HOUSING OF THE POOR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 276, 14 August 1908, Page 8

HOUSING OF THE POOR.

, '£ BOARD OF WORKS PROPOSAL. ; Now. that the Victorian Government is '•shout to. reconstitute the 'Metropolitan Board 1 .. of 'Works, the^secrctaryi.Mr. 1 Geo. A;; Gibbs, has revived his scheme' of . two years 'ago, ' to - enlarge s the functions:, of the new' hoard; In: a report.'-to i the chairman,. which "has : been; circulated;'among members, 1 Mr. Gibbs suggests, that, the board should gradually : assume control of the following interests:. supply, sewerage, 'rivers,' streamy,' ard - watercourses, harbours,' .' docks '..and wharves, 'tramways, .fire - brigades,-; puhlio; health, ; parks .'and gardens, ' main roads', cemeteries, lighting, loans ■ •:to 'municipalities, • supervision of -theatres and artisans' • dwellings.. As a commencement, Mr. Gibbs_ 1 considers, that- the board should ' functions of the Fire-Brigades Board;,.and, the Board of Health,'and obtain .coritrobol, tho large parks arid gardens :of the metropolis. ••; • 1 • '• ... -. .- '•' ' As a Bill to amend the board's constitu-; tion is about'to. be submitted by the Gov- ' ernment to Parliament, Mr. Gibbs-suggests to the board that consideration be given to the matters mentioned, with a viewr.to ,rer, '- presentations being made to the- Cabinet} „'. lf-thought advisable. V . ■ ; The main .object of "his latest report, how- •' ever, -is -to submit _that'tho question, of ; the .'. housing ofthe'poor is one that might; be made to 'devolve '.upon ,the';Metfop,olitan ' Board . Works, provided, that, the . necessary ,; powers. and means- to' that 1! end ;we're- forthcoming. Ho points-out 1 that'under: the, Local. Gove'rri- - ment' Act the: powers' of the . municipal counK oils appear to-be restricted : to the'condemnation and removal of-insanitary , and unhealthy >■ dwellings. No council has" power to'-provide' for the rehousing 6f the poor people , who,may., he 'displaced, -and who -in; many instances are, ' in delicate health/ ■ • "This * function of ' ' viding clean /houses'.'' 7 and healthy surround-. iiigs'," he -states; "is, one .'that_ should; be : : . undertaken by ,a central authority,; and .. .as -'. imjirp'yed- .conditions' of ' existerice airibrigst. people -possessing small arid scanty. ' means miistt riecess)tyly .act' directly an,d indirectly', upon the health arid well-being of. the wliolo community,- and thus create an- out of ' what may now he regarded as a liability, it is only reasonable "to" assume that' the ;rieces- ". sary financial means.. would be, 'forthcoming if levied in;a small fractional part upon'the . whole metropolitan community." Mr. Gibbs' then suggests the creation "or a i special housing fund of £400,000. If this sum were, raised the ( interest charges _at 4 per cent, would come' to £16,000, - ;ano. the working expenses—rates,: taxes, water, insurance, repairs, lighting and maintenance —at 3 per cent: .would mean another; £1.2,000, . or a total cost of £28,000 per annum. * From thiS amount the rents received from' tho dwellings erected would bo deducted. -Tak- , ing 5 per cent, as a, basis for'rental charges, a shortage of 2 per cent'.-, or'£Booo per'an- -■ num," would'remain. . This deficit",would-to-' present a-Tate'of three-eighths of a penny in the pound. Mr. ■ Gibbs bases'his estimates • of revenue and expenditure on English' experience.'■ He expresses the opinion that'an outlay of £400,000, spread over some'years, would provide for the worst cases in congested, areas, and enable experience to'be gained as to the beneficial results that would accrue to the community. . The results from'-' > a financial point of -view would also bo ' ascertained; Mr.- 1 Gibbs then summarises'' at' Bonio' length: the: valuable work done;m - the ■ way of providing decent accommodation ; for 'the''poor by the London County : Counciland the ; municipal corporations of. the principal cities of the United -Kingdom. 1

Why .do trials, generally last longer than they; did ? The. real explanation, wo ,im-, agine, is,,to, be' found, not in any increase, in talkativeness. either;, on'the Bench or- at. the Bar, , but in the greater, complexity of the ..cases which-now come before the courts. Law Journal." 1 • , After studies extending over - years,. and prosecuted in'every country of Europe and America, Professor Gieler,, of Munich, has come to -the'conculsion,,. that wojnen's- feet, aro. 'rapidly growing larger, , and ,that.,,the, time may come when in tho' matter :of ..feet: -there will - be -little'difference I 'between' the twosexes. Ho has mado careful,-measure-ments of the proportions of feet pn ancient statues arid as delineated in drawings-and pictures of other tinies and has compared these' measurements with tho feet of modern women, always to tho disadvantage of the. latter. In England ho fmcls tbo most 'striking confirinatiou' of his theory. :'Ho; attributes thO-'chango to thc'"growing. >tasto.!'of;.English women for walking .and other' outdoor exercise's. A leading Paris bootmaker. also says that ho is obliged to acknowledge the fact that French women's ,feet aro increasing in size at an appalling rate. In twenty o l ''. thirty years from now a, French . lover would mako himself ridiculous talking of the, tiny feet of his sweetheart. . -..( ...

Tho assertion that the ancients-knew moro about medicino than the best -modern' physicians is brilliantly confirmed (says " Scienco Sittings") 'by the " salt-water cure," on wffich wo have commented before, discovered by a young French scientist, M. Reno Quinton- He is' proving that some' of the most serious ailments can ,be rapidly cured by tho mere / injection' into • tho ■ blood of ordinary soa-water. By merely going back to Hippocrates and Pliny, M. Quinton is to-day curing, diseases hitherto practically . incurable. Paris Has now two dispensaries 'where "tiiqures" of sea-water are administered.' S'early' all skin diseases, infantile . ailments, sSud various forms of, consumption are amen'.tilc. to tho' treatment. The plasma do iiViinton," as it is called, is merely very;puro -nVater taken at Arcaohon., some'forty feet the surface, where..the water is abso« fV clear. Tho water, already free from • ,"\mt and organic matter, is' sterilised i..-, lised for injection under the sltin.!'' Last •,;»r>l 268 injections were made. ,In 15 per ■It. of>tho cases cure immediately.'follQwed 'ie.'first'iinjeotioji; in 70 per cent, curo'fol<wed after tho' sixth injection. Gastrontoritis, ',which'.carries off 70,000" French children every year, is easily cured by tho " piqiiro." '' .Children admitted into the disoerisary in tho Ruo d'Ouessant in the .'last stages of consumption havo shown improvemont after tlio first injection. A human being, says Sf. Quinton, is " a veritable marino aquarium," and one-fourth of his total weight consists of blood serum which is in essence. nothing but tho sea water in which, his ancestors) tho monera and amoebae lived. . . ,