- prise on the fines of the Treasury proposals for advances to Local Authorities and pubHc utiUty societies under the Housing (No. 2) Act, 1914, they have regretfully come to the conclusion that schemes to be carried out by private persons would be too uncertain to be depended upon to meet the emergency which they have in view. It would not be possible to foresee with any accuracy the result of such special inducements on private enterprise, nor would it be practicable through that agency to arrange beforehand for definite building operations at once to be commenced on un- employment becoming acute. Indeed, the Committee have arrived at the conclu sion that in existing - circumstances the erection of dwellings for the working classes could not be undertaken without capital loss in the event of realisation, and that this alone would preclude the possibility of attracting private capital, except by the provision of such inducements as no Government would be likely to offer to indi^dduals. This statement would perhaps appear to conflict with the fourth principle accepted by the Committee in the early part of this Report, viz. that the schemes should so far as possible be self- supporting. But it will be remembered that this principle -v^as, to some extent, quahfied by the paragraph which followed, and the Committee are of opinion that in the event of Local Authorities being called upon to carry out emergency housing schemes, they should not be put to any financial loss in the matter ; that, so far as the Local Authorities are concerned, the schemes should be self- supporting, and that any adverse balance should be borne out of the national exchequer as the contribution of the Government, which would be relieved irom the necessity of keeping men with the Colours. In the case of Pubhc Authorities the danger of the capital loss referred to in the previous paragraph would not apply, as they would have no necessity to reahse, and the loss would only be felt on the houses being placed upon the market. • •••........• In any case the obligation to provide houses in the event of the failure of ordinary sources is a national rather than a local one, and any financial burden which might be caused through the acceptance of the obligation should therefore mainly be borne by the national purse. On the other hand, the larger Local Authorities are more fitted than Government departments to prepare and carry through housing schemes. They already possess the knowledge of what is required, and most of them have the organisation and technical staff nece^^ry for planning and supervising the work. Advantage should be taken of this, and wide powers should be given to Local Authorities to draw up and carry through housing schemes. The Committee attach great importance to decentralisation so far as the details of planning and construction are concerned. They are of opinion that if the responsibihty for these is left with the Local Authority promoting the scheme, much time would be saved in putting it into operation on the need arising, while sufficient elasticity would be provided to enable every advantage to be taken of local methods and materials with an accompanying economy in the cost of erection. In view of the part taken by private enterprise in the past in providing housing accommodation REPORT. 303 for the working classes, the Committee would have preferred to put forward proposals in connection with these emergency schemes which would have had the effect of encouraging the supply from that important source ; but influenced by the difficulties already referred to, and also very largely by the necessity for suggesting an agency capable of preparing beforehand definite schemes ready to be put into operation immediately on the need arising, they have been regretfully compelled to abandon that idea, and have come to the conclusion that it can only be in the direction of Public Authorities undertaking responsibility for the housing schemes needed to meet the anticipated unemployment that a solution of the problem can successfully be sought. 1993. We endorse the views in the above quotations from the Report referred to, and we add that OUT proposals, which are not confined to the question of unemployment, will leave the field open to private enterprise when a stable period returns and when economic conditions are such as to enable private enterprise to build at a profit. Meantime the position is that the housing of the working classes has assumed an impoi-tance of the first magnitude, and we feel that socially, morally, and industrially it must be placed on an unquestionable and satisfactory basis at the earUest possible moment. We can see no other method of securing this reform than through the agency of the Local Authorities in the manner we have outlined in this Chapter. Summary op Recommendations and Suggestions in Chaptee XXIX. (1) That the State should expUcitly accept a direct responsibihty for the housing of -the working classes in Scotland. (Paragraph 1938.) (2) That to fulfil this responsibility there should be placed on Local Authorities a definite obhga- tion to provide, or see that there is provided, a sufficiency of houses. (Paragiaphs 1938 and 1940.) (3) That in the event of non-fulfilment by a Local Authority of the above obhgation, the Local Government Board should, on their own initiative, issue an Order requiring such Local Authority to take immediate steps to carry out the requisite housing schemes, and, faihng compUance with this Order, the defaulting Local Authority should be Uable to a monetary penalty, and the Local Government Board themselves should have power to carry out the necessary work and to recover the cost from the Local Authority. (Paragraph 1940.) (4) That to enable Local Authorities to fulfil the statutory obhgation above referred to, the State should, for a period of seven years subsequent to the war, make up by way of subsidy the difference between the rentals received by Local Authorities from their housing schemes and outgoings for such properties. (Paragraph 1943.) (5) That at the end of the period of seven years the Government should have the houses which have been erected during that period valued, and should then pay the Local Authorities the whole capital loss, i.e. the difference between the cost of the houses and the ascertained value. (Paragraph 1943.) (6) That at the end of the period of seven years the State should be in a position to review its whole housing policy in the light of the conditions obtaining at that time, in order, if conditions are favourable then, that the provision of working-class houses should be left to private enterprise, subject to the proviso that there must always rest on the Public Authorities the duty of seeing that a sufficiency of habitable houses in every district is provided for the working classes. (Paragraph 1943.) (7) That loans at the lowest rate of interest possible should be granted to Pubhc Authorities to enable them to build the necessary houses. (Paragraph 1944.) (8) That in so far as building costs are influenced by excessive charges brought about by combines, the manufacture of such materials should be controlled and the Government should regulate the price of such goods. (Paragraph 1970.) (9) That if possible any stocks of timber in the hands of the Government should be made available for house-building at as cheap a rate as possible. (Paragraph 1971.) (10) That the Board of Trade should facihtate supplies by means of regulation of transit and proper distribution of building materials. (Paragraph 1971.) (11) That it is worthy of consideration whether a system could be evolved whereby working-class houses could be relieved to some extent of the disproportionately heavy burden which falls upon them in the matter of rating. (Paragraph 1972.) (12) That new houses should not be liable for rates until they are occupied. (Paragraph 1973.) (13) That the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910, be amended so as to limit the habihty for increment duty to the increase in the value of the site. (Paragraph 1976.) (14) That the same privileges as regards exemption from stamp-duty should be given to Local Authorities under the Housing Acts as is given to them under section 168 of the Pubhc Health (Scot- land) Act, 1897. (Paragraph 1982.) (15) That in regard to land in and buildings on certain town-planned areas a special system of registration by maps might be adopted. (Paragraph 1983.) (16) That the Pubhc Works Loan Board, acting on the advice of the Local Government Board, should supervise or approve rentals to be charged for houses on which loans have been granted by the Pubhc Works Board, and that a similar control should follow in the case of grants from the Treasury. (Paragraph 1988.) (17) That in cases where the Local Authority have borrowed money in the open market for the purposes of housing, the Local Government Board, acting on their own initiative, should exercise the supervision specified in the preceding recommendation. (Paragraph 1988.) (18) That all schemes for working-class housing by Local Authorities should be submitted to the Central Authority ; that there should be a power to any ten ratepayers to require the Central Authority to consider the re&tals being charged for houses provided by a Local Authority and to determine there- anent as the Central Authority may seem fit : further, that the Central Authority should be empowered to act in this regard on their own initiative, and the Local Authorities should be bound to obey any order of the Central Authority on the subject. (Paragraph 1988.) 304 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. CHAPTER XXX. HOUSING POLICY (contimied). MiNOB Reforms and Details of Administbatioij. Housing Survey. 1994. Before Public Authorities can deal systematically with the question of the provision of houses, it is necessary that a comprehensive housing survey should be made. This was provided for in the Housing and Town Plaiming Act of 1909, but it has not been carried out. If the erection of working-class houses is to be undertaken with promptitude at the end of the war, Public Authorities should now make an estimate of the number of houses required in their district. Eventually they should compile a register which should show the condition of all the houses in their area — ^the register to contain particulars in regard to the houses such as shall be prescribed by the Local Government Board. The Public Authorities must in any case, as already mentioned, at once estimate the number of houses that are most urgently required in their area. The register should ultimately be compiled in detail and carefully kept up to date. 1995. This register will be useful to enable the Public Authority to see what are the whole housing needs of the community in its area. If the minimum standards of accommodation and habitabihty which we afterwards recommend are accepted, the register will contain the particulars necessary to enable Local Authorities to determine what houses in the area fall to be demohshed, and what are capable of being repaired. 1996. The survey which we recommend to be made will enable Local Authorities to consider and promulgate necessary housing schemes to take effect as soon after the war as possible. It will also enable them to consider what land they will require to purchase or feu for their housing schemes — questions which it is important should be dealt with promptly. House Accommodation. 1997. We recommend that the accommodation in all new houses should be at least three rooms, with all necessary sanitary and domestic conveniences, i.e. bath and water-closet (where there is a water-supply) or earth-closet, scullery, larder, coalhouse, etc. In Chapter XXXII. we deal fully with the question of sanitary and domestic conveniences, both for new and existing houses, and also with the introduction of water-supphes. One- and Two-Room Houses. 1998. We hold strongly that the one-room house is quite unsuitable for family hfe, and we are of opinion that houses of three and more rooms should take the place of a large proportion of the one- and two-room houses. We recommend that in future no new one-room houses should be allowed to be built, except with the sanction of the Local Authority, which sanction should only be granted where there are very exceptional circumstances to justify the erection of such houses. Further, we are of opinion that after a period of seven years the occupancy of one-room houses should, subject to com- pliance with the standard of overcrowding in force in the area, be limited to one adult person or two adult persons of the same sex, or an elderly married couple. During the period of years above mentioned it is hoped that a great many of the existing one-room houses will be demohshed, or combined with other houses to make houses of greater accommodation. But during this process (the period for which we suggest should be seven years) a lower standard should be permissible, and accordingly the Local Authority should be required to make byelaws (which would be subject to the approval of the Local Government Board) regulating the occupancy of one-room houses during the period referred to ; and such byelaws should, for the period referred to — subject to a proviso that overcrowding according to a cubic space standard shall not be permitted — allow the use of one-room houses for two persons of the same sex or for a married couple with not more than two young children, or for a mother and three yotmg children. 1999. In regard to two-room houses, we think that no such houses should be allowed to be built except vrith the sanction of the Local Authority, which should only be gianted where there are ex- ceptional circumstances justifying the erection of such houses. We are of opinion that the occupancy of two-room houses should be strictly regulated by byelaws made by the Local Authority and approved by the Local Government Board. Measure of Uninhabitability. 2000. It will be gathered from Chapters X. aod XXXII. that in our view it is very desirable that Public Authorities should be enabled to deal with a house without necessarily having to prove that it is in such a state as to be dangerous or injurious to health, or even that it is " unfit for human habita- ' tion." So far as the general upkeep of houses is concerned, we propose that Local Authorities should be given power to frame byelaws deahng with the maintenance of houses. These byelaws will enable the Local Authorities to deal with minor defects that could not be held to render the house uninhabitable. In order, however, to simplify the administration of the Pubhc Health and Housing Acts in deahng with very defective houses, it is suggested that a measure of uninhabitabihty should be prescribed. After careful consideration, we think the measure of iminhabitabihty should be : — (1) Dampness of the wall or walls of any room or living apartments in the house. REPORT. 306 (2) Dilapidation of wall surfaces or internal fittings, such as plaster considerably broken on the wails and ceilings, woodwork at the windows and sink decayed and broken, panels of doors split and broken, shelving of presses removed, and floors holed, broken, or so thin as to give way under foot- pressure. (3) Roof badly out of repair. (4) Marked defect in ventilation. (5) Marked defect in lighting. (6) Ashpits or middens too close to windows. (7) Houses .with no water-closet or earth-closet accommodation for the tenants, either private or common, or with unsatisfactory accommodation of this kind. (8) Houses with no sink accommodation and water-supply, or with unsatisfactory accommodation of this kind. (9) Houses with insufficient height of ceihng. (10) Houses in which the drainage is defective. (11) In the case of tenernent houses, common adjuncts in disrepair or in a state of dilapidation, such as roofs, rones, rain-pipes, passages (which in addition to structural defects may be badly and in- sufficiently ventilated), and the accesses to the separate and individual dwelUng-houses. 2001. The above is not intended as a rigid measure of uninhabitability, i.e. it is not intended that if any of the defects above mentioned exist in a house, that house must necessarily be considered un- inhabitable. It does mean, however, that the Local Authority should through its officers designated for the purpose be entitled to state in regard to any house containing one or more of the defects above mentioned, that these defects are so serious or have reached such an advanced stage, that either taken singly or in combination with other defects, they render the house, in the opinion of the Local Authority, uninhabitable. We recognise that it is impossible to apply any measure of uninhabitabihty as a rigid standard, and accordingly we think, as the opinion or judgment of some one is necessary to apply the measure, that any one interested who may feel aggrieved by the decision of the Local Authority should be entitled to appeal against such decision to the Local Government Board. We realise the dis- advantages of seeking to state in any statute a detailed measure of uninhabitability or habitabiUty, because as time passes such standards may become obsolete. It will be noted, however, that our pohcy is to permit Local Authorities to proceed, either under the statutes at present, to show that a house is dangerous or injurious to health or unfit for habitation, or to apply the measure of uninhabitability set forth above, and in the maimer we have suggested. Further, we think Local Authorities should have power by Order, which would be subject to confirmation by the Local Government Board, to add to the hst of subjects included in the above measure of uninhabitability, the Order when made to be pubUshed, and any parties objecting to have the right of appeal to the Lx)cal Government Board. 2002. In regard to the above measure of iminhabitabiUty, we think it should apply to houses of whatever rental, and, indeed, we think that the limitation in sections M and 15 of the 1909 Act to houses of a rental of £16 or under is a defect in the Act. In these sections there is an obligation impUed in all contracts affecting the letting of houses — subject to certain exceptions which we need not detail here — ^that houses of £16 rental and under are in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation at the commencement of the let, and that they shall be maintained in such a condition dujing the let. There is a common law liabihty that all houses must be kept reasonably fit for habitation, and we think this obligation shovdd now be made statutory for houses above £16 rental as well as for those of £16 and under. In this connection we point out that as regards houses that may be dealt with under section 17 of the same Act by means of Closing Orders there is no limit of rental, nor is there any such limit of rental of the houses that are required under the same section to be inspected by the officers of the Local Authority. Water Survey. 2003. We think a survey of the whole water assets of Scotland should be made, with a view to ascertaining and recording in a Government register what are the available supplies for the use of the inhabitants, and to what areas such supplies should be directed. There is at present no co-ordination of-Local Authorities in obtaining water. Indeetl the present system is chaotic in its competition for water. In the Middle Ward District of Lanarkshire, for instance, there were some twelve Water Supply Districts, each of which was independent of its neighbour, and made its own efforts to obtain a water-supply. In the gi'eat majority of the cases the supply was local and unrehable. Fortunately, the larger idea impressed itself upon the Local Authority, and by a special Act of Parliament the whole area was made one for water purposes, thereby securing a comprehensive water scheme of the highest standard of purity and sufficiency, and at a cost in some instances less than the local areas incurred for themselves. 2004. A great waste of public money has already taken place as the result of independent action on the part of Local Authorities. 2005. One of the outstanding instances of the undesirable results which have arisen from such a policy is to be found in Mid-Lanark, where there are (with special parliamentary sanction) no fewer than five large water undertakings in operation, each independent of the other, and having their source of supply not far removed from each other. The main pipes of several of those undertakings run side by side for many miles in the public highways. It is believed that it would not only have been readily possible, but would have been economical and desirable in many ways, for all the areas concerned, if they had been conjoined in the matter of water-supply, and had undertaken one large scheme suited to their imited needs. In this way large capital expenditure and maintenance charges would have been reduced, and some of the sources of supply which have been appropriated might have been devoted to or reserved for other areas. 2006. It is manifest that if no effective control is exercised as regards the appropriation of the different sources of supply of the country waste and loss are bound to be experienced, and some districts will be deprived of what might be termed their natural gathering grounds. 20 306 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 2007. We do not need to argue this question further. It m obvious tliat both economy of finance and administration would be effected by a proper survey. 2008. We accordingly suggest that a survey should be undertaken by the State at the earUest possible date of the watersheds of Scotland, with a view to determining how far those at present appropriated can be made available for other areas than those already supplied, and what new catchment and distribution schemes are possible and practicable for supplying areas, especially rural areas, that are at present unprovided or inadequately provided for. The Central Authority should be given power to promulgate and enforce comprehensive schemes for appropriate areas not necessarily coinciding with administrative boundaries, and to adjust equitable terms of capital and maintenance charges to be borne by the Authorities served by such schemes. Drainage and Water. 2009. The subject of drainage is closely allied to water, and we now suggest the form in which the survey for water-supplies and also for drainage should be undertaken. 2010. The duty of making the survey of the country in connection with the question of water- supply, and also on the question of drainage will fall to be undertaken by the Central Authority. On that being done, the only way in which these matters can be suitably dealt with is to provide that no Local Authority shall propound a new water scheme or add to an existing one, and similarly no Local Authority shall establish a sewerage scheme (other than the laying of local sewers) or sewage purification works without the consent of the Central Aixthority. 2011. On apphcation being made to the Central Authority for such consent, they would then determme on the merits of same, including a consideration of what other areas could be suitably and economically supplied from the same source or drain into the same works. Where it appears to them that any scheme submitted for consent was suitable for the areas of other Local Authorities than that making the application the Central Authority should be empowered to require such other Local Authorities to jom in the proposed scheme, and the application would only be sanctioned on condition that the various Authorities specified by the Central Authority came to an arrangement with respect to the terms and conditions upon which the water should be introduced and supplied to their respective districts, or the sewage therefrom received and treated, and the Central Authority (as they do at the present time in the case of joint hospitals, etc.) would, failing agreement, fix the terms and conditions, which would probably include a committee of management representative of the various areas. The Central Authority should have similar powers to fix terms when necessary in the case of joint apphcations by two or more I^ocal Authorities. 2012. It might be that in certain cases it would be an expedient course to have a water or drainage scheme applicable to a large area with an equal assessment imposed over the whole area, and the Central Authority should be empowered to order to this effect if they thought that desirable. Occupying Ownership. 2013. Under this heading we propose, first of all, to deal with difficulties in the way of the adminis- tration of the Pubhc Health and Housing Acts by reason of the fact that a great many occupying owners have no funds wherewith to reconstruct or repair their houses in order to keep them up to a proper standard. We received a good deal of evidence on this subject, particularly from the north-east coast fishing villages, but it is a fairly general problem in town and country. It is true that, as a general rule, ownership of the houses by the occupiers is advantageous in respect that, generally, they are better kept than the average house ; but the problem remains in regard to a great many houses, some of them old and often inherited from previous generations, where the present possessors have not funds to keep the houses in proper repair or to bring them up to the more modern standard. We do not propose to quote evidence on the subject, as there is no controversy in regard to the facts. The whole point is : How is the problem to be met ? 2014. We suggest that where an owner, who is also the occupier of his own house, has no capital to put his house into a condition fit for habitation, the Local Authority should proceed by one or other of three courses, (a) to have the house closed and demolished if the condition of disrepair makes no other course practicable ; (b) to purchase the house from the owner at a valuation and to put it into a habit8rt)le condition ; (c) to advance to the owner sufficient capital to enable him to bring the house up to the standard of habitabihty required by the Local Authority. If an occupying owner cannot comply with this standard, he will be faced with the alternative either of closing the house or selling it to the Local Authority, unless the Local Authority agree to advance him money for repairs, etc. The course suggested seems to us at once the most practical and most equitable. It would enable the Local Authority, without itseK having to build new houses, to convert a great deal of neglected property into cheap and habitable houses. As regards (a) and (b) no alteration of the existing law is required in order to give effect to them. As regards (c) the situation could be met by an amendment to section 15 of the Act of 1909, which deals with the repair of property and permits of the Local Authority themselves executing the necessary work under a charging order. It is suggested that an additional clause should be introduced to section 15 (5), which would provide that in the case of a poor owner-occupier (the determination of such persons to be in the hands of the Local Authority with a right of appeal to the Central Authority) the Local Authority should be empowered to advance a reasonable sum' towards the cost of executing such repairs as may be agreed between the parties under such conditions as to security and repayment as the Local Authority might determine. Coupled with this, the restriction contained in sections'l4 and 15 of the Act (namely, that the provisions of same are only to apply to houses of a rental of £16 and under) should be removed. The Poor Owner of Several Houses. 2015. Where an owner has several houses below the standard of habitabihty, and, for want of capital, cannot make the necessary repairs, the Local Authority should, if they think this course desirable m preference to closing the houses, have power to purchase the houses, and the defaulting o'mier should — if called on by the Local Authority— be required to sell at a valuation. REPORT. 307 2016. A similar practice is already partially operative iu the city of Aberdeen, where the Medical Officer of Health is authorised to deal with owners and to purchase properties, the outlays for repairs on which would be beyond the means of the owners. In such cases it would not, in our view, be sound to make advances to the owner to enable him to repair his property. This would be simply a method of subsidising the slum landlord. It is better that the town should acquire the properties and reconstitute them or otherwise dispose of them as the condition necessitates. Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899. 2017. A definite attempt was made by Parliament eighteen years ago, when the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act was passed, to encourage the purchase of houses by their occupiers. This Act has been, with one exception, a dead letter in Scotland, but has been operated to a considerable, though not a great, extent in England ; and several opinions were expressed by witnesses as to the reasons of its failure in Scotland. The machinery set up by the Act has already been described. (See Chapter V.) 2018. In England during the year 1913-14 advances under the Act were made by twenty-seven Local Authorities {Public Warks Loan Board Report, p. 78 f.) ; while in Scotland the only body which has ever carried out a scheme under it is the Town Council of Bo'ness. The scheme, which was carried out some years ago, comprised a single tenement of eight houses, each of two apartments, with water closet and coalhouse for each and a washhouse for four tenants. The houses were built by the Council on a small plot of land which they had taken over in the course of road improvements, and which they had failed to feu. The cost of the houses was £150 each, or £1200 in all, and eight workmen came forward to take possession, two of them paying the whole price outright. The scheme worked smoothly, and the only reasons which the two witnesses who dealt with the scheme suggested for its being carried no further were (1) that the Town Council wished to give an object-lesson in the production of cheap houses for working men, and (2) that their land was exhausted, while similar feus in the neighbourhood had all been taken up by private builders. (A. L. Reid, 3506 f., 3533 fE. ; Louden, 34,470 f.) The Sanitary Inspector for Bo'ness distinctly stated that the stoppage of the scheme was not due to any lack of demand for the possession of their own houses by the working men of the burgh. 2019. ^Vhile it is questionable whether there is a widespread demand on the part of working men to become the owners of their own houses, we are anxious that every facihty should be put in the way of any man who desires to purchase his own house, and that the provisions of the Small Dwellings Acquisi- tion Act should be readily and easily available to assist any such person. Accordingly, we recommend that the Act should be amended so as to empower Local Authorities to advance up to nine-tenths of the value of the house, and that the market value of the house in respect of which an advance may be given should be increased from £400 to £600. We also recommend that this Act should be classed as one with the other Housing Acts, that the Local Authority for the carrying of it out should be the Local Authority for the administration of these Acts (as will be seen, the Local Authority in counties and iu all burghs under 7000 population is the County Council — m all other burghs it is the Town Council), and lastly, that the functions of the Secretary for Scotland under the Act should be transferred to the Local Government Board. Tenants of Local Authorities' Houses to have Facilities for Acquiring their Houses. 2020. With a view to increasing the opportunities for tenants becoming the owners of their houses, we suggest that further powers be conferred upon Local Authorities under the Housing Acts to dispone the houses erected by them to tenants, under financial arrangements similar to what are available under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899. 2021. It is questionable whether the latter Act could be called into operation with respect to houses erected by the Local Authority under the Housing Acts. These Acts do not give specific power to the Local Authority to sell the houses that may be erected by them to their tenants. In any case, however, it should be made clear that a Local Authority should be so empowered, and that the principles of the Act of 1899 should apply. Under such an arrangement it would be very much a matter of book-keeping, as the Local Authority would have already expended the capital cost for the house, and the redemption of same would be brought about by (1) a first payment by the prospective owner of the money to be initially found by him, and (2) the annual payments of principal and interest by him as required by the Act. Housing of Workers with Low Wages or under other Disability to pay an Adequate Rent. 2022. The question of the housing of that section of a community which cannot by reason of low wages or disability afltecting their wage-earning capacity pay an adequate rent is one of the most important with which we have to deal. This class has never received the attention it requires. It is no concern of the private property-owner to house these people, and Local Authorities have hitherto done very little to cope with the situation. Who is to house them ? It can only be the Local Authority. But we think the Local Authority should not be called upon to bear the whole deficit that must follow from the provision of houses for the poorest classes. The Local Authority and the local ratepayers are not of themselves responsible for the conditions which have created and maintained this unfortunate class. The responsi- bility must in great measure be considered national, and we think therefore that the State should share the deficit with the Local Authority on a fair basis. Probably the deficit should be equally shared, bat we are disposed to suggest, in view of the fact that conditions may vary greatly in different districts, that each case should be considered on its merits by the Central Authority, there being an obhgation, however, upon the Local Authority of the district to see to the proper housing of these people. Suitable regulations would require to be framed by the Local Authority, subject to the approval of the Central Authority, with respect to the classes entitled to occupy such houses. Such houses should never be erected in a group or groups by themselves. They should be intermixed with other houses. 2023. It has also been suggested that, where the wages are too low to enable the occupier^to^pay a sufiicient rent, measures should be taken to enforce a minimum wage. It has to be pointed out that the relation between the minimum wage and the minimum rent is very indirect. In the fixing of a 308 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. niinimuni wage the rent of housing is only one iactor. The minimum wage cannot be determined on the basis of rent alone. Li the evolution of industry, the principle of the minimum wage may possibly be apphed to greater and greater ranges jf occupation ; but even if that be so, the extension of the principle will take time and caimot be readily enforced in the large world of casual labour. At the point, therefore, where the housing problem is most urgent, the establishing of a minimum wage would be most difficult. 2024. In our opinion there is no inconsistency between the suggestion that the organisation of labour may steadily proceed towards the establishing of a minimum wage for a greater range of occupations, and the principle that the Local Authority should be made responsible for housing. It seems to us that, if the Local Authority are empowered, so far as not already empowered, (a) to make advances to owner- occupiers, (6) to purchase where owner's capital is insufficient, (c) to scale down the rents to meet the claims of impoverished individuals, everything will be done that can properly be done through housing. The Local Authority, as a housing authority, caimot profitably interfere between employer and employed, nor can the housing needs of the working classes wait for a settlement of claims by labour for a larger share of the profits of production. Slum Clearances. 2025. In great measure connected with the foregoing question is the question of slum clearances. Such operations are always costly, and they almost invariably impose heavy burdens upon the Local Authority. We are so impressed with the necessity for improvement and reconstruction schemes being actively undertaken by Local Authorities that we consider the speciality of their position in housing reform should be recognised by grants being given by the State to aid their speedy accomplishment. It is not possible to suggest a fixed basis of grant to apply to such schemes. Obviously, the circumstances will materially differ in different cases, but we think that for a period of, say, fourteen years after the war the State should render fairly generous assistance in the direction we have mentioned— the making of the grants to be determined by the Central Authority. Provision of Suitable Houses for Persons Suffering from Tuberculosis. 2026. We were impressed with the fact that there is grave danger to public health in the present housing arrangements where there is prolonged illness in a family ; and especially is this so in cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. If the worker or wage-earner is himself attacked, the problem becomes even more acute, because his earnings stop. It was represented to us, both from the cities and from rural dis- tricts, that adequate domiciUary treatment is not possible in most of the existing working-class houses. On this subject we refer to the Report on the " Administrative Control of Pulmonary Phthisis in Glasgow," prepared by three Medical Inspectors to the Local Government Board, and issued in 1911. This Report contains a vivid and sorrowful description of cases of the kind above referred to where families have to live in small houses of one or two rooms. Effective isolation is not practicable and is not attempted, and the good done to a patient by his stay in a sanatorium is speedily undone on his return to such con- ditions. This subject requires no elaboration. 2027. Having considered the whole subject carefully, we recommend that the local Public Health Authority, which is at present charged with the care of persons suffering from tuberculosis, and whose duties enibrace doniicihary treatment, should be empowered out of the Public Health Rates (and subject to inclusion of the expenditure in their claim on the Tuberculosis Maintenance Grant) to pay in cases such as are referred to in the preceding paragraph the extra rental necessary to secure that additional room acconunodation shall be available for the sole use of the affected member of the family. Power to Local Authorities to Accept Donations from Employers of Labour towards Housing Schemes. 2028. We think that Local Authorities should be empowered to accept donations from employers of labour towa,rds housing schemes promoted by the Local Authorities, to which a condition is adjected that to a certain extent and for a limited period the employers will have the first call upon the houses for the use of their employees. Under such an arrangement the Local Authority might be materially assisted to the establishment of a housing scheme, and the general effect would be all in favour of the good housing of the community. The employees who might be nommated by the employers would not, of course, have any relationship to the latter, but would be the tenants of the Local Authority in the ordinary way. This proposal has already been made in the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire. Power to Local Authority to Feu Land for Shops, Schools, Churches, Halls, etc. 2029. We refer to (a) section 11 of the 1903 Housing Act, enabling Local Authorities, with the consent of the Local Government Board, to provide shops, etc., in connection with their housing schemes, and (6) section 60 of the 1890 Act, enabling Local Authorities, with the same consent, to sell any land vested in them, and we draw attention to what may be the danger of a tendency in housing schemes to erect houses in little colonies, distant perhaps from shops, schools, etc. As working-class people must reside near such subjects, we draw attention to this point, and we think that the powers above referred to should be enlarged so as to enable Local Authorities to leu— as well as sell — land for a shop, school, church, hall, etc. Management. 2030. There can be no question as to the need for improvement in the matter of house management, but we are doubtful of the success of what is urged in the Minority Chapter V. The two serious objections to introducing the volimtary agency discussed in that chapter are (1) the difficulty in securing suitable persons for the work, and (2) the resentment which would be generally displayed to the interference of outsiders in such a matter as house management. It is suggested that it would be very difficult in any case to obtain voluntary workers or visitors to undertake such undesirable duties as those indicated. REPORT. 309 The chapter rather overlooks the fact that many Public Health Authorities already have stafEs of Health Visitors (which are to be increased for Infant Welfare and kindred work), and that the Visitors' functions include advice on house management and hygiene, as well as the detection of insanitary or undesirable conditions. To multiply women visitors to the average working-class household would assuredly be a mistake. Caretakers for properties could, imquestionably, be recommended, but, unless in Local Auth- ority schemes, their introduction could not readily be arranged. Generally, we are disposed to think that the various remedies suggested would not appreciably meet the situation, and that the remedy would be found in this : — Provide good houses of a proper health standard, and have no other ; in this way, and coupled with a strict application of the laws relating to cleanliness, etc., through the official channels, the habits of the people, and especially the habits of the younger generation, will be gradually raised and improved, and inside a period of years the old conditions will, in great measure, have passed away. In other words, if better housing is provided, better habits will follow ; at the present time many tenants have not a chance to live up to a decent standard. 2031. While desiring the enforcement of the law — ^as set forth by us in Chapter X. — as against de- structive, disorderly, or uncleanly tenants, we do not consider that any appreciable or widespread solution of housing problems is to be attained by the application of rigid discipline or punitive measures. The supposition that any large or considerable section of the people, denominated or stigmatised as " the ' less disciplined class of the commimity," must be held in tutelage and subjected to the custody of care- takers and supervisors, will be properly resented by those whom it is proposed to treat in this way. The Minority seem to regard this section of the community as in large measure the architects of their own misforttmes, of a physically inferior stock, earning low wages, and drifting towards a cheaper and dirtier type of house because they are physically and mentally inferior. (See Minority Report, Paragraphs 275 and 280.) To us they are rather the victims of manifold social evils, of which bad housing is one of the greatest. Without in any way minimising or underestimating the importance of character in the securing and maintenance of good housing, we maintain that the provision of bette" houses will be one of the best means of elevating the character and habits and tastes of the people, and thereby of main- taining a much higher standard of household management. Several witnesses have testified that the provision of good housing has had this effect. (C. M. Robertson, 19,845 ; Kyffin-Taylor, 24,313 (89) ; Glaister, 23,456-9 ; R. Nicol, 38,708 ; Bennett, 42,557-564.) 2032. We consider that it would be of decided advantage that in housing schemes established by Local Authorities they should, as far as possible, set up, under suitable regulations, Committees of Manage- ment selected from among the tenants. Anything which tends to add to the responsibility and interest of the tenant in his own dwelling and in the good care and amenity of the area in which he resides, should be fostered, and we believe that a Managing Committee of Tenants will assuredly be an agency for good in these directions. If the present powers of Local Authorities are not adequate to permit of such a devolution, we consider the requisite powers should be conferred upon them. Construction of Houses and Lay-Out of Sites. Type of Houses. 2033. In our opinion there should be a minimum standard of accommodation in new houses, as already set forth, viz. a living-room, two bedrooms, a scullery with sink, tub with washing boiler, a food larder, A coal cellar, and, where there are water-suppUes, a water-closet, 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. Rules for Tenement Construction. 2034. We think that Local Authorities should be empowered to make byelaws (subject to approval by the Local Government Board) on the following points regarding the construction of tenements : — (1) Number of houses entering from one common stair ; (2) Position, hghting, and ventilation of common stair ; (3) Width of streets between forecourt or parapet walls ; (4) Distance of building line of tenement from the line of front parapet wall ; (5) The extent of open space about each tenement relative to the building area. Structure of Houses. 2035. We refer to the special expert Report on the whole subject of Construction of Working- class Houses in Scotland by the Special Commissioner appointed by us, with the consent of the Treasury and with the concurrence of the Local Government Board, viz. Mr. John Wilson, F.R.I.B.A., the Archi- tectural Inspector to that Board. "i^ (See Report, with relative appendices and plans, printed in a separate volume of the evidence.) 2036. In Appendix No. CXCFV. information is given by Mr Wilson in regard to the building materials . used in various districts of Scotland. Stone and brick are obtainable over the greater part of the coimtry, and must, for chmatic reasons, be used. In certain fsolated districts, where stone and brick are difficult to obtain, concrete may be used. No other material than those stated can be used for the walling of houses in Scotland if these are to be kept permanently weatherproof and the cost of maintenance is to be kept as low as possible. 2037. In view of the great scarcity of seasoned timber available at present, and for a considerable period after the war, the possibility of using reinforced concrete as a substitute for roofs should be con- sidered. 2038. Iron window-cases, if made and supplied in sufficient numbers to reduce cost, might be sub- stituted for those in wood. 310 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 2039. To obtain structural economy, tlie cost of the house should be reduced as much as possible by paymg careful attention to arrangements of planning, details of construction, and type of fittings, in order that these may be standardised for the whole scheme. In this way the sizes of doors and windows can be made uniform, the water-closet basins, baths, sinks, ranges, grates, etc., can be kept of one type, with the result that these can be ordered in large quantities at a reduced price. This does not necessarily mean that the designs should be standardised, and it is imdesirable that they should be. The use of local materials, the treatment of windows and roofs to meet local traditions, will give a sufficient diversity of design. 2040. Suggested designs by Mr Wilson for various types of houses are attached to Appendix No. CXCIL, and the specifications and the schedules of quantities of the houses are given in Appendices Nos. CXCVI. and CXCVII. As these designs do not meet every contingency that will arise in various districts, we recommend that the Local Government Board should assist Local Authorities by issuing model plans and specifications. 2041. We also recommend that a sum should be placed at the disposal of the Local Government Board for experimental purposes in determining what types of construction are most suitable in different districts. Lay-out of Sites. 2042. We recommend that, as a condition of housing loans and grants being made available for Local Authorities, they should be required to town-plan areas in which houses are to be built, or, at all events, to submit for the approval of the Local Government Board plans for the lay-out of sites. Assessment of Sewerage and Sewage Purification Works. 2043. Evidence was tendered to us on behalf of the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanark- shire to the effect that under recent decisions of the Courts all sewerage and sewage purification works are ■—contrary to the practice which had obtained hitherto — sub j ect to assessment as lands and heritages. (See the case of Assessor for Aberdeen v. Magistrates of Aberdeen, etc., 1913 Session Cases, 712.) It was stated that in one area this would involve an addition to the drainage rate of over 5d. in the £, and it was claimed that these subjects should be relieved of assessment. (Whyte, 35,864-7.) We think this claim is well founded. It is difficult in many rural districts to introduce a sewerage scheme within reasonable limits as regards rating, and in many places it has not been found possible to form such drainage districts and execute drainage works on account of the high rate which would be imposed. As we have indicated, up till a few years ago sewerage and sewage pm-ification works were not included in the Valuation Eoll, and consequently were not subject to assessment. A test case was taken in Court, but it was held, as we have mentioned, that sewers, etc., were assessable subjects. An amendment of the law to have them excluded has since been strongly urged by many Local Authorities, and also by the Convention of Royal Burghs and the Association of Coimty Councils in Scotland. Having regard to the pecuhar nature of the subjects (i.e. that they are non-productive, that they have no rating value in the ordinary sense, and could be used for no other purpose), and having regard to the desirabiHty of removing any obstacle in the way of the provision of such necessary pubUc health and housing services, we recommend that it should be provided that the subjects in question are exempt from assessment either for local rates or for income tax. Improvement and Reconstruction Schemes. 2044. One witness suggested that it should be obligatory on the Local Authority to provide housing acconamodation for the people to be dispossessed under improvement and reconstruction schemes. (Gavin, 37,284 (41), 37,288-90.) We draw attention to the need for provision of housing accommodation for such dispossessed people, but in respect of our proposal to make the Local Authority responsible for the housing of the working classes it would seem to be unnecessary for us to suggest the specific course mentioned by the witness. 2045. It was pointed out to us that in connection with an improvement scheme under Part I. of the 1890 Act, Local Authorities are prohibited from rebuilding houses in the cleared-out area except with the express consent of the Local Government Board, and that there seems no special reason for this prohibition. (Macpherson, 83 and 84 ; Keith, 1249 (48).) We agree. We think that, having regard to the fact that the scheme has been approved by the Local Government Board, it is not necessary that, if the Local Authorities themselves desire to carry out the rebuilding or any other portion of the scheme, they should again have to approach the Board. Site of Houses demolished under Demolition Order. 2046. Ex-Provost Keith of Hamilton suggested that powers should be conferred upon Local Authorities to re-erect upon the site of buildings demohshed under section 18 of the 1909 Act suitable sanitary bmldings for the occupation of the working classes. (Keith, 1249 (50).) As we have already pointed out (Paragraph 189), Local Authorities have a certain control over buildings to be erected on such sites under section 34 (2) of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. 2047. We think, however, that Local Authorities should have fuller control of the site than the above section gives, and that they should have power to prevent an owner from erecting thereon any business premises or dwelling-houses or other buildings wjuch would, in the opinion of the Local Authorities, impede the ventilation of adjoining buildings or be* dangerous or injurious to the health of the neighbour- ing inhabitants. Further, we see no reason why, as suggested by Ex-Provost Keith, the Local Authority should not have power to purchase the site if they require it for housing purposes, including open space's or recreation spaces. The Local Authority should also have power to require the sites of demolished houses to be kept in a tidy condition. (Cf Knowles, 14,458 (12) (30).) Income Tax on Local Authority Houses. 2048. There should be exemption of Local Authority houses from income tax. Local Authorities derive no profit from housing schemes. REPORT. 31 1 Local Acts. 2049. As we have shown in Chapter V., the Town Councils of the larger burghs have secured from time to time special powers from Parliament for the regulation and control of housing and sanitation within their areas. Li addition to these local powers, the provisions of the PubKc Health and Housing Acts apply, while those burghs to which the Burgh Police Acts do not apply may adopt these Acts wholly or in pail;. Special powers have also been obtained by Local Authorities of county areas in regard to various matters, such as water-supply and drainage, by means of local Acts or by Provisional Orders under the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1899. 2050. We have considered the question of the extent to which these local Acts are necessary or desirable, and we have come to the conclusion that they are necessary, and that it is not desirable to interfere with the practice of obtaining them. They are required to meet special conditions which arise from time to time — in the larger areas particularly. Legislation to deal with these conditions is not, however, required for Local Authorities generally, and in consequence there is no call for an amend- ment or extension of the general statute. (Cf. Sir John Lindsay, 23,349, 23,353, 23,356.) No doubt there is, as was indicated by the Legal Member of the Local Government Board, considerable adminis- trative convenience in having legislation uniform throughout the country (Macpherson, 317), and we agree that as far as possible this should be aimed at. But we think that the conditions existing throughout the country are so diverse, while special conditions will also arise from time to time in certain areas, that we do not feel justified in recommending that the principle of local Acts should be interfered with. If our recommendation made elsewhere is adopted, viz. that as many matters as possible should be regulated by means of byelaws (which can be amended from time to time as found necessary) and not by statute, the necessity for local legislation may not arise to the same extent in future. We also understand that the Local Government Board have an opportunity, whenever any bill or order is promoted by a Local Authority for special powers in regard to housing or public health, of expressing their views to the Secretary for Scotland on the subject matter of the Bill or Order, and the Board do no doubt satisfy themselves that there are good reasons why the proposed Bill or Order is necessary. Travelling Expenses of Members of Local Axpthorities. 2051. We think it might help towards getting a wider representation on the Local Authorities, especially in the landward areas, were travelling expenses of members paid. We suggest that Local Authorities should have power to pay the travelling expenses of members. Grants to Local Authorities for Public Health Purposes. 2052. We consider that the Imperial exchequer should make available each year to the Central Authority a sum to enable that Authority to assist the more necessitous districts in the administration of Public Health generally. It seems to us that it is not possible to lay down any standard or method for giving assistance. The circumstances of districts vary so much ; their prospective needs are unknown, as are also their potentialities, and it would be not only necessary but equitable that the Central Authority on a survey of the year's needs should be empowered to assist according to those needs and having regard to all the circumstances of the particular case. The giving of an initial slump grant towards the cost of any scheme would not be desirable in respect that the circumstances and conditions of districts are always liable to alter. The most equitable way would be for the Government to assure to the Central Authority an adequate sum each year to permit of that Authority aiding the more necessitous districts in the due performance of their pubHc health duties according to their requirements. It is not, in our view, feasible to fix a maximum pubhc health or other rate and to ask the Government to meet any local deficit from Imperial funds. Such a method would tend to induce extravagance and neghgence, and any maximum rate that might be fijced would not be of equitable appHcation throughout the country in respect that the " abiUty to pay " of the ratepayers varies so enormously in different districts. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XXX. (1) That Local Authorities should now make an estimate of the number of working-class houses required in their district, and eventually should compile a register which shall show the condition of all the working-class houses in their area — the register to be compiled as may be prescribed by the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 1994.) (2) That the minimum accommodation in all new houses should be at least three rooms with all necessary sanitary and domestic conveniences, bath and water-oloset (where there is a water-supply) or earth-closet, scullery, larder, coalhouse, etc. (Paragraph 1997.) (3) That a one-room house is quite unsuitable for family life, and that in future no new one-room house should be allowed to be built except with the sanction of the Local Authority, which should only be granted in very exceptional circumstances. (Paragraph 1998.) (4) That after a period of seven years from the passing of legislation on the subject, the occupancy of one-room houses should be limited to one adult person or two adult persons of the same sex, or an elderly married couple. (Paragraph 1998.) (5) That during the period of seven years referred to in the preceding recommendation, a lower standard might be permissible, and accordingly the Local Authority should be required to make byelaws (subject to approval of the Local Government Board), regulating the occupancy of one-room houses during the period referred to, and that such byelaws should, for the period referred to — subject to a proviso as to overcrowding according to a cubic space standard — allow the use of one-room houses for two persons of the same sex, or for a married couple with not more than two young children, or for a mother with three young children. (Paragraph 1998.) (6) That in regard to two-room houses, no such houses should be allowed to be built except with the sanction of the Local Authority, which should only be granted where there are exceptional circum- 312 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND stances justifying the erection of such houses ; and further, that the occupancy of two-room houses should be regulated by byelaws made by the Local Authority and approved by the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 1999.) (7) That Local Authorities should be entitled to deal with a house according to a measure of un- inhabitability set forth in Paragraph 2000, and should be entitled, with the sanction of the Local Govern- ment Board, to add to the list of the subjects included in said measure of uninhabitabihty ; such measure of uninhabitability to apply to houses of whatever rental, and that the limitation of rental specified in sections 14 and 15 of the Housing, Town Planning etc.. Act, 1909, should be removed. (Paragraphs 2001 and 2002.) (8) That a water survey of the whole water assets of Scotland should be made to ascertain and record in a Government register what are the available supplies for the use of the inhabitants, and to what areas such supphes should be directed, and the Central Authority should be given power to promulgate and enforce comprehensive schemes for appropriate areas not necessarily coinciding with administrative boundaries, and to adjust equitable terms of capital and maintenance charges to be borne by the Authorities served by such schemes. (Paragraphs 2003 and 2008.) (9) That the survey should include provision for drainage schemes, and that thereafter the matters of water and drainage schemes should be dealt with as set forth in Paragraphs 2010-2012. (Paragraphs 2010-2012.) (10) That an occupying owner with no capital to put his house in order should be dealt with by the Local Authority as specified in Paragraph 2014, the main suggestion being that the Local Authority should have power to advance a reasonable sum for execution of repairs. (Paragraph 2014.) (11) That in regard to an owner of several bouses who, for want of capital, cannot execute necessary repairs, the Local Authority should have power if they think fit to purchase the houses from such owner. (Paragraph 2015.) (12) That the Small DweUings Acquisition Act, 1899, should be amended so as to empower Local Authorities to advance up to nine-tenths of the value of the houses, and that the market value of the houses in respect of which an advance may be given should be increased from £400 to £600, that this Act should be classed as one with the other Housing Acts, that the Local Authority for the carrying of it out should be the Local Authority for the administration of these Acts, and that the functions of the Secretary for Scotland under the Act should be transferred to the Local Government Board. (Para- graph 2019.) (13) That Local Authorities should have powers to sell houses erected by them to tenants under financial arrangements similar to those available under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899. (Paragraph 2020.) (14) That Local Authorities should be assisted by State grants to house workers with low wages, or who are under disability to pay an adequate rent, the extent of the assistance suggested being set . forth in Paragraph 2022. (Paragraph 2022.) (15) That the necessity for improvement and reconstruction schemes in the cities is so vital that grants for a period of fourteen years after the war should be available to Local Authorities undertaking such schemes. (Paragraph 2025.) (16) That Local Authorities should be empowered to give assistance in the provision of suitable houses for persons suffering from tuberculosis. (Paragraphs 2026 and 2027.) (17) That Local Authorities should have power to accept donations from employers of labour towards housing schemes promoted by Local Authorities, to which a condition is adjected that for a limited period such employers should have first call upon the houses for the use of their employees. (Paragraph 2028.) (18) That Local Authorities should have power to feu land for shops, schools, churches, halls, etc. (Paragraph 2029.) (19) That in housing schemes established by Local Authorities they should, so far as possible, set up under suitable regulation Committees of Management selected from among the tenants. (Para- graph 2032.) (20) That Local Authorities should be empowered to make byelaws (subject to the approval of the Local Government Board) on the following points regarding the construction of tenements : — (1) Number of houses entering from one common stair ; (2) Position, lighting, and ventilation of common stair; (3) Width of streets between forecourt or parapet walls ; (4) Distance of building-line of tenement from the line of front parapet wall ; (5) The extent of open space about each tenement relative to the building area. (Paragraph 2034.) (21) That structural cost of houses should be reduced as much as possible by : — (a) Careful planning arrangements ; (b) Standardisation of fittings ; (c) Use of economical materials. (Paragraph 2039.) (22) That the Local Government Board should assist Local Authorities by issuing model plans of houses and specifications. (Paragraph 2040.) (23) That a sum should be placed at the disposal of the Local Government Board for experimental purposes in determining what types of construction are most suitable. (Paragraph 2041.) (24) That as a condition of obtaining housing loans and grants, Local Authorities should be required to town-plan areas in which houses are to be built or to submit for the approval of the Lor^l Government Board plans for the lay-out of sites. (Paragraph 2042. ) (25) That sewerage and sewage purification works should be relieved of all assessments for local rates or for income tax. (Paragraph 2043.) (26) That in connection with an improvement scheme, Local Authorities should be entitled, if REPORT. 313 they see JBt, to rebuild Louses in the cleared-out area without the consent of the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 2045.) (27) That Local Authorities should have power to prevent an owner from erecting on the site of buildings demolished under section 18 of the 1909 Act, any business premises or dwelling-houses or other buildings which would, in the opinion of the Local Authority, impede the ventilation of adjoining buildings or be dangerous or injurious to the health of the neighbouring inhabitants : and further, that Local Aiithorities should have power to purchase the site of demolished buildings for housing purposes ; and finally, that they should have power to require the sites of demoUshed houses to be kept in a tidy condition. (Paragraph 2047.) (28) That there should be exemption of Local Authority houses from income tax. (Paragraph 2048.) (29) That Local Authorities should have power to pay the travelling expenses of their members. (Paragraph 2051.) (30) That the Imperial exchequer should make available each year to the Central Authority a sum to enable that Authority to assist the more necessitous districts in the administration of pubUc health generally, and the Central Authority, on a survey of the year's needs, should be empowered to assist such districts according to those needs, and having regard to all the circumstances of the particular cases. (Paragraph 2052.) CHAPTER XXXI. HOUSING POLICY {continued). Further Minor Reforms. Demolition of Houses Unfit for Human Habitation. 2053. One of the most difficult problems in connection with the housing of the working classes is connected with the closure and demolition of houses which, by reason of dilapidation or because of their insanitary condition, are unfit for habitation. Section 17 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, states that it is the duty of every Local Authority to make an Order prohibiting the use of a dwelUng-house that is in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation. That section then describes certain procedure connected with Closing Orders. Section 18 prescribes that where a Closing Order has remained operative for a period of three months, and the house has not been rendered fit for human habitation, and the necessary steps are not being taken with all due dihgence to render it so fit, or that the continuance of any building being or being part of the dwelling-house is a nuisance or dangerous or injurious to the health of the public or of the inhabitants of the neighbouring dwelling-house, the Local Authority shall order the demolition of the building. We observe here, because it is necessary for the argument which follows, that the Local Authority have no option in this matter. They are bound, in the circumstances stated, to have the building demolished. The section proceeds that if an owner undertakes to execute the works to render the dwelling fit for human habitation, and the Local Authority consider that it can be so rendered fit for human habitation, they may, if they think fit, postpone the operation of the Order for such time, not exceeding six months, as they think sufficient for the purpose of giving the owner an opportimity of executing the necessary work. 2054. In the case of a building containing a single dwelling-house, the duty put upon the Local Authority is easily ascertainable, and, from the practical point of view, is not difficult to carry out. We have, however, to consider other cases which lead to great difficulty. In the cities and towns of Scotland, and in most of the industrial areas, the working classes are, as we have shown, housed generally in tenement buildings. These buildings contain dwelling-houses for a number of families, ranging, especially where there are a number of one-room houses, up to sixteen, twenty, and even more houses. Further, it has to be kept in view that in such tenement buildings certain adjuncts of a. dwelling-house, such as walls, roofs, rones, passages, stairs, and very often sanitary conveniences, are common to all the dwelUng-houses in the building. In all the congested areas of our towns and cities there are many of these tenement buildings which, taken as a whole, have reached a state of dilapidation and disrepair, and which it is desirable in the interests of pubhc health should be demohshed as soon as possible. The question has arisen, however, as to what constitutes a dwelling-house in the sense of the 1909 Act. 2055. In the case of KirJcpatrick v. the Local Authority of the Burgh of Maxwdltovm (1912 Session Cases, 288), a question was raised as to whether a tenement of dwelling-houses was a " dwelling-house " in the sense of the Act and whether a Closing Order was competently issued with regard to a whole tenement generally. The case was decided on 21st December 1911 by the First Division of the Court of Session, the judges being the Lord President (Dunedin) and Lords Johnston and Mackenzie. The Lord President gave the leading opinion. He stated : — I am of opinion that the expression " dwelling-house " may include a whole tenement, even although that tenement comprises four dwelling-houses. The whole question is one simply of identification. If a Closing Order names Nos. 58 and 59 of such-and-such a street, that means the whole block of dwelhng-houses that are known as Nos. 58 and 59. There is no question that if Nos. 58 and 59 are broken up into a set of flats in such a Closing Order you take it upon yourselves to say that each and every dweUing in that tenement is unfit for hunxan habitation and ought to be closed ; and if it were the fact that one of them was in a good state, that Closing Order on appeal would be held to be a bad Closing Order, because it would close something that ought not to be closed. But to say that a Closing Order is, on the face of it, bad because it closes Nos. 58 and 59 en bloc, is to say something for which there is no warrant in the statute at all. 314 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. I agree with what was said in one of the English cases, that, first of all, decisions under one statute are not to be used in helping you with another ; and secondly, that, unless there is something to a contrary effect in the statute, you are to take " dwelling-house " in the ordinary acceptation of the word. Of course, you may have a dwelling-house within a dwelling-house, and I do not doubt that a Closing Order can completely close one dwelling-house within a tenement, if it says so, and I think the whole matter is one of identification. I think that is quite clear fronl the section I have read about a room three feet below the surface of the street. I do not know how you would particu- larly describe a dwelling-house in a tenement in Glasgow. Are you to .say, " No. 39 Gallowgate, three ' stairs up, second room to the back ? " But it is not necessary for us to give any opinion on that. That is, after all, a detail of administration with which we are not here concerned. But if the Authority is of opinion that the whole tenement is bad, I do not see why it should not say so by using the ordinary words by which a tenement is designated — " Nos. 58 and 59 so-and-so." Even if you look at a directory that is the way a tenement is described. I am therefore of opinion on this matter also that the Closing Order was not inept on any such view. 2056. It will be observed that the question argued and decided was one of identification. Pre- sumably the tenement houses referred to were all in one ownership, and the decision of the Court was that one Closing Order might be issued in regard to the whole tenement. 2057. We now point out that section 17 (6) of the 1909 Act states that : — The Local Authority shall determine any Closing Order made by them if they are satisfied that the dwelling-house in respect of which the Order has been made has been rendered fit for human habitation. 2058. The question was not raised in the case of Kirkpatrick as to whether, if the owner had rendered one or more of the dwelling-houses fit for habitation, the Local Authoritv were bound to recall the Closing Order quoad that house or houses, nor was it argued as to what the efiect of disrepair and dilapidation of the common adjuncts of all the dwelling-houses in the tenement, such as roof, rones, etc., as specified above, would have had in a question of determination of the Order quoad any particular dwelling-houses which might have been rendered in themselves fit for habitation. 2059. Before passing to the next case on the subject, we point out that it is an exceedingly serious matter for Local Authorities if, in regard to these old dilapidated tenement buildings, the provisions of the Act of Parliament anent demoHtion can be elided by — ^to take an extreme case — iiie owner bringing one of many houses in a tenement up to a state of habitation. Further, there is this curious result, that although the Act of Parhament ordains Local Authorities to demolish houses unfit for habitation, it would be impossible in the case referred to to give effect to the statutory provisions. Suppose — again to take an extreme case for the purposes of the argument — all the houses in a tenement except those on the top fioor are unfit for habitation, and ought to be demolished. It is impossible to demolish them without at the same time demohshing the houses on the top storey, which it is assumed are fit for habitation. The result would be that the whole of that tenement except the top storey would remain closed, an unsightly building, drifting fast to extreme decay — ^a menace to public health. 2060. Another case on the subject to which we refer is M'Diarmid v. Executive Committee on Housing of the Corf oration of Glasgow, 1917, 1 Scots Law Times, 158. This case referred to eighteen dwelling-houses included in a tenement all consisting of one room or of two rooms at No. 26 Claythom Street, Calton, Glasgow, of which Mrs Catherine M'Diarmid was the owner. The Executive Committee on Housing of the Corporation of Glasgow pronounced an Order applicable to the whole tenement as one dwelling-house prohibiting its use for human habitation until it should be rendered fit for that purpose. The First Division of the Court of Session (the judges being the Lord President (Strathclyde) and Lords Skerrington and Anderson) held that the Closing Order was uUra vires and inept in respect that it would have the effect of closing all the eighteen dwelling-hoiises until every one of them was rendered fit for human habitation. It is clear from the judgment that the service of one notice in respect of the whole tenement was deemed unobjectionable. That is simply a matter of identification. The Lord President (Strathclyde) remarked, however : — Of course, if the Local Authority took advantage of this mode of expression then they must also face certain risks. They are confronted with the peril of finding that one or two, or it may be more, are in a state fit for human habitation, and in that case their Order goes by the board. 2061. Following upon that decision, the Corporation of Glasgow have been in communication with the Local Government Board. The Town Clerk of Glasgow has also put before us the position of his Corporation. Shortly stated, their position is that if Closing Orders require to specify or contain the number of houses in the tenement, and if as each house in the tenement is repaired and made fit for habitation the Order quoad that particular house is to be recalled, further procedure under the Housing Acts with regard to demolition of uninhabitable dwelling-houses in tenements will at once come to an end because an owner will almost certainly, in order to prevent the demohtion of his property, carry out the minimum repairs required by the Closing Order. 2062. After careful consideration of the whole question, it seems to us that the difficulty arises by reason of want of specification in the Act of Parliarment of what a " dwelling-house " is. The Act does not seem to have taken into account the complications of tenemental housing which obtains so largely throughout Scotland. Clearly it will be regrettable if in a city like Glasgow demolition of uninhabit- able dwelling-houses or buildings is prevented or impeded. The complaint of the Corporation of Glasgow is that so long as one out of a number of houses in a tenemental dwelling is put into a fit state for habitation, demoHtion, as a practical proposition, is ruled out by the law as it stands at present. On the other hand, if all the dwelUng-houses are to be treated as one, the logical ' conclu- sion of Glasgow Corporation's contention in an extreme instance would be that even although all the dwelling-houses, except one, were rendered fit for habitation, still closure and demolition should be competent because of the single defaulting house. Such an extreme case is not likely to arise, because Local Authorities in using the powers referred to in the 1909 Act, in so far as tenements are concerned. REPORT. 315 natxirally confine themselves to the class of tenement of a slum kind in a state of dilapidation generally. There is the further circumstance alluded to already, that in the class of property referred to, the dilapidation of the common adjuncts, such as roofs, rones, stairs, passages (dilapidated or badly ventilated), have all a bearing on the state of fitness of the tenement as a whole, and therefore of each house in the tenement. 2063. Where, as obtains generally in Glasgow, a tenement containing several houses is in one owner- ship, a solution is not so difiicult as in the case whiich obtains more usually in Edinburgh and other cities and towns in Scotland, of tenement houses being held by different owners. Where a tenement is held by one owner he is exclusively responsible for that building as a whole, including all the common adjuncts. Moreover, apart from the common adjuncts, he should not be allowed to defeat the purpose of the Act by bringing, say, one of the houses up to a state of habitation and so preventing demohtion. Li our view, in such a case Local Authorities should be entitled to treat a tenement owned by one individual as a whole. The residt would be that if, after a Closing Order was pronounced, the owner did not bring the whole building and all the houses up to a state fit for human habitation, demohtion would follow. There seems no imfairness in this, because the owner has it in his power— if the building is capable of repair — to render the whole of it fit for habitation. He is not hampered by difficulties with other owners. 2064. The other case, however, of a tenement owned by several proprietors is more difficult. To illustrate the difficulty, assume a case where nine out of ten houses are dilapidated, and the owners do not make them fit for habitation or offer to do so, but that the tenth house is in itself either fit for habita- tion or capable of being made so, or the owner makes a bona fide offer to have it made fit for habitation : but let it be assumed also that the common adjuncts — roofs, rones, walls, etc. — are dilapidated, and the owner of the house which is fit or capable of being made fit for habitation cannot induce the owners of the other houses to join with him in putting the common adjuncts in order — what is to be done ? It is very desirable that in the interests of pubhc health this tenement building should be demolished. The wilhng owner of the single house in the assumed case above referred to is placed in an awkward position, however ; and yet his case cannot be allowed to stand in the way of an improvement in the interests of the health of the community. The owner referred to has a joint responsibility in regard to the common adjuncts, and he has certain rights at common law which would enable him to compel the other owners to join with him in having these adjuncts put right, and yet a process at law is expensive, and it cannot be expected that owners of small houses will proceed against other owners in the same tenement to compel them to fulfil their obligations. If, however, the statute is to be obeyed, and if pubhc health interests are to be paramoimt, as they ought to be paramount, the individual case of hardship cannot be allowed to block the way. These insanitary tenemental buildings, not capable as a whole of being made fit for habitation, must be demohshed. 2065. We suggest that where a building contains houses belonging to more than one owner, and one or some of the houses therein are habitable, and it is not possible to demohsh the insanitary houses without also demohshing the habitable houses, the building should be demohshed and the owners of the insanitary houses required to pay compensation to the owner or owners of the habitable houses, as the same may, f aihng agreement, be determined by an arbiter appointed by the Local Government Board. This would enable demolition of the whole bmlding to be effected. It should also be provided that if the owner of the habitable houses so desires, he shall have the opportunity and right of taking over from the owner of the insanitary houses his rights and interests in the said houses on condition that the first-mentioned owner undertakes to put the whole of the premises into a proper condition, to the satis- faction of the Local Authority within a period to be specified by them, the price to be paid by the owner of the habitable houses to the owner of the uninhabitable houses to be as may be agreed between them. or, faihng agreement, as may be determined by an arbiter appointed by the Local Government Board. This provision would enable a willing owner, where a property was not as a whole so dilapidated as to be incapable of being properly reconstructed and repaired, to avoid demohtion of his house by becoming owner of the whole tenement, and so obtaining a position which could enable him to put the whole property right. The price to be paid in such circumstances as those above mentioned should not, in the general case, extend beyond the proportion of the site value of the subjects. In other words, the uninhabitable property would be valued, subject to the Closing Order proceedings hanging over it, and we think there should be a special direction to the arbiter on the hues above indicated. 2066. Further, where a building contains houses belonging to more than one owner, and, while all the houses are insanitary, one or more of the owners is or are willing to make their houses habitable while the others are not so prepared, the wilhng owner or owners should have the opportunity and right of acquiring the rights and interests of the unwilling owners under a procedure similar to that narrated in the preceding paragraph. This provision should be available to a joint owner of a dwelling-house or dwelling-houses'; 2067. For the purposes of the above provisions, dwelling-houses should be held to include shops. Repair and Reconstruction of Tenement Property. 2068. There is an aspect of the housing question more pecuhar to the larger cities and the populous districts which we consider it is necessary should be dealt with, and that is with regard to tenement property which, while not in such a condition as to warrant or necessitate the application of Closing Order proceedings, is yet in great need of being dealt with in order to bring it up to such a standard as we have in view for the future housing of the working classes. 2069. Many of the properties which we have in mind consist of flats of former days which have been subdivided and now house a number of famihes. Such buildings are not in the condition that they could be termed " unfit for human habitation." They are externally substantial, although internally they are unsatisfactory in many respects. They require considerable rearrangement, and in many instances call for a substantial reduction of the number of houses to be occupied in the tenements. The existing statutory provisions are not in many respects suitable to deal with such properties. 2070. Section 15 of the Act of 1909 empowers the Local Authority to require the execution of such works as may be necessary to make a house in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation, but it 316 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. seems to us that alternative powers more direct and applicable to certain conditions should be conferred upon Local Authorities and their officers, particularly as regards (1) minor repairs and (2) internal recon- struction of subdivided houses or tenements. Minor Repairs. 2071. As regards (1) we refer to our recommendations in Chapter XXXII. under the heading " Maintenance of Houses." Heconstnwtion of Subdivided Houses or Tenements. 2072. On the subject of subdivision of houses and tenements we refer to Paragraphs 404 to 413, and 538 and 539. In the larger cities and burghs of the country, where tenements are common, the conditions existing in subdivided tenements are miich in need of proper control and correction. Probably the latest statutory enactment upon this point is the Edinburgh Corporation Act, 1913, section 79, which enacts :— No person shall build any tenement of houses or increase the number in any existing tenement so that more than nine separate houses therein shall enter from one common stair or passage within the tenement, or more than twelve separate houses shall enter from a common stair or balcony, . . . and no person shall, without the consent in writing of the Corporation, increase the number of houses in any existing tenement where at the passing of this Act there are in such tenement more than nine separate houses entering from one common stair or passage within the tenement, or more than twelve separate houses entermg from a common stair or balcony outside the tenement. 2073. There are also the provisions of the Burgh PoUce (Scotland) Act, 1892 (section 171), which limit the number of houses entering from a common stair, but these desirable enactments are not applicable to existing tenements. 2074. Unless therefore where houses or tenements already subdivided are closed by " Closing Order," and subsequently reconstructed, the application of the above provisions is restricted primarily and substantially to houses not yet subdivided. 