could be acquired for improvement (mainly demolition) pur- poses; and there were many cognate powers and provisions.
In 1894, 1900 and 1903 short Acts were passed amending the 1890 Act chiefly in matters of administrative detail.
In 1909 the subject of " town-planning " had come to the front, and a large and interesting part of the Act passed in that year was devoted thereto.
Another important new provision was that prohibiting the erection of back-to-back houses. The following extract from a summary of the report for 1918 of the medical officer of health of Birmingham is typical of a mass of evidence on the subject of such houses:
" In 1913 there were 43,366 back-to-back houses in Birmingham housing 200,000. In six wards, all in the central area, from 51 to 76% of the houses were of this kind. During the period 1914-8 four of these wards had a general death-rate of more than 19 per 1,000; five an infant mortality greater than 134 per 1,000 births; three a measles death-rate above 0-56; five a death-rate from pneu- monia and bronchitis above 3-63; five a phthisis death-rate above 1-63; and five a mortality rate of over 29 per 1,000 births for deaths at ages under two from diarrhoea and enteritis. As a contrast we may take King's Norton with less than 8% of back-to-back houses. The death-rate here from all causes is less than 10-9, the infant mortality less than 78, the measles mortality less than 0-15, the bronchitis and pneumonia rate below 1-62, the phthisis rate be- low O'8g, the diarrhoea and enteritis figure below 9. Some of the inhabitants may be shiftless and criminal, unfit to thrive in any environment, but it is impossible to imagine a rising generation of young people being able to improve in health or self-respect, even if the best of educational facilities are provided, when everything they come in contact with is sullied by dirtiness and squalor."
The 1909 Act also amended in some detail the 1890 Act, and brought it into closer touch with the conditions and the problem as then existing. But it contained nothing to indicate that there was a general shortage requiring action beyond the power of private enterprise. There were local shortages and congestion. Certain local authorities might want to build, but, excluding the rural problem, mainly by way of re-housing poor persons to be removed from unfit dwellings. However, by 1911 a general shortage was threatening. Private enterprise had supplied 95% of the houses built, and continued to do so up to 1915, but the output was slackening.
The following statistics on the subject are interesting: New Houses Built.
England and Wales
Scotland
Houses under 20 rental
Houses of rental 20-^41
Houses under 20 rental
Houses of rental 20-^41
1904-5
1911-2 1912-3
99,905 44,821 45,632
25,026 14,300 13,926
12,933 1429 2,491
2,129 1,546
1,784
The year 1904-5 was one of high-water mark in building, and on the assumption that in England and Wales 100,000 new houses are required each year, it will be seen that there was under-building from 1911, and that there was every indication of a new problem before 1914. In 1904-5 the annual value of the 99,905 houses under 20 rental was roughly 13 each, and of the 25,026 houses at 20-^41 rental it was roughly 28. The corre- sponding figures for Scotland were 12. IDS. and 28. It is difficult to compare these figures with those for the houses being built in 1921, as the quality, it is contended, had been improved; but if an economic rent were charged for the latter it would be at least three times as great as the rent of pre-war houses.
Further evidence that the output by private enterprise was slackening before the war is to be found in the 48th Annual Re- port of the Local Government Board for 1918-9:
Number of Houses proposed to be erected by Local Authorities. Year ended
March 31 1911 464
March 31 1912 1,021
March 31 1913 1,880
March 31 1914 3,291
March 31 1915 4,408
The number of local authorities concerned in these efforts was 181 in the year ending March 31 1915. This, however, is but one-tenth of the local authorities, and it should be remembered
that much of the housing proposed was connected with slum clearances and the serious lack of houses in rural areas. On the latter point the report of the Local Government Board for 1912-3 shows that loans had been sanctioned to district councils for housing in 42 villages, in 21 of which there would be a deficit to be met by the ratepayer. The shortage caused by the war thus came at an unfortunate moment, and even in 1917 it was clear that extraordinary measures would have to be taken as soon as possible after the cessation of hostilities.
It should be mentioned that, following the outbreak of war, the Housing Act, 1914, and the Housing (No. 2) Act, 1914, were passed. These, however, were of limited application and had little general effect.
In July 1917 the Government took the first steps towards meeting the after-war housing problem, and issued a letter to the i, 806 local authorities (borough, urban and rural district councils) in England and Wales asking for a return as to housing conditions and needs. There were 1,660 replies indicating an immediate need for some 400,000 working-class dwellings. A similar letter to the 311 Scottish local authorities resulted in returns showing a need for 109,000 houses. The Royal Commis- sion upon Housing in Scotland estimated in 1916 that 121,000 houses were needed to remove overcrowding and to remedy un- inhabitability of houses at that date. They estimated that if the standard were raised very moderately no less than 236,000 houses would be at once required. In Aug. 1921 a departmental committee supported these conclusions, and pointed out that in Glasgow there were 12,000 houses which had been condemned by the medical officer of health as unfit for human habitation, but which, owing to the housing shortage, were still occupied. In the House of Commons on April 14 1921 it was stated that the number of houses estimated to be required in Ireland was 53,033.
The Government then announced the financial assistance it would grant to local authorities providing houses, it being evident that private enterprise could not meet the demand. Negotiations followed on the subject of this financial assistance, but there was nothing accomplished of a very settled character at the date of the Armistice. On Nov. 14 1918 the Government issued a further letter, but the replies indicated meagre pos- sibilities of an early start. In Feb. 1919 the Government made its final offer, to the effect, broadly, that it would bear the annual loss in excess of a penny rate, subject to the conditions laid down. That there would be a deficit was clearly recognized by all. There was a scarcity of building materials and of labour, and it was certain that the cost of each would be high. To set off against this high cost there would be only the rent receivable, and the tenants could not pay the rent necessary to prevent a deficit. The local authorities accepted this offer and the Govern- ment introduced the Housing, Town-Planning, etc., Act, 1919. The chief provisions of this Act were: to make it the duty of every local authority to survey the housing needs of their dis- trict, and to prepare and carry out a housing scheme to meet the needs and to provide for action on the default of a local authority; to give financial assistance to local authorities, and to public utility societies; to facilitate dealing with slum areas; in con- junction with the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensa- tion) Act, 1919, to facilitate and cheapen compulsory acquisition of land; to simplify the procedure of town-planning and to make it compulsory on towns with over 20,000 inhabitants.
This was a very heavy programme, involving an almost in- credible amount of hard work. The subject bristled with dif- ficulties, and the strength of the Ministry of Health (which was given charge of the scheme) was taxed to the uttermost. The local authorities' surveys showed an estimated need of new houses in England and Wales of over 800,000. This was a decided over- estimate, and revisions reduced the number considerably in a very large number of cases.
But though the Act was no doubt well conceived, progress in building was slow, and the Housing (Additional Powers) Act, 1919, was passed. The chief purposes of this Act were: to provide a subsidy, amounting in the aggregate to 15,000,000, to private persons building small houses; to check luxury building; to
