TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 195 



acquainted ; I have found cottages built of what I have seen in New Zealand and 

 Australia, and there called " wattle aud dab'' or wicker work, covered withuntem- 

 pered mortar: these walls cannot keep out the piercing cold in winter; the frame- 

 work on which the roof rests frequently gives way, and the doors and windows can- 

 not be kept water-tight. 



I have turned my attention towards their improvement. I have had the large 

 heavy thatched roofs, where they are good, supported, while new brick walls 

 have replaced "the wattle and dab," and new doors andjWindows have been added. 

 I found this alteration cost from £10 to £12 each cottage, and the occupiers were 

 quite willing to have 5 per cent, on the outlay added to their rent. 



With reference to new buildings, I have the pleasure to present to this Section 

 of the British Association the drawings of a cottage which I found from practical 

 experience to be the best suited to the labourer in rural districts. It combines the 

 advantages of at least three airy bed rooms, a lofty kitchen or living room, and an 

 apartment which may be turned either into a parlour or a bed room, where the 

 family is large ; or if neither of those apartments are required, it may form an outer 

 kitchen or scullery. A lean-to is added to the end of the house, which forms 

 a barn to hold the gleaning, the fuel, or other matters, without which no labourer's 

 cottage can be kept neat and comfortable. Two peculiar features in the cottages I 

 have built I beg to refer to. Ventilation is secured by a 4-inch square opening near 

 the ceiling in each apartment; this opening leads the foul air into a small flue of the 

 same size carried up to the gable of the house, and finding egress in a narrow open- 

 ing in the outer side of the wall. When the cottage is built of brick, this adds 

 nothing to the expense ; when built of stone, it is only the additional cost of the 

 round tiles for forming the flues. Several of these flues may lead to the upper one, 

 which of course must be proportionally enlarged to carry oil the increased quantity 

 of air. In Ireland I built twenty dwellings in a double row of houses, at one side 

 opening into a court yard, the other into the street of a large market town. Fevers 

 prevailed in the following year, and several deaths occurred amongst the labouring 

 classes, and not one death amongst the 100 individuals occupying those houses. 

 I built two villages ou the same estate, and the medical gentleman whose duty it 

 was to visit the labouring classes on that property, bore testimony to the value of 

 the system adopted for ventilation. The other peculiarity in these houses was the 

 mode in which the window-sashes were made. Every one acquainted with English 

 cottages of the last half-century, is aware of the misery and expense of lead lights, 

 never keeping out cold and always wanting repair. Metal has been substituted, 

 and these are often so imperfect that they fit badly and neither exclude wet 

 nor cold ; it is the case in school-houses in the parish in which I reside, and there 

 was no expense spared in their erection. To avoid these difficulties, I adopted 

 wood for the outer part of the sash, the inner divisions being formed of § inch 

 hoop iron cut half through where they intersect, and thus forming one of the 

 strongest sashes possible, with the advantage of being able to add to or take from 

 the outer sides of the sash, to make them fit tightly ; they open on a pivot let into the 

 sash ou each side, thus giving the whole size of the window, when necessary, for the 

 admission of fresh air. I have made a very rude attempt at a model before breakfast 

 this morning, but it will serve to show the plan of forming the window with the 

 hoop iron. I have erected one such cottage in the county of Huntingdon, upon the 

 estate which is placed under my management as agent ; and so manj r tenants have 

 requested two houses each on their farms, that I am about to build several more, 

 the money being advanced by the Land Improvement Society, to be paid by instal- 

 ments in 31 years, thus giving the estates, the tenants, and the labourers the imme- 

 diate benefit of the improvement, while the proprietor of the estate, who is only 

 tenant for life, will not be obliged to expend so very large a sum, which might 

 have the effect of curtailing other improvements. The tenants in every case have 

 agreed to pay 5 per cent, increased rent for the outlay, and these rents will be paid 

 by labourers, who gladly settle down where they find constant employment and 

 comfortable and healthy dwellings. 



On the Systems of Poor Law Medical Relief. By F, Purdy. 



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