subsidence. We brought the matter to the notice of the Royal Commission on Mining Subsidence, and suggested that the Local Authority be invited to give evidence on the conditions in their area. Commission have agreed to this suggestion.

ACTION FOR DAMAGES AGAINST LOCAL AUTHORITY
AS HOUSE-OWNERS..

The

An action was brought against a local authority by the parent of a girl who was alleged to have injured herself through falling over a stone projecting from an uncompleted access road to the housing scheme. The action was against the local authority in their dual capacity as landlords of the houses and road authority. It was dismissed under both heads, and the local authority were found entitled to expenses. Being unable to recover these they requested that the amount should be allowed as a charge against the housing scheme. We were unable to agree to any part of the expenses being so charged, and we added that if insurance were effected to cover claims of this nature the premiums would fall to be met out of the percentage allowance for supervision and management.

INSURANCE AGAINST CLAIMS FOR DAMAGES.

A local authority raised the question how claims for damages sustained through the falling of a ceiling in any of the houses erected by them under the State-assisted housing scheme should be dealt with, and whether insurance policies should be taken out to protect local authorities against the possibility of accident claims.

We replied that the question was one for determination by the local authority themselves, and that if the local authority decided to insure, the premiums would have to be met out of the 5 per cent. allowed for supervision and management.

ACQUISITION OF GROUND BELONGING TO PARISH COUNCIL.

Owing to the difficulty of obtaining a suitable site for eight houses which the local authority of a county district proposed to erect, the parish council offered to feu to the county council a piece of ground which formed part of a public park. It was ascertained, however, that in the titles under which the parish council held the ground there was a condition prohibiting the selling, alienating or burdening the same or any part thereof; and the question was raised whether, in order to overcome the above restriction, the county council should not promulgate a compulsory order for the acquisition of the ground under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. We pointed out that Section 45 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc. Act, 1909, precludes compulsory acquisition for the purposes of Part III. of the 1890 Act of any land which is the property of any local authority, and that in our opinion the expression "any local authority" as used in Section 45 includes a parish council and is not. limited to local authorities charged with the administration of the Housing Acts.

OBSTRUCTIVE BUILDINGS.

A medical officer of health asked how he should proceed to deal with an obstructive building so situated as to render other buildings. almost uninhabitable, and enquired particularly whether the powers given to local authorities under the Housing Acts to deal with buildings of this nature applied to uninhabited as well as inhabited buildings. In reply we referred him to the terms of Section 38 of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, as amended by the Second Schedule to the Housing, Town Planning, etc. Act, 1909, and stated that, while the question was one on which the local authority should be guided by the town clerk as their legal adviser, we were advised that the above Section applied to both inhabited and uninhabited buildings.

SALE OF HOUSES.

Enquiry was made by two local authorities as to the price at which we would be prepared to consent to the sale of houses erected. by them under the 1919 Act. After consultation with the Valuation Department of the Inland Revenue, we intimated to the local authorities concerned the prices we would be prepared to approve. The prices, though less than the actual cost of erection of the houses, were such as in the event of a sale would involve no increase in the amount of the State contribution under the assisted scheme. In both cases we stated that we would require to be satisfied that the houses were not being sold to persons for seasonal occupation only. So far as we are aware no sale has yet been effected.

Proposals were submitted by a Local Authority (Edinburgh) for the erection by them of houses to be sold under the powers conferred on them under Section 14 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc. (Scotland) Act, 1919, and Section 6 of the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1920. The terms and conditions of sale were to be briefly as follows:

(1) The occupier on entry to pay £100 (or such sum as might be arranged) to the local authority, and the remainder of the cost of the house, less the subsidy under the 1923 Act, to be paid by equal instalments of principal and interest over a period of about 20 years.

(2) The house to remain vested in the local authority until the whole amount was paid, when a heritable title would be given to the occupier.

(3) The occupier from the date of entry to be responsible for repairs, owner's rates and taxes and all other owner's obligations.

We agreed to the local authority's proposals, and sanction has been given to the erection of 29 houses on land acquired for housing purposes under the 1919 Act.

We are pleased to report that during the year one Local Authority (Glasgow) was able to proceed with a scheme for the erection of houses without financial assistance from the State. Under this scheme 220 semi-detached houses-20 per cent. of three apartments,

40 per cent. of four apartments and 40 per cent. of five apartmentsare being erected by the Corporation under Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, and will be sold on the terms and conditions set forth in an assisted house purchase scheme framed under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899. The estimated cost of the three types of houses was £500, £580 and £670 respectively. The terms of purchase as set forth in the scheme are briefly as follows: The purchaser will be required to pay £100 in cash and to grant a bond in favour of the Corporation for the balance of the actual cost of the house. The bond will be paid up in half-yearly instalments of principal and interest over a period of 20 or 25 years at the option of the purchaser. The purchaser as owner of the house will be liable for landlord's taxes and rates.

