Social Scrence Congress. 187 
treated as to take out the soap soils and to make the water 
by no means injurious. 
Dwellings for the Working Classes. 
In Section A of the Department of Economy and Trade, 
a special question was raised as to what measures, legisla- 
- tive and other, should be adopted in order to supply better 
dwellings for the working classes. On this subject various 
papers were read, including one by Mr. Barron Emmannel, 
and one by Mr. T. Worthington. The former gentleman, 
in addressing himselfto the practical part of the question, pro- 
posed to convert the existing railway arches into workmen’s 
dwellings, whenever the process could be conveniently carried 
out, and he further suggested that in future railway Acts 
such a construction of viaducts should be necessitated as 
would admit of their being used for the like purpose. He 
was quite sure that such a provision as this would pay a 
large percentage to the railway companies who might think 
proper to embark in the investment. Mr. Worthington, in 
his paper, passed in review the various efforts which have 
been made, from time to time, by individuals and societies 
for the erection of model dwellings or the renovation of ex- 
isting property. In treating of those efforts, he alluded 
especially to what had been done in the metropolis, in York- 
shire, and in France; and the conclusion he arrived at was 
that the proper course to be adopted was to incite the 
working men to combined efforts, aided by loans from the 
Public Loan Commissioners, to erect dwellings for them- 
selves. 
In the course of these discussions which afterwards took 
place on these papers and those of Miss Octavia Hill and 
Mr. Thomas Beggs, 
Mr. TORRENS, M.P., made some observations in explana- 
tion and support of his bill. He stated that it was not ne- 
cessary for him to plead the cause of that bill as if it were 
a new bill; but he was there to defend the measure in its 
essential principles. In reference to the measure which 
had been brought forward by this association, he took the 
opportunity of stating that the promoters of his bill were 
not wedded to any particular forms or modes of carrying 
out the desired object. All they desired was that the Le- 
gislature should do the best they could under all the cir- 
cumstances. If any manor any society had a better or 
more comprehensive scheme than his own, let it by all 
