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State assistance. The policy continued to work smoothly and, in the rare cases where intervention was necessary, we were able invariably to devise means whereby the prices could be reduced to approved amounts.

The long continuance of the industrial dispute, with the consequent increases in the prices of certain building materials, seemed to augur a rise in tender prices, but happily any foreboding in this respect was not fulfilled. Realising that increased prices due to the dispute were probably of a temporary nature, we were not prepared to revise the maximum prices, especially as the number of houses already contracted for and under construction was so great that most local authorities could afford to delay inviting fresh tenders until normal conditions were restored. That is what actually happened, and in consequence the later months of the year shew a slight fall in the number of houses under construction by local authorities.

A number of the tenders submitted during the year were for houses of special forms of construction. The advantages of these special forms lie, however, not so much in their cost as in the speed with which they can be erected, and the relief they afford to those trades where the available skilled labour is already taxed to its full capacity. So far as tender prices are concerned, the policy of the Board has been to approve those so long as they were not in excess of the prices ruling locally for ordinary forms of construction. In one or two instances special prices were approved where a few houses were being built for experimental purposes, or where it was demonstrated that the alternative materials to be used were costing more than the ordinary materials.

The following table shews how the price of a house is made up according to trades, and the percentage of price which each trade bears to the all-in price. For the purpose of this illustration typical tenders have been selected from those received during the year from an area in the industrial belt of Scotland for two popular types of houses, viz. :-flats of two and three apartments with scullery, bathroom and the usual offices.

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It will be observed that the difference in the total price between the flat of three and the flat of two apartments is only £24, although the former affords 50 per cent. more habitable accommodation. Usually the difference is somewhat greater, but this small difference is not exceptional, and suggests that the larger flat is much better value for the money. The tender price for the plumber work is actually higher for the smaller flat. This is due in this particular case to the plan, but it has to be pointed out that the price of plumber-work in a house, a relatively heavy item, does not vary according to the size and type of the house, because whatever these may be the house has the same bath, basin, water closet and other fittings. Where the difference in tender price between three and two-apartment flats has been relatively small, we have represented to the local authorities concerned the better value of the former.

14. Steel Houses: Government Scheme.-In the last Report reference was made to the Government's decision to undertake the erection in Scotland of 2,000 houses of the steel type. These houses are now in course of erection through the agency of the Second Scottish National Housing Company (Housing Trust), Ltd. This Company has a share capital of £100,000 subscribed by the Exchequer. A proportion of the capital expenditure involved will be obtained on loan from the Public Works Loan Commissioners, and the balance on loan from the Exchequer. An agreement has been entered into between this Department and the Company providing, inter alia, for approval of expenditure and rents.

Contracts for the whole of the houses were entered into early in the year and were apportioned among three firms, viz. :The Cardonald Housing Corporation, Ltd. (1,000 houses); Cowieson's, Ltd. (500 houses); and the Atholl Steel Houses, Ltd. (500 houses). A table shewing the allocation of the various types at the different sites is printed in Appendix II. Stated shortly, 750 of the houses are being built in Glasgow, 350 in Edinburgh, 300 in Dundee, 200 in Greenock, 100 in Clydebank, 50 in Hamilton, and 250 in the Middle Ward District of Lanarkshire.

At the close of the year the Housing Company had taken over 794 houses from the Cardonald Corporation, Ltd., 500 from Cowieson's, Ltd., and 72 from the Atholl Steel Houses, Ltd. Of these 460, 296 and 52 respectively were available for letting. The difference between the numbers taken over and those available for letting is partly due to the fact that the above firms did not contract for all the works incidental to the occupation of the houses (e.g. fencing, services, streets, &c.), and these have, of course, to be executed before tenants can be installed...

Until the houses have been completed and the accounts adjusted, the all-in capital cost of the scheme cannot be given, but in round figures it is estimated at one million pounds. The above building firms contracted only for the houses (including

foundations), and their prices varied from £357 for a flat of three apartments to £390 for a cottage of four apartments.

The rents have been fixed according to type, accommodation and locality. They range from £21 per annum for a three-apartment bungalow in the Middle Ward of Lanark to £28: 10s. in Edinburgh for a similar type, and from £22 in the Middle Ward for a three-apartment flat to £28 for a similar type in Edinburgh. The four-apartment cottages are let at £34. Generally there has been a keen demand for these houses, and they have let readily. Tenants have expressed themselves as well satisfied with the comfort and convenience of the houses.

15. Slum Clearance Schemes.-During the year five Improvement Schemes were confirmed. These were for the burghs of Anstruther-Easter, Dumfries, Falkirk, Queensferry and Renfrew. Details of these schemes will be found in Appendix III.

The local authorities of the burghs of Aberdeen, Glasgow, Fort-William and Kirkcaldy also submitted Improvement Schemes. The local enquiries into the two last-mentioned schemes had not taken place at the conclusion of the year; but the Aberdeen and Glasgow schemes had been duly investigated and reported upon, and it was decided to confirm both schemes, subject to certain modifications which were in course of being adjusted at the close of the year.

The Aberdeen scheme embraced 317 occupied houses besides other premises, situated in three main areas in or near the centre of the city, and will effect a considerable improvement. The Glasgow scheme comprised over 1,000 houses, all of which it is proposed to demolish, the tenants to be accommodated in new houses to be erected in other parts of the city. This is the second scheme of the kind promoted by the local authority of Glasgow within recent years, the first scheme having been confirmed in 1923. The two schemes embrace over 3,000 houses, and together represent a substantial commencement of the work of dealing with the worst of Glasgow's insanitary houses, the number of which has been reckoned by the sanitary officials to be about 13,000.

