The Express.
London, England, 1863-06-18 00:00:00

Ehe erprefso.

TO CORRESPONDENT'S.
advertisements Intended for "The &preen" London Emden
Paper mutt
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puthebtla". 10,
B°"ert."l"‘
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HA nuaisr.
Trim Emma, AN UNLUCKY DECIMAL. Mu Harrin
—FINFASK Menem A Wiga. How*, Buckskins. Gordo%
and Farms. Min A. Wigan.Wilkins, less L AngiL—
EAsY iIIAVING.—And MY HUSBAND'S GHOST.

PRIFCISYS.
Tan Lvesnos, 001331 N TOY—COVET AND CAMP.
Mmes. G. Thum Verner, H. Marston, Delmore, Wamtv.
and Maeda; Mimes Amy,rerlek, J. Liam, and Lydia
Thompson.—And •CH Ai NG PAUL

LYCEUM.
num Vranra, A SUDDEN ATTACK. Meows. abort and
Wlddloonab Win Konrad., and lira Lee. —And THE DI7KKEI
MOTTO. Mews. Feebler. Shore. Brougham. and Wowed
Wawa C. Laciacq, K. Tom and Elsworthy.

BRITANNIA.
Ten Emma, UM WIDOW AND ORM ANS.—rArra,
HOPE. AND CHARITY, with Professor Peppers adaptation of
THE GREAT GHOST, biventai by H. DW•dw„— Esq.—The
Bahama Oceistht—And THE DAUGHTER Of NIGHT.

HIGH WATIN AT LONDON BIIDGIN.
MA DAT —Marais& VI. .Aharsees. 311.
ro.NoAgim...Nlenks, 3Y. 61a....A06NAA" AD. MA

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 18.

Tat Company now in course of formation for
erecting Improved Dwellings for the Industrial
Classes starts under favourable circumstances, and
if well managed, has every prospect of being suc-
cessful, both as a commercial and philanthropic
speculation. It enjoys the great advantage of
commencing operations with all the knowledge
derived from several previous efforts in the same
direction, and will be able, at least, to avoid the more
serious mistakes into which the earlier associst,ons
Sell. The guidance to be derived from previous ex-
perinieuts is fortunately, however, not simply nega-
tive. In addition to the valuable lessons of
what to avoid, taught by the partial failure of
the two Metropolitan Associations for Ins-
_

