488
THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
ment will be the universal landlord, the universal purveyor, and the universal every- thing, individual effort being obliterated; but no social system will ever solve the problem of getting something out of nothing; even house rent will have to be found somewhere and by some means, and the greater the accommodation provided for each family or individual the greater the rent that will have to be paid for it; and even if we accepted the theories of socialism it would hardly be good policy for Hongkong to put them into practice until they had been tested by more advanced communities.
The housing of the working classes in Hongkong is a subject that demands earnest consideration at the hands of the Govern- ment and the community, and any contri- bution to its intelligent discussion is to be welcomed. In the China Mail a few evenings ago a letter appeared (to which our contemporary gave special prominence by inserting it in the leader column) in which the evils of the existing state of things are forcibly set out; but when it comes to the question of a remedy the correspondent becomes impracticable. He appears to think the Government has only to waive a magic wand, and, presto, the whole colony would undergo a transformation. Land- lords, he says, cannot provide such homes as are required except at a pecuniary loss, owing to the extravagant upset price of land in the colony, and to this expression of opinion he gives the emphasis of italics. Now the upset price of land has practically nothing to do with the question. The most over-crowded tenements in the colony exist on land that was originally sold at prices that would now be considered merely no- minal; and if the whole of the land still re- maining in the hands of the Crown were to-morrow transferred to private capitalists for nothing it would make no difference to the tenants, who would be required to pay for the premises they occupied just so much rent as the premises might be worth on a mercantile basis. For the Crown to give land away for less than it is worth would simply be to enrich private capitalists at the expense of the public. Nor is it a fact that all the land in the colony' is held for extravagant upset prices. The Causeway Bay reclamation was made with the express purpose of providing relief for the congestion in the centre of the town, and the land would at that time have been sold for very moderate figures, but no one was found ready to venture on the experiment of building there, because there was no undue pressure on the already existing house ac- commodation in the immediate neighbourhood and it was believed that further building in that direction would not be a paying specula- tion. It is one thing to build houses; it is quite another thing to get people to move into them; and at present the working population has a decided preference for the centre of the town, notwithstanding that rents there are much higher than in the outskirts. The correspondent suggests that the Government itself should build coolie houses on the reclamation at West Point "and let them out to the Chinese "at reasonable rates, keeping them in good condition and carefully supervised." If by reasonable rates the correspondent means rates less than would yield a fair return on the capital invested the scheme would merely mean housing one section of the population, and that a very limited section, at the expense of the remaining sections. If on the other hand it is meant that such rents should be charged as would yield a fair return it is very doubt- ful whether the class for which the houses were built would occupy them; and even if that point were assured it would be better to leave the work to private enterprise. The duty of the Government in this matter is to see that houses are built to comply with sanitary conditions and that they are not overcrowded, but beyond that its functions can hardly be held to extend, under our present social system. With the advance of socialism the time may possibly come when the Govern-
"
December 2
1896
its like the
its ins d'employés
hom-more-
provide decent living acc own employés. If a public Wharf and Godown Company terest to make such provision surely a similar policy woul terest of the Government, on over, the duty is incumbent of example to other large emp More especially is accommo for the European employe Yard, the Sanitary Department. Public Works Department, in many cases to occupy floors in Chinese houses and live under conditions totally unsuited to Europeans, more especially when they have families.
the Naval
the
now
that
THE FIRE BRIGADE CASE.
We cannot altogether agree with the deci- sion arrived at by Commander HASTINGS in the Fire Brigade
case. The members of the Brigade are a deserving and hard- working body of men and we think they will be ready themselves to admi discipline must be observed and that an infraction of the regulations merits punish- ment. The facts of the case lie in a nutshell. The Fire Regulations enjoin that on an alarm of fire the members of the Brigade shall at once hasten to the engine house. The defendants, who on the alarm being given were at a Masonic banquet, did not proceed to the fire, and thereby neglected their duty, although another member of the Brigade, who was also at the Masonic Hal at the time, at once left the Hall and pro ceeded to the fire. The Superintendent, on the matter coming before him, considered that the offence, in the interests of the discipline of the Force, was one that required. to be marked by some punishment and he therefore gave the men the option of sums of 89 to $12 or having the case before the Magistrate. Having regar the excuses put forward it may be con sidered that the penalties Mr. May proposed to inflict were excessive, in at least, but the
the cases
the Gov- to go before the defen elected
After the painful lessons of the last few years the Government is fully sensible of its obligations as regards the preven- tion of overcrowding and the sanitary maintenance of dwellings, some people being inclined to think that it is even a little too strict in its provisions in these parti- culars. However that may be, the policy adopted has already raised the cost of living accommodation and the rates of wages are rising in sympathy therewith. Against that there is nothing to be said; it is an inevitable consequence of given causes; but philanthropists who would have the colony launch out into extravagant schemes of expenditure should remember that the first to feel the burden of that expenditure would be the very classes whom it is in- tended to benefit, and though matters would adjust themselves ultimately by an increase of wages, in the meantime, pending the ad- justment, the strain might be carried to breaking point. A community's habits and mode of living cannot be changed suddenly, and in the particular case of Hongkong, granted that the need of change is very great, sanitary enthusiasts must not be allowed to remove the break of common sense and rush the colony into bankruptcy. We have no inexhaustible fund on which to draw, in fact no fund at all except the pockets of the public, who have to pay 17 cents to the Imperial Government for every 82 cents that they raise for local purposes. When people talk about ernment resuming existing "coolie tyes" and building lodging houses to be let for less than they cost, the obvious reply there fore is that one operation such as the Tai- pingshan Resumption works is as much as the colony can carry through at once. By all means let similar operations in other insanitary districts be undertaken as rapidly as circumstances permit, but they cannot all be undertaken at once, nor can financial considerations be disregarded. It is easy to say that these schemes would be less expensive than plague epidemics, but it would be impracticable to find the money by materially increasing the taxation, which is already high, and if the alternative of a loan were decided upon it is doubtful whether London capitalists would be very ready to supply money to be invested in works that can hardly be expected to prove remunera- tive, especially when the revenue of the colony is already pledged for the re payment of a prior loan. It cannot be denied that much remains to be done to place the colony in a satisfactory sanitary condition and to provide for the proper housing of the working classes, but in the meantime there is no reasonable fault to be found, according to our view, with the rate of progress that is being made in the work, which must necessarily occupy time and be accomplished gradually. On one point, however, we are thoroughly in Magistrat agreement with the correspondent of our before hir contemporary and that is as to the duty of is the government, Imperial and local to has bee
not
that point: does
thê
now arise. To our mind the line of defence adopted by the defendants at the Magistracy considerably aggravated the original offence. They apparently instructed their counsel to make an attack Superintendent, and the ground taken up by Mr. FRANCIS, Q.C., appeared to be that because Mr. MAY was not present at the fire himself therefore the learned counsel's clients were not to be punished for their admitted neglect of duty On the absolute. futility of that argument we need not dilate. Mr. MAY clearly showed that with the con- sent and approval of the Government he had arranged that he and the Deputy Superintendent should take in turn the duty of attending at fires,
That may
એક સ
unwise arrangement, and it may
his prede that Mr. MAY, like attend all fires when within call. question of whether Mr. MAY or not had absolutely nothing the point at issue in this case simply whether the defendan
of the regu mitted a breac Notwithstanding the fact of t table defence having been raise HASTINGS thought fit to discharge, the defendants, in two cases with a in another with Command
reprimands
Beer
and
ution and the latter