2075. We are impressed with the need for an attempt at reduction of the number of separate families living in many tenements, and if the provisions of the Burgh Police Act in regard to increasing the number of houses in any existing tenement were made applicable to houses already subdivided, a great step would be taken towards the regeneration of many city dwellings, and their adaptation to modern ideas and sanitary necessities. The operation of such a power — if conferred — should, we think, vest in the two responsible officers (Health and Structural) of the Local Authority, viz. the Medical Officer of Health and the Engineer, Surveyor, or Master of Works, who upon being satisfied of there being an excess number of separate families entering from any one common stair, or of its unsuitable construc- tion, or of its want of adequate dayhght and ventilation, might serve an order upon the owners requiring— (a) A reduction in the number of families occupying the tenement ; or (6) Such improvements in the common stair and passages as will secure adequacy of daylight and of ventilation for the houses entering therefrom. Initiative by the Officers of a Local Authority towards Reconstruction. 2076. As to whether Orders of the nature before referred to should be served by the two responsible skilled medical and structural or works officers of the Local Authority, we put stress upon that, as we consider such a course has much to commend it in such matters. Many of the Orders served — especially for repairs only — will relate to matters involving small expenditure although urgent in kind, and the owners will always have the right of appeal against such Orders, firstly to the Local Authority, and secondly to the Local Government Board, to whom also appeal may be made at the instance of the two officers from a decision adverse to their views, which the Local Authority might give. 2077. It is important that the Local Authority (constituted as the first Court of Appeal) should be unbiassed and unhampered by any knowledge or previous Act or resolutions passed by them with respect to the subject matter of the Order, and in order that full justice be done, and that the matter may be capably dealt with — we suggest that it should be competent for either side to invoke the Local Government Board as the final appellate body in questions of fact and of skill. Valuation and Adjustment in respect of Extinction or Interference with Individual Holdings in a Tenement owned in Common, 2078. One effect of the operation of such powers for reduction of intensity in subdivided tenements will be, in many cases, their need for internal reconstruction, so as to render the Order of practical effect. And out of this will arise questions as to the unequal shares or proportions of the burden that will have to be borne by individual owners in the carrying out of any such order, because of the greater or the lesser interference with the individual holdings. ,Thus, whilst it is true that in certain cases individual houses in a subdivided tenement may escape interference, there will be other houses the whole or parts of which may disappear, so as to give room or space for such segregation or rearrangement, and for the carrying out of such works as may be ordered. Unequal sacrifice of individual interests, which may be altogether extinguished or even only injured, for the collective benefit of other interests which might survive unimpaired, should obviously be avoided. It would be necessary therefore that a skilled valuer should be appointed for the determination of the shares and interests that may be extinguished or reduced, or otherwise affected disproportionately to other interests, in the execution of orders for improve- ment relative to subdivided tenement property held in common by two or more owners. We accordingly suggest that where the owners cannot agi-ee among themselves as regards their division of interest, any one of them (or, on the failure of all the owners, the Local Autho'-ity) may apply to the Local Govern- REPORT. ■ 317 ment Board to appoiut a skilled valuer to dctermiue the vaiiovi.s iuterewts in tlie propeity and adjust the new interests therein consequent upon the carrying into effect of the Order. The expenses of these proceedings should be borne among the various owners in the manner determined by the valuer. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XXXI. (1) That if insanitary dwelling-houses are comprised in a building which also contains dwelling- houses that are habitable, and it is not possible to demolish the insanitary houses without equally demolishing the habitable houses, the demolition procedure of section 18 of the Act of 1909 should apply if the building is wholly the property of one owner. (Paragi'aph 2063.) (2) That where a building contains a house or houses belonging to more than one owner, and some of the houses therein are habitable, but it is not possible to demolish the insanitary houses without also demolishing the habitable houses, the owner of the insanitary houses shall be required to pay compensa- ■ tion to the owner or owners of the habitable houses as the same may, faihng agreement, be determined by an arbiter appointed by the Local Government Board. Provided that if the owner of the habitable houses so desires, he shall have the opportunity and right of taking over from the owner of the insanitary houses his rights and interest in the said houses, on condition that the first-mentioned owner undertakes to put the whole of the premises into a proper condition to the satisfaction of the Local Authority within a period to be specified by them, the price to be paid by the owner of the habitable houses to the owner of the uninhabitable houses to be as may be agreed between them, or, failing agreement, as may be deter- mined by an arbiter appointed by the Local Government Board, who should be specially directed, as suggested in Paragraph 2065. (Paragraph 2065.) (3) That where a building contains a house or houses belonging to more than one owner, and while all the houses are insanitary, one or more of the owners is, or are, wilUng to make their houses habitable, while the others are not so prepared, the willing owner or owners shall have the opportmiity and right of acquiring the rights and interests of the imwilling owners under procedure similar to that narrated in (2) supra. This provision shall be available to a joint owner of a dwelling-house or houses. (Paragraph 2066.) (4) For the purposes of the above provisions, dwelling-houses shall be held to include shops. (Paragraph 2067.) (5) That the provisions of section 171 of the Burgh Pohce (Scotland) Act of 1892, limiting the number of houses entering from one common stair or passage should be made applicable to existing subdivided tenements, and that orders for such alterations, including structural alterations necessary to secure adequate lighting and ventilation, etc , should be served on owners by the officers of the Local Authority under procedure and with rights of appeal, as stated. (Paragraphs 2075 and 2076.) (6) That to adjust and determine the various owners' interests affected by the Order, an arbiter should — failing agreement — be appointed by the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 2078.) CHAPTER XXXII. HOUSING POLICY (continued). Further Minor Reforms. 2079. In the course of the evidence submitted to us, various general defects in the existing machinery for carrying out the Pubhc Health and Housing Acts have been revealed. Many of these have already been referred to and appropriate recommendations made in other portions of this Report. In this chapter we have grouped those that remain, and we make recommendations for the removal of the difiiculties that have been experienced by Local Authorities and their officers, or by the Central Depart- ment, viz. the Local Government Board. I. Nature of Appeal Authority. 2080. We have received a considerable amount of evidence showing dissatisfaction with the present method of appeal against decisions of the Local Authority on the subject of Closing and Demolition Orders under the Housing Acts, and this has led us to consider the whole question of the most suitable court of appeal against decisions or requirements of the Local Authority under the Public Health and Housmg Acts generally. For the purpose of clearly imderstanding the present position it is necessary, first of all, to repeat somewhat the existing statutory provisions regarding appeals which have already been referred to in Chapter V. » (1) Under the Housing Acts. 2081. We propose, first of all, to deal with appeals under the Housing Acts, and we shall set out briefly the procedure under the six main matters that are dealt with under these Acts, viz. Improvement Schemes, Reconstruction Schemes, Obstructive Buildings, Closing and Demolition Orders, Housing Schemes, and Town- Planning Schemes. 2082. Improvement Schemes. — By means of these schemes it is possible to deal with large areas of insanitary or slum property affecting in every case large property and other interests. By such a scheme a Local Authority may provide for the widening of approaches to the unhealthy area or other- wise for opening out the same for purposes of ventilation or health ; for the provision of dwelling accommodation for the working classes displaced by the scheme ; for proper sanitary arrangements ; and, generally, for any other matters for which it seems expedient to make provision. It will be seen therefore that matters of very great importance to many persons may fall to be dealt with in such ar 318 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. scheme. When the Local Authority have formed their scheme, they must give public notice of the fact of such a scheme having been made ; thereafter a notice has to,|be served on all parties interested either as owner, lessee, or occupier of land or premises proposed to be taken. When this procedure has been carried out, the Local Authority present a petition to the Local Government Board asking for a confirming Order. It then rests with the Local Government Board, after local inquiry and hearing all the various parties interested, to determine whether or not the scheme should be approved, and there is no appeal from the decision of the Local Government Board on this point. Prior to the passing of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, however, the confirming Order could not, so far as Scotland was concerned, become operative xmtil it had been confirmed by Act of ParUament. The 1909 Act made the Board the final authority so far as the merits of the scheme are concerned, and it will be realised that the duties imposed upon them in connection with such schemes are by no means purely administrative, but are largely judicial. Questions of compensation under the scheme do not, however, fall to be determined by the Board, but by an arbiter appointed by the Board. 2083. Reconstruction Schemes,— K reconstruction scheme is in all essentials practically the same as an improvement scheme, and the procediire outlined above applies, the scheme requiring the confirmation of the Local Government Board, whose decision is final. 2084. Obstructive Buildings. — In these cases, as explained in Chapter V., the house may not of itself be imfit for habitation, but it has, by reason of its situation, the effect of making neighbouring buildings iminhabitable. In such cases the Local Authority have power to make an Order directing that the building shall be pulled down. The owner, however, may appeal to the SherifE against the Order of the Local Authority. 2085. Closing and Demolition Orders. — ^When a Local Authority are satisfied that a house is in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation, they must make an Order prohibiting the use of the house for human habitation luitil, in their judgment, it has been rendered fit for that purpose. This Order is termed a " Closing Order," and the owner of the house afiected may appeal to the SherifE against the decision of the Local Authority. In England the appeal in such cases, which, under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, was to the Court of Quarter Sessions, is now, by the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, to the Local Government Board. As regards Demohtion Orders, i.e. Orders of a Local Authority requiring houses to be demohshed, the same procedure as to appeals applies. In Scotland the appeal is to the SherifE ; in England it is to the Local Government Board. 2086. The above remarks apply to the provisions of the general statutes. Some Local Authorities, as shown in Chapter V., have special powers tmder local Acts, under which there is no appeal even to the SherifE against the Local Authorities' Orders regarding Closure and Demohtion. Thus, in Edinburgh and Aberdeen there is no appeal against a Closing Order made by the Local Authority, and in Dimdee there is no appeal against a Demolition Order. 2087. Housing Schemes. — ^While there is no definite appeal given by statute against any proposal of a Local Authority to erect houses for the working classes, there is a control exercisable by the Local Government Board in that the consent of that department is necessary before the Local Authority can borrow money to defray the cost of any housing scheme they propose to carry out. 2088. Toum-Planning Schemes.- — As stated in Chapter V., the general purpose of the town-planning portion of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, is to give Local Authorities a controlling voice in the development of land in and around their district, so as to secure proper sanitary conditions, amenity, and convenience in the laying out and use of such land. Much more than improvement schemes, town- planning schemes will affect interests of great magnitude and of very diverse kinds. The fourth schedule to the Act sets out the various matters that may be dealt with in a town-planning scheme, and it will be gathered from these, that a town-planning scheme may in effect be practically the equivalent of a local Act of Parliament. There are two steps described in the Act for the carrying through of a town- planning scheme. In the first place the Local Authority require authority to prepare a scheme, and in the second place, when the scheme has been prepared, it must be approved. This authority and this approval fall to be given by the Local Government Board, and it will, we think, be accepted that the functions of the Board will be of a highly judicial character, having, as they may, to decide in many matters falhng within the scope of the scheme between various conflicting interests. 2089. It has, however, to be noted that the Act makes provision whereby ParUament may intervene before a scheme becomes operative. Thus the Local Government Board, before giving their approval of a town-planning scheme, must give notice of their int-ention to do so in the [Edinburgh jSazette, and if within a specified period any person or authority interested objects, the draft of the Order approving the scheme must be laid before both Houses of Parhament, and if either House dissents, no further pro- ceedings may be taken. There is a similar provision in cases where the scheme contains provisions suspending any enactment of a public general Act. (2) Under the Public Health Acts and Burgh Police Acts. 2090. Generally speaking, it may be said that under these Acts appeals against decisions of Local Authorities, or proceedings by Local Authorities, for removal of nuisances, etc., fall to be taken before a sheriff, magistrate, or justice of the peace. There are, however, certain matters in regard to which the Local Government Board are the appeal or deciding Authority. Thus in regard to all byelaws made imder the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, which include byelaws for regulating the building or re- building of houses, for the regulation of common lodging-houses, houses let in lodgings and farmed-out houses, tents, vans, sheds, and similar structures, the confirmation of the Local Government Board is necessary before the byelaws come into operation. In regard to byelaws under the Burgh Pohce Acta, the statute provides that all such byelaws must be confirmed by the Secretary for Scotland, and that, in addition, such byelaws as relate to sanitary matters must also be confirmed by the Local Government Board, byelaws as to non-sanitary matters being confirmed by the Sheriff in addition to the Secretary for Scotland. The byelaws as to sanitary matters includes byelaws as to the erection and construction of houses and buildings, the carrying out of proper cleansing and scavenging arrangements, the inspection and cleaning of cisterns, etc. REPORT. • 3J9 2091. There are other matters (not, it is true, connected with housing, but having a direct bearing on pubhc health) in these Acts in which the Local Groveniment Board are the appeal authority. Thus, under the Public Health Act, the Board are the authority to whom appeals fall to be made agauist the decisions of Local Authorities sanctioning or refusing to sanction the establishment of any ofEensive business on a particular site. If the Local Authority sanction the establishment of such a business, any person aggrieved may appeal to the Board, while, if the Local Authority decline so to sanction, the person who proposed to set up the business may appeal to the Board. Similarly, any person refused by the Local Authority a renewal of a licence for a slaughter-house or knackery may appeal to the Local Government Board. Again, where Local Authorities fail to agi-ee on the terms of combination for the purpose of erecting a joint fever hospital, the matter falls to be decided by the Board. They are also the Authority for granting Provisional Orders under the Pubhc Health Act, authorising the putting in force of the Lands Clauses Acts for the purpose of the compulsory acquisition of land in connection with water, sewerage, and other schemes authorised by the Act, though, as explauied in Chapter V., machinery is provided whereby the Board's decision may be reviewed by Parhament. Further, when a Local Authority propose to construct without their district any sewer or other work for sewage purposes, the Local Government Board are the authority who make inquiry into the propriety of the intended work, and into any objections lodged, and determine whether or not, or on what conditions the work should proceed. 2092. Under the Burgh Police Acts the appeal against requirements of the Town Council is to the SherifE or the Court of Session. The Sheriff is also the authority, subject as after mentioned, for gi-anting power to put the Lands Clauses Acts in force for any of the purposes of these Acts, but there is an appeal against his decision to the Secretary for Scotland. Where the land required is for the purposes of a refuse depot, the authority of the Local Government Board is first required. 2093. A very important provision in a recent Act bearing directly on public health and housing is that contained in section 63 of the National Insurance Act, 1911, under which, in its application to Scot- land, it falls to the Local Government Board to determine in cases inquired into by them whether or not excess of sickness among insured persons is due to bad housmg or insanitary conditions, or to an inefficient or contaminated water-supply, or to neglect on the part of a Local Authority to enforce the provisions of any Act relating to public health or the housing of the working classes, and whether and how the extra expenditme of approved Societies or Insurance Committees due to the above causes should be made good. We understand no inquiry under the section in question has yet been held, but it seems clear that the functions to be discharged by the Board in carrying out their duties imder the section in question will by no means be purely administrative. 2094. We do not think we need enter here into any further details of the statutes on this subject. We have given sufficient references, we think, to show that Parliament in passing the Housmg and Public Health and Burgh Police Acts have regarded the Local Government Board as a suitable appeal authority in respect of many of the provisions of these Acts. Other Acts confer similar appeal powers on other Government departments, e.g. the Insurance Commissioners, the Board of Trade, the Education Department, etc. Evidence against Local Government Board as an Appeal Authority. 2095. We may now proceed to a consideration of the evidence before us on the subject of the most suitable appeal authority for determining questions of dispute under the Pubhc Health and Housing Acts, and it will, we think, be agreed that the weight of evidence which, as will be seen, refers specially to the question of appeals against closing orders under the Housing Acts is greatly in favour of the sub- stitution of the Local Government Board for the SherifE as the appeal authority. 2096. We might perhaps first deal with the evidence against any change of the existing system. Only two witnesses spoke against transferring to the Local Govemiiient Board the appeal functions at present exercised by the Sheriff, and, as wiU be seen, their views are^not strongly against the proposal. One of these was Mr Macpherson, Legal Member of the Local Government Board. In reply to a question on the point, he said : — The reason for the difference (between the practice in England and Scotland as to the appeal authority in connection with Closing and Demolition Orders) is that in Committee m the House certain members who had not a very high opinion of the qualities or staff of our Board suggested that appeals should be to the Sheriff, but since that time we have considerably added to oui- staff. I do not think the matter is a very important one really, because I notice that with reference to 1353 Closing Orders which have been issued since the Act came into force, there have been only sixteen appeals against them. On the whole — I am speaking for myself — I should prefer that we did not have these appeals. The less we are brought into this sort of contact with Local Authorities the better, I think. I would as soon leave it to the Sheriff, but it is a small matter. . . . I would rather have the Sheriff, simply because I don't want us to be more of a judge over the authorities than we can help. I want them rather to go hand in hand with us. That is why we always suggest that instead of having power to issue a mandamus we should take them into Coui"t if need be and get the Court to decide. (Macpherson, 80, 201.) Our observation meantime on this evidence is that the legislature has already, as we have shown above, conferred on the Local Government Board power to say whether or not whole blocks or streets of houses should or should not be condemned by means of an improvement or a reconstruction scheme, and there seems no reason why the Board should not be entrusted with the power of saying whether or not an individual house should be closed and subsequently demolished. 2097. The second witness who did not wholly favour the change was Dr Campbell Munro, the County Medical Officer of Renfrewshire ; and his evidence indicates that he was not very decided on the point. He admitted that, were appeals made to the Local Government Board, uniformity of decisions would be secured, which, owing to the changing of Sheriffs, was not secured at the present time ; but 320 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. lie coubiJoxed tliat the Local Governuieut Board wab ebbentially aii administrative body, iKjt a judicial one, and that accordingly, in theory at least, it was not a perfect Court of Appeal, though he admitted that in England, where appeals under the Closuig Order section of the Housing Acts were to the Local Govemment Board, owners of property were quite safe in appealing to that Board. In his own personal experience he said the Sheriff had proved an effective judge, but he admitted that/' when one has to ' regard the whole country and the exceptional Sheriffs you come across, then it is open to question ' whether there should not be an appeal to the Local Government Board." It was, he further said, a distinct disadvantage that one. Sheriff's decision was in no way binding on another. Dr Munro sug- gested that he would not seek to bring in the Local Government Board if there was an appeal from the decision of the Sheriff to the Court of Session. He agreed that under this procedure the expenses would be considerable, but submitted that " the very fact of the amount of the expense would make people ' very chary of going before either the Sheriff or the Court of Session." (Campbell Mimro, 37,379-90.) Dr Munro's objections against the transfer of appeal functions to the Local Govemment Board are, as will be seen, based on the view that the Local Govemment Board is an administrative and not a judicial body. We need only refer to the outline above of the various duties that have been placed by Parliament on the Board to show that, far from being a purely administrative body, the Board have been vested with many duties which are essentially judicial, involving as they do the settlement of disputes between Local Authorities and owners of land and property. Evidence in Support of Local Government Board as an Appeal Authority. 2098. Turning now to the evidence of the witnesses who object to appeals being to the Sheriff, we select first of all that of Sii- John Lindsay, the Town Clerk of Glasgow. As we have already shown, in Glasgow, differing from Edinburgh and Aberdeen, there is an appeal to the Sheriff against any Order of the Local Authority closing a house as imfit for habitation. Sir John considers that the Corporation, with its special and peculiar knowledge of the housing conditions of the city, should have a free hand to close and even to demolish houses — without any right of appeal to the Courts. If, however, an appeal were allowed, he would prefer that it should be to the Local Government Board instead of to the Sheriff. This view is also advanced by the City Engineer of Edinburgh. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,796.) Sir John Lindsay is strongly against appeals to the Law Courts. The general view of his Corporation is that the Courts of Law do not look wath any great sympathy or encouragement on proceedings taken before them for the closure and demolition of houses that, in the opinion of the Corporation, are unfit for human habita- tion. The judges, he says, have really no personal knowledge of the real conditions under which the poor of the city live, and are, in his view, " absolutely ignorant on this point." " I do not hesitate ' to tell you," he says, " that from the moment you enter the Court it is a fight with the Court all through. ' You have to fight the Court as well as your opponent." 2099. Sir John also refers to the great delay that often takes place before a decision can be obtained in the Courts. " If I go down to-day to the Law Comts with a house certified as unfit for human ' habitation, I am in the Law Courts for months before I get out." The result is that, during the time the matter is before the Court, the house which has been certified by the Officers of the Local Authority as uninhabitable continues to be occupied. The witness was also In favour of the Local Govemment Board being authorised to decide any points of law that might arise in the course of any appeal to them. He thought the Board through its legal members were quite qualified to dispose of any question of law likely to arise. (Lindsay, 23,235 (50), 23,245-67.) 2100. The other evidence before us in support of an appeal to the Local Govemment Board follows much the same lines as that of the Tovm Clerk of Glasgow summarised above. Thus Sir Thomas Mimro, the County Clerk of Lanarkshire, considers that the Sheriffs and Law Courts generally are very apt to pay too much attention to technicality, and that the power should be in the hands of the Local Govem- ment Board. " I should imaginfe," he adds, " most Sheriffs would be glad to be rid of the position in * which they are put of practically controlling the Local Authorities in the discharge of their executive ' duties." (27,668, 27,679-80.) Mr Whyte, the Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire, gave evidence in similar terms (37,068, 37,092-5), as did also the Medical Officer of Health of Dundee (Templeman, 35,840), the Medical Officer of Aberdeen (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (68), 41,406), and the Sanitary Inspector of Leith (Bishop, 6000-3). 2101. Another witness, the Sanitary Inspector and Burgh Surveyor of Clydebank, who is dis- satisfied with the present procedure before the Sheriff, suggests that more uniformity of practice and better results would accrue if the Sheriff were required, in all cases where he considers it necessary before he can come to a decision to have a report by " a man of skill " to remit all such cases to the Local Govemment Board to be reported on by one of their officers. (Ross, 33,719 (15-16), (68), 33,752, 33,830-33.) Advantages or Local Government Board as the Appeal Authority. 2102. On a careful consideration of all the evidence on this subject, we have no hesitation in re- conmiending that, not only as regards appeals against Closing and Demolition Orders made by Local Authorities under the Housing Acts, but as regards other matters pertaining to housing and public health, appeals or proceedings which at present jail to be decided by the Sheriff should be referable to or taken before the Local Government Board. We think the evidence of such experienced admini- strators as the Town Clerk of Glasgow, the Coimty Clerk of Lanarkshire, the Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire, and the other witnesses referred to above cannot be brushed lightly aside, pointing as it does to the necessity, in the interests of housing and public health, of the appeal authority being one intimately acquainted with conditions of housing and public health throughout Scotland. This authority, in our view, should be the Local Groverimient Board, enlarged and strengthened as we suggest elsewhere in this Eeport. 2103. The advantages claimed for this change are : — (1) The establishment of imiformity through- out Scotland in dealing with insanitary houses and with defective sanitary conditions generally ; (2) REPORT. 321 a more sjmapathetic and a broader consideration of the requirements and intentions of the statutes ; and (3) a naore speedy and less expensive method of determining disputes. It does not seem necessary to elaborate these points ; they are discussed fully in the summary given above of the evidence of various witnesses. One or two additional observations may, however, be made. In Chapter X. on " Occu- ' pancy," we have cited cases which show the divergent views taken by Sheriffs, not only on the subject of the conditions necessary to exist before a house can be held to be so dangerous or injurious to health as to be a nuisance or unfit for human habitation, but also on the extent to which in coming to their decisions they are to be bound or influenced by the progress of ideas in regard to sanitation since the passing of the Act, the interpretation of which they are asked to determine. One Sheriff, as will be seen, appears to take the view that the standard in vogue at the passing of the Public Health (Scotland) Act in 1897 is to remain the standard by which that Act is to be interpreted and administered until it has been amended — a period of time which may extend to many years (the 1867 Public Health Act was thirty years old before the amending 1897 Act was passed), that in fact the progress of ideas in regard to health and sanitation and the improved standard of housing now generally admitted to be desirable and reason- able are to have no weight, and that for probably many years the Local Authorities and the people of the country are to be content with a standard of health and housing much behind the times. The Law Courts, we hold, are not suitable bodies to determine whether or not a nuisance exists injurious or dangerous to health, or whether a house is unfit for human habitation. They have not, as Sir John Lindsay says, the necessary personal knowledge of the public health and housing conditions that exist throughout Scotland, and they have to decide these matters in the light of the various conflicting expert evidence that is placed before them. The appeal authority should be one that is familiar with these conditions and that is able by means of reports from its own independent officials to come to a conclusion on the merits without asking parties to incur heavy expenses in producing expert evidence in support of their respective views. Such an authority, as we have said, is the Local Government Board. 2104. It may be argued that the Local Government Board, being the Central Autjiority on whom is placed the duty of seeing that Local Authorities carry out the provisions of the Public Health and Housing Acts, cannot be a strictly impartial authority in that they would naturally incline to favour the views of the Local Authority as the guardian of the public health. But, as we have pointed out, the Local Government Board are already invested with powers of deciding various matters that may be in dispute between Local Authorities and others, and the logical outcome of this argument would be that the decision of all these matters should be taken out of the hands of the Local Government Board. We do not gather there is any such proposal made by any responsible party. The argument also, we think, presupposes that the Local Authorities will use the powers with which Parliament has invested them in an arbitrary and unreasonable fashion, a presupposition for which there is no evidence before us. Local Aiithorities, we think, have been much too lenient in dealing with what seem to us undoubted nuisances and defective housing conditions, and we consider that when Local Authorities are compelled by circumstances to take proceedings against any parties there is, to say the least, a strong prima facie case to show that the existing conditions require remedy. But, as Sir John Lindsay has stated, there is a safeguard to any unfair exercise by the Board of their appeal powers as against a private party and in favour of a Local Authority, in respect that action of the Board can at any time be called to account in Parliament. (Lindsay, 23,259.) The interests of property owners in England are, according to Dr Campbell Munro, quite safe in the hands of the Local Government Board, an I even ihould it be the case, as he says, that the English Local Government Board is a much more conserva- tive body than the Scottish Board (Ibid., 37,385), we have no doubt that the latter Board will judge fairly between the claims of the Local Authority and the parties against whom the Local Authority are proceeding. 2105. It may also be urged against our proposal that, as it is the duty of the Local Government Board to see that Local Authorities carry out the duties placed on them under the Public Health and Housing Acts, it may be that in pressing a Local Authority to carry out any housing or public health improvements, the Board may have committed themselves to a particular course of procedure without having heard persons whose interests may be affected. In reply to this, we again point out that in the case conceived the Board would be in no different position than they are at present in regard, e.g. to improvements or reconstruction schemes under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, or town- planning schemes under the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. In such cases it may well be that the Board have been urging a Local Authority to frame such schemes, but the Board when a scheme comes before them for confirmation are in no way prejudiced by their previous action, and will consider the whole case on its merits in the light of its presentation to them by the Local Authority and by any objectors to the scheme. Similarly, in regard to any complaint made to them of the existence of a nuisance or an uninhabitable house in the area of a Local Authority, either by a private party or in a report by any of the Board's own officers, the Board wovdd transmit the complaint to the Local Authority to deal with in the first instance. If, as the result of the action of the Local Authority an appeal were made to the Board by the affected party, the Board would, before coming to any decision, have all the facts of the case before them, including the views of the said party, and would not necessarily be bound to accept the opinion contained in a report of any of their own officers. A somewhat similar procedure already exists in the statute. Where a medical officer of health fails, on complaint being made to him by ratepayers, to make to his Local Authority a representation that a certain area complained of is an unhealthy area or represents that the area in question is not an unhealthy one, and, therefore not a fit subject for an improvement scheme, the Local Government Board, on being appealed to, may direct any of their officers to make an inquiry as to the complaint. If on inquiry such officer considers the area an unhealthy one, he must make a representation to the Local Government Board to that effect, and the Board must transmit it to the Local Authority who must deal in terms of the statute with the representation as if it had been made by their own medical officer of health. Later on the improvement scheme — which will have been framed consequent on the representation of the Local Government Board's own officer — will come before the Board for confirmation. But, as we have said, the Board 21 322 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. are not prejudiced by their previous action, and we are not aware that any injustice has been caused by the existing procedure or that sny responsible body or party makes any suggestion for a change in that procedure. Extent of Board's Powers as an Appeal Authority. 2106. As will have been seen, Sir John Lindsay is in favour of giving the Local Government Board power not only to decide disputes affecting matters pertaining to housing and public health, but also to determine any disputes on points of law that may arise on appeals to them. In this connection it will be noted that in England, where appeals against Closing and Demolition Orders under the Housing Acts are to the Local Government Board, it is provided by section 39 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, that the Board may at any stage of the proceedings on appeal and shall, if so directed by the High Court, state in the form of a special case for the opinion of the Court any question of law arising in the course of the appeal. The same provision applies to Scotland, with, of course, the substitution of the Sheriff for the Local Government Board, and the Court of Session for the High Court. While we have no doubt, as Sir John Lindsay says, that the Local Government Board for Scotland would be quite competent through their legal member and the law officers to decide any points of law that may arise, we do not think that this is a duty that they ought to be bound to dis- charge in any or every case. There may, of course, from time to time be minor points of law raised in connection with appeals which are really so trifling that the time of the Law Courts ought not to be taken up in hearing them. In these cases the Board could quite well decide the points at issue, and the exist- ing statute (section 39 of the 1909 Act above referred to) is apparently so worded that in England the Board may do so in regard to such points arising on appeals in connection with Closing and Demolition Orders, for they are not bound to state a special case except when directed by the High Court. Otherwise it is left to their discretion to say whether or not a special case is to be stated. Accordingly, we consider that the statute should be so framed as not to exclude the Local Government Board from deciding, where they choose, points of law, but at the same time to give them the option of referring such points to the Court of Session for decision, and also to require them to do so when so directed by that Court. 2107. There remains now to consider the matters which should be referred to the Local Govern- ment Board for determination in terms of the foregoing recommendations. We do not propose that every function that is at present performed by a Slieriff or other magistrate under the existing Public Health and Housing Laws or that would, but for the suggestion now under consideration, be performed by him under any of the new proposals in this Report, should be transferred to the Local Government Board. We recognise that there are matters (e.g. questions of keeping dirty houses, penalties for over- crowding, warrants for forcible entry to houses, etc.), which can be disposed of in the local Courts and which need not be referred to the Local Government Board. Such matters are those in regard to which the statute is — or, if our recommendations are carried out, will be — ^specific in its requirements. The matters that we would propose should be referable to the Local Government Board in addition to those already falling to them under the existing statutes as already suggested in this Report., are — (a) Appeals against decisions of Local Authorities ordering the closing or demolition of houses or the carrying out of works considered necessary by Local Authorities to make houses fit for habitation. (Cf. Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act., 1909, sections 15, 17, 18, 39, 53 (14).) (6) Appeals against requirements of Local Authorities (including Dean of Guild Courts) in regard to erection of new houses or buildings. (Cf. section 339 of Burgh Police Act, 1892.) (c) Appeals against decisions of Local Authorities requiring the execution of works for the improve- ment of public health conditions generally, e.g. introduction of water-supply to houses, provision of drains, sinks, water-closets, sculleries, baths, etc. [Cf. section 339 of Burgh Police Act, 1892, sections 22, etc., of Public Health Act, 1897.) (d) Appeals against proceedings of Local Authority for removal of statutory public health nuisances. (Cf. section 22 of PubUc Health Act, 1897.) (e) Applications by Local Authorities for removal of houses from the register of Common Lodging- Houses, and appeals against resolutions of Local Authorities removing houses from such register. (Cf. sections 90 and 94 of Pubhc Health Act of 1897.) (/) Appeals in connection with disputes under any byelaws confirmed by Local Government Board. (Cf. sections 184 and 153, etc., of Public Health Act, 1897.) (g) Appeals against formation or refusal of formation of special water, drainage, scavenging, and hghting districts. (Cf. sections 38, 122, and 131 of Public Health Act of 1897.) (h) Appeals against requirements of Local Authorities as to putting in order and maintaining private streets and footpaths. (Cf. section 39 of Public Health Act, 1897.) (i) Application of Local Authorities for power to acquire land compulsorily for any public health or housing purpose. (Cf. section 145 of Pubhc Health Act, 1897, and section 60 of Burgh Police Act, 1892.) (j) Applications to have Local Authorities required to carry out their statutory duties. (Cf. section 146 of Public Health Act of 1897.) 2108. In making these recommendations we are concerning ourselves only with matters of housing or of public health in relation to housing. There may be various other public health matters which when in dispute should be decided by the Local Government Board rather than by the Law Courts, but as regards these we are, of course, not in a position' to make any recommendation. Grenerally speaking, we consider that all disputes which arise between one Local Authority and another, or between a Local Authority and any other parties, and which for their decision require expert knowledge on the subject of housing or public health, should be referable to the Local Government Board as the department concerned with these matters and having officials specially skilled therein who will be in a position to advise the Board on technical details. 2109. We submit in conclusion that our proposals will in no way prejudice the interests of any party, that they will ensure the hearing of appeals by a department specially fitted for the purpose, that appeals will ba more readily disposed of, and that the cost of proceedings to parties concerned will be very con- siderably reduced. REPORT. 323 II. Water- Supply. Further Powers for Introduction of Water into Houses in County Areas. 2110. As will have been seen from the section of this Report setting forth the existing statutory powers in regard to public health and housing (Chapter V.), there is a very important difference between the powers of Local Authorities in county areas and in burghs in regard to the provision of a water-supply to houses. In the case of the latter the Town Council have power to require water to be introduced into houses ; in the counties, however, all that the Local Authority can require is that a supply of water shall be available at or reasonably near a house. There is no definition of what is " reasonably near," and in consequence Local Authorities have found considerable difficulty in putting their powers in force. In the event of a dispute the question of what was " reasonably near " would fall to be determined by the Sheriff, and there would most likely be set up varying standards in different parts of the country. The result of the absence of definition has quite apparently been that Local Authorities have had to rest content with a supply of water available at considerable distances from houses. This cannot be regarded as a satisfactory state of matters. In the interests of health and cleanliness, it is necessary that an ample supply of wholesome water shoiild be easily available. It is not reasonable to expect persons to go comparatively long distances for water, especially, as one witness puts it, at all hours, in all weathers, and whether the ground is muddy or covered with melting snow. (Dewar, 764 (46).) It has also to be remembered that the result in such cases is that water is kept about the house in open vessels and thus is constantly liable to contamination. 2111. Supply of Water to Houses in Special Water Districts. — We are therefore clearly of opinion that further powers should be given to Local Authorities of county areas. We realise that in respect of the provision of water-supply a county area differs considerably from a burgh, where, as a rule, a gravita- tion water-supply has been introduced by the Town Council and is laid on through the streets of the burgh. A similarity does, however, exist in the case of special water-supply districts in county areas, and in the parts of counties where, without the formation of such districts, water-supply schemes have been carried out. We consider that in regard to all new houses built in special water-supply districts or in districts where, without the formation of such special districts, water-supply schemes have been carried out, it should be obhgatoiy on the owner to introduce water into the houses unless there are special reasons satisfactory to the Local Authority why this cannot be done. In cases where the Local Authority are satisfied that water cannot be brought into the house, they should require that a supply should be available immediately outside the house or as near thereto as the water can be brought. Where, however, houses have already been built in such districts, it may not always be possible, owing to the form of construction of the house, to introduce water into the house, but wherever this can be done we consider it ought to be done. If it is not practicable to introduce water into the house, the Local Authority should have power to see that it is available immediately outside the house or as near thereto as the water can be brought. These proposals would entail an obligation on the Local Authority to bring their water main within a reasonable distance of a house. At present they are not bound to bring it within any specified distance of a dwelling-house, and it would not be reasonable to require the owner of a house in a special water district to connect up his house with the main of the Local Authority, which might be a considerable distance away. 2112. Supply of Water to Houses outwith Special Water Districts. — -As regards county areas outwith special water districts or districts otherwise provided with a water scheme, the position is different in that no general water-supply scheme is available. Notwithstanding the absence of such a scheme, we con- sider there should be an obUgation on the Local Authority to see that every house either has a supply of water introduced into it, or has one just immediately outside the house. There may be cases among existing houses where it is not practicable or possible to introduce a supply of water into or even to the immediate outside of the house. In such cases the Local Authority would require to exercise their dis- cretion and to secure a supply within as short a distance of the house as the water can be brought. We further consider that, except in such cases as may be sanctioned by the Local Authority, no new house should be erected outwith a special water-supply district unless the Local Authority are satisfied that a supply of water will be introduced into the house or will be available immediately outside. 2113. Length of Notice requiring Water-Supply to be provided. — In county areas under the present law a Local Authority cannot take action to compel an owner to provide a water-supply to his house until the expiry of a year from the date of the notice of the Local Authority requiring him to do so. This length of notice is, in our view, much too great. In burghs a month's notice is given. We consider that a month's notice should be sufficient in county areas also, with power to the Local Authority to extend the period on good cause being shown. Should the owner fail to take any steps to implement the notice on the expiry of the period granted by the Local Authority, he should (as in the case of burghs — see section 24 of the Burgh Police Act, 1903) be liable to a penalty and also to a continuing penalty for each day during which he fails to comply with the Local Authority's notice. The existing power of the Local Authority whereby they may carry out the necessary works and recover the expense from the owner should be continued. 2114. Appeal against Requirements of Local Authorities. — Differences of opinion will arise from time to time between owners of property and the Local Authority or their officials in regard to the introduction of water under any of the powers above suggested, and we are of opinion that in all such cases any such differences or any disputes as to whether or not a supply should be introduced into a house or whether it is reasonable or expedient or practicable to do so should be determined by the Local Government Board, whose decision should be final and binding on both parties. Introduction of Water-Supply to Houses in Burghs. 2115. The observations made above apply to county areas. In burghs, as already stated. Town Coimcils have power to require water to be introduced into houses, but we consider that it should be obligatory on them to see that water is introduced or is available immediately outside the house, and that in all new houses water is introduced. The provisions as to an appeal suggested above would apply. 324 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Water-SuppUes for CoUiery Villages. 2116. The provisions of the general statute, dealing with the supply of water to houses, are evidently not sufficient to meet the cases of houses in some colliery villages. The general statute gives the Local Authority power to require the owners of the houses in such villages {i.e. the colliery company) to provide a proper supply of wholesome water. (PubUc Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, section 125.) Dr M'Vail, formerly Medical Officer of Health for Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire, suggests that where the water-supply of colliery houses is provided by the mine-owners, the Local Authority should have definite powers to require (a) sufficient storage, and filtration or softening, or both, according to circumstances ; and in some cases (b) the making of proper arrangements for the collection of roof-water for washing purposes. (Ibid., 5248 (5).) The witness explained that in many such villages there is no proper gravitation water-supply available and the proprietor of the mine endeavours to make the best of local sources and often resorts to water from the mine. Such water is commonly very hard and requires softening and probably also filtration. In addition, the storage provided (often an old pit boiler) is unsuitable and insufficient, the water in summer becoming quite tepid. (Ibid., 5259.) We hope that, following on our recommendation elsewhere for a general water survey, gravitation water schemes will be made available for many communities at present supplied from somewhat doubtful sources, but pending these places being so supplied, we recommend that in such cases as those mentioned by Dr M'Vail the Local Authorities should have the additional powers he suggests. 2117. The same witness also suggests that water pumped from working levels of mines should be prohibited for domestic use, and that Local Authorities should be empowered to require convenient arrangements for miners taking with them into the underground workings a small supply of drinking water, so as to prevent resort to water polluted in the workings. There is no justification, he says, under any circumstances for taking water from the workings of a colliery as he has known done, enteric fever with disastrous results having been so caused. (M'Vail, 5248 (6), (7), 5260, etc.) We agree with these recommendations. III. Drainage. Obligation of Local Authorities to bring Sewers near Houses. 2118. As will be seen from the summary of the existing statutory powers (Chapter V.) there is no obligation on a Local Authority (either of a county area or of a burgh) to bring their sewers within any specified distance of a dwelhng-house. In view of the suggestion which we make later, giving Local Authorities power in regard to the introduction of water-closets into houses, we think that, in burghs and in special drainage districts or in parts of counties where without the formation of such districts a Local Authority have carried out a drainage scheme, the Local Authority should be required to bring their sewer within a reasonable distance of the houses. What a reasonable distance is will depend largely on local circumstances, and it may be that in some cases it is not reasonably practicable to extend the sewer as we propose. In such cases we are of opinion that any dispute should be referred to the Local Government Board, whose decision should be final. Discharge of Trade Effluents into Sewers. 2119. Under this heading of drainage, we desire to draw attention to a suggestion by one witness that, owing to the great dubiety at the present time as to what are the rights of public works with regard to the introduction of trade effluents into sewers, more definite powers should be given to Local Authorities to regulate this matter. It was pointed out that certain trade effluents destroy bacterial life and thus interfere with the efficiency of the sewage purification works. (Whyte, 36,936-8.) This is the only witness who drew attention to this matter,lbut, as his evidence ref eiTed to the industrial district of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire, it is quite probable that the same difficulty is experienced in similar areas, though not perhaps in the same degree. We understand that such powers as are desired have been conferred on Galashiels and Coatbridge burghs by means of Provisional Orders under the Private Legisla- tion Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1899, and we see no reason why such powers should not be made available to Local Authorities generally. The Orders specially obtained by Galashiels and Coatbridge in 1908 and 1914 respectively authorise, inter alia, the Town Councils to make regulations as to the condition on which trade refuse will be received into the sewers, disputes between the Town Councils and any traders on the subject of the regulations being settled by an arbiter mutually agreed on or, failing such agreement, by an arbiter appointed by the Local Government Board. Provision of Water-Closets or Earth-Closets. 2120. Obligation to require Provision of Water-closets in Burghs. — In burghs, under the existing law, Town Councils have power to require the provision wherever practicable of a water-closet for every house. This power cannot, however, be enforced where, from water not having been laid under sufficient pressure,, or from drains being still unmade, or from any other cause, such works are impracticable or inexpedient. In such a case, the Town Council may require a sufficient earth-closet to be provided. It will be observed that it is optional on the part of Town Councils to exercise these powers. We consider that it should be obhgatory on them to do so, and that, unless there are very special reasons to the contrary, no new house should be permitted to be erected in a burgh unless it has a water-closet for its exclusive use. Should, however, an exceptional case arise where it is not practicable to provide a water-closet, an earth-closet or other form of closet approved by the Town Council should be required. 2121. Provision of Water-Closets to Houses in Special Drainage Districts in Counties. — In county areas no similar power exists. We are of opinion that in a special drainage district, or in places where, without the formation of such a district, a drainage scheme has been provided, the Local Authority should have a similar power to that of a Town Council, and that it should be obligatory on them to exercise it. The erection of new houses in such special districts, or other places as above mentioned, should be sub- ject to the same condition as suggested above for burghs as regards the introduction of water-closets. REPORT. 325 2122. Provision, of Water-Closets to Houses outwUh Special Drainmje Districts. — As regards houses ill county areas outwith those specially dealt with above, we consider that it should be obligatory on the Local Authority to see that every house (existing or new) is supplied either with a water-closet, wherever reasonable and practicable, or, in the event of it not being reasonable and practicable, with an earth-closet or other form of closet approved by the Local Authority. 2123. Extent to which Common W ater -Closets should be allowed. — In the descriptive part of this Report reference has been made to the condition in which we found water-closets and privies that were used in common. Our visits corroborated the written and oral evidence of witnesses. In many cases the state of those conveniences was shockingly filthy beyond description, and they were absolutely unfit for use. We are satisfied that this is largely attributable to the fact that the conveniences were used in common, and that the radical improvement that is necessary will not be effected until every family has a separate convenience for its own use, properly secured under lock and key should it happen to be outwith the house. From the point of view especially of those who are responsible for the sanitary administration of a district, such a reform is urgently called for. They are seldom able to bring home the offence to any particular person or persons, and though, as previously stated, the Public Health Act makes provision in such cases whereby proceedings can be taken against ail the common users in the event of the convenience being in a filthy state for want of proper cleansing, it has been shown by one witness that, perhaps not unnaturally, a Sheriff is somewhat unwilhng to convict in such cases. (Whyte, 36,834 (35).) 2124. We recognise that it is not practicable in the case of all existing houses to require that they shall each be provided with a separate water-closet or earth-closet, but we are clearly of opinion that, as far as possible, such common conveniences should be done away with. Accordingly, we recommend that, in cases where a house is not provided with a water-closet or earth-closet for its own use, the Local Authority should be required to see that such a separate convenience is provided wherever this is reason- ably practicable. Where, however, difficulties of construction make it impossible to secure one such convenience for each house, we recommend that a convenience should be provided for every two houses. 2125. Provision of Sanitary Conveniences for new Houses. — We further recommend that no new houses should be allowed to be put up that do not have a convenience for their own use. 2126. Appeal against Requirements of Local Authorities. — Disputes will naturally arise in the carry- ing out of these powers, and, following the line taken in regard to the introduction of water into houses, we recommend that all such disputes m counties or burghs should be referable to the Local Government Board for decision. IV. Provision oi" -Sculleries (including Washing Accommodation), Coal Storage Accom- modation, Larders or Food Stores, Presses, and Baths. 2127. As has already been explained, there is no power either in counties or in burghs to require the provision- of these domestic conveniences, but we have been much impressed both by the evidence placed before us and by the information obtained during our own visits of inquiry with the necessity for some power being made available to Local Authorities. 2128. Sculleries and Washhouses. — Comparatively few working-class bouses are provided with these. There can be no doubt that where, as is the case 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 pomt of view as well as from the point of view of the domestic comfort of the inmates of the house. We are strongly convinced of the necessity for the provision of these conveniences, and we recommend that no new houses either in counties or in burghs should be allowed to be erected unless they are so pro- vided. We do not think there should be any exception to this recommendation, even in cases where a supply of water is not led into the scullery. In such cases we see no reason why the scullery should not be provided. 2129. We also consider that Local Authorities should be required to see that sculleries are provided in existing houses wherever such a course is reasonable and practicable. 2130. It will possibly be found most convenient to provide in the scullery the necessary accommo- dation for the washing of clothes. If, however, this accommodation is not provided in the scullery or elsewhere connected with the house, it should be made available either in a washhouse common to other and adjoining houses, or in a pubhc washhouse. 2131. Storage of Coals. — This necessary accommodation, as will have been seen from an earlier part of this Report, is sadly lacking in many cases, and accordingly we recommend that it should be obligatory on Local Authorities to see that in all cases accommodation to their satisfaction is provided. 2132. Larders and Presses. — We have been struck in the course of our inquiries with the want in Scottish houses of larders, or other similar accommodation for the storage of perishable articles of food, more especially meat, milk, and butter. The result of this want is that these and similar articles have to be kept in the kitchen, which, as already stated, is not only the general hving and cooking room, but is also very largely used as a sleeping room. It is impossible under these conditions to keep such articles of food in a fresh condition for any time. We are of opinion that no house can be regarded as complete unless this accommodation is provided. It is of course not practicable to require this in the case of exist- ing houses, but we recommend that all new houses should be provided with a larder ventilated directly from the outside, and that Local Authorities should insist on this accommodation being provided before the plans of the house are approved. 2133. It should also be the duty of the Local Authority to see that adequate press accommodation is provided in new houses. Unless a certain amount of this accommodation is provided, it is difficult, if not well-nigh impossible, for the ordinary housewife to keep her house in anything hke a tidy and orderly condition. 2134. Baths. — In the portion of this Report describing the existing housing conditions, we have referred to the extent to which baths have been provided in working-class houses, and have narrated the views of witnesses on the use to which the baths have been put, and on the extent to which they would be used if provided. While, as will be seen, there is evidence to show that in some instances — 326 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND, which, in our view, were isolated instances, and were not the general rule — baths have been put to other uses than that for which they were intended, we cannot regard this as a reason why baths should not be more extensively provided in houses. In many cases where baths had been provided, we are satisfied that the failure to make full use of them was due to the fact that hot water was not laid on. It cannot be expected that much use will be made of a bath, for which no hot water is available, except at consider- able trouble to the householder. 2135. There can.be no doubt that the demand for houses with baths is growing, and it is a striking feature of our evidence that this demand is very insistent on the part of the mining and agricultural workers. The representatives who appeared before us on behalf of the miners and the farm-servants were unani- mous that for their particular occupations a bath with a plentiful supply of hot water was a necessity, and that, apart altogether from the needs of the working members of the family who, in the case of miners, might possibly be provided with baths at the pithead, it was essential for the requirements of the children. Workers in other industries also put forward similar claims. While it is true that in various places, more especially in the larger towns, public baths have been provided by various authorities, we are clearly of the view that these public institutions do not render unnecessary the provision of the bath at home. 2136. No power at present exists on the part of a Local Authority to require the introduction of baths into houses, but we consider that some such power should be given. The time does not yet seem ripe for making it obligatory that every house should be provided with a bath — although we are satisfied that, as far as possible, every house should be so provided — and it is obvious that this would not be a practicable proposal as regards all existing houses. We do consider, however, that Local Authorities should have powers to enable them to require the provision of a bath for every new or reconstructed house. Any owner or builder of such house who considered that the requirements of the Local Authority were un- reasonable or impracticable, should have the right of appeal to the Local Government Board. We re- cognise that the provision of baths in new houses will add to the cost of erection, but the advantages are such that we have no hesitation in recommending that, notwithstanding the extra expenditure, the above additional powers should be granted. V. Building Byelaws. In Counties. 2137. As has already been indicated, the powers of control over the erection of houses in county areas are defective in several respects, and there seems no good reason why the authorities of these areas should not have the same powers as the Town Councils of burghs. Indeed the need for control is greater in the thickly-populated industrial and mining areas in the counties than in many of the small burghs, where the population is not congested. A state of matters which permits of the Town Council of the burgh of Earlsferry, with a population of 322, having more control over the building of houses' than the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshircy with its large industrial population of 202,659, cannot be defended. In the following paragraphs several recommendations are made for a strengthening of the existing powers of Local Authorities in county areas as regards the erection of houses. 2138. Adoption of Byelaws to be obligatory. — In counties the adoption of building byelaws is optional on the part of the Local Authorities, and, as has been stated, only 48 out of 107 county authorities have framed them. We have had a great deal of evidence placed before us as to the effect of such byelaws on the building of houses, and, while some witnesses have maintained that the byelaws have retarded the building of houses, the great majority of witnesses, not only those representing Local Authorities, but unofficial witnesses also, have been quite emphatic that the byelaws have in no way hindered build- ing. There may and probably have been cases where, owing to the non-elastic nature of the byelaws, a mode of construction or a material which was quite satisfactory has been rejected by the officials of the Local Authority. But such cases were not numerous, and in another part of this Report we make suggestions to meet any such difficulty in future. (See Paragraphs 2168 and 2169.) We ourselves are satisfied that where byelaws have been in force they have been of great assistance in securing a better constructed and healthier type of house, and we cannot regard with any degree of satisfaction the fact that more than half of the county Local Authorities in Scotland are without byelaws, and, consequently, without any effective control over the erection of houses in their areas. Accordingly, we strongly recom- mend that all such Local Authorities should be required to make building byelaws. (Macpherson, 2 (482), 17, 18, 111 ; Dewar, 764 (19) ; Coles, 5401 ; Fletcher, 8236 (32), (50) ; M'Elfrish, 9489-92 ; Wilson, Appendix CXCIL, Paragraph 156.) We^may remark tbat this recommendation was made by the Com- mission of 1885. We trust it will now be given effect to. 2139. Approval of Plans. — There is apparently no power providing for the approval by the Local Authority of plans of houses before a commencement is made with the erection. Such power should be given. (Macpherson, 2 (482) ; Dewar, 764 (19) ; Campbell Munro, 37,370 (60) ; Wilson, Appendix CXCIL, Paragraph 155 (1).) 2140. Approval of Sites. — The approval of the Local Authority should also be required to the site of every house to be erected. The situation of many houses in rural areas is anything but satisfactory. To quote the word of one witness : " I know dozens of houses where, within 100 yards of their present ' sites, they could have got magnificent sites — dr/ sites, a fine outlook, and a cheery situation. Instead ' of that they have been put down in a hollow where the sun cannot get at them." (Barrie, 28,701. See also Robb, 4830 (26), 4871-4 ; Wedderspoon, 6322 ; Ranald MacDonald, 9415-8 ; Wintnip, 13,168 (57) (b).) 2141. Approval of Lay-out. — It has been suggested that power should be given to regulate the number and arrangement of buildings on the site. (Davison, 4634 (24) ; Robb, 4830 (26), 5043 ; M'Vail, 5248 (9), (10), 5267-8.) Where a town-planning scheme is in operation this matter can of course be controlled, but places may suddenly be developed which do not come within any area already town-planned, or in respect of which a town-planning scheme is in course of preparation, but over the development of which some control should be exercised by the Local Authority. Accordingly, we recommend that in such cases REPORT. 327 the approval of the Local Authority should be required to the number and arrangement of the buildings on the site, and that the Local Authority should alto be empowered to regulate the height and character of the buildings. 2142. Regulation of Structure. — ^Local Authorities have power at present to regulate the structure of walls, foundations, roofs, and chimneys, but only in so far as likely to affect human health. It has been suggested that the more general powers of section 93 of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, should be given, viz. power to regulate the strength and stability of walls, joisting, and principal timber and iron work. Wilson, 3997 (191) and Appendix CXCII., Paragraph 155 (2), Davison, 4634 (24), Maxwell Ross, 13,798.) We recommend this additional power should be given. 2143. Admission of Light, HeigJU of Rooms, Cubic Space, Structure of Floors, etc. — Other matters which cannot at present be controlled, but which we consider ought to be, are the admission of light to houses (Macpherson, 2 (482), Wilson, 3997 (190); Davison, 4634 (24); Wintrup, 13,168 (47)); the height of rooms (Macpherson, 2 (482) — our recommendations in a later paragraph as to heights of ceilings in burghs should also apply in county areas ; the amount of cubic space in rooms (Maxwell Ross, 13,743 (20) ; Campbell Munro, 37,370 (56) (61) ; Macdonald, 37,534 (18)) ; the structure of floors (M'Kerrell, 26,661 (68) (1) ; Dewar, 764 (29), 1074) ; the provision of a lobby or porch for the purpose of preventing a living-room opening directly ofE the street (Dewar, 764 (34)) ; the provision of a doorstep and back door (Dewar 764 (35) and (36)) ; the width and construction of private streets and footpaths (Davison, 4634 (24)). 2144. Certification for Occupancy. — In burghs no new house can be occupied until it has first been certified by the burgh surveyor as fit for occupation. We recommend that similar power should be conferred on the Local Authorities of county areas. (Macpherson, 2 (482) ; Davison, 4634 (24) ; Wintrup, 13,168 (57) (c); Wilson, Appendix CXCII., Paragraph 155 (3).) ^ 2145. Retetition of Plans. — It has been represented by several official witnesses that there should be power to a Local Authority to require copies of plans to be provided for retention by the Local Authority. (Macpherson, 297-303 ; Dewar, 764 (19), 823 ; Davison, 4634 (24) ; Wintrup, 13,168 (57) (a) ; Brand, 38,543-4.) We suggest some such power should be given. The Local Authority might either require the plans to be submitted in duphcate, one copy of which they would retain, or, if only one copy were sub- mitted, it could be retained by the Local Authority for reference whenever required. The latter we understand is the practice in burghs. The Local Authority ought certainly to be in possession of an exact copy of the plans as approved so that during any inspection of the building their officers may be able to determine whether or not the house is being erected in accordance with the approved plans. t;j-. 2146. Application of Byelaws to Alterations. — There seems to be some doubt as to how far the building byelaws that may be made under the Public Health Act are apphcable to alterations on or additions to houses. (Robertson, 16,234 (36) ; Smith, 27,943 ; Sinclan, 34,682-4.) We think this should be made clear, and that, following the practice in burghs, the approval of the Local Authority in landward areas should be necessary to any alteration or addition, and that such alteration or addition should be carried out in conformity with the appropriate byelaw or byelaws. 2147. Summary of Recommendations. — Summarising our suggestions above we would recommend — (1) That it should be obligatory on every county Local Authority to frame building byelaws ; and, (2) That the present scope of the byelaws should be extended to cover the following matters : — {a) The approval of plans by the Local Authority before building is commenced. (6) The approval by the Local Authority of sites of houses. (c) The regulation of the number and arrangement of buildings on the site, including their height and character. {d) The strength and stability of walls, joisting, and principal timber and iron work, (e) The admission of light. (/) The height of rooms. {g) The amount of cubic space in rooms. (h) The structure of floors. {%) The provision of a lobby or porch. (j) The provision of a doorstep and back door. (k) The width and constmction of private streets and footpaths. {!) The inspection and certification of houses before occupition. {m) The provision of plans for retention by tSe Local Authority. («) The extent to which the byelaws will apply to alterations on or additions to houses. In Burghs. 2148. The remarks and recommendations above apply to county areas. We have pointed out elsewhere that in burghs, differing from counties, the erection of houses is controlled by special provisions in the statutes and not by byelaws, and we also, in another place, make the suggestion that the most of these statutory provisions should be transferred to byelaws. We think it right, however, to direct attention here to various points that have come up in the evidence, and that indicate the necessity of some amendment being made in the enactments controlling the erection of houses in burghs. 2149. Conversion of Building into Dwelling-House. — It was suggested by one witness that section 166 of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, should be amended so as to make it clear that, even though no structural alterations are intended, it shall not be possible to use for human habitation, without the sanction of the Dean of Guild Coiu't, any building or rooms in a building which had not been previously used as a dwelling-house, but which was being converted into a dwelling-house. (Young, Ayr, 40,010 (6).) Apparently, as the section is at present worded, such a building can be used as a dwelling-house without any consent so long as no structural alterations are intended. We agree that such a state of matters should not be possible, and we recommend that the section be amended as suggested. 2150. Necessity for Fresh Warrant to Build. — Under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, a warrant 328 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. granted by the Dean of Guild Court or Town Council for the erection of a building appears to hold for an indefinite period. It is suggested that, where a commencement is not made with the erection of a building within two years from the date when the warrant was obtained, it should be necessary to apply for and obtain a fresh warrant before proceeding to erect the building. (Ross, 33,719 (66), 33,746. See also Young, Ayr, 40,027.) We recommend that effect be given to this suggestion. There is a precedent for it in connection with the formation of streets, see section 11 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903. 2151. Height of Houses. — One witness suggested that section 152 of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, and section 61 of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, which allow the height of dwelling-houses to be l\ times the width of the street, should be amended to provide that the height of the houses shall not exceed the width of the street. (Young, Ayr, 40,010 (5).) A similar suggestion is made as regards buildings fronting lanes, viz. that instead of buildings of a height 1| times the width of the lane being allowed, the height should not be greater than the width of the lane. (Cowan, 16,484 (7), 16,489; Young, Ayr, 40,010 (5).) Where a town-planning scheme is in operation for the area in which such buildings are to be erected, this matter will be under complete control, but where such control is awanting we recommend that, instead of effect being given to the specific amendment above suggested, a more general power should be conferred on the Local Authority, enabling them to control the height and character of any building to be erected in their area. This suggestion would apply not only to the height of houses but to the height of any factory or other building. At present there seems no power in the absence of a town-planning scheme to control the height of buildings other than dwelling-houses. The result is that a factory may be erected alongside or opposite a dwelling-house, possibly twice or three times as high as the dwelling-house, and in a narrow street of 25 to 30 feet wide. The Town Council cannot refuse a warrant for erection of the factory on the ground of its height in relation to neighbouring buildings. (Syme, 3726-9, 3735-42 ; see also M'Killop, 36,640 ; Barks, 36,797-800.) It is clearly in the interests of the lighting and ventilation of dwelling-houses that the Town Council should have full control over the height of all buildings. 2152. Height of Ceilings. — The heights of ceilings of houses specified in section 172 of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, might be modified. These are at present 9 feet 6 inches on ground floors, 9 feet on other floors except attic rooms, which must be at least 8 feet through not less than one-third of the area of the room, and at no part less than 3 feet. The section was apparently framed to meet the case of tenement buildings of three or more storeys, and we do not suggest any modificfition in the heights of rooms in such buildings. It is suggested, however, that these heights should not apply to cottages or double- flatted houses (Wilson, Appendix CXCIL, Paragraph 152). Such houses are usually erected in districts where a greater area of site is available, and as the buildings are not closely built, and are of less height than tenements, more air-space and free circulation of air is obtained. (Yoiing, Ayr, 40,010 (7).) Several witnesses indicate that for such houses the heights mentioned should be reduced to 8 feet 6 inches for ground-floor rooms, and 8 feet for other rooms except attic rooms. (Wilson, Appendix CXCIL, Para- graph 152 ; Barker, 13,560 (13) ; Knowles, 14,458 (25) ; Cowan, 16,534-5 ; Wilkie, 16,591 ; Young, Coatbridge, 34,168, (9) ; Campbell Munro, 37,370 (72) ; Young, Ayr, 40,010 (7).) The Medical Officer of Health of Aberdeen, however, would allow the relaxation only in cases where the house had more than two rooms. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (153).) In regard to attic rooms, the heights suggested by witnesses vary. One gives the height as 7 feet (Barker, 13,560 (13)) ; two as 7 feet 6 inches throughout half the area of the room (Young, Coatbridge, 34,168 (9), and Young, Ayr, 40,010 (7)) ; and one as 8 feet throughout half the area but at no part less than 5 feet (Wilson, Appendix CXCIL, Paragraph 152 (3)). Another witness, while making no alteration on the height, as given in the statute, suggests that the height should be through not less than one-half or two-thirds of the area of the room. (Smith, 34,800 (38).) After consideration of these vai'ious suggestions, we recommend that in the case of new or reconstructed cottages or double-flatted houses, the existing statutory provisions should be modified to permit of rooms being built of a height of 8 feet 6 inches and 8 feet on the ground and upper floors respectively. We are of opinion, however, that the requirements as to attic rooms should be made more stringent, and accordingly we recommend that in such cases the height should in future be 8 feet through not less than one-half the area of the room, but at no part less than 5 feet. 2153. Structure of Party Walls and of Walls Surrounding Chimneys.— Othei modifications suggested are : — (a) That rule 7 of Schedule IV. of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, providing that party walls are to be caiTied through the roof to form a parapet, be reduced. The object of this provision is apparently to prevent the spread of fire, but it is pointed out that this requirement is not necessary if the roofing material is bedded securely on the walls to form an effective fireproof barrier. (Wilson, Appendix CXCIL, Paragraph 154 (2). One witness suggests that the requirement should apply only to main gables in tenements of flatted dwelling-houses, and to the main gables dividing not more than four con- tinuous self-contained houses. (Young, Ayr, 40,010 (9) (8).) Other witnesses drew attention to this statutory provision and suggest its relaxation. (Barker, 13,560 (13) (3); Cowie, 26,580; Paterson, 33,583 (40) (1).) We recommend that Town Councils should be empowered to relax this requirement in such cases as they consider appropriate. (6) That rule 12 of the same schedule should be modified to allow of the waU surrounding every chimney or flue being of not less than 4| inches thick, if of brick, or 6 inches if of stone, instead of the 9 inches at present required. (Barker, 13,560 (13), Young, Ayr, 40,010 (9), (10).) We recommend that Town Councils should be empowered to give effect to this suggested modiflcation. 2154. The following additional powers have been suggested : — (a) Making up of Sites.— Local Authorities should have power to make byelaws regarding the laying down permanently of refuse or making up of ground, both as to the material to be included and as to the supervision to be provided by the owner of the ground. It is pointed out by the witness who makes this suggestion that it is desirable that Local Authorities should have power to deal with the kind of material that may be deposited in low-lying ground in a town, for the purpose of making it up to a level of adjacent streets, especially where there is a reasonable probability of such made-up ground REPORT. 329 being made ultimately available for building purposes. The refuse may be of an offensive type, and even when not of an offensive character may sometimes take fire and become a source of great nuisance. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (154).) We recommend that the Local Authority of a county district or burgh should have power to make byelaws for the purpose of regulating the laying down of such material. (6) Use of Wallpaper. — ^The Medical Officer of Health of Aberdeen suggested that health officers should have power to forbid the use of wallpaper in certain classes of houses or certain individual houses where they think it undeshable hygienically to have it. (Matthew Hay, 41,358.) We do not see our way to adopt this suggestion, but we recommend that the Local Authority of a county district or burgh should be given the power to require that there shall be not more than one layer of wallpaper on a wall at any time. 2155. Submission of Plans to Health Officers. — ^It has been suggested that, as a matter of practical administration, the plans of all houses or alterations on or additions thereto, and of all buildings which will, when erected, come under the supervision of the medical officer of health and sanitary inspector, such as bakehouses, milk-shops, ete., should, before being approved by the Town Council or Dean of Guild Court, be submitted to these officers for theii- opinions on the plans qua matters affecting health. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (266), 41,449.) We agree with this suggestion. We understand this is the practice in county areas. 2156. Approval of Sites. — ^We would also recommend that in burghs the approval of the Town Council should be required to the sites of all houses to be erected. 2157. Approval of Lay-out. — The remarks already made applying to the lay-out of sites in county areas apply equally in burghs, and accordingly we recommend that, in the absence of a town-planning scheme under which this matter can be controlled, the approval of the Town Council should be required to the number and arrangement of the buildings on the site. 2158. This recommendation would meet the following suggested amendments of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903 :— (a) That section 63 of the Act, which refers to the area to be attached to dwelling-houses, should be amended to provide that the open space or area should belong to the dwelling-house. According to one witness the Courts have decided that the space attached to one building is sufficient to ventilate the building built right opposite. (Ross, 33,719 (14), (41), (65), 33,749.) (6) That the same section should be amended to provide that parallel blocks of houses shall not in any circumstances be erected nearer to each other than 80 feet in the case of four-storey tenements, and 60 feet in the case of three-storey tenements, measured from and between the respective main front or back walls of such buildings. (Young, Ayr, 40,010 (8) ; see also Matthew Hay, 41,334 (155).) (c) That section 69 of the Act, dealing with the erection of buildings round a hollow square so as to secure more effective light and ventilation should be amended to apply to cases where the enclosed space extends to IJ acres instead of the maximum of 1 acre as at present. (Young, Ayr, 40,010 (8).) 