proving the Dwellings of the Working Clasen,
there are the useful practical hints of what to
follow afforded by Alderman Ws-rzacow's more
recent and far more successful experiment in the
same direction. Indeed, the new Company, . a
our readers are probably aware, is mainly due
to Alderman WATIRLOW'S spirited exertions.
Being convinced that healthy and comfortable
dwellings for the working classes might be made
to pay, he determined to make the experiment in
a crowded part of Finsbury, and the result of bis
effort has done much to. remove the objections
previously felt by capitalists to the investment of
money in such undertakings. It is true there has
scarcely yet been time to verify the favourable
estimates of " Langbourn Buildings" given by
Alderman WATERLOW at the opening meeting, but
the facts relating to the total cost of the block, the
proposed scale of rental, and the comparatively high
rate of interest on the original outlay thus accruing,
so impressed the City merchants who were present
that they determined to organize some plan for
repeating the experiment on a larger scale, and
thus of extending the benefits of the movement.
After one or two private conferences this resolution
was carried into effect at the meeting of merchanti-
and banken held at the Mansion Pouse
under the presidency of Lord STANLEY. At this
meeting it was decided that an Association or Com-
pany should be formed, on the basis of limited
liability, with a capital of 25,000/. or 50,0001.,
for the purpose of Erecting Improved Dwellings
for the Industrial Classes. A working committee
was formed, and the greater part of the capital
required subscribed on the spot.
The discussion which led to this result was, as might
be expected from the composition of the meeting,
of a thoroughly practical and business-like character.
Lord STANLEY, at the outset, hit the nail on the
bead in saying broadly that the fint. condition of
success in efforts of this kind was that they should
be not only self-supporting bat remunerative. The
field of operations is so krge that it would be
quite impossible, even were it desirable, for the work
to be done on any other terms than tho-e of an
adequate return for the capital employed. It
is not simply in one district or parish of Lon-
don that improved dwellings are absolutely
required for the artisan classes. Excepting per-
haps in the newest parts of the Western suburbs,
the existing tenements of the labouring classes are
either falling into decay, or being cleared to
make way for improvements—railways, hotel; new
streets, or new buildings of some kind or other.
It is, however, most important, and in the East-
ern districts of the Metropolis almost essen-
tial, that a considerable proportion of these
people should live near their work, in the neigh-
bourhood of the factories, yards, warehouses, and
workshops in which they are employed.
The inroads of improvement on the existing dwell-
ings of this claw, as more than one speaker urged
at the meeting, force those who are thus,
obliged to live near their work " to herd together
"in places which are perfectly diagraoeful." Im-
proved dwellings are thus fast becoming a first
necessity over a very wide and scattered area,
and especially in the Eastern districts of the me-
tropolis. To meet this necessity a large outlay of
capital on the part of associations or private indi-
viduals is absolutely indispensable ; but it would
be irrational to expect this outlay to be made un-
less there is a fair prospect of an adequate return.
On this point Alderman Wan/mow insists quite
as strongly as Lord STANLEY, and he is of course
entitled to speak with authority, having boldly
made an expensive experiment, which appears
likely to be in this essential point a success.
There is, indeed, no reaiem why the employment
of capital in this useful enterprise should not be
remunerative, if proper care is taken to proned on
the right plan. Economy must of course be a first

consideration in the erection of suit buildings.
Next to a proper regard in the arrekements for
the health, comfort, and convenience of the future
inmates, the comparative cheapness of the mate-
rials to be employed must be carefully considered.
Alderman WATIRLOW'S experiment shows how
much may be done in this direction. The intro-
duction of a single new material—a kind of
artificial stone, formed of clinkers, coke, and
Portland cement—effected a saving of about
twenty-five per cent. in the total cost of " Lang-
" bourn Buildings." This new material, from the
experiments already made, seems likely to prove as
strong, durable, and generally useful as the stone
which it supplants; and there is a large additional
saving of labour in the fact that it may be cast in
moulds in the exact forms required for the
different purposes of the building. In this way,
by a due regard to economy as well as con-
venience in the general plan, and in the selection
of materials, these most salutary experiments, on
which the future health and welfare of the work-
ing classes so largely depend, may, it is be-
lieved, be made commercially successful.
For the same rent that he now pays, if
not indeed for less, for it is very high, the
artisan and his family will have a home greatly
superior in every respect to that which he now
occupies. And as soon as the fact becomes gene-
rally known by the multiplication of successful
experiments, the work will no doubt be taken up
by individual capitalists, as well as by new
associations, and continued on a scale to some ex-
tent proportionate to the largeness of the need.
It is none the less true, however, that those who
engage in it, and especially those who do so at the
present moment, are acting a thoroughly public-
spirited and philanthropic part. The new associa-
tion acts as a pioneer, and will prepare the way
for the more extensive employment of capital in
this necessary work. Mr. Moscair stated this to
be one of the main objects in view—the strongest
inducement with himself, and no doubt with
others also, to move actively in the matter.
The buildings to be erected by the new
Company are designed for the accommodation
, of families rather than of single men, and the
clam to be provided for is sufficiently incl:cated in the
proposed rental of five shillings a week. This is
the rate now paid by the middle class of
artisans who do not realise the high wages of
skilled workmen, but are still somewhat above the
range of common labourers. If the new experi-
ment is, however, to be really successful on a large
scale, adequate provision must ultimately be
made for this latter clans, whose need is perhaps
more urgent than that of any other, but who
have unfortunately been almost wholly over-
looked in the Improved Dwellings hitherto erected.