HOUSING PROBLEMS IN ENGLAND

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 64, 8 December 1937, Page 10

HOUSING PROBLEMS IN ENGLAND

— ■■ -rw» Tenants Who Use Baths ior COAL-BINS SHORTAGE OF DOMESTICS "To a certain extent the eForts of the authorities are iiullified by the ignoranfee and inability of the people themsdlves to appreciate and enjoy the bettei- conditions whi,ch are being provided theto," said Mr W. Briiisley, Registrat of the Hastings Soidiers' Memoi'ial Hospi.tal, wheit referring to the houSiiig schemes in ogei'ation in England as noted by him during his recent tour abtoad. "A good number of the people of a certain class have not been able to adapt themselves to the new: and better conditioiis that have been providedj" he said. "This is evidenced in the Oxperiences of several of the authorities who. have come across people who used the bath for the storage of coal. Through the lgnorance of the people really nice houses were shamefully treated and damaged. Floors were taken up and the tiruber used for fireWood, and skirting boards and even portions of the waP.s were pulled down. "It is a matter of ediucbting the people, and, unti'l there is some imptovement and greater appreciation, the authorities have foUUd it advisable to provide concrete floors and ceilings and orflaments for these slum-dwellers," he said. ' As showing the need for edflcating the peoplg to the change of ideas and of living conditions it Was noted at oue place, for example, that the whole family went out to Work, including old women— some of them grandmothers— leaving their houses to be cleaned up upon theif return." This Was the positioii at Redditch, said Mr Brinsiey. Here was a great needle maUufactui'ing toWn Und for generations past the people, particularly the girls and womeil, had been so acclistoiiied to wotkiflg in the factories that they continued to do so even though they were almost qualifying for the oid-age pemsiOn. Though admittedly some of these workers were very efficient, their coutinued determination to work alohgside the younger mernbers of the family and community only intensilied the unemploymeut problem. "Such a position applies to many other old-established industries in Ehgland and it is oue of the big problems that have tb be solved," he shid. "There is alsO a tendency for overcrowding tO be perpetuated by the very igiiorante Of the people theinSelVeS," COlitinUed Mr Brinsiey. " Although houses have been ereeted and let at Very reasonable rentals— fefltals well within the capacity of the teliants to pay — they will not pay any more than they had been used to paying in their old dilapidated tenements and consequently they sUb'let or have other t'amilies in the one house. While this teduces the rental it only leads to o'vercrowding, tho very thing that the authorities are seeking to avoid and overcomc. ' ' One important factor that has had a big influence on the building trade is that Of the domestic Servant shortage. "This is very acute in the Old Country and a big number of people have been forced to vacate beautiful, but big homosj to smaller residences and even flatS) solely oecause it is impossible to obtain domestic assistance," he said. Quite well-to-do people had been obliged to leave their big houses vacant or B6ll them at ridicuiously low values, because they could not niaintain the necessary attention to them. This led to setting up liome in smalier, but more modern houses, and also to increased popularity of flats, of which there were huge bloeks being ereeted, espeeially in the industrial areas. I An added ineentive to the popularity of the flats, added Mr Brinsiey, was the reluctance of a number of people to travel too far between their koines and their places oi employment,