2159. Use of Box-rooms as Sleeping-rootns. — It has already been pointed out that in many cases rooms of less than 100 superficial feet have been shown on plans and passed in the Dean of Guild Court as box-rooms, but that after the building has been completed these rooms have been occupied as sleeping apartments. It is suggested by a witness that this should constitute an offence. (Young, Coatbridge, 34,168 (10).) Provided that proper light and ventilation are secured, we see no reason why rooms of 100 superficial feet or even considerably less should not be used as sleeping apartments ; but we think that, where such rooms have been shown on the plans submitted to the Local Authority as box-rooms, they should not be used as sleeping-rooms until the approval of the Local Authority to the change has been obtained. This power should extend to County Local Authorities. 2160. Gas Stoves. — One witness draws attention to the desirability of Local Authorities having a discretionary power regarding the placing of gas stoves in dwelling-houses and the provision of flues. He sees no objection to the use of gas heaters for cooking purposes so long as adequate flues are provided. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (169). See also Bell, 11,703-6.) We see no objection to giving Local Authorities the power suggested. This power should extend to County Local Authorities. 2161. Special Powers in Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903. — As already shown, there are special powers in the Bm-gh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903, available by adoption to Town Councils, whereby further control over buildings may be secured. It is suggested that the adoptive provisions of that Act, in BO far as they deal with housing, should be extended and made applicable to all burghs. (Macpherr son, 64.) We agree with this suggestion and recommend accordingly. 2162. General. — We desire to point out in regard to the above suggestions for amendment or exten- sion of the existing powers in burghs that — assuming our recommendation in another part of this chapter is adopted, viz. that control of the erection of houses should be regulated by byelaws rather than by statute, — ^the various points above set forth can be provided for in the byelaws. In the event, however, of that suggestion not being adopted, we recommend that effect should be given to the amendments of the statute above suggested. Application of Building Byelaws and Regulations to Government Buildings. 2163. Since_ taking evidence, our attention has been di-awn to the fact that houses which are the property of the Government are exempted from the provisions of the byelaws or regulations of Local Authorities as to buildings. {Cf. section 194 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897.) We see no reason why such houses should not be subject to these byelaws or regulations in the same way as houses provided by Local Authorities or other parties, and we recommend accordingly. This recommendation applies to county and burgh areas. VI. Statutory Requirements and Byelaws. 2164. In the course of our consideration of the statutory powers on the subject of housing and public health, we have been struck with the number of matters of detail that are regulated by means of specific provisions in the statute, but which, in our view, could equally well, without detriment to any interest, be dealt with by means of byelaws. This view has been forced upon us more especially in considering the statutory provisions dealing with the control of the erection and of the method of 330 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. construction of houses. As will be seen irom a perusal of the pages in Chapter V. summarising these provisions, there are very detailed and specific provisions laid down in the statutes regulatmg the conditions under which houses in burghs may be built. In coimties, on the other hand, the various details of house ^construction are controlled by means of byelaws which in several respects empower Local Authorities to regulate the matters that in burghs are regulated by the statute. In burghs, it is true. Town Councils are empowered by the Bui-gh Pohce Act of 1903 (section 93) to frame building byelaws, but these byelaws must be consistent, as to the matters with which they deal, with any provisions contained in any public general Act. These byelaws, therefore, are limited in their scope by the terms of the existing Acts. 2165. The important practical difference between the two^methods of control is that, in cases where the requirements are embodied in the statute, no alteration of these can be obtained to meet special or altered circumstances since the statute was framed without first having an amending Act passed authorising the necessary change, and the reasons for modification or amendment may exist for years before an opportunity for Parliamentary action occurs. In the case of byelaws, however, these can be amended from time to time by a Local Authority as they see fit^subject, of course, to approval by the confirming authority after consideration of any objections^lodged by any parties interested. 2166. As this Report shows, defects in the powers of Local Authorities have existed for many years, and the time has long been ripe for legislation to remedy these defects. Apparently, however, they have not been considered sufficient of themselves to justify legislation, with the imfortunate result that Local Authorities have had to work for years with powers which have been clearly shown to be inadequate. We think it regrettable that this state of m^atters should have continued, but we recognise that it is a defect of the system of legislative administration hitherto in force. Our experience has convinced us that many of the defects that have been shown to exist should have been remedied with- out undue delay, and we consider that the present system should be amended so as to ensure that as far as possible detailed requirements as to public health and housing shall be deleted from the statutes as specific provisions and shall be embodied in byelaws, which shall be subject to confirmation by the Local Government Board, and which may be amended from time to time at the instance of or with the approval of that Board. We are supported in this view by the experience of Mr Henry Vivian, whose opinion, looking to his extensive and intimate acquaintance with housing in all its aspects, is of great weight. (Vivian, 40,571 (11), 40,574.) It will also be appreciated that it is exceedingly difficult to detail in the statutes conditions which will apply to Local Authorities generally, having regard to the varying differences in the characteristics of their areas. 2167. We do not think that if effect were given to our proposal any person or any interests would suffer. The legislature would determine what matters were to be regulated by means of byelaws, and would make it the duty of every Local Authority to frame such byelaws. Aiter the Local Authority had framed their byelaws they would require, as is the case at present in connection with byelaws imder the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, to give public notice of their intention to apply to the Local Government Board for Scotland for confirmation of the byelaws, and any person aggiieved by any proposed byelaw or byelaws would be entitled to lodge his objections with the Local Government Board, who would require to consider them before granting confirmation, and who would have power to amend or modify any byelaw submitted. Full opportimity would thus be given to any interested party to state his case to the central department. A similar procedure would be followed in the event of a Local Authority desiring to amend their byelaws in any respects. As has been stated, this is the practice at present in operation in coimection with building byelaws in coimty areas, and we have no reason to beheve that it has worked disadvantageously or injuriously to any interest, and we do not see why it should not be made more generally applicable to matters dealt with in the public health and housing statutes. It may be pointed out, too, in support of our proposal that at present the provisions of the Burgh Police Acts in regard to certain matters may, as already explained, be relaxed or modified without the necessity of any amending Act. 2168. While a Local Authority would be entitled, subject to approval by the Local Government Board, to amend their byelaws at any time, provision should be made for a periodical review by the Local Authority of all byelaws in force in their area, and we suggest that this should be done at least every ten years. This would ensure that the byelaws were kept up to date. The Local Government Board should also be empowered, either on their own initiative or on any representation made to them, to require the revisal at any time of any byelaws that had in their view become obsolete or imworkable. 2169. The byelaws framed by a Local Authority should be reasonably elastic, and should where practicable provide for alternative methods of carrying out the requirements of the byelaws. Any disputes between Local Authorities or their officials and the persons responsible for observing the byelaws should be referable to the Local Government Board, who should be empowered to determine such disputes in so far as they refer to the practical working of the byelaws. It may, for instance, happen that in coimec- tion with building byelaws there may be a dispute between the Local Authority or their official and a builder as to the suitability of a particular material or mode of construction which the latter desired to use. In such a case the Board, on the matter being brought before them, would, after inquiry, if necessary, and on the advice of their technical advisers, decide the matter. VII. Maintenance of Houses. 2170. As we have shown, Local Authorities have a considerable amount of control by means of byelaws and statutory provisions over the building of houses, and we have made suggestions for an extension of this control. But when the house has been erected and occupied the Local Authority's control over it as a structure ceases unless it becomes dilapidated or a nuisance or imfit for human habitation, in which cases they can require the owner to carry out the necessary repairs. A house, however, may be in a considerable state of disrepair before it reaches the stage where under existing powers a Local Authority are entitled to interfere and call on the owner to execute repairs. There may, for instance, be some slates off the roof, with the result that rain or snow may obtain entrance REPORT. 331 to the house to the consequent discomfort of the occupants ; but because the occupants' health cannot be said to be affected, or because the house cannot be said to be unfit for habitation, the Local Authority are powerless to interfere. Agam, the plaster work of the ceiling may have in part broken away, or holes may appear in the flooring, or a window may have become broken, or the cord of a sash window broken so that the window cannot be opened or shut ; a hundred and one other such minor defects may show themselves, but for the reasons given above the Local Authority cannot take any action. In all such matters there should be no question of the Local Authority having to wait until the condition of the house becomes so bad that it verges on the uninhabitable state. (Cf. Matthew Hay, 41,334 (74).) The tenant is, in many cases, imable to get his landlord to carry out these repairs, and it cannot be expected that the tenant wiU always carry out the repairs at his own expense, although he very often does so for the sake of the comfort of his family. Consequently a considerable delay occurs in the rectification of such d^ects which may be quite trifling from the structural point of view and remediable at but little cost, but which may yet entail annoyance and discomfort to the inmates of the house. 2171. Two suggestions have been made which would enable Local Authorities to secure an im- mediate remedy for these minor defects. Dr Dewar, Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board, suggests that in such cases when the medical officer of health c£in certify that the nuisance or evil com- plamed of is grave and urgently requires remedy, a sheriff, magistrate, or justice should have power to ordain that it be abated or rectified at the expense of the owner, unless within a specified period he himself takes measures to that end. {Ibid., 764 (6), 792-5.) The Medical Officer of Health of Aberdeen makes the suggestion that there should be power given to Local Authorities to make byelaws for securing the proper mamtenance of houses. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (73-75), 41,407, etc.) We are satisfied that some simpler and more expeditious procedure than that available under the existing statutes is necessary, and we favour the suggestion of Dr Matthew Hay above quoted, and would recommend that Local Authorities should be required to frame byelaws, subject to the approval of the Local Government Board, for the proper maintenance of houses. If the terms of these byelaws were not being observed by the party or parties responsible, the Local Authority could at once proceed for the exaction of the penalty imposed by the byelaws, which should also give the Local Authority power, in default of the said party or parties, to carry out the necessary repairs and to recover the cost from the latter. VIII. Closing Orders under Housing Acts. 2172. Application of Closing Orders to Unoccupied FIouses.—Accoidmg to one witness it is open to question whether an unoccupied and unlet house, although uninhabitable, can be closed by means of a Closmg Order under the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. If this be the case it follows that a Demolition Order cannot be made in regard to the house. The witness points out that the owner of a bad house should not be permitted to escape its demolition by closing it himself. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (71).) It is not clear to us that sections 17 and 18 of the said Act are inapplicable, but if there is any doubt, we recommend that it should be made clear that the provisions of these sections apply in such cases. 2173. Maintenance of Unoccupied Houses. — The same witness also suggests that hi regard to houses closed either by the owner or the Local Authority there should be power to compel the owner to board up the wuidows, and that in the case of ordinarily unlet property there should be an obligation on the owner to keep the door properly secured. The absence of such powers results in nuisances being created in the houses, the unlet and unoccupied rooms often being made receptacles for rubbish. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (72).) We agree with these suggestions. 2174. Conversion of Uninhabitable House into Business Premises. — Various witnesses have urged that, if a dwelling-house is condemned as insanitary and uninhabitable, the owner ought not to be allowed to convert it into business premises, workshops, or stores. (Maxwell Williamson, 5610 ; Lindsay, 6076- 83 ; Fyfe, 20,023-5 ; Templeman, 35,836 (18) ; and others.) According to the Medical Officer of Health of Edinburgh, the health of the people who would work in such a house when used for business premises would be affected injuriously equally as if it were occupied as a house. The point has been imder the consideration of the Local Government Board, and we notice from their Report for 1916 (Cd. 8517, pp. xxvi-xxvii) that they have obtained the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, who have advised that the duty of the Local Authority under subsection 2 of section 18 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, is imperative and not discretionary : that, therefore, the Local Authority are bound to make a Demolition Order as regards a dwelling-house affected by a Closing Order where the alternative provisions of the subsection have not been fulfilled, but that it would be open to the appellate tribunal, on appeal by the owner, to quash the Demolition Order if satisfied that the dwelling- house is no longer to be used as such or for human habitation, but is to be turned to some other pm'pose not inconsistent with the objects of the Act. 2175. We are of opinion that where a house has been the subject of a Closing Order the owner ought not to be able to escape the subsequent procedure as to demohtion by turning the house into warehouses or stores or other business premises. The fact that the house is the subject of a Closing Order shows that it is seriously defective in one or more respects. Accordingly we recommend that in such cases the consent of the Local Authority should be necessary before the house can be used for any other purpose, and that the owner should be entitled to appeal to the Local Government Board against the refusal of the Local Authority so to consent to such use. Where consent is refused the procedure as to demolition should then be carried out. 2176. Enforcement of Closing Orders. — Among the administrative difficulties experienced in carrying out the provisions of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, is one arising from the omission of section 17 (4) of that Act to provide for the eviction of a tenant from a dwelling-house in respect of which a Closing Order has been made. The subsection provides for the tenant being ordered " on summary ' conviction " to quit within a specified time, but there is no power of ejection given. Some such power seems necessary. (Macpherson, 2 (239) ; MacKenzie, 6549 (3).) The Clerk to the Middle Ward District 332 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Committee of Lanarkshire draws attention to the same defect. He^points out that the section provides that the occupier is hable on summary conviction to be ordered to c[uit the dwelhng-house ; but, as the witness says, the occupier cannot be summarily convicted, as failure to quit a house is not a crime or a matter falling imder the cognisance of the Sheriff in the Summary Jurisdiction Court. It is a civil process ; but the words of the statute are summary conviction, which are foreign to the civil process. (Whyte, 36,834 (60).) This same point is brought out by SherifE-Substitute Armour Hannay in a note to a decision by him quoted on page Ixxiv of the Report for 1914 of the Local Government Board for Scotland. Mi- Whyte suggests that, to overcome the difficulty referred to, the Local Authority should be empowered, on the tenant refusing to vacate the house in accordance with the statutory notice from the Local Authority, to get from the SherifE a warrant for ejection within forty-eight hours. He pointed out that in one case dealt with by his Local Authority they had, owing to this defect of the statute, taken several months to get the occupants out of certain houses in reipect of which a Closing Order had been passed, and that the expense incurred had been considerable — forty or fifty tenants having to be proceeded against by ordinary action in Court. (Ibid., 36,834 (60).) It would seem from the evidence of the Legal Member of the Local Government Board (Macpherson, 2 (238-40)), and from the note by Sheriff Ai-mour Hannay above referred to, that under the existing powers the difficulty may not be insuperable, but in order to removeall doubts and difficulties we recommend that definite power of ejectment should be given. IX. Demolition Orders under Housing Acts. 2177. Demolition of Houses closed informally before passing of 1909 Act. — ^A difficulty connected with the demolition of uninhabitable houses is referred to by the Burgh Surveyor and Sanitary Inspector of Dumfries, who states that there is no power to order the demolition of houses which were closed in- formally before the passing of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, unless they have become waste and ruinous and receptacles for rubbish and filth — in which case they may be dealt with under the provisions of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, as to ruinous houses (see Chapter V., Paragraphs 194-199.) The witness lecommends that provision should be made for Demolition Orders being granted for aU unin- habitable or ruinous property after a period of notice to the owners. (Barker, 13,560 (24), 13,587.) We. agree with this recommendation. The procedure would coixespond to that provided for in the Housing Acts, and would be more direct than that provided for in the Burgh Police Act, 1892. 2178. The provisions of the latter Act dealing with dangerous and ruinous houses can at present be adopted in landward areas only in special lighting, scavenging, water-supply, or drainage districts. The Legal Member of the Local Government Board suggests that these powers be made applicable to all the area of a landward Local Authority. (Macpherson, 2 (176), (483).) While we have no objection to this recommendation, we consider that, as suggested in the previous paragi'aph, a simpler and more expeditious procedure for dealing with such houses would be to apply, with any necessary modifications, the powers as to demolition contained in section 18 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. X. Notice of Proposed House Inspection under Housing Acts. 2179. Two witnesses draw attention to the provisions in the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, which require that twenty-four hours' notice must be given to the owner and occupier of any house that it is proposed to inspect. The Sanitary Inspector of Inverness burgh, dealing with the terms of section 15 (2) of the above Act, which gives power to the Local Authority, on giving twenty-four hours' notice in writing to the occupier, to enter a house for the purpose of seeing whether it is being kept in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation, does not see any advantage in giving this notice but rather the reverse. There is, he says, always the possibility that preparation is made for an inspection heralded in this special manner, and such preparation may be made either to minimise or exaggerate the actual conditions. He is of opinion that, unless in cases where access is refused, the sending of the notice of proposed inspection is unnecessary and introduces needless labour, thus hampering the working of the Act. (Knowles, 14,458 (11), 14,475-8.) The County Sanitary Inspector of Banffshire makes a similar suggestion as regards this section and also the like provision in section 36 of the same Act. He instances how the necessity for giving this preliminary notice hinders house inspection in a county area. A sanitary inspector may be on duty in a certain area forty or fifty miles away from his headquarters ; when in this area he receives a complaint or learns that a house in the neighbourhood is in an insanitary condition ; according to the terms of the sections referred to he cannot make a statutory inspection under the Housing Acts because the necessary twenty -fom- hours' notice has not been given. Unnecessary expense and delay are therefore caused before the house can be inspected. (Mackintosh, Appendix CLVII. , 24. ) In carrying out their duties under the Public Health Act the sanitary officers do not require to give any such previous notice of inspection, and we recommend that for the purposes of their work of inspection under the Housing Acts it should not be necessary for them to give any previous notice of the proposal to inspect a house. XI. Service of Notices under Housing Acts. 2180. It is pointed out by one witness that while notices to owners of houses under the Housing Acts may be served by registered letter, there is Tio such provision in the case of the service of notices on tenants. (Whyte, 36,834 (61).) We recommend that this point should be kept in view in any amend- ment of these Acts. As the witness in question says : " If the simple expedient of posting can be done ' in the case of a Closing Order, there should be no difficulty in making it applicable to the case of a notice ' requiring a tenant to quit." XII. Definition of " Owner " in Housing and Public Health Acts. 2181. Difficulties in the administration of the Housing Acts have arisen owing to the deffiiition of " owner " in these Acts. The definition for the purposes of Part II. of the Housing of the Working Classes REPORT. 333 Act, 1890, includes " all lessees or mortgagees," and it is frequently a matter of some difficulty to discover all such owners, lessees, and mortgagees, with the result that proceedings are rendered void if it can be proved that some such person has not been served with a notice. (Macpherson, 2 (237), (496).) The difficulty is experienced more especially in connection with the issue of Orders for the closure or demolition of houses, and in consequence considerable delay may occur in securing the remedy of defective housing conditions. The Town Clerk of Dunfermline instanced a case where he had served a Closing Order in respect of two houses which were entered on the Valuation Roll under the name of a lady as the proprietrix. After serving the Order, a law agent intimated to him that this lady was only a liferentrix jointly with her sister, and that a number of brothers, some residing in Scotland and some residing in England, were the fiars ; consequently the Town Clerk had to serve the Closing Order on all these people. He did not see how Local Authorities could possibly make sure that they had served all " owners," short of making a search in the Sasine Registers, and to do so in every case where a Closing Order was made would, in his view, be quite out of the question. Accordingly, he suggested that it should be sufficient to serve the owner, agent, or factor appearing in the Valuation Roll, leaving it to such owner, agent, or factor to intimate to any proprietor, co-proprietor, mortgagee, or other person interested. (Jack, 4518 (4-7), 4521, 4632.) Other witnesses spoke to similar difficulties and made the same suggestion as above for a remedy. (Robb, 4835 ; Robertson, 19,815 (6), 19,822-3 ; Louden, 34,388 (53 (1)) ; Whyte, 36,834 (57), 36,953, etc.) A somewhat similar difficulty has arisen in the experience of two witnesses in connection with the adminis- tration of the Public Health Acts. Dr Dewar points out that this difficulty has been experienced in connection with the repair of a bothy, the remedy of defects in a mining village, and in cases where houses have been leased by the proprietor to a coal company who undertake to keep the houses in habitable condition and repair. (Dewar, 764 (4), (12), 778, 1098.)" The Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire reports similar difficulty. (Whyte, 36,834 (90).) The definition of " owner " in section 3 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, and in section 4 (22) of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, does not include any reference to lessees or mortgagees, and the carrying out of these Acts in so far as proceedings against owners are concerned is apparently not attended with the same difficutly as in the case of the Housing Acts. But, as we have just shown, difficulty does arise even in connection with the definition in the Public Health Act. Accordingly, to remove the administrative difficulties consequent on the existing definitions, we recommend that in all proceedings against the owner under any of the Acts named, he should be deemed to be the person whose name appears in the Valuation Roll as the owner, except in cases where the property has changed hands since the Valuation Roll was prepared. In such cases the new owner should be the party to be proceeded against. The notices of the Local Authority should be held as validly served at the address given in the Valuation Roll. XIII. Special Case to Court of Session under the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. 2182. Under section 39 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, as applied to Scotland, the Sheriff may at any stage of the proceedings on appeal in connection with a Closing or Demolition Order state a special case for the opinion of the Court of Session on any question of law arising in the course of the appeal. It has, however, been decided that the special case must be stated by the Sheriff before he has pronounced judgment in the appeal to him. It is pointed out that the result of this decision will be that every agent, to keep himself right, will require to intimate to the Sheriff in every case before the appeal is disposed of that, if the Sheriff is against the agent on any point of law, the agent desires to have a case stated before judgment is pronounced. It is urged that it would be better if parties were allowed to appeal to the Court of Session in the ordinary way on the Sheriff's judgment in regard to any point of law and after parties have had an opportunity of fully considering the judgment. (Jack, 4518 (8), (9), 4523 ; cf. Fyfe, 19,903-4 ; Lindsay, 23,272-4.) We"^ recommend that the section in question should be amended so as to permit of the request for a special case being made subsequent to the judgment of the Authority before whom the appeal comes. XIV. Extension to County Local Authorities op Powers as to Improvement Schemes. 2183. Part I. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, authorising Local Authorities to frame improvement schemes for the clearance of insanitary areas applies only to hurghal Local Authorities, and it has been suggested to us that the powers in this part of the Act should be made available to Local Authorities of landward areas, as there are many large communities in the non-burghal portions of Scotland, e.g. the mining and industrial districts of Lanarkshire, where the powers would be useful. (Macpherson, 2 (280), (481) ; cf. Whyte, 36,834 (48).) We concur in this suggestion. XV. Extension op Powers of Trustees to Reconstruct Buildings Condemned by Local Authority. 2184. It is suggested by one witness that where lands or houses are in the hands of trustees and held for behoof of beneficiaries, they should have powers to reconstruct buildings condemned by the Local Authority without incurring liability for claims made by heirs, although the power of reconstruction was not conferred by the testator upon the trustees. In one case with which the witness was acquainted, the trustees were advised that if they re-erected new buildings on the site of the condemned house they would incur personal liability should the children of the liferenter claim that no such power was conferred upon the trustees. The result was that a thatched building without sanitary conveniences was left derelict. The witness referred to sections 7 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, and 74 of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, as precedents for his suggestion. (Keith, 1249 (55).) 2185. We recommend that statutory powers should be conferred on trustees to reconstruct buildings (houses or others) belonging to a trust estate under their charge. 334 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. XVI. Extent op Powers of Committee appointed tinder the Housing Acts. 2186. Under section 81 of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, a Local Authority may appoint a committee of their own number for any purposes of the Act. Such a committee cannot, how- ever, borrow any money, or make any rate or enter into any contract. Sir John Lindsay, the Town Clerk of Glasgow, suggested that the words in the section " or to enter into any contract " might be repealed. The presence of these words prevents a Local Authority from giving power to purchase any property to a special committee in whom they have confidence without going through the long process of reporting to the parent body, and the witness suggested that such a committee should, if so authorised by the Local Authority, have power not only to negotiate with owners of property but actually to arrange a sale if considered desirable. He admitted that the suggested powers were " very drastic, because the ' Corporation might be involved in £50,000 or £100,000 or £250,000 before they knew where they were." This objection, he agreed, could be got over by limiting the amoxmt of expenditure which the committee could incur. (Lindsxy, 23,324-8.) There are precedents in the existing statutes for this suggestion. Thus the joint committee which may be appointed by County Councils and Town Councils under section 76 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, may exercise all the powers of the bodies appointing the committee, excepting the powers to raise money by rate or loan. Again, Town Councils, in terms of section 74 of the Town Councils (Scotland) Act, 1900, may delegate any of their powers to committees, except their powers to raise money by rate or loan. It is clear that, as the Local Authority by statute are the borrowing and rating authority, the powers of raising money by rate or loan cannot be delegated to any committee. But as regards their other duties it is common practice for them to remit to com- mittees from time to time to execute certain specified duties with which they are entrusted. No doubt there are objections to giving any committee unrestricted powers of entering into contracts, but we think the conditions of the remit may safely be left to the Local Authority to determine in each case. Wliere necessary they can set a limit to the amount of expenditure that the committee may incur, and they can also, doubtless, so frame their standing orders as to enable the reconsideration at any time of the terms of the remit to the committee. Accordingly, we recommend that the amendment of the Act suggested by Sir John Lindsay be given effect to. XVII. Necessity for Expediting Procedure for Eemoval of Nuisances under Public Health Act. 2187. Several official witnesses have complainei of the delay there is under the existing statutory powers in securing the lemoval of a nuisance. As already explained in Chapter V., an intimation is first served by an officer of the Local Authority on the author of the nuisance requiring him to remove it ; failing his doing so, the matter is reported to the Local Authority, who then serve a notice on the said author again requiring him to remove the nuisance ; if he fails to attend to this notice, the Local Authority apply to the Court to ordain him to comply with the Local Authority's requirements. As will be realised, this procedure does not make for expedition in securing the removal of nuisances. As one witness expresses it, the procedure " is very slow." (Barclay, 2141 (3) ; c/. Halliday, 33,500 (4), 33,506-10 ; Kelso, 37,911 (9).) We are clearly of opinion that this procedure should be shortened, and we recommend that the " intimation " and " notice " stages of the existing procedure should be combined, that the sanitary officers of the Local Authority should be empowered whenever a nuisance is brought to their knowledge to serve a notice on the author drawing his attention to the existence of the nuisance, indicating generally the measures that are necessary to secure its removal, and stating that if withm a specified time the nuisance is not abated the matter will be reported to the Local Authority for instructions as to the institution of further proceedings in terms of the statute. On the matter being so reported to them, it will be for the Local Authority to determine (1) whether a prosecution should be instituted, or (2) whether the party responsible should be allowed a further period during which to take any steps necessary for the removal of the nuisance, or (3) whether proceedings should be dropped. {Cf. Brand, 38,484 (5), 38,492-6 ; Dawson, 40,133 (42).) XVIII. Paving op Yards, Courts, etc. 2188. As explained in Chapter V., Town Councils have powers to require the paving to their satisfaction of private courts or of any common close, passage, or area (other than a bleaching-green, garden, or shrubbery). No such general specific power is available in county areas. Dr Dewar considers that Local Authorities which have " populous places " within their borders should have power to apply within specified areas similar powers to those available to Town Councils. {Ihid.., 764 (62).) The Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire and the County Sanitary Inspector of Dumbarton- shire each urge that the powers in section 21 of the Burgh Police Act, 1903, should be made available to county Local Authorities. The former of these two witnesses points out that the provisions of that section if in force in county areas would go far to remedy many nuisance conditions which are of a recurring nature, especially in populous districts. (Whyte, Appendix CXXVIIL, 4; Dunbar, 42,959 (63). Cf. also Davison, 4634 (24), (28) ; Lindsay, 5054 (32),; Dobson, 36,835 (42) ; Macdonald, 37,534 (21), (27).) We agree that further powers are necessary for the Local Authorities of county areas in this respect, and we recommend that such Local Authorities should be empowered by means of byelaws to require the paving of yards and courts in populous areas in their district. Such populous areas would as a nile coincide with the special scavenging districts, but we do not suggest that the powers should be limited to such special districts, as there may be populous places that are not scavenging districts and which do not require to be formed into such districts owing to the fact that a private system'of ''scavenging is already in'operation there. The Local Authority in their byelaws should^indicate the'places'to which the byelaws will be applied, and it will be open to anyTparty residing in any'of these placeslwho feels himself aggrieved to lodge objections, which will be considered by the Local Government Board before I REPORT. 335 confirming the byelaws. In this way any attempt to enforce the powers generally throughout the area of the Local Authority would be subject to the review of the Central Authority. XIX. Repair of Roads that are Public Rights-of-Way. 2189. In Chapter XIV. we make suggestions whereby Local Authorities will be empowered to secure that private roads are put and kept in proper repair. One witness points out, however, that there is no power to secure improvements in roads which are public rights-of-way. Many of these roads, he says, have been badly made and in wet weather become very muddy. (Davison, 4634 (29-32).) As we have shown in Chapter V., Parish Councils have power to repair and maintain such roadways, but there is no obligation on them to do so. In such cases we recommend that it should be the duty of the Local Authority to keep such roads in a proper state of repair. XX. Provision of Means for Carrying away Water-Drip from Bridges. 2190. According to the Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire, the nuisance of water-drip on the public highways is very common in that district, where there are so many railways and sidings. He says that the expense of making provision for the taking away of the water is negligible, and that the powers of the Burgh Police Act, 1892 (section 164), in so far as they require the owners of railway bridges, etc., crossing over public thoroughfares to provide means of carrying away the water- drip from the bridges, should be conferred on county Local Authorities. (Whyte, Appendix CXXVIII., 3.) We approve of this suggestion. XXI. Provision of Footpaths. 2191. We have a considerable amount of evidence pointing to the necessity for further powers being conferred on Local Authorities of landward areas so as to enable them to require the provision of proper footpaths. Dr Dewar, Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board, states that one of the defects of house environment which is irksomely difficult to remedy is that which presents itself when the only access to a house is by a miry footpath. It is clear, he adds, that if children cannot pass to and from their house dry-shod, and must enter their homes with mud-covered footgear, cleanliness is at a discount. (Dewar, 764 (22).) Dr M'Vail, formerly Medical Officer of Health of Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire, and now Deputy-Chairman of the Scottish Insurance Commissioners, refers to the necessity for footpaths, and mentions this same point as to cleanhness. Dealing particularly with mining villages, he says that " the roads are made up largely of ashes, and the children trot out and in all day and torment the mother ; ' the house floor gets dirty, as they have no place to scrape their feet on. A footpath is, of course, very ' desirable." (M'Vail, 5305 ; c/. Lindsay, 5054 (32) ; Brown, 18,354 ; Paul, 26,314-7 ; M'Kerrell, 26,661 (68) (2)) ; Macdonald, 37,534 (21).) We agree with Dr M'Vail that a footpath is very desirable, and we recommend that Local Authorities should have power conferred on them to require the construction and proper maintenance of a pathway from the nearest pubhc road to the door or gate or entrance of every house, so that the occupants can enter with reasonable ease and comfort. XXII. Whitewashing and Painting of Common Stairs. 2192. As already pointed out in Chapter V., the owners of all common stairs and common passages must whitewash or paint them once every year if required to do so by the sanitary inspector. (Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892 (section 117).) As one witness points out, the effect of this provision is that, no matter what period of the year the notice is served by the sanitary inspector, no proceedings against the owner for failure to comply with the notice appear competent until the year expires. (Barker, 13,560 (25).) This is a clear defect in the statute, and we agree with the suggestion of the witness that power should be given to require the necessary work to be done within a time specified in the notice. XXIII. Provision of Receptacles for Rubbish in Scavenging Districts. 2193. The Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire points out that in special scavenging districts the greatest difficulty has been experienced in enforcing the provision of suitable boxes for ashes, dust, etc. He suggests that when a special scavenging district is formed, the District Committee, in addition to adopting the sections of the Burgh Police Act of 1892 that they are at present empowered to adopt, should have power to adopt section 23 of the Burgh Police Act of 1903, under which the owner is bound, on beijjg called on by the Local Authority to provide for the use of the occupants of his house a fixed or movable receptacle for rubbish. The need for this provision, the witness says, is especially urgent in the case of tenement property. (Whyte,' 36,834 (39), Appendix CXXVIII., 5 ; Dobson, 36,912.) We recommend that this additional power be given Local Authorities of landward areas. XXrV. Byelaws for Tents, Vans, and Sheds. 2194. It is pointed out by the Legal Member of the Local Government Board that section 73 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, which gives Local Authorities power to frame byelaws regulating the occupation of tents, vans, sheds, and similar structures, provides that the power of entry of the Medical Officer of H^lth or Sanitary Inspector can be exercised only between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. As the witness points out, such erections are not usually occupied during the daytime and accordingly overcrowding is not likely to be detected. (Macpherson, 2 (92), (186).) We think it is desirable, in the interests of the effective control of the occupation of such habitations, that the officers of the Local Authority should have the right of entry at all times, and we recommend that the statute be amended accordingly. 336 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. XXV. Loans for Public Health Pubposes. 2195. Under the Housing Acts the consent of the Local Grovernment Board is required before a Local Authority can borrow money for the purposes of these Acts, and such consent is required whether the money is b6rrowed from the Public Works Loan Board or from private sources. (Macpherson, 2 (319).) The consent of the Board is, however, not required to works carried out by Local Authorities under the Public Health or Burgh Police Acts unless the money is to be borrowed from the Public Works Loan Board. The Legal Member of the Local Government Board points out that, in consequence of this limitation of the Board's powers of control, numerous works relating to public health matters throughout the country are carried through of which the Board are unaware and over which they have no control (Macpherson, 2 (104)), and he states that the consent of the Board should be required to borrowing in ^11 such cases. {Ibid., 54.) We recommend that the procedure under the Public Health and Burgh Police Acts should be similar to that under the Housing Acts, and that where borrowing is necessary under the former Acts in connection with the carrying out of works for public health purposes, such as the provision of water-supply, drainage, sewage disposal works, hospital and sanatoria, slaughter-houses, refuse destmctors, etc., the consent of the Local Government Board should be required. We think it is desirable that this measure of central control should be given so as to ensure that the works proposed to be carried out are on right lines and are likely to prove satisfactory. 2196. It is also noted that loans under the Public Health Act for water, drainage, etc., have to be repaid within thirty years. The Legal Member of the Local Government Board says that it seems desir- able that this period should be extended. (Macpherson, 51.) We understand that in Provisional Orders obtained by Local Authorities under the powers of the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1899, dealing with water and drainage schemes, power has been given to spread the repayment of the necessary loans over a longer period than thirty years. We consider that the same concession should be made to Local Authorities generally, and we recommend that the repayment of loans for public health purposes should be extended to such period beyond thirty years as the Local Government Board in each instance, after consideration of all the circumstances, determine. XXVI. Confirmation of Byelaws under Burgh Police Acts. 2197. Tlie Legal Member of the Local Government Board points out that byelaws framed under the provisions of the Burgh Police Acts may fall to be confirmed by three different Authorities, viz. the Sheriff, the Local Government Board, and the Secretary for Scotland. (Macpherson, 2 (121).) Byelaws framed under the Public Health Act, however, which in some cases cover the same subjects as byelaws under the Birrgh Police Acts, required to be confirmed only by the Local Government Board. We are of opinion that byelaws under the Burgh Police Acts relating to sanitary matters (including all byelaws relating to buildings and streets) should, as in the case of byelaws under the Public Health Act, require confirmation by the Local Government Board only, and we recommend accordingly. XXVII. Insufficiency of Sanitary Staffs. 2198. We are clearly of opinion, not only from the evidence before us but as the result of our visits to various areas in Scotland, that as a general rule the sanitary staffs of Local Authorities are quite in- sufficient to overtake in anything like an eSicien;fc and satisfactory manner the manifold duties that now fall to be performed by them. (See also Paragraph 1149 in chapter on Rural Housing, and Paragraph 1336 in chapter on Seasonal Workers.) Since the passing of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, under which the county Local Authorities in their present form were organised, the duties devolving on the officials of Local Authorities not only of counties but also of burghs have gi'eatly increased, and our recommendations if carried out will involve considerable additions to these duties. It may be noted that under section 17 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, it is the duty of every Local Authority to fcause to be made from time to time inspection of their district with a view to ascertain what nuisances exist calling for removal, while under section 17 (1) of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, it is the duty of every Local Authority to make a similar inspection with a view to ascertaining whether there are any dwelling-houses in their district that are unfit for habitation. We think that, more especially in the county areas, where a considerable amount of the sanitary officers' time is naturally occupied in travelling, these systematic inspections enjoined by statute cannot be effectively carried out, and we consider that many of the insanitary conditions which we saw for ourselves in our visits of inspection must be due to lack of knowledge of these conditions on the part of the Local Authority officials, otherwise they would surely have been removed without delay. We are supported by various witnesses in our view that the sanitary staffs are insufficient. {Cf. Macpherson, 15,227 ; Fletcher, 8244 ; Maxw^l Ross, 13,744 ; Knowles, 14,459; Cobban, 29,152 ; Douglas, 2698; Frew, 2811; M'Vail, 5347; Wedderspoon, 6254 (47).) We consider it absolutely necessary that, if inspections under the Housing and Public Health Acts are to be effectively carried out, there must be a considerable increase in the staffs of many Local Authorities, and accordingly we recommend that the Local Government Board should see that sufficient staffs are provided by the Local Authorities and should be empowered to require Local Authorities to provide such staffs as the Board consider necessary. 2199. As has already been explained (see Paragraph 76), a grant is at present given in aid of the salaries of medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors. This grant, which is of a fixed total amount, varies according to the amount of salaries paid, and, as pointed out in the said paragraph, has fallen from 10s. 3|d. per £ of expenditure in 1892 to 5s. 9d. in 1911. Our proposals above will involve additional expenditure on the part of Local Authorities in providing extra officers, and we consider that this grant should be put on the same footing as other recent grants given in respect of public health expenditure, and that the grant should be one of 50 per cent, of the expenditure for the purpose as approved by the Local Government Board. This will restore the grant to the amoimt given in the earlier years of its distribution. REPORT. 337 XXVIII. Adoption by Landward Local Authorities of the Burghs Gas Supply (Scotland) Act, 1876. 2200. As we have akeady indicated, there are apparently difficulties in putting into force in county areas certain powers of the Burghs Gas Supply (Scotland) Act, 1876 (see Paragraph 897). By section 44 (10) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894, a District Committee upon the formation of a special lighting district are empowered to adopt the Burghs Gas Supply (Scotland) Act, 1876, but the Clerk to the Middle Ward District Committee of Lanarkshire points out that in respect of the differences between burghal and county elections, and also in respect of the differing administrative powers in coimties and burghs, there are many anomalies and difficulties which he suggests should be cleared away by an amending Act. (Whyte, 36,834 (45) (3), 37,060.) It is not necessary for us to enter into detail on this point. The witness just named stated that the Local Government Board had been made fully aware of the difficulties (Ibid., 36,834 (123)), and we have no doubt that this matter is being kept in view for amendmg legislation when the opportunity arises. XXIX. Necessity for Consolidation of Public Health and Housing Statutes. 2201. In Chapter V. we have endeavoured to summarise under subject headings the existing law in regard to Public Health and Housing. A glance at that chapter is, we think, sufficient to show the necessity for a thorough consolidation of the various statutes dealing with these subjects. It must be a matter of considerable difficulty even for the officials of Local Authorities, apart altogether from members of Local Authorities and the public generally, to understand precisely the law on many poiats having regard to the multiplicity of the statutes dealing with these points. (Cf. Macpherson, 2 (479) ; Thomson, 16,783 (27) ; Shaw, 37,533 (34).) We accordingly recommend that at the earliest possible date an Act should be passed consolidating the various statutes on the subject of Public Health and Housing. Summary of Recommendations and Suggestions in Chapter XXXII. Appeal Authority. (1) That in addition to the matters already falling to the Local Government Board as an appeal authority under the existing statutes, they should be the appeal authority in regard to the various matters specified in Paragraph 2107. (Paragraph 2107.) (2) That all disputes which arise between one Local Authority and another or between a Local Authority and any other parties, and which for their decision require expert knowledge on the subject of housing or public health, should be referable to the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 2108.) (3) That in connection with points of law arising on such appeals the Local Government Board should be empowered where they choose to decide such points of law, but they should also be given the option of refening such points to the Court of Session for decision, and should be bound so to refer them when so directed by that Court. (Paragraph 2106.) Water-Supply to Houses in Cmmty Areas. (4) Tliat in regard to all new houses buUt in special water-supply districts or in districts where, without the formation of such specal districts, water-supply schemes have been carried out, it should be obligatory on the owner to introduce water into the houses unless there are special reasons satisfactory to the county Local Authority why this caimot be done. In cases where the county Local Authority are satisfied that water cannot be brought into the house, they should require that a supply should be available immediately outside the house or as near thereto as the water can be brought. (Paragraph 2111.) (5) That wherever possible in the special or other districts mentioned in (4) water should be intro- duced into existing houses, but that if this is not practicable, county Local Authorities should have power to see that it is available immediately outside the house or as near thereto as the water can be brought. (Paragraph 2111.) (6) That county Local Authorities should be bound to bring their water mains within a reasonable distance of houses. (Paragraph 2111.) (7) That there should be an obligation on county Local Authorities to see that every house outwith special water districts or other districts mentioned in (4) either has a supply of water introduced into it or has one just immediately outside, and that in cases where this is not possible, the county Local Authority should see that a supply is available within as short a distance of the house as the water can be brought. (Paragraph 2112.) (8) That no new house should be erected outwith a special water-supply district unless the county Local Authority are satisfied that a supply of water will be introduced into the house or will be available immediately outside. (Paragraph 2112.) (9) That section 125 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, should be amended so as to provide that the length of notice to be given by a county Local Authority to the owner of a house requiring him to provide water for that house should be reduced to one month, with power to the county Local Authority to extend the period on good cause being shown. (Paragraph 2113.) (10) That all appeals against the requirements of county Local Authorities in regard to the intro- duction of water to houses should be made to the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 21 14.) Wateir-Supply to Houses in Burghs. (11) That it should be obligatory on Town Councils to see that water is introduced into or is available immediately outside every existing house, and that in all new houses water is introduced into the house, any disputes to be referable to the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 2115.) 22 338 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Water-Supply fw Colliery Villages. (12) That in cases where the supply of water for colliery houses is provided by the mine-owners, Local Authorities should have definite powers to require (a) sufficient storage and filtration or softening, or both, according to circumstances, and in some cases (6) the making of proper arrangements for the collection of roof-water for washing purposes. (Paragraph 2116.) (13) That water pumped from working levels of mines should be prohibited for domestic use. (Paragraph 2117.) (14) That Local Authorities should be empowered to require convenient arrangements for miners taking with them into the underground workings a small supply of drinking water so as to prevent resort to water polluted in the workings. (Paragraph 2117.) Drainage. (15) That in burghs and in special drainage districts or in parts of counties where, without the forma- tion of such districts, a Local Authority have carried out a drainage scheme, the Local Authority should be requned to bring their sewer within a reasonable distance of houses and that any dispute as to what is a reasonable distance should be refeiTed to the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 2118.) (16) That power should be conferred on Local Authorities for the regulation of the introduction of trade effluents into sewers, and that disputes between Local Authorities and traders on the subject should be settled, failing agreement, by an arbiter appointed by the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 2119.) Provision of Water-Closets in Burghs. (17) That it should be obligatory on the part of Town Councils to exercise the powers with which they are at present invested whereby they may requii-e the provision where practicable of a water-closet or earth-closet for every house. (Paragraph 2120.) (18) That no new house should be permitted to be erected in a burgh unless it has a water-closet for its exclusive use. Wliere, however, it is not practicable to provide a water-closet, an earth-closet or other form of closet approved by the Town Council should be requhed. (Paragraph 2120.) Provision of Water-Closels in County Areas. (19) That in special drainage districts or in places where, without the formation of such districts, a drainage scheme has been provided, county Local Authorities should be required to see that a water- closet wherever practicable is provided for every house, and that in such special districts or other places no new house should be permitted to be erected unless it has a water-closet for its exclusive use ; the same condition as to the provision of earth-closets in exceptional cases as is suggested above in the case of burghs to apply. (Paragraph 2121.) (20) That in coimty areas outwith special drainage districts or other districts mentioned in (19), it should be obligatory on the county Local Authority to see that every house (existing or new) is supplied either with a water-closet or an earth-closet or other foj'm of closet approved by the Local Authority. (Paragraph 2122.) (21) That in cases where a house is not provided with a water-closet or earth-closet for its own use, the Local Authority should be required to see that such a separate convenience is provided wherever this is reasonably practicable, but that where the difficulties of construction make this impossible, a con- venience should be provided for every two houses. (Paragraph 2124.) (22) That no new house should be allowed to be put up that does not have a convenience for its own use. (Paragraph 2125.) (23) That all disputes in regard to the provision of water-closets or earth-closets for houses in counties or burghs should be referable to the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 2126.) Provision of Sculleries, Coal Storage Accommodation, Larders or Food Stwes, Presses, and Baths. (24) That no new houses either in counties or in burghs should be allowed to be erected unless they are provided with sculleries and washhouses, and that Local Authorities should be required to see that sculleries are provided in existing houses wherever such a course is reasonable and practicable. (Para- graphs 2128 and 2129.) (25) That it should be obligatory on Local Authorities to see that in all cases accommodation for the storage of coal is provided to their satisfaction. (Paragraph 2131.) (26) That all new houses should be provided with a larder ventilated directly from the outside, and that Local Authorities should insist on this accommodation being provided before the plans of the houses are approved. (Paragraph 2132.) (27) That Local Authorities should be required to see that adequate press accommodation is pro- vided in new houses. (Paragraph 2133.) (28) That Local Authorities should be empowered to require the provision of a bath for every new or reconstructed house with a right of appeal to the Local Government Board on the part of any owner or builder against the requirement of the Local Authority. (Paragraph 2136.) Building Byelaws in County Areas. (29) That it should be obligatory on every cormty Local Authority to frame building byelaws. (Paragraph 2138.) (30) That the present scope of the byelaws imder section 181 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, should be extended to cover the matters specified in Paragraphs 2139 to 2147. REPORT. 339 Building Regulations in Burghs. (31) That section 166 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, should be amended so as to make it clear that, even though no structural alterations are intended, it shall not be possible to use for human habitation, without the sanction of the Dean of Guild Court, any room or rooms in a building which had not been previously used as a dwelling-house, but which was being converted into a dwelling-house. (Paragraph 2149.) (32) That where a commencement is not made with the erection of a building within two years from the date when the warrant was obtamed in terms of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, it should be necessary to apply for and obtain a fresh warrant before proceeding to erect the building. (Para- graph 2150.) (33) That a general power should be conferred on Local Authorities enabling them to control the height and character of any building to be erected in their area, and that this power should apply not only to the height of houses but to the height of any factory or other building. (Paragraph 2151.) (34) That in the case of new or reconstructed cottages or double-flatted houses, the existing provisions in the Burgh Pohce (Scotland) Act, 1892, should be modified to permit of rooms being built of a height of 3 feet 6 inches and 8 feet on the gromid and upper floors respectively, but that in the case of attic rooms the height should be 8 feet through not less than one-half the area of the room, but at no part less than 5 feet. (Paragraph 2152.) (35) That Town Councils should be empowered to relax in such cases as they consider appropriate the requirement in rule 7 of Schedule IV. of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, that party walls are to be carried through the roof to form a parapet. (Paragraph 2153 {a).) (36) That Town Councils should be empowered to modify rule 12 of the same schedule so as to allow of the wall suiTounding every chimney or flue being of not less than 4J inches thick if of brick, or 6 inches if of stone. (Paragraph 2153 (b).) (37) That Local Authorities of counties and burghs should have power to make byelaws for the pm'pose of regulating the laying down of material used for making up of ground. (Paragi-aph 2154 {a).) (38) That Local Authorities of counties and burghs should be given power to require that there shall be not more than one layer of wallpaper on a wall at any time. (Paragraph 2154 (6).) (39) That the plans of all houses or alterations or additions to houses and of all buildings which, when erected, will come under the supervision of the medical officer of health and sanitary inspector should, before being approved by the Local Authority, be submitted to these oSicers for their opinions qua matters affecting health. (Paragraph 2155.) (40) That in burghs the approval of the Town Council should be required to the sites of all houses to be erected. (Paragraph 2156.) (41) That in the absence of a town-planning scheme, the approval of the Town Council should be required to the number and arrangement of buildings on the site in cases where new buildings are being erected. (Paragraph 2157.) (42) That where rooms are shown on plans submitted to Local Authorities of counties or burghs as box-rooms, such rooms should not be used as sleeping-rooms until the approval of the Local Authority to the change has been obtained. (Paragraph 2159.) (43) That Local Authorities of counties and burghs should have power to control the placing of gas stoves in dwelling-houses and the provision of flues. (Paragi'aph 2160.) (44) That the adoptive provisions in the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1903, giving control over buildings, should be extended and made applicable to all burghs. (Paragraph 2161.) (45) That houses provided by or for Government departments should be subject to the byelaws or regulations of the county or burgh Local Authority in whose district the houses are being erected. (Paragraph 2163.) Statutory Bequireniemts atid Byelaws. (46) That various matters at present regulated by the provisions of the statute should, in future, be regulated by means of byelaws framed by the Local Authority and confirmed by the Local Govern- ment Board ; that provision should be made for afperiodical review by the Local Authority of all byelaws in force in their area, at least every ten years, and that the Local Government Board should be empowered to reqviire the revisal at any time of any byelaws that have in their view become obsolete or imworkable, and that any disputes between Local Authorities or their officials, and the persons responsible for observ- ing the byelaws should be referred to the Local Government Board. (Paragraphs 2164 to 2169.) (47) That Local Authorities should be required to frame byelaws subject to the approval of the Local Government Board for the proper maintenance of houses. (Paragraph 2171.) Closing and Demolition Orders. (48) That it should be made clear that the provisions of sections 17 and 18 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909, apply to unoccupied and unlet houses which are iminhabitable. (Paragraph 2172.) (49) That Local Authorities should have power in regard to houses that have been closed to require the owner to board up the windows and to keep the doors properly secured. (Paragraph 2173.) (50) That where a house has been the subject of a Closing Order, the consent of the Local Authority should be necessary before the house can be used for any other purpose, and that the owner should be entitled to appeal to the Local Government Board against the refusal of the Local Authority to give such consent. (Paragraph 2175.) (51) That Local Authorities should be given definite power of ejectment in cases where tenants refuse to leave dwelling-houses that are the subject of Closing Orders. (Paragraph 2176.) (52) That provision should be made for DemoUtion Orders being granted after a period of notice to the owners for all uninhabitable or ruinous property that was closed informally before the passing .of the Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1909. (Paragraph 2177.) 340 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Miscellanemis Recommendations. (53) That for the purposes of their work of inspection under the Housing Acts, it should not be necessary for sanitary officers to give any previous notice of their intended inspection of a house. (Paragraph 2179.) (54) That notices served on tenants luider the Housing Acts should be competently served by registered letter. (Paragi-aph 2180.) (55) That in all proceedings against the owner under the Public Health, Bui-gh Police, or Housing Acts, he should be deemed to be the person whose name appears in the Valuation Roll as the owner, and that the notices of the Local Authority should be held as vahdly served at the address given in the Valuation EoU. (Paragraph 2181.) (56) That section 39 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, should be amended so as to permit of the request for a special case being made subsequent to the judgment of the Authority before whom the appeal comes. (Paragraph 2182.) (57) That the powers under Pai-t I. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, should be made available to county Local Authorities. (Paragraph 2183.) (58) That statutory powers should be conferred on trustees to reconstruct buildings belonging to a trust estate under their charge. (Paragraphs 2184 and 2185.) (59) That section 81 of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, should be amended by the omission of the words therein " or to enter into any contract." (Paragraph 2186.) (60) That the provisions of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, dealing with the removal of nuisances should be amended so that the " intimation " and " notice " stages of that procedure should be combined, that the sanitarj' officials of the Local Authority should be empowered whenever a nuisance is brought to their knowledge to serve a notice on the author, and that if this notice is not compUed with the matter should be reported to the Local Authority for consideration as to further proceedings. (Paragraph 2187.) (61) That Local Authorities in comity areas should be empowered by means of byelaws to require the paving of yards and courts in populous areas in their district, there being an appeal to the Local Government Board on the part of any person aggrieved by the proposal of the Local Authority to put this power in operation. (Paragraph 2188.) (62) That it should be the duty of the Local Authority to keep in a proper state of repair roads which are pubhc rights-of-way. (Paragraph 2189.) (63) That the powers in section 164 of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, in regard to the pro- vision of means for carrying away water-drip from bridges should be available to Local Authorities of county areas. (Paragraph 2190.) (64) That Local Authorities of county areas should have power conferred on them to require the construction and proper maintenance of a pathway from the nearest pubhc road to the door or gate or entrance of every house. (Paragraph 2191.) (65) That section 117 of the Burgh PoHce (Scotland), Act, 1892, should be amended so as to provide that the whitewashing or painting of common stairs or common passages shall be carried out within a time specified in the notice of the sanitary inspector. (Paragraph 2192.) (66) That Local Authorities of county areas should be empowered to adopt in special scavenging districts the provisions of section 23 of the Burgh Pohce (Scotland), Act, 1903, in regard to the provision of a fixed or movable receptacle for rubbish. (Paragraph 2193.) (67) That section 73 of the Pubhc Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, dealing with the control of tents, vans, and sheds, should be amended so as to permit of the officers of the Local Authority having the right of entry at all times. (Paragraph 2194.) (68) That the consent of the Local Government Board should be required to all loans obtained by Local Authorities for pubhc health purposes. (Paragraph 2195.) (69) That the repayment of loans for public health purposes should be extended to such period beyond thirty years as the Local Government Board in each instance determine. (Paragraph 2196.) (70) That byelaws under the Burgh Police Acts relating to sanitary matters, including all byelaws relating to buildings and streets, should require confirmation by the Local Government Board only. (Paragraph 2197.) (71) That the Local Government Board should see that sufficient staffs are provided by Local Authorities and should be empowered to require Local Authorities to provide such staffs as the Boaixl consider necessary. (Paragraph 2198.) (72) That the grant given in aid of the salaries of medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors should be increased to one of 50 per cent, of the expenditure for this purpose as approved by the Local Government Board. (Paragraph 2199.) (73) That the difficulties that at present exist in the way of coimty Local Authorities adopting the Burghs Gas Supply (Scotland) Act, 1876, should be removed. (Paragraph 2200.) (74) That at the earliest possible date an Act should be passed consolidating the various statutes on the subject of pubhc health and housing. (Paragraph 2201.) CHAPTER XXXIII. REVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS AND DUTIES OF LOCAL AND CENTRAL AUTHORITIES. Nature of the New Problems to be dealt with. 2202. Our chief practical recommendation in this Report is that the Local Authority for Public Health and Housing should be placed under a definite obligation to see that the district is adequately REPORT. 341 provided with suitable houses, and that where private enterprise in all its forms fails to meet the demand, the Local Authority itself should be under obligation to provide houses. This recommenda- tion we base on the grounds already set forth. The duties thus placed on the Local Authority are such as the following — a detailed survey of all the houses in their area ; the closing of the houses declared to be uninhabitable ; the ascertaining of the number of houses required for the sufficient housing of the population ; special inquiry as to the possibilities of local enterprise ; the preparation of reconstruction schemes, improvement schemes, and building schemes under the various powers of the Housing Acts ; the preparation of town plans ; the technical surveys of land and property, the valuations and arbitrations, the assessments and borrowing arrangements, and all the other proceedings consequent on these undertakings. Add to these, the provision of adequate water-supplies, the provision of sewerage and drainage, the provision of hospitals, convalescent homes, reception houses, and other institutions for infectious diseases and general sickness, the provision for maternal and child welfare, and the further general provision for the maintenance of efficient public health administration. 2203. In some of the rural areas these profelems will co:ifcinue to be relatively small ; but in the rapidly developing industrial areas such as the counties of Lanark, Ayr, Fife, Stirling, Dumbarton, Renfrew, and the Lothians, these problems will increase in magnitude and urgency. The recommendation that for the housing of the community the Local Authority should be placed under the same obligation as it at present is under for the administration of public health generally involves these very large issues ; but from the evidence obtained by us or submitted to us, we are satisfied that this is the least that can be demanded if the rehousing of the industrial community is to proceed with sufficient rapidity. In the developments that have been forced on by the war, one truth has been made abundantly clear : the housing of the industrial workers can no longer be regarded as a problem merely for the localities ; it is essentially a question of national interest and must be dealt with from the national standpoint. It is, however, in our view essential that the Local Authorities, reconstituted along the lines we suggest, should be the executive authorities for the realisation of the national policy. Necessity for Preserving Units of Public Health and Housing. 2204. For the carrying out of this policy, we do not propose that a new Local Authority should be set up. Housing is, in our view, primaril}-^ a department or section of public health administration. In the evidence put before us this view was universally accepted. Even the witnesses who expressed a preference for superseding the Local Authorities by a Central Authority did so on the ground that the public health would thereby be better maintained. It is agreed on all hands that the public health administration and housing administration should, as at present, continue to be the functions of a single authority. The general reasons for this are incontestable. Housing is a fundamental element in the public health. This is proved in other sections of our Report. The provision of new houses cannot be dissociated from the improvement of old houses. This is implied in the Housing Acts, under which the Local Authority is endowed with powers to require uninhabitable houses either to be closed or to be rendered habitable. Further, the Public Health Authority has full powers for the provision of water, sewerage, hospitals, and public health institutions generally. This is shown in our exposition of the present powers of the existing authorities. At no point is it possible to dissociate the public health duties from the specific duty of providing suitable houses. In the exposition referred to it is shown that from the control and removal of nuisances at the one end to the actual provision of houses and town planning at the other end the responsibility of the Local Authority for public health is continuous. Our proposal to place an obligation on the Public Health Authorities amounts to little more than a slight extension of their present duties under Part III. of the Ho\ising of the Working Classes Act, 1890. Accordingly, we can discover no grounds for the special creation of an ad hoc local housing authority. We consider that all the conditions of efficiency can be fulfilled by a slight increase of powers and some further provision for the enlargement of areas and combination of the present Local Authorities. Necessity for Larger Administrative Areas. 2205. In the larger burghs, the populations and valuations are, as a rule, sufficient to enable the Local Authorities to assume full responsibility for the provision of housing. They are responsible for large areas ; they control large values and assessments ; they have had experience of the large financial transactions involved in the formation of new streets and roads, the execution of improvement and reconstruction schemes, the provision of water-supplies and sewerage, the provision of hospitals, the provision of public parks and open spaces, and in many other phases of municipal enterprise. They are able to employ an adequate mxmber of whole-time technical and professional officers. By operating on a large scale they are in a position to carry out extensive and efficient public schemes without undue waste. It is true that, as shown elsewhere, the present procedure for the compulsory acquisition of land is a severe handicap on progi'essive authorities ; but, even under this handicap, the principal towns and districts have shown their capacity to carrj'^ through large schemes of water-supply, sewerage, etc. 2206. The larger towns, therefore, are in a position to undertake all the obligations we propose to place on the Local Authority ; but with the smaller towns and the smaller rural Local Authorities the case is altogether different. By themselves these Authorities are rarely in a position to maintain the whole-time technical and professional service necessary for the execution of housing schemes or the incidental engineering schemes for water and drainage. Under present conditions these Authorities naturally restrict themselves to the requirements of their own district, and in many instances the public services are but scantily and imperfectly administered. But in many localities the boundary between a town district and a county district is artificial. The interests of town and county in the better housing of the population, in the better provision of water, drainage, hospitals, etc., may be identical ; yet, under the restrictions of the present law, each minor Local Authority, instead of combining freely with its neighbours, limits its operations within its own resources. The disadvantages of the small Local Authorities have been manifest ever since the passing of the Local Grovernment (Scotland) Act, 1889, 342 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. and more particukrly since the passing of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897. Under the latter Act, every burgh, whatever its population, is a Local Authority for public health. In some cases the popu- lation of its area is less than five hundred. It is everywhere recognised that however desirable it may be to preserve the civic instincts of small localities, the burghs so small in population and in resources cannot maintain efficient public services. This has been fully realised by the small burghs themselves. For the police and public health purposes, they have, in considerable numbers, become practically part of the public health systems or police systems for the county districts or for the counties. But under such a system they sacrifice in great measure their direct representation, and practically cease to exist as active or independent Authorities for certain purposes. Thus burghs that themselves are quite unable to maintain a whole-time medical officer of health or sanitary inspector have agreed to accept the services of the whole-time county officials. For the provision of hospitals for infectious disease, the smaller rural districts have frequently combined with one another and with the burghs in their area. Under the Housing, etc.. Act of 1909, the Local Government Board has power to establish, under a town- planning scheme, a joint conunittee of two or more LocarAvithorities as an authority to execute the scheme. Here the principle of enforced combination is as explicitly recognised as in the case of combinations for the provision of hospitals. The Local Authorities have followed the same policy even on a larger scale in the provision of sanatoria for tuberculosis. In some of the counties, too, the medical inspection of school children is arranged essentially on a county basis, all the towns with less than 20,000 of a popu- lation being elements in the larger area. In the constitution of the Insurance Committees the same principle has been followed. Under the National Insurance Act, 1911, the "Insurance County Council " includes all the burghs of less than 20,000 inhabitants. In the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, the Scotch Education Department has power to require by order the combination of such school boards as in then- view are too limited in area or in resources to provide satisfactory educational institutions In the locality. These illustrations suggest two things : first, that the obligations now placed upon Local Authorities cannot be efficiently discharged by Local Authorities of very small areas and resources ; second, that, for the fulfilment of these obligations, the principle of combining county authorities with one another, burghal authorities with one another, and county authorities with burghal authorities is a recognised and tested method of bringing about a sufficiently large and suitable administrative area. For the provision of infectious disease hospitals the powers go even further. It is open to the Local Authorities to combine voluntarily : but where, in the opinion of the Local Government Board, such combination is desirable for the adequate provision of hospitals in the area, the Board may enforce such combination. 2207. The experience of public health administration during the last twenty-seven years would alone have been a sufficient ground for suggesting an enlargement, by combination or otherwise, of many of the public health areas. In fact, the increase of services required and the economy necessary for their execution have to some extent tended to induce the Local Authorities to combine their resources for the provision and maintenance of institutional and official services. But when to the present obligations is added the obligation to see that housing is provided, the case for larger areas of administration and authorities with larger total resoiirces becomes incontestable. Even where burghal and county authorities are in other respects sufficient for their present burdens, there is great overlapping and administrative waste. One of the most striking illustrations is to be found in the Middle Ward of Lanark. In his evidence before us, Mr Whyte, Clerk of the Middle Ward District, said : — In the Middle Ward of Lanark, in addition to the Middle Ward county district, there are the burghs of Motherwell, Hamilton, Wishaw, Airdrie, and Coatbridge. Hamilton, Motherwell, Wishaw, and the Middle Ward have all separate schemes of water-supply, while Airdrie, Coatbridge, and a portion of the Middle Ward have another scheme. Practically all their gathering grounds are from the same range, if one might so express it, and we have instances of huge main pipes running side by side down the same roads. That, consequently, means an extravagant scheme for all the parties concerned, and could in a great measure have been obviated if the whole had been consolidated into one scheme. We are perfectly satisfied, both from our own knowledge and from expert advice, that the gathering areas there could have been conserved at the outset and one scheme formulated which would have served all parties, and at a much cheaper rate than several of the Authorities can get their water at the present time. We were first in the field as regards applying for special powers f 01 water. The burghs of Hamilton and Motherwell came next, and the point is this, that Parliament did not seem to specially consider the existing sources or the existing facilities, or whether the wants of, say, Motherwell could be met by an enlargement of the Middle Ward scheme, or by an inter- change of facilities ; they simply took the application on its merits and dealt with it accordingly, with the result that each authority applied from time to time for independent powers for a water- supply. (Whyte, 36,853, 36,854.) 2208. The overlapping involved in the undertakings here referred to cannot be justified, and these instances are t)^ical of many ca ses of independent action where joint action would have been the proper course to follow. But if the industrial communities of Scotland are to be adequately provided with water and sewerage, and if the water-supplies of Scotland are to be surveyed and conserved in the way we suggest, the local competition for the possession of water areas, the local resistance of areas already provided with lesser schemes, the struggle of the burghs to annex the rapidly urbanising county areas, the interest of the county districts in preventing the impoverishment of their rating areas — these and the many local difficulties arising from them will continue to operate against the public interest. When the Local Authorities are required to follow an active policy of housing, the frictional difficulties between burgh and burgh, between town and county, and between county districts will certainly not be reduced. Yet, from the evidence before us, we are clearly of opinion that the economical housing of the people, the efficient town planning of areas, and the provision of water-supplies on a large scale necessitate sufficient combinations of areas and Local Authorities to place all sections of the country on the same footing of efficiency as the larger burghs already occupy. REPORT. 