CONDITIONS OF WFE AND WORK AMONG THE FORESTS 89 



ter but for summer. In these huts 471 forest labourers were lodged in 

 eight}^ rooms, of seventy five of which we have descriptions. All the huts 

 had windows and generally the}' were heated by open fireplaces. As sleep- 

 ing accomodation there were usually recesses or beds, but in twenty-one 

 rooms there was only a common camping place. Draughts were a subject 

 of complaint in 53.3 per cent, of the rooms, cold in 46.7 per cent., damp in 

 5.3 per cent and smoke in 2.7 per cent. The percentages are much higher 

 than in the case of the farms. On an average six persons slept in one 

 room which meant that they were ver>' closely packed. Each person en- 

 joyed on an average 3.3 square metres of floor space and 6.9 cubic metres 

 of air .Onh' 0.2 per cent, of all the workmen so lodged enjoyed 20 cubic 

 metres or more of air and 7.5 per cent, from 10 to 20 cubic metres. For the 

 others, that is 92.3 per cent., the allowance of air was less than 10 cubic me- 

 tres a head, and therefore there was incontestable overcrowding. 



As regards the temporarj^ forest huts they are of many types determined 

 by the various needs of forest labour and local custom. Beliind these lo- 

 cal variations several principal types can be discerned. The eldpall or fire 

 hut is a wooden hut with a roof sloping to a central pitch wliich has in the 

 middle of its room an open hearth {eldf>all), a sort of rectangular box made 

 of tree-trunks and furnished with sand and earth, on either side of which 

 are common camping places. The chimney-hut is a charcoalburner's 

 hut for from two to four men and has long, sloping walls, covered with earth 

 or other substance, a stone or brick chimney at one end, and one or two camp- 

 ing places beside the walls ; or in some cases it has straight walls, and a big 

 fireplace against one wall or in a corner, which therefore draws better than 

 the fireplaces of fire huts. Of the 521 forest huts inhabited when the local 

 enquiries were made 52.2 per cent, were fire-huts and 47.8 per cent, chim- 

 ney-huts. Of the 4,821 labourers lodged in huts 67.8 per cent, and 32.2 

 per cent., respectivel}^ dwelt, in huts of the two types, the greater percen- 

 tage inhabiting the fire huts because each of these housed on an average 

 twelve persons, while the average chimne^'-hut, which was onlj^ half as large, 

 housed only half as many. 



Such temporary dwellings as the forest huts, intended to be used 

 only for a short time, were usuall}' more or less good or bad according 

 to the period at which they were built. Three hundred and three or 58.2 

 per cent, of them were old, dating from the time of earlier tree-fellings, 

 and had hardly been brought into a habitable state, while 218 or 41.8 per 

 cent, had been built for the tree-felling of the current year. 



It is noteworthy that only 26.1 per cent, of these new huts had been 

 built in summer — 73.9 per cent, in winter — , although if building be begun 

 after the soil is frozen it is almost impossible to make warm dwelhngs wliich 

 are not draughty. The building of forest huts in winter is generally, espe- 

 cially in the northern departments, not undertaken by an owner on his own 

 soil ; but follows on the annual sales of standing timber by the State at the 

 end of the autumn. Complaints on this subject have not been barren of 

 results ; and steps have recently been taken to time the sales so that they al- 