GAS SUPPLY TO HOUSING SITES.

The local authority of a county district had erected or were in course of erecting 144 houses on two sites which were within the area of supply of a city corporation gas department, but which were outwith the municipal boundary. The gas department refused to lay the necessary gas mains to the sites unless their conditions and terms, which involved a substantial contribution by the local authority towards the cost of the mains, were agreed to. The gas department insisted on the adoption of their method of laying the mains and service pipes-a method which our technical advisers did not consider necessary; but, if adopted, the gas department were prepared themselves to meet two-fifths of the capital cost involved, leaving the local authority to meet the remaining three-fifths of the

cost.

The rents of the houses had been fixed by the local authority and approved by us on the understanding that gas would be supplied to the houses. Grave dissatisfaction at the lack of gas supply was expressed by the tenants of the houses that were finished and occupied, and the position was that if gas was not supplied the rents of the houses would have to be reduced. A reduction in rent of 10s. per house per annum, in respect of the lack of lighting facilities, had been fixed. by the Rents Tribunal for the houses of another local authority. For the two sites referred to above the local authority were prepared to meet the capital payments asked by the gas department towards the. laying of the gas mains, etc. if we would agree to the local authority retaining 10s. per house per annum from the rents of the houses in liquidation of the capital payments involved.

We placed the full facts before the Treasury and they agreed to an arrangement on the above lines in view of the wholly exceptional circumstances, and of the fact that the housing sites were outwith the municipal boundary and that there was no obligation on the gas department to supply the necessary mains. We regret that in these. matters gas authorities have not seen their way to follow their almost invariable pre-war practice, which was, we understand, to extend free of charge their mains to housing developments. In the absence of powers to compel them to do so, the only alternatives appear to be to accept terms which are not considered reasonable or to let the houses without gas.

BYE-LAWS.

We confirmed bye-laws relating to the provision of facilities for washing and drying clothes framed by the Burgh of Rutherglen.

Interpretation of Sections 21 and 31 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc. (Scotland) Act, 1919.

Section 21 (1) (a) of the Housing, Town Planning, etc. (Scotland) Act, 1919, provides that where in pursuance of a housing scheme new buildings are erected in accordance with plans and specifications approved by us, the provisions of any building regulations shall not apply so far as they are inconsistent with the approved plans and specifications. In reply to a question from a local authority whether this provision for the relaxation of building regulations was applicable to water supply bye-laws, we stated that while the matter was one in which the local authority should be advised by the town clerk, we were of the opinion that the expression "building 1egulations" as defined in Section 31 of the above Act is wide enough to cover water supply bye-laws whether made by water commissioners or other body.

V.-POOR LAW AND PUBLIC ASSISTANCE.

Poor Law.

GENERAL.

The year 1923 has continued to be one of difficulty for parish councils, especially in parishes in industrial areas. Not only have these parishes had to provide for the destitute able-bodied unemployed (a special problem with which we deal later in this Report), but, as stated in our last Report, they have had in the past few years to afford ordinary poor law relief under the Poor Law Act, 1845, to a considerably increased number of persons as compared with pre-war years. This requires little explanation. It is the natural result of widespread unemployment, and it will no doubt in a diminishing degree continue to be a feature of the poor law situation for some time after the exceptional depression in trade has passed. Whether the enforced acceptance of poor law relief by large numbers of persons who hitherto had never required assistance from public funds will be found to have had a demoralising influence can at the moment be little more than a matter of conjecture. It is probably true that a certain number of persons who are disabled for work and who hitherto would have struggled along on an entirely inadequate income, being indisposed to apply for poor relief because of their antipathy to the "taint of pauperism," will be little inclined to relinquish relief to which they have become accustomed, but in saying this we are not to be taken as subscribing to the pessimistic view that after a long period of compulsory idleness work will have become profoundly distasteful, and that the number of "work-shys" will be considerably increased.

Considering the large numbers on the rolls of poor, the number of statutory complaints as to inadequate relief made to us is not unduly great, and we conclude that, in spite of the temptation to parsimony caused by the existence of high local rates, parish councils in general have made use of the discretion vested in them with substantial justice to the poor under their charge. We have observed with regret, however, the tendency of a few to apply too rigidly a scale of relief, not only for the able-bodied unemployed, in respect of whom perhaps it is inevitable, but also for the ordinary disabled poor. Where large numbers are being relieved, it is no doubt necessary to have a scale of relief to be followed in normal cases; but while we are aware of the argument in favour of close adherence to a scale on the ground of administrative simplicity, we feel nevertheless that much of the value of a sympathetic handling of poor law problems is lost if a certain measure of individual consideration and treatment is not given. The objections to a rigid scale are accentuated where, as in one or two cases with which we were called on to deal,