343 Burghs under 10,000. 2209. How far do the present authorities fulfil the conditions we have indicated ? The following figures are a sufficient answer : — There are 6 burghs under 1,000 Th< 5re are 4 burghs under 7,000 23 2,000 )» 1 )) „ 8,000 17 3,000 >) 4 J) „ 9,000 16 4,000 >> 1 M „ 10,000 10 8 5,000 6,000 90 2210. There is no need to characterise individual places, many of which, although they have done excellent work within their limits, are not in a position to undertake even such housing schemes as may be locally required. It is enough to say that many of the present Local Authorities are too limited in area and population ; the resources they command are too small ; they tend towards the exaltation of local interests against or instead of the interests of the whole area on whose prosperity they ultimately depend. If public health in the large sense now contemplated is to be sufficiently administered, expansion of powers, consolidation of functions, and enlargement of areas are necessary. Alternative Methods of Securing these Conditions. 2211. To secure the larger area and the more efficient Local Authority two alternative proposals suggest themselves : (a) The establishment of areas with a population of not less than, say, 50,000 inhabitants, with a single Local Authority for the administration of public health (including housing) ; (b) that powers should be conferred on the Central Authority to enforce such combinations of existing authorities as will secure an area with sufficient resources to maintain efficient public services. (a) The Constitution of New Areas. 2212. The first proposal entails the revision of boundaries throughout the country by a Boundary Commission. The objective would be to parcel out the town and county areas in such a way as to secure a community of not less than 50,000 inhabitants. This figure is not to be taken as definite. It is merely suggested as a convenient unit for sufficient administration. For the purposes of public health (including housing), the new unit area would include such burghs and elements of the county district as may be necessary. The whole country would be thus mapped out intw new sections. In many localities no change of the present areas would be necessary ; but in others, some of the present districts might have to be divided and included in other districts. Over the new unit area thus delimited there would be a single Public Health Authority. This could be formed from two sources, first, from the Town Councils included in the area ; second, from the District Committee members respresenting the county electoral divisions included in the area, the electoral divisions corresponding roughly with the parish areas. Each district has a definite number of electoral divisions ; the District Committee is made up of the county councillors representing those divisions and members elected from each of the parishes included in the district. In the new delimitation of boundaries, it might happen that only a few of the electoral divisions or parishes of a district would be included along with the burghs to constitute the new unit area. In that case, the District Committee representatives of the county electoral divisions included would form part of the new authority. Town Councillors would form another part. The new authority would have the full powers of the Public Health Authorities to execute the Public Health Acts, the Housing Acts, and the other Acts falling to the Public Health Authority. The new authority would have rating powers over the whole area as a single unit. It would also have powers of borrowing. 2213. An authority for public health (including housing) constituted on this plan would be set up for every area of the country. It would leave to the present District Committees as such, to the County Councils as such, and to the Town Councils as such a considerable portion of the duties that these bodies normally discharge at present. But for the purposes of public health (including housing) the powers of these three bodies would, to the extent necessary, be transferred to the new authority of the unit area. The duties of the members of the various authorities would not, of course, be in any way curtailed. They would simply be discharged in a different capacity. 2214. This proposal has advantages. It would secure in many instances that, instead of the present dissociation of interests between burghs and county districts, the interests of the whole area would be in the charge of a single authority with powers. For housing and town planning this is of importance. The towns, as the main centres of industry, tend continually to overflow their boundaries. The county districts equally tend to resist as long as possible the extensions of the towns, and under such conditions they may be indisposed to provide up-to-date services for the areas adjoining the burghs for the reason that they are always liable to lose them. Under the new proposal it would be the interest both of the town and the coilnty area to move as a single unit. The single Local Authority would have full powers within the whole area. The development of a town-planning scheme within the area would not thus raise difficult questions of burgh extension or interfere with the rating values of town and county. The water-supphes, the sewerage, and other works involved would be governed by the same principle. Public health (including housing) would be dealt with as the single problem it always is in reality. Infectious disease is not limited by the imaginary line that separates burgh and county. Nor would this imaginary line be a reason for having a burgh hospital on the one side of it and a county hospital on the other, the one taking in no patients from the burgh, the other taking in no patients from the county. Maternity centres or child- welfare centres could be established at places within the area suitable for all mothers and children whether belonging to the burghal portion or to the landward portion. It would be possible to give many other illustrations of the advantages of unifying in this simple and direct way the necessary number of electoral divisions of town and county. 344 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 2215. To be effective, the new authority, as we have indicated, would have to be endowed with powers of rating and raising loans. The rate might be made a uniform rate within the whole district, or, in special circumstances, it might be adjusted to the burdens at present resting on the [Kirticular burghs or county districts concerned. This is a matter of detail, although as a principle it is extremely desirable that the rating should be uniform in an area where the interests and requirements are essentially common. As the inaintenance of the public health is a primary national interest, and as Imperial funds will be required to assist local funds both in ordinary health administration and in the provision of housing, we consider that every effort should be made to smooth out the anomalies of local rating by making the rating basis as broad as possible. In the Insurance County Council as constituted under the National Insurance Act, 1911, this principle is followed. Under that Act the expenses for the county and all the burghs under 20,000 are practically pooled and raised over the whole area as a unit. The same principle has been followed under certain combinations of burgh and county districts. It might even be suggested that, on the same general grounds, the public health rate might, to the extent of 50 per cent. , be regarded as a purely national rate and so levied, and to the extent of the other 50 per cent, as a local rate. But, as the question of local rates has been so recently under consideration, and as it hardly falls within our remit, we prefer to make no positive recommendation as to rating. (6) The Combination of existing Authorities. 2216. Probably the method we have sketched of establishing a unitary authority for a town and landward area is the most complete way of securing certain administrative objectives. But we recognise that it would involve a considerable recasting of boundaries. This means time. Any legislation required would certainly be contentious. But the improvement of housing and other public health services is too urgent to be thus postponed indefinitely. 2217. For these reasons we prefer to suggest, as the more expedient course, that the Local Govern- ment Board, as Central Authority, should be endowed with full powers (as e.g. in the Education (Scotland) Act and the English Public Health Act) to require combination of existing Local Authorities for all the purposes of the Public Health Acts, the Housing Acts, the Dairies Act, and such other Acts related to public health as may be considered necessary. At present the Local Government Board has power to require combination of Local Authorities for the provision of hospitals. It has also power to require combination for the execution of Orders under Part IV. of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, such as the Plague, Cholera, and Yellow Fever Order, the Tuberculosis Notification Regulations, and the Venereal Disease Regulations, and others. Where Local Authorities are prepared to combine for the purposes of maternity and child welfare, the Local Government Board has power to make an Order establishing the combination. In all these matters the Board determines the mode in which the authorities are to operate, and the allocation of the expenses. It would, therefore, be no great exten- sion of its powers to authorise the Central Authority to require combination for all the other purposes of the Acts named. On the contrary, such a power of combination would be entirely in line with the local government developments of the last thirty years. 2218. As a preliminary to the Orders constituting such combinations, the Local Govermnent Board would have regard to the extent of area necessary for the efficient discharge of the duties to be under- taken. In some localities probably a minimum of 50,000 inhabitants would be necessary. In others the minimum would be less. The Board, in their inquiries, would have full power to obtain or to require information on the whole public health necessities of the district (including housing). They would, as under a, town-planning inquiry, give full opportunity to the Local Authorities to present their case for and against combination. The kind of procedure contemplated is already suggested in the provisions for water and drainage inquiries under the Public Health Act, and in the town-planning provisions of the Housing Act, 1909. 2219. This proposal to increase the powers of enforcing combination appears to us to interfere to as small an extent as possible with the present administrative organisation. The objects of a unit area with a single authority would be practically obtained withoiit sacrifice either of the status or of the interests of the burghs and county districts and county councils concerned. There would be no altera- tion in the methods of election, or in the methods of assessment, or in the methods of raising loans. Under such a combination the members of the Local Authorities would have at least as many duties to perform as they have at present. The larger or combined district would requisition the present Rating Authorities for its money requirements, and the present Rating Authorities would continue to exist for rating as at present. Combination, as already explained, would only be made of whole existing public health districts. But to simplify procedure it would be necessary, as we have suggested, to discontinue the ^Standing Joint Committee of the county. As a check on capital expenditure the Local Government Board, as Central Authority, would be sufficient. In respect that the combined area might be both burghal and rural it would be necessary to provide the requisite machinery for applying the statutory powers suitable to the different parts of the area. Central Authority. 2220. In making these recommendations we have assumed that, for the carrying out of their extended public health work, the Local Authorities will receive generous assistance from Imperial funds. This necessarily entails the placing of much greater responsibility on the Central Authority. To tlie extent that grants are given or loans to Local Authorities arranged on special terms, the Central Authority, on behalf of the Treasury, will require definite control over all capital outlays. This is absolutely essential for the conservation of the finance of the country after the war. But such increased financial responsibility entails increased technical control of the administration of housing. This, in turn, involves an extension not merely of the powers of the present Local Government Board, but an increase in its membership. In the chapter on town plaiming we suggest that the membership should be increased by at least two members with special experience in the technique of housing and towTi planning. An increase of the technical and clerical staff would also be necessary. REPORT. 345 2221. Further, as the national financial interests involved will necessarily be very great, we con- sider that the Local Government Board, as Central Authority for public health and housing, should be formed into a substantive department of the same status as the Scotch Education Department. To prevent unnecessary delay, it is essential that the Local Government Board, increased as suggestetl, should be directly responsible to the Treasury through the minister in charge. These technical details of Imperial administration we are not in a position to discuss fully. But, from the urgent representations made to us, we recommend that the Central Authority should be strengthened and should be erected into a principal department of the State. Conclusion. 2222. If the Local and Central Authorities are strengthened and developed on the lines here suggested, we are satisfied that they may be safely entrusted with the execution of the extensive housing programme implied in the recommendations of this Report. SUMMAEY OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS IN CHAPTER XXXIII. (1) That there should be kept in view as an ultimate desirable alteration of the present law and system with respect to the administration of public health (including housing), the establishment of areas with a population of not less than 50,000 inhabitants, with a single Local Authority for the adminis- tration of the said services, fully endowed with all requisite powers. (Paragraphs 2211 to 2215.) (2) That for the immediate needs of the situation, and as tending towards the larger conception mentioned in recommendation above, the Central Authority should be empowered to require combination of existing Local Authorities for all the piuposes of public health and housing. It would be necessary in this connection to make suitable statutory provisions for the administration of such combined areas in respect that they might include both burghal and rural districts. (Paragraph 2217.) (3) That the Central Authority should have adequate control of capital expenditure. (Paragraph 2219.) (4) That the Central Authority, in respect of the extent and contemplated enlargement of its responsi- bility and interest (financial and administrative), should be established as a principal or substantive department of the State. (Paragraph 2221.) CHAPTER XXXIV. BAD HOUSING ^S A FACTOR IN INDUSTRIAL UNREST. 2223. The chief root of industrial unrest is the desire of the workers to establish better conditions of life for themselves and their families. Every phase of industrial evolution has had its own rallying point, its own precipitation-point of opinion. In the present phase, the direct demand of the workers is for such social conditions as will enable them, that is the great masses of the community, to live in greater comfort, in cleaner surroundings, in better equipped houses. Naturally, therefore, as the demand for social improvement becomes more self-conscious and informed, it tends to concentrate itself on the most obvious concrete problem, namely, the overcrowding of the cities and the deficiencies of housing everywhere. In this respect, bad housing may fairly be regarded as a legitimate cause of social unrest. The increased mobilisation of communities, the increase of wages among certain classes of workers, the increase of rents, the increase of the cost of living, two generations of public school education, the in- creased intercourse of the poorer and wealthier classes, the spontaneous growth of co-operation both for the production and for the supply of commodities — these and similar causes have induced the industrial workers themselves to take up the solution of their social problems. Of this, no better illustration could be offered than the documents submitted to us by the representatives of the Miners' Unions of the mining counties. These documents, as stated in the chapter on Mining (XIV.), have been substantially confirmed both by the other evidence led before us and by our direct inspections. Such documents are a sufficient proof that, in this large and populous industry, defective housing has become a well-understood grievance. 2224. In those districts that have been specially identified with the prosecution of war work, there has been a very considerable influx of workers. The housing accommodation is not only taxed to its utmost, it is overtaxed and overcrowded. Many of the workers anxious to reside in the district in which they are employed cannot find house accommodation. In .some instances they have to travel vei}' considerable distances to and from their work. Their work, as has often been represented, suffers in consequence. 2225. With good wages ruling generally in the industrial areas, there has been a tendency, we beheve, for many families to seek better houses ; but practically no houses are available. Again, numerous marriages have taken place, but the young couples have not been able to secure a house for themselves. This, we understand, is a cause of considerable irritation and discontent. 2226. We are informed that the serious shortage of housing in Mid-Lanark (which is the centre of the coal and of the iron and steel industries in the west of Scotland) was recently the subject of a conference among the Local Authorities concerned (representing a population of 400,000), and it was resolved at said conference that specific data and information should be collected by the various Authorities. Broadly, the conditions found in the areas of the different Authorities were these : — (1) A serious, and increasingly serious, shortage of suitable working-class houses. (2) Overcrowding so intense and so widespread that the public health, and especially child life, was being seriously endangered, and decency, convenience, and moderate comfort could not be secured. , (3) The occupancy of in.sanitary dwellings to a very serious extent. 346 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 2227. Under such conditions, we understand, there occurred many cases of an exceptionally un- desirable character, e.g. families divided up between different houses on account of the fact that houses could not be obtained ; two and more families occupying the same dwelling ; families in lodgings with their furniture stored ; ten and twelve persons living in a single-apartment house ; the occupancy of xmsafe and unhealthy houses, because there were no other houses available, and the Local Authority chose the lesser evil of condoning the occupancy of such premises rather than of depriving the tenants of a shelter. 2228. It would seem to be hardly necessary to argue that such hving conditions are prone to cause discontent and unrest. That they have done so and are doing so seems to be unquestionable. Public meetings have been held throughout Mid-Lanark, and resolutions have been passed strongly condemning the existing conditions and calling for a remedy. Deputations have waited upon the Local Authorities and have called for immediate and drastic action. If, coupled with generally unsettled conditions and strenuous days of working such as have been experienced in the districts in question during the past two or three years, the living conditions afford no comfort, convenience, or relaxation, the strong feeling of discontent and dissatisfaction said to exist throughout the area is not a matter for wonder. These conditions must be t)^ical of what are being experienced in other industrial areas, and we consider that they cannot be too soon dealt with and remedied. They will not disappear in many districts at the close of the war, for existing works have been and are being extended, and new works have been and are being established in order to cope with the permanent development of industry. 2229. We understand that the unsatisfactory housing conditions in some of the industrial districts have been the subject of consideration by the Commission recently appointed for Scotland on Industrial Unrest, and that they have discussed these in their Report as one of the causes of unrest and dis- content among the working-classes. 2230. There are other and serious causes of industrial unrest. On these we offer no general opinions. But, so far as housing is concerned, we cannot but record our satisfaction that, after generations of apathy, the workers all over Scotland give abundant evidence of discontent with conditions that no modem community should be expected to tolerate. Industrial unrest, whatever be its ultimate causes, undoubtedly is stimulated, directly and indirectly, by defective housing. Apart from the general educa- tion of the public, the medical officers of health, sanitary inspectors, members of public health authorities, private individuals at conferences, congresses, and consultations of many varieties, have kept pressing on the health authorities the urgency of improvement in housing as a conditioii of limiting the spread of disease and of increasing the general health. No movement of modern times has taken hold of the community more rapidly than the public health movement of the last twenty-five years. The general dissatisfaction with defective housing and defective environment of houses is one of the many results. Naturally, when economic conditions are rendered exceptionally unstable by a world-wide war, every item in the programme of social improvement assumes greater prominence. Before the war, the demand for better housing had become articulate ; to-day, after three years of war, it is too insistent to be safely disregarded any longer. Our evidence shows that this demand, growing daily more imperative, has its complete justification in the sifted masses of facts that form the groundwork of this Report. CHAPTER XXXV. LEADING ISSUES OF REPORT. 223L Let us now bring together the leading issues of our Report. Results of Oub Survey. 2232. The modest inquiry initiated by the Scottish Miners' Federation in 1909 has resulted in the national survey of Scottish housing here presented. These are the broad results of our survey : unsatis- factory sites of houses and villages, insufficient supplies of water, unsatisfactory provision for drainage, grossly inadequate provision for the removal of refuse, widespread absence of decent sanitary con- veniences, the persistence of the unspeakably filthy privy-midden in many of the mining areas, badly constructed, incurably damp labourers' cottages on farms, whole townships unfit for human occupation in the crofting counties and islands, primitive and casual provision for many of the seasonal workers, gross overcrowding and huddling of the sexes together in the congested industrial villages and towns, occupation of one-room houses by large families, groups of lightless and unventilated houses in the older burghs, clotted masses of slums in the great cities. To these, add the special problems symbolised by the farmed-out houses, the model lodging-houses, congested back-lands, and ancient closes. To these, again, add the cottages a hundred years old in some of the rural villages, ramshackle brick survivals of the mining outbursts of seventy years ago in the mining fields, monotonous miners' rows flung down without a vestige of town-plan or any effort to secure modern conditions of sanitation, ill-planned houses that must become slums in a few years', old houses converted without necessary sanitary appliances and proper adaptation into tenements for many families, thus intensifying existing evils, streets of new tenements in the towns developed with the minimum of regard for amenity. Overcrowding. 2233. The last census showed that thousands of one-room houses continued to be occupied by families ; that overcrowding reckoned even by the most moderate standard is practically universal in the one- and two-room houses ; that, in spite of protest and administrative superintendence, domestic overcrowding of houses and overbuilding of areas have not been prevented. To our amazement, we REPORT. 347 found that, even if we take overcrowding to mean more than three persons per room, we should, to secure even this moderate standard for Scotland, have to displace some 284,000 of the population. But this is not all. We conclude that, at least, 50 pei' cent, of the one-room houses and 15 per cent, of the two- room houses ought to be replaced by new houses. In brief, merely to relieve existing overcrowding, and replace houses that should be demolished, some 121,000 houses are required, and, if an improved standard is adopted, as we recommend, the total number of new houses required would approach 236,000. For such gigantic figures our Report submits full justification. On this point the Commission is unanimous. Reason for Excessive Housing Insvfficiency and Low Housing Standard. 2234. If it be asked how this enormous accumulation has occurred, one answer is : that the conditions of Scottish housing have never been adequately investigated. The Scottish inquiry by the Dilke Com- mission of 1885 was too limited in its scope. It is only now that the nation has had the means of discovering how far Scotland has been left behind, and by what poor standards the housing of her working classes has been measured. Our Report, and the evidence it rests upon, will carry conviction to every disinterested person. Obstacles to Housing Reform. 2235. These, then, are the conditions that cry aloud for redress. But the path of reform is blocked by many obstacles : the failure of commercial enterprise to keep pace with housing needs, the failure of the Local Authorities, both of town and county, to appreciate the full value of their powers, the rapacity of property owners in their claims for compensation, the persistence of antiquated methods of arbitration, the absence of any definite basis for the assessment of compensation, the impotence of the arbiters to check speculative claims, the consequent enormous and deterrent expense of improvement schemes and reconstruction schemes, the impotence of the Local Authorities to control the prices of building sites within the city or of potential biiilding land in the immediate neighbourhood, the absence of a direct obligation on any authority to see that adequate housing is provided for the whole community, the inadequate size, area, and resources of many Local Authorities, the absence of powers to require combination of authorities, the consequent impossibility of effective enforcement of statutes by the Central Authority, the insufficiency of the Central Authority's equipment, the unsatisfactory status of the Central Authority itself — these and their many derivative difficulties of procedure stand in the way of reform. Both commercial enterprise and municipal enterprise have failed to keep pace with the steadily rising demand for more and better house-room. Cost and Acquisition of Land. 2236. To the various problems here named we have given earnest consideration. Above all, we adduce very definite views on the relation of land to housing. The question of the land is fundamental. If nothing is done to make it possible either for individuals or for public authorities tt) obtain building land at more reasonable prices than hitherto, housing reform will be paralysed at the outset. If the methods of compulsory acquisition of lands, including land and other property, are not simplified, the exorbitant claims that have already stopped building schemes in the cities will continue to be raised. These two reforms are of primary urgency ; our specific proposals we submit with every confidence. Obligation' on Local Authorities for Adequate Housing, 2237. But there is an administrative point that is equally fundamental. From the national survey we have conducted, we are satisfied that, in the present unique disorganisation of afiairs, the State alone, acting through the Local Authorities, can meet the present discontent. For the time being, commercial enterprise has failed to keep pace with the demand. The causes of the faihire we have fully expoimded. Doubtless, the climax came with the war ; the failure, however, had become manifest long before the war. But whatever its causes, the disorganisation flowing from the war makes an immediate revival of uncontrolled commercial enterprise on an adequate scale impossible. There is, in our view, only one alternative : the State itself, through the Local Authorities, is alone in a position to assume responsibility. Here, then, is our primary point in procedure. Hitherto the Local Authorities, though their powers for the provision of houses are extensive, have, for various reasons, been restrained or have refrained from using them to any appreciable extent. We are satisfied that, if those powers are to be exercised on the scale necessary to realise the programme we have set forth, the Local Authorities must be placed under an unmistakable obligation to maintain a continuous and systematic survey of their housing accommodation, to ascertain how far private enterprise can meet the demands, but, failing provision of houses by other agencies, to undertake themselves — with financial assistance from the State — the necessary building schemes. Without such a definite obligation, exercised under direction of the Central Authority, we are satisfied that, by no administrative machinery known to us, can the necessary houses be provided. For the double purpose of avoiding delay and assisting demobilisation after the war, the consideration of building schemes should proceed at once. This matter brooks no delay. For these sti'ong conclusions we have given our detailed reasons in the body of the Report. Central Authority. Its Relation to Local Administrative Authorities. 2238. But if this obligation is to be made effective, the Local Government Board, as Central Authority, should be strenghtened by an increase of its direct executive powers, and an increase in its membership and staff. The nature of the extended powers is fully explained in the Report ; but one power we regard as of primary importance, namely, the power to require the combination of existing authorities for all purposes of public health and housing. This proposal we make because it involves the least disturbance of existing authorities and because the urgency of housing should not be sacrificed to the 348 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. prolonged discussion of elaborate reforms. On the other hand, we consider that the time has now come for a readjustnieiit of public health and housing areas, and for a radical reconsideration of the relations between tlie various authorities in town and county. We are aware that proposals fui' a Ministry of Heiiltli are under consideration ; but the proposals we now make are in no way inconsistent with larger pro]K)sals for the consolidation of health services, both local and central. Central Aulhmity to he a Principal Department of State. 2239. In any such reforms, it is assumed, the Scottish Ministry of Health will be independent of an English Minstry of Health. But whatever form the new changes take, it is essential that the Central Authoiity for housing and public health should be elevated into a principal department of the State. At present the Secretary for Scotland represents the Local Government Board in Parliament not as President of that Board, but as Head of the Scottish Office. This indirect responsibility to Parliament is not, in our opinion, compatible with the extended powers and increased responsibilities of the Board. The Local Government Board for Scotland should have at least the same Parliamentary status as the Scotch Education Department. One-Room House. 2240. On one problem discussed in the Report, we desire to focus public attention, viz. the one- room house. That the one-room house is incompatible with decent or wholesome family life we have, we think, shown conclusively in our Report. The policy adopted for dealing with the the one-room house will determine, in large measure, the general housing policy of the country. That is why we have devoted to it a special chapter. In our opinion, the time has now come when the Scottish nation should rid itself of the reproach of the one-room house. It is now time to say that, subject to the qualifications specified in our Report, the one-room house must go. Opposition to State Subsidies to Speculative Bxhlders and Others. 224L In our main specific suggestions for new pohcy we have, to our regret, not carried with us our colleagues of the Minority. But we have given every consideration to their arguments; we have answered many of them directly or by anticipation, and, in the remainder, we have failed to find either any ground for a practical compromise or any reasons for altering the lines of policy we have laid down. If the present crisis is to be met in the way that Scotland, by her many sacrifices of life and treasure, has the right to expect, it cannot be met either by a reversion to the building conditions of pre-war days or by direct siibsidies to employers of labour, landowners, and the speculative builders of to-day. Responsibility of the State. 2242. For immediate and practical purposes we have suggested that for a period of fourteen years, with an opportunity for revision at the end of seven years, the State, in assuming full responsibility for housing, should operate through the Local Authorities and should place upon them the responsibility of seeing to the provision of building. In our view the mere offer of financial assistance — ^to be taken or left — may stimulate some Local Authorities to a greater exercise of their present powers, but will not meet the situation, the urgency and gravity of which it would be difficult to exaggerate. To bear its full fniit, State assistance requires the imposition of definite obligations and the provision of simple and effective organisation. In this latter connection we cannot but look with strong disfavour on the proposals of the Minority to create three new departments : — *(1) An ad hoc Board for the Outer Hebrides and Skye to supersede the Central and Local Authorities. (2) A Special Financial Board to administer loans and grants, which, in our view, would be more appropriately done by the Central Authority with their direct knowledge of housing requirements, and by the Public Works Loan Board, who are at present entnisted with the administration of loans, and by the Treasury, whose approval would be necessary to the distributions of grants. (3) A Special Tjand Court to assess the price of land taken for housing — ^with no definite basis of compensation laid down to guide them or limit their awards. Such Departments would, in our opinion, be expensive and useless additions to administrative machinery. Conclusion. 2243. Our national survey has revealed the set determination of the Scottish people to secure, for every class of the community, wholesome conditions of living. Their watchword is no longer limited to a healthy mind in a healthy body ; rather it now is — ^a healthy family in a healthy home. In this ambition they have our encouragement and support. From beginning to end our proposals are animated by the desire to see the housing of the Scottish people made more worthy of Scotland's great history as a nation. It is with great pleasure that we record our appreciation of the work done by Mr P. Gardiner Gillespie, S.S.C, Edinburgh, Secretary of the Commission, by Mr Alexander M'Kinna, Assistant Secretary, and by the members of the clerical staff. On all points affecting the Commission's inquiry, Mr Gillespie has uniformly put at the dis- • The " Minority " policy for the Outer Hebrides and Skye is not subscribed to by Mr Carlow. See his Reservation at page 460. REPORT. 349 posal of the Commission and its individual members his wide practical experience of affairs, his intimate knowledge of law and procedure, and his powers of successful organisation. In the deliberations on the Report, which necessarily involved many subjects of complication and delicacy, his familiarity with the fundamental factors in the housing problem, his initiative in making suggestions, and his judgment in the discussion of practical policies, have been of the greatest value. Mr Gillespie has given unstintedly of his time and his high intellectual attainments in the classification of the evidence and in the preparation of the Report — a work, as is apparent, of great magnitude. To the heavy work falling on him as Assistant Secretary, Mr M'Kiniui brought his long and varied experience on the staff of the Local Government Board and his peculiar intimacy with administra- tive law. To Mr M'Kinna's originality of suggestion and capacity for persistent and rapid work, our Keport owes many of its most useful features. The other members of the staff have devoted themselves to theii' special work with an assiduity that deserves every recognition. All which we humbly submit for your Majesty's gracious consideration. P. GARDINER GILLESPIE, Secretary. ALEX. M'KINNA, Assistant Secretary. (Signed) H. EALLANTYNE. JAMES BARR. JOSEPH F. DUNCAN. DAVID GILMOUR. J. MILNE HENDERSON. J. MIDDLETON. W. LESLIE MACKENZIE. WILLIAM YOUNGER. Wth September 1917. MINORITY REPORT BY SIMON JOSEPH FRASER, BARON LOVAT, K.T., G.B., K.G.V.O., C.D.S.O. GEORGE FREELAND BARBOUR GHARLES GARLOW MRS GEORGE KERR 351 TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. Reasons for separate Report Policy advocated . . . . Relation of the Minority to the Majority Report Arrangements of topics in the Minority Report I'AQK 355 355 356 356 CHAPTER I. Causes of the Cessation of House Building and theik possible Removal. Introductory .......... Fluctuations of house-building in the large cities ..... Causes of the cessation of building ....... (1) Rise in the rate of interest . . . (2) Advance in the cost of building (wages, materials, carriage, etc.) Possible sources of economy ...... (3) Advance in the cost of upkeep and maintenance — Question of destructive tcuauta (4) Difficulty of securing adequate rents ...... (5) Increase in the burden of rates . . ' . . . . Local and Imperial expenditure ...... (6) New taxation, and apprehension of further burdens in the future (7) Uncertainty regarding the building policy of Local Authorities (8) Demand for higher standard of accommodation Summary. — Future of private enterprise ...... Recommendations ......... 356 357 358 358 359 .361 362 363 363 365 365 367 367 367 368 CHAPTER II. Land Values and the Acquisition and Control of Building Land. {A) Feu-duties and land values. — General considerations Feu-duties in the Scots bujghs . . - . Agricultural and feuing value ..... Net return on land feued ..... Additional burdens — Ground annuals . Attempted restriction of ground values by granting cheap feus Proportion of ground rent and feu-duty to total rental High site values as a hindrance to building Tenement building and site values .... Limitation of building density and its effects . The future problems implied in excessive ground rents {B) Acquisition and control of building land .... (1) Extent of existing powers ..... (2) Two types of " land " to be acquired (3) Two possible lines of advance .... Reduction of the price of building land by indirect methods : — (1) Limitation of building density .... (2) Transit ....... (3) Purchase of land by Local Authorities in advance of immediate requirements Taxation of site values ..... Direct method of reducing land values Suggestions for a summary determination of site values . Instructions under which a Land Tribunal should work . (1) Determination of land value (2) At whose instance the Tribunal should act (3) Use of land compulsorily acquired Recommendations ...... CHAPTER III. * Transit and Town Planning, (A) Transit :— Movement of population due to improved transit Factors hindering the decentralisation of population Class of population affected Methods of transit .... • Recommendations .... (B) Town planning : — Possible simplification of procedure Case for emergency legislation . Recommendations ..... 369 370 371 371 372 372 373 374 374 374 375 375 375 376 376 377 377 378 380 380 381 382 382 382 383 383 383 384 384 385 385 385 386 386 352 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. sill": to one class of tenant CH AFTER IV. FuNoxioN OF Local Authorities in Housing. (A) The housing record of Local Authorities : — Introductory .... Municipal housing in Scotland (i.) Kind of house provided (ii.) Class of tenant housed (iii.) Finance of municipal schemes The Liverpool municipal houses (1) The class of tenants housed (2) Difficulty of restricting municipal hou (3) Subsidised rents (B) Objections to unlimited municipal housing : — (1) Housing by municipal authorities acts as a deterrent to other builders (2) Difficulties of supervision .... (3) The voting power of the municipal tenant (4) Licrease of indebtedness of Local Authorities (C) Share of Local Authorities in providing dwellings :^ Assistance in the preliminary stages of housing schemes Co-operation of municipal and private enterprise Provision of houses for special classes : — (1) Common lodging-houses (2) Probationary housing . (3) Special provision for invalid householders (4) Housing of public servants Advantages of a definite and restricted housing policy on the part of Local (D) The housing of the dispossessed (£) The problem of the worker earning a low wage (1) Increase of wages . (2) The subsidised house (3) Subsidy to the householder Recommendations .... Authorities ■ 387 387 388 389 389 390 391 391 391 392 392 393 393 395 395 396 396 397 397 398 399 399 400 401 401 401 CHAPTER V. House Management and the One-Room House. Management:— ..... (1) By the landlord directly (2) By the landlord indirectly : — (a) System introduced by Miss Octavia Hill (b) Scheme suggested by Mr Horsburgh Campbell (c) Caretakers .... (3) Management by the Public Authority . (4) Management by the tenants themselves Discussion of the various forms of management suggested Intemperance and housing difficulties House management and occupancy The one-room house Demand for the one-room house Reservation regarding overcrowding Recommendations 402 402 402 403 403 403 403 404 405 406 406 407 408 408 CHAPTER VI. Constructive Housing Policy after the War. (.4) General principles of policy : — (1) Importance of variety of method and local initiative (2) Importance of education in housing (3) Encouragement of private and co-operative effort (4) Restoration of confidence ...... (B) Forms of house tenure to be encouraged : — (1) Occupying ownership ...... (o) In fishing villages ..... (b) Building societies . . . . • . (i.) Class of worker to wjiom building society method is (ii.) Period of repayment .... (iii.) Difficulty or otherwise in disposing of houses (iv.) Building societies and life insurance . (c) Co-operative associations .... {d) Copartnership societies ..... (e) Acquisition under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899 (2) Other instances of occupying ownership .... Assistance to the impoverished owner-occupier (3) Provision of houses by the employer .... (4) Conclusions regarding various forms of tenure 409 , , . 409 . . 409 • 409 410 . . 410 ^ 410 applicable 410 ^ , 411 . 411 . 412 ^ 412 . 412 . 413 . 414 . 415 . 416 ^ ^ 417 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 353 (C) Constructive housing policy after the war : — (1) Assistance during the period of Reconstruction (a) Importance of defining the emergency period (6) Administrative body required (2) Form and extent of Government subvention (a) National contribution to post-war housing (b) Limited grants for abnormal building costs (c) General conditions of grants and loans . (d) For whom should cheap loans be made available (D) Responsibility for improved housing Summary of grants suggested . (E) Relation of Local and Central Authorities . Recommendations ...... PAQB 417 417 418 419 420 421 421 421 422 422 422 423 CHAPTER VII. Housing of Farm-Skrvants and Rural- Workers. Division of the subject . . . Housing of farm-servants .... {A) System of tenure of farm cottages and question of repairs Suggestions to meet above difficulties Sanitary inspection .... (B) Improvement of existing houses : — Provision of additional conveniences . Gardens ..... Bothies ..... (C) Provision of new farm cottages : — (1) New houses to replace those unfit for habitation — Question of the Provision of houses by the Local Authority . (2) Married men's houses to replace bothies . (3) New houses to meet the needs of rural development Place of a central society for rural housing Conclusion . . . . . . . Recommendations ...... ■ 424 ■ 424 . 424 425 426 . 427 . 427 • 427 le " tied house " 428 429 430 431 431 431 432 CHAPTER VIII. Housing on the Smaller Farms and Small Holdings. Introductory ........ (A) Expenditure by estates on the equipment of holdings {B) Effect of Land Acts on housing ..... (1) Position of smallholders and policy of the Board of Agriculture Need for adequate financial provision . (2) Policy regarding statutory small tenants . (C) Encouragement of expenditure by landowners on other holdings . Recommendations ....... 432 432 435 435 436 436 437 438 CHAPTER IX. Housing Policy in the Outer Hebrides and Skye. Introductory . . . . . (A) General view of housing conditions . . . ' . Factors in the improvement of housing .... Responsibility for slowness of improvement .... Need for a completely new policy ..... Cottar and squatter question ...... Cottars and squatters — The main obstacle in the way of housing reform (B) Recommendations for a new housing policy .... (1) Case for local Board with special responsibility for housing (2) Outer islands grant ....... (3) Need for a clearly defined period of effort First phase — -Flying survey . . . . . ■ Second phase — Detailed survey .... Third phase — Selection of townships and submission of schemes Fourth phase — Administration of loans Settlement of cottars and squatters ..... Importance of dealing with the township as a unit Reasons for short-term loans ...... Relation of the proposed Board to Local Authorities . Co-operation with the Estates . . . . . < ' . Conclusion . . . . . . Recommendations ....,,.. 439 439 439 440 440 441 441 '441 441 443 443 443 444 444 444 444 445 445 445 446 446 ■147 23 354 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. CHAPTER X. Various Dissents and Recommendations. (B) iC) (D) , Chapter XVII.) : (A) Reservation on Mining (Majority Report, Chapter XIV.) :- Dissent from recommendation 7 Dissent from recommendation 12 Reservations on Seasonal Trades (Majority Report, Potato-diggers, additional recommendation Berry-pickers, additional recommendation House Letting (Scotland) Act, 1911 : — Difficulties in connection with the Act Appeals under the Act . Suggested amendments of the Act Limitation of building loans (Majority Report, Chapter XXVIII.) (E) Housing Policy (Majority Report, Chapter XXIX.) : — Criticism ....... (F) Administrative reforms (Majority Report, Chapters XXX. and XXXI.) (1) Standard of accommodation .... (2) Powers of Central Authority .... (3) Control of tenement property Question of housing appeals (Majority Report, Chapter XXXII.) . Water-supply and sanitation in landward districts (Ibid.) . (1) Length of notice required ..... (2) Introduction of sanitary appliances Miscellaneous recommendations : — (1) Introduction of baths . . . . . (2) Application of byelaws to alterations . . . (3) Byelaws regarding maintenance .... (4) Control of sites of demolished houses Revision of administrative areas (Majority Report, Chapter XXXIII.) Recommendations ....... Note on the suggested abolition of Standing Joint Committees in Counties Conclusion ........ (G) (H) W) (K) FAOB 447 448 448 448 448 449 450 451 451 452 452 453 453 454 455 455 456 456 456 456 456 457 458 459 355 MINORITY REPORT. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. REASONS FOE SEPAEATE EEPORT. 1. While we accept a great part of the Eeport submitted by the Majority of the Commission, espec- ially those\ portions which describe the existing state of Scottish housing, and while we agree with a large number of their suggestions, we find ourselves unable, after the most careful consideration, to assent to certain of the chief recommendations which they make for the provision of new and improved dwellings for the working classes. Thus, in spite of the wide areas in regard to which we are in general agreement, we find it necessary to submit a separate Eeport, as the points on which we dissent from the findings of the Majority appear to us to be of fundamental importance. We have endeavoured to set forth in the following Report a policy which we believe will meet the housing needs of the country, as to the magni- tude of which we are in fuU agreement with the Majority. Our differences turn on the methods and the forms of enterprise by which these needs can best be supplied. We have sought to avoid the repe- tition of facts and arguments already advanced by our colleagues ; but, as is explained in Paragraph 15 of the Majority Report, we have been handicapped by the suspension of the Commission's sittings during the greater part of the year 1916, and by the consequent extreme pressure during the last months of our work ; and this has rendered inevitable some measure of duplication between the two Reports. Policy Advocated. 2. We feel it necessary, in the first place, to state certain broad principles which, in our judgment, should govern the housing policy of the country during the reconstruction period, and which the Majority either fail to emphasise or definitely reject. Our main reason for dissent is that we consider the need for the rapid supply of enlarged and improved houses to be so great that no one form of enter- prise is adequate to meet it ; and in our judgment the general result of the Majority Report is to throw too large a share of the responsibility for the rehousing of Scotland on to the Local Authorities. These bodies have many complex and arduous functions to discharge at the present time, while the great majority lack experience in this direction, and those whicb have entered the field have not always been successful in carrying out housing schemes economically and efiiciently. As Local Authorities are at present constituted, and in view of their other duties, they do not seem to us qualified to carry out the truly gigantic task of providing dwellings for the greater part of the working-class population of Scotland ; while there would be grave dangers — not least that of delay in the provision of houses — if bodies which have hitherto provided less than 1 per cent, of the necessary dwellings were at once made responsible for providing perhaps 80 or 90 per cent, of the new working-class houses required. 3. We give full arguments in support of this view in Chapter IV., where we also point out how large a part ought to be played, and can only be played, by Local Authorities in promoting the erection of improved houses. We thus argue that their activities should be concentrated on certain special tasks, and that everything should be done to foster other approved forms of enterprise, especially those of a co-operative or copartnery character and those which aim at the extension of occupying ownership. Ifc is true that our colleagues of the Majority express a certain somewhat guarded sympathy with these ; but we do not consider that their recommendations go far enough to be effective, while their obvious desire to place the largest possible share of the responsibility for the provision of houses on the shoulders of Local Authorities would, we feel sure, act as an actual obstacle in the way of the revival of private and co-operative enterprise in house building. 4. We are also impressed with the danger inseparable from the tendency to excessive centralisation which runs through the recommendations of our colle9.gues. The functions of the Local Government Board as Central Authority for housing in Scotland are already of great magnitude and importance, and they must inevitably be further enlarged in the near futm'C, especially in the sphere of town planning. We cannot agree that the Local Government Board should be invoked to settle every disputed question and solve every difficulty. In particular, we wish to preserve the degree of administrative independence at present possessed by Local Authorities, and to enhance, rather than diminish, their sense of responsi- bility ; while we are also impressed with the necessity of limiting the amount of judicial or quasi-judicial work which falls to the sphere of an administrative department such as the Local Government Board. 5. A further principle which has governed our recommendations is that a definite distinction should be drawn between the normal housing policy of the country and those special measures which are justifi- able and necessary in a period of emergency and temporary disorganisation, such as must follow the conclusion of peace. The reconstruction period will be marked by an abnormal need of new dwelhngs to make up for past neglect, and to make good many years' arrears in the supply of small houses. It will also be a period during which the after-effects of the war, and the claims of reconstruction in northern France, Belgium, and other devastated countries, are certain to keep the rate of interest high and the costs of building heavy. There will also be the question of providing suitable employment for the dis- charged soldier to consider. On these and other grounds (more fully stated in Chapter VI. below) we hold 366 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. strongly (a) that the housing problem in the near future should be treated as in vital relation to the general task of reconstruction ; and (b) that the special assistance, financial and other, to be given by the State during the reconstruction period should be administered in such a way as to mark its emergency character and lead towards the re-establishment of more normal conditions in the supply of small dwellings. 6. We may summarise the objects which we keep before us throughout this Report as (1) the promo- tion of competent enterprise of every kind for the provision of small. dwellings ; and (2) the apportion- ment of responsibility for this provision and for the general administration of the Housing Acts in such a way as to elicit at once the greatest variety of efEort, the supply of capital from the largest number of soiurces, and the widest interest in the task of rehousing Scotland. Relation of Minority to Majority Report. 7. We find ourselves in general agreement with the introductory portions of the Majority Report and with their description of housing in the Scottish burghs (Chapters I. to III., V. to IX.), and also with Chapter XIII. on Farmed-out Houses, etc., and Chapter XVI. on Fishing Communities. Our agi-eement with the recommendations in Chapter IV. is qualified by the fact that in Chapter VI. below we suggest the constitution of a special financial authority which will largely take the place of the Public Works Loans Board during the reconstruction period. Certain reservations regarding Chapters X. to XII. of the Majority Report (on Occupancy, One-roomed Houses, and Overcrowding) will be found at the end of Chapter V. below. Our general agreement with Chapter XIV. (Mining) and Chapter XVII. (Seasonal Trades) is qualified by reservations stated in the opening paragraphs of Chapter X. of our Report. For the rest our differences are more pronounced, and the portions of our Report which correspond with the Majority Report may be shown as follows : — Subject. Rural housing . . . . Crofting Land poUcy Building and pubhc utility societies Administrative changes . General policy Majority Report Chapters. XV. XVIII. XIX. to XXIV. inclusive. XXV., XXVI. XXX. to XXXIII. inclusive. XXIX. Minority Report Chapters. VII., VIII. VIII., IX. II. VI. (Paragraphs 299 to 315). X. VI. and X. (Pars. 486 if.). Arrangement of Topics in the Minority Report. 8. As a foundation for our whole argument, we analyse in Chapters I. and II. the causes which have brought the provision of small houses in Scotland to a standstill, and had largely done so even before the war. In so doing we make various recommendations, overlooked or not sufficiently emphasised by our colleagues, for the removal of existing hindrances to building. We discuss fully the important and highly controversial difficulty involved in the high cost of building land, and indicate a policy, indirect as well as direct, for its removal. In Chapter III. we make independent recommendations on transit and town planning. We devote Chapter IV. to a discussion of the whole question of the share of Local Authorities in meeting the housing needs of the working classes, and show what we consider to be their essential part in this work. In Chapter V. we make certain suggestions for the regulation of one-room houses and for the improved management of dwellings occupied by the less careful and responsible tjrpe of tenant. Chapter VI. contains a fuller expression of the principles stated in outline above, and outlines a housing policy for the period following the war. Chapters VII. to IX. apply this policy to the special circumstances of rural and crofting communities ; and Chapter X. contains various minor recommendations and notes of dissent on other branches of the subject, chiefly of an administrative character, including the important question of appeals on housing matters and the simplification of the House Letting Act. CHAPTER I. CAUSES OF CESSATION OF HOUSE-BUILDING AND THEIR POSSIBLE REMOVAL. Introductory. 9. Throughout the Commission's inquiry no fact was more general and striking than the co- incidence of a considerable, and very frequently an acute, lack of workmen's houses at moderate rents with the entire stoppage of the supply of such houses. This double condition, involving the failure of the building trade as hitherto organised to meet an m'gent public need, was reported from many districts, as has been sufficiently shown in the Majority Report. Further, it is a condition which shows a singular disturbance of the normal economic relation of supply to demand. It is true that there have at all times been variations in the activity of the house-building trade, a period of overbuilding being REPORT. 357 frequently followed by one of reduced production which lasted until the margin of new houses had been fully occupied. In previous cases when this point was reached the supply was again stimulated. But the recent depression in the building trade has been both more prolonged and more serious. It doubt- less began in the reaction which followed naturally on the last building boom of the years 1900-1902. In certain of the cities a large number of houses remained unlet for several years ; but their gradual occupation did not lead to a renewal of building operations ; and there is abundant evidence to show that the building of working-class houses stopped about the year 1910, in districts where shortage was acute not less than in those where there was a reasonable margin of unoccupied houses. Thus an inquiry into the causes of this stoppage, and the extent to which they are removable, appears to us an essential prelimiiaary to any satisfactory treatment of the future of housing enterprise in the provision of working-class dwellings. Fluctuations of House-Building in the Laeqe Cities. 10. In the last Census Report the following figures are given regarding houses under construc- tion in the four large cities at the time of the three last Censuses (the figures represent the number of houses imder construction in each hundred occupied houses) : — Houses under Gonstniction. 1891. 1901. 1911. Edinburgh 1-2 0-9 0-3 Glasgow 0-7 1-0 0-3 Dundee 0-9 0-8 0-2 Aberdeen 0-2 0-7 0-2 Thus there was a marked decrease in construction of houses in the cities. In 1901, houses building numbered 2624 ; in 1911 they numbered 877, a fall of 66-16 per cent. 11. The decline in the number of houses under construction is reflected also in the number of men employed in the building trades. In 1901 the total number returned as belonging to the building trades was 38,997 ; in the 1911 Census it was found to be 25,537, showing a drop of 34-5 per cent. In Aberdeen men following these trades have been decreased by In Edinburgh „ „ In Dundee „ „ In Glasgow „ „ (Census Report, vol. i., part 4, p. 8a.) 47-4 per cent. 39-1 „ 314 „ 29-8 „ 12. In Edinburgh during the years 1909-1912 there was a steady fall in the erection of new houses at rentals from £10 to £20 — 177 being provided in 1909, and only 42 in 1912. The figures for houses rented from £20 to £40 were 181 in 1909 and 40 in 1912 ; while in 1913 no new houses of either class were provided, and only 6 of £40 to £60 as compared with 46 in 1909. The City Engineer adds that the total number provided shows a large reduction compared with the previous period of five years, during which fully 2000 houses appear to have been provided by private enterprise. . . . It may, in fact, be stated that any provision has in recent years been more the result of " making- down " of the larger flat by subdivision into a series of smaller houses rather than the erection of new houses, designed with particular reference to the requirements of to-day. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (6) f.) 13. Figures covering a longer period were submitted by Mr Wilham Eraser to show the m'ove- ments of the building trade in Glasgow during the past forty years. They are " based on the linings " issued by the Dean of Guild Court for new property, and they will be foimd in full in Appendix CXXXII., Table IV. Certain salient features may be mentioned here. In 1872-1873 the number of houses built was 4463, with an estimated average of 1-95 rooms per house, and a value per apartment of £68. The largest number of houses under construction in any one year during the whole period was 5746 in 1875- 1876, with 2-40 as the average number of rooms and £81 as the average cost per room. The number fell sharply in 1878-1879, even although this year the city boundaries were extended (see Table IV., Eraser, Appendix CXXXII.), when only 501 houses were constructed (average cost per room £65) ; and the low-water mark was reached in 1882-1883 with 391 houses averaging 2-59 rooms at a cost of £84 per apartment. For the next fifteen years there was a gradual but fairly steady rise to a second high- water mark in 1897-1898, when 5618 houses with 2-34 rooms per house were provided at a cost of £90 per apartment. In 1901-1902, 5349 houses were provided, after which the number fell sharply to 1442 in 1906-1907, and 200 in 1911-1912. 14. The figures for the last twelve years of the period are as follows : — 358 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Year. Number of Houses. Estimated Number of Rooms. Value of House and Shop Linings. Total. Per Apartment. 1901-2 1902-3 1903-4 1904-5 1905-6 1906-7 1907-8 1908-9 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 5349 4837 2894 2085 2863 1442 1028 1167 1293 284 200 461 14,407 12,599 7,044 5,454 6,641 3,782 2,648 3,191 3,621 641 501 1,609 1,458,710 1,405,589 621,400 566,241 635,352 374,680 264,201 335,970 324,835 60,437 51,139 164,205 £ s. d. 96 110 85 98 91 96 96 102 85 86 91 99 15. Materials were also supplied by the same witness to show how far the fluctuations just noted were caused by previous variations (o) in the number of vacant houses, and (6) in the state of the property market as reflected in the average years' purchase of rental on which selling-prices was based. These will be foimd in full in Tables II., Ill, IV. of Appendix CXXXIL, but we may note that the number of years' purchase varied from 17 in 1896 to 9-5 in 1912. (Cf. Fraser, 38,092.) 16. A study of the figures from which the above are summarised appears to show that all three factors vary together — the average years' purchase of rental fluctuating along with, though not in exact proportion to, the activity of the building trade, while the number of unlet houses tends to vary in- versely. It is interesting to notice that the lowest proportion of vacant houses, and consequently the most active demand for houses, appear to accompany rather than to precede the periods of greatest activity in the building trade. (Cf. the analysis of the same variations given in the Report of the Depart- mental Committee on the alleged recent increases in rents, Cd. 8111, 1915. p. 3.) 17. There were many statements throughout the evidence to the effect that houses had for some time ceased to be provided by ordinary private enterprise. The date at which such provision ceased varied in different districts ; but in one case which may be taken as representative, 1908 to 1910 was given as the date of cessation. (J. P. Mackenzie, 34,292 (3-^) ; cf. 34,352.) In the months before the outbreak of war a certain number of houses were still, however, being provided. A few Local Authorities had building schemes in progress or in contemplation ; three or four building and puWic utility societies, chiefly in the Clyde area, were erecting cottages ; and various employers of labour, especially coalmasters, were providing houses for their workers, as were some of the wealthier landowners with whom financial return is not the first consideration. (Cf. J. Wilson, 43,729. The number of Local Authority schemes is given below. Paragraph 173 ff.) But the provision of small houses to be let on ordinary commercial Unes had come to an end. Causes op the Cessation of Building. 18. The question of the probable revival of private enterprise was touched on by several witnesses, but before it can be profitably discussed it seems necessary to set out the main reasons given for its cessation. As was to be expected, we found that a combination of adverse circumstances was pointed out as having prevented the building trade from meeting the acute demand for cheap houses. 19. The causes named by witnesses may be divided into two classes — ^those which have been more or less constant, and those which have formed an increasing handicap upon house-building. It is obvious that the latter class, which we might describe as those of increasing intensity, are more directly responsible for the failure in the supply of small houses. In the former class, which were relatively constant in the period of fifteen or twenty years before the war, we may include high feuing values— a subject which we treat separately in Chapter II. ; restrictive provisions regarding building and land development, especially road construction ; heavy legal expenses connected with building, and certain local causes such as the difficulty regarding subsidence in mining areas. In regard to restrictive byelaws, needlessly expensive development and legal expenses, we agree with the conclusion of the Majority ; but in dealing with the other class of hindrances to building, i.e. those which definitely in- creased in seriousness during the years before the war, we feel it necessary to state our position inde- pendently. These are (1) the rise in the rate of, interest and the difficulty of obtaining capital ; (2) advance in the cost of building (wages, materials, and carriages) ; (3) advance in the cost of upkeep and maintenance ; (4) the difficulty of securing adequate rents (which may be taken as the resultant of the preceding causes) ; (5) increase in the burden of rates ; (6) new taxation and apprehension of further burdens in the future ; (7) uncertainty regarding the building policy of Local Authorities ; (8) demand for a higher standard of accommodation. (1) Rise in the Rate of Interest. 20. This factor has undoubtedly been of great importance in checking building enterprise ; and the extent to which the current rate of interest determines the value gained by the tenant on a given REPORT. 359 capital expenditure is shown at once by the fact that a rise of 1 per cent, in the former involves the addition of Is. per week to the rental of a house costing £260. Since the comparatively slight rise in the rate of interest before the war caused real difficulty in the building trade, this gives some idea of the immensely more serious difficulties which will arise after the war, owing to the unprecedented destruc- tion of capital in all its forms and the vastly increased indebtedness of all the European nations. 21. Another fact which makes this consideration one of predominant importance is that in the past housing in Scotland has been so largely financed with borrowed money. In the Report of Lord Hunter's Committee on the alleged increase of rents it is stated that 90 per cent. " of the house property ' in Glasgow is subject to bonds, in most cases to about two-thirds of its estimated value." (Cd., 8111, p. 6.) The magnitude of the demand which has in the past been thus met by the private investor was strikingly brought out by the calculation that, for the ten years ending 1906-1907, the average annual sum expended on the housing of Glasgow alone was £842,850, or a little over £1 per head per annum. (Mactaggart, 22,847 (37 f.).) 22. At the end of the nineteenth century loans on house property could be obtained at 3 to 3J per cent, in Scotland (though one witness stated that the English builder at the same time was paying 4 and even 4J per cent.). In Glasgow the rate of interest was increased to 3 and 3| per cent, in 1908, and to 4 per cent, about 1912. (Lord Hunter's Report, p. 3 f. ; Mactaggart, 22,847 (25) ; Mickel, 21,893 (21).) In view of such facts it is not surprising that one business man, himself the initiator of more than one housing enterprise, should have placed this cause first among the factors which have caused building to cease. " I think the great difficulty in building houses is the large rate of interest." (Gibson, 17,178; f/. Gordon, 16,473; Mann, 21,252, 21,399; W. Stevenson, 26,171 (5); W. Eraser, 38,179.) It has, in fact, become almost impossible for housing to meet the competition of other claimants for capital, so long as the return from housing is not capable of expansion in changed conditions. 23. This diversion of capital towards other types of investment is due to tendencies which, even before the war, were world-wide, but which have in some places been reinforced by local causes. One such case was described by the Town Clerk of Grangemouth, who mentioned that his Council had to construct new and costly water-works between 1903 and 1911. Instead of borrowing from the Public Works Loans Board, they foimd it more economical to borrow locally. In this way they raised the sum of £150,000 at rates varying from 3 per cent, to a maximum of ^ per cent. ; and in the process many working men came to appreciate having their money invested on the security of the rates, with a guarantee against depreciation, since mortgages were issued instead of stock. Another reason, the witness went on to say, why worldng men are at present averse to purchasing their own houses, is that they find in- vestments for their savings at 4 per cent, in the local co-operative store, with practically no risk of depreciation, no worry, and realisable on very short notice. It is doubtful if in the ordinary case a greater net return can be got than 4 per cent, on heritable propert.y. (J. P. Mackenzie, 34,292 (6), (13) ; cf. Campbell Murray, 23,949 ; Alston, 34,167a (15). Similarly Mr Mickel says. Many Local Authorities have been borrowing heavily, and their bonds and stocks being gilt-edged securities, ' trustees are allowed to lend money on them. There have been many more of these trustees' ' stocks opening up of late that have been absorbing the money that used to go into building. (22,006.) 24. The absence of " worry " and the regularity of the return from other investments, as compared with those on house-property, appears to be a reason, quite apart from the nominal return, for the growing preference for the former. (Alexander, 34,940.) For these and other reasons, not only has the flow of fresh investment towards the building trade been checked, but there has been an extensive calling-up of loans and bonds on houses by trustees. (M'Kellar, 22,712.) A fact of some importance is the suspicion felt by the Scottish investor of bonds over cottage property. Another tendency of modern building is to use brick as more economical than stone ; but there is a similar prejudice in the minds of lenders against brick houses, as they will commonly lend two-thirds of the value on a stone house, but only half on a brick one. (Campbell Murray, 23,897.) 25. The general difficulty was stated in another form by witnesses who referred to the hindrance to building caused by the lack of capital. {E.g. Pritty, 17,072.) This affects housing in rural districts as well as in the burghs ; and it hinders the operation not only of the speculative builder who has always relied on borrowed capital, but also landed proprietors who may formerly have built out of their own resources, but now need to have recourse to borrowing. 26. This has now become a matter of great difficulty. A solicitor, who has had very wide experience of the management of Highland estates, said in 1913 that a proprietor, whose estate was comparatively free of burdens, might be able to borrow money repayable by a rent charged of about 6 or 7 per cent, according to the period of the loan ; but that he could not meet such a charge without being considerably out of pocket every year. The witness then mentioned two cases in illustration of this difficulty, in which he had utterly failed to " find money " for two loans on estates on which six y^ars before he would have had no difficulty in borrowing. Insurance companies and other lenders in Edinburgh and London all declined to entertain the proposal, giving virtually the same reply — that they did not wish to have money locked up in land. (W. Mackay, 15,665 (23) ; cf. C. M. Douglas, 2572, 2587.) 3^ 27. All the witnessesjquoted above drew from these facts the conclusion that, if cottages are to be provided at any figure approaching the rents which have prevailed in the past, capital must be found on reasonable terms. {E.g. Douglas, Mackay, Mickel, Mactaggart, as cited above.) We deal in Chapter VI. with this, the central difficulty of working-class housing, and we make special suggestions to meet the case of the impoverished owner-occupier. (2) Advance in the Costfof Building — Wages, Material, and Carriage. 28. Full evidence on this point was given, but it referred chiefly to the rise which had already taken place before the war, while conditions were still more or less normal. We quote certain representative opinions. The Measurer of the Glasgow Workmen's Dwellings Company, Limited, comparing the actual 360 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. cost of a large tenement block in 1900 with the cost as it would have been in 1913, reached the conclusion that the rise in thirteen years had been about 15 per cent., and that if the comparison had covered twenty years the increase would have been about 25 per cent. The Secretary of the Society^added. " That has ' an important effect in retarding building." (Mann, 21,207 (13), 21,249.) 29. Mr Mickel, a large Glasgow builder, said : — The clearest comparison I can give is in the undernoted table taken from a measurer's books, with the comparative costs for the various classes of work. I will assume £100 as a datum at the cheapest time. Principal works in the construction of a house : — 1885. 1903. 1908. 1913. £ £ £ £ Mason work 100 150 135 175 Brick 100 125 112 137 Joiner „ 100 133 125 165 Slater „ • 100 150 135 162 Plumber „ 100 140 126 182 Plaster „ 100 145 130 160 Iron „ 100 140 126 160 It will be seen that the prices were somewhat cheaper in 1908 ; this was caused by the falling away in the building trade, and although work is less plentiful now, the costs at present have greatly increased. The reasons are — increase in wages, raw materials, oncosts, insurance, and combines among manufacturers and merchants ; and the tendency is still upward. (Mickel, 21,893 (9).) It will be seen that, if 1903 is taken as the datum level instead of 1865, the rise between that year and 1913 does not differ very widely from the pre^dous estimate (Paragraph 28), although the latter goes three years further back. 30. An Edinburgh architect placed the rise in the three or five years ending in 1913 as high as 20 to 25 per cent. ; and pointed out that even when the sharp rise of prices is followed by a fall later, the fall never equals the full extent of the rise. (Lome Campbell, 19,457 (41), 19,710.) 31. The Architectural and Engineering Inspectors of the Local Government Board both gave estimates based on wide knowledge and inquiry. Mr Wilson mentioned 20 per cent, as the approximate increase in the ten years before July 1914, and added that in the year following the outbreak of the war there had been a further increase of 25 to 30 per cent., while in certain west Highland districts the increase was even greater. (Wilson, 43,864 f.) 32. As the result of an investigation in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Falkirk, Mr Walker Smith reached the following estimate of comparative costs for construction in brick — that the expenditure in wages represented 39 per cent., and the cost of materials 61 per cent, of the total, and that the latter had increased as follows during the ten years prior to the war : — nil. Ironmongery and fire-clay goods .... . 10 per cent Common bricks . . . . . . 20 „ Cement ....... . 25 „ Redwood, white wood flooring . 30 „ Ranges and grates ..... . 40 „ White lead and oil ..... • 65 Lead ....... . 75 „ The increase of wages seems to have varied considerably, and in any case has been small in comparison with the increase in cost of materials. The Board of Trade returns show increases in the wages rates between 1905 and 1912, varjdng from nil in the case of plasterers to 7 per cent, in that of plumbers ; and in ten years the increase might be stated at one-half more. Mr Walker Smith's final conclusion is that the total increased cost of work is about 19-18 per cent. ; but he adds, " Further factors which will ' affect the question are the workmen's compensation, insurance, the output of work per hour, etc." (Appendix CLIX., c/. Walker Smith, 41,557 (6).) 33. These calculations submitted by Mr Walker Smith raise the important question of the respective share of increased wages and cost of materials in the total rise of building prices. Mr William Eraser, F.S.I., stated that the customary estimate of the proportions of building costs due to these two factors repre- sented each as accoimting for about 50 per cent, of the whole. But owing to the fact that a larger proportion of the materials are now brought to the site in a finished state, and less stone-dressing is done on the spot, the percentage of wages to cost of materials paid by the builder at the actual operation of building has tended to fall. This probably explains the discrepancy between the two estimates just quoted. Even if we accept the estimate of wages as accounting for about only 40 per cent, of the total cost, it must be remembered, as Mr Eraser and others pointed out, that wages also enter very largely into the cost of materials. Mr Vivian gave the opinion that, roughly speaking, 80 per cent, of the prime cost of building really goes in wages to the workpeople in the country. (40,684 f ; cf. Eraser, 38,115 ff ; Mickel, 21,931.) 34. This estimate received strong confirmation from a close parallel pointed out by Mr Eraser between the average cost of rooms in Glasgow and the variation in the wages earned by masons during the same period. By comparing the cost of building per room with the wages of masons per hour for about thirty years from the year 1872, he reached the conclusion that " it would seem that when Id. per hour was ' added to or taken off the wages, concurrently the cost per room was roughly increased or diminished by ' £10." (Fluctmliom of the Building Trade, p. 16 ; Evidence, 38,113 f ; Appendix, CXXXII. (IV.).) REPORT. 361 35. From this parallel between building costs and wages taken over a long period in Glasgow, and from the fact that, when the processes of preparing building materials are followed back to the source, the percentage of costs applied in wages is undoubtedly very large, it might be argiied that the rise of wages has been by far the most important factor in increasing building costs. But as regards recent years, the figures quoted from Mr Walker Smith's statement show that this conclusion needs considerable qualification. For while his estimate of the average rise of building costs approaches 20 per cent., the Board of Trade returns show that in seven of the ten years under consideration, wages in certain of the principal trades had risen by considerably less than 1 per cent. Thus some other influence must have been at work ; and two directions were indicated by witnesses in which a further explanation may be looked for, viz. a tendency to restrict output on the side of labour, and increasing combination on that of capital. 36. There was clear evidence that the large combines, organised by wholesale manufacturers of building material, had appreciably raised the cost of certain necessary articles before the war ; and their iiSluence has been emphasised since. (Mickel, 21,932 ; cf. W. Fraser, 38,120 f.) One striking instance laid before the Commission was the experience of Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., which before the war was purchasing porcelain baths from a British firm at a net price of 47s. 6d., but, on the outbreak of war, and the withdrawal of German competition, the quotation was at once advanced to 63s. Id. Mr Vivian cited this example in support of his contention that, " the cost of building in the future will ' in part depend on the degree to which combinations of manufacturers are able to maintain high prices." (40,571 (74), 40,668 ; cf. Wilson, 44,004 f.) 37. Another factor to which attention was called was the high cost of the carriage of building materials. It was stated by one witness that in the Border counties the railway monopoly leads to additional charges for the carriage of building stone, in districts served by one company only. (Dal- gleish, 17,003 f.) In another southern district (Kirkcudbright) high rates of carriage are said to have much to do with the high building rates ; and in the more remote Highland districts the handicap to building is still more serious. (Wilson, 43,794, fE.) 38. The general question raised by the evidence quoted regarding the steady, and latterly very rapid, rise of building costs is how far this can be controlled. In so far as the increase is due to a rise in wages no alteration is possible or desirable — except indirectly through increase of output. As, however, it seems clear that part of the increase is due to the excessive charges of rings or combines of manufacturers (Vivian, 40,668 ; J. Wilson, 44,004), the question of meeting these and regulating prices in the public interest becomes one of great importance. Nor should it be impossible for the Government to con- tinue to exercise after the war, at least for a time, the control over prices and purchase which is exercised in so many directions at present. 39. During the period immediately succeeding the war, while prices still remain at war levels, it will be an important counterpoise to these prices that the military authorities and the Ministry of Munitions will have immense stocks of timber in hand, in various stages of preparation, and that a considerable proportion of this, and presumably of other building materials," will be set free for civilian uses. Of these uses housing has a specially urgent claim ; and we think that it will be possible for the Government to meet part of the enhanced cost of building by supplying the promoters of approved schemes for working-class houses with timber and other supplies at moderate rates. It has also been suggested that disused military huts may be made available. We think that this suggestion would need to be put into effect with caution, if satisfactory family dwellings are to result ; but it is quite possible that sections of huts might with advantage be used to provide the wooden shell of cottages, which might have walls consisting of this shell, an air space and a single brick lining. Such cottages were erected on the Raith estate several years ago and have proved durable and satisfactory. (Graham, 29,583 (24), 29,612 ff.) 40. As regards factors of more permanent importance in securing the reduction of building costs, a real and considerable economy can be effected when the provision of cottages is imdertaken on a sufficiently large scale. Undoubtedly bodies such as Copartnership Tenants, Ltd., which can afford to buy building requisites in bulk and to lay in stocks to meet future requirements of the societies affiliated to them, stand in an advantageous position compared with the private builder or small society. (Vivian, 40,684. Mr Vivian mentioned that in some cases manufacturers will only supply ordinary builders through a builder's merchant, whose commission adds to the cost of the article.) They are in a position to make better terms with wholesale manufacturers ; and they can also standardise all fittings which are purchased ready-made, and so obtain lower prices, and at a later stage effect important economies m renewals and repairs. (Walker Smith, 4213 (49) ; Wilson, 43,911 f.) 41. Apart from the possibility of checldng the rise in the actual cost of building per cube-foot of any given material, there is that of selecting cheaper materials than the stone and lime which till recently were universally used in most parts of Scotland. It is a striking fact that an exhaustive inquiry by Mr Wilson, Architectural Inspector of the Local Government Board, has shown that, in all but two or three isolated districts in Scotland, building in brick is cheaper than in stone, in spite of the long distances from which bricks have often to be brought. (Appendix CXCII.) Thus the traditional prejudice against brick in Scotland, both among builders and lenders, must be gradually overcome if cheap cottages are to be pro- vided generally. But brick does not represent the last word in economical house construction, and various vritnesses referred to the possibilities of concrete and timber. 