DISCOVERY 



261 



It is a very remarkable subject, and the results of 

 further research in it will be awaited with interest. 

 * « * « * 



Dr. Dawson Turner, of Edinburgh, has written 

 Lieut. -Col. Crawley, one of our contributors, regarding 

 a point in the early history of wireless telegraphy. 

 On p. 207 of Discovery, Col. Crawley had written: 

 " This coherer action was enunciated by Professor 

 Branly in France in 1890, and a coherer itself was first 

 used for laboratory experiments by Sir Oliver Lodge 

 in this country in 1894." The experiments of Sir 

 OUver Lodge are usually mentioned as being the 

 first practical work carried out with coherers in this 

 country. As a matter of fact, in 1892 Dr. Dawson 

 Turner showed Branly's coherer experiments in an 

 improved form to Section A of the British Association, 

 and at this and other meetings a little later, made 

 use of the coherer to ring an electric bell and so act 

 as a burglar alarm. Sir Oliver Lodge saw Dr. Turner's 

 experiments at this time, and borrowed some of the 

 pwwders he was using. 



The Housing Problem 



By W. S. Purchon, M.A., A.R.I.B.A. 



Head of the Department of Architecture and Cioic Design in the 

 Technical College, Cardiff 



It is perhaps not unfitting that an article on Housing 

 should appear in Discovery, for while housing troubles 

 have been with us a long time, the problem is one of the 

 most serious of those now confronting us, and novel 

 methods are being adopted in tackling it. 



For years before the war serious investigators had 

 drawn attention to the facts that large numbers of the 

 houses built in our towns in the first half of the last 

 century, when workers were crowding to the new works 

 and factories, were of such a type and packed so closely 

 together as to be a menace to the welfare of the com- 

 munity, and that most of the dwellings erected in the 

 second half of that century and in the earlier part of 

 the present one, notwithstanding, and in some cases 

 actually because of, increasing stringency of by-laws, 

 were arranged without inspiration and with little or no 

 consideration of the amenities of life. 



It is often urged that the people make the slums, but 

 experience of back-to-back houses leads one to marvel 

 at the struggle which many of the tenants are making, 

 against heavy odds, to keep their little homes as clean 

 and pleasant as possible. 



The problem was a big one before the war, and un- 

 fortunately it was not tackled in a big way. In fact 



the grave shortage of houses is not only due to the 

 stoppage of building during the war, but also to the 

 rapid decline in house construction which developed in 

 the preceding years. 



It is less difficult to grasp the facts if one town is 

 taken as an example, as the figures for the whole 

 country' are somewhat bewildering. This town — 

 which need not be named — is more or less typical of 

 many of the manufacturing centres ; in some the 

 problem is more serious, in others less. It has a popula- 

 tion of about half a million, and contains approximately 

 100,000 houses. Of these some 16,000 are of the well- 

 known " back-to-back " type, and a further 8,000 are 

 considered by those well qualified to judge to be more 

 or less insanitary', making 24.000 houses which ought 

 to be replaced as soon as circumstances permit. Owing 

 to the two causes prcNdously mentioned, there is an 

 estimated shortage of 6,000 dwellings, and to make 

 provision for the normal growth of population 1,000 

 new houses are required each year. 



In tackling a problem of this kind the wise course is 

 to look ahead, and taking the above figures as a basis, a 

 little simple arithmetic shows that during the next 

 twenty years some 50,000 houses ought to be built in 

 or near that towTi, while 24,000 of its existing dwellings 

 should disappear in the course of that period. Changes 

 may, of course, take place in the rate of development 

 of any town, and the numbers given may be found to 

 apply to eighteen or twenty-five, instead of to twenty 

 years. Such figures, however, make it clear that our 

 schemes should be on generous lines, that the individual 

 houses should be designed with care and skill, and that 

 considerable forethought should be exercised in deciding 

 the general outlines of town development. 



An examination of most of our cities shows that the 

 great growths which took place in the half-century 

 preceding the war were carried out in the main without 

 any comprehensive scheme, have a general effect which 

 is usually most depressing, and consist of houses which 

 are normally more or less inefficient. One remarkable 

 fact is that while English architects are world-famous 

 as house designers, an amazingly small proportion of 

 English houses was designed by them. The folly of 

 this has fortunately been realised at last, and most of 

 the houses which are to be built in the coming period 

 will be the work of skilled designers. In this work there 

 are two main parts — the individual building, and the 

 general scheme of development. 



In designing the new houses the first point to be 

 settled is the accommodation which ought to be pro- 

 vided. It is sometimes stated that there is no need to 

 build more of the smallest class of house, as there are 

 plenty of them in existence. It may well be urged, 

 however, that many newly-married couples would 

 prefer to start in a small way.provided they could obtain 



