Materials for the Construction of Cottages. 
569 
and an immense piece of coal lying ready to be put on the fire. The 
porter puts this mass of coal on the top, reaching much higher than 
the bars, and then gives it simdry heavy blows vnih. the crowbar. He 
never thinks of opening the register when he lights the fii-e, but only 
removes the cinders from beneath, knowing that otlicrwisc there 
would be smoke on the following day. There could sui'ely be no 
rougher usage than that, and yet the gi-ate continued to act properly. 
His grate was not designed for biu-ning wood. 
The cost of his patent tiles for roofs was, in the case of cottages, 
4/. 10s. per 1000, and the niunber used in a squai-e was 185. For all 
other kinds of buildings — and buildings roimd London were being 
covered with them every day — the charge was 5Z. 5s. per 1000. He 
had made a cai-eful calculation of the cost of the materials required to 
build a pail" of double cottages, with thi-ee bedrooms, every facing- 
block, every tile, every roof-course, being carefully reckoned, and he 
found that the total would be 40Z. for the pair — assuming, that is, that 
the materials were made within a reasonable distance. If these are not 
near the spot the cost of the carriage by rail must be added, which is 
easily ascertained when the weight of the materials is known. The 
sum of 40/. did not include the concrete. He could not give an 
estimate of the cost of the flooring-tiles, as they had not been invented 
more than six months. They would, however, come to more than 
ordinary flooring-tiles, because they were more troublesome to make. 
They were made in Staffordshire, Lincolnshii-e, and Sufi'olk, and also 
near Southampton. Although he would supply the materials for 
labourers' cottages without charging any royalty, he should at the 
same time be benefiting himself ; for when a cottage had been built 
with his materials, the landlord woidd feel that the labourer was better 
off than he was, and would probably give him an order for some ma- 
terials for his own house. 
Mr. Wood, of Chichester, said, Understanding that the discussion was 
limited to the cheapness of materials, it had occm-red to him that the 
subject of mud walls might be introduced. He happened to know that 
there were excellent cottages, diy and warm, built with mud walls, in 
Wiltshire and Suffolk. A gentleman had recently built a house near 
Salisbm-y in that way, and it was as comfortable a dwelling as 
any one could occupy. This had a close bearing on the cost of 
materials. 
Mr. Feere said. On the estate vrith which he had been connected it 
had been the practice to build houses with what were termed clay-bats, 
that is, large bricks of clay and straw sun-baked. The drawback was 
that, in a few yeai-s, the clay-bats subsided a little ; they were also 
more liable to injm-y from mice and rats than other materials. 
Mr. Taylok thought that the remarks which had just been made with 
respect to mud walls, had a tendency to mislead. Such walls must 
necessarily be of nearly t^^dce the suljstance of ordinary brick walls : 
they required brick foundations of twice the usual width, involving 
great additional expense, and every flue, every fireplace, and every 
chinincy, must also be of brick. When they had taken into account 
