182 keport — 1877. 



School Banks. By the Rev. "W. Ttickwell, M.A. 



The writer, a master of a school, being painfully impressed with the reckless 

 expenditure of pocket-money, adopted the system of penny banks established in 

 the primary Belgian schools. He adopted two systems — a current account with 

 no interest, and a deposit account with 10 per cent, interest on the money being 

 left undisturbed throughout the school term. The bank was opened in January 

 1876, and, up to the present time, the result had been most satisfactory. 



On Improving the Sanitary Condition of Large Towns. 

 By Sir James Watson. 



There are few subjects more interesting or important than those which relate to 

 the general health of the community, and particularly to that of the sanitary con- 

 dition of large and populous cities. These affect not only the physical but also the 

 moral state of society. If our population are huddled together in wretched dwel- 

 lings, so old and ill-ventilated as to be almost untenantable, or so damp and con- 

 fined from want of sufficient breathing-space as to render them alike unwholesome 

 and dismal, can it be wondered at if such population should either resort to stimu- 

 lating drinks to relieve their physical depression, or seek for enjoyment beyond 

 their own homes ? 



That such a state of things shoidd exist to a considerable extent in most of our 

 large cities is much to be deplored, and it is only of late that the public have been 

 awakened to the importance of providing against this serious evil. The author 

 mentioned that the city of Glasgow has been one of the first to set the example of 

 seeking to remedy these defects. The city of Edinburgh, to a limited extent, fol- 

 lowed, and it is satisfactory to know that other towns are about to follow their 

 example. In the session of 1860 the author had occasion to bring under the notice 

 of the Social Science Association, at their meeting in Glasgow, the then existing 

 state of the lower portions of the city, showing that in these the population, which 

 numbered from 400 to 1000 in an acre, were crowded together in pent-up lanes or 

 closes of about three and four feet wide, with large tenements of three and four 

 stories rising on each side and running backwards to the extent of 250, and in some 

 cases 280 feet, into which neither the light nor air of heaven could freely penetrate. 

 A large portion of these dwellings were dark, dismal, and unwholesome, devoid of 

 comfort and family accommodation, and inhabited chiefly by the lower and cri- 

 minal class of the population. When fever or contagious disease broke out in 

 these places the results were appalling. As an instance of this, it has been shown 

 that, even as late as 1871, in one district known as the Ilavannah and New Vennel, 

 where the population amounted to 3200, 803 fever patients and 16 smallpox 

 patients were m one year removed to hospital at the public expense — in all 319, or 

 10 per cent, of the population. The death-rate was 70 in the thousand. The 

 moral disease in these districts was not less appalling, the houses being to a large 

 extent receptacles of pauperism, disease, and crime. What rendered this state of 

 things more distressing was the fact that a fresh stream of people from the country, 

 seeking employment, were each year pouring into the city ; that from the want of 

 cheap dwellings these people were driven into those haunts, and though respectable 

 when they entered, they very soon fell, by contact with their neighbours, to the 

 same low level. 



To remedy this state of things, measures were adopted by the Corporation, at 

 the instigation and under the presidency of Lord Provost Biackie. The city was 

 surveyed with the view of clearing out those objectionable districts, and plans 

 were drawn out with the view of obtaining an Act of Parliament, showing the 

 portions of the city necessary to be dealt with, and scheduling every tenement 

 required for carrying out the scheme. 



The plan was a bold and extensive one, seeking to sweep away whole streets of 

 unwholesome houses in order to obtain breathing-spaces, and to form broad, spa- 

 cious streets and open spaces in their stead, selling the vacant ground for this pur- 

 pose. Power was asked to expend £1,250,000 in the purchase of property, and to 

 assess by taxation (jd. per £ on rental for five years, and 3d. per £ for ten years. 

 The scheme, as originally devised, covered an area of 88 acres of overbuilt ground, 



