RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 129 



ies; houses were cracked owing to subsidences; and, in many cases, 

 miners were housed in temporary wooden shacks, similar to those 

 which are found in the early stages of development in a Canadian 

 mining village. But, in spite of all the effects of the mining develop- 

 ment taking place in Doncaster district, nearly every one of the large 

 colliery proprietors was engaged in carrying out, or in considering, 

 schemes for creating model villages and for securing proper housing 

 and sanitary conditions for the workers. 



The late Sir A. B. Markham laid out a model village called 

 Woodlands (Figure 33) in which he provided dwellings of a 

 modern sanitary type and having pleasant rural surroundings. In 

 spite of certain defects, Woodlands represented a great advance in 

 regard to housing in mining districts, but it has not been followed up 

 to any large extent. This was partly due to some practical defects in 

 the scheme, and the reaction which consequently followed towards the 

 rows of houses to which the miners had previously been accustomed. 

 Improvement of conditions must proceed slowly, and the people 

 for whom they are being improved must be consulted as to their 

 wishes and educated to appreciate good environment. 



The two outstanding features in the Doncaster situation were, 

 first, the enormous difficulty of making proper sanitary provision 

 in a rapidly growing mining district and, second, the responsibility 

 assumed by some of the great mining magnates in trying to over- 

 come these difficulties and erecting good housing accommodation for 

 their workers. What the late Sir A. B. Markham and the other great 

 mine owners have done indicates what the English government might 

 have done with the co-operation of these owners, and what the mine- 

 owners in Canada might do with the help and co-operation of the 

 governments of Canada (Figure 34). 



But the situation must be dealt with by comprehensive treat- 

 ment of the whole problem. Of course, there can be no finality in an 

 artificially promoted scheme, dependent, as it is, for a full measure of 

 success on the slow process of education. But if the beginning is made 

 in Canada, as it has been in England, the goal of improved standards 

 of comfort, efficiency and social amelioration will be reached in time, 

 whereas the longer the beginning is deferred, the difficulties of achiev- 

 ing the goal will increase. 



There is urgent need for improvement of living conditions in 

 mining areas, from the point of view of conserving the social stability 

 of the country and preventing conflicts between capital and labour. 



