NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Shannon News, 7 May 1926, Page 4

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

ROOKERIES AND SLUMS HOUSING IN SCOTLAND The British Government has decided to arrange for the construction of 2000 steel houses in Scotland as a partial remedy of the appalling slum conditions there. This decision appears to be timely according to a statement by Captain W. B. Elliot, M.P. Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health, who posseses a unique knowledge of the subject. The general situation in Scotland was Reviewed, said Captain Elliot, to a London journalist, by tlie Royal Commission of 1917, and the housing problem even at that time presented as grave a social problem as has ever faced a nation. ‘Superimposed upon this,” he said, ‘‘is the housing crisis, which has manifested itself both in England and Scotland since the war. '

‘‘The roots of the special Scottish problem extend far back. The uhr stable conditions led to the development of what. might be termed thte Contintent type of building, as against the English type—that is to say, masses of high tenement buildings wherein the public huddle together for security and comfort. In .Robert Louis Stevenson’s early writings you will find an account of the falling down of a 10 storied tenement in Edinburgh which was ancient in his day. No Sanitary Arrangement “It is scarcely posible to conceive the state of sanitation which exists in these great, gaunt rookeries, devoid of any sanitary arrengements whatever; and, indeed, the cry . ,of ‘Gardy Loo, has passed into a provdrb —the old warning shout of the housewives, taken from the French ‘Gardez l’eau,’ with which the housewives wefe wont to preface the hurling of the domestic slops from a five or it might be a six-story window. "The narrowness of the streets, again, was as much a military as a social phenomenon. The town oi Dumfries is at present faced with the clearing away of a humber of slums which were built purposely and Intentionally so close to one another that the houses could be chained together at night; the chain thus stretched forming an excellent barrier against midnight forays.

“To the terrible tradition thus started came the great swarming populations of the industrial revolution. The position again differed'from that in England. The new factories of England were filled from the countryside of England itself. In Scotland, however,, and especially in the West, the enormous industrial de- ' velopment, just across the water from the agricultural population of Ireland, led. to a tremendous influx of Immiganfs, whose names are still a feature of our new life. “These masses of the new population were housed at the time to a very large extent in houses of an altogether lower grade than the corresponding poulation in England. Eleven per cent, of the houses, are of one room, and over 50 per cent, are of one and two rooms. That is not to say two bedrooms, but two apartments or one apartment, in which the whole of the activities of the family are carried out, from the cradle to the coffip. There is, of course, simply no parallel to this at all in England. , “Under the various housing scheme? a number of houses have been erected; but i v t is still doubtful whether we have ever reached the point ot keeping pace with the, annual . wastage, to say nothing of eating into the accumulated deficit, as has now begun' in England. “The Government has determined not to fritter away money and time in petty schemes of a few scores of houses. They have accordingly taken ,a bold step. A block' order of 1000 Viouses will be placed forthwith with Messrs Weir, and another thousand jvill be placed as conditions determine. It would seem impossible that any-’ pne should—l will not say hahg back—fail to co-operate in the most wholehearted fashion in supporting this step.

“It- will have very great advantages both tor the local authorities, for the crowded populations, and for the unemployed, for it must not be forgotten that this is also a constructive step |in utilising the services of the men now constantly idle, since 90 per cent, of those employed must be out of the ranks of the building trade. “The steel houses have now had a year’s trial. We have the verdict of the housewives upon them. They have carried through their daily round in thCm, both in the past summer’s heat and the present winter’s cold, and they are satisfied. There are 60,000 idle men in Glasgow city alone. There are only just over 6000 men in local .authority building. There can be only one slogan for all parties in Scotland today—and that is, ‘Full steam ahead.’ ’’ 1