16. Conditions in Glasgow Slums.-The Commissioner appointed to hold the local enquiry into the Glasgow scheme made reference in his report to the appalling conditions of the houses and of the persons residing in them. "It is impossible," he said, "to draw any picture which could adequately describe the conditions under which we found human beings living in practically the whole of the houses which we inspected. There were, it is true, differences in degree, but all were hopelessly unfit for habitation." Again he says:-" The majority of the houses were dark, many of the tenants having to burn gas all day, winter and summer. Large numbers of tenements were built in the middle of hollow squares, hard up against high buildings on all sides, with no proper ventilation or light. Damp was present everywhere, the walls and ceilings in a large number of houses being literally soaking. Everywhere we noticed an almost total

lack of sanitation, conveniences being few and for the most part out of repair, and in some cases leaking down the stairs and even into the houses. . . . Dilapidation is rife throughout the areas. Ceilings are falling down, woodwork is rotting away, there are holes in the walls of houses through which the street can be seen, and the plaster-work of the walls is loose and broken. The houses are a hunting-ground for vermin of every description. Fleas, of course, abound, but we found also that practically every property we inspected was absolutely bug-ridden. The tenants complained that they could get no peace from these pests, which drop upon their faces and crawl over their persons and beds at night, and which fall into their food during the day. The food itself will not keep in many of these tenements . . . owing to the damp and verminous condition of the holes in the wall in which it is kept. In addition to the insects which I have mentioned we found evidences of a perfect menagerie of animal life, including lice, rats in great numbers, mice, cockroaches, snails, and even toads. Can it be wondered that such places breed an unhealthy and discontented population? Crowded together, we found as many as eight persons living in one small house, cold and damp; neither adults nor children have much chance of health. Vital statistics do not prove much, but I was painfully struck by the information which the tenants gave me repeatedly of having recently lost one, two or even three children, of relatives in hospital and of continued ill-health, all of which were attributed by them very largely to the conditions in which they lived. Such is the problem with which the city is faced."

17. Number of Local Authorities proceeding with Slum Clearance Schemes and number of Houses involved.-Including the local authorities of the burghs of Fort-William and Kirkcaldy, whose Improvement Schemes had still to be enquired into at the end of the year, the number of local authorities who have proceeded or are proceding with schemes with assistance from the Slum Clearance Grant is 37, and the total number of houses to be closed or otherwise dealt with is 10,153. The total number of houses to be provided in place of these is 9,596, comprising 9,432 new houses and 164 reconstructed houses. The total number of houses completed at the end of the year was 4,376, and 2,512 were under construction. The number of houses that have been closed was 4,433.

18. Rehousing of Slum Dwellers.-The houses provided by those local authorities who were the first to proceed with slum clearance proposals have now been sufficiently long in occupation to enable a general idea to be formed as to how the tenants from the slum areas are conducting themselves in the new houses, and whether they are reacting to their improved conditions and surroundings. For this purpose one of the housing Inspectors was instructed to visit a number of representative schemes. The Inspector visited in all about 350 houses in schemes of ten different local authorities. No previous notice was given of the

intended visit, and the Inspector therefore saw the houses under more or less normal conditions.

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19. Conditions in the New Houses.-The Inspector reports. that the proportion of bad tenants in the different schemes varies considerably, but taking the schemes visited as a whole, I found that the proportion of really bad tenants did not exceed 12 per cent. Out of a total of 350 houses visited 62 per cent. were well kept; 26 per cent. were, however, only in fair condition as regards cleanliness; while 12 per cent. were definitely very dirty, and were obviously kept by very careless tenants, who did not appear to be making any attempt to live up to the new accommodation provided." In certain of the smaller schemes the percentage of good tenants was found to be remarkably high, between 80 and 90 per cent. of the houses visited in these schemes being very satisfactory. A marked improvement was noticeable in the appearance of the tenants, who were obviously making an endeavour to adjust themselves to their improved accommodation and surroundings.

20. Need for regular inspection.-In other schemes, however, the relatively high number of dirty houses, and houses bordering on that condition, was disappointing, but it seemed to the Inspector that, with a firmer control and proper management, there was no reason why this high proportion of dirty houses should not be reduced. In alluding to this aspect of the problem, the Inspector stated that if a proper standard of occupancy was to be attained, something more than the mere collection of rents and attention to repairs was necessary, and referred to cases where the appointment of a resident caretaker had been productive of beneficial results. The practice of some sanitary inspectors in making frequent visits to those tenants who were inclined to be dirty was also commended.

21. Baths not misused.In view of statements which have frequently been made as to the misuse which tenants who have not been accustomed to the use of a bath would be likely to make of it, the suggestion being that it would be used for the storage of coal or other articles, it is of interest to note that in none of the houses visited was it found that the bath was being utilised for any such purpose. In most cases the tenants highly appreciated the accommodation and conveniences provided, and one tenant went so far as to say that the bathroom in itself was "worth half the rent."

22. Sub-letting.-A disquieting feature in some of the places visited was the amount of sub-letting that had taken place. In their conditions of let, most of the local authorities had prohibited the practice, but in spite of this a number of the tenants were found to be sub-letting part of their houses. Except with the express consent of the local authority, the practice is one which should not be permitted, and the matter has been taken up with the various local authorities.

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