A NEW IDEA IN HOMES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 227, 18 June 1908, Page 5

A NEW IDEA IN HOMES.

According to ; tlio "Guardian," an important experiment in housing has just been inaugurated in Paris, where .'within the -last few weeks two blocks of workmen's dwellings, or a type'so far unknown in Groat Britain, have-bee,n opened for occupation. EacH. of, the. flats of which tho buildings aro composed contains a large, well-lighted atelier, or workroom, supplied. not only, with gas and water, but with electric power, generated ;in the basement. _ The rest of the flat consist of a small kitclicn, anteroom, and two good-sized rooms. Tho walls of staircase, ateliers, and 'kitchens are tiled with,white, and the living-rooms are painted and ! papered in light colours, the whole effect being charmingly bright and pleasant. Among the tenants who have already taken possession are polishers, > diamond-cutters,. metal-engravers, and turners. Bon-hons are being mado in one flat, arid" in another tho centre of tho workroom is occupied by a machine which is pouring forth yards of soft web-liko tissue to'bo converted in, duo soason into stockings for the thousands of , smart dolls sent but. yearly " by one Paris house 1 alone." Husband and wife aro both ' engaged, in thio - manufacture, while their growri-up daughter, with the help of a sew-ing-maohino, _is rapidly adding to a pile of fantaisic's—airy trifles of lace and muslin in : the fabrication 'of which the Frenchwoman has no rival: Home work is here seen $ its best. The machinery is the property of the worker, who obtains at a fair price the power necessary to keop it going, if he wishes, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Apart from'this ho can regulate his own hours, and the enjoyment of home life, in a degree unknown to tho factory-hand, is his if he likes. But though the rent of the "atelier-logements," ranging froiu SOOf. to 740f. a year, brings them within the roach of any skilled artisan,- it is obvious that they are not likely to be tenanted by those who are not also steady and thrifty.