42. The witnesses, three or four in number, who spoke from practical experience of timber houses, expressed widely differing views. (Cobban, 29,088 (4) (adverse) ; Edgar, 29,450 (favourable) ; Graham, 29,610 (favourable).) The Commission visited a house of three small rooms in an exposed position about 700 feet above sea-level in Kincardineshire, which had been erected for the very moderate sum of £60, and which was said to be warm in winter ; and in the same county they saw two timber houses, with stone foundations, which, after fifty years' use, were in reasonably good condition, and were let at a rent much below that at which stone or brick could be provided. (Macnaughton, Appendix CLVIII.) In this connection it is worth noting that the Departmental Committee of the EngUsh Board of Agriculture on Buildings for Small Holdings, which reported in 1913, while not committing themselves to a recommenda- tion of timber houses for general use in Great Britain, recommended that, where they are erected with 362 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. the assistance of Government loans, the period of repayment should be extended to thirty-five years, and reported favourably on their economy and durability in Sweden. (Cd. 6708, 1913, pp. 26, 28, 48 11.) Thi.s suggests that in raral districts where conditions approximate to those in such countries as Sweden {i.e. where timber is plentiful and other building materials can only be brought from long distances), they may also prove useful here. There can, however, be no doubt that there will be a great scarcity of timber after the war, and that prices will be high. Consequently developments in the direction of timber construction are not likely to be extensive, except for the use of timber and sections of huts at present in the hands of the military authorities. (Paragraph 39 above.) 43. In regard to construction in concrete the position is very different. The evidence given before the war regarding concrete construction was somewhat hesitating. It was held that the economy as compared with brick and rough-cast is not very great, while the least carelessness of workmanship leads to serious trouble from damp. (Wilson, 3997 (99) ff. ; Walker Smith, 4283 f. ; Wilkes, 4340 ; Coles, 5351 (9), 5367 ; Cameron, 13,974 ff. (speaking to favourable experience at Leadhills, the highest village in Scotland) ; MacTaggart, 23,000 ff., and others.) We are, however, informed that valuable experience has been gained by the Local Government Board and Local Authorities in the building of dwellings for munition workers in Dumbartonshire, at Invergordon, and elsewhere. Experiments both in reinforced concrete and concrete blocks have been tried on a larger scale than formerly ; and these may lead to considerable modifications in building practice after the war. 44. In any case, the door should be left open for experiment ; and this can be done both by modi- fying byelaws which at present stand in the way of experimental building and by actively promoting such building. This appears to be a matter to which both Local Authorities and large employers building for their workpeople should devote special attention, and there can be no danger in obtaining special re- laxations of byelaws for the purpose, provided that all such relaxations are approved by the Local Govern- ment Board, who might take the initiative in promoting such experiments. 45. Another direction in which economies can be affected is that of careful study of the architectural side of construction, so that the space within the four walls of the house shall be fully utilised. A witness, representing the Institute of Mimicipal and County Engineers, contended strongly that closer attention is needed to cottage design, which is too often simply ruled bv precedent and the customs of the building trade. (Young, 40.110 ff. ; cf. Wilson, 43,997.) 46. To summarise the conclusions which we desire to draw from the above evidence — we hold that the following recommendations should be kept in view : — (a) Careful and scientific planning. (b) Use of economical materials. (c) Standardisation of fittings. (d) Purchase of iliaterials on a large scale by co-operative methods* (e) Some nieasure of control over wholesale costs of building material, and possibly also of carriage to remote districts. Of these the last named is the only one which calls for direct action by Parliament or by a Central Housing Authority ; but it is clear that the latter, as well as the Public Health officials of Local Authorities, can do much to promote the other recommendations. W^e cannot attempt to determine exactly how far these would succeed in counteracting the rise in costs of building during recent years, and especially during the war ; but we hold that, if these suggestions are steadily enforced in practice, the reduction effected in building costs must be very considerable ; and it must be remembered that the proposals made elsewhere for the reduction of the cost of land and development and the modification of certain restrictive byelaws would contribute to the same end. (3) Advance in the Cost of Upkeep and Maintenance — Question of Destructive Tenants. 47. The rise just referred to in the price of building materials and in wages does not only affect the original cost of the houses ; it also raises the proportion of the total rent which must be expended in maintenance and repairs before any interest is received on the initial cost. Especially where modern sanitary appliances have been installed, the cost of upkeep rises enormously, owing to the cost of plumber work in making good burst pipes and other minor breakages or accidents. Under these cir- cumstances, as one witness said, a rent of £6, 10s. " goes no distance in repairs." (S. Cowan, 16,501, 16,530.) This point was especially pointed out with reference to miners' houses, and also to those remote rural districts where every tradesman has to travel many miles, and where it is said that to replace a slate may cost 10s., and the expense of bringing the tradesman to the spot may treble the actual cost of the work. (D. W. Robertson, 7020 ff. ; J. Hendrie, 7444 f. ; Dalgleish, 16,987 (this witness em- phasised the additional cost of upkeep when a hot- and cold-water system is provided) ; Barrie, 28,750 ; Milne-Home, 29,873 ; M'Whan, 38,339.) 48. Reference must also be made to the class of habitually destructive tenants, which is in most cases not large numerically, but which gives trouble out of all proportion to its size both to house-owners and to sanitary officials. The evidence on the point from the latter is drawn from a very wide area, the districts in which complaint was made including West Lothian, Dumfries (burgh and county), Caithness, Port-Glasgow, etc. The offences chiefly referred to were abuse of sanitary appliances and fittings, and driving spikes into woodwork, or in extreme cases tearing up woodwork for firewood. The strongest evidence on this subject from an official came from the Sanitary Inspector for Clydebank, who said that in the Municipal Dwellings there (where the repairs from 1909 to 1913 averaged 13-37 per cent, of the valued rental, and in 1912 and 1913 rose to about 17 per cent.) on one occasion it took a joiner two days to remove nails from the floor of a house ; while in a private property practically all the flooring under the bed had been lifted and the woodwork round the sink. He instanced various other cases in which repairs swallowed up sums mounting up to 18 and 24 per cent, of the rental (new property), and in one instance 32 per cent. Thus it was notfsurprising to learn that several builders had given'this amongst their reasons for not going forward with anv further building scheme in the meantime. (G Ross 33 719 (69), 33,738 ff.) " v > > REPORT. 363 49. Similar evidence was given by estate factors from Fife, Ayrshire, Inverness burgh, and elsewhere ; though it is only fair to add that in the case of Inverness the worst damage was attributed not to regular inhabitants but to tinkers, who, in consequence of the provisions of the Children's Act, 1908, have to take up house in the winter-time. In this case it was estimated that 30 per cent, of the rental would be absorbed in repairs, of which fully half was avoidable expenditure due to the carelessness of tenants. Another witness (Clerk of Works on Raith estate) named £50 as the sum which might be needed to restore a house so treated to the satisfaction of the Local Authority. (A. Fraser, 14,884 ff. ; T. Smith, 28.568 ; Graham, 29,583 (11), (12)). Thus, though this class may be relatively small and diminishing rather than increasing, they may cause increasing loss in the more expensively fitted modem house, especially as the two things which have increased most rapidly in cost (woodwork and plumber work) are most exposed to their attacks. The recommendations made in Paragraph 46 above would help to counteract the increasing cost of upkeep. But the most important factor tending in this direction must be the general rise of standard throughout the commimity, and the gradual education in the use of improved houses of those who at present constitute the careless class of tenant, a point to which we return in dealing with house management (Chapter V.). But we agree with the Majority (Paragraphs 627 ff.) that legislative measures are also required to provide for the summary punishment of the wilful destruction of the fittings of dwellings. (4) Difficulty of Securing Adequate Rents. 50. It is obvious that, since both building expenses and the rate of interest on borrowed capital have greatly increased, a much larger return on the cost of the houses is required now than formerly. Mr Douglas, representing the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture, and speaking for the rural portions of Scotland generally, named the impossibility of securing an adequate retm'n on cottages built at the price ruling before the war as the main cause for the lack of modern farm cottages. He pointed out that no one would regard it as an ordinary commercial proposition to build a £300-cottage unless there were to be a rent of something like £12. And that a £12 rent is quite out of proportion to the earnings and paying capacity of the farm-servant. (2574, c/., for the North of Scotland, Peace, 11,772 ; W. Sinclair, 11,936 ; Bremner, 14,749 f.) 51. In Glasgow, prior to the war, the average weekly rent per room had risen as follows : — 1871. 1881. 1891. 1891. 1901. 1911. Is. SJd. Is. lOid. Is. 9id. Is. llfd. 2s. OJd. 2s. Ifd. (W. Fraser, Appendix CXXXII., Table I.) This represents a rise of between 25 and 30 per cent, in forty years ; but it is decidedly less than the rise of building ccsts during the same period, not allowing for any improvement in the standard of accommodation supplied. 52. In Greenock, the Burgh Surveyor gave it as his opinion that, while the building costs had increased 25 per cent., 2 or 3 per cent, only was the average increase in rentals. From Board of Trade returns it appears that the increase of rentals in Greenock has been 8 per cent, over the septennial period of 1905-12, of which about 2J per cent, is accoimted for by increase in rates. By taking an average for the building and the engineering trades (skilled and -unskilled workmen) and printers, we find that wages have increased during the same period by 4-4 per cent. Cost of food has increased by 13 per cent., coal by 25 per cent. (Walker Smith, 41,557 (H).) 53. It seems probable that, owing to the rising cost of other necessaries of life, which tend to be given the preference over house rent in a working-class budget, the expenditure on house rent has not risen as rapidly as that on many other articles ; and it is certain that it had not risen sufficiently to recoup the house owner for the additional expenditure forced upon him even in the period before the war. It is true that in the case of old houses, built at a time when costs were low and modern improvements few, the slow rise of rents may represent a net gain ; but the main point is that the rentals now offered are not sufficient to provide interest on the heavy cost of building and upkeep as it has stood for several years. 54. We must, however, call attention to the fact that the present difficulties of house owners are, to a considerable extent, due to the failure to make regular annual provision for depreciation, as would be done in any prudently-managed business. It has been customary for the whole net rental of pro- perties, after payment of costs and upkeep and other burdens, to be treated as net revenue. This was the case even in days when there was an annual margin on house property after all expenses had been paid, out of which it would have been quite possible to make provision for depreciation. The result is that now, as these properties approach the state of dilapidation, or require heavy repairs, the latter cannot be provided out of the annual surplus. We mention this here to show how essential it is that, in all housing schemes for the future, a sufficient sinking fund should be provided. (5) Increase in the Burden of Rates. 55. Much emphasis was laid by various witnesses on the burden imposed on the smaller houses by the great increase of rates in the period before the war. We do not feel it necessary to explain the com- plicated system of Scottish rating, as this is fully treated in the Report for Scotland of the Royal Com- mission on Local Taxation, presided over by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, which was issued in 1902. (Cd. 1067, 1902, Chapter I.) It is sufficient to say that the rates are divided between owner and occupier, and that each pays his share directly, except in the case of small houses under £21 rental in the larger burghs. In these, under the provisions of the House Letting Act, 1911, tenants' rates are paid by the 3fi4 ROYAL nOMMTSSTON ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. landlord, and recovered by him or his factor, along with a small commission. (See Cliapter X. below.) Taking Scotland as a whole, the direct burden of local rates — we do not pronounce here on the thorny economic question of their final incidence— falls slightly more heavily on the occupie?' than on the owner, the proportion paid by the former being about 55 per cent. In the rural districts of Scotland all public roads are maintained by the District Committee, or by the County Council of those counties which are not divided into districts, and hence their cost falls upon local rates. 56. Evidence regarding the burden of rates was given alike from the standpoint of the builder, the house owner, and the occupier. From the standpoint of the builder it is felt to be a hardship that the moment the windows are put into a new house he becomes liable for the payment of rates upon it,, although he may not receive any rent for a long time thereafter. The practice of levying rates on unlet, property (which has only been introduced recently in Glasgow, though it is of long standing elsewhere) constitutes another hardship. (Mickel, 22,031 fE.) Both usages must tend to prevent the provision of houses from proceeding the least in advance of urgent requirements. One large builder, who supported the proposal for a local income tax, went so far as to say that " the enforced crowding of the population in houses that are too small for their needs ... is owing to the burden of local rating." (Mactaggart, 22,847 (50)-(56), 22,908.) In support of this contention, he analysed the gross rental (including rates) of a house with two rooms, bathroom and scullery, in a modern Glasgow tenement, let at 7s. 8d. per week, showing that ground rent accounted for £1, 28., and each | per cent, of the interest on capital for £1, while occupiers' and owners' rates totalled £5, 17s. lOd. 57. A representative of the Glasgow Houseowners' Association called attention to the fact that owners' rates in Glasgow had risen in the twelve years from 1901 to 1913 by nearly 50 per cent, (from 2s. 8|d. to 3s. 1 Id. in the £). Over a slightly shorter period this represented a rise from 10 per cent, to 17 per cent, on the rental. (Menzies, 20,525 ; Eadie, 22,642 (2).) Another witness (ex-Provost of Ar- broath), speaking of the burden of rates in a smaller burgh, said that relatively the amoimt placed on owners tended to increase. He cited their water-rate, which had been as high as 2s. 7d. in the £, but was reduced to about Is. 9d. in 1914, equally divided between owners and occupiers. (W. Alexander, 34,918 ; cf. J. P. Mackenzie, 34,292 (5), 34,306. For the sanitary improvements brought about see Majority Report, Chapter IX.) High water-rates are common in Special Water Districts in rirral areas, as well as in the burghs, nor is it imknown for the statutory limit of 38. in the £ to be suspended by the Local Government Board. (See Public Health Act, 1897, section 137.) The phenomenally high rates in the Outer Hebrides (which generally exceed 10s., and in Lewis have been known to exceed 20s. in the £) are due to special causes. 58. But the classes on which the increase of rates has told most heavily are the occupying owners of houses of a good standard, many of whom have obtained their dwellings through building societies at the cost of prolonged effort, and who find themselves assessed for both owners' and occupiers' rates, and the poorer labouring class. In the case of the latter, especially when the family is large, the rates payable on a house adequate for family needs form a very serious burden. The labourer cannot possibly get a house with all modern conveniences at a rent suitable to his means. It may be regarded as axiomatic that no man with a wife and family and 25s. per week of wages can afford to occupy a house at a £10 rent, and pay rateS; without regarding the rates as well as the rent as a social grievance. It may be taken for granted that in no large town are houses available for him at a lower rent which are not in the nature of slums. (Ex-Provost Keith, in a Report to the Convention of Burghs in 1913. (Keith, 44,070 (7).)) 59. The Chief Sanitary Inspector for Glasgow, in this connection, gave a table showing the incidence of occupiers' rates, including stair-lighting, for the year 1912-1913, in the case of small houses — Yearly Rent. Total Assessments per •' t per month. £A 4-625 d. £7 4-464 d. £10 4-96 d. £15 4-96 d. £20 4-883 d. (Fyfe, 20,069.) There is a small rebate on municipal, but not on water or parish, rates in the case of houses under £10, but the charge for stair-lighting is higher ; thus it will be seen that the net difference is small, and that the occupier of a £10 house was at that time paying over 4s. Id. per month in rates, while the occupier of a £20 house paid nearly 8s. 2d., or slightly under £5 per annum. 60. It is a well-known fact that, as we descend the scale of income, there is an increase in the pro- portion of earnings which must be expended in rent by a man with a wife and children to secure adequate accommodation. Thus, apart from the effect of a decided increase of rates in acting as a check to build- ing, it must tend to drive working men with moderate wages and large families into the smaller and poorer houses. From the standpoint of benefit received this increase might be defended, since a large part of the expenditure to which it is due has been on improved water-supplies, public health services, education, and other objects which benefit the younger members of the commimity. Yet the whole increase is not so accoimted for — witness the increased expenditure on road upkeep (largely and increas- inglya national service), which is estimated as nearly £1,000,000 in sixty years. (Keith, he. cit., 44,147 f. ; on the bm-den of road rates in rural areas, see Houston Anderson, 38,956.) But even the services first mentioned may be too dearly paid for, if the child gains them at the expense of air space and light and healthy surroundings. 61. Thus there is a strong case here for some measure of relief, and some modification of the system which places the whole burden of local expenditure on assessed rental. Judged by the criterion of benefit received, the system may be roughly and generally just (though not socially expedient), but from that of ability to pay it obviously fails, since, in technical terms, it is a " regressive tax on income," pressing most heavily upon the lower incomes. (Keith, 44,087 ; J. H. Jones, 44,247 (5), 44,251.) It is interesting REPORT. 365 that the latter criterion had a firm place in old Scots law and custom, as in the sixteenth century one recognised form of assessment for local burdens was upon " means and substance," and this principle, which was complementary to that upon " lands and heritages," did not finally disappear till a generation ago (1880). (Final Report for Scotland of Royal Commission on Local Taxation (Cd. 1067, 1902), pp. 1-3.) While the old method had become unworkable, it seems necessary to find some other, direct or indirect, which will, to some degree, meet the same end in relieving the householder whose substance is small while his responsibilities are heavy. Local and Imperial Expenditure. 62. Closely connected with this subject is that treated by our colleagues in Chapter XXXII. of the Majority Report — ^the difficulty of carrying through measures of sanitary improvement in local govern- ment areas with such smaU valuations as the 27 burghs which in 1910-1911 had valuations of under £5000. (Cd. 5760, 1911.) There were 38 others with valuations between £5000 and £10,000 ; and in these 65 burghs the addition of Id. in the £ to the rates only produces a sum ranging from about £7 to less than £40. In small Adllages, where special district rates for water, drainage, etc., which often reach a high figure, are added to the coimty rates for public health and roads, and other local charges, the total is apt to prove a serious burden. These facts support the view that these very small local government areas should be grouped into larger areas for public health purposes ; but this proposal lies rather apart from the present subject, and a more pressing conclusion is that additional aid should be given to certain of the smaller and poorer communities. 63. In the national interest there seems a clear case for considerable relief of local rates, if only on the ground that the balance between expenditure, met locally, and Government grants to Local Authorities has not been maintained as it existed some twenty years ago, and that much of the increased expenditure which now has to be borne by local rates has not been incurred by Local Authorities on their own initiative, but has been imposed by Parliament or Central Authorities in regard to such matters as education or public health. The average rate of assessment per head of estimated population increased from 17s. 7-2d. to £1, 14s. 2-Od.— an increase of 16s. 6-8d. per head, or 94-1 per cent, during the period from 1893-1894 to 1912-1913 ; but, in the same period, the average amount of grant per £ of rental received by Local Authorities only increased from Is. 3-6d. to Is. 9-ld., or from 7s. 8-2d. to 12s. 5d. per head of estimated population. Thus a much larger proportion of local burdens is now being borne by the ratepayer than was the case over twenty years ago. We consider that these facts strongly support the contention of the Departmental Committee on Local Taxation (England and Wales), which reported three years ago, in favour of the readjustment of burdens, especially for those services which have steadily tended to assume a more national character. (Cd. 7315, 1914. pp. 15-18.) We think it most desirable that this Committee should, as soon as possible, issue a report for Scotland. 64. If such relief is given, we consider it essential that it should reach the quarter where it is most needed, i.e. that it should not be distributed as a measiure of relief to all ratepayers in proportion to their respective valuations, but that a larger share should reach the owner and occupier of the house of small rental. We do not deal here with the evidence submitted in favour of the taxation of site values, or with the proposal for a local income tax, as both of these fall naturally within the remit of the Depart- mental Committee referred to. But in Paragraphs 140 ff. below, we give our opinion as to the limitations which must be observed in the interests of open development and healthy housing, if the former proposal should ever be brought iato general operation. (6) New Taxation, and Apprehension of further Burdens in the Future. 65. When we pass on to consider the efEect of recent imperial taxation and legislation bearing on land and property, the facts are not so easily determined. It is necessary to distinguish between the actual efEect of changes introduced by Parliament, including new burdens on property, and the influence of these changes on the general opinion of the landowning or investing classes. There was clear evidence that the Latter has been verj' considerable, but it is less clearly established that the apprehensions aroused by recent legislation, especially the Finance Act of 1909, were well founded. 66. The best method of representing the tenor of the evidence given is to quote from certain com- petent witnesses, (a) As regards Rural housing, Mr Douglas, speaking for the Chamber of Agriculture, mentioned as one cause of the non-provision of new cottages, " a feeling of insecurity that is ascribed ' to recent legislation." He cited the apprehension of interference with the management of agricultural estates and the possible loss of capital thereby through the Small Landholders Act ; and also referred to the taxation imposed by recent budgets. While declining to express a decided opinion as to the reasonable- ness of these apprehensions, he pointed out their very definite efEect in discouraging building enterprise. (Douglas, 2587-2608.) Witnesses of wide experience in different rural districts also called attention to the heavy burden of death-duties, which, even before the last increase, absorbed about eight years' net rental on large estates ; and pointed to the effect that naturally followed in checking improvements, or even making all capital outlays impossible for several years, to the serious detriment of tenants and tradesmen. (W. Mackay, 15,665 (10) ; Mibe-Home, 29,842 (37) ; cf. Constable, 29,322 f.) In regard to the Small Landholders Act, the difficulty is caused by the uncertainty as to the farms, or portions of a large estate, which may be fixed on by the Board of Agriculture for the creation of holdings. This makes proprietors and factors hesitate to incur expenditure on the provision of additional farm cottages, as they fear that, in the event of the farm in question being broken up, the capital so expended will be thrown away. 67. (6) Evidence was also given regarding the effect of recent legislation or apprehensions regarding future legislation in discouraging building in the Burghs. Here, again, we must distinguish between criticisms based on the actual and proved effect of certain provisions, particularly in the Finance Act of 1909, and the general, diffused apprehension of impending change. This is brought out in the evidence of the architect and surveyor of Ardgowan estate, who said that, judging from conversations with many builders and prospective investors in house property in Greenock, " they seemed unsettled by recent 366 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. ' legislation." The witness indicated that at times he thought their fears exaggerated, but spoke decidedly of the prevalence of the apprehension that " recent legislation, and legislation which is apparently in ' prospect, will bear heavily on those who have money invested in heritable property." (Hamilton, 29,502-4.) In the same way the factor of the PoUok estate said : — In my opinion, the cessation of building is to a great extent due to the feeling of insecurity for capital invested in house property, owing to the risk of being penaUsed unfairly compared with the capital invested in other forms of security. (23,881 (37). Similar opinions were expressed by other witnesses of experience, e.g. M'Kellar, 22,712 f. ; G. Fraser, 31,115 (32) ; W. Eraser, 38,097 ; in addition to the rural witnesses already quoted.) 68. Coming to detailed criticisms, an important point was raised by the factor for Dalzell estate (Motherwell) who said : — The Government valuers capitaUse feu -duties at twenty years' purchase, and as it takes over twelve years to wipe out the costs of development (without allowing anything for administrative costs or for the fees of the engineer and others), at least one-half of the capital value of the feu-duties is represented by the expense of development. . . . The practice of the Inland Revenue since the passing of the Finance Act is to demand the Government's statutory share of any increment in land on the basis of the market value of said land, with the result that in several instances they have actually penahseda superior for being generous. This last point is of special importance, since, as witness pointed out, there may be a very large margin of difference between the market value, as represented in the full ground rental, and the amount actually charged by the superior in feu-duty. In the case of the Dalzell estate, the maximum ordinary feuing rate for dweUing-houses is £24 per acre, which includes free land for roads, and in some cases, the con- struction of the roads themselves. That the present rate of feuing at Dalzell discounts normal risks is manifest from the fact that large grassums have frequently been offered to the first appHcant, even before his title to the ground was completed, or the ground was subsequently sub-feued at greatly advanced rates. The witness added that, in spite of risks of damage through mineral subsidence, he has known of land feued at £20 an acre being sub-feued at £40. (G. Fraser, 31,115 (45)-(47), 31,300.) He also pointed out the hardship that exists when taxation is imposed on " single profits " and not on " overhead results " ; but we do not enlarge on this — the difiiculty associated with the " Lumsden case " — ^as we understand that it is already receiving the attention of the Government. 69. A further point was that in the past builders often bought plots of ground advantageously as they came into the market, and then held them until a slack period in the building trade gave a good opportunity for their use. This practice, which was often convenient, has been checked by the Un- developed Land Duty. (31,194 ; Knowles, 14,584.) But another witness gave it as his opinion that this tax had assisted to bring land into the market at reasonable rates. (Mactaggart, 22,871, 22,889.) 70. It seems clear from the evidence given that the effect of the Finance Act of 1909 cannot be considered in isolation from other causes tending to the depreciation of property which had been in operation for years before its introduction. The majority of these we have already traced. But, seeing that the market for land and property was already in a somewhat depressed state, the apprehension roused by that Act certainly had a marked influence — ^an influence perhaps out of proportion to the real effect of the actual provisions— m accentuating the difiiculty of finding capital for house building. It also reinforced the tendency to transfer capital previously invested in real estate to other forms of investment." 71. In this connection we should call attention to the Act passed towards the end of 1915 to prevent the increase of rents during the war. This may have been necessary as a war measure— though as to this the report of Lord Hunter's Committee (Cd. 8111, 1915) was by no means conclusive — but, whatever opinion may be held as to the necessity of some such measure, there can be no question that the Act represented an earher and more severe restriction on the return from house property than was apphed to investments of most other classes. To this extent it discriminated further against the investor in bousing, and in favour of other forms of enterprise. 72. We do not consider it needful to state in detail the measures which should be taken to restore confidence, but it is clear that these will fall under three heads, {a) Certain definite amendments should be passed of clauses in recent Finance Acts which have proved to bear hardly on the builder or owner of small properties — e.g. the doubhng of the stamp-duty on the conveyance of property of a value of £500 or over, while it does not affect the owner of a single cottage, appears to be a hardship for proprietors of a small group of cottages, and we suggest that the limit should be raised. (Finance Act, 1910, section 73; cf. Mickel, 22,037 f. ; Mackenzie, 34,334.) Other points of this nature will be referred to in connection with building societies. (Paragraphs 301 ff.) 73. (6) If in the future superiors are to contribute directly to local or national needs from the profits of feuing, it is of the greatest importance that they should be called upon to do so in such a way as not to interfere with the development of building land. On this point there are two suggestions before us, to which we call attention. The first was advanced by the factor of the Dalzell estate, and refers to the possibihty of a regular contribution by owners of feu-duties. Assume that a special case for every superior and mid-superior contributing a part of his feu- duties to the community and to the State has been proved, it seems to the witness that this could be secured by assessing all new feu-duties for Imperial and local taxes, and this could be effected by entering the feu- and tack-duties in a column to be added to the valuation roll. Everyone would then know where they were, and the financial result locally would be that the superior would, according to the situation of the feu, contribute either to burgh rates or county rates — (a) in special districts, {b) outwith special districts ; in addition to Imperial taxes, (a) income tax, (6) super- tax, or the rate might be fixed as in mineral right duty. (G. Fraser, 31,115 (33), 31,199.) REPORT. 367 The other suggestion, by the factor of Pollok estate, refers to the difi&culty inseparable from the present system of collecting increment value duty, or from any proposal to place a permanent tax or rate upon land values. These are based upon prospective feuing values, but, as we shall point out in the next chapter, the course of feuing is often highly uncertain and apparently desirable plots may be left unfeued for years. In this case a proprietor might find himseK paying a considerable tax or rate on an assumed capital value which was not in fact reahsable. Mr Campbell Murray suggested that the same end would be met if, on the actual completion of a feu contract, one year's feu-duty were made payable in a single sum. (23,882-5.) 74. (c) As regards the apprehension of heavy taxation or rating as hkely to follow upon the new valuation, it seems clear that this has influenced the minds of builders and investors, and will continue to do so as long as the state of uncertainty lasts. Thus, if a measure of this kind is to be introduced, it will be well that this should be done as soon as possible after the conclusion of the war, and done in such a way as to give reasonable assurance that it will not be followed by frequent variations and increases. In this|connection Mr Campbell Murray's arguments against the taxation of capital, which may be locked up and yielding no income, and in favour of the taxation of site value only when the increment is realised, deserves the most careful consideration. 75. In regard to the difficulty indicated as arising under the Small Landholders Act, the same conclusion holds good. If once the Board of Agriculture, or any other authority entrusted with the work of land settlement after the war, has made it plain what class of farm is hkely to be taken for division into small-holdings, and what assistance is to be given in the equipment or improvement of such holdings, one difficulty will have been removed from the path of proprietors who are at present unwilhng to sink capital in the provision of improved houses for existing farms. They will then know what farms are to be left under the present system, and so must be provided with cottages by the proprietor. 76. We hold that if a declaration of policy on these two essential matters can be made in the not too distant future ; if certain definite amendments are made on clauses of the Finance Act specially referred to above ; and if some rehef from the burden of rates can be given to the owner and occupier of the small house — these measures will serve as a guarantee that house property will not in the future be subjected to exceptional burdens. This appUes to public utihty societies and building societies not less than to the private builder. (7) Uncertainty Regarding the Building Policy of Local Authorities. 77. Another cause, referred to specially by witnesses from Greenock, but probably operative else- where, is the expectation that the Corporation or the Government would provide houses on a large scale at rents much below those chargeable by private builders or copartnership societies. It was stated that, until the pohcy of public building had been determined and its probable extent known, even building schemes which seemed promising and attractive might be entirely checked. (Hamilton, 29,495 (5) ; Shaw Stewart, 29,506 ; Boyd Auld, 39,895 ; Walker Smith, 41,557 (5) (D).) The opinion of the two inspectors of the Local Government Board on the last point is worth noting : — There is no doubt that there is force behind the contention that the uncertainty of action by the Corporation has been a deterrent to private enterprise. To what extent the operations of the Local Authority will affect private enterprise it is difficult to say. It appears certain, however, that the least iU-effect from action by the Local Authority in matters of this nature will accrae from removing the indefiniteness of their intentions. (Walker Smith, loc. dt. ; cf. also Wilson, 4171 ff.) 78. In both these respects, the uncertainty as to the extent of building by public authorities in the near future, and the rents likely to be charged, and also the fear of additional burdens on land and housing, we are confronted with the difficulties inseparable from a period of transition. At a time when other causes have tended to draw capital away from house-building, the effects of this uncertainty have been particularly marked. The best hope that a condition of greater stabiUty will return is to be found in a clear declaration of pubhc pohcy regarding the extent to which pubhc authorities are likely to occupy the field of house-building, and the amount of assistance, direct or indirect, to be extended to the private builder. (See Chapter IV. below.) (8) Demand for a Higher Standard of Accommodation. 79. As regards the rise in the standard of house accommodation little need be said, for there can be no doubt that in the vast majority of cases it is highly desirable, and indeed necessary. If other circum- stances had remained favourable, the increased accommodation would probably have been readily paid for by a corresponding increase of rents. But as rents have not risen to the full extent of all the increased charges on building, a deadlock has gradually been reached ; and the rise of standard may be taken as one of the contributing causes. It is indeed a cause which has acted with increasing force. Even within the time occupied by our inquiry we have been much impressed by the steadily growing sense that the standard of housing in many parts of Scotland has in the past been intolerably low, and that new houses must reach a higher standard of size, accommodation, and convenience. At the same time we feel that it is necessary to make a steady effort to enforce the various possible improvements in the order of greatest importance. First things must be kept first ; and, where a choice has to be made, as is often the case in rural districts, between e.g. the provision of a third room of adequate size and the instalment of modem sanitary appliances, we should in the great majority of cases imhesitat- ingly recommend the former. To this point it will be necessary to recur. (Chapter X.) TgE Future of Private Enterprise. 80. We have dealt with the great majority of causes of the cessation in the provision of small houses before the war, and we have endeavoured to show how far these can be modified. Our suggestions cover the advance in the cost of building and upkeep (2 and 3 above); the increasing burden of rates (5), 368 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. the apprehension caused by additional taxation and legislative changes (6), and the uncertainty as to the building policy of public authorities (7). In regard to (8), we recognise that the demand for a higher standard of housing accommodation is an essential factor in progress, and we only contend that existing difficulties should not be needlessly aggravated by the attempt to enforce in all circumstances a stand- ard which may be abundantly justified in certain districts. The question of the acquisition of land still remains for treatment in the following chapter ; and a much more important question, raised by headings (1) and (4) above — the general question of building finance, which forms the crux of the whole problem — will demand treatment thereafter, Chapter VI. below. 81. If the suggestions already made had been in force during the months immediately before the war, we incline to the opinion that they would have been sufficient to bring about a renewal of building had conditions remained normal. In this connection it is worth recording that during the year ending July 1914, we asked various witnesses whether in their opinion private enterprise was permanently disquahfied from the provision of small houses, or whether it might be expected to revive with the return of more favourable conditions. First, however, it may be pointed out that a very large number of witnesses spoke of private enterprise as " dead." But metaphors are notoriously misleading, and the question remains whether this metaphor is more than a vigorous description of a state of suspended animation. Many of the witnesses who used it undoubtedly wished it to be literally xmderstood ; but several of those — probably a majority — who spoke from practical experience of the supply of houses by bodies other than public authorities took the opposite view and predicted its eventual return to life. 82. All the witnesses referred to desired the removal or modification of the adverse influences men- tioned above, although they naturally varied in the points which they especially emphasised. One made his opinion conditional on the return of more settled political conditions ; more than one on the improvement of the monetary position ; another on a rise of rents to meet a proportion of the increased costs of building ; while Mr Walker Smith of the Local Government Board pointed out the especial advantage that would accrue to the builder from an enhghtened town-planning pohcy, involving the provision of land at a reasonable price and economical development. But there was a widespread opinion that, given these more favourable conditions, houses would again be provided for at least the better-paid working-classes by private enterprise. Of these opinions we may quote three as repre- sentative. 83. One is by the Factor of Pollok estate : — ' My feeling is that building always rights itself. There is a lull and then a spate, then the spate goes too far and causes a lull again. The population is increasing, many houses are being con- demned, and, obviously, I think, property will recover its value. Similarly, Mr Mickel, builder, Glasgow, said : — Given an opportimity, with cheap and suitable ground for cottages, available finance, and encouragement, I am sure those at present in the trade would be quite able to supply all the needs of the commimity, and with healthy competition and an ample supply of houses, prices and rents would be kept at their market value. Mr Maclaren, architect, Dundee, also said that he did not think that the main burden of the supply of working-class houses would be thrown on Local Authorities. I think that the supply of houses, the same as the supply of any other commodity that the commimity requires, will be provided by private enterprise. (Campbell Murray, 23,950 ; Mickel, 21,893 (27) (c/., 22,036) ; Maclaren, 35,428. See also Mann, 21,315 ; Eadie, 22,649 ; M'Kellar, 22,826 ; W. Fraser, 38,179, 38,193 ; Walker Smith, 41,604 f.) 84. Bearing in mind the fact that great efforts will be made after the war to raise^'the wages of the more poorly paid ranks of workers to a higher and more satisfactory level, and the probability that the rate of interest and costs of building will gradually fall from their war level, we think it probable that private enterprise in house-building will eventually revive ; but there will undoubtedly be a difficult transition period, during which special measures of stimulus will be called for in every branch of build- ing. If, as we recommend lat^r, the Government advance from national funds sums sufficient to make good the rise in the rate of interest during the war and also the abnormal costs of building, thus restoring the approximate conditions of the early part of 1914, we hold that private enterprise must again become a factor of importance in the provision of small houses. Recommenbations. We consider that the following measures should be taken to reduce wherever possible the cost of constructing small dwellings : — (1) The modification of obsolete or excessively stringent byelaws, especially in regard to road con- struction and other branches of land development, and the reduction, where possible, of legal expenses. (See Paragraph 19.), (2) (a) The continued regulation by the government of the costs, and in certain cases the supply, of such essentials as timber during the emergency period of reconstruction following the war. (Paragraph 38 f.) (b) The use of economic materials for the construction of houses, with the greatest possible freedom of experiment consistent with stability and sound workmanship, involving the temporary or permanent suspension of byelaws Vhich might prevent this at the discretion of the Local Authority, subject to the sanction of the Local Government Board. (Paragraphs 40-44.) (c) The standardisation of 'fittings. (Paragraph 40.) REPORT. 369 (d) The purchase of materials wherever possible on a large scale by co-operative methods. (Paragraph 40.) (e) The careful and scientific planning of dwelHngs so as to secure the maximum amount of space and convenience per cubic foot of the building as a whole. (Paragraph 45.) (3) The relief of the small house from some portion of the present burden of rates, comprising : — (a) The imrating of new houses under £21 rental imtil they are actually occupied, and as far as possible of imoccupied small dwellings generally. (Paragraph 56.) (b) The payment from National Funds of a considerably increased proportion of the expenses of local administration in so far as the services rendered tend to be national in character ; with such provisions as shall secure that the main benefit of this assistance reaches the owner and occupier of the small dwelling. (Paragraphs 61-64.) (c) Such a readjustment of the areas of the smaller and poorer Local Authorities for housing purposes as shall secure that rates for improvement can be levied over a wider area than is frequently the case at present. (Paragraph 62.) (4) The removal of burdens or the apprehension of possible burdens, on the owners of small dwell- ings by :— (a) The amendment of certain clauses of the Finance Act, 1909-1910, especially those imposing taxation according to " overhead results." (Paragraph 68.) (b) Full allowance by Inland Revenue valuers for all necessary expenditure by proprietors on development. (Paragraph 68.) (c) The raising of the hmit over which double stamp-duty is charged on the conveyance of property to a higher figure than £500. (Paragraph (72.) (5) The determination at the earliest possible date by the Board of Agriculture of their policy re- garding the breaking up of medium-sized or large farms into small-holdings, so that the proprietors of those farms which are to be continued under the present agricultural system, may not be deterred from investing capital in the provision of additional or improved cottages by the uncertainty as to whether they will come under the Small Landholders' Act. (Para- graphs 66, 75.) (6) In the same way we hold that it is important for the extent and nature of the responsibilities to be assumed by Local Authorities in the near future for the provision of small houses to be laid down as clearly as possible, so that other forms of enterprise may not be excluded owing to uncertainty as to which portions of the field will be occupied by the former. (Para- graphs 75, 78 ; cf. Chapter IV., Paragraph 243.) CHAPTER II. LAND VALUES AND THE ACQUISITION AND CONTROL OF BUILDING LAND. (A) Feu-Duties and Land Values — General Considerations. 85. The questions of the share of house-rent which is attributable to ground rent, and of the extent of the profits which accrues to proprietors from this source, are at all times complex, and in Scotland the system of building upon perpetual feus adds to their complexity. We accept the general account of this system, and of certain variations from it, given by our colleagues of the Majority in Chapters XIX., XX., XXL, and XXIII. of their Report, although certain statements made — e.g. in Chapter XXL, regarding the dubious means by which builders have in some cases attempted to break through feuing restrictions, — while doubtless perfectly accurate, are not directly brought out in the evidence. But as regards Chapter XXII., on " The Cost of Land and Feuing Rates," we find it necessary to dissent on various points, both of fact and of inference, which have a considerable bearing on questions of policy which fall to be dis- cussed later. Hence, as this is a subject which must be treated as a whole if it is to be treated clearly and consistently, we consider that it is necessary to set out oui views at some length, even at the cost of some degree of repetition. 86. We agree with the statement of the Majority in regard to the distinction between feuing and leasehold tenure,* and we attach great importance to the distinction between feu-duties and actual land values. The feu-duty may be considered either as a rent on a lease of indefinite duration, or as a deferred payment for the site. The latter interpretation brings out the fact that — except for the restrictions discussed by the Majority in Chapter XXI. — ^the control of the site passes absolutely from the superior to the feuar. This system has the advantage of giving the feuar security of tenure and the unrestricted possession of all improvements which he may be entitled to make under the feu-charter. On the other hand, as the superior at the time of feuing parts with the land in perpetmty, there is a stronger induce- ment to him to defer feuing until a high rate can be obtained than if he were giving off the land on a relatively short lease, and he may require an imdue number of buildings to be placed on the site as secxirity for his feu-duty. (Mactaggart, 22,847 (13).) 87. Another important result of the system is that the feu-duty may come in time to be widely different from the true value of the ground. In the case of an old feu-duty at a low rate the latter may be many times larger than the former ; and in such cases, a " ground annual " may easily be added. (See Paragraphs 99 f. below, and Majority Report, Paragraphs 1546 f.) But in the case of * For examples of leasehold in Scotland, Bee T. Smith, 28,504 ff.; Graham, 36,335 ; cf. C. R. Macdonald, 37,534 (6) ; Shaw, 37,576 ff. Its chief disadvantage is well known — the risk of dilapidation towards the end of the lease. 24 370 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. certain feus given off during the latter part of the nineteenth century for tenement building, the feu- duty is certainly higher than the estimated present annual value of the site, and is far in excess of any value that could be placed upon it for housing purposes if the number of houses per acre were subject to a reasonable limitation. In the more extreme cases of this kind the feu-duty may come to represent " to some extent a bond upon the stone and lime." (Mackendrick and Gordon, 23,645.) 88. The divergence between these two values — the ground value at any given time and the fixed burden upon the site — is largest in the chief towns and cities. In the smaller burghs the variations of value (if we leave out of accoimt advantageous central sites which would not naturally be used for work- ing-class dwellings) are not as a rule very wide, and the feuing value of building land can be more readily determined. Another distinction, referred to by our colleagues, which is of importance, is that between the value of the bare site or soil as so much building space and that of the site as developed, i.e. provided with roads, drains, etc. We agree that the feuing value refers as a rule to the former ; although some share of preliminary expenses must always be borne by the estate, and on certain estates the whole cost is so borne (cf. Paragraph 96 below). Feu-Duties in the Scots Burghs. 89. The Majority of the Commission have given a summary of the facts regarding feu-duties brought out by special investigation, checked and supplemented in many cases by evidence given in the ordinary course of our inquiry and by figures for about thirty burghs supplied by the Architectural Inspector of the Local Government Board. But we think it well to supplement the summary which they give by stating in tabular form the feu-duties in those burghs of under 10,000 population from which informa- tion was obtained. We take the average between the highest and the lowest figure named in each case as the feu-duty for the burgh. We make no claim of absolute scientific accuracy for these averages, but we hold that they represent with reasonable accuracy the rate common at the period when land was last feued for the erection of working-class dwellings. At all events, such a mean figure seems a more accurate index than the maximum rate, which may have been obtained for a specially desirable site. 90. Approximate Average Feu-Duty per Acre in 89 Burghs under 10,000 population, 1911. (Three burghs are included in this table in which feuing is not the rule, but the nearest equivalent feu-duty has been given. These are omitted by the Majority from their total of 86 biirghs under 10,000 population, hence the discrepancy in the totals.) Under 5000. From 5000 to 10,000. £5 1 £6 1 £7 2 £8 6 £9 . 3 i £10 10 £11 6 £12 5 *i £13 4 £14 6 i £15 5 1 £16 8 3 £17-£18 2 1 £19-£20 6 2 £20-£25 1 6 About £35 5 2 71 18 91. As regards the two groups of burghs from 10,000 to 25,000 and from 25,000 to 50,000 popula- tion respectively, the figures given in the Majority Report are sufficiently full to stand without supple- ment from us — except that it seems worth while to point out that, in the former group, there are nine burghs, or nearly one-half, in which the maximum feu-duty is returned as £20 or less, in some cases the ruling rate is considerably less, including such an industrially active burgh as Cowdenbeath, where the feu-duty is £8 to £12 and the population increased from 4296 in 1891 to 14,029 in 1911. Bo'ness, with a feu-duty in the burgh of £12 to £16 and Renfrew with £16 and £20 are other instances of burghs with rapidly expanding populations and feu-duties of under £20. 92. As regards the seven large towns, we accept the summary of feu-duties given by the Majority, though not all the comments made upon them. In particular we would call attention to the following points : — Greenock. — The account given seems to us to do less than justice to two cardinal features in the position. One is the geographical situation and the lack of access to the high land to the south of the town, which, if it were made accessible, would greatly relieve the pressure on the portions both of Greenock and Port- REPORT. 371 Glasgow near the Krth of Clyde.* The other is the attempt made many years ago by the then pro- prietor of the Ardgowan estate to grant cheap feus to occupying owners of the working class — an attempt which failed of its chief object (see below, Paragraph 102). In view of the restricted sites available, and of the fact that the profit of exceptionally low feu-duties, if such were granted, would almost certainly go, not to the actual tenant, but to some intermediary who would create a ground annual, we do not think it can be said that the owners of the land have in this case made an unfair use of their position. 93. In general, we are inclined to attach much greater importance than our colleagues appear to do to the effect of the site and surroundings of a town upon the feu-duties charged. This appears if we contrast the feu-duties of £20 to £40 in Paisley, with its comparatively open site, with those of Leith, confined between the sea and the city of Edinburgh, or Greenock — in both of which towns the rate for tenement land is £70 or over. It appears even more strikingly in the contrast between Dtmdee and Aberdeen. Aberdeen has an open site on two sides at least, whereas Dundee, like Greenock, suffers from the steepness of the hills behind and from a concentration of industry, and consequently of housing, within a limited distance of the docks. Aberdeen has the further advantage that the development of the newer portion of the town has proceeded on open and well-planned lines, largely through the foresight of the City of Aberdeen Land Association, which has also tended to restrict feuing rates. (Matthew Hay, 41,334 (21), (79) f., 41,415, 41,523.) We think these two factors go far to explain the difference between the feuing rate for working-class dwellings of £35 to £60 — or possibly in some cases less — ^in Aberdeen and that for tenement land in Dundee, which is at least double the figures named. Agricultural and Feuing Value. 94. We desire to dissociate ourselves from the use made by our colleagues of the comparison between agricultural value and feuing rates as regards land in comparatively central sites in Edinburgh and Glasgow. We are quite aware that extortionate rates have been charged in Edinburgh for land which at the time of development lay on the outskirts of the city, and we do not for a moment defend this procedure (c/. Paragraphs 118 f. below) ; but many of the values quoted are for districts in which the alternative uses of the land are not for agriculture and housing, but for conmierce or industry and housing ; and the problem of housing those who must live in parts of the cities where land is at a premium for other purposes is somewhat apart from the present question. 95. We readily admit that in a considerable proportion of the smaller burghs the increment of the prevailing feu-duties over agricultural values is so considerable as to point to the operation of a land monopoly. Out of 126 burghs, including the cities, in all but two the prevailing feu-duty was more than three times, and in all but twenty-four it was more than five times the agricultural value of the land, if we estimate the latter at £2 per acre. But, on the other hand, it should be borne in mind that in all but the smallest burghs there is a belt of land on the outskirts which is in demand for recreation groimds, market gardens, and similar objects, which raises the cost of the land above agricultural value, thus forming a transition to building value. In the case of the feuing of comparatively small areas it is also to be borne in mind that the agricultural disturbance and consequent loss of agricultural rent may be considerable in proportion to the feu-duties created. Net Return on Land Feued. 96. It is essential to bear in mind the distinction between the feu-duty charged per acre and the actual return to the superior. As we have already pointed out, on certain estates the feuing rate is inclusive, no separate charge being made for the land occupied by roads or the cost of road-making. But even where this is not the case, and a proportion of the roadway is included in the feu, while expenses of development are charged to the feuar, there is still considerable unremunerative expenditure in the development of building land. There is the loss of agricultural rental during the interval before the feus are all taken up ; and there may be also compensation for disturbance ; the cost of additional fencing, " considerable engineering expenses which are not recoverable from feuars," and costs of cleansing and lighting. Even where a proportion of the cost of roads is subsequently recovered from the feuars, there is the loss of interest on the capital sunk in development until the feus are taken up. This last is always an uncertain element, as it is impossible to predict the exact course that feuing will take, and frequently only one side of a street (that with a southern exposure) will be built on for many years. 97. No estimate was given of the amoimt of this deduction on the usual feuing system, i.e. where expenses of development are added to the feus ; but important information was laid before us from two estates (Pollok and Dalzell) which follow the more generous poUcy of constructing roads and giving land for road-making free of charge. On the Pollok estate, during the period from 1866 to 1913, £120,000 has been sunk in developing over 1400 acres. The factor stated that " allowing combined interest at 4 per ' cent, on the outlay on development not recovered since the date it was incurred down to the present date, 'this represents an_ annual charge of seven'sixteenths, or nearly one-half of the whole feuing rental. ' Moreover, a very considerable part of the outlay is irrecoverable." When to this deduction of 43 per cent, there is added 12 per cent, for area of open spaces and 16 per cent, for area of streets, it appears that " the net return to the proprietor for the whole area embraced in feus, roads, parks, and open spaces works out at practically 29 per cent, of the gross feu-duty charged." (Campbell Murray, 23,881 (4) (20)-(22), 23,908 ; cf. Wilkes, 4296 (19).) * The railways and single-line electric tramway in Greenock and Port-Glasgow all run roughly east and west, while certain of the streets running up the hill to the south have gradients of one in seven or one in nine. There is thus little encouragement to builders to secure high and healthy sites. In Port-Glasgow we were informed that these exist about half a mile from the town and three hundred feet above it. There seems to be a case here for experiment with alternative forms of traction such as the funicular railways common in Continental towns. (Cf. Hamilton, 29,495 (7), 29,511 ff.; Campbell Smith, 33,053 ff. ; Cook, 33,203 (9), 33,248; Halliday, 33,522 f., 33,573 f. ; Walker Smith, 41,557 (F.G.).) 372 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 98. On the Dalzell estate the factor gave particulars of three feuing districts, in one of which (where there happen to be existing highways) the income equalled the expenditure in the tenth year of feuing ; but in the other two districts the income had not equalled the expenditure after fourteen and fifteen years respectively. " The result for the three districts combined has been that the income was equal to the expenditure in the thirteenth year." * (G. Fraser, 31,115 (43), 31,220 f., 31,295 ff.) These statements will give an idea of the difference which may subsist in certain cases between nominal feu-duties and actual revenue. They also pomt to the great importance of reducing costs of road-making and other development expenses to the lowest limit. Additional Burdens — Ground Annuals. 99. Thus the burden of ground rent, as distinct from the rent for the actual structure of the building, does not begin and end with the feu-duty for the bare site. In every case there are costs of development to meet before a single stone of the actual building can be laid down ; and in many cases a ground annual is charged by the builder or some other intermediary over and above the feu-duty payable to the superior of the ground. This has indeed become a regular means of financing house-building. The builder who intends neither to hold nor receive rent for his houses but to sell them on completion frequently sets a comparatively low figure on the house, and trusts for the larger part of his profit to the creation of a ground annual. " He sells the houses almost at cost, and th"n gets this ground annual, which he sells at twenty 'years' purchase — an operation which at once carries him on to build more houses." (Barclay, 2171 f.) Or, as the Chief Engineering Inspector of the Local Government Board put it, in reply to the question whether this did not form practically the whole of the builder's profit — " The builder frequently says ' that, and I believe that in fairly hard times that is the case, his profit is what he can squeeze off the land, ' and he merely gets his full change for a shilling out of his building operations." (Walker Smith, 4219 ; c/. Paragraph 4213 (32).) 100. Now this procedure has its own advantages — or perhaps it is more accurate to say, had its advantages before the present cessation of building by private enterprise. On the builder's side, the advantage was that it provided him with a ready and rapid means of realising his profit and so going on to further work. It provided the purchaser at the same time with a house for a somewhat lower imme- diate payment than would have been needed to cover the full trading profits on its construction, while it added to the deferred liability by increasing the permanent burden. But in spite of these immediate advantages the system cannot be considered a good one. The fact that part of the normal cost of con- structioD (i.e. the builder's profit) was imposed in the form of a ground annual must have tended to increase the nominal value of the site, and hence further to raise ground rents already inflated through the effect of tenement building at a high density per acre. Thus more than one witness held that the system should be departed from. (Walker Smith, 4221 ; G. Ross, 33,719 (27).) 101. The one means suggested for meeting this difiiculty was the limitation of the number of houses to be built on any one acre. This has other advantages, as we shall proceed to show ; but Mr Walker Smith advocated it definitely on the ground that it would stop the " farming of feu-duties." (Walker Smith, 4213 (32), 4245.) Attempted Restrictions op Ground Values By Granting Cheap Feus. 102. Two cases were described in the evidence in which public-spirited proprietors had granted land at less than the current feuing rate in order to encoiirage the building of good cottages. Fifty years ago the then proprietor of the Ardgowan estate, Greenock, feued an area of good building land to the " Greenock Provident Investment Society " at the low rate of £16 per acre. Twenty-eight cottages were built, after which the scheme came to a standstill and the superior had to take back a considerable portion of the ground. Subsequently many of the houses changed hands at an enhanced price, and came to be owned and occupied by those in a higher position in life than the working classes they were in- tended for. The working men for whose benefit the low rate of feu-duty was granted within a short time preferred to sell the cottages to ministers, retired tradesmen, and others ; and they apparently received the difference between £16 an acre and the current market value of the land in the form of an enhanced value for their houses. Thus a provision in the feu-charter " that it shall not be competent ' to the said trustees or their successors or their disponees to sell or dispone the said piece of ground . . . 'for payment of a higher duty than 2s. per pole (£16 per acre)," by which the superior, Sir M. R. Shaw Stewart, hoped to keep the houses in the hands of the workmen, proved quite ineffectual. (Shaw Stewart and Hamilton, 29,495 (11), 29,519 ff.) The feuars did indeed benefit financially, but did not enjoy the advantage of living in healthy suxroundings which the scheme was designed to secure. 103. The second instance, which took place about twenty-five years ago, was on the Keir estate, near Dunblane, where, as the result of a petition for lower feu rates for working-men's dwellings, land for twenty-four houses was given off at £4 an acre. Before long, however, those who secured the land at this rent began building houses on it and selling them to Glasgow gentlemen for residential purposes. The scheme then came to an end, and the feuing rate was raised to £8. (Rodger, 29,789, cf. 29,835 f.) The efforts of these two proprietors are instructive as showing that where gi-ound is feued at a rate below its market value, the imposition of a ground annual is always possible ; and the lowering of the feu- duties does not necessarily benefit the actual occupier. They further show the difficulty of attempting on a small scale to alter the general tendencies of the land market in favour of the tenant of a small house or cottage. The difficulty consists in the fact that the value of the land feued for cottage-building tends * In the case of a somewhat steep site in Bathgate, on tlie Edinburgh Merchant Company's estate, out of a nominal feu-duty of £20 to £22 the real feu-duty amounted to £12, the balance being accounted for by expenditure on roads (A. L. Reid, 3407 ff.) It is well known that in the first seven years of the Letchworth Garden City there was a steady loss, and only in the eighth year (1911) did the revenue sufJfico to balance expenditure, chieflj' on development. (Report of First Garden City, Limited, for 1913). REPORT. 373 to approximate to the ruling rate in the neighbourhood. There appear to be two ways in which this difficulty can be overcome — where an area is feued at a low rate to a copartnership tenants' society, the benefit of the low feu-duty must accrue to the actual tenants. In other cases the only course is to adopt measures to reduce the value of building-land generally, in which case the difficulty which occurs in regard to a small area will not be felt.* (Cf. Hamilton, 29,528). Proportion of Ground Rent and Feu-Duty to Total Rental. 104. It may be well at this stage to cite the opinions of certain representative witnesses as to the proportion of rental in certain housing schemes actually attributable to ground rent, and also as to the proportion which may be looked upon as reasonable. In the Hamilton Town Council's housing scheme the feu-duty is 2s. 6d. per pole (£20 per acre), with a duplicand every twenty-one years. The total feu- duty is £21, 12s. 6d., or, including the duphcand, less than £23. The rents are fixed on a low scale, £6, 3s. for single rooms, £8, 16s. for two-room houses — both including taxes ; and the total rental is £183, 17s. Thus the ground rent equals less than one-seventh of the gross rental ; but it equals only about one-thirteenth of the total outgoings, which have ranged from £297, 10s. 6d. to £328, 4s. 3d., or one-ninth of the outgoings if the charge of £100 for sinking fund be left out of account. {Cf. Keith, 1249 (16), with Appendix IV.) In the Edinburgh Corporation houses, the heading " Feu-duty and Incidentals " accounts for from nil to 4 per cent, of the gross rental of the buildings in the old town (where, as explained above, the feu- duties are very low), and from 11 per cent, to 17 per cent, in the newer districts, the average in four pro- perties being just over 12^ per cent., or one-eighth. The charge for " Taxes and Insurance," on the other hand, ranges from 20 per cent, to 30 per cent. ; and in every case but one is much more than double the feu-duty. (Horsburgh Campbell (Supplementary Statement), 41,170 (2).) 105. In regard to Glasgow, figures were submitted by Mr Fyfe, Chief Sanitary Inspector, showing the weekly rent paid for each 1000 cubic feet in tenements erected by the Corporation and the Glasgow Workmen's Dwelhngs, Ltd., respectively, for the poorest class (three properties in each case). The figures were tabulated in 1899, and are based on the high capital value of 30s. per square yard, or £7260 per acre. Computed at 4 per cent., the weekly rents of Corporation dwellings per 1000 cubic feet occupied were, in pence : — One-apartment Houses. Two-apartment Houses. (Three Properties.) (Two Properties.) Ground rent .... 2-956 4-887 3-869 3-027 4-369 Total rent .... 14-404 18-14 16-399 14-74 18-52 Li the Glasgow Workmen's Dwelling Co.'s properties the figures were : — One-apartment Houses. Two-apartment Houses. (Three Properties.) (Three Properties.) Ground rent. . . . 3-032 4-623 2-945 3-305 3-577 2-3 Total rent .... 17-068 23-089 21-536 18-605 17-871 16-941t 106. It will be observed that the proportion of ground rent to total rent varies from under one-seventh to over one-fourth, but if similar schemes were being carried out to-day the proportion would certainly be less, as, while ground rent is a fixed charge, other charges for rates and maintenance have steadily grown. A further statement in regard to the second group of properties was made by Mr John Mann, Secretary of the Glasgow Worlauen's Dwellings Company, Ltd., to the effect that if the ground on which their houses were built had cost nothing " the possible reduction in the rent would be 2|d. per week ' on a two-room house." (Mann, 21,323.) It should be noted that the ground was actually obtained for 20s. per square yard, instead of the uniform figure of 30s., upon which Mr Fyfe's table is based. (See Some Experiments in Housing, 1901, p. 28.) 107. Turning to buildings erected by private builders, two witnesses of wide experience in Glasgow analysed the different constituents of typical rentals. The first dealt with dwelhngs of two apartments and a bathroom in a modem tenement property, in which, out of a total rental including rates of £19, 17s. per house, ground rent only amounted to £1, 2s., as compared with £3, 8s. 6d. for management, repairs, empties, etc., and £5, 17s. lOd. for rates. (Mactaggart, 22,847 (47)-(49). As the property in question is modem, the Government valuation of site presumably is closely related to the actual ground rent.) The other witness gave particulars of two older tenement blocks, in which the ground rent per apartment amounted to 4s. 6d. out of £8, 15s. 8d. (total rent per apartment, including rates) in one case, and 12s. 4d. out of £7, 7s. in the other. (W. Eraser, 38,076 (18).) The same witness gave an analysis of the " rental per apartment in seventy-three tenement properties erected about 1908 in Glasgow and suburbs, average number of rooms 2-5 ; average rent per apartment, £6, 15s. yearly, or 2s. 7d. weekly." Actual ground rent per apartment 9s. 9d. yearly, or 2|d. weekly. In the seventy-three properties referred to, 2|d. per week per apartment for ground rent is equal to one-fourteenth of the total rent, and compares with 3}d. iox owners' rates and 4|d. for upkeep, management, insurance, etc. (Appendix CXXXIL, Table V.) 108. From the figures cited above, it is clear that the proportion of ground rent to total rent varies within wide limits, i.e. from about one-fourth to one-twentieth, or, in some cases, less. (See a statement regarding the latter proportion in Galashiels, Rutherford, 17,006 f.) 109. Turning now to the question of ground rents which may be considered reasonable, the Secretary of the Edinburgh Garden City and Town Planning Association, said : " You cannot get more than 'about one-eighth of your rental in feu-duty," though he admitted that in some circumstances the pro- portion might rise to one-sixth — a proportion also named by the Chief Engineering Inspector of the Local Government Board. (Walker Smith, 4245 ; Roxburgh, 19,520.) The proportion of one-sixth was also * A similar difficulty was found in the earlier stages of the Liverpool Corporation housing work, when land was sold at the low price of 2s. 6d. per yard to private builders in order to enable houses for the poorest class to be provided at suitable rents. It was, however, found that the benefit went not to the tenant but to the builder. (Turton, 24,771-3).) t These figures are taken from Fyfe, Appendix LXVII. 374 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. named as a maximum by a large Glasgow builder (Mickel, 21,893 (14).) As we have seen, this proportion is exceeded in certain properties built on expensive sites in the central parts of Glasgow, and in tenement properties such as those in Clydebank, where a heavy ground annual has been added to the original feu ; but in such cases the burden is clearly too heavy from the business as well as the hygienic standpoint. On the other hand, the Burgh Surveyor of Galashiels referred to an annual charge for ground rent of 10s. to £1 per tenant as excessive. (Thomson, 16,783 (14), 16,816.) 110. In the cities the general opinion of witnesses appeared to be that 15s. to 25s. per house is a suffi- cient sum for ground rent in the case of a small house ; that this figure is not uncommon in the large centres ; and that it is not advisable that it should be exceeded. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (69) ; M'Kellar, 22,737 ; and references above.) High Site Values as a Hindrance to Building. 111. The facts given above form the justification of the statement that the price of land has not been the first or second factor in retarding and hindering the provision of workmen's houses at cheap rates. The Architectural Inspector of the Local Government Board, and the representative of the Convention of Burghs, both stated that, while cheap land was of gre^t importance for housing, high feu-duties could not be taken as the chief cause which had checked the building of working-class houses. (Wilson, 4104 ; Keith, 1249 (9) f., 1410.) The two witnesses differed in the cause which they considered to be the chief preventative of cheap housing, as Mr Wilson (who distinctly stated that he considered £40 per acre too high a rate) laid special stress on the rise in the cost of building, while ex-Provost Keith referred particularly to the burden of rates. What the other leading causes are we have already seen (Chapter I.) ; but it is sufficient to record our judgment here that, even before the war, the land question did not come first, but that, in ex-Provost Keith's words, while the problem is aggravated by dear land, " it is there ' even if we get the land for nothing." At the same time, we are fully alive to the fact that, at a time when the rapid rise of building costs, the steady increase of rates, and the impossibility of obtaining loans on the old terms all conspired to handicap building, even a relatively small additional burden in the shape of dear land may have proved the proverbial last straw. Nor can any factor be reckoned unimportant which adds even 3d. a week to the cost of a cottage. Yet the fact remains that, in most cases, the direct burden of feu-duty does not exceed one-eighth or even one-tenth of the gross rental, including rates. The exceptions, which are numerous in the three largest cities, are to be found chiefly in new, or compara- tively new, tenement properties, or in the case of expensive central sites in Glasgow and elsewhere. Tenement-Building and Site Values. 112. If, then, high feuing-rates do not exert the chief direct action in raising house rents, can it be said that the question of land values is of minor importance, or may it have a very serious indirect effect ? This question is closely related to the other question already suggested — What is the relation between tenement-building and excessive site values ? 113. This is one of the few questions in regard to which the Commission met with an almost unani- mous opinion. The answer given was that the relation was reciprocal. The high land values which have become customary in the larger Scottish towns keep the tenement system in being, but it is not less true, and even more significant, that it is the tenement system which originally produced that scale of values. As one witness put it, we are involved in " a vicious circle. The price of knd makes tenements necessary, and that, in course, raises the price of land." (Eunson, 18,201. Cf. the statement of the Secretary of the Edinburgh Garden City Association, Roxburgh, 19,451a (17) ; also Walker Smith, 4243 f. ; Eunson, 18,198 ; Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (69) ; Hamilton, 29,525.) Thus the system of high block dwellings is found along with, and may confidently be taken as, a principal cause of high ground values.* (Cf. Walker Smith, 4245; also Horsburgh Campbell, 18,745 (69); Roxburgh, 19,495 f.) That the reverse relation— -the opposite section of the vicious eircle — ^also exists is proved by the fact that, in central London, almost alone of English cities, excessive ground values have forced the London County Council, the Pea- body Trust, and other bodies, to erect five-storey tenements. Limitation of Building Density and its Effects. 114. From this conclusion that the tenement is both cause and effect of high ground values, but even more the former than the latter, an important practical deduction follows. It is that site values may be reduced by ehminating tenements, or, more generally, by reducing the number of houses per acre. The powers to do so are given in the Housing, Town Planning Act of 1909, Fifth Schedule, and a witness of experience spoke of the general application of this power as the necessary preliminary to all housing reform. Such a limitation must set up a new standard of land values, as, instead of land around the cities being valued on the assumption that sixty or eighty houses may be placed on an acre, " it will be valued, as it ' should be, on the assumption that in no circumstances can more than thirty houses per acre be placed ' upon it. Another result of such a fixed maximum is that it will be possible for development with two- ' storey houses to compete with tenements. At present it cannot do so." (Roxburgh, 19,451a (20)-(22) ; cf. Wilson, 4141 f. ; M'Kellar, 22,743.) Thus the economic argument for a reduction of building density is that, by making " land sweating " impossible for the future, it will automatically and effectively reduce inflated land values. 115. It is, however, important to note that the benefit from this proposal would not reach the tenant in the form of hard cash. If the number of houses per acre were reduced to ten or twelve, and the unde- veloped land were obtained at £10 per acre, he would still be paying, as he commonly does at present, from 16s. 8d. to £1 per annum for the occupancy of the bare site of his house. So also, if the limit were * The effect of large block dwellings in inflating site values has been very marked in Germany. (Roxburgh, 19,479 ; cf. T. C. Horsfall, The Improvement of the Dwellings and Surroundings of the People, pp. 54-57 ; Report of Birmingham Deputation to Germany, p. 15.) REPORT. 375 twenty or twenty-four houses per acre, and the feu-duty £20, the tenant would pay as much as most tenants do at present ; but, on the other hand, he would be getting far more for his money, not only in the extent of the site occupied, and in the possibility of improving his health and real income by culti- vating a small garden-plot, but also in access to light and air for himself, and, what is of greater conse- quence, for his children. Light and air are free gifts of Nature ; but it is none the less true that by ex- cessive building density, the comraimity has effectively prevented a very large proportion of its members and their children from obtaining their due share of either. 116. This is, in effect, the answer to the second question proposed above, whether the indirect loss to the house occupier through the high price of land may not be very serious, even though it is established that the charge for ground rent forms a comparatively small fraction of the typical rent. It is this in- direct result that gives rise to the most serious criticism of the present system. There are, indeed, certain cases, some of which have been noted above, in which the proportion of rental chargeable to site value is obviously extravagant. But the question is not disposed of if it is pointed out that these are exceptions ; for the real trouble is that the tenant who pays in the form of ground rent only a very small proportion of his income, receives so httle for what he does pay. (This is clearly stated by the Chief Engineering Lispector to the Local Government Board, Walker Smith, 4213 (33), 4245.) One benefit he does receive, that of nearness to his work (and, incidentally, to his amusements as well) ; but, as against this, there is the loss to consider of fresh air, of sunlight, of elbow-room and privacy — -factors in hfe which, however much or httle they may afiect the wage-earner, are of vital importance to the mothers and children of the nation. Thus the end to be kept in view is not so much the general reduction in the tenant's expenditure in respect of feu-duty or ground rent (though in certain cases this may be most necessary), as the obtain- ing of better value for this expenditure ; " better value " being understood as including a more spacious home, and one less surrounded and overshadowed by its neighbours than the average city flat. 117. Thus it is possible to reconcile the two statements — ^both strongly supported, but at first sight contradictory — that the tenement system in Scotland has led to many of the poorer wage-earners being housed on land on which the ground rents are excessive and burdensome, and that the cost of land is only a relatively small element in rental in the majority of cases. The explanation of the apparent contra- diction hes in this — -that the question is not only one of the shilUngs and pence actually paid by the tenant as ground rent, but more especially how far he receives an adequate return in house room and other utihties for what he pays. The Future Problems Implied in Excessive Ground Rents. 118. The fact has been strongly impressed upon us that the steady rise of feu-duties, to a maximum reached about the end of last century, has made inevitable very serious difficulties in the future. The older feus in Edinburgh, and in many other burghs, were moderate, or in some cases negligible ; and the worst slum properties which are ripe for demolition or radical reconstruction to-day are not in most cases burdened with heavy feu-duties. But the next generation will be faced with the problem of deahng with congested properties and areas, which, by that time, will have reached the slum condition, burdened with the exceedingly high feus already named. Thus the problem of the future will, in this respect, be more difficult than that of to-day. Indeed, in one case visited by the Commission (that of the area in Dundee where feu-duties are highest, the " Glebe Lands "), the dwellings are rapidly reaching the slum level. In this case the high feu-duty has been secured by crowding a mass of high tenement buildings on a steep and somewhat awkward site, with the result that many of the lower windows have insufficient hght, and the better class of tenant will increasingly look for quarters elsewhere. In Edinburgh the highest feu -duties appear to be those charged by two large educational trusts, one of which is occxipied in addition with the promotion of temperance. Had these respectable, and presumably intelhgent, bodies been pos- sessed of any considerable foresight they would have seen that by placing such heavy burdens on the provision of small houses, they were actively promoting the creation of these very conditions against which educationists and temperance reformers have continually to struggle, and often struggle at a fatal dis- advantage. For, where the proportion of ground rent to total rental passes a certain figure — ^and certainly where ground rents exceed £150 per acre — the tenant is obhged to stint himself and his family in house room, while the landlord finds it difficult to find money for ordinary repairs, and impossible to provide improvements to meet the rising standard of sanitary science. Thus the descent to the Avemus of slum- dom becomes not only easy, but inevitable, and the best-intentioned of educational trusts may find it too hard a task to raise their unfortunate tenants again to the upper hght. 119. This prospect of the rapid deterioration of the buildings on very costly sites raises a grave ques- tion as to whether the security for feu-duties, when they pass a certain height, is so absolute as has usually been supposed. Even if no definite interference with the original contract be thought of, it seems pro- bable that a portion of the ultimate loss will fall in part on the superior, the feuar having first lost every- thing. This point is reached as soon as the annual rental of the buildings, after deduction of repairs, taxes, and sums needed to meet the demands of the Local Authority for necessary improvements, falls to the level of th& ground rent. (That this point is not so far off as might be thought is suggested by the Burgh Surveyor of Clydebank, G. Ross, 33,719 (20) ff., 33,765 ; c/. Majority Report, Paragraph 1734 ; also Horsburgh Campbell, 19,050 ff. ; MacLaren, 35,409 ff.) This certainly forms a grave warning against continuing to build at such a density, and on land so heavily burdened as was not uncommonly done in the closing period of the nineteenth century. (B) Acquisition and Control of Building Land. 1. Extent of Existing Powers. 