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Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16272, 24 July 1918, Page 6

Tho problem of housing after tho war, which, as to-day's cable message shows is being considered by the London County Council, is one»which in a more or less tentative fashion has been engaging tho attention of tho Government for some time. Two Departments are concerned with it, the Local Government Board and the Ministry of Reconstruction, the former presumably because tho lack of proper housing accommodation for the-,working classes dates back far before the war, and tlie latter because the pre-war difficulties will be greatly intensified by the process of social reconstruction that must ensue when the demobilisation of the armies and the return of industry to normal channels begin.

® 1 It was estimated in March last, by the Local Government Board, that 300,000 houses would be required in England and Wales to meet tho workers' demands for houses when the war ends. "Competent authorities" are said to have put : the number as high as 400,000, and the "Nation," in referring to the subject, declared that if allowance was made for houses which medical officers of health would condemn unhesitatingly if any alternative accommodation existed, the deficit would run into seven figures. The Local Government Board, it seems, hopes to have the 300,000 houses it deems necessary—of which 200,0U0 are required, for city dwellers —"erected during tjie first year of peace." If this means that their construction is not to be begun until peace is concluded, it will be at least six months too lato. A large number of dwellings will be needed as soon as ever the war ends, and unless the Government recognise this, it is inviting serious trouble. And it is urged in some quarters that if the local i authorities are to be induced to pnder- | take in adequate measure the task which lies before them, the Board must offer them better terms than loans at tho full market rate of interest, with an undertaking that the Stato will bear three-quarters of the loss on any approved scheme which does not cost the ratepayers more than another penny jn the £.

Some of the conditions on- which these loans for the purchase of land and the erection of houses will be granted are admirably calculated to improve the conditions under which the - British worker lives. Housing schemes for town dwellers must not provide for more than twelve houses to tho acre, and adequate spaces must be left for recreation grounds and playgrounds for children. No house is to be moro than 300 yards from such playground, and the latter must be accessible from every

I house without its occupants having to cross the main road. Tho latter pro- | ! vision, one assumes, is intended to les- J I sen the risk to which children would otherwise bo subject from careless drivers, but to be effoetiv© it i would have to be accompanied jby a similar provision with iegard to access to schools. The houses will vary in type and size, but all parts, in order to facilitate speedy erection, will be standardised, and it has been estimated that for the 300,000 houses there will bo required 60JD million bricks., 120 million slates, 300 million tiles, three million doors and frames, two and a half million windows, nearly a million and a half tons of timber, and cement, lime, gravel, and sand totalling over seven million tons.

In approaching this problem of working-class housing tho Ministry of Reconstruction has taken one excellently practical step. It has enlisted tho services, in an advisory capacity, of a number of well-known women. They are to collect information and give advice on house-planning from tho point of view of the housewife, which is not necessarily that of the average architect. This action has increased the interest that women's organisations are taking in the great house-building campaign, and they are determined, we are told, to seize the opportunity of having houses designed for the comfort of thoso who have most to. live in them. The Women's Labour League set out to securo information from women of tho working class. It drew up a pamphlet inviting women to state their ideas and propounded a list of eighteen questions bearing on different features of the ideal house. More than 10,000 of these pamphlets were circulated, and the answers will be tabulated and published.

—t — In the meantime a quantity of information as to what workers' wives most greatly desire in a house has been obtained. As summarised by a woman who secured expressions of opinion throughout a working-class quarter, they all demand, beyond everything else, hot running water. "After that the general desire is for a back garden, or a little yard, where the children can play, and where the washing can be dried; and they want some sort of shed or shelter where a bicycle or pram can be kept. Most houses have no provision for these things, and the husband's bicycle and the baby's pram and cradle 'clutter up' the living room. A hand rail to every staircase, oookin 2 stoves fixed as such a height that the cook does not haVe to stoop over them; sinks of sufficient depth that washing can be done in them, antl a gas cooker in every house, are other necessities. Tho ideal houso, in fact, is the house that gives tho housewife the least trouble in running it."

A working-women's conference, summoned by the League, gave expression to other desires. Every delegate who spoke emphasised the need of a proper bathroom, equipped with a lavatory basin. ;The mode], house consisted of a oottago containing' sitting-room, livingroom, scullery and { kitchen on tho ground floor, with three bedrooms upstairs. Flats and tenements were scouted —the delegates declared strongly in favour of every family havin e a separate house, and now that the women have the vote they intend to take an active part in the next municipal elections with the object of insisting that the municipalities shall provide them with proper houses;