HOUSING THE WORKERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14275, 21 January 1910, Page 7

HOUSING THE WORKERS.

A PRIME MINISTER'S EXPERIMENT. In Hungary, as in England, one of the most serious social problems is the housing of the working classes. In Budapest/ rents have risen in the last ten years 50 and, , in some cares, 60 per - cent., and the poorer people have been forced either to quit their homes in •'the town or to live packed like sardines in unwholesome cellar-tenements. # i It was with a view 16 remedying this evil that the Hungarian Premier, 'Dr. Alexander Wekerle, decided to purchase a large, plot of land on the outskirts of the city, at Kispest, and to erect there a large number of . workmen's ' dwellings fitted with all the modern conveniences. The area of the plot is 472,000 square "klafters" (one square.. "klafter" equals 4.301 square yards). Altogether some '960 houses will be built, containing from one •to three rooms, and' the number of " flats' will be 4300, so that the population of " Wekerle Town," when completed, will consist of, roughly, : 25,000 souls. Of course, this is only a " drop-in the ocean"of Budapest, with its 900,000 inhabitants; but it is a drop that will, make its influence very effectually felt in counterbalancing the excesses , of th«. ; "landlord;usurers'" trust. The colony will be completed . in ■ four years; and •' already '33 houses, containing .in all 123 "flats," have been handed'over :to their. lucky tenants. The rents of these " flats" are (a) Oneroom dwellings, including kitchen ? and offices, £6 13s 4d per annum; (b) tworoom dwellings, with same appurtenances, £9 3s 4d per annum; (c) three-room dwellings, with same appurtenancen, £13 6s 8d per annum. These rents represent , about 30 per cent, of those demanded by the " landlord-usurers" to-day. ; .

THE NEW TOWN. The new town has its own water supply the pipes have already been laid, and the water-tower . being erected at Kobanya will have a reservoir of 1000 "cubic metres capacity. There will be day shelters for workmen, with popular kitchens, elementary schools (six in all, with 80 classrooms), and infant schools. A special" stipendiary magistrate, with the full legal apparatus, will be stationed in the town, which will also have its own police force, . hospital, * baths, recreation grounds, post and telegraph office, .' market halls;* etc. The whole is a free adaptation of the- English " garden city" system « . ■ 1 • - • ' All the houses are being built of sand bricks made by a special factory producing 150,000 bricks a day. The bricks are conveyed from the factory to the colony, by a narrow-gauge light railway 15 kilometres long. The price of these bricks ranges from .23 to 25 crowns a thousand, and as that ■of ordinary bricks is from 46 to 48 crowns there is a saving of about 50 : per cent. And that is why a ground floor house containing four dwellings costs no more than £500. . \> \ Anyone paying a visit, to this colony, situated on the western confines of Kispest, and in direct communication with all parts of the city, will be rewarded by a most interesting" sight. ' Contractors' lines intersect the land in all directions. The streets, running in straight lines and all meeting in the central square, which is to be converted into a children's park, are already laid out, and the part of the colony nearest Kispest is covered with snug dwelling-houses, with characteristic Hungarian fronts, quaint roofs, airy rooms and neat little gardens. The men engaged in the construction of the houses have done their work well, and we seem to be wandering among villas put up by ( ) the wealthier citizens as svmmer .resorts ( ) xaVuoT Viwm among Vfoe AweftVnga. o\ " ifts; a-'weekers." The air is pure and in- 1 vigorating, and the lot of the inhabitants 1 is really enviable. In spring the gardens | twill be planted with,, young, trees and I pretty flower-beds laid out; and the. ' mother who has hitherto seen her chil- | dren at play in a dismal courtyard will have the happiness of watching them running and rolling on the grass of her own garden. - •