120. A full account has already been given in the Majority Report (Chapters V. and XXIV.) of the present state of the law regarding the acquisition of land, so there is no need for us to describe the com- pulsory powers possessed by public authorities, and also frequently granted to railway companies and 376 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. other bodies performing necessary public services. But so far the private builder, who has provided a proportion of the small houses of the country which some authorities estimate as amounting to 99 per cent., has been dependent on his unassisted powers of bargaining to secure building sites ; and the same holds true of the manufacturer who may wish to build or enlarge a factory. As a matter of fact, these individuals have probably, in most cases, obtained the use of land required on better terms than public and representative bodies, in spite of the formidable compulsory powers possessed by the latter. For the general price of land in a locality, or the prevalent feuing rate, has been taken as the basis on which the price is computed in cases of compulsory purchase, and the Local Authority does not, as a rule, get the benefit of any doubt that may exist as to the true value of the land. Yet, while the law of supply and demand may have secured access for the individual builder to the land which he needs in the great majority of cases, we agree that he has often had to pay an excessive price ; while in some instances, particularly in the smaller towns where there is a land monoply, unreasonable restrictions are imposed on building — restrictions which, in extreme cases, may for a time prevent the erection of cottages altogether. But, imless the whole industry of the country, as well as the provision of all small houses, is to be under- taken by public authorities, or large public companies armed with extensive compulsory powers, it can hardly be denied that it is a matter of public importance that no individual or company proposing to build sanitary houses or erect works which will bring healthy employment to the locality in question should be prevented from doing so by the impossibility of securing a site at a moderate figure. Thus, together with the question as to the best lines on which the powers of public bodies for the compulsory acquisition of land should be developed, there is a further question which has received less atten- tion from Parliament in the past, viz. — How can private enterprise be given a fuller guarantee for the acquisition of sites for necessary purposes, of which house-building is probably the most urgent at present ? "Two Types of Land" to be Acquired. 12L It is also, we hold, important to establish a broad distinction between two different cases in which compulsory powers may be requisite for the acquisition of land. The first is that of land covered already by houses which, through congestion or dilapidation, or both, have reached -the stage at which an improvement scheme or reconstruction scheme becomes necessary, and the powers granted in Parts I. and II. of the Housing Act, 1890, as amended in 1909, must be brought into play. In this case the site has an undoubted importance, but the first concern of the authority carrying out the scheme is the removal or complete renovation of existing buildings, the value of the groimd on which they stand being a somewhat secondary consideration. The other case is that of land which has hitherto been used for agricultural or for some similar purpose, and which may thus be considered undeveloped or, from the point of view of housing, as virgin land. In the great majority of cases there will indeed be certain buildings upon it, but they may only amormt to a steading and a group of cottages on land fitted to carry many himdreds of houses ; thus, in this case, the value of existing buildings or developments is of minor importance compared with that of the land itself. 122. It is true that there are many intermediate stages between the extremes indicated ; and this probably accounts for the fact that the tendency of the legislation already referred to has been to con- sider " land " as including all erections upon it. It has been definitely laid down that the expression " land " includes, unless the contrary intention appears, " messuages, tenements, hereditaments, houses ' and building of any tenure." (Interpretation Act, 1899, section (3) ; c/. PubHc Health Act, 1897, section 3 ; Patten Macdougal and Murray, Handbook of Public Health, p. 4 f.) But there appears to be a clear distinction between the demolition or radical improvement of slum property imder the Housing Acts and the acquisition of imdeveloped land for house-building or public works where the site itself forms the chief element of value. In regard to operations of the former class we agree in the main with the recommendation of our colleagues. But in regard to the provision of the extension of existing towns onto new territory, or the formation of new centres of population where changes of industry may make this necessary, we feel it needful to set out our views at somewhat gi-eater length. Before doing so, however, we may point out that wherever new and improved housing can be provided on a considerable scale in the outskirts of our cities, the resulting movement of population tends of itself to reduce con- gestion in the central districts of the cities and hence, by lessening the demand for slum property, facilitates the task of acquiring and closing such old and insanitary properties. Two Possible Likes of Advance. 123. There are two main policies in the field to meet the need for a cheaper and more abimdant supply of fresh building land. One approaches the end indirectly, and its advocates contend that, if certain legislative or administrative changes are made, economic tendencies will be set in motion which will automatically bring down the value of building land to a reasonable level. The other distrusts the eSicacy of all indirect measures, and argues for the direct control of the price of land by governmental action. We consider these in order, but in so doing it is important to have in mind at least an approxi- mate idea of the figure to be aimed at as constituting a reasonable price for undeveloped building land. On this point we cannot do better than quote three representative estimates. The Secretary of the Edinburgh and East of Scotland Garden Cities Association indicated that he considered £5 per acre as the ideal feu-duty. On a scheme covering 300 acres an extra £5, though it might not seem a serious addition, would involve an extra capital outlay of £30,000, and so might easily make the difference between financial success and failure. This witness mentioned £200 per acre, or a feu-duty of £10 for undeveloped land as the outside figure for cottage development, and stated that £25 per acre could only be paid where there is a street frontage on which shops could be placed. (Roxburgh, 19,473.) The chairman of Harbome Tenants, Ltd., named " £120 per gross acre for land in the rough," or a feu-duty of from £5 to £6, as a reasonable figure for cottage development. (Nettlef old, 42,753 (3), 42,762.) The Architectural REPORT. 377 Inspector of the Local Government Board gave it as his opinion that a feu -duty of £14 per acre would allow the building of double-flatted cottages.* These estimates, all based on wide experience, point to the conclusion that, if cottages with gardens are to be erected, undeveloped land must be obtained at under £10 per acre ; while a higher figure will either prevent the provision of individual gardens or will necessitate the erection of double-flatted cottages or three-storey tenements. Reduction of the Price op Building Land by Indirect Methods. 124. We have already, in Paragraphs 101 and 114, drawn attention to the opinion of competent witnesses that the price of building-land can be brought down to a reasonable level by the steady applica- tion of town-planning methods. If, however, this is to be effected, an advance must be made along at least two lines, viz. : — (1) Limitation of building density. (2) Improvement of the means of transit. A third suggestion, which we consider valuable and important, is that for the (3) Purchase of land by Local Authorities in advance of immediate building requirements. After dealing with these, we propose to add certain observations on the proposal for the taxation of site values in its bearing on this subject. (1) Limitation of Building Density. 125. This point and the next are dealt with in Chapter III. on " Transit and Town Planning," but it is necessary here to point out their bearing on the cost of land. It may perhaps be argued that any drastic limitation of the number of houses per acre implies a hardship for the landlord who has counted on feuing his land at a rate suitable for unrestricted building ; but we do not consider this hardship can weigh against the advantages already mentioned, although, in cases where expenses of development have already been incurred, or contracts entered into on the expectation of a high number of dwellings per acre being allowed, some relaxation of the restrictions might be necessary. As a matter of fact, there is reason to beheve that in many cases the large increment resulting from excessive feu-duties has been reaped, not by the original superior, but by some intermediary who has come in to purchase and develop the land, breaking it up into small building sections. (Ross Young, 43,350 ; r/. section on Ground Annuals above. Mr Vivian gives a similar account of EngUsh experience (40,630).) It was also demonstrated that in all ordinary cases the landlord will lose Uttle or nothing by the restriction on the number of houses to be placed on his gro\md. For the increase in the area of the land required to accommodate a given population will be in exact proportion to the decrease of the number housed on any one acre, and in the feuing value of that acre. In other words, while the rate per acre will fall, the rapidity of development will rise in the same proportion. Of coiu"se, there are cases where a proprietor owns only a small area, and where it may be to his interest to crowd as many houses upon it as possible, but in all other cases the rapidity and the extent of the return under town-planning conditions will go far to balance the fall in the feuing rate. {Cf. Paragraph 153 below.) As to the method to be followed in bringing such limita- tion into force, we are in general agreement with our colleagues (Majority Report, Chapters VIII. and XXVIL). (2) Transit. 126. The bearing of transit on the price of land is obvious. In industrial districts the congestion of the areas where the working classes live is due largely to the need to be near their work. But " near- ' ness " is to be estimated rather in time than in actual distance ; and if provision can be made to bring workers in from the suburbs quickly and cheaply, the pressure on the areas immediately surrounding the commercial or manufacturing portion of any of our great cities will be very considerably reduced. At the sSme time, land values in the centre, so far as they are determined by housing needs, will naturally tend to fall, though this fall will be compensated by a rise in the newly developed districts. Thus instead of excessive land values within the city falhng sharply at its margin to agricultural value, there will tend to be a levelhng down in the former and a levelling up in the latter ; but tlie process of levelling up will not raise values to the extravagant heights hitherto experienced, because more land will be made available for buildings — the total area of development will be increased — and so the tendency to high monopoly values will be counteracted. 127. At the same time, as several witnesses pointed out, it is essential that town planning should precede the development of tramways or other means of rapid transit. Otherwise the old conditions of congestion and inflated values will tend to recur in the areas newly opened up along the tramway routes. This has been the case in Scotland already ; since in many instances the opening of a new tram- way line or suburban station has led to the erection of high tenement buildings in what was formerly the open country. But it has been amply shown above that tenements tend to inflate land values, and thus the expenditure of the railway or tramway company or corporation, which has provided the improved means of transit, has benefited the rural proprietor by enabliag him to reap a large imeamed increment for his land. It is true that a substantial part of this increment will in the future be annexed by the State, but this does not promote cheap housing ; so it would be a much wiser policy to prevent this increment from arising, by limiting the density of building before a new means of transit is provided, * Wilson, 43,868. This result may be tested in the light of the opinion quoted in Paragraph 109 above, that ground rent ought not to form more than one-eighth of the total rental of a dwelling. If we assume that cottages built in the immediate future will commonly have rentals of from £12 to £16, and that they will be built not more than twelve to the acre, this gives a maximum ground rental for fully developed land of £18 to £24 per acre. As the interest on the cost of development can hardly be less than £10 per acre, it will be seen that the estimates just given are sufficiently accurate. If, however, only ten houses are placed on an acre, and the ground rent is limited to thirty shillings per house (which seems a sufficiently high figure), the possible feu-duty for undeveloped land is brought out at Mr Roxburgh's figure of £5. 378 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. and so seeming that the expenditure of pubHc capital benefits the occupiers by bringing within their reach a more spacious and healthier home for the same expenditure on ground rent.* 128. If this policy is followed, we do not consider that it will be necessary in the great majority of cases to take frnther steps to prevent the owners of land from benefiting imduly by expenditure on more rapid means of communication. But, if such further steps are in some cases foimd necessary, powers have been given to Local Authorities carrying out town-planning schemes to recover from any person whose property is increased in value by the scheme one-half of the amount of that increase. (Housing, etc., Act, 1909, section 58 (3).) The same principle might be applied in the case of an extension of mmiicipal tramways or other means of pubhc conveyance. But there is a certain difficulty of applying this principle of betterment, as it is not always easy to say where the increased value begins and ends, or how far it has been brought into existence by any one factor. Thus the simpler plan is for the pro- moters of the scheme to make it a condition of their carrying their line of transit through any particular estate that the line required should be given in whole or in part free of charge. (G. M. Stuart, 19,619. This has been voluntarily done in certain instances. Brodie, 41,857 (15) ; Dalrymple, 42,092 (18).) 129. It should, at the same time, be remembered that while values in a newly opened up district, considered as a whole, are practically certain to rise, it is also possible that individual sites may depreciate at the same time. The manager of the Paisley Tramways went so far as to say that " house rents ' on the hne of route within a variable distance of the centre of a town usually rise after the line is laid ' down, but shop rents in the same area invariably go down " — ^the reason being that purchasers use the new means of communication to reach the larger shops and stores in the centre of the town or city, and hence shopkeepers in the suburbs are apt to suffer. (Coutts, 42,024 (8).) | 130. It thus appears to us to be clear that, in the development of rapid means of transit, we have an important potential agent for the reduction of inflated and excessive site values. But it is no less clear that this result may be nullified unless measures for the control of site values on other lines have been taken before the improved transit is actually provided. In other words, town-plamiing restrictions must precede the opening up of new passenger routes ; and if the recommendation which we also make below for increased facihties to Local Authorities to pm'chase building gromid in advance of immediate requirements is given effect to, it should, in the majority of cases, also come before the improvement of communication from the city to its outskirts. (3) Purchase of Land by Local Authorities in Advance of Immediate Requirements. 131. The powers granted by the Housing Acts of 1890, 1900, and 1909 to Local Authorities for the purchase of land suitable for building schemes are very considerable. J Local Authorities can now acquire land either by agreement or compulsorily within or without their own area. They can either use land so acquired for building schemes of their own, or they can lease the land to other bodies who may carry out the actual building, and in either case they can either themselves lay out, or contribute towards the cost of, any streets or roads on such land which are to be dedicated to the public uso.§ At the same time, these powers have been construed in a somewhat limited sense ; e.g. the power to lease sites on municipal housing estates for development by private and semi-private enterprise has been limited in practice by the rule that all such sites should be restricted to use for working-class houses alone. This tends to perpetuate the separation of dwellings occupied by different classes of the community into distinct districts, and represents a policy which some of the best authorities of the present day are anxious to see reversed.^ It is also stated that the valuable power given in the 1909 Act, section 60, for the purchase of any land comprised in a town-planning scheme has, in England at least, been largely rendered nugatory by the interpretation that it only applies to a scheme which is already in existence ; whereas the whole point of purchase in advance is that the Local Authority should come in at an early stage, and so acquire land at or very near its agricultural value.|| 132. These powers for the voluntary purchase of land with a view to its future use as the com munity develops have actually been exercised by several municipalities both in England and Scotland. The chief example in England is that of Liverpool, which derives a revenue of nearly £85,000 from its municipal estates. The action of the Liverpool Corporation in this respect has been taken under a special clause in a private Act of Parliament, which has been found very useful in enabling land to be bought when favourable opportunities presented themselves for purchase at a low rate.* In Sheffield and Birmingham similar action has been taken, and the small but interesting experiment at Hereford has already been referred to by the Majority.f In Scotland also, where there is a common good and the Local Authority consequently can lay out capital without requiring to obtain special borrowing powers, the same possibility exists, and we are informed that it has been used' with advantage in the burgh of Hamilton-! 133. There was a strong preponderance of opinion in favour of extending the powers of munici- palities in this direction and of encouraging their more frequent application. Those who recommended this procedure did so on several grounds. It has, as we have just seen, been justified by success in some * Walker Smith,4213 (18), (70), 4271; Roxburgh, 19,451 A. (19), (26); Vivian, 40,629 f. ; Brodie, 41,889; Nettlefold, 42,753 (18), 42,779. The manager of the Glasgow Corporation Tramways admitted that it would be in accordance with the immediate interest of the company providing the improved means of transit that a large number of houses should be placed on each acre. (Dalrymple, 42,227 f . ) This sho^ys that if a restriction is to be enforced it should be done before and not after the new means of transit are provided. ■f A parallel case may occur in connection with slum demolition. In the GaUowgate improvement scheme, Aberdeen, the houses on the margin were greatly improved as regards light and air, but we were informed that rents had fallen, 08 the shops on the street level were forced to close by the removal of most of their customers. J These are conveniently summarised by Mr Aldridge, App. CLXIX. to Evidence. § The chief of these powers are contained in 1890 Act, sect. 57 ; 1900 Act, sects. 1, 5 ; 1909 Act, sects. 6, 60. "i[ Aldridge, 41, 800, App. CLXIX. (8, 9). Report of Birmingham Special Enquiry Committee, 1914, p. 15. II Nettlefold, 42, 822 f. • Kyffin-Taylor, 24,337 ff., 24,378 f. ; Turton, 24,741-3 ; Brodie, 41,936 ff. ; Aldridge, App. CLXIX. (26). t Chapter XXVI. j Wilson, 44,039 ; cf. Walker Smith, 41,557 (72). REPORT. 379 instances in Britain, while in continental countries it has been found of great value.* The chief ad- vantages claimed are three, (a) The Local Authority can exercise a more direct control over the develop- ment of areas in its own possession than of those where the land is privately owned ; and they can in this way do more to foster a harmonious type of development than if they are simply in the position of enforcing restrictions on superiors and feuars. (6) They can provide cheap land for industrial develop- ments as well as for houses for working men. (c) By so doing they may be able indirectly to regulate the whole level of feu-duties within their areas by setting a reasonable standard.f The last advantage is of special importance, for if sites on well-developed land, at points not too far from a tram- way or motor-bus route or a suburban station, can be obtained from the mimicipality at a moderate ground rent, it is obvious that the operations of land speculators in other quarters will suffer a sharp check. 134. Another point of considerable importance is that recent experience points to the wisdom of dividing the work of the estate-developer from that of the actual house-provider. The work of planning and development can best be done comprehensively and on a somewhat large scale ; whereas smaller bodies, such as copartnership or building societies, have in some ways an advantage in the building, and still more in the subsequent management, of the houses. The latter task calls for care of and variety in detail, and for an individual knowledge of the families for whom the houses are provided. Thus we find such a division of function at Letchworth, where First Garden City, Ltd., are the holders and developers of the estate, while the houses are provided by several smaller societies. J Somewhat similar arrangements have been in force in Bournville and elsewhere. § 135. Thus there is ample experience on the side of an arrangement of this kind, and in many cases the Local Authority will have great advantages in undertaking this preparatory work, on which so much of the success of the actual housing depends. But, if it is to provide cheap and well-developed sites, it must acquu-e the ground cheaply at the outset ; i.e. it must be able to come in as a purchaser in the open market, and as a purchaser that can afford to wait for a favourable opportunity. 136. On the other hand, it may be said that the entrance of Local Authorities into the somewhat uncertain business of land purchase and development may only lead to graver evils of another kind. Undoubtedly if such powers were granted without restriction it would not be impossible for private interests to influence the action of the Local Authority in undesirable ways ; but several of the most competent witnesses who gave evidence on the point were satisfied that suitable safeguards could be introduced. The first and most important is that the price paid by the Local Authority should be moderate ; and it would be advisable for some supervising authority, presumably the Local Govern- ment Board, to be satisfied that a case had been made out for the purchase of a particular estate and that the price named was in all respects reasonable. It was even suggested that the price paid might be so Umited as to allow of the land's bringing in an ordinary return, including sinking fund, within a short term of years ;|| but we doubt whether in the case of agricultural land this is possible, even though the purchase price be decidedly moderate. For the selling value of an agricultural estate is constantly higher than the capitalised letting value ; and, while the rental would accrue to the Local Authority during the period before the development began, it would not in all cases be sufficient to provide ordinary interest and sinking fund. Still, without enforcing this suggestion as a rigid rule, the con- firming authority could, we consider, demand proof that any temporary loss involved would not be serious, and would be more than recouped by the ultimate return. 137. It would also be necessary to restrict the right of sale, in order to prevent the risk of specula- tion at the other end. The Local Authority should, except La very special cases, continue to hold the land, maintaining its rights as superior. Otherwise the purchaser from the Local Authority might simply buy for a rise, and thus speculation in its worst form would come into play. In this connection it is vital that the Local Authority should have the right of pre-emption at the original value (less deprecia- tion) Qver all houses on its estate which the owner might desire to part with, as this has been found in practice to form an essential element in the control of land values.]} It was also suggested by the City Engineer of Dundee that the price at which the land should be disposed of might be stringently regulated,* but if the density of housing is hmited in the way already suggested, probably little further regulation would be nedeed. We hold, however, that it would be needful to restrict these special powers to Local Authorities which have sufficient resources to employ capable and independent officials.f We should suggest a minimum population of 20,000 as a suitable figure. 138. The other objection raised is that already noticed in the case of private estate development — the extreme uncertainty of the exact course of feuing. It was pointed out that in a town such as Greenock, where periods of great commercial and business activity are followed by times of acute de- pression, expenditure on land development may fail to bring in anything like an immediate return. In this case not only the purchase price of the estate but sums expended on street-making, etc., might be locked up for years to the disadvantage of the ratepayers.J This is a danger which cannot wholly be avoided; but it may be minimised by foresight and caution in avoiding street or tramway development too far in advance of building requirements.§ It must, however, be borne in mind that the exercise of town-planning powers along the two chief lines already indicated will in future give Local Authorities .a much greater degree of control over the development of their areas than they have possessed in the past. 139. Under the conditions and with the safeguards just indicated, we hold that full powers should * See the full statements in the Report of Special Enquiry Committee of Birmingham City Council, p. 17 ; and J. Wilson, Appendix CXCVIII. t Walker Smith, 41,557 (76), 41,743 ; Aldridge, 41,794 ff. ; Jack, 43,280. j " First Garden City, Limited," Annual Reports. § Cadbury and Barlow, 25,046 f. ; Vivian, 40,690 ; Aldridge, 41,794. II Walker Smith, 41,557 (78). f Walker Smith, too. cit. ; Aldridge, 41,796, 41,801. * Thomson, 35,801. t Vivian, 40,630 ; and c/. pars. 518-20 below, i Shaw Stewart, 29,552. § Cf Brodie, 41,857 (9). 380 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. be given to the larger Local Authorities for the purchase of land in the open market when favourable opportunities occur ; and that, if this power is judiciously exercised, it will, along with the other benefits mentioned, have a very considerable effect in steadying the price of sites for building and improvements in general. Taxation of Site Values. 140. We hold that the three methods already indicated will, if applied in conjimction, effect a drastic reduction in site values in the outskirts of our cities, and will do this naturally without the applica- tion of any further measiire of a more controversial character. Of these three proposals, the limitation of building density is the most important in its effect on site values, and should in point of time be applied first for the reasons already indicated. At the same time, we cannot overlook the fact that the rating of site values is advocated by some authorities as an alternative, by others as supplementary, to the measures already suggested. We may distinguish the argument for this proposal as a measure of rating reform, from the contention of its supporters that it wpuld in itself do much to regulate the price of land and to diminish excessive values. It is with the latter contention that we are concerned here. We do not indeed propose to treat it fully, since it falls within the remit of the Departmental Committee on Local Taxation, which has already issued its final report for England and Wales,* and which will, we trust, soon be in a position to do the same for Scotland. But certain aspects of the proposal which bear on our present subject need to be indicated. 141. In the first place, we may note that the attempt to reduce the price of land by taxation has already been made in the " Undeveloped Land Duty " to which we have referred above (Paragraph 69). As regards the proposal for rating land values, the total effect is difficult to estimate. Directly, it places a new burden on land. It must also, in the absence of counteracting causes, tend to produce an in- creased density of building and to discourage the provision of open spaces, whether of a public character or gardens attached to individual houses. It thus tends to produce a conflict between the Public Health Authority, whose chief aim is the thinning out of building and the securing of fresh air and open spaces, and the Inland Revenue Authorities, who " are endeavouring after the fullest possible use of the whole ' area for building."| The argument of the supporters of the rating of site values is that, by forcing many " weak holders " to sell, its indirect effect would be to lower the price of land ; but there is some un- certainty whether land so brought into the market will reach the right use, as it may merely fall into the hands of speculators. J 142. There is thus at least a prima fade conflict between this policy and that which we have en- deavoured to draw out in the preceding 8ections.§ There is, indeed, no reason why town-planning restrictions should not accompany its enforcement and counteract its possible bad effects in encouraging congestion ; and it was urged by Mr Nettlefold (a strong supporter of the rating of site values) that it must be accompanied, or rather preceded, by suitable restrictions. || On the whole, we are inclined to endorse the judgment of the representatives of the Edinburgh Garden Cities Association that the direct effect of site taxation would be prejudicial to open development, and that the policy already advocated, of " restricting the number of houses per acre, would prevent the inflation of ground rents instead of ' taking a share of them " ; but that, if the rating or taxation of site values is applied with the end clearly in view that overdense building should be discouraged, the above objections might be largely surmounted. This might be done by freeing the proprietor who is willing to feu at £10 or under from this duty, and putting a progressive tax upon land feued at higher rates ; while a further step would be to say that the proprietor should get credit for all open spaces in a permanent scheme in his payment of the tax on the remainder of his property.^ A further requisite is that, if either an annual tax or a portion of the local rates are ever placed upon the values of building sites, these should be assessed at a rate making full allowance for all town-planning restrictions. This is in our view an absolutely essential point, as the effort naturally made by Inland Revenue valuers to establish the existence of a full commercial value already interposes a certain obstacle to the reduction of the value of building sites in the ways above suggested.* Here, as in the case of transit, we hold that limitation of building density must be the first step. Direct Methods of Reducing Land Values. 143. If the density of house-building is Umited and transit improved, and if either or both of the two methods subsequently indicated are introduced under proper safeguards, we hold that the chief step will have been taken towards securing a supply of building land at moderate rates. The first three methods described all have the advantage of reaching this end without any direct interference with economic forces. Indeed, they would enlist economic pressure on the side of the proprietor willing to provide land at a reasonable figure. If it had been possible to wait for these methods to reach their full and ultimate effectiveness, we should have been prepared to rely almost entirely upon them. But it is necessary that land should be obtainable for working-class houses immediately after the war, so that schemes of building may be completed, even if the building cannot at once begin. Thus we cannot wait until economic influences and improvements in transit reach their maximum influence, or until Local Authorities, purchasing by degrees in the open market, are able to exercise a considerable measure of control over site values. Hence a more summary method appears to be necessary for the time ; and it * Cd. 7315, 1914. t Alston, 34,167 (30) ; J. H. Jones, 44,370. t W. Fraser, 38,174. § One representative of the Land Values movement argued explicitly that the rating of site values would make it difficult for Local Authorities to buy land in advance, as recommended in the last section. (Gordon, 23,774.) II Nettlefold, 42,766, cf. 42,753 (15-24). The need for these restrictions was admitted by the representatives of The Scottish League for the Taxation of Land Valu&s. (Macliendrick and Grordon, 23,697 ff.) ^ Roxburgh and Malcolm Stuart, 19,500-6. Mr Roxburgh added: " What we want is, not to get revenue out of ' the land, but proper development and plenty of open space." The principle of the exemption of land assigned for use as '■ parks, gardens or open spaces which are open to the public as of right," was recognised in the Finance (1909-10) Aot, 1910, section 17 (3), in the case of Undeveloped Land Duty, as this duty is not levied on any such areas. * Nettlefold, 42,765 2. ; cf. G. Eraser, 31,115 (32 f.), 31,196 ff. REPORT. 381 may prove necessary permanently, as there is always the possibility that a minority of obstructive superiors may hold out for unreasonable terms. Suggestions for a Summary Determination of Site Values. 144. More than one alternative method of reaching this object was suggested during our inquiry. It was argued that building land should be obtainable at a fixed multiple of its agricultural value, or at the value declared by the owner for land-valuation purposes ; while a third proposal was that a permanent land tribunal should be constituted to determine the price of land where it is required for working-class dwelUngs. 145. In the main we agree with the criticism made by the Majority on the first proposal in the form in which it was advanced by ex-Provost Keith. (See Majority Report, Paragraph 1714.) But, as the Majority finally return to the agricultural value as the main factor determining the value which should be assigned to land presently used for agriculture, when it is required for house-building, we desire to add the following observations. The value of land for agriculture does not necessarily bear a constant ratio to its value for housing purposes under suitable restrictions as to building density, etc. Nor does the overhead arable rental of a farm necessarily indicate the value, even for agricultural purposes, which may be attributed to any one portion. On a large farm, the withdrawal from cultivation of a comparatively limited area near the steading might seriously detract from the value of the capital sunk in equipment, and thus three times the agricultural rental would not really make good the loss to the farm as a productive unit, if such an area were taken. At the opposite extreme is the case of the nursery or market garden, where the value of the soil is high in proportion to the buildings required for its culti- vation ; and in this case three times the rental, and still more, five times, might be too high a figure to charge for the land considered as an undeveloped building site. In yet other cases land might have a definite building value although its agricultural value was negligible. These facts, viewed in connection with the general trend of our previous argument, point strongly to the conclusion that it is the building value of land under town-planning restrictions which should be the chief ground on which a standard rate should be fixed ; but that this should be applied in individual cases with full allowance for the existing equipment of the land, and any depreciation which may be caused in its value through the separation of certain portions of an agricultural subject. 146. In spite of the attractions of an automatic method of determining the value at which building sites may be compulsorily acquired, we consider that there will always be cases of hardship or uncertainty, in which a reference to some competent and impartial tribunal will be necessary ; although, as already explained, we hold that if the building policy described above were fairly established, only a minority of cases would need to be referred to it. The Town Clerk of DunfermHne argued, in the light of his experience in carrying through the Dunfermhne and Rosyth town-planning scheme, that such a tribunal would be advantageous, and that it would be able to secure the two advantages of uniformity and cheap- ness. (Jack, 43,273 ff.) It is at this point that we feel compelled most decidedly to differ from our colleagues. As to the need for compulsory powers in the background, we are in agreement with them, but we do not see our way to accept their suggestion that the procedure should in every case be that laid down in the Schedule to the Housing, etc., Act, 1909 ; i.e. a single arbiter with powers to assess compen- sation for all land (and incidentally buildings and improvements) taken over. There are two reasons for departing from this arrangement in the case of land other than that dealt with under improvement and reconstruction schemes. 147. (1) The procedure for arbitration, originating in the Lands Clauses Acts and developed and simplified in the Housing Acts down to the Schedule referred to, presupposes that the land is to be taken at a fair, though not excessive, market value. Our proposal is that land for the housing of the working classes should be taken in certain cases at a rate decidedly below what is at present considered its full and unrestricted market value ; and for this purpose a Tribunal with summary powers appears more suitable than a single arbiter. 148. (2) If such cases arise in various parts of the country, a Tribunal could dispose of them with greater uniformity, and hence fairness as between one proprietor and another, than a succession of arbiters, each appointed for a single arbitration. It is, however, claimed on behalf of the latter system that the Local Government Board, who would have the duty of nominating the arbiter, would in practice appoint the same man — ^as a rule a whole-time official of the Board — to act as arbiter in similar cases. To this we must reply that their nominee would thus come to act as a kind of itinerant, single-member Court. But we consider that arbitrations so carried out would not command the general confidence which are necessary in view of the wide powers and responsibilities involved. There is the further fact to bear in mind that the Local Government Board has a direct responsibility for the promotion of building schemes, since it is charged with the duty of supervising and stimulating the efforts of Local Authorities in this direction ; and we consider that this administrative function makes it desirable that the final decision on the value of land to be taken for such schemes should rest with a body which can approach the subject in a purely judicial attitude. Thus we are satisfied that there is a clear case either for the constitution of a' special Tribunal by Parliament, or for the assigning of these duties to whatever Tribunal may be established to deal with the acquisition of land for the afforestation, reclamation, and other schemes necessary for the national security during the period of reconstruction. 149. We consider that the latter would be the best solution, since (as we explain fully in Para- graph 340) we attach great importance to the co-ordination of reconstruction work in regard to housing with that which will be undertaken along other fines. We suggest that in cases where the land to be acquired is situated in or near a town, an assessor with special experience of urban valuations might be added to the Tribunal. We consider, however, that so many questions of a complicated and technical character are involved in regard to the acquisition of land that a special inquiry should be carried out by a small expert committee before the composition and powers of this Tribunal are finally determined — an inquiry which could be completed in a short time, since it would deal with a definite and circumscribed subject, and one on which we cannot claim to speak as experts. We are, however, convinced of the importance, 382 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. from the point of view of housing, of the aspects which we have already indicated ; and we further submit the recommendation, to which we attach great importance, that the names of the Tribunal should be made public before the relative Bill has passed its committee stage in the House of Commons. It is essential that a body exercising the powers which we have outlined should possess complete and general confidence, which can best be secured in the manner just suggested. Instructions under which a Land Tribunal should Work. 150. This is an even more important matter than the composition of the tribunal, and three distinct points appear to be involved. Determination of Land Value. 151. We consider that the provisions and considerations already laid down in this chapter would go far towards forming a working rule for the guidance of the tribunal in fixing prices for the compulsory acquisition of building-land. The number of houses allowed on each acre and their estimated rental should form the main guide ; for, while the suggested tribunal would naturally take into account the Government valuation of the land, we do not consider that our colleagues of the Majority have established the fact that a valuation undertaken for other purposes at a date before the town-planning clauses of the 1909 Act had come into full operation can be taken as the primary factor in fixing the housing value of the land. Expenditure by the proprietor in preliminary development, or by a Local Authority in the provision of communications or services such as water and drainage, would also have to be taken into account. So would the agricultural value of the land, although, for the reasons just given, we do not consider that it can in every case be taken as by itself determining the amount of the award. In cases where development and building will be spread over a period of years, the probable interval before building begins should be estimated for each section of the land to be taken, even though such an estimate cannot be more than approximately accurate. The value of the land would then -consist of (i) the discounted value of the agricultural rents to be obtained until feuing begins, plus (ii) the discounted feuing value for the class of development contemplated, all " town-planning " restrictions on the site being taken into account. (Housing, Town Planning Act, 1909, section 58.) The tribunal should have full discretion in awarding expenses (a most important point), and there should be no appeal from their decision. " Expert witnesses " should either be excluded or limited to one on each side. At whose Instance the Tribunal should Act, and by whom Land should be acquirable. 152. In the policy of post-bellum building which is suggested later, schemes would naturally be submitted by Local Authorities and others to whatever authority was entrusted for the period with the administration of the grants and loans provided, and on their being approved, the price of the land needed would (failing agreement) be determined as outHned above. Protection would thus be given against ill-considered schemes, or those so small as to damage the property encroached upon to an extent disproportionate to the public benefit secured. One possible policy is to restrict the land so valued to use by the Local Authorities themselves. But we consider that this would most seriously detract from the usefulness of the proposals. For, unless Local Authorities are to house all wage-earners whose income fails to reach a certain level, the cheap land would benefit only those who are fortunate enough to obtain the municipal houses and so to gain the advantage in the form of slightly lower rents ; and there is no guarantee that they will be especially entitled to this differential gain. The private builder would also be handicapped in his endeavour to provide equally good houses at the same rental. 153. If, on the other hand, other bodies or individuals are also allowed to acquire land compuLsorily at the lower rate, there is always the danger of the imposition of a ground annual, which may be expected to bring the total ground rent charged to the actual occupied up to the average feuing rate in the district concerned. Even in the case of a working men's building society there is, as the evidence already cited shows, a chance that the original occupiers may exact a handsome profit at the expense of their successors. The difficulty is to secure the benefit for those for whom it is intended. We do not, however, believe that this difiiculty is insuperable, and we hold that it is possible to provide adequate safeguards against abuse. In the first place, there is the fact that, when these proposals have been in operation for a few years, speculation in the sites of working-class dwellings will, unless they wholly fail of their object, be largely a thing of the past. But a further safeguard can be given by extending the right of pre-emption, already proposed in the case of estates voluntarily purchased and developed by Local Authorities, to cover all dwellings on land acquired under an award by the suggested tribunal. A simpler form of the same provision would be that the difference between the valued cost of the site and any enhanced price obtained on the occasion of a subsequent transfer or sale should be handed over to the Local Authority. 154. Thus we hold that all providers of houses of the class contemplated should, if need be, be eligible to obtain land so valued. But, if a private builder is to do so, he should (1) send in his application through the Local Authority, who would have the right to make any representation regarding it to the Land Tribunal ; provided that if the application had not been forwarded by the Local Authority within two months, the applicant should have the right to do so direct ; (2) he should accept all building restrictions applicable to the area as a whole ; (3) in the event of his wishing to sell the property, except to an occupying owner, any increment in the ground value beyond the feu-duty fixed by the tribunal should be annexed by the Local Authority. These conditions would prevent " profiteering " on the strength of the fixing of a low feu-duty ; and in conjunction with town-planning provisions, they would also prevent the arbitrary acquisition of small plots of land by individuals for purposes inconsistent with a well-thought-out scheme of development. 155. More than one vritness emphasised the importance of safeguarding the proprietor against having especially desirable portions of his estate picked out at random for building purposes. (C. M. Eobertson, 44,247 (37) ff., J. H. Jones, 19,863.) Powers of compulsory acquisition should not be apphed except as consequent upon an orderly scheme of development ; and it is to safeguard this interest that Schedule I. of the 1909 Act provides that in certain cases the determination of the land to be included in the scheme REPORT. 383 should rest with " an impartial person not in the employment of any Government department." But we consider that this matter, as well as the fixing of the adtual price of feu-duty to be paid for the land, may safely be left in the hands of such a tribunal as we have indicated. It might, however, happen in populous districts, and it would certainly happen in rural districts, that the powers of the suggested tribunal would be invoked before a complete town plan was in being. In this case they should be empowered to attach to the feus of which they were fixing the rate any special conditions or restrictions that they considered necessary, pending the completion of the general plan. Use of Land Compulsorily Acquired. 156. The occupancy of houses on land so valued should be confined to the working classes. This, it will be noted, marks a distinction from the recommendation already made that estates voluntarily acquired by Local Authorities should not be so restricted ; but in the case of land specially valued by a tribunal it would appear necessary to confine its use to pubUc works for the benefit of the community and to working-class houses, as it could not rightly be used for ordinary industrial purposes or for villas or mansions. The definition of " working class " might be that hitherto used by the Pubhc Works Loans Board, provided that the income Hmit for occupations not definitely specified should be raised to £3 per week. (For this definition, see Appendix CLXXXIII., and cf. Pars. 487 f. below). Summary of Recommendations. (1) To secure that sites shall be made available for the building of small houses at the most moderate possible rate, we concur in recommending (a) hmitation of the number of houses to be placed on any given area (Paragraph 125) ; (6) the provision of improved means of transit (Paragraphs 126 fE.) ; (c) that further powers be given to Local Authorities of areas containing over 20,000 inhabitants for the purchase of building land in advance of immediate requirements and of proper safeguards, and for the development of such land so as to secure that the builder will retain a suitably developed site at a reasonable cost (Paragraphs 131-9). Note. — We hold that these recommendations — of which (a) should be put into force immediately — will, in the great majority of cases, enable sites for small houses to be acquired at reasonable rates. (2) We further recommend that, if any extension of the principle of taxing site values is applied in the future, this should only be done after suitable town-planning restrictions have been put into force, and that all such restrictions should be fully taken into account in determining the assessable value of building sites (Paragraph 142). (3) To meet the cases of difiiculty in acquiring sites which may still remain, we recommend that the feu- duty of land required for the building of working-class dwellings should be determined by a special tribunal to be established by Parhament, or that this determination should be made a primary duty of any tribunal which may be so established to deal with the acquisition of land for various public purposes during the period of reconstruction. We recommend that their decisions should be chiefly based upon the restricted value for building purposes of the sites to be taken compulsorily ; but that, at the same time, they should take into account the agricultural value of the site, including the effect of its severance on the general value of the agricultural subject of which it forms a part, and of the equipment thereon. We also recommend that this tribunal shall have power to secure sites compulsorily, not only for Local Authorities, but for all providers of approved houses under the conditions outlined in Paragraphs 152 to 156. We make the further suggestion that an inquiry by a small expert committee should be held before the composition and powers of this tribunal are finally determined, and that the names of the tribunal members should be announced before the passage of the necessary legislation through the House of Commons (Paragraphs 146-156). (4) We hold that the assessment of compensation under Parts I. and II. of the Principal Act should remain as at present, but subject to the recommendation regarding costs of arbitration made by our colleagues. (Majority Report, Chapter XXIV., recommendations (4) and (5).) CHAPTER III. TRANSIT AND TOWN PLANNING. 157. The question of the acquisition and control of building land is intimately boimd up with that of town planning and the improvement and cheapening of means of transit. We are in general agree- ment with the statement of the position in regard to these important developments given by the Majority in Chapter XXVII. of their Report, and we also accept the general aims which they express in that chapter. But we are vmable, in all respects, to agree with their recommendations as to the most appro- priate methods of realising these aims, and we find it necessary to make a brief statement of our own position. (A) Transit. Movement of Population due to Improved Transit. 158. In all the larger cities the multiplication and cheapening of means of transit in recent years has caused a marked outward movement of population, diminishing the pressure in the central districts and causing a rapid growth in the suburbs. This is shown by the fact that the central area of Glasgow, amounting to 3600 acres, diminished in population between 1901 and 1911 by not less than 45,000 persons. (Chalmers, 20,171 ; cf. the figures regarding Greater London given by A. Young, 25,518 (15), and L.C.C. Return No. 1635, 1913, p. 5.) In Edinburgh, during the same period, the parliamentary burgh, representing in the main the old city, lost 4622 inhabitants, while the population in the outer ring included in the municipal boundaries increased by 7481 (Census Report, 1911 : Edinburgh, p. 6). 384 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Factors Hinderhig the Decentralisation of Population. 159. At the same time, along with these figures, which might be largely extended and enforced from the evidence of tramway managers and medical officers of health in the most populous areas in Scotland, and also in London and Liverpool, we cannot pass over certain difficulties which at present set a definite limit to the tendency for working-class families to make their homes at a considerable distance from their places of employment : — {a) There are the difficulties of site and gradient found in certain towns such as Greenock. (See footnote. Paragraph 92 above.) 160. (b) There is the concentration of many important factories on a limited area in such towns as Dundee. Where the day's work is arranged on a " two-break " system, i.e. where there is a separate breakfast and dinner hom-, this multiplies journeys between the factory and the house, and (even apart from the low wages of many of the workers) makes it impossible for them to use public conveyances to go to and from their work. The fact that nearly one in four of the married women in Dundee go out to work makes it still more difficult for them to live far from the mills. This couJd only be accomplished by a radical change in the whole organisation of the industry, including the introduction of a working day with only one break, and a general rise in wages ; but it was the view both of official and unofficial witnesses that, as things are at present, the majority of workers must live within convenient walking distance of their work. (Barbour and Menmuir, 35,283 ; MacLaren, 85,372 (6) f., 35,378 ff. ; Thomson, 35,665 (17), (33), 35,786 fE. ; Templeman, 35,837 (43). In this connection the Medical Officer of Health for Aberdeen pointed out the disadvantages of " a bread-and-tea meal, often eaten in the workshop," and urged that proper feeding was not less important than good housing. A large firm of engineers, whose works lie on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and whose opinion was cited by representatives of the Edinburgh Trades Council, also expressed themselves in favour of the workmen having a comfortable meal at home. (M. Hay, 41,334 (82) ; Eunson and WUson, 18,269.) 161. (c) A further difficulty mentioned is that in many cases the workman, and probably still more the younger members of his family, like the stir and movement of the city. It was pointed out by a witness of very wide experience in the West of Scotland that the great out-going stream of well-to-do or fairly-well-to-do passengers in the evening is met by a similar stream of artisans and labourers return- ing from work in the outskirts of Glasgow, or neighbouring burghs, to their homes in the city, where they can be sure of company and amusement. One reason for this difference is probably that the former class have more spacious homes and somewhat wider intellectual resources ; but, in any case, it seems clear that workers of the labouring class do, in many cases, depend on the interests and amusements to which they have been accustomed, and which are chiefly to be found in the central areas of the cities. (Campbell Munro, 37,370 (64)-(67), 37,453 ; cf. Watson, 22,404 f., 22,525 f.) 162. (d) A more fundamental difficulty is that which occurs in the family where there are several wage-earners, or where one or more of the children is apprenticed to some trade. It may be quite possible for the father to travel to his own work, but when his elder children are ready to leave school he natur- ally wishes to live at a point at which they can obtain an adequate choice of employment. At a some- what later stage, however, when they are settled in steady work, it is not unknown for several members of the family to travel, even though none of them is earning a high individual wage. (Rutherfurd, 22,267 ff. ; Watson, 22,404.) Again, both in London and Liverpool we were informed that the distance at which the working man can reside from the centre of the city depends less on his wage than on the permanence and regularity of his work. (Berry, 25,437 ff. ; Brodie, 42,011.) This probably explains in part why clerks and others in commercial employment can live at a greater distance from their work than artisans, although the latter may earn higher wages when in steady employment. 163. (e) The last difficulty to be considered is the economic one. In spite of high site values in the central parts of the cities, many of the older houses there are let at comparatively low rents ; while the rise in the standard of accommodation and the cost of building has raised the rents of the newer properties in the suburbs to a generally higher level. Thus, even in Glasgow, we were informed by the Chief Sanitary Inspector, the Tramways Manager, and the representative of the Women's Labour League, that those who wish to find a really cheap house have, as a rule, to look for it in the older parts of the city ; while in any case the lower ground rent in the suburbs would not be sufficient to counterbalance the cost of daily transit. (Fyfe, 20,000 ff. ; Laird, 23,145-8 ; Dalrymple, 42,092 (38).) Thus the experience of the London County Council regarding the financial economy of travel to the suburbs is not repeated in Glasgow. Class of Population Affected. 164. There is thus abundant evidence that a steady movement from the centre to the suburbs of large cities has taken place in recent years, and that the congestion in the former has been appreciably relieved. This has enabled a large proportion of those employed in commerce to live in more open sur- roundings at a distance from their place of employment. In the English cities, e.g. Liverpool and Bir- mingham, the same applies to a considerable number of artisans, and there seems to be a prospect that those with regular employment will be able increasingly to live at a distance from their work ; although this presupposes a change of tastes and customs — always a slow process — and also a rearrangement of meal hours, and the provision of additional facilities for the obtaining of well-cooked food at or near the place of employment. (Wheatley and Stewart, 22,568 ff. ; Waite, 25,065 ; Brodie, 42,007 f.) 165. As regards the skilled worker, it seems not improbable that the solution of the difficulty will be found rather in the decentralisation of industry than in the provision of regular and rapid transit from houses in the suburbs to factories in town. The tendency for some years has been to establish the larger works on cheap land at a convenient distance from the cities. Unfortunately, however, the provision of houses in their immediate neighbourhood, where conditions are relatively healthy, has not kept pace with the establishment of new industries. Hence the singular situation, to which we have already called attention, has arisen that the evening exodus from business parts of the cities, which must remain relatively concentrated, to the suburbs, is met by a counterflow of industrial workers coming inwards. Thus the most satisfactory policy is to take advantage of the centrifugal movement of modern REPORT. 385 industry by providing houses in the subiirbs which will frequently be within walking distance of the new works. In recommending the improvement of transit, we keep in mind the obvious reservation that to spend a considerable proportion of the day in even the best-appointed of trains or cars is not in itself a gain. But for those whose employment cannot be decentralised, and who are prepared to spend a certain proportion of their time and income in travelling to it from the suburbs, it is of the greatest importance that the time and cost of transit should be minimised, especially the former. But even strong advocates of improved transit admit that for a long time to come the majority of labourers must still live in the city. (Horsburgh Campbell, 18,830 ; Dalrymple, 42,092 (24), 42,174-7.) Indirectly, however, the labourer is also benefited by the improvement of transit, since he presumably obtains the reversion of a better house which is vacated by some other worker who is able to leave the city. Methods of Transit. 166. While we fully agree with the recommendations of our colleagues regarding the provision of wide radial roads, with special tracks fenced off for high-speed electric tramways, as tending both to speed and economy of upkeep, we also hold that Local Authorities in planning such new developments should keep in view claims of alternative methods of transit. Of these probably the most important is the motor-bus, which may be used to open up districts not yet ripe for tramway development. (Nettle- fold, 42,783 fE.) 167. Nor do we think that the provision of such improved transit will necessarily be carried out in every case by the Local Authority. The greater part of the evidence on transit proceeded on the assumption that, at least in the case of tramway development, the Town Coimcil of the city concerned was the natural body to carry it out ; but the County Clerk of Lanarkshire left the door open for the provision of tramways in certain cases by private enterprise (Munro, 27,593 (96)) ; and the manager of the Paisley tramways, which run through the areas of seven Local Authorities (three coimty coimcils and four burghs), argued that a private company had certain advantages in develop- ing transit through a district under the control of several Local Authorities, or in linking up compara- tively small towns a few miles apart. He also held that, while within its own area, a Local Authority has an inducement that a private company cannot have to provide facilities ahead of the actual demand, and so to encourage development, the latter, once its line has been laid down, has a gi'eater interest in making it a commercial success by attracting feuars. (Coutts, 42,024 (3) f ., 42,031, 42,086 f.) Conclusions Regarding Transit. 168. We are thus prepared to accept the statement and recommendations of the Majority in regard to transit, subject to the following provisoes : (1) That the decentralisation of industry is not less impor- tant than the spreading over a wider area of the homes of the people ; and that this is an object which should be steadily kept in view by Local Authorities in determining the areas to be reserved under town- planning schemes for industrial purposes. In the case of existing industries, which cannot be so de- centralised, the more general provision of works canteens would in many cases allow employees to live at a gi'eater distance from their occupation. (2) Experiments should be made in various forms of traction adapted to the needs of specially situated communities. (3) In every case where improved means of transit arelikel}'^ to be introduced, whether by public or by private enterprise, the area affected should be town-planned ; so that the price of land may be regulated, and a reasonable share of any increment secured to the community, by limiting the number of dwelhngs per acre and by the operation of the " betterment " and other provisions of the Town Planning Act. (This is a point with which we imagine our colleagues of the Majority are in agreement ; but we desire to state it explicitly and emphatically, as in our view it is of cardinal importance ; cf. Paragraphs 126 ff. above.) (B) Town Planning. 169. In the last two years, since the evidence on this subject was given before the Commission, the question of town planning after the war has become more and more urgent. The prolongation of the war itself, and the growing sense of the need for the immediate provision of houses on its conclusion, have, we believe, emphasised the impression among housing reformers, both official and imofficial, that present methods of procedure are needlessly complex and dilatory. Further, there will on the con- clusion of war be demands for immediate action from a very large proportion of the more populous and progressive areas of the country. Thus a very heavy tax will be thrown upon the resources of the Local Government Board as Central Authority for housing and town planning. This constitutes one side of the problem ; and we feel strongly that it will be nothing short of a disaster if housing schemes, which public or private bodies are prepared to promote at the end of the war, are held back owing to the difficulty of pressing a large number of town-planning schemes forward simultaneously under the present procedure regulations. 170. At the same time it ought not to be overlooked that a town plan is an instrument which will affect for good or evil the whole development and life of a community for many years to come. It has, indeed, the force of an Act of Parliament ; and in this connection the powers assigned for the Local Government Board in connection Avith town-planning schemes are of a very wide and drastic character. The Town Clerk of Dimfermline, who has had great experience of the working of the Act, said in this connection : "I doubt if any statute has ever before conferred powers of such a far-reaching nature on ' any Government department." (Jack, 43,150 (5) f., cf. 43,190.) Thus we hold that it is of great importance to avoid pressing through schemes under plea of special urgency which might afterwards be found to run counter to the law or to the general interest ; while we consider that it would be imwise to remove the ultimate control which Parliament has reserved to itself in sections 54 (4) and 55 (2) of the Act. The witness already quoted pointed out that these two sections meet the criticism that legislative powers had been delegated by Parhament to the Central Authority, " in respect that the draft of the 25 386 EOYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. ' Order of the Local Government Board approving of a town-planning scheme must be laid before each ' House of Parliament before it is approved by the Board if it is proposed in the scheme to suspend any ' enactment in a public general act or if any person interested intimates an objection to the making of ' a scheme to the Local Government Board in terms of the Act." (Jack, 43,150 (7).) Case for Emergekcy Legislation. 171. We consider that it is a matter of the greatest importance that town planning, as the pre- liminary of any real and substantial advance in housing matters, should be carried out rapidly and on a large scale immediately after the war. Indeed, we desire to see this preparatory work begun without even a month's avoidable delay ; and from this point of view we agree with the Majority in regretting the recent depletion of the town-planning stafi of the Local Government Board, and we desire to see it brought up to full strength at the earhest possible moment and set free for this most essential work. We also agree that procedure must be simphfied wherever possible, and that a much less detailed form of town plaiming should be introduced than that hitherto adopted imder the Act. But we are not satisfied that the method suggested by the Majority is the best adapted to this end. If we understand their pohcy aright, it is that amendments of a permanent character should be forthwith made upon Part II. as a whole. To this we see two objections. 172. The first is of a general character — that such a recasting of the framework of this part of the Act must involve considerable controversy, and should only be imdertaken as the result of mature con- sideration. In so far as the procedure regulations issued by the Local Government Board for Scotland in 1911 include details as to maps, notices, etc., which go beyond the requirements of the statute, they can indeed be simphfied forthwith and the procedure so far shortened. But to a very consider- able extent these regulations only give efEect to the definite provisions of the Act, especially of sections 55 and 56 ; and we understand that more than one of the leading experts in town planning in Scot- land considers that such simplifications as the Local Government Board can make without an alteration of the statute would not go far in the direction of speeding-up procedure. This, indeed, the Majority admit in so far as they suggest specific alterations in the text of the Act — alterations which we take to be intended as permanent amendments. But we have already expressed the view that such amend- ments could not properly be carried through in an emergency measure introduced at the earliest possible moment. 173. Our other objection has also been indicated — that the recommendations of the Majority remove certain safeguards which we consider essential to the due working of the Act. In view of the immense importance of the issues involved in large town-planning schemes, we cannot agree to the view that a Government department should be able to issue regulations having the force of law without at least the possibility of an appeal to Parliament. This is secured in section 54 (4) of the Act, and we con- sider that it should be retained, although it is almost certain to be very seldom used, and consequently the delay of thirty days while a draft of the Order lies on the table of the Houses of Parliament will rarely occur. We think, however, that in the event of an objection being made imder this sub-section during a period when Parliament is not in session, the time required should be reduced from thirty to ten days after the reassembling of Parliament. We also hold that the provision by which the Local Government Board is required to apply to the Court of Session, after obtaining the approval of the Lord Advocate, for an Order against a Local Authority which fails to initiate a town-planning scheme should be retained. (See sections 61, 67 (6) of the Act.) 174. We thus think that the position as a whole demands a double form of legislative action, and that an emergency town-planning measure should be passed to regulate and expedite town planning during the period immediately after the war. A precedent for such action is to be found in the special Act regarding Eosyth, passed in 1915, to enable building to proceed before the final approval of the Dunfermline town plan. Such an Act would be brief, and as its scope and period of validity would be Umited, it might be expected to pass as an agreed measui'e. This would give time for a subsequent reconsideration and amendment on permanent hues of Part II. of the 1909 Act, keeping in view the various considerations mentioned above. We suggest that such an emergency act would safeguard the contrasted interests which we have endeavoured to set out if it had the following character. It should aim at shortening and simplifying the procedure under the Act of 1909, in view of the abnormal circumstances indicated above, rather than at a thorough amendment of that Act. It might provide that, during the emergency period of three or more years, town-planning schemes should be formulated imder the following restricted stages of procedure (which are broadly stated) : — (1) Resolution of the Local Authority to prepare a scheme within specified areas. (2) Advertisement of such resolution. This advertisement to have the efEect of an application for authority to prepare a scheme for the purposes of section 58 (2). (3) The presentation of a scheme by a Local Authority. (4) The advertising of the fact that a scheme had been prepared. (5) Negotiations between the Local Authority and the owners concerned — to be carried through within a limited and reasonable time. (6) The presentation of the scheme to the Board. The owners would have a right to state their objections to the Board, and the provisions of section 54 (4) would be applicable. We recommend that an emergency act on these lines should be passed, and in regard to permanent amendments which might subsequently be made upon the Town Planning Act, we accept the Majority's recommendations Nos. (1) (a), (6), (d), (e), and (/), also (2), (3), and (4) ; but for the reasons stated above we are imable to accept recommendations Nos. (1) (c) and (5). REPORT. 387 CHAPTER IV. THE FUNCTION OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN HOUSING. (A) The Housing Record op Local Authorities. Introduction. 176. In view of the great shortage of small houses and the present reluctance of builders, to supply them, only two courses are open : (1) To find some way of inducing the private and co-operative builder to start work again ; (2) to throw practically the whole responsibility upon Local Authorities for the provision of working-class dwellings. At first sight this second alternative has much to commend it. The Local Authority can borrow cheaply, and cheap money is enormously important in connection with the building of small bouses. It has the rates to fall back upon in the case of any deficit, so that the loss is spread over the community and does not fall on any one individual. In the large cities, at any rate, a part of the staff which might be used in the direction of house-building is already assembled, and, as we have seen, a certain number of municipal * houses have been already completed and some good work has been done. It is a natural enough demand that more house-building work should be put upon the Authorities, and that they should be encouraged, if not compelled, to do the main work of providing dwellings for the working classes in the future. 177. There is also another reason which is in the minds of some, and which has weight in urging them to put this matter of house-building into the hands of a public authority. If the present cheap rents are to be continued this can only be done by building at a loss, the deficit being charged to some one else other than the tenant ; and for this a body which is also the rating authority is the only possible agency. We propose, in the first instance, to give some account of what has been already done, and then to gather together some of the various dangers which, in our view, must be present in the indefinite extension of such a pohcy. Municipal Housing in Scotland. 178. It is evident from the trend of legislation that Local Authorities have been expected to take up this matter of house-building and themselves provide accommodation where the need was clamant, and where it was being met in no other way. Yet it is also true that powers for this purpose have been given gradually. In the 1890 Act the sections relating to the building of houses by Local Authorities (Part III., section 53, 59) were not in force until adopted, but it was put in the power of any Local Authority to adopt these sections in any area in which " they consider that accommodation is necessary ' for the Housing of the working classes." (1890 Act, section 55.) By the later Act (1909) the sections are extended and take effect without adoption. f 179. Thus for twenty-six years — or, if the pre-war period be taken, for twenty-three years — ^Local Authorities have had the necessary enabhng powers for the provision of houses, and the following table shows what has been accomphshed by Town Councils in Scotland up to the end of 1913 : — ■ t rabh showing the Number of Families Housed by Local Authoi-ities.% 1. 2. 3. 4. Number of Families Housed by Local Authorities. Total Number of Families in City.§ Total Number of Houses in City.§ Total Population of City.§ Edinburgh .... 601 74,645 76,190 320,318 Glasgow 2199 167,896 183,960 784,496 Aberdeen 131 36,804 37,971 163,891 Leith . 84 17,891 18,904 80,488 Greenock 2U 15,234 15,450 75,140 Clydebank 26 7,363 8.656 37,548 Perth . 114 8,300 8,546 35,854 Bo'ness 10 2,143 2,197 10,862 Hamilton 23 7,439 7,459 18,293 Oban . 24 1,159 1,207 5,557 Kilmarnock .... « 58 7,513 8,176 34,728 3484 346,387 368,716 1,567,172 * Throughout this discussion we use the shorter and more familiar term " municipal " in phrases such as " municipal building " as equivalent to the more comprehensive " by Local Authorities." In the above paragraph the term " muni- cipal," however, is strictly accurate, as at the time of our inquiry there were no houses actually built by District Committees, except those built for roadmen and others under the Local Government Act, 1908, section 3. t The procedure in force is detailed in the Majority Report, Chapter V., Paragraphs 247 £E. I Apart from houses provided for certain of their workmen under housing schemes up to 1913. § Columns 2, 3, 4 are taken from the Census, 1911; Column 1 from the schedules supplied by the vanous Town Clerks (see Majority Report, Paragraph 20) — see also in the case of Edinburgh, H. Campbell, 41,170 (1), App. LVII. ; Perth, Ritchie, 36,728 (1); Hamilton, Keith, 1249 (17); Kilmarnock, Climie, 24,279. 388 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 180. From this table it would appear that all the housing already provided by Local Authorities throughout the whole of Scotland is only sufficient to accommodate 3484 families out of a total of separate families, as given in the Census of 1911, of 1 ,040,147, or in the cities dealt with of 346,387. In four only of these burghs (Glasgow, Greenock, Perth, and Oban) do the houses provided equal 1 per cent, of the whole, and in these it may be said that the Town Council has made an appreciable contribution to the housing of the burgh. Indeed Glasgow has rehoused approximately the same number of persons (and nearly the same percentage of the population of the city before the last extension) as have been rehoused in the much more celebrated Liverpool housing schemes. But the Glasgow policy has been less a definitely plaimed and consistent whole than that of Liverpool, nor, as we point out IdcIow, have the Corporation endeavoured in all their blocks to rehouse the dispossessed, or even a class in similar economic circumstances. At the same time, in our visits to their properties we saw rmmy signs of sound construc- tion and careful management, and many of the houses seemed to be appreciated by the tenaiits. The same impression was given by a more cursory inspection of one or two properties erected by other municipahties, of which we would specially name the Allan Street (Bedford Crescent) scheme in Edinburgh, and one of the two blocks in Perth. 181. The Local Government Board has issued a return which seems to bear out the contention that Local Authorities have not showTi any great eagerness in the past to provide houses. It gives the number of schemes either initiated or contemplated by Local Authorities and approved by the Boai'd up to March 1915. These are grouped under the following six headings : — A. Schemes approved by the Board since 1913 C. Schemes on point of submission to the Board B. Schemes being considered by the Board . D. Schemes under preparation E. Local Authorities considering schemes . 8 1 14 11 16 F. Local Authorities with whom the Board are in communication . . 10 Under the first two headings provision was contemplated for the housing of 104 families, but none of these schemes were completed in August 1914, and most of them have been held up in consequence of the war. A further return also suppUed by the Local Government Board gives the amount of such operations promoted by Local Authorities during the year 1913, before the war, and the twenty-third year after the passing of the 1890 Act, which shows that for the whole of Scotland, for that J'ear, the financial obligations undertaken by Local Authorities for housing amounted to rather less than £21,000. 182. It has to be remembered that the intervention of the Local Authority as house builder was restricted under the 1890 Act to cases where they were satisfied that accommodation was necessary, and that there was no probability that such accommodation would be provided by other agencies, and that " having regard to the liability which would be incurred by the rates, it is under all the circumstances 'prudent for the said Authority to undertake the provision of the said accommodation." (Section 55.) It is true that this section has been repealed by the 1909 Act, bat, as one witness pointed out, it " succinctly ' sets forth the duty of the Local Authority," and the spirit in which it ought to be interpreted. (Munro, 27,593 (108).) Even as so restricted, it gives wide powers to provide in cases^of proved necessity — powers limited only by the willingness of the ratepayers to assume the responsibility of meeting any deficit incurred. 183. It has been urged that the evident reluctance of the municipalities to build houses has been caused by the great cost of clearance schemes and of rebuilding on the area, but it must be pointed out that under Part III. of the 1890 Act (section 57), Local Authorities are empowered to acquire land for building purposes, or, alternately, they may lease houses already built (c/. also 1890 Act, section 23), and that, therefore, their building operations have not necessarily been confined to the expensive sites in central localities rendered vacant by their clearance schemes. These they are encouraged to let or sell to any purchasers or lessees who are prepared to carry out the scheme, under a certain amount of control in order to prevent the recurrence of a like condition of congestion (1890 Act, section 12), provided only that due accommodation is forthcoming for a certain number of the dispossessed if required by the Local Government Board. (1903 Act, Schedule 6.) Ki)id of Houses Provided. 184. Practically all the houses already built are of the tenement type, and are from two to five storeys high. Access is generally given from balconies, but sometimes the houses enter directly from the common stair. The majority of the houses are of one or two rooms, with a very few three-room houses, except in the case of Glasgow, which has 257 three-room houses and 16 houses of a larger size. (Schedule supplied by the Town Clerk. ) Inside water-closets and sculleries are provided in some c^ses, but, speaking generally, the sink is put in the kitchen window, and the water-closet is shared by two or three families. Bathrooms have been placed in some of the larger Glasgow houses, and the experiment has been made of a common bathroom on each flat in one of the biggest of the Edinburgh blocks, the water for which is supplied hot from a central boiler. As yet thig does not seem to have met the need, for apparently the baths have been little used. 185. It is only fair to say, however, that the plans of the newer houses, approved by the Local Government Board, and described by witnesses, although not yet built, show a decided advance. The Town Councils of Dumfries, Invergorden, Clydebank, Lanark, and Motherwell suggest " flatted cottages " or " semi-detached cottages " (Schedules supplied by the Town Clerks), and it is suggested that each house shall have its own water-closet, while in the plans shown by Motherwell and Lanark it is proposed to give a bath as weU as a scullery to the cottages. At Chimnock and Lanark, where some tenements are still suggested, the number opening off the common stair is reduced to four houses, and sculleries, water-closets, and coal presses for each house are to be introduced. REPORT. 389 Class of Tenant Housed. 