DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14050, 1 May 1919, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

The : rcsult of of Councillors for ft tli(o borough of Hami Iron# ■ Vwlf* ■ generally b e regarded- as satisfactory, th,^;personnel being such as t‘o guarantee good and userjui work. AJllhe.pnembers of the old Council seeking , re-election have again secured seats, -which must be taken as indicative that Ihe burgesses recognise that, despite great disabilities under which they have laboured owing to war and other abnormal conditions, they have rendered faithful service. Of the new men, Mr J. McKinnon, who headed the poll, has served the burgesses on previous occasions, and the proud position he was placed in yesterday is indicative of the burgesses’ appreciation of his past services. As a body of practical business men, the new Councillors, with Mr P. H. Watts at their head, will no doubt discharge their duties with credit to themselves and acceptance to the residents of the town.

I The Municipal Election. 4 i

The citizens of Hamilton have decreed that the weekly halfholiday shall for the next two years at least ho observed on Saturday. They have made despite the fact that a previous trial proved that Saturdayclosing' was a heavy blow at the business of the town, and that the experience of towns like Cambridge, Picton, Napier and Invercargill has demonstrated similarly. The eleclors of Hamilton, however, have decided to make a further experiment, and they are now committed to Saturday closing for the next two years. As wo have previously indicated, we are of opinion that the venture is a risky one, and that it will mean a set-back to the borough. The citizens, however, are apparently of the contrary opinion, and their verdict must be accepted. The new order will come into operation on the first of June.

The Half-Holiday Poll.

The housing and overcrowding problem has brought some terrible facts to light in England. In Lon- , don the working class of Finsbury, in the proportion of 45 per cent., live in one or two rooms. In Shoreditch and St. Pancras 37. per cent, of (lie people have the same limited breathing space. Sheffield has 15,000 back-to-back houses, and in some instances ten persons live in three small rooms. In a district of similar houses in Liverpool the death-rate in 1905 was about 00 per 1000. In Birmingham, in 1912, 920 out of the 40,000 to 50,000 back-to-back houses were reported as unfit for human habitation. In all the great

The Homes of The Workers

to\viiS> on Tyneside one-third of the is overcrowded. Nearly, i'3,000,000 of the inhabitants of England and-Wales live in crowded, and frequently much overcrowded, conditions. The effect of overcrowding is shown strikingly in the expectation of life fora person living in healthy Hampstead and one living in Southwark. A youth of 20 residing in Hampstead has a good chance of living for 44 more years, but the chance for the Southwark youth is 30 more years of life. Years ago, Koch, the great bacteriologist, said that “the overcrowded dwellings of the poor are the real breeding places of tuberculosis.” Every director of public consumptive sanatoria realises that his effort to cure the disease is almost futile if the patient returns to the overcrowded home. Scores of medical officers of health condemn the vile habitations that cause disease, premature death, misery and crime, but their reports are often disregarded by “local influence.” No owner of death-trap houses should be allowed to take part in town councils. Overcrowding and appallingly ins/nitary conditions are not only prevalent in the towns. Thousands of country people live in fetid dens, without any water supply hut a stagnant pond. The dearth of suitable cottages is a cause of rural depopulation and the congestion of the great cities. Rural sanitary authorities insist constantly on the urgent need for ventilated and well-drained dwellings.