42.— RECOl'PMEXT AND BETTERMENT. 



By Basil Williams, M.A. 



The subject I have chcseu for m} paper, " Recoupment and 

 Betterment," was suii;gested to me by a Commission on which I ha\e 

 been sitting for several months in Johannesburg, and I may; say at 

 the outset that my object in this paper is more to suggest discussion 

 that to put forward a solution of the difficulties involved in the ques- 

 tion. 1 think i^erhaps, if I detail a few of the circumstances which 

 led to the appointment of that Commission, it may make the subject 

 of my paper clearer. Twenty \ears ago-, where Johannesburg is now, 

 was simply (jjjen veldt, the highest and perhaps the healthiest table 

 land in South Africa, and yet this Commission has been 

 sitting solely to discuss the question of how to get rid 

 of an area about as foul and unwholesome as any tOi be found in the 

 worst slums of London. It seems extraordinary that in a region, 

 w-here one would imagine that people had a limitless expanse to- build 

 on, and where there was not the slightest excuse for overcrowding, 

 such a state of tilth and overcrowding should have arisen as tO' make 

 it necessary to consider the question of how to get rid of the plague 

 spot. Yet within less than a quarter of a mile from the 

 centre of one of the three most important towns in South Africa, 

 there is an area about two miles square covered with refuse heaps, 

 with cesspools almost interchangeable with the wells, and with 

 crowded alleys occupied by huddled masses of humanity, reeking 

 with garbage and latrines. 



The question that had to be considered was how tO' get rid of 

 this plague spot, and the answer suggested to and approved by the 

 Commission was to enforce compulsory jnirchase of the whole area. 

 One of the points which arose in considering whether the area sh(juld 

 be expropriated or not, was, should only the insanitary and irremedi- 

 able parts be expropriated, or should any of the inter\"ening and ad- 

 joining projierties, which might happen to be quite sanitary in them- 

 selve.s, be also purcha.sed ? In explaining the ])osition I should recall 

 the fact that the area in question is within a quarter of a mile of the 

 centre of the town. It also adjoins the Goods Station of Johannes- 

 burg, a locality admirably suited for warehouses and factories. There 

 was therefore every probability that proprietors of property perfectly 

 sanitary in itself, which happened to be inside the area or immedi- 

 ately adjoining it, would, supposing the area were expropriated, pro- 

 perly drained and decently built over, immediately receive a greatlv 

 enhanced ^"alue for their property. The problem tO' be solved in this 

 connection was how far the owners of such properties should be 

 allowed to profit from a public undertaking originated in 

 the interest of the whole community which wouUl result in an im- 

 mediate increase in the value of iheir nwn propertv. As T remarked 