186. Primarily the policy of most of the municipal schemes seems to have been to provide housing for the dispossessed, and after that to provide for the poorer classes. But there is no evidence that in any of the schemes this policy has been consistently carried out. 187. In the case of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Perth there is evidence that the failure to house the dispossessed has resulted from their refusal to move to the new houses. (Chalmers, 20,192 ; Menzies, 20,514-17 ; Ritchie, 36,736.) Various reasons are given for this unwiUingness, such as that the houses were too large or the rents were too high, but the general underlying feeling seems to have been a fear that there would be too close supervision and control in consequence of regulations which would neces- sarily be in force in the new buildings. {Cf. Menzies, 20,514 ; Macdonald, 21,755 ; Ritchie, 36,736.) In two of the schemes, Leith and Oban, the choice of tenants from the poorest classes seems to have been frankly given up (Lindsay, 6031 ; Coates, 28,292), and the houses are let simply to the first comer, while in Clydebank the demand for the houses was so great that the tenants were selected by the drawing of lots. (Ross, 33,738.) The scheme in Aberdeen is the only one where no regulations of this kind for the selection of the tenants were attempted (M. Hay, 41,387), and there the class of tenant seems to be much the same as in the suiTOunding tenements. (Cf. M. Hay, 41,334 (60), 41,377.) It was noted by the Commissioners on the occasion of their visit to the Aberdeen municipal buildings that in one stair the tenants seemed poor and dirty, but in another block everyone seemed most respectable. One woman said that her husband was a mason then away on military service, and in that case, as there were no children, it was not clear why the ratepayers should provide a subsidised house. In another one-room house the woman said her husband was earning £3 a week at the time. 188. The following is a statement of the rents of the municipal houses in the various towns except Kilmarnock, from which no return was made : — Whether One Two Three Four above or Room. Rooms. Rooms. Rooms. below Rents in District. Edinburgh . 2s. Id. to 3s. 3s. to 4s. 4s. 6d. to 5s. Below. Glasgow 2s. 4d. „ 2s. 9d. 3s. 7d. „ 4s. . , , . Aberdeen 2s. „ 3s. Id. 3s. 5d. Leith . 2s. 9d. „ 3s. 4s. Perth . 2s. Id. „ 2s. 4d. 3s. 5d. to 4s. 8d. 5s. 9d. Greenock Is. 9d. „ 2s. 8d. 2s. 5d. „ 4s. 3d. 4s. 3d. to 5s. 2d. Not below. Hamilton 2s. 4d. „ 2s. 6d. 3s. 5d. „ 3s. 7d. .. Below. Clydebank , , 4s. 8d. 5s. 9d. to 6s. 2d. 7s. Not below. Oban . 2s. 8d. 3s. lid. 4s. 7d. Below. Bo'ness 5s. Thus houses provided by the municipalities, with the exception of those at Greenock and Clydebank, are provided below the rents obtaining in the several districts, giving better accommodation, and intended for the poorer classes, and taken advantage of by a better class, the deficit being made up out of the rates. Finance of Municipal Schemes. 189. In deahng with the finance of Local Authorities it has to be remembered that at present there is no one standard form in which their accounts are presented. The form of account-keeping varies between the larger towns, the landward authorities, and the smaller burghs ; so much so that an accurate comparison of diiferent statements is often impossible, and it is difficult for an interested ratepayer to trace expenditure. More particularly is this true of expenditure on small dwellings, as there are various headings under which it can be divided, such as improvements, streets and buildings, public health, and the like. (Cf Bishop, 6037 ; Fyfe, 19,870 (69), 20,064-5.) A considerable advance would be made if all Local Authorities had to conform to some uniform system of statement. (Cf. Report of Select Committee on Municipal Trading, 1900, 966.) Further, it has also to be remembered, when making comparison between the cost of schemes by Local Authorities and private enterprise, that under the former in many cases no allowance is made for the time spent on this work by salaried officials, and for other administrative expenses, nor for the initial expenses, which must be entirely unremunerative. (Ibid., 1139 ff.) 190. In spite, however, of all advantages, including cheap money as the most important of all, none of the municipal schemes already carried out in Scotland have been able to pay their way, but in every case there has been a charge — large or small — on the rates. And this charge on the rates must be care- fully distinguished from the burden caused by rehousing on expensively cleared sites, as it might be argued that the cost of slum clearance could not fairly be included in the cost of the new houses. 191. In the following four towns the authorities bought and built upon vacant land, and therefore, as regards the expense of the site, their schemes are comparable with those of the private builder. In Aberdeen the deficit is charged to the rates, and amounts to about £400 annually ; or, if sinking fund be excluded, there is an annual charge of £200 for 131 dwelhngs, their gross rental being £960. In this case the site measures 2| acres (of which a considerable part is not yet built on), and cost £2355, giving a feu-duty of about £40 aa acre, which is considered a usual charge for land in the city. (Cf. M. Hay, 390 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. 41,334 (57-59.) In Hamilton the total feu-diityis £21, and in this case also the whole ground has not been covered, only 24 houses having been built with a gross rental of £188, and an annual average deficit over seven years of £35 per annum, if sinking fund be not allowed for. (Keith, 1249 (16-18), Appendix IV.) 192. In Clydebank, | of an acre was purchased for £562, on which 26 houses have been built. The Burgh Surveyor reports that these houses have not been an immediate financial success, owing to the short term of repayment of the loan. The money was borrowed not from the Public Works Loans Board but from the Greenock Savings Bank, to be repaid in thirty years. The deficit is charged against the public health rate. (Schedule supplied by Town Clerk. Cf. also Ross, 33,719 (9).) In Oban the deficit is charged to the public health rate, and amounts, for 24 houses with a gross rental of £210, to about £40 a year, not including sinking fund. The extent of the land taken amounts to 374 acres. No price was paid, but there is an annual feu -duty of £6. (Schedule supplied by Town Clerk.) 193. In Edinburgh, the houses were built on cleared areas which had cost the city a large sum of money — an average of £15,359 per acre. (Horsburgh Campbell, 41,170 (1).) One of the witnesses, a member of the Edinburgh Town Council, supplied figures for the cost of the buildings, allowing nothing for the site. He gives the cost of the building of the six new tenements as £66,000, which works out at £100 per room or £160 per house. For the six years to Whitsunday 1907 the average net annual return, after allowing for sinking fund, but not allowing anything for land, is £2, 17s., and for the six years to Whitsunday 1913 is £2, 13s. 4d. (M. Stuart, 19,654.) If the entire cost of the cleared areas is charged to the housing account the deficit is very considerable. The total cost of providing the houses amounts to £212,705 Of which there had been repaid to Whitsunday, 1913 ..... 67,480 £145,225 The properties are valued at ....... . 73,225 £72,000 To meet this large sum " there has been already charged upon the rates the sum of £100,300, or an annual * charge of £6500 to £7000. The total number of houses provided by the city was 651, so that each house ' costs the ratepayer over £10 per annum. As there are 282 one-room houses, the remainder being * two-roomed, it would have been cheaper from a financial point of view to have subsidised a private * builder to provide houses practically rent free." (Stuart, 19,454 (11).) 194. In Glasgow it is difficult to disentangle from the evidence how the cost of land is dealt with. The manager of the Improvement Trust said that the price of ground was not taken into account in fixing the rents. Apparently the schemes on expensive cleared ground are treated as sanitary improve- ments, and the cost of the site and its preparation charged to another department ; when the recon- struction scheme was complete, the rent imposed was in relation to the rents already prevaiHng in the district (" We simply take the best rent we can get for the houses or shops that may be in that district ") ; while the houses built on the vacant land were intended to house the " poorest classes " and the rents were brought down from 10s. to 15s. per month below market value (Menzies, 20,504), the deficit being charged on the rates. 195. In Greenock the same difficulty is met with, as the reply from the Town Clerk expressly indicates that the " price of land cannot be stated separately." The houses there were built on very expensive sites just cleared under the improvement scheme at a cost of £126,745, the added cost for building was £68,863.* This large sum has been met by assessment, which is still a burden on the community, as in 1914 it amounted to 4|d. per £ on the rentals of the burgh.* 196. In Leith a sum of about £560 requires to be met out of the rates annually for the 84 dwellmgs, but if sinking fund be deducted the deficit is reduced to £160, which includes nothing at all for the land. Perth and Bo'ness apparently also show a deficit ; while in Kilmarnock the scheme seems never to have had a chance of succeeding, as the buildings have not been fully let. (Climie, 24,279.) The Liverpool Municipal Houses. 197. It is necessary here to make some special reference to the policy of the Liverpool Corporation as householders, as they have proceeded steadily in housing work since 1864, when they were faced by the necessity of clearing slum areas. Up to the year 1885, however, they did not build, but contented themselves by demolishing insanitary areas. (K. Taylor, 24,313 (10) ; Turton, 24,724 (8). Report of Liverpool Housing Committee, 1912, p. 5.) From that date onwards, in response to an appeal for more accommodation to replace what had been closed and demohshed, the Corporation embarked upon build- ing operations, with the result that up to the end of 1915 the Housing Committee had under their control 2823 houses, of which 2269 are inhabited by people who have satisfied the Committee that they are entitled to a dwelling by reason of their having been dispossessed, or of their previous occupation of an insanitary house. {Report of Liverpool Housing CommitteCj 1915, p. 14 ; cf. Report for 1912, pp. 6-7.) In 1915 the population of the dwellings was estimated at 11,393 persons {Ibid., p. 2), out of a total popu- lation of the city of Liverpool of 746,421 (Census, 1911), while the total number of houses in the city was 150,731. {Census, 1911, vol. viii. : England and Wales, Table 3, Paragraph 521.) 198. The policy of the Corporation has been to house the dispossessed, and this they claim to have done by giving the houses at less than cost price, with the help of a substantial subsidy from the rates, which, although only amounting to about 2d. in the £ of rental, provides benefits which are limited to something like 1 per cent, of the population. The controversy gathers roimd this statement, and may be summed up under three heads. * Schedule supplied by Town Clerk. REPORT. 391 (1) The Class of Tenants Housed. 199. For the first twenty years of its housing activities, the Corporation cleared insanitary areas and sold the sites to builders at various low- prices per yard, burdened with the condition that houses for the working classes should be erected, but not specifying the rental to be charged nor the class of tenant to be housed. As a result, the builder " built the cheapest house and charged the highest rent," and none of the 800 houses so erected was ever occupied by a dispossessed tenant. (Report of Liverpool Housing Committee, 1912, p. 5.) About 1885 the Corporation began itself to build on vacant land as well as cleared sites (Ibid., p. 5), and continued for six or seven years building tenements to house 554 families, and attracting the best class of tenants, who were not selected in any way. (Victoria Square, Juvenal Dwelhngs, Arley Street and St Martin's Cottages. These last are also tenements, and are built in four blocks of five storeys in height, and two blocks of three storeys in height. (Ibid., 1913, pp. 8-12, 16-20.) 200. At this time one of the usual reactions in mmiicipal policy took place, and men were returned to the Council opposed to municipal housing altogether. The complaint was made on the one hand that the best tenants were tempted away to the new houses provided by the Corporation ; and, on the other, that there was no attempt to house those dispossessed by the city's clearances, who were being driven into insanitary dwellings and adding to the overcrowding of the city. As a compromise, it was arranged to go forward with the housing schemes, but to restrict the use of the dwelhngs to the persons actually turned out of insanitary property. (Ibid., 1912, p. 7.) 201. Even when such a policy has been determined on, the method of selection is at once surrounded with difficulty. The Corporation have tried to defend themselves by demanding residence in a slum area which has been scheduled for demolition, or in an insanitary house, as a condition of acceptance. It has been pointed out that in his annual report the Medical Officer of Health gravely writes, year after year, that " the privileges of being a Corporation tenant are well understood, and very careful investi- ' gation is necessary to verify the claims of the applicants. Thus, in 1912, there were 486 instances in which ' the circumstances of the applicants did not comply with the committee's conditions. Of this number '115 gave false addresses, and in 381 cases there was no evidence that the overcrowding or illegal occupation 'existed." (Report of Medical Officer of Health; cf. Nettlefold, 42,871.) Such a policy, which de- liberately offers a prize to those who break the byelaws, and makes the offence of illegal overcrowding a qualification for admission to a cheap house provided by the ratepayers, is difficult to justify, all the more so, as from the report of the Medical Officer just quoted, it would appear that there are cases of persons actually giving false evidence in order to establish their claim, and to qualify themselves for a tenancy under the municipality. 202. Then, again, the report of the Housing Committee for 1915 gives a list of occupations followed by the various tenants presently residing in the blocks, and it is difficult to refrain from the conclusion that if all of these were living in slum areas it must have been not from poverty but from choice. Carters, firemen, cabinetmakers, cotton and railway porters, joiners, bricklayers, electricians, engine-drivers, printers, shopkeepers, clerks, foremen, etc., are not necessarily slum dwellers, and the greater number of these must have been perfectly able to pay an economic rent. And, further, from a very interesting comparative table (Report of Liverpool Housing Committee, 1915, p. 16), which records the number of tenants who left the buildings each year for the period from 1906 to 1915, we are led to the conclusion that, if only slum dwellers were originally taken in, a process of selection has gone on by means of which the worst have moved out, the " flitting " figures for 1915 being less than half of what they were in the first five or six years of the experiment. (2)' The Difficulty of Restricting Municipal Housing to one Class of Tenant. 203. It appears that in this case also the usual development of mimicipal trading is taking place, and that the Housing Committee, satisfied with its record, has begun to contemplate exparsior, with a view to providing houses for the better -paid working man. This is borne out by the evidence of the chair- man of the Housing Committee, who apparently considers that accommodation should be supplied, with assistance from the rates, for the artisan in regular employment. (K. Taylor, 24,324, 24,391.) It seems necessary here to draw attention to the easy growth and development of such a policy, which was begun as an emergency measure to meet what was considered to be an urgent municipal crisis, caused by municipal action in abolishing slum areas, but which now proposes to attempt the much larger and more controversial task of house-building for the working classes as a whole. (3) Subsidised Rents. 204. The wisdom of subsidising rents is a subject for debate. On purely economic grounds it can hardly be defended, unless it is kept as a purely emergency pohcy to tide over a time of abnormal conditions — in which case it should be very clearly marked as a temporary measure, or as a measure of expediency until conditions are better adjusted, to enable the poorest class to live insanitary houses. In this latter case the assistance should be clearly recognised as a measure of poor rehef, from which the tenant should be encouraged to free himself as soon as possible. The fact that a subsidised house is a rate in aid of wages must be admitted, but if this is clearly recognised, and if residence in a rate- aided house brings with it all the advantages claimed for it by the Liverpool Housing Committee, then, with improved health and resources, and with a good moral record, the municipal tenant will be able to leave the municipal shelter and join the ranks of the working class who are able to pay their way without relief from their neighbours. (B) Objections to Unlimited Municipal Housing. 204a. In Chapter VI. we suggest some of the ways by means of which the private and co-operative builder may be induced to build again ; it is sufficient here to state in a more general form some of the 392 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. dangers which have just been indicated, and which are present in any policy of housing by Local Authorities. For our purpose the most obvious and the most disastrous of these is the fact that house- building by Local Authorities tends to discourage private enterprise. (1) Housing by Municipal Authorities acts as a Deterrent. 205. The significance of this will be better understood when it is realised exactly what is the pro- portion of house-building which has been accomplished in the past respectively by municipal and by private enterprise. For England, the figures are given as an estimate that out of 5,607,275 houses exempt from inhabited house duty, only 18,000, or less than one-third per cent., have been built by Public Authorities imder Part III. of the 1890 Act. (Forty-third Annual Report of the Local Government Board for England (1913-14) (Cd. 7610), p. xxxvii.) In Scotland, as we have already seen, the number is also exceedingly small, and works out, if the houses of three rooms and imder are taken, as one-half per cent, of the whole. Total number of houses inhabited in Scotland 1,013,369. Total number of houses of three rooms and under . . . 734,405 (or 724 per cent.). Number built by Local Authority 3,484 {Census, vol. ii., p. c). The remainder have been built by private and co-operative enterprise. From these figures will be seen the gigantic nature of the change proposed if the Local Authority is in future to be the principal provider of small houses, and it is safe to follow the English Land Enquiry Committee (Report of the Land Enquiry Committee (Urban), p. 108) when they say that " it is not likely that such a course will be adopted ' in the lifetime of the present generation." The present housing crisis in Scotland, as well as in the whole kingdom, is caused by a shortage of houses for the working classes. The problem is to get houses built in quantities in every district as soon as possible, and to maintain a regular annual supply. Any policy therefore which would tend to diminish any source of supply, even the smallest, must be looked upon with disfavour — ^how much more any attack on the largest source of supply, the one which up to this time has supplied 99 per cent, of the total houses built in England as well as Scotland ? 206. It seems scarcely necessary to discuss the correctness of the statement that municipal housing tends to restrict the supply of houses provided by private enterprise. Such a discussion would require a reasoned argument on the subject of mimicipal trading in general, and it is only possible to reiterate the fact, and to cite the opinion of certain experts in housing. It must be obvious that no person or company can compete with the practically unlimited resources of a Local Authority on equal terms. Tenants are tempted to remove to new mimicipal houses, built with good accommodation and let below cost, the deficit being credited to the public health account or written off as a public improvement, and, in any case, charged on the rates (Forgie, 25,909 ; Mowat, 25,927, 26,070 ; Whyte, 37,022 ff.), hence there can be no reasonable doubt that the threat of the extension of house-building by Local Authorities has been one, at least, of the causes of the present shortage, which is generally referred to as the " failure ' of private enterprise." (Walker Smith, 41,557, (5) (d) ; cf. Paragraphs 77 f. above.) 207. Mr Mann, speaking from his knowledge of Glasgow conditions, says : " If a city commences ' to build houses for the working people it paralyses the private builder, unless the city is building for a ' type that is not otherwise provided for." (Mann, 21,309 ; cf also 21,315 ; M'Vail, 5295, 5313 ; Wilson, 4171.) Going outside the evidence, the following statements are worth quoting from experienced persons who have identified themselves with housing matters. The late Sir Charles Booth, in summing up his investigation into the London housing conditions, says that the " futility of municipal action for the ' direct supply of dwellings (in London) on the scale hitherto adopted is patent, and the dangers of this ' coiu-se, if pursued far, are very serious." (Life and Labour, final volume, p. 190.) . 208. In Lord Avebury's evidence before the Select Committee on Mimicipal Trading, he said that when the London County Council first proposed to erect workmen's houses, the existing companies who were doing such work on a large scale at once stopped building. The same witness, who at the time was chairman of the Building Societies' Association, said further that, in his opinion, there can indeed be little doubt that there are fewer workmen's dwellings now than there would have been if the municipalities had not built any. (Report of Municipal Trading Committee, Paragraph 1570, Avebury. Cf. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Dec. 1901, p. 570.) Thus, even in London, under the beneficent operations of the London County Council, their exertions in this direction can be characterised as a " futility " ; and yet, in the opinion of those best able to judge, these operations have been sufficient to put a serious check on the supply of houses provided. 209. Hence there is grave difficulty in the policy recommended by our colleagues, that a more direct responsibility should be placed on Local Authorities for the supply of houses, and that the Central Authority should have drastic powers to enforce such action. If it is the duty of the Local Authority in the last resort to supply houses, if no one else does, and if the duty is to be enforced even in the absence of any complaint from the district concerned, then any obhgation or interest must be removed from persons other than the Local Authority, and the provision of all small houses will fall naturally to the latter. Such a policy can be recommended only by those who see no objection to municipal building of small houses becoming a monopoly. (2) Difficulties of Supervision. 210. Again and again in the evidence before the Select Joint Committee on Municipal Trading the importance of outside supervision over undertakings carried on in the public interest is insisted on. In the supply of food and drugs, as well as housing, the trader is controlled by the municipality, and has to submit to inspection from time to time to see that he is carrying out the law. So long as trading is in the hands of a private body, the municipality can control it, but if the municipality itself becomes a trader there is no one competent to supervise it. (Nettlefold, 42,883.) There can be no doubt that the primary duty of all Local Authorities is to safeguard the sanitary condition of their towns, and anything which withdraws their attention from this fundamental necessity of good government is to be REPORT. 393 deprecated. (Forgie, 26,116.) When municipalities enter along with others to undertake the supply of commodities, it becomes difficult for them to remain impartial holders of the balance between citizen and citizen. Thus when the mimicipality takes up house-building its dwellings will fall to be inspected by its own officials, an arrangement which would certainly not be considered sufficient in the case of a private company, and which might very well lead to abuse, as the inspection might be much less strictly enforced in the case of the publicly-owned dwellings than it would be in the case of the private owner, for the Local Authority concerned will occupy the dual positions of inspector and inspected. 211. That this is not an imaginary danger is shown by a remark in a recent report of the Enghsh Local Government Board : " We have occasionally been somewhat surprised at the disregard of certain ' Local Authorities for the byelaws which they enforce in the case of other builders, and we have found ' it necessary to point out that either the byelaws must be amended or they must be complied with." {Forty-third Annual Report, 1914, Part IL, p. xxxviii.) In such cases the point for criticism is not that the Local Authority desires a relaxation of byelaws, which may be obsolete and burdensome, but that it applies an easier standard to its own work than to that of other builders. This indicates that if municipalities are to become house providers on a very large scale, it may be necessary to take the duty of supervision and sanitary control out of their hands and place it in those of a Central Authority. This is a policy for which certain arguments may be advanced ; but we agree with our colleagues in holding that its disadvantages are such that it is not to be recommended. 212. A further difficulty is that the task of providing all, or the majority of, the small houses of the community would be such' a vast addition to the responsibilities of Local Authorities, which already throw a heavy burden on their members in the cities and some county areas, that it would be impossible for an ordinary citizen to take an adequate share in their work in his spare time. The logical issue would be not only a great increase in the salaried staff of Local Authorities, but the payment of the principal and directing members of the Corporations themselves, as is done in Germany. In any case, a complete remodelling of our representative system, as applied to Local Government, would, on this hypothesis, seem to be inevitable. 213. Further, if municipal trading is greatly extended, this municipal inspection may be used to the disadvantage of all rivals. This is definitely suggested by an Edinburgh witness and member of the Town Coimcil, who regrets that the Corporation were unable to comply with the direction to sell the pro- perties within ten years of their completion. (1890 Act, Part I., section 12 (5), since repealed by the Sixth Schedule of the Act, 1909.) No sales having taken place, the " houses are left on their hands with * a falling rental, to a considerable extent unlet, and of a type not in consonance with modem reqmre- ' ments. Being interested as landlords with imlet property on their hands, they are thus handicapped ' in considering the question of providing additional or improved housing accommodation." (M. Stuart, 19,454 (13) ; Walker Smith, 41,618.) (3) The Voting Power of the Municipal Tenant. 214. A serious consideration which must be taken into account by the advocates of municipal housing is the large number of tenant voters which it would create. This difficulty has already arisen in consequence of the increasing number of municipal employees who are voters, but the evil would be greatly intensified were municipal building to proceed on a vastly increased scale, as the number of tenants massed in any one area would be greatly increased. Hitherto the evil has taken the form of influence brought to bear upon Town Coimcillors on the one hand, and appeals for support from municipal candidates on the other. In the evidence before the Joint Select Committee on Municipal Trading, a witness stated that in London scavengers had been promised 25s. a week as wages, as the sort of boon they might expect if a particular candidate were elected. (Report of the Joint Committee on Municipal Trading (838).) Now there is no reason on general grounds why scavengers should not be paid 25s. a week, but it does not seem very desirable that the matter should be brought forward prominently at an election time by the ratepayers who are to benefit by the increase, or that the return of any special candidate should hinge on the rate of wages he was prepared to pay to his own constitutents, not out of the profits of his own business but out of the ratepayers' money, of which he was the trustee. Decisions on such questions ought not to be influenced by the threat or even the possibihty of votes being affected thereby. (Report of the Joint Committee on Municipal Trading (842, (3).) 215. If municipahties are to enter into the large business of house- building, their association with labour difficulties will become more and more pronounced. If the business of housing is to be made to pay, wages must fall as well as rise, and rents in municipal houses must rise as well as wages and costs and rates. Tenants in municipal houses will thus be tempted to make common cause with municipal employees, on the one hand, to have rents reduced, or at least kept at an uncommercial figure ; and, on the other hand, to provide for the payment of their rents by demanding further increase of wages. 216. The effect on local administration is bound to be disastrous, as the conscientious opponent on grounds of econopiy of any extravagant schemes must lose popularity, while his place will tend to be taken by a less scrupulous man, and thus demoralisation will set in. For when the votes of municipal employees become an important factor the temptation at once arises to increase their number, and hence false steps in the direction of municipal poUcy are hard to retrace. So real a danger is this seen to be, that if municipal housing is to be undertaken on any large scale experienced housing reformers have suggested the disenfranchisement of the municipal tenants. (Mann, 21,402.) If this is hardly a practical suggestion, it is surely an indication that the number of municipal tenants should be kept at its lowest. (4) Increase of Indebtedness of Local Authorities. 217. In considering a change of such magnitude as will place the main burden of housing the working classes in the hands of the Local Authority, it is necessary to take into account the steady rise in municipal 394 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. indebtedness. In the last published Anniial Return of Scottish Taxation, which is for the year 1914-1915, tables are given to show the growth of Local Authority indebtedness for the period from 1894 to 1915. If we consider intervals of ten years, we get the following result : — Year. Total Indebtedness. Valuation of the Whole of Scotland. 1894 1904 1914 " . 1915 £ 36,650,396 58,931,912 66,896,444 68,027,497 £ 24,641,792 30,144,822 .34,080,105 34,459,051 {Annual Returrl of Local Taxation, 1914-1915, Table XX., p. xix.) Thus the indebtedness has risen by nearly 90 per cent., while the valuation has increased by only 40 per cent. Again the burden of local rates is steadily increasing, as we have pointed out above, paragraph 62 f. This has been general in burghal, landward, and parochial areas. In burghal areas the increase between 1893 and 1915 has been 57-9 per cent., in parochial areas 66-2 per cent., and in landward areas 100 per cent. It is important to keep this general rise in indebtedness in mind, as it adds to the burden on all house property and must be enormously increased if house-building in the future is to be, to a large extent, charged on the rates. 218. For it must be admitted that the tendency of a public body is to build very much more expen- sively than the private builder. This can be seen in connection with the building of asylums, schools, workhouses, and other public institutions. (Wilkes, 1296 (32) ; Roxburgh, 19,680 ff. ; Mictaggart, 22,959.) It is true that a public authority can borrow money more cheaply than any one else, and that it seldom, if ever, charges the full administrative expenses against its undertaking, or the unremunerative initial expenditure, yet, in spite of these enormous advantages, its building costs are greater than those of private enterprise. (Report of Committee on Municipal Trading, 1900, Paragraph 1139 ; Darwin, Municipal Trade, p. 334 ; Mactaggart, 22,948.) Two of the largest Glasgow builders account for the increase in a certain amount of unnecessarily rigid inspection, together with an unwilhngness to consider closely the greatest possible economy in the use of materials — ^so much so that an outside builder contracting for a Govern- ment or municipal job will add as much as 20 per cent, to his usual prices. (Mactaggart, 22,959 ; Mickle, 22,092 ff. ) Similar evidence is given by the Estates Manager of Birmingham City Council, who also thinks that private enterprise can build more cheaply than a municipahty, " simply because they would not put ' the same work into it." And he adds the warning, which has been borne out by experience, that if municipalities undertake direct building in order to save the contractor's profits, they might very easily lose the contractor's profits instead of saving them. (Tart, 25,039.) 219. The evidence of the Engineering Inspector of the Local Government Board is to the same effect. He thinks there is no advantage in the Government or municipality building directly. He advises that their function should be confined to the lending of cheap money — " Get the advantage of their money ' and get rid of direct building by the Government." And again he says, regarding Local Authorities, " They have very good credit, and they can command money at a reasonably cheap rate of interest, ' but their operations are not nearly so economic or satisfactory as private enterprise." (Walker Smith, 41,561.) This statement is illustrated and expanded to show that the essence of cheap building Ues in the power of prompt decision, and in liberty to adjust and to bargain. This is possible for the private builder who has freedom to conduct his business as a commercial undertaking, a freedom which it would be dangerous to confide to a public body or its officials, who must always be restricted by the shackles of instruction from committees and sub-committees. {Ibid., 41,562-41,567.) 220. Extravagance in detail and in administration is the bane of all municipal housing, and it can be readily understood that the great temptation of a pubhc body must be to leave on one side economic considerations. For, if the idea of a burden on the rates be once admitted, the increase of that bxirden per £ is small by any given addition to the plans, or even by the rise of* wages demanded by the con- stituents of the Local Authority, but the cumulative effect of this may be very great. As a matter of fact, as we have already seen, municipal house-building has hitherto in Scotland always been asso- ciated with want of financial success, and an added burden to the rates. (C) The Share op Local Authorities in Providing Dwellings. 221. So far, we have emphasised the negative side of the relation of Local Authorities to housing, as we conceive it ; i.e. the reasons which make it undesirable for them to take the enormously increased share in the actual provision of small houses which the Majority of the Commission recommend, or which would follow from their recommendations. We now proceed to develop the positive side, and to show that there is a very wide sphere in which Local Authorities can give assistance of an essential kind, or rather of two kinds — by promoting the development of economical building by other bodies, and by themselves housing certain special and restricted sections of the commimity. We feel convinced of the importance of both these outlets for municipal activity in housing reform ; and indeed, one of our chief objections to the undiscriminating extension of municipal building as commonly understood, is that it will tend to use up resources, both material and directive, which are needed if Local Authorities are to play their full part along the double line of effort which we have indicated, and which we now proceed to describe somewhat more fully. Throughout, the criterion which we endeavour to apply is, REPORT. 395 How can the communal resources to which we refer be so utilised as to benefit the community as a whole, and not merely certain selected individuals ? Both forms of municipal effort to which we direct attention satisfy this test — ^the provision of transit, the development of land, and assistance in the initiation of housing schemes, because such services can be undertaken on a wide scale wherever new dwellings are required ; and the provision of housing for certain of the less fortunate members of the community, because the whole community will suffer if their needs are not met. Assistance in the Preliminary Stages of Housing Schemes. 222. (1) We have already stated the case for the purchase and development by Local Authorities of land suitable for building when favourable opportunity offers, and also for the promotion by them of cheap and rapid transit. In regard to development, we need only add that, in the provision of drainage at least, some municipalities have already given much assistance — e.g., in Dundee the Corporation pro- vides sewers for all land in course of development for housing. (Thomson, 35,766.) But roads as well as sewers are necesary before building can proceed or houses be occupied, and their construction, with the laying out of adequate open spaces, is a direct communal service. The Engineering Inspector to the Local Government Board pointed out in this connection that encouragement might be given to builders, and much expense might be saved, if the Local Authority would look " sympathetically and ' intelligently " at the matter of development, which has in the past been carried on on such expensive lines that street-making and sewerage expenses in some cases amount to £50 per house. (Walker Smith, 41,606.) Other witnesses {e.g. Nettlefold, 42,925 f.) agreed that there should be a close co-operation between the Local Authority and the company or individuals preparing to build, and that the functions of each should be clearly defined, so that there may be no loss through friction or the sense of rivalry. Co-operation of Municipal and Private Enterprise. 223. That this possibility of co-operation is not confined to the erection of houses on newly developed sites, but may extend to improvement and rehousing schemes, is shown by the Bay Area Improvement Scheme in Port-Glasgow, which resulted from action first taken by the Medical Officer of Health in 1900, but which was not finally carried out until 1909 and the succeeding years. This is, in proportion to the population of the burgh, the largest and boldest improvement scheme yet carried out in Scotland — ■ or possibly in Britain, — since the population dealt with numbered 2005, or between one-eighth and one- ninth of the total population of Port-Glasgow, a percentage about eight times as high as those dealt with under the municipal housing schemes of Liverpool, Glasgow, Greenock, or Perth. This is also one of the very few schemes in which the families from the demohshed slums have been actually rehoused, and have not simply been turned adrift in order to make way for respectable working people. (Campbell Munro, Appendix CXXXVII. (28).) This scheme was carried out through the co-operation of a public- spirited firm in Poi-t-Glasgow (Messrs Lithgow) with the Town Council ; and it was the enterprise of the late Mr Lithgow in undertaking (1) to contribute £10,000 to the cost of clearance, (2) to purchase the cleared site, which ultimately cost £17,900, and (3) to erect modern dwellings for the dispossesed, which made this sweeping improvement possible. Thus, while the burgh rates are burdened to the extent of 5-|d. per £ — ^the larger portion of which is set off by increased valuation — ^the main burden has been borne by a firm within the burgh ; nor does there seem any reason why Poil-Glasgow should stand alone in this respect. (Campbell Munro, Appendix CXXXVII. ; 37,413 ff.) 224. Another instance on a much smaller scale is that of Strathaven in Lanarkshire, where a Town Improvement Committee, representing the inhabitants generally, has co-operated with the Middle Ward District Committee and the Parish Council in carrying out street widenings, and in purchasing and removing the worst among the many old buildings in the town, with great advantage to its appear- ance and prosperity. In this case landowners and houseowners were approached on giounds of local patriotism, and helped willingly, the former by granting new feus at low rates, and the latter by accepting moderate compensation for insanitary or obstructive properties. Here the improvements stopped, as no one was prepared to erect cheap cottages ; but the work actually done points to the benefit of enlisting general interest and unofficial co-operation rather than relying on official action alone. (Whyte, 36,834 (148).) 225. (2) There are also various techmcal matters in which the smaller builder, as distingmshed from the " speculative " builder on a large scale, might obtain assistance, especially if he is building a house or houses one of which he intends to occupy himself. Such are the acquisition of a site, the con- veyance of a title, or advice regarding plans and specification — matters which a skilled official could handle rapidly, but which may cause much worry and expense to the " small man." (Moffat, 27,240.) These are also matters which lie right in the path of the town-planner of the future, so that the additional labour caused to the official would be very small, and perhaps even negligible, in comparison with the benefit conferred. 226. (3) Another suggestion which does not strictly come under this head, but which it is necessary to mention here, is that the larger Local Authorities should each keep a Housing Register, open to the public, and showing the amoimt and character of accommodation in vacant houses, as well as the rental. This would be convenient to those looking for accommodation, and would also have a valuable effect in stimulating landlords to keep their dwellings in good order. As the previous suggestion connects itself naturally with the duties of Local Authorities in the sphere of town-planning, so the idea of a municipal register links itself on to the duty of inspecting all small houses regularly, laid down in the 1909 Act, and with the provision in the same Act that every lease of a small house shall be taken as implying the condition that it is in all respects habitable at the beginning of the lease. (Sections 14, 17.) If these provisions were fully operated, the materials for a pubhc register such as we recommend would be already there. Indeed, it seems almost essential to the. full effectiveness of section 14 of the Act. 396 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Provision of Houses for Special Classes. 227. We now pass on to the work lying to the hand of the Local Authorities in providing special types of dwelling. (1) Common Lodging-Houses. In the course of our visits we saw the common lodging-houses provided by various Corporations, especially those of Glasgow, Leith, and Aberdeen ; and we also saw the " Family Home " erected by the Glasgow Corporation for the accommodation of widowers with young children who cannot easily make other arrangements for their housekeeping. The question of common lodging-houses has been dealt with in the Majority Report, Chapter XIII., and here we need only add that the common lodging- houses of the Corporations referred to struck us as favourable examples of a most depressing type of dwelling. (Cf. M. Hay, 41,334 (55).) As long as there is need for common lodging-houses, there is much to be said for their provision by Local Authorities, although— as we have already pointed out — this is a special kind of work which can be, and has been, most effectively carried out by the Churches, and in some ways it seems to make a very strong appeal for their assistance. The sense of degradation, of homelessness, and of social disintegration, which haunts even a well-equipped " Model," may more readily be dispelled by the Churches or the Salvation Army than even by an enlightened Corporation. Yet we would not exclude the latter from this field in case of need. (2) Probationary Housing. 228. In the municipal lodging-house a Local Authority makes provision for the homeless and vagrant class of the community ; but there is another class to be considered, who are not strictly home- less, but who do not know how to make, or keep a decent home. They are the small class of destructive tenants who are the despair of the ordinary landlord. We do not refer to those who may on rare occasions break the bounds of ordinary restraint and then live peaceably for months at a time, but to the habit- ually unsatisfactory tenants, " the work-shy," or those described by the Housing Manager to the Glasgow Corporation as, " the ins-and-outs, who go in and out to the poorhouse or the prison, recuperate ' there, and come out again . . . and who are hopeless as far as sanitary administration is concerned." (Menzies, 20,605-7 ; cf. A. Fraser, 14,884, 15,078.) But if the sanitary officials find them hopeless, stiU more does the landlord ; nor does it seem probable that, even if the more stringent measures which we concur in recommending (Majority Report, Chapter X.) were taken against wanton destruction of house- property, the private proprietor could exercise an effective control over them. 229. Hence there has arisen a demand for special action by the municipalities, who might provide houses where such tenants would be under a measure of strict control. The scheme brought before us was especially advocated by the late City Engineer of Glasgow, Mr A. B. Macdonald, who gave evidence in its favour, and was adopted as a recommendation by the Glasgow Municipal Commission on the Housing of the Poor which reported in 1904. After dealing with the rehousing " of respectable people ' of the ' poorest class ' " the Commission went on to recommend " that an experiment should be made ' by the Corporation in the erection of a building or buildings on the Unes laid down by the City Engineer • to be reserved for those, who, while unable to show any factor's line or other certificate, were wilhng ' to submit to necessary regulations as to cleanliness, respectable hving, order, and punctual payment ' of rent, with a view to rehabihtating their characters and in time qualifying for a better house. The ' houses should be of the plainest construction, with indestructible fittings, and should be capable of being ' quickly and efficiently cleaned." (Recommendation No. XIII.) 230. This experiment has never been carried out, but it was recommended afresh by Mr Mann, Secretary of the Glasgow Workmen's Dwellings Company, and by Rev. Dr Watson, St Clement's Parish Church, both witnesses of wide experience ; and, outside Glasgow, by the late Colonel Fraser, who spoke in the light of experience in Inverness. (Fraser, I.e.; Mann, 21,207 (70-78, 105-7), 21,293-8; A. B. Macdonald, 21,700 ff. ; Watson, 22,379 (10), 22,502 H.) Mr Mann pointed out that in the main those who found their way into the Corporation's properties were the respectable tenants, and that this in- creased the burden on the private landlord by leaving a somewhat larger proportion of the unruly, members of the community for him to house. He suggested that the reverse process should now be tried — to " make more room for decent tenants by pressing out the bad, — the city having first provided ' a new type of house for the latter. . . . The structure would be plain, of a certain rudimentary comfort, but built of the stoutest materials, easily scoured, hosed, fumigated, and disinfected, with a minimum of removable fittings and a maximum of strength, each block sufficient for one resident caretaker and his wife to control, and no more. . . . The duties of caretaker in such buildings would be a combination of landlord, policeman, and sanitary inspector." The witness argued that any deserving family who, through some misfortune, might find their way into such a block would speedily be recognised by the caretaker, and would be at once placed in touch with the appropriate charitable or reheving agency. He also held that the existence of a few such houses, even if they stood empty, would be of advantage in removing excuses for slack administration, as persistent overcrowding by tenants, or the keeping of a dilapidated house by the landlord, could no longer be excusedjon the ground that there was no place to which an evicted tenant could find his way. 231. There are three different criticisms on this scheme which require consideration, (a) It may be objected that, in providing such houses, the Local Authority would be doing more for the disorderly and destructive tenant than it does for the steady and hardworking man. To this it may be rephed that the proposal differs from the ordinary type of municipal housing, under which one working man may have to pay in rates some fraction of the cost of houses provided at a loss for others whose circumstances may be more favourable than his own. For the scheme of disciplinary housing applies to a class who already cost the commimity large sums in destruction of property, and in the maintenance of pohce and prison estabUshments ; and if they could be brought under regular control, there would almost certainly be an economy in the end. Nor would the house be in the ordinary sense a " better REPORT. 397 ' class of house," but one " that would be practically indestructible." (Fraser, I.e. ; A. B. Macdonald, 21,711 fE., 21,765.) 232. (6) The second criticism, which in effect answers the first, was advanced both by the Chief Sanitary Inspector of Glasgow and by the Corporation's Housing Manager. It was that the tenants aimed at would never go into such houses. Supervision and control are the last thing that they will face, and they would give the disciplinary houses a wide berth. (Fyfe, 20,077 f. ; Menzies, 20,520, 20,604.) Consequently both witnesses recommended the farm colony as more appropriate. But this somewhat misconceives the scheme — at least in the form in which the Glasgow Municipal Commission adopted it. For they had in view that some indication should be given that the tenant was willing to accept the supervision proposed. Mr Mann suggested that able-bodied couples without children should not be admitted, but that " the presence of children should be sufficient indication of at least ' an attempt towards family life." (21,207 (77).) For able-bodied men the farm colony would perhaps be more suitable. Whether or not this rule were adopted, the refusal of any man, who had proved him- self troublesome and destructive in a privately owned house, to enter one of these controlled dwelhngs would constitute a strong friina facie case for his being more severely dealt with by the police. But in regard to those who proved willing to enter, Dr Watson expressed the belief that the regularity and discipline there enforced would have a valuable educative effect. 233. (c) A third difficult)'' turns on the question what resource would remain for those who, for failure to pay rent regularly or any serious breach of discipline, might have to be ejected from one of these disciphnary or probationary homes. {Cf. Watson, 22,506.) It may be said in the first place that the city would have fulfilled its duty to the family in question, and that no private landlord would be wilUng to take a tenant who came from these dweUings unless he brought a certificate from the care- taker that he had quahfied by good conduct for a normal tenancy. As things stand at present, he might drift back into a farmed-out house ; but if the latter type of dwelling is more successfully controlled in the future under the new powers which the Commission has unanimously recommended (Majority Report, Chapter XIII.), the ejected tenant would find it difficult to find a foothold even there. In this event he might return to the pirobationary dwelhng the wiser for his experience, or, faihng this, there would again be ground for interference by the police. Difficulties regarding non-payment of rent would be met if the dwelhngs were made rent-free, wiUingness to submit to control being taken as the moral equivalent of a cash payment. But this would remove their educative value in an important direction, and on the whole we are inclined to hold that the scheme would be most hkely to achieve success in the form advocated by Mr Mann and Dr Watson. 234. This is not a matter on which legislation is necessary ; but we recommend it to the careful consideration of certain of the larger municipalities, who should take it up as an important educational experiment — an experiment not unattended by difficulties, but one which holds out the hope of at least a partial solution of an exceptionally difficult problem, and which would render easier the control of occupancy in the most congested districts of the cities. (3) Special Provision for Invalid Householders. 235. It was strongly brought home to us that many cases existed, involving great individual hard- ship and also grave danger to public health, in which the problem of securing suitable housing is greatly intensified by the prolonged illness of some member of the family. This is especially the case in regard to pulmonary phthisis ; and if the wage-earner is attacked, the problem is rendered more acute by the diminution of family earnings. The modem method of dealing with phthisis depends greatly on the possibihty of effective treatment in the home, either at an early stage of the trouble when it may still be readily checked or after the patient has been for a time in a sanatorium and has benefited by the treatment there. But both in the cities and in crofting and fishing districts it was represented that adequate domiciliary treatment is frequently quite impossible. (Cf. MacEwan, 13,995 (18), 14,180.) We do not here refer in detail to the problem in view of the statements by the Majority (Paragraphs 649 if.) ; but we desire to point out that the terrible conditions referred to are by no means confined to one-room houses. (4) Housing of Public Servants. 236. We hold that in normal circumstances, and where there is an adequate supply of privately owned houses, the growing number of workers employed by the larger Local Authorities will most naturally and satisfactorily find accommodation in them. Further, the steady wages and security of employment enjoyed by these workers make them particularly well able to join a copartnership or building society, and so to become joint or sole-owners of their dwelhngs. 237. There is in this respect, however, a considerable difference between conditions in town and country ; and in the more scattered rural districts the evidence submitted to us showed clearly that hardship has been incurred both by employees of district committees and of the Post Office through the lack of suitable houses. The housing of rural postmen falls slightly outside the subject of this chapter, but this seems the most convenient point at which to refer to it. The department has been accustomed to provide houses for many postmasters, deducting 14 per cent, of their salaries, but it has always disclaimed responsibility for the housing of postmen and other employees, however great the difficulty they may have in finding dwelhngs.* In certain cases, of which particulars were supplied to us by representatives of the Postman's Federation, and in others which we met in the course of our inquiry, serious hardship has been caused ; and in some districts unmarried men have had to be employed in place of married because the latter could not find dwellings. We were informed of one case where a postman's house was damp and unhealthy, and he was told that he could remove to a village two miles away, but that no assistance could be given with removal expenses, and that, if he preferred to remain in his existing house to the detriment of his health, it was possible that he might lose his right to sick * Kirkwood, 3838, 3885 fif. ; cf. C. H. Stuart, 3777. 398 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. pay and free medical attendance.* It was stated, on the other hand, by the Secretary to the Post Office in Scotland that the cases of hardship were comparatively few^ — about 50 as compared with 5530 full- duty postmen in Scotland ; but that if the principle that the Post Office must build were admitted even in cases of " proved necessity," it would be difficult to limit these. He also argued that the provision of special houses for rural postmen would tend to " stereotype services " to an undesirable extent and prevent elasticity of administration.! 238. In spite of these objections we think that a case has been clearly made out for the provision of dwelhngs by the department where no suitable accommodation exists. It is not altogether desirable that Government servants should occupy houses that may be needed, or at all events might with advan- tage be used by workers in agriculture or rural industries ; while, if a genuine house-famine exists and the Local Authority is forced to build, it is obviously inexpedient that the housing of postmen should form a possible burden on the rates. Thus we think, here differing from the Majority, that the responsibiUty should rest with the department in cases of " proved necessity " of providing dwelhngs for their men. This might in some cases be done by arrangement with the Local Authority, who could take over any dwelling from the Post Office if it were no longer required owing to a change of methods of working. 239. But the principle that the landward authorities should, in the absence of suitable alternative accommodation, build for their roadmen and other servants — a principle which we accept as fuUy as our colleagues (see Majority Eeport, Chapter XV.) — ^has its application in the towns also. For in them there is frequently a scarcity of satisfactory houses, and it may happen that a new power-station or tramway depot is erected in some district where there is no vacant accommodation. In this case we hold that the Local Authority should accept the same responsibility as any large employer who brings a new popu- lation to a district where houses are not to be found, and should itself provide them ; although, indeed, the better course would be that, instead of building and managing them directly, it should either give active encouragement to the founding of a building or copartnership society, or, after building the houses, should hand them over — ^as we suggest in the next section — for management by a tenants' society. Advantages of a Definite and Eestricted Housing Policy on the Part of Local AtriHORiTiES. 240. The duties which we have assigned to Local Authorities are already numerous and important, but it still remains to define our attitude to the double question, What is the duty of the Local Authority to the well-paid artisan and to the worker with an inadequate wage and a growing family to house, clothe, and nourish ? 241. As regards the well-paid artisan, the question has been in the main answered in paragraphs 222-6. We hold that it is the duty of the Local Authority to take advantage of the improved machinery which we trust will be set up in the near future, in order to secure that cheap and well-developed build- ing sites are made available ; and we further hold that, in areas where burdens are heavy and special difficulties exist in regard to (e.g.) water-supply, a case may be made out in favour of special grants for development from the national exchequer. If Local Authorities proceed along these lines, the well- paid artisan, who can afford a house of three or four apartments in an open site, will benefit directly, and will be able to move away from the two- or three-room tenement flat in a crowded district which he at present occupies. 242. If further encouragement is needed to stimulate the building of small houses on newly developed land in the suburbs, this may be given by the municipal purchase of land in advance and its lease to building and copartnership societies at cheap rates (Paragraph 134 f. above). The Local Authority may also give assistance in the initial stages of such societies ; and in certain cases we would endorse the suggestion of Mr Malcolm Stuart (referred to in the Majority Report, Chapter XXVI., and given in detail in the evidence 19,454, (15 ff.), 19,632 if. ; cf. Roxburgh, 19,673 ; A. H. CampbeU, 41,170 (22-30), 41,212 f.) that the Local Authority may build the houses, on condition that they are handed over to the copartnership society for maintenance and management as soon as the tenants' contribu- tion reaches a certain proportion of the value of the house. This proposal is indeed open to the objection that municipal building always tends to be needlessly expensive ; but, while we consider it on that account somewhat of a second-best policy, we recognise its two great advantages : (1) that it draws out the effort and the interest, both moral and financial, of the occupiers in the successful management of their dwellings, and so avoids the usual conflict of interest between landlord and tenant — a conflict which exists in the case of municipally as well as privately owned houses — ^while it makes the entry of the municipahty on this region of house-building contingent on the expression of a definite demand ; and (2) that it relieves the officials of the Local Authority of the task of routine management, while leaving them their primary duty of sanitary supervision, and thus sets their energies free to direct further developments elsewhere. 243. Taking the two main divisions which we have considered — the general assistance and fostering of housing enterprise, and the provision of houses in special and limited cases — -it will be seen that, while the field of housing activity which we recommend should be left to Local Authorities is carefully defined, it is exceedingly wide ; nor does it seem probable that, when they have cultivated it all, they will desire to assume further responsibilities of great magjiitude. We hold that it is of the first importance that the main lines of their future housing policy should be so defined ; and that it should be understood that the activity of the Local Authority must have as its complement some corresponding effort by outside bodies, and especially by those for whom the houses are to be provided. Under the policy which we have sketched this would be made clear, and we therefore hope that the necessary effort would be drawn out. But if it is understood that improved houses will be provided for all who need them by the sole action of the State or Local Authorities at rents no higher than those usual at the present time, then we hold that all private and co-operative effort will be dried up at the source ; and there is * C. H. Stuart, 3769 ff. ; cf. Milne-Home, 29,858 ; Hair, 38,479. t Kirkwood, 3838, 3892. REPORT. 399 a grave danger that expectations will be aroused and demands encouraged which even the great resources of Central and Local Authorities working together will be unable to satisfy. (D) The Housing of the Dispossessed. 244. The last and most difficult question in this section of our inquiry is, what assistance are Local Authorities to give to the worker whose wage is not sufficient, or is too irregular, to provide ade- quate house-room for his family ? With this is closely connected the question of rehousing those dis- possessed by the voluntary or compulsory closure of the many houses still remaining in our cities, towns, and even villages, which cannot be made habitable. It will, however, be sufficient to consider the latter problem as it exists in the cities where it is most complex. 245. We faike the latter question first. The most obvious pohcy is to rehouse the dispossessed on or close to the area on which they previously lived, in new dwelhngs on the capital cost of which a full return is not expected, the deficit being charged to the rates. This is the Liverpool system ; and, while we should not care to say definitely that it can never be justified {e.g. where dock labour must be retained in a given district), we do not consider, for the reasons already given, that it can generally be taken as the best working model. At the other extreme is the proposal that the dispossessed should be taken by improved means of transit to new houses to be erected for them in the outer ring. This is open to the objection of experienced witnesses, quoted in the chapter on Transit, that, at least for a considerable time to come, the labourer must continue to hve in a comparatively central position, where he has a choice of employment open to himself and his family. In any case the transition from a one- or two-room dwelhng in a crowded stair to a modern cottage in a garden suburb would be too abrupt ; and, whether or not the tenant benefited, the cottage and garden would almost certainly suffer. 246. Our view is an intermediate one. We do not favour rehousing on the area cleared as a general rule ; for, except in the largest clearance schemes, this will be needed as open space or playground, or for some other public purpose. We rather hold that there must be a process of " moving up," which will also involve " moving out." The provision of houses on the outskirt of the cities must proceed •pari -passu with, or even precede, the closure of slum properties ; but the latter must not lag too far behind, as, apart from its extreme urgency, it provides an expulsive force which is needed to supplement the attractive force of openly situated cottages in the suburbs. We hold that the latter will be occupied by well-paid artisans, clerks, and others, whose previous standards will make the transition from a small tenement dwelhng to a cottage or flatted cottage with garden-plot easy and natural. This will leave dwellings free in the city, which will naturally be occupied by those with lower wages. It is indeed pro- bable that there will be more than two — perhaps more than three— removes between the occupant of the new suburban cottage, who vacates his tenement dwelhng, and the occupier of the condemned slum house ; but the principle remains the same, and tenants of the type last named will find the accommodation now at their disposal a marked improvement on that with which they have had to be content hitherto. (Briggs, 33,975 ; Stirton, 35,505 ff. ; J. Ritchie, 36,728 (8) ; Vivian, 40,571 (88) ; Coutts, 42,035 ; c/. Aldridge, 41,776 (16.) 247. It may still be asked whether it would n'ot be better that they should be completely removed from their slum surroundings to new houses on fresh sites. Ideally, perhaps it might ; but practically we hold that Miss Octavia Hill's policy of gradual amelioration is the wisest. Nor need we ignore the magnitude of the change from the worst type of slum dweUing to two or three rooms on a decent stair, which it is the hope of the poor, and perhaps somewhat feckless but well-intentioned, housewife some day to move into. In this connection it is worth noting that the common phrase a " class stair " means less a stair where the lobbies are well lit and the plaster is all intact, than one in which the neighbours are quiet and do not change every three months, and drunken rows are unknown. Similarly, " a bad ' stair for the children " has less reference to fresh air and sunlight than to the general standard of the neighbouring famihes. 248. We do not in the least minimise the importance of the structure and position of the house ; but, in considering the question of rehousing the dispossessed we are justified in assuming that the houses to be closed are the worst, and therefore that those which remain will be an improvement upon them, especially if some degree of reconstruction is carried out on a plan approved by the officials of the Local Authority. If the former inhabitants of the houses passed for reconstruction are first enabled to move upward by the provision of modern houses on new sites, the tenants actually dishoused from the con- demned dwellings will clearly benefit. (E) The Problem of the Worker Earning a Low Wage. 249. There remains the problem of the worker who earns a wage insufficient to provide for his family the standard of housing which will, we trust, become general in the near future. Such families will fre- quently be among those dishoused by the abohtion of existing slums, or may be in the class of dwelhng above the border line of habitability which, as we indicated in the last section, may require considerable reconstruction. One form in which this reconstruction may be carried out is that of combining two single-apartment dwelhngs to form a two-room house, or houses of one and two rooms respectively to form a three-room house — a process of improvement which is the exact opposite of the process of sub- division which has done so much harm. In any case the improved standard of accommodation will imply some increase of rent, compared with that which the families entering these dwellings have previously been accustomed to pay. In thousands of cases the raising of the standard of air space and the stricter control of overcrowding which we recommend will lead to the same result. 250. Thus the problem of the worker with a low or irregular wage, which was difficult before the war, will become more difficult afterwards if nothing occurs to improve his earning capacity ; but we believe that in many cases the effect of a regular and health)' hfe in the Army, or of regular employment on work at home during the war, will have greatly improved his capacity — that thousands will remain permanently at a higher industrial level. But in the case of the less fortunate worker, who has failed so to improve his 400 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. industrial status, if we assume that he has a family of four or more children, and that a three-room house becomes necessary before the older children have begun to earn, such a house would not be f)btainable in the cities at much less than 5s. per week, inclusive of rates. But assuming that he is earning 25s. per week regularly, this will involve the expenditure of one-fifth of his income on house-room. This seems too large a proportion (though it is frequently exceeded in London), as, even in a household where the man is steady and the wife a good manager, the margin is sufficiently narrow for the provision of fuel, lighting, clothing, and, above all, food for a growing family. Nor can we overlook the facts that it may be long before prices of food revert even to their pre-war level, and that the demand of our educational leaders for the raising of the school age will cause considerable hardship in many poor families by post- poning the age at which the older children can supplement the family income. 251. Further, there are the considerations arising directly out of the war. There is the imiversal feeling, eloquently voiced by the Right Hon. Walter Long in his reply to a housing deputation on Sep- tember 20, 1916, that the men who return from the hardships and dangers of the trenches — many of whom were recruited from the class to whom we specially refer — must return to better housing conditions than those which they left. There is also the need for children to fill the great unoccupied spaces of the Empire, and to make good in the next generation the losses to this generation through the war. But there can be little doubt that the raising of the standard of house occupancy — whether by the parents themselves, or by landlords who refuse to take families with children, or by sanitary authorities who in- sist on a higher standard of air space or room accommodation — is one of the many causes which tend to produce the decline of the birth-rate. It is not impossible that measures may be taken to check this tendency, and to secure an improved housing standard without a concurrent decline in the birth-rate ; but the members of the recent National Birth-rate Commission seem to have been left in no doubt as to the existence of the tendency itself. (Report of the Commission, Section III., Addition to the Report, pp. 74-8. Cf. Minutes of Evidence, pp. 195 f., 218 f.) 252. It is necessary to give full weight to these problems, present and prospective ; and there appear to be only three possible ways by which they can to a great extent be met, although, if special provision is made as indicated above for the physically incapacitated, and for the destructive and disorderly, the magnitude of the problem will be coasiderably reduced. {Cf. Chalmers, 20,370.) These possible policies are : — (1) Increase of wages. (2) Subsidising of the house. (3) Subsidising of the householder. (1) Increase of Wages. 253. The unskilled and poorer-jmid working man realises low weekly earnings compared to those of the skilled workman, who is usually a member of a trade society, and reaps the advantages derived from the better organisation of industry ; and the opinion may be reasonably expressed that wages will not fall so low as they have done in the past, and that gradually the unskilled workman will improve his position and be able to spend more than he has done in the past on his house. Such a result would be preferable to the other alternatives, since it preserves the independence of the family, and saves the com- munity from a permanent burden. Suggestions have been made for the establishment of a universal minimum wage ; but although we do not feel competent to discuss this proposal fully, and it may be considered as not coming within the scope of the reference to the Commission, we cannot forbear to point out that it might to a considerable extent neutralise itself by causing a general rise in prices, and that it would certainly lead to the loss of employment by many workers of low efficiency whose industrial value would be below the proposed minimum, and also to the " throwing out " of many of the older workers. {Cf. Eunson and Wilson, 18,048 ff. ; Climie, 24,231 (13 f.), for a legislative minimum wage. G. M. Stuart, 19,600; Chalmers, 20,384, criticisms.) 254. Thus a full solution can only be found through the improvement of the industrial capacities of the less efficient and less well-organised workers. In this connection it was pointed out by Mr Vivian that the difference between the rent of a suitable house and the rent that the worker is prepared to pay is often only one shilling or two shilHngs a week ; and he added, " I have not met the worker of average ' intelligence yet who, with proper organisation and advice, could not improve his efficiency, and therefore ' his earning power, by more than the figure mentioned, if he will heartily accept the principle that efficiency ' and economy in the use of his time and energy is a thing it is his duty to work for." (40,571 (89), cf. 40,614.) Mr Vivian admitted at the same time that the " misfits " and the really inefficient " must ' be dealt with on a philanthropic basis by the community." 255. It may, indeed, be asked whether on either supposition — that of a compulsory minimum wage, or that of a gradual improvement of earning power — there is any guarantee that part of the increased wage would find its way into the rent of a better house. .Might it not be spent either on some indulgence, or on some other form of utility ? It may thus be claimed by the advocates of subsidised housing that their proposal is necessary to ensure that the improved housing is actually taken advantage of. To this it is probably a sufficient reply that the higher wage will not of itself secure improved housing — ■ witness the condition of certain industrial districts where wages are both high and regular — but that it will do so in conjunction with three other indisp_«isable factors : — ^a rising standard of comfort and educa- tion, stricter sanitary administration, and the actiial provision of better houses, all of which are closely related to or are dependent on improved earning power. If better houses are available, and wages are sufficient to pay the necessary rental, it will be possible for the sanitary officials to take drastic action against any man who seriously stints his family in house-room. But we hope that it will become less and less necessary for such action to be taken, as education and the growth of " house pride " bear full fruit. One form of this would be the extension of saving before marriage, for, as Mr Roxburgh pointed out, the acute problem of a man with a wife and seven children to support does not come into existence m a day, and if he had been accustomed to pay 6d. a week into a tenants' society, his later difficulties might be greatly minimised. (Roxburgh, 19,551.) REPORT. 401 (2) The Subsidised House. 256. If houses are to be provided at less than cost price for any considerable section of the community, this must presumably be done— as it has been done in the past — -by the Local Authority. The objections to this policy have already been indicated. It is difficult to secure that those entitled to benefit shall do so, and perhaps even more difficult to exclude those who are perfectly well qualified to find accommoda- tion in the ordinary way. It throws an added burden on those who live above the hmit of assistance, and who have in many cases a hard task in educating as well as feeding and clothing their children. It is a disguised subsidy, and, many authorities hold, is in effect a grant in aid of low wages. Moreover, it tends to fo^ a permanent burden ; for neither in Ireland nor in Liverpool have rents been raised when the circumstances of tenants have improved. If the loss were to be made good by grants from national funds raised by the taxation of surplus wealth, the injustice as between difierent classes of workers would be diminished ; but the fear of rising rates, which is the normal check on extravagant municipal expenditure, would be removed, and it would be increasingly difficult to secure economical building and management. The disadvantages are minimised when tenants with famiUes are encouraged in municipal buildings and an income limit is enforced — we were informed that in the Glasgow Corporation's properties this limit is somewhat extended in the case of large families or of those containing invahds (Menzies, 20,465 fE.) — ^for in this case there is a guarantee that the burden on the rates does actually benefit those who need assistance ; but even so, we hold that the dangers of an indirect subsidy are serious, and if it is spread widely enough it may cause a rise in other costs of living, (Vivian, 40,606.) (3) Subsidy to the Householder. 257. Thus we are forced to examine the other possibihty, that of a subsidy to the householder. In the Addition to the Report of' the National Birth-rate Commission (p. 77; cf. Evidence, pp.j 140, 395), the members of that body, with only two or three abstentions, bring forward a suggestion that State bonuses for families, when the earnings do not amount to £100 or £120 a year, should be given for all children who attain the age of fourteen years, to secure further education, or a better start in life. It seems to us that it might be possible to provide on somewhat similar lines for the assistance of large famihes during the years when the children require a full share of house-room, but have not begun to work for wages. The object would be to secure the health and physical development of the child, just as our free education system is designed to secure his mental growth. In this case it could hardly act as a subsidy to low wages, as it would only apply to the minority of workers— those who had a fanuly of not less than three or four children (at least two being of school age) to support. It might be hmited to the difEerence between the average weekly rent of a two-room dwelhng at the present time, and the higher rent which would be requisite for the proper housing of the family on a higher standard to be enforced in the near future. It would have the advantage of being a direct and avowed subsidy for a clearly understood purpose, and could thus be effectively hmited m scope. 258. As such a policy would be adopted primarily in the national interest, the cost, or at least the greater part of it, should be borne by the State {cf. Or. M. Stuart, 19,596) ; and, indeed, in view of the urgent need for the rehef of local rates, we could hardly advocate that a fresh charge of this kind should be thrown upon the ratepayer. But such grants would need to be administered by the Local Authority on a report from the sanitary inspector that the house was sufficient in size for the family, and was kept in good order. The grant might in this way be used as a lever to secure a rising standard of house maintenance ; while it might also serve in some degree to overcome the prejudice on the part of house owners against large famihes if they knew that they had some security for the punctual payment of rents. We are by no means imaware of the difficulties surrounding any such schemes. But as an emergency measure to meet the needs of the children of the future, we consider that it is less open to objection than the wholesale erection of rate-aided dwellings. If there is to be any subsidy, it is a great matter that it should be undisguised, and -that the nation should know where it begins and ends, and whether it is attaining its professed object. But in our view the one finally satisfactory pohcy is to take special measures for those who are definitely handicapped by illness or some other unavoidable disability, and to seek by industrial organisation and education to render all other citizens able to discharge their responsi- bihties without subvention. Recommendations. (1) We recommend that Local Authorities should give ail the assistance in their power in the uiitial stages of housing schemes ; and that they should do so, not only by the purchase and development of building land where circumstances are favourable, but also by giving technical advice to intending builders and by instituting municipal registers of small houses. (Paragraphs 222-226 ; cf. Chapter V., paragraph 272.) (2) We recommend that certain of the larger Local Authorities should estabhsh schemes of " pro- ' bationary housing," i.e. dweUings for tenants who have more than once been convicted of destroying the fittings of their houses, or of such other offences as indicate that in the general interest they should be housed under the more immediate supervision of the Local Authority. (Paragraphs 228-234.) (3) That Local Authorities should definitely assume the responsibihty of providing dwellings in healthy and airy situations for invahd householders, or famihes where, owing to the prolonged illness of one or more members, a higher standard of accommodation is required than the family resources can secure. (Paragraph 235.) (4) We also recommend that Local Authorities, both urban and rural, shall assume the responsi- bihty of providing dwelhngs for their own employees in all cases where, owing to the isolation of the district or other causes, no sufficient accommodation is provided by private or co-operative enterprise. We would extend this recommendation to cover the case of rural postmen and other employees ofpubhc departments in the more isolated districts. (Paragraphs 236-239.) 26 402 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. (5) We do not recommend that, as a rule, Local Authorities should provide for the well-paid worker ; but, where the measures under subheading (1) above are insuiBcient to secure the provision of suitable dwellings by private or co-operative enterprise, we consider that Local Authorities may, in addition to developing the land, erect dwelhngs and take steps to secure the formation of co-operative societies which could take over and manage these when they are completed. (Paragraph 242.) (6) As regards the housing of the famihes dispossessed by the clearances of slum property, which are greatly needed in many Scottish towns, we recommend that the policy followed should, in the main, be that of " moving up " ; i.e. that everything should be done to promote in open suburban surroundings the provision of dwellings for the better-paid artisan, so that the houses vacated by this class may become available for those poorer tenants who may lose their dwellings through closing orders or improvement schemes. In case of properties which are sufficiently sound in structure to be worth reconstructing, such reconstruction should be carried out under the supervision of the Local Authority. (Paragraphs (7) We recommend that a sustained attempt should be made by all appropriate means, legislative, industrial, and educational, to enable the poorer class of wage-earners to reach a living wage, which will enable them to secure better houses than those which they at present occupy. (Paragraphs 253-255.) (8) We hold that while much may be accompUshed along these Hnes, there will remain for a con- siderable time to come many workers, especially those with several children of school age or younger, who cannot provide adequate housing for the families on the higher standard which we have in view throughout this Report, unless special assistance is provided for them. We recommend that this assist- ance should come from the National Exchequer, but should be administered by Local Authorities, and should be linnited to cases where the householder is willing to provide an adequate standard of accommo- dation for his family. (Paragraphs 257 f.) CHAPTER V. HOUSE MANAGEMENT AND THE ONE-ROOM HOUSE. 259. The discussion on housing by Local Authorities in the last chapter has clearly indicated the importance in several directions of house-management. In this chapter we deal with this subject in its apphcation only to the less careful and responsible class of tenant, and hence we proceed to state in outline certain of the evils for which effective management is advanced as a cure, certain of the difficulties lying in its way, and some constructive proposals for dealing with these. The various possi- bilities in this direction appear to be : — (1) Direct management by the landlord ; (2) Management on behalf of the landlord by various representatives or agents ; (3) Management by representatives of the Local Authority ; (4) Management by the tenants themselves. It will appear that these methods are not necessarily strict alternatives, but that they may be combined in various ways. (]) By the Landlord Directly . 260. This can of course be accompUshed by the interest and kiaowledge of the landlord himself. He can himself look after his property, attend to the letting, and superintend the tenants. When a landlord is interested and efficient, this management is admirable, and his property is kept in excellent condition. But the same thing can be, and usually is, done indirectly by means of factors or caretakers or both.* (2) By the Landlord Indirectly. 261. (a) System of Hoiise-management introduced by the late Miss Octavia Hill. — It was the immense importance of this work of house-management, as she conceived it, which led Miss Octavia Hill to make it her life-work. Accounts are given in the evidence of several centres in Scotland where Miss Hill's method has been followed, and where the work of the management of small houses is carried on by trained ladies.f This fact, and the intrinsic importance of the subject, are our justification for adding some accounts of Miss Hill's leading ideas. Strong in her belief that " the disciplining of our immense poor ' population must be ejEEected by personal influence," she saw in the management and oversight of the houses in which they lived a very remarkable means by which this influence might be brought into use. Thus she at once raised the work from a somewhat monotonous and disagreeable roimd of slum visitation for the mechanical purpose of "hfting rents " into a social service of a very high order. "It ' seems to me," she wrote, " that a greater power is in the hands of landlords and landladies than of ' school teachecs — power either of life or death, physical or spiritual. It is not an imimportant question ' who shall wield it." J Miss Hill's contention is that this business of the management of small houses is a work pre-eminently suited for women — for educated, trained, and sympathetic women. After all, it is women who are accustomed to the needs and details of household management, it is the wives and * Motion, 20,842 f. ; App. LXXIII. (IV.). t RoBB and Salmon, 38,981 ; App. CXXXIII.