200 REPORT 1860. 



as that is taken from Scotland, I may observe that the urgent necessity for such 

 efforts is as great in the two sister kingdoms as it is in England. 



The Pilrig Model Buildings, near Leith Walk, Edinburgh, were commenced in 

 1850 ; they consist of forty-four dwellings in three blocks, with access on both sides, 

 the upper floor tenements being approached from the opposite side to that on which 

 the ground floor tenements are entered. The greatest economy, consistent with 

 fitness and durability, was maintained in the construction, so that the total cost of 

 the forty-four houses, including drains, &c, was only £4052 15s. Or/., being on an 

 average about £92 per house, with scarcely any extras. The rent of the whole is 

 £303 19s. 0^/., varying from £5 5s. per house up to £9 15s., one half of them not 

 exceeding £6 6s. per house. Higher rents might have been charged had not the 

 committee desired to benefit a class of persons who could not afford to pay more. 

 After deducting all expenses, — feu duty £22 14s. lOd. ; insurance £5 12s. Or/. ; rates 

 and taxes £13 lis. 2±d. ; repairs £13 4s. Id. ; management £21 6s. 3d., and paying 

 a dividend of 5 per cent, (less income tax) amounting to £196 16s. 6d., — a balance 

 of £30 13s. Id. was last year added to the sinking fund, from which sundry expenses, 

 such as painting and papering, are defrayed. This fund now amounts to about £150. 

 Having had the opportunity of seeing these houses when returning from the 

 Aberdeen Meeting last year, I refer to them with pleasure, as in many respects 

 worthy of imitation, and am not surprised at hearing that the demand for them is 

 generally at least six times equal to the supply. 



The facts given thus far, refer exclusively to buildings in towns : with regard to 

 country districts, in which there is an equal necessity for exertion, the number 

 of improved cottages built by landed proprietors, as well as by other large em- 

 ployers of working people, such as manufacturers, railway and other public com- 

 panies, owners of collieries, mines, quarries, &c, has within the past twelve years 

 been very considerable ; and it is to the increased feeling of responsibility in this 

 respect, as well as to more enlarged views of their own interest on the part of 

 employers, that we must mainly look for the much needed improvement in the 

 domiciliary condition of our rural population, and of those whose industrial em- 

 ployments are remote from towns. 



In thus saving I do not forget that in many places Benefit Building Societies 

 present a useful machinery for enabling the working classes to obtain improved 

 dwellings, and that much good may result from judicious advice given to their 

 members in the selection of such plans as will enable them to obtain a healthy 

 and convenient home. In many places on the Continent, societies have, within 

 the past ten years, been formed by philanthropic persons to build suitable houses 

 for working people, and likewise to afford facilities which enable their occupiers, 

 by small periodical payments in addition to the rent, to become the owners of their 

 own dwellings ; the parties who advance the money being satisfied with 4 per 

 cent, interest, and the security of a sinking frmd to pay off the capital. Such 

 buildings act as a savings' bank, promoting sobriety and habits of forethought. 



The beneficial effects resulting from a diffusion of sanitary knowledge amongst 

 the working population generally, and the importance of their being led to under- 

 stand and feel how greatly they are personally interested in the possession of a 

 wholesome dwelling, ought on no account to be overlooked by those who seek to 

 promote this object. Great evils which have arisen out of 'the selfish system, 

 pursued in some close parishes, of pulling down cottages in order to obtain relief 

 from a burden which is thereby thrown on a neighbouring parish, loudly call for 

 legislative interference. 



In regard to popidous towns, and the metropolis more especially, the facts which 

 have been stated lead to the conclusion, that the evils of overcrowding which 

 result from a demolition of large masses of dwellings of the working classes, effected 

 for the carrying out of public improvements, can only be prevented by a parlia- 

 mentary enforcement of the construction of suitable buildings in the place of 

 those destroyed. A standing order of the House of Lords for the investigation of 

 such cases exists, but it appears thus far to have been practically a dead letter. 



~V\ hilst the pressure consequent on these destructions is felt by all classes of the 

 working population within their influence, facts have been brought to light by 

 experience, which conclusively prove that no efforts of societies, or of individuals, 

 can remedy the existing state of wretchedness, which is a consequence of sanitary 



