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of materials. Costs reached their peak in 1927 but by 1929 had fallen to the levels of 1923. Even so rents were still beyond the capacity of the poorer classes, and the slum problem had not been touched. Between the end of the war and 1931 over 1,500,000 houses were built, of which about 1,000,000 were for sale and the remainder, owing to high rents, were mainly let to the superior artisan and professional classes, most of whom could afford an economic rent. A Parlia- mentary Committee in 1931 stated that "the only solution appeared to be the building of large number of working class houses at low rents". Without financial' assistance from the State that was impossible.

5. The erection of large numbers of low rented houses brings in its train numerous subsidiary problems. The first is that the rent must be within the means of the prospective tenant. When income is limited, a rise in rent means less money for food, and cases have been known where tenants have been removed from slum areas and the death rate among them has increased through malnutrition. Many new housing estates, ideally built and, from the point of view of health, ideally situated, have failed to attract the working classes for whom they were intended, as they were situated so far from means of livelihood, that the workers could not afford either the time for travelling or the increased transport costs. In some cases the lack of schools, churches, shops and such like have kept prospective tenants away. The slum dweller is a sociable person; his environment and almost complete lack of privacy has forced upon him a degree of sociability entirely absent in the wealthier classes. In England the change from overcrowded and overbuilt slums to the comparative solitude of twelve houses per acre, with no social centre or common meeting ground, has occasionally proved too drastic, and tenants have drifted back to the more familiar neighbourliness of the slums.

6. The type of dwelling, in relation to the people to be housed, is a matter for serious consideration. In England, the general tendency has been towards the "garden suburb " but, in rebuilding congested areas, economic pressure has brought about the erection of blocks of flats. On the continent, in Europe, the early tendency was to rehouse in blocks of flats. Flats versus houses is a long standing subject for controversy. There is undoubtedly room for both, and the provision of one or the other must largely be dependant on local circumstances. For family life there are many objections to flats, even if provided with lifts. In congested areas however where the majority of tenants must be rehoused on the spot, flats appear to offer the only solution. They give more recreational area and are more economical, when land prices are high.

7. The standard of accommodation to be provided will depend on what the prospective tenant can afford and on local usage, and, also, on what communal services are available. In many European schemes no bathing or laundry facilities are provided, but in most cases this is balanced by the provision of communal bath houses and laundries. There must also be taken into account the cost and availability of public supplies for water, power and light and heating.

8. It can be seen therefore that to consider housing from one point of view only is to court failure. The factors affecting housing can be broadly classified under four headings, sociology, hygiene and standards, finance, and planning.

Sociology.

9. A very large proportion of the working class Chinese, in Hong Kong, is composed of immigrants from South China. Before their arrival in Hong Kong they lived in villages and were engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits and native industries. For the purpose of defence the villages are generally compactly built and surrounded by a wall. In the absence of wheeled traffic, roads are reduced to the minimum necessary for pedestrian circulation. As in most rural communities sanitation is extremely primitive. With no large herds of livestock to provide manure human excreta is used for the purpose. The limitations placed by the surrounding wall on an expanding population have inevitably resulted in over- crowding.

10. The normal village house is deep and narrow fronted, the width being fixed by the maximum usable length of the China fir pole with which most floors and roofs are constructed. The ground floor is one long room, with a minute

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