-CXXXV. ; Stuart, 19,646 ; Mann, 21,207 (38) ; Motion, 20,765 ; Horeburgh Campbell, 41,170 (6). J Homes of the, London Poor. Macmillan & Cki., 1883, p. 20. REPORT. 403 mothers who take charge of the labourer's house, and it is with women therefore that the landlord and his agent must deal. In many ways it is suitable, therefore, that this agent should also be a woman, who is hkely to be more miderstanding and sympathetic about the little things which go wrong in a house, but which may be very big things so far as the comfort of the family is concerned. But for this work, those who would undertake it must be carefully trained. Perhaps in this more than anythiug else lies the success of Miss Hill's scheme, that she never failed to impress her students with the im- portance of their task, and with the fact that, for its rightful performance, the standards of education and of devotion could never be set too high. 262. (6) The City Engineer of Edinburgh brought before us a scheme for the management of small houses which embodies a great deal of what is advocated by Miss Hill. Mr Campbell suggests a combination of authorities — the State, the Local Authority, and the Voluntary Agency. He would leave to the Local Authority all powers that they already have in connection with closing orders, and the acquisition or destruction of derehct or obstructive buildings ; but for the further tasks of the recon- struction of old houses, and for their management after reconstruction, he thinks " the independence ' of the mimicipality might well merge in and co-operate with voluntary agency," statutorily created. In support of this he expresses the opinion that there is more needed for this work than can be supplied by officials through a responsible public authority. Mr Campbell lays great stress on the addition of volimtary members to his board, largely for the purpose of controlling the work of management. He suggests that an already burdened municipality or County Coimcil is not the most satisfactory body for the task. Appealing to their past record in support of this, he admits that there are conditions in our cities which are not physically as they should be, and that so far the powers vested in the Public Authority have not been effective in curing the evil. In his opinion the machinery is not adequate, and something more is needed. The volimtary members of his suggested Board would exist to do work of a social kind that a Town Council does not exist for, and " until you infuse that element into ' the work, you won't attack this problem or treat the disease. It is not only a structural problem, ' it is sociological, and it is moral." * 263. (c) Caretakers. — The appointment of caretakers may be combiued with the schemes outHned, or may be carried out by individual owners of groups of houses, or by Local Authorities in their housing schemes. We foimd an almost unanimous opinion as to the value of caretaking and supervision in those districts where there is congestion and overcrowding. The work that may be assigned to the caretaker is varied and onerous. AVhether or not he has to assist the factor with the rent collection, his proper business is the supervision over the habits and conduct of the tenants, and to " press steadily against 'habits of filth and disorder." f Also, a competent caretaker can relieve' the sanitary inspector of much detail, as notification of infectious diseases becomes simpler, and overcrowding can be prevented. In fact, all the most experienced observers place a strong emphasis on the need for control and supervision of a limited class of the community, who hve in small, low-rented dwellings, and who are accustomed to a low standard of housing. 264. There are, however, two difficulties to be met with in the appointment of caretakers. The ideal caretaker is not easily found, for great tact is required as well as a combination of kindness and firmness — two qualities which do not by any means always go together. But if these qualities are present, they will enable the caretaker to exert an important influence on the maintenance of the house. The Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool spoke of the great importance which the Housing Committee there attach to efficient caretaking, so much so that they are considering the institution of a course of training which would be a necessary qualification for a caretaker's post. J 265. The other difficulty comes from the expense which caretakers involve. This can partly be met if the caretaker is able to carry out small repairs, but the landlord must look to the improvement of his houses and to more carefully selected tenants for the principal return on his outlay. It would be well if some means could be devised by which good landlords could be acknowledged by the Local Authority, as there can be no doubt that carefully kept properties would enormously decrease the cost of sanitary inspection. In Glasgow, this principle has already been applied in the case of the Glasgow Workmen's Dwellings Company, where, in view of the rules put in force by the directors, ticketing of the houses has been done away with ; in other words, the Local Authority depend largely upon the Company for the supervision of overcrowding.§ (3) Managetnent by the Public Authority. 266. Management by the Public Authority would mean management by officials attached to the staff of the medical officers of health, or the sanitary inspectors appointed for the purpose. It seems clear from the evidence that the present staff cannot midertake more inspecting work than they at present accomplish ; and therefore, if the duty of the management of small houses is to be placed upon the Local Authority, it must mean either that the present staff be largely augmented, or that a new depart- ment set be up. These new inspectors would naturally be responsible to the Local Authority. (4) Management by the Tenants Themselves. 267. The fourth system of management — management by the tenants themselves — is referred to imder the heading " Copartnership." (Majority Report, Chapter XXVI.) It has been practised successfully, and much is claimed for its methods. But there is no evidence that it has been tried in congested areas or among slum tenants. It is obviously best suited for the most discipUned classes of the commimity, who are prepared to shoulder their own responsibilities. * Campbell, 18,980, 41,170 (9). See further, Paragraphs 273 f. below. t Mann, 21,207 (35-37) ; of. Hutherford, 5778 ; Menzies, 20,571 ; Barbour, 35,242. X Hope, 24,648. § Mann, 21,215. 404 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Discussion op the Various Forms of Management Suggested. 268. In this connection we do not need to discuss the type of management last described — manage- ment by the tenants themselves. Obviously, if they combine and build their own houses they are quite capable of managing them, and that aspect of the problem may be left for them to work out for them- selves. But we add some further considerations regarding house-management in areas where the occupants are crowded together, where they have not much room to live, and where the confined cir- cumstances of their lives cause an immense amount of friction. Here the case seems to be proved for the intervention of an oversman to help to keep the peace and to adjudicate in the endless trifling difficulties and disputes which occur daily ; to keep up the standard of house accommodation, or, as the Act enjoins, "maintain it in a condition reasonably fit for habitation" ; to regulate the cleaning of the common stairs and closets, and, as far as may be, enforce a standard of cleanliness and order in each dwelling ; and, finally, to assist in preventing overcrowding. 269. Should this management be exercised by the landlord or by the Public Authority ? Quite clearly the duty of the present sanitary inspector is to supervise, and therefore he cannot take up this additional detailed work of house-management. If there be any virtue at all in inspection, it must be in inspection by an outside body, and not by the Local Authority inspecting itself. Therefore, to make sanitary inspectors carry on the detailed work of house-management would appear to us wrong in principle as well as impracticable. It would be necessary to have a new department of Corporation factors, paid out of the rates and trained for the purpose of managing other people's houses. Stated in this way, this method also seems impossible, as there would be a quite legitimate outcry against using the rates for such a purpose, and on the part of the house-owner a disinclination to use public servants for the management of private house property. DifEerence of opinion and friction would almost certainly arise as regards such questions as occupancy and repairs, as well as the financial yield from the houses. It is difficult to see, therefore, how the management of the houses can be taken away from the owner of the houses unless the property were taken over by the Public Authority ; but we do not consider that it is by any means proved that the capabilities of Local Authorities in the direction of detailed house-management are so outstanding as to justify so drastic and costly a measure. 270. If we turn to the landlord we find that he is handicapped in this work of management in various ways. First, it is estimated that about one-third of slum property is held by trustees and bondholders, and consequently there is no single, responsible landlord, and no personal connection between owner and tenant.* Second, the owner or owners are generally dependent on receiving a regular return from their houses, and a great deaj of such property is unremunerative."|' Third, and most important, the owner has no undoubted legal status in the management of his house. It is held that he has no legal right of entry, except to make repairs, during the currency of the lease, J and that any control or super- vision on his part is liable to be resented as interference. The landlord also suffers from the fact that the Local Authority divides his responsibility, such as it is, with him. To cover any ignorance and slackness on his part, it is open to him to argue that powers have been given to Local Authorities imder various Acts to control and supervise house property. So long as these are imused in regard to his houses, he is justified in assuming that they come up to the Public Health standard, and therefore he is dismclined to spend any money he can avoid on improvement. Further, this exemption is of most imceitain duration, and at any time he may be called upon to spend large sums of money in reconstruction, or a closing order may be pronoimced. There is little or no inducement, therefore, to spend money on old property which is likely to be signalled out sooner or later for attention from the Authority, and hence results a gi'eat deal of our slum and derelict property in town and country. 271. On the other hand, where there is a conscientious landlord, in spite of these disabihties the condition and tone of the property make an immediate response.§ Thus the solution would seem to lie in a closer co-operation between the owner and the Local Authority. In the fiist instance the former will benefit if our suggestions regarding the more drastic treatment of destructive tenants are given effect to. Further, the owner should be expected, himself or through a factor or caretaker, to exercise a general supervision over his property, and to report as a matter of routine administration to the sanitary inspector all cases of persistent overcrowding or failure by the tenants to keep their dwellings reasonably clean. Such a responsibility is already impUed in section 76 of the Pubhc Health Act, 1897, which is based upon the 1867 Act. By this section, " where two convictions against the provision of ' this Act relating to the overcrowding of any house shall have taken place within the period of three ' months, whether the person so convicted was or was not the same, it shall be lawful for the sheriff ' to direct the closing of such premises for such time as he may deem necessary." This clearly lays upon the owner a responsibility in the matter of overcrowding, while his own interest coincides with that of the public health in making it important to control the dirty tenant. In these respects he has three resources :^ — (1) the use of persuasion or moral influence, backed by the power to carry out or withhold improvements on the property ; (2) the appeal to the sanitary inspector where the first method fails ; (3) the power of ejection as a last resort. It is, of course, undesirable that this last should be used frequently, as it simply transfers the problem to some other owner. It appears to us that, if the owner is to discharge these responsibilities, he should have an undoubted right of entry secured to himself or his representative at reasonable hours, and section 18 of the Public Health Act of 1897 might be extended to effect this. 272. Another point to which we attach great' importance requires no legislative change, but simply depends on considerate administration. It is that the Local Authority should take the various landlords into their confidence regarding schemes for the repair or improvement of the houses. A conscientious * Mann, 21,207 (85). In GliUigow 90 per cent, of the house property is subject to bonds. See Report of Committee on hifjreaats of Rental in Scotland, Cd. 8111, 1915, p. 6. t Some amendments on the House-Letting Act, 1911, which has proved a handicap on economical house-manage- ment, are suggested in Chapter X., Paragraph 470 ff. t Anderson, 40,361 (5, 8, 11) ; cf. A. Fraser, 15,105. § Cf. Mann, 21,207 (87 ff.). REPORT. 405 landlord will have made his plans for the improvement of his houses, and laid aside a proportion of the rental received for this purpose. But often the order in which these repairs are to be carried out could be modified if it were intimated at the beginning of the financial year what the Authority was likely to require for that year. Obviously it is veiy hard if a large sum has been spent on, say, outside painting, that the Local Authority should take that particular moment to demand the concreting of the court or the reconstruction of the sanitary arrangements. Consultation with the proprietor before improve- ments are demanded would go far to increase the landlord's sense of responsibihty, and to educate him as to modem sanitary requirements, as well as to save needless expense. And if this discussion and consultation were coupled with a sustained effort to bring public opinion to bear in cases where bad management continued, it would greatly tend to lessen the evil. " People are very sensitive to public ' opinion, and publicity, if well directed, could accomplish much." * A Municipal Housing Register, such as we have already recommended, which would give the number of small houses in every district, the condition of the house, and the name of the owner, ground landlord, etc., would be very valuable. (Mann, 21,287 ; Watson, 22,473 ; Patrick, 40,285 (5) ; Nettlefold, 42,858 ; and Paragraph 226 above.) 273. In the larger burghs where a Local Authority is carrying out even the restricted housing policy which we recommend in Chapter IV. we consider that a scheme such as that outlined by Mr Campbell (Paragi-aph 262 above) might be adopted. In its form it represents an attempt to bring about a combina- tion of what is best in voluntary and official management. In a subsequent communication Mr Campbell has modified his proposal, making his Board advisory rather than executive, and placing it more directly under the authority of the Town Council. We are doubtful if it will be easy to obtain the services of persons expert in housing unless the Board is really to have powers to carry on its own work, but we think that in some form the scheme should be tried. We greatly prefer it in its earUer form, as, for reasons already stated, we consider that direct management by a Local Authority entails many serious difficulties. We consider that a very valuable part might be played by such joint committees in regard to several of the functions assigned to Local Authorities in Chapter IV. above, e.g. schemes for proba- tionary housing, housing for the physically incapacitated, and apportionment of the grants suggested in Paragraphs 257 f. ; as well as the more general supervision of reconstructed properties. 274. Mr Campbell called our attention from his own experience to the difficulties of purely official management of properties of the poorer class, and recommended that Local Authorities should call in the best obtainable help from voluntary workers interested in social work. {Cf. Watt, 24,070 fE., 24,094 f.) But all social workers are not necessarily efficient house-managers, and the scheme would largely depend on the efficiency of the house-managers ; therefore, as Mr Campbell points out, there is room in his scheme for including Miss Hill's trained rent-collectors — women who have definitely taken up house-factoring as a means of doing that peculiar Idnd of social work which the entrance into the homes of the people can give to a wise, judicious, and sympathetic visitor. The home is very specially the concern of women, and it can only be for good that the women and children of our worlnng classes should be brought more and more under " the practical and continuous control of trained and capable ' women — women firm and just, but sympathetic and helping the people to help themselves, women ' whose visits are welcome, whose advice is sought, and above all whose orders must be obeyed." (Mann, 21,207 (95).) 275. We feel that it cannot be too emphatically stated that the housing problem is only one part of a sociological problem which is made up of many factors of which one only is concerned with the provision of the house. And this is specially true of the housing of the less disciplined class of the com- munity, where the standard is low and where the habits are uncontrolled. For the worst of these it may be necessary, as we have already suggested, to provide municipal sl^elters under strict supervision. But for a better class who need help in ordering their fives under the crowded conditions of a city tenement, some system of caretaking and supervision is a proved necessity. Intemperance and Housing Difficulties. 276. We cannot pass from this branch of the subject without referring to the share played by alcohofism in producing and perpetuating the uncontrolled class of whom we have had occasion to speak. In this connection we desire to recall attention to one of the conclusions of the Glasgow Municipal Com- mission on the Housing of the Poor, which reported in 1904 : — Nothing was more painfully impressed upon the minds of the Commissioners, by witnesses of all kinds, than the close comnection there is between the unhappy condition in which thousands of their fellow-citizens are housed and the drinking habits in which so many of them indulge. Improved housing conditions seem all but hopeless while this state of matters prevails. (Recom- mendation XVIII.) The Commission therefore unanimously recommended that " the number of Ucensed houses in ' working-class districts should be greatly lessened, and that the granting of licences in new districts ' should be discouraged." The Town Clerk of Glasgow claimed that this object had been steadily kept in view in the inter- vening years ; but the figures which he gave did not indicate that much progress had been made in carrying out the former section of the recommendation, as the reduction in the proportion of licences of all classes to population in the years from 1904 to 1912 had only been from 1 to 471 inhabitants, to 1 to 500 inhabitants, though in the extended city (1913) it was 1 to 570.f 277. It appeared clearly from the evidence brought before us that intemperance was the chief cause by which individuals and families are dragged down from the possession of homes and sink to the level of existence represented by the farmed-out house ; and the same cause was cited as responsible for a large proportion of cases of non-payment of rent.| Nor are its evil effects confined to the largest cities. * Mann, 21,207 (99). t Lindsay, App. LXXXIV. (18), and Table V. X Fyfe, 19,980, 20,133 ; Rutherfurd, 22,321 ; Campbell Munro, 37,370 (34) : App. LXX. (4). 406 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Speaking of a smaller industrial burgh, Dr Campbell Munro said, " The amount of misery arising from 'the undue consumption of alcohol is awful," and urged that the responsibilities of those who indulged to excess should be brought home to them by stringent disciplinary measures, if no others were effec- tive. Another public health administrator of very wide experience spoke of the annoyance and demoral- isation which one drunken and disorderly individual or household sometimes causes to numerous neigh- bours.* Further, looking at the question on a national scale, it is clear that the total expenditure on alcohol must bear a very high proportion to that on house-rent.-j- 278. We are of course aware that there is another side to the question, and that confined and cheer- less homes are among the most potent forces which drive men and wcimen to the public-house. Of this reciprocal action of drink and bad housing, some observers will lay more stress on intemperance as the cause, and others will think of it chiefly as the effect ; but it seems to us wisest to accept the truth of both aspects, and to hold that the amelioration of either is dependent upon simultaneous and resolute action being taken in regard to both.J Certainly if the expenditure of improvident members of the community on alcohol could be reduced or abolished, a great sum would be set free for other uses. Of these we do not say that housing would necessarily come first, much less that it would absorb the whole saving ; but even if a fourth or a fifth could be diverted to the rent of a better dwelling, the problem of economic housing would be greatly eased ; not to speak of the benefit in regard to our immediate subject — ^the reduction of repairs and arrears of rent, the assistance to factors and all others responsible for house-management, and the practical elimination of the seriously destructive tenant. House-Management and Occupancy. 279. This discussion on management makes it clear that we do not see our way to agree with our colleagues in attributing faults in the occupancy of houses almost entirely to their defective structure and position. We think that even after the new houses are provided, considerable work of an educa- tional nature will require to be carried on. The universal custom of sleeping in the kitchen in Scotland has brought with it a belief in the imimportance of further accommodation, and at times the neglect of such accommodation even when provided. (Dewar, 845 ; Frew, 2842 ; Braid, 3564 (29) ; Wilson, 4133 ff. ; Davison, 4655 ; Robb, 5000 ; M'Vail, 5278 ; Robertson, 6788-6956 ; Stevenson, 26,236 ; Smith, 28,498 ; Christie, 28,855 (3) ; Graham, 29,589 ; Sinclair, 34,700.) Such habits cannot be eradicated all at once, and we think that for long there will be a place for such a system of house- management as we have outlined above. The evidence seems to us to have established that in addition to lack of houses, and inability on the part of the householder to pay for increased accommodation, there has been evinced a quite definite indifference on the part of certain tenants — a want of desire for a better house which is the accompaniment of a low standard of comfort and is confirmed by the habits of a life- time. Further, we think that this class of the population is more numerous than is admitted by our colleagues. The One-Room House. 280. As regards the " one-room " house, we find ourselves obliged to make certain observations on the statement of the Majority in Chapter XL of their Report. We agree in considering that too large a pro- portion of the population live in one-room houses, and that from every point of view it is most undesirable that children should grow up in them, but we have difficulty in endorsing the definite conclusions which .our colleagues draw as to its effects on disease and death-rates. We admit at once that, as a rule, the death-rate of a community increases with the density of the population. But in our opinion, the facts adduced in the evidence are not sufficient to establish such a direct causal relation as is insisted upon by our colleagues. In order to reach such certitude it would be necessary to conduct a careful inquiry as to whether the lower wages earned by those who are physically and mentally inferior tend to make such persons drift towards a cheaper and dirtier type of house. Obviously, if this is so, such persons will be more susceptible to disease. Further, one would need to know the occupations of the tenants .of the smaller houses. If it be true that " trades with high mortality are trades of low wages," then those who work at such trades will be found living in the smaller and cheaper houses. And we should also need to know the " past physical history of the stocks of these phthisical individuals " and of those parents whose children die in such numbers before they are one year old. What is it that brings them to these small houses ? Have they drifted there because they were of a physically inferior stock ? (See Eugenics and Public Health, Pearson, pp. 18, 19.) As Professor Pearson points out, it would be 'interesting to discover and to make a tabulation of the cases of insanity, epilepsy, and imbecility in relation to the size of the house in which the patient had been living. 281. In this connection we may quote the view of Professor Glaister, Professor of Public Health, University of Glasgow, who says : " It is not the one-room house that does the mischief so much ; ' it is the fact that you have people in the one-room house whose conditions of life are hardest in the ' first place, semi-privation, it may be, or bad habits, — all these things react upon and cause the high ' death-rate that you have. There is a distinct field for the single-apartment house, and that is the ' view the Municipal Commission of Glasgow took." (23,602.) Dr Campbell Munro, Medical Officer of Health for Renfrewshire, in discussing the infantile death-rate for his district, also carefully dis- sociates himself from establishing any direct relation between it and the size of the house. " The death- ' rates mentioned," he says, " are not specifically associated with the one-apartment house ; they are ' essentially due to the poverty and the frequently degraded habits of the population which drifts into the one-apartment house." (37,870 (82) ; cf. Professor M. Hay, 41,334 (225).) It is also worth noting that if the connection between one-room houses and the birth-rate in certain towns is examined, very * C. Munro, 37,436 ; M. Hay, 41,501. t In many Soots burghs the average rent for a two-room house is from £7 to £9 per annum. (Keith, 1249 (4) ; 44,070 (13).) The family expenditure on liquor is very often much higher. {Cf. W. Fraser, 38,136 ff.) t Cf W. D. Williamson, 36,093 (14 f.) with Watson, 22,379 (6) ; 22,467 ; Aldridge, 41,807. REPORT. 407 startling results are reached. In Glasgow, at the time of the last census, the proportion of male children under one year old in one-room houses was almost twice that in the city as a whole ; while in Hamilton, in 1912, where the proportion of the total population hving in one-room houses was 18-7 per cent., the proportion of children bom in these houses was actually 56-5 per cent. (Keith, 1249 (30) ; Chalmers, 20,162.) But, while these are remarkable and disquieting social facts, and while they indicate that there is some relation between high birth-rates and life in the one-room house in the West of Scotland, we hardly suppose that it will be argued that the one-room house is an actual cause of the high birth-rate. 282. Further, we fully agree that a one-room house, or even a two-room house, is not a suitable place in which to treat a tubercular patient, but we have already made suggestions that housing for such sufferers should be specially provided, if their cases are not suitable for treatment in an insti- tution. We also think that a considerable extension of mortuary accommodation is necessary, as only in cases where there is spare room can there be really suitable and reverent care for the dead, and in the large proportion of small houses this must always be impossible. 283. We are not prepared to agree that " life in a one-room house is incompatible with family ' decency," and would point to the abundant testimony of witnesses in favour of the one-room house under control. It meets the need of elderly couples whose families have gone out into the world, and of single men and of old women ; of sisters living together in towns where there is a demand for female labour ; and we may add, as an instance of the indirect effect of some recent social legislation, Dr Campbell Munro's remark that " old-age pensioners have given a new lease of hfe to the one-room house, thus 'reUeving the poorhouse." (37,370 (49).) We consider that these cases represent the natural and normal use of the one-room house. Yet we do not exclude the possibility that it may form a quite satisfactory temporary dwelling for a young couple with one or two chilhdren of imder seven years — provided that it has suitable sanitary appliances and arrangements for washing. But we hold that such use should not become the rule for yoimg couples on marriage. One of the medical inspectors of the Local Government Board argued, it is true, that young couples starting in life in a one-room house obtained an opportunity to save money which they would otherwise miss, and that such houses often formed clean and comfortable homes. (Dewar, 764 (37) ; 837 ff. ; 951 ff. ; 995 ff.) But while this is doubtless at times the case, we do not consider that it forms an advan- tageous start in married hfe, as the vis inertkr. of custom is apt to keep those who start in one room from moving to a larger dwelling when this becomes necessary for the well-being of their children. (Cf. J. Wilson, 3997 (28).) Demand for One-Room Houses. 284. We cannot altogether accept the interpretation of the demand for one-room houses in Lanark- shire given by the Majority (Paragraph 682) — that it is simply a " marginal " demand, due to the extreme lack of houses, which renders married people glad to secure any kind of house. The evidence seems to us too strong that among a certain class both of proprietors and tenants there has up to the present been an actual preference for the one-room house. It is more profitable to the builder than a larger dwelling, and it thus has been argued that the demand for it is " artificial " and due to the abundant supply (J. Wilson, 3997 (30)) ; but it seems clear from the evidence that, at all events in the Clyde area, there is a class of tenant (though we believe a steadily diminishing class) wh^-prefers the one-room house because it enables him to spend less on rent than if he occupied a larger dwelling. (Report on the Housing of Miners in Lanarkshire, by Dr J. T. Wilson, 1910, p. 18 ; Forgie, 25,840 (71) ; H. Nicol, 27,749 ; G. Fraser, 31,115 (2, 3) ; 31,120.) This frame of mind offers a real obstacle to reform ; but the measure of restriction which we advocate, along with the advance in public opinion which is taking place year by year, will, we believe, result in the reduction of the number of famihes living in single rooms as fast as larger houses can be provided for their use. 285. The problem is a very large one, as in 1911 just \mder 400,000 persons were living in single rooms in Scotland, or 8-7 per cent, of the total population, while in Lanarkshire the proportion was 14-6 per cent. The restriction of the one-room house to what we believe to be its legitimate use would involve the dishousing of a very large number of its present inhabitants. This is a process which we desire to see carried out with all possible speed ; but there can be no gain, and there may be considerable danger, in pressing a policy of restriction ahead of the complementary and far more miportant task of reconstruction. 286. In any scheme of national housing it is necessary to keep in view not only the skilled and independent worker, but the labourer with intermittent earnings or with small regular earnings. All these under present conditions have a hard struggle to make ends meet. Their work demands little skill or inteUigence, and hence they are recruited from the least intelligent and the least educated section of the population, while the work they do is generally dependent on weather conditions, and thus the earnings are casual. In this class the women generally work or seek for work when the men have none — an important consideration in its bearings on the size of the house,— they do charring or washing or needlework for very little money, and as they bring no particular skill or persistent effort to what they do, the work done is of sUght value. The hardest time is till the children are free from school, when they immediately begin to make more than they cost and so increase the family income. In the previous chapter we have indicated that some system of aid will be necessary for the father of the large family in order that he should be able to provide sufficient accommodation for his children. We hope that such provision will only be a temporary necessity, and that the organisation of labour, coupled with a better system of education, will so improve the working man's efficiency that all such grants in aid can be abohshed. 287. No doubt the fact that people with good incomes and considerable famihes crowd into one- room houses constitutes a scandal, but the abuse of the one-room house cannot be taken in itself as an argument for its abolition. In our opinion, properly controlled, and for the use of a limited class, the one-room house has its place, and there would be considerable hardship were it done away with. The need at the moment is clearly for larger houses, and after these have been provided it will be possible 408 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. to estimate the number of one-room houses required to satisfy a legitimate demand. The following witnesses may be quoted in support of this view : — Dittmar, 340 (22), 532 ; Dewar, 764 (37), 837 ; Barclay, 2182 ; Frew, 2841, 2848 ; Robb, 4830 (23) ; Rutherford, 5699 (12) ; Cowan, 16,484 (3), 16,485, 16,522; Chalmers, 20,322; Glaister, 23,401 (43), 23,602, 23,634; Jack, 34,183 (32-34); Templeman, 35,836 (43) ; C. Munro, 37,370 (49) ; Kelso, 37,911 (27), 37,987. To which may be added the opinion of the Sanitary Inspector for Greenock, who says : " I am of the opinion that it ' would be most unfortimate for the poorer classes if one-room houses were prohibited " (33,207 (35)), and he points out that this would mean that many poor persons would then become chargeable to the parish. So also Dr Campbell Munro says : " I am a practical sanitarian, and I know that there is room ' for the one-room house." (37,443 ; c/. Mann, 21,378, 21,381.) 288. Thus our recommendation is to regulate the number of occupants of a one-room house, forbid it to be used as a family house where there are more than, say, two children under seven years of age, and at the same time increase the standard of cubic feet of air-space as suggested by the Majority. Even so restricted a programme as this may have indirect results on the birth-rate of our big cities, which are unexpected and undesired, but it would modify overcrowding and probably lead to better hygiene. Reservation regarding Overcrowdin— a system which seems expressly devised to waste the time both of officials and factors, — a standard rate of deduction should be fixed by each Local Authority every year, based on the number of vacant dwellings in the burgh as a whole or in certain representative portions of it, at a specified date or dates during the previous year. The overhead figure thus given would only be approximate, but the only property owners likely to sufier in the long rim by the imposition of such an overhead standard rate of deduction would be those whose property was unpopular for some more or less valid reason. If they or others failed to receive the full amount of rebate to which they are at present entitled, they woiild feel more than compensated for any slight loss by the saving of their clerlffl' time through the simpUfication of their accounts. If necessary, a distinction could be drawn between dwellings below £10 rental and those from £10 to £21, and a different rate fixed for each. Whether or not the suggestion is given effect to in this precise form, we contend strongly for the establishment of some simple and automatic standard of deduction for vacant dwellings in place of the present system. (D) Limitation of Bthldikg Loans. (Majority Report, Chapter XXVIII.) 486. From this point onward we follow the order of topics in the chapters in which the Majority develop their constructive pohcy (Chapters XXVIII. to XXXIII.). As we have stated our own views fully on the principal points at issue in Chapters IV. and VI of our Report, we confine our further state- ment to definite specific proposals or arguments in the Majority Report from which we find it necessary to dissent, including one or two matters of some importance not yet treated. 487. In Paragraph 1917 the Majority recommend that the income limit of those who are eligible to occupy dwellings built with the assistance of cheap loans from Government should be placed at £200, with poWer to the Central Authority to raise this limit further. We regard the suggested sum as quite too high. We do not consider that the State should assist in the housing of the less well-off professional or commercial classes, or of retired persons with small fixed incomes, many thousands of whom would be comprised in this definition. We bear in mind that it is the intention of the Majority that by far the larger part of the money advanced by Government would be expended by Local Authorities ; and we cannot agree that the ratepayers should be called upon to bear the financial risk, or that the officials of Local Authorities should give their time to the designing and managing, of houses to accommodate persons of small independent means, or even professional men who have not yet established their position. We think that the case would be met by extending the definition of " working classes " used by the Public Works Loan Board so as to include persons other than those specified, whose income does not exceed £3 per week. 488. In the same paragraph our colleagues make the further suggestion " that the Public Works ' Loan Board, on the advice of the Local Government Board, should have power to advance monies ' to pubhc authorities for houses to be provided for persons whose incomes exceed that amount," i.e. the income limit for the time. This represents a still further extension of the sphere of municipal building, and one of undefined magnitude. The object is "to enable a properly planned housing scheme to be carried through," and to prevent the imdue separation of houses for different classes. This is an object with which we are in the fullest agreement, but we cannot see that the method of attaining it proposed by the Majority is appropriate or necessary. Local Authorities now possess ample powers imder the town-planning clauses of the Act of 1909 to regulate the development of new suburbs and to arrange for the grouping of houses of various sizes sxii table for occupiers of different Incomes. Further, we agree with the Majority in recommending that they should receive extended powers for the purchase of building land on favourable opportimities occurring, and for the development of such land in the interests of the com- munity as a whole. We consider that along these two lines of action an adjustment of the housing needs of different classes can be fully provided for, and the concentration of houses of the same type in separate areas can be avoided, without the Local Authority itself undertaking the provision of large villas or mansions. {Cf. Paragraph 131 above.) A properly planned housing scheme does not necessarily denote one carried through from start to finish by municipal enterprise. (E) Housing Policy. (Majority Report, Chapter XXIX.) 489. This important chapter of the Majority Report covers the ground which we have already traversed in sections (C), (D), and (E) of our sixth chapter ; and there are only two points on which we think it necessary to comment further. (1) We consider that the proposal (Paragraph 1943) that the special grant for new housing should be " funded or earmarked, and that the difference between the house ' rentals and the total outgoings should be made up to the Local Authorities each year " contains an element of danger as not tending to encourage strict economy. It would be only on the completion of the valuation, recommended by the Majority at the end of seven years, that the financial commit- ments of the Government in connection with housing schemes would become apparent. " The difference ' between the cost of the houses and the ascertained value " would then be made good out of national funds. 462 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. But an important factor — probably the chief factor- — determining the latter would be the rents obtained for the houses, and there would be an undoubted inducement in the interval to reduce these to meet the wishes of tenants, since the whole loss would, at the end of seven years, fall on the national exchequer. We gravely doubt whether the power assigned by the Majority to the Central Authority for the over- sight and approval of rents charged by Local Authorities would prove at all adequate to meet this in- evitable tendency. Our own recommendation (Paragraphs 344 f£. above) appears to us to avoid the double danger of giving a large cash grant at the outset, and of accumulating an obligation of indeterminate amount which the Government will have to meet after a period of years ; and we consider that it would hold out a greater inducement to economy on the part both of Local Authorities and other recipients of loans than the proposal of our colleagues. 490. (2) The elaborate argument advanced by the Majority in criticism ot our proposals in Chapter VI. above depends largely, in our judgment, upon their identification of " private enterprise " with the special methods of the " speculative builder " (we use the term not in a derogatory sense, but as repre- senting a certain well-understood method of building finance). The speculative builder has been accustomed in many cases to work with small capital, and has trusted to disposing rapidly of the houses which he built before proceeding to further operations. In certain cases he has secured his profit by the imposition of a ground annual ; but, as we have made clear in Chapter II., Paragraphs 99-101, this is a method of finance which we consider socially inexpedient, and which would be brought to an end by the limitation of building density, even if there were no other obstacles in its way. But we cannot admit that all private enterprise is tied to this particular method of the rapid turnover of a small initial capital. There are the other forms of non-municipal building which we enumerated at the opening of Chapter VI. In the case of miners and rural workers (the special subjects of our remit), the employer and landowner have been accustomed to provide a very large part of the necessary housing. There are also the copartnership movement, and the various methods of securing occupying ownership. We believe also that, while in the cities the speculative builder as defined above has produced a large pro- portion of existing houses, in many of the smaller centres — and to some extent doubtless in the cities also — the builder has worked to the order of a bona fide investor who has built a small group of houses, frequently with the intention of occupying one of them himself. 49L Thus, while we are not unaware of the difficulties of financing every form of building which will occur after the war, we take at once a wider and more hopeful view of the future of private enterprise than that of the Majority. We also think that they have failed to recognise the probability that con- ditions will gradually become more normal even during the period of Reconstruction, and that certain of the chief handicaps at present preventing private enterprise will grow less pronounced. We do not contemplate that the conditions at the conclusion of peace will necessarily remain the same for many years thereafter ; and we contend that " private enterprise " in the wider sense may step by step advance, even though the old forms of speculative building do not revive. (F) Administrative Reforms. (Majority Report, Chapters XXX., XXXI.) (1) Standard of Accommodalion. 492. We are in general agreement with the recommendations of the Majority in the opening paragraphs of Chapter XXX., that the new houses to be built in the Reconstruction period should, as a rule, consist of three rooms with suitable conveniences, since we consider that there is a marked deficiency of houses of this standard in many parts of Scotland ; and also with their suggestions regarding a standard of habitability. As regards the former point, we have already expressed our views of the one-room house in Paragraphs 280-283 above ; but in regard to houses of two apartments (Majority Report, Paragraph 1999), a word of explanation seems necessary. 493. We recognise that there are far too many two-room houses in all the large centres of popula- tion, and for use by families we wish to see them gradually superseded ; but we also consider that the recommendations for the more rigid control of overcrowding advanced by the Majority in Chapter XII., and the proposed raising of the standard of cubic space, will, if they are strictly carried out, bring about a revolutionary change. Thus we cannot see that it is necessary to multiply regulations and restrictions by forbidding the erection of two-room houses in all save exceptional circumstances. It appears certain that for some time to come there will be a strong demand for a proportion of two-room dwellings in newly developed villages or industrial centres ; and we suggest that the end in view will be attained if, in addition to the powers regarding overcrowding recommended in the Majority Report, Chapter XII. (c/. Paragraph 289 above), Local Authorities are empowered to limit the proportion of two-room houses in any group of dwellings proposed to be erected. (2) Powers of Central Authority. 494. We consider that more than one proposal in this chapter (XXX.) illustrates our contention that the Majority's poMcy is one of over-centralisation, and that too extensive powers are assigned to the Central Authority. This appears to be the case in regard to the compulsory adoption of water schemes over districts large enough to include thc-areas of several Local Authorities. We approve of the principle of a national water survey, with a view to the avoidance of waste and overlapping in future ; and we have no doubt that it will be followed by various joint-schemes, such as the Loch Bradan scheme in Ayrshire, in which several burghs and one, or more than one, county district will co-operate. But we do not think that such co-operation can be forced on an unwilling Local Authority, imless by a special Act of Parhament, since the matter is at once much larger and more complex than the provision of a joint hospital — ^the precedent cited by the Majority. We think that the powers of the Local Govern- ment Board in this matter should be hmited to requiring the Local Authorities affected to enter into a conference. If the scheme presented were equitable and generally advantageous, it would presumably command general assent ; while a Local Authority which had proved obstructive in such a conference REPORT. 453 would have great difficulty in obtaining the consent of Parliament to any scheme which it might after- wards bring forward on its own accoimt. 495. The Majority also propose that a sum of money should be set aside to assist Local Authorities in the task of slum clearance. We have grave doubts both as to the necessity and the wisdom of this proposal. If the modifications of the procedure in the assessment of compensation mider Parts I. and II. of the Principal Act, which we concur in recommending, are carried into effect, the cost of slum clear- ances will be very considerably diminished. Indeed, with a freer and more drastic use of Closing Orders, it will largely disappear. In any case we cannot concur in recommending that such grants should be apportioned at the vmfettered discretion of the Central Authority. (3) Control of Tenement Property. 496. Chapter XXXI. of the Majority Report deals with the complex and difficult subject of the control, or in extreme cases the demohtion, of dwellings in tenement property. We agree with the first recommendation made, in the case of a tenement which is entirely the property of one owner ; and we also agree generally with recommendations (2) and (3), which provide machinery for terminating divided ownership in cases where one owner is willing to place his houses in a habitable condition, but the other owners are unable or unwilling to do so. But we consider that, in the case provided for by the second recommendation, the proposed machinery is imworkable, since it provides that, when such habitable and uninhabitable houses hf.ve, for structural reasons, to be demolished together, the owner or owners of the former should receive compensation for the value of their property from the owner or owners of the latter. But in the case supposed the owner of the uninhabitabl; house has had his property com- pulsorily closed without compensation. From what source, then, will he obtain the sum necessary to compensate the owner of the habitable portion of the tenement ? He may indeed have other sources of income — though this is in the last degree micertain — but qua house-owner in this particular tenement, his capital and revenue have vanished together. We thus consider that in this case the Local Authority should compensate the owner of the habitable dwellings, and that it will frequently be able to recover a large part of the sum paid in the form of " betterment " from the owners of the surrounding properties. 497. We cannot accept recommendation number (4), as we consider that in many cases the restric- tions on the number of dwelhngs entering from a single stair which are rightly enforced in the case of new tenements, are incapable of immediate application to old tenement buildings. We are fully aware of the urgency of the matter ; but we consider that the Majority are needlessly dupUcating machinery for deahng with a single problem, and that the powers suggested in Chapter VIII. of their Report (with which we are in agreement) for the reconstruction of old tenement property on a proper plan approved by the Local Authority will result in its steady and progressive solution. (G) Question of Housing Appeals. (Majority Report, Chapter XXXII.) 498. We feel it necessary to dissent at several points from the recommendations of the Majority regarding appeals on various questions arising out of the administration of the Housing Acts. We contend that as far as possible a line should be drawn between administrative and judicial work, and that the functions of the Central Authority for Housmg — the Local Government Board for Scotland — should be confined to the former. For this there are various strong reasons. It is one of the fundamental principles of the constitution that the ordinary administration of the law should be kept distinct from its interpretation in cases of dispute. Not only the private citizen, but Departments of State and even the Crown itself, have to defend their actions when challenged in the Courts of Law ; and it is one of the essential rights of the private citizen that he has this appeal to an impartial authority against any administrative action which he may hold to be illegal. 499. It is a further point of importance that appeals, whether to the Sheriff or the Court of Session, are dealt with in public. The arguments on both sides are stated in open court, and not only has the unsuccessful party an opportunity of knowing in detail on what grounds the case is decided, but any important decision which might form a precedent for the future is reported, and becomes available to inform the pubUc as to the exact state of the law. The Majority lay considerable stress on the appar- ently inconsistent interpretations of the Public Health Acts adopted by different Sheriffs (Majority Report, Paragraph 2103) ; but while we do not overlook these, we wish to point out that similar incon- sistencies may arise between the opinions of officials even of the same department. 500. Thus we are strongly of opinion that, wherever the interpretation of the law is the chief point in dispute, it is both in the pubhc interest and in that of the individual citizen or Local Authority or other body whose interests are affected, that the appeal should be dealt with in the courts of law and that the judicial function should be separated as clearly as possible from the administrative. The Majority apparently take the view that, since certain judicial or quasi-judicial duties have already been assigned to the Local Government Board, the distinction for which we contend may safely be abandoned altogether. But we cannot assent to this view. Indeed we consider that the maintenance of this distinction becomes more rather than less important with the assignment of new and increased powers both to Local and Central Authorities. 501. We further differ from the Majority in so far as they minimise the importance of the argument used by the legal member of the Local Government Board that the relations of co-operation between the Local and Central Authorities would be endangered if the Board were called on frequently to pro- nounce in a judicial capacity upon the actions of the former. (Macpherson, 201, quoted in the Majority Report.) Where drastic action was necessary, Mr Macpherson expressed his preference for an appeal to the Court of Session. The same principle, appUed on a smaller scale, is defended by the Medical Officer of Health for Renfrewshire, who stated that the Local Authority in that area was accustomed to proceed against insanitary houses under the PubUc Health Act, since they preferred to bring their case before the Sheriff and secure a pronouncement from him, rather than issue a Closing Order themselves. Dr Campbell Munro also stated that in every case which he had taken up in Renfrewshire the Local 454 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Authority had been successful. (Campbell Munro, 37,371, 37,381.) We are fully aware that the experi- ence of certain other Local Authorities has been less fortunate ; but we think it worth while to point out that more than one of the cases which have caused the greatest difficulty and on which the Majority lay the greatest emphasis have arisen in populous districts, which are really burghal in character, but in which the Local Authority has been obliged to proceed under the sanitary provisions of the Pubhc Health Act, which are admittedly inadequate for congested areas. 502. We admit the difficulty of drawing an absolutely clear distinction between the different types of appeal. On the one side of the line are the appeals which chiefly turti on matters of fact, such as the sanitary condition of a particular house, which can be more speedily and uniformly determined by an official of the Local Government Board than by a Sheri£E or Judge who in default of personal experience is dependent on the evidence of expert witnesses. Contrasted with these are appeals in which the chief point at issue is one of the interpretation of the law, or the competence of a certain course of adminis- trative action, and these we hold to be proper subjects for debate in open court and for a decision by a legal authority. Consequently, while the Majority recommend that appeals on all the chief questions arising or hkely to arise out of the Housing Acts should be concentrated in the hands of the Local Govern- ment Board, we submit the following division of appeals into two distinct classes. 503. (1) Appeals involving matters of fact or of routine administrative action which, we agree, can safely be assigned to the Local Government Board : — (a) Appeals aga,inst decisions of Local Authorities ordering the closing or demolition of houses and appeals under Parts I. and II. of the Principal Act. (b) AppUcations and appeals connected with the control of common lodging-houses and farmed-out houses. (c) Appeals regarding the formation of special water, drainage, scavenging, and hghting districts. (2) Appeals which we consider should be taken to the Sheriff : — (a) Those regarding the competence of new bye-laws proposed to be enacted ; or of require- ments regarding the erection of new houses or buildings under such byelaws. (b) Appeals against the requirements of Local Authorities for the provision of increased sanitary accommodation. (c) Appeals against proceedings of Local Authorities for the removal of nuisances under the Public Health Act. (d) Appeals against requirements of Local Authorities for the improvement and mainten- ance of private street and footpaths. (3) There remain two classes of appeal mentioned by our colleagues, of which those relating to the compulsory acquisition of land for pubhc health and housing purposes should, in our view, be decided by a special land tribunal (see Chapter II., Paragraph 144 ff. above) ; and apphcations to have Local Authorities required to carry out statutory duties, which, on the grounds stated, should, we consider, lie to the Court of Session. 504. We feel a certain hesitation in expressing an opinion on the recommendations of the Majority regarding the point at which an appeal by way of " stated case " should be competent. This is one of a large class of technical legal matters which, we hold, should be dealt with in a general revision and codification of the Housing Acts. Regarding this important] task we have two recommendations to make :— (1) That a careful survey of the whole field should first be undertaken by a special small conomisson of experts in Housing Law. (2) That a main object to be kept in view is that the Acts apphcable to Scotland should be as far as possible freed from the present hampering and confusing dependence on Enghsh law and precedent. (H) Water-Supply and Sanitation in Landward Districts. 505. A large portion of Chapter XXXII. of the Majority Report on Administrative Improvements deals with powers relating to the introduction of water and sanitary appliances into houses in landward areas. We fully recognise that in the improvements of farm-servants' housing the question of water- supply is one of great importance, since many of the existing houses have been placed with little regard for distance from the nearest source of supply. In some parts of Scotland water is never introduced into cot-houses ; and it seems clear that the Public Health Act (section 125) does not give adequate powers for this end, even where there is an adequate supply. In consequence of the neglect of this matter in the past, water has often to be carried 150 yards, while in certain extreme cases the distance is as much as 400 yards. This constitutes a genuine hardship, and one of the Medical Inspectors of the Local Govern- ment Board said that he had found a close connection between the amount of water used for domestic purposes and the nearness of the supply. (Dewar, 764 (43-7), 1085 f . ; C. M. Douglas, 2729 ; M'Connachie, 14,301 (6) ; A. H. Hamilton, 36,166, cf. Roberton, 40,915.) Thus it seems clear that the sites of all new cottages should be largely determined by the possibihty of securing an adequate water-supply close at hand, by well or pump if gravitation water cannot be obtained. 506. The case of old houses is less simple. If-a water-main passes near, and water is not introduced into the dwellings, it is inevitable that a sense of hardship should arise. (Ogilvie, 35,083.) It would, on the other hand, be unwise to minimise the difficulties in some parts of the coimtry of finding water in sufficient quantity and at levels which will permit of its ready distribution. We concur in the recom- mendation of our colleagues that a survey of watersheds and catchment areas should be made, so as to prevent wasteful and competing schemes by different Local Authorities ; but, while the problem may in certain districts be solved along these lines, there are others where the cost appears to be almost prohibitive. In a new scheme described by the Sanitary Inspector of Kirkcudbrightshire, the estimated rate amounted to 28. in the £ ; while in certain districts in East Lothian, where the estimated expenditure has been greatly exceeded, water-rates have gone up to 3s. and even 5s. in the £. (G. Reid, 3314 ff. ; REPOET. 466 Wintrup, 13,325 ff. ; Logan, 30,341 f. ; Elder, 30,451 fE.) It should also be borne in mind that these rates in special districts form a burden over and above the ordinary coxmty rates. 507. Witnesses in other districts spoke of the great obstacles interposed by the conformation of the ground and other natural characteristics. (M'Harrie, 28,341 ; Christie, 28,855 (9) ; A. Grant, 29,024 ; M'Caig, 30,544 ; Fenwick, 31,703 ; Duff, 31,797 fE. ; Paxton, 32,790 fi.) Further, the introduction of water has in many instances proved a most expensive matter for proprietors. On one farm in Forfar- shire, rented at £640, the introduction of water for farmhouse and cottages cost over £2000 ; while in the case of two small schemes for the supply of four and seven crofts respectively on an Aberdeenshire estate, the amount expended equalled about four years rental. (Cobban, 29,142 ; Swan, 31,492 Q. ; cf. Logan, 30,341.) We think that these cases may be taken as representative of the expenditure necessary where water must be brought to a farm or farm-cottages from some distance away. On the other hand, we do not attach great importance to the objection that the actual introduction of water from a main just outside the house to a sink within the house involves the provision of a simple drainage system. (Roberton, 40,920.) For, as some provision must in any case be made for the removal of slop water, even if it is only a gully grating at the corner of the cottage, the extra expense of providing for the removal of water from the sink would not be serious. We also consider that, outside special water districts, where there is a private supply belonging to the owner of the cottage and passing within 100 yards of it, the Local Authority should have power to require the introduction of water within the house. 508. It will thus be seen that the question is one of some complexity, and we desire to emphasise the principle which we consider ought to guide administrative requirements of this kind. It is that the funds available for the improvement of housing in Scotland after the war should be applied in such a way as to bring sufficient accommodation within the reach of the greatest possible number of families. We consider that the greatest needs are that all existing inhabited houses should be made weather-tight, and that serious structural defects should be remedied ; and also that in new houses the standard of accommodation should be raised, so as to provide a sufficiency of houses with not less than three apartments for the larger families. Improved sanitation is also an urgent need, and in the burghs much has been done to supply it, as is shown in the Majority Report, Chapter IX. But in country districts forms of sanitation which are rightly regarded as inadequate in the towns may meet the needs of the inhabitants ; and without involving any real deprivation may enable dweUings to be provided and maintained at a very much lower cost than if water, a water-closet, and possibly a bath were introduced into every house. 509. Our colleagues recognise that in some cases difficulties of water-supply may form an insuperable obstacle to the introduction of water. But, if we understand their position rightly, they would only consider that a definite physical obstacle — such, for instance, as the impossibility of finding water at a high enough level to be introduced by gravitation — should stand in the way of the introduction of water or sanitation by water carriage. But we maintain that the element of cost must also be taken into account. In the case of the more isolated cottages this may be so serious as to amount to a considerable proportion of, or in extreme cases to several times, the value of the cottage itself. In such cases there is a danger that a too drastic application in rural districts of requirements which are justified in burghs may result in the closing and disuse of houses that are otherwise perfectly habitable. Thus, if the sanitary standard is raised too rapidly and without sufficient regard to rural conditions, we fear that the unintended result of this action may be further to reduce the number of dwellings available in the more sparsely populated districts. As we have stated in Chapter VII., we consider that the distance from which occupants of farm-cottages and other rural workers are situated from a water-supply is often excessive and unjustifiable ; but, on the other hand, we hold that many such workers would prefer to carry water a moderate distance rather than run the risk of losing their dwellings, but wherever a water-supply can be put into a house at a reasonable cost it should be done, and if that cannot be done it should be as close to the house as is possible at a reasonable cost. And we are convinced that the use of the powers pro- posed to be given to Local Authorities in landward areas, if they were applied without regard to the relative value of the cottage and of the improvements demanded, would often leave the proprietor no option but to close the dwelling. ^ Length^of Notice Required. 510. A further difficulty in rural districts is that considerable unnecessary expense may be caused unless different jobs of the same kind on the same estate can be grouped in such a way as to avoid bringing tradesmen from a distance at frequent intervals. It is thus even more necessary than in populous districts for work to be planned well in advance ; and we thus think that the proposal of the Majority to extend to landward districts the provision of the Burgh Police Act that proprietors should only receive a month's notice for the introduction of water is too drastic, although we should approve of the reduction of the period required by the Public Health Act from a year to six months. We consider, however, that in the case of water taken from a private supply, a year's notice is not excessive {cf. Paragraphs 272-607 above), as special arrangements might have to be made for the increase of storage reservoirs. Introduction of Sanitary Appliances. 511. The Majority propose to strengthen the provisions of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, section 246, so as to make the enforcement of the provision of a separate water-closet for every dwelling in burghs, special drainage districts, and other districts where a drainage scheme is available obligatory on Local Authorities, unless in exceptional cases. While we agree that the powers in special drainage districts should be the same as in burghs, we consider that the clause should still remain an empowering one rather than be made compiilsory. Keeping these various considerations in view, we hold that the powers contained in the Burgh Police Act, section 246, should be extended to those rural areas which form water and drainage districts. But it shoxild be kept in view in applying them that, in the case of isolated houses, even within such areas, there may be difficulties of site and subsoil which may hinder the construction of adequate drainage and cesspools. It is also a point of importance that a water-cloaet 456 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. can seldom be satisfactorily introduced within an old house, while those placed outside are very liable to damage by frost. In such cases, if properly constructed and kept, a dry-closet is often preferable. (C. M. Douglas, 2726 ; Oliver, Lyle, and Bartie, App. CLVI., 14, and cf. Paragraph 47 above.) (J) Miscellaneous Recommendations. (1) Introduction of Baths. (Majority Report, Paragraphs 2134-6.) 512. The observations made above regarding the need for a general and steady rise of standard, rather than the provision of a few houses with the most complete and modern equipment, applies particularly to the introduction of baths. If unlimited capital were available, we should heartily agree to this proposal. But, while in Chapter VI. we have expressed our conviction that very large sums must be forthcoming if the housing needs of the country are to be met after the war, we cannot agree that questions of cost can be ruled out altogether. We do not think that the time has come for the pro- vision of baths to be made compulsory. The type of bath which tenants feel most satisfactory, and which our colleagues apparently recommend, is one with a high-pressure boiler and circulating system. But this involves a heavy first cost, and charges for maintenance and repairs are apt to be heavy also, unless tenants are particularly careful in their use of these conveniences, while in rural districts such expenditure mounts up very rapidly (see Paragraph 47 above). The method adopted at Kirkconnel oi placing the bath in the scullery might be adopted, with the washing boiler placed high enough to allow the hot water to flow into the bath (see Majority Report, Paragraph 910). We have been struck during the period of our inquiry with the rapidly growing demand in this respect ; and we are satisfied that it is now strong enough to influence the providers of new dwellings, wherever the supply of water and the position of the house warrant the additional expenditure involved in a separate bathroom and high-pressure boiler, and where tenants are willing to pay an additional rent proportional to the cost. Thus, we do not think that special powers need to be given in this respect. (2) Application of Byelaws to Alterations. (Majority Report, Paragraph 2146.) 513. While we approve of the general idea of the Majority that Local Authorities should have powers to regulate the reconstruction of existing houses as well as the building of new houses through appropriate byelaws, we consider that byelaws regulating reconstruction would need to be very carefully drawn up, and that standards appropriate in the case of new buildings could not in all instances be rigidly enforced. E.g. in the case of a large apartment in an old dwelling under reconstruction, while it might be necessary to raise the ceiling, it might be impossible to do so to the full height of the ordinary byelaw standard ; or while an enlargement of the window might be called for, it would very probably prove impossible without prohibitive expense to enlarge it to the extent of one-tenth of the floor area of the room. Thus we hold thai such byelaws governing reconstruction should be confined to matter affecting structure, sanitation, lighting, and ventilation, and that the discretion of Local Authorities and their officials in applying them should be fully safeguarded. (3) Byelaws Regarding Maintenance. (Majority Report, Paragraphs 2170 f.) 514. A similar qualification applies to the proposal that byelaws should be adopted and enforced regarding the maintenance of houses, so as to secure the prompt repair of defects detrimental to the comfort and well-being of the occupants, but not necessarily dangerous or injurious to health. If such byelaws can be devised, we should approve of their adoption ; but they would make it more necessary than ever for sanitary inspectors and other officials of the Local Authorities to consider the convenience of proprietors, and to avoid forcing needless expenditure by recurrent complaints on small matters (see Chapter V., Paragraph 272, and Paragraph 510 above). (4) Control of Sites of Demolished Houses. 515. In the case of houses which have come ujider a Demolition Order, we consider that the Local Authority should have power to acquire the property at its site value plu^ the, value— if any — of the materials contained in the disused building. In that case the Local Authority would imdertake the duty of keeping the site in a tidy condition, and we believe that such a method of procedure would result in a very considerable public improvement in certain districts of our towns and cities, while it would provide Local Authorities with a means of obtaining open spaces for small playgrounds or other uses and at very moderate cost. 51 6. We prefer not to express an opinion on several of the recommendations made by the Majority in this chapter, especially those on the discharge of trade effluents into sewers, the submission of plans of bakehouses, milk-shops, etc., to Medical Ofiicers of Health, and the provision of means for carrying away drip from bridges, as also the recommendation regarding the upkeep of public rights-of-way. All of these subjects appear to us to lie somewhat outside even our extensive remit. Nor are we satisfied that a case has been made out for bringing schemes by Local Authorities which may bear in some degree on public health under the review of the Local Government Board in cases where the Local Authority does not apply to the Public Works Loafi Commissioners- for a capital advance. 517. In so far as appeals arise out of the questions of sanitation, etc., just dealt with, these para- graphs of our Report are to be read in conjunction with Paragraph 503 above. (K) Revision op Administrative Areas. (Majority Report, Chapter XXXIII.) 518. We fully recognise the importance of securing a sufficiently large administrative imit to ensure the efficient carrying out of the Housing Acts. We agree that many of the smaller Scottish burghs, and also certain of the smaller and poorer coimties and county districts, have insufficient rateable values to bear the burden of necessary improvements in sanitation and cognate matters, and that they REPORT. 457 caniiot at present obtain the services of skilled full-time officials. Thus we consider that the principle of combination which, as the Majority point out, has already been successfully applied in certain branches of Public Health administration should be extended. 519. We feel it needful, however, to point out the different aspect which this question will assume according as the Majority's policy or ours is eventually adopted. Thus, if the responsibihties of Local Authorities for the actual provision (as distinct from the administrative control) of houses are to be greatly extended so as to cover a large proportion of the housing of the working classes, and even of persons with moderate fixed incomes (Majority Report, Paragraph 1917), serious conflicts of interest may not improbably arise in the composite areas suggested. The case is difEerent from that of an infectious diseases hospital, where the combination of areas promotes efSciency and economy with no corresponding drawback ; but there could hardly fail to be difficutlies in rating (e.g.) a purely agricultural area for the improvement of insanitary housing or the provision of new houses in small burghal com- munities engaged in industry or fishing which might have been merged in the same County District. 520. But for the proper execution of the policy which we recommend, in which the efforts of Local Authorities will as far as possible be conserved for the task of administration and control, and for work preparatory to the actual provision of houses, we consider that a considerable enlargement of the smaller adininistrative areas is necessary. Hence we consider that, in the case of areas of under 20,000 popula- tion, the power of requiring combination for Public Health and Housing purposes should be granted to the Local Government Board, but that larger areas should not be merged without the authority of Parliament. Rkcommendations to Chapter X. Damage Through Svbsidence. (1) We do not recommend any change in the law as regards existing feu-charters, in which the superior is relieved from the obligation to compensate for damage caused by subsidence consequent on mining operations ; but we agree with the Majority that there should be an obligation on the superior to compensate the feuar to the extent which they suggest in the case of all future feus and building leases. (Paragraph 467.) Seasonal Trades. (2) We recommend that, when a Local Authority calls upon a tenant-farmer during the currency of his lease to provide additional accommodation on his farm for potato-diggers, under the powers which we agree with the Majority in advocating, there should be an obligation upon the farmer to pay interest for the remainder of his lease on half the capital outlay at the rate fixed for the time being by the Com- missioners for Fixing the Rate of Interest on Landed Estates in Scotland ; unless the extended culti- vation of potatoes forms a new development, not contemplated at the beginning of the tenancy, in which case the farmer should pay interest on the whole outlay. (Paragraph 468.) (3) We recommend that where housing for berry-pickers or similar seasonal workers is provided to the satisfaction of Local Authorities, they should gi-ant the occupier providing the buildings the five- eighths remission of rates usual in the case of agricultural buildings, or, alternatively, should levy rates only for the portion of the year during which the huts or dwellings are in actual occupation. (Paragraph 469.) House Letting Act, 1911. (4) We recommend that, in all burghs in which the House Letting Act, 1911, is in force {a) every notice of rent for dwellings coming within the scope of the Act should contain a separate column showing the proportion of the total payment which is attributable to rates ; and (6) (to simplify the procedure for obtaining the return of rates paid for houses which have been vacant for part of the period for which the rates are levied), a standard rate or rates of deduction on account of empty houses should be fixed annually by each Local Authority, based on the number of small dwellings vacant in the burgh during the preceding year. (Paragraphs 484-5.) Limitation of Building Loans. (5) We recommend that the grant of loans imder the conditions specified in Chapter VI. of our Report should be limited to dwellings occupied by members of the " working classes " as specified in the definition at present employed by the Public Works Loan Board, except that the income Umit should be raised from £2 to £3 per week. (Paragraph 487.) Standard of New Houses. (6) In addition to the powers for the regulation of one-room houses and for the control of the standard of new houses already recommended (Paragraphs 288-9 above), we recommend that Local Authorities should be specifically empowered to Umit the proportion of houses of two apartments in any new build- ing scheme. (Paragraph 492.) Powers of Central Authority. (7) We consider that, in the combination of districts for the purpose of providing joint water schemes for several Local Government areas, the Central Authority should have powers to require all Authorities concerned to confer regarding the advisabihty of such joint schemes, but that, if agree- ment is not reached voluntarily, the enforcement of such a scheme on a Local Authority objecting to it is a matter for action by Parhament. (Paragraph 494.) 458 ROYAL COMMISSION ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. Compensation in the Case of Jointly Owned Tenements. (8) We recommend that, where the general condition of a tenement is such as to demand the demohtion of the block ^s a whole, and where certain houses within it are habitable, or the owner is prepared to render them habitable, the Local Authority, before issuing a Demolition Order, should compensate the owner or owners of the latter on the basis of the present value of the houses, as restricted by all legislation in force for the prevention of overcrowding and other forms of nuisance. (Paragraph 496.) Housing Appeals. (9) We recommend that appeals arising out of the administration of the Housing Acts and the PubUc Health and Burgh Police Acts, in so far as they affect housing, should be dealt with by the Court of Session, the Sheriff, or the Local Government Board, according to the classification set forth in Para- graph 503. Revision of the Housing Acts. (10) We consider that there are many technical points of law {e.g. that regarding the point at which an appeal by way of " stated case " should be competent) which would be more suitably dealt with by a small expert committee than in a Report such as the present ; and we recommend that such a Com- mittee should be appointed at an early date to consider the whole question of the form of the Housing Acts, with a A^ew to their complete revision and codification. (Paragraph 504.) Water-Supply and Sanitation in Landward Districts. (11) We recommend that, in exercising the powers which we agree should be conferred on all Local Authorities for the approval of the sites of new houses, Local Authorities should make the existence of a good and sufficient water-supply at or close to the house a primary consideration. (Paragraph 505.) (12) We recommend that the power conferred by the Burgh Pohce Act, 1892, on Local Authorities to require the introduction of water and water-closets into dwelhngs, should be extended to all areas comprised in special water and drainage districts ; but we consider that the clause should remain an empowering one rather than be made compulsory. (Paragraphs 507, 511.) (13) We recommend that, outside such special districts, the Local Authority should have power to require the introduction of water into any house situated within 100 yards of a water-supply or main belonging to the owner of the house ; and in this case we consider that a year's notice may be given in order to give an opportunity to make arrangements for any necessary increase of the supply ; but that in aU other cases outside burghs the period of notice should be reduced to six months. (Paragraphs 507-510.) (14) In other cases, outwith special water districts, not covered by recommendation (14), we con- sider that the Local Authority should have power to require the introduction of water, provided that this can be done at a reasonable cost, i.e. at a cost not disproportionate to the value of the house. (Paragraph 509.) Introduction of Baths. (15) While we strongly recommend that the promoters of housing schemes in populous districts where there is a clearly expressed demand for the provision of baths, should supply them, we do not consider that this is a matter which calls at the present time for the granting of compulsory powers. (Paragraph 512.) Byelaws Regarding Alterations on and Maintenance of Existing Houses. (16) We approve in general of the Majority's suggestion regarding the institution of byelaws to control alterations in existing houses, and to provide for the adequate maintenance of existing houses ; but we are of opinion that such byelaws would need to be very carefully framed and to provide for sufficient latitude, especially in the reconstruction of old dwelhngs, so that the burden thrown upon the proprietor may not be disproportionate to the benefit to the tenant. (Paragraphs 513-4.) Control of Sites of Demolished Houses. (17) We i-ecommend that Local Authorities should be granted powers to require the demohtion of all compulsorily closed or ruinous properties ; and, faihng this, to acquire the building at its site value, plus the value, if any, of the materials contained in the building, and should thereafter be empowered to use the site as an open space or for any pubhc purpose. (Paragraph 515.) Enlargement of Administrative Areas. (18) We recommend that the Local Government Board should be empowered to require the com- bination for pubhc health and housing purposes of administrative areas whose population at the time is under 20,000 ; but that larger areas should only be combined with the express sanction of Parhament. (Paragraphs 518-520.) Note on the Suggested Abolition of the Standing Joint Committee in Counties. 521. The Majority, in Chapters IV. and XXXIII. of their Report, recommend that the above body should now be abohshed. We do not consider that the evidence is sufficient to support this recommenda- tion ; since the only witness who referred to the matter (the County Clerk of Lanarkshire) stated that, while apparently an anomalous feature in Local Government, the Standing Joint Committee had in his experience worked well in practice. (Munro, 27,688.) REPORT. 469 Conclusion. 522. In bringing our Report to a close, we feel that it is needless to repeat the general statement of OUT position which we gave in our opening paragraphs, and also in more detail in Chapter VI. of our Report. But we wish to express once more our sense of the extent, the gravity, and the urgency of the housing problem in Scotland, and our profound conviction that only a great national effort will prove adequate to solve it. We believe that such an eflort may best be made along the lines of co-operation between public and private enterprise which we have endeavoured to lay down. We also desire, as the Majority have already done, to express our sense of great indebtedness to the Secretary, the Assistant Secretary, and the clerical staff of the Commission for their zealous and un- wearied labours in a task which has proved to be one of no small magnitude. (Signed) LOVAT. HELEN L. KERR. G. F. BARBOUR.* CHARLES CARLOW.t llth September 1917. * Subject to Reservation on p. 460. t Ibid. 460 ROYAL COMMISSION^ ON HOUSING IN SCOTLAND. si" RESERVATION BY Mr G. F. BARBOUR. On the question of compensation for damage through subsidence caused by mining operations, I find myself in agreement with the argument of the Majority that such modified compensation as they suggest should be extended to existing feuars, as well as to those who may feu land for building after the passing of fresh legislation. It appears to me to be made out with sufficient clearness that many of the former class did not in fact possess full freedom of action in accepting a form of contract in which they renounced all right to compensation for damage through the lowering of the soil, since in certain districts land for building could only be obtained on these terms. Consequently, I consider that they are entitled to compensation to the extent of two-thirds of the actual cost of repairs. (Signed) G. F. Barbour. llth September 1917. RESERVATION BY Mb CHARLES CARLOW. I desire to make the reservation in connection with the recommendations as to housing in the crofting districts, that as I was unable to accompany the Commissioners when they visited the Outer Islands, and not having given the close attention to that subject which its importance demands, I am not to be held as concurring in any of the views expressed thereon. (Signed) Charles Carlow. nth September 1917. /- Printed under the authority of His Majesty's Stationery Office By Neiix & Co., Ltd., Edinburgh. 50m-7,'16 m 00933 1 /^T UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA UBRARY