New-York tribune., 1905-06-12
MUNICIPAL FADS.
Not Many of Them in Huddersteid
Tram SerUice-Lodging Houses.
Huddersfield. May 20.

sented. The Mayor and the Health o1ncer' do
7 have explained in a previous letter. nave
taken to heart the statistics of Infant mortai'S'
and are making strenuous efforts to arouse pub
lie interest In the question OF protecting chlio
life: but they have not ventured to introduce the
drastic regulations of the French Commune ol
vilIiers le Due In an industrial centre OF one
| hundred thousand people. is there any I'M
mediate prospect of any reform more radlcai
| than that of prompt reporting of births ana the
/ employment of two inspectors in house-to-houSe
| visitations and practical instruction respecting
the nursing and rearing of children Ihere Is
not TO be municipal nursery in Huddersnelu'
| where mothers can leave their babies during the
day to be cared for at public expense Whlle
they themselves working in the mills nor
is the offer of FL for every twelve-month-old
child anything but individual act of restrict
ed scope, ordered for the sake of making talk
and inducing people to think seriously of an
important matter of public health. Equally IT.
rasnonsible are reports about the experiments of
Huddersield faddists in distributing free sup
plies of municipal coal.
When asked a prominent official what was
the most socialistic thing they were thinking OIL
doing in the town. he replied that there was
some talk about having free tram service at
least on certain lines and at certain hours.
trans. 1 found little reason for believing that
there would be free rides for any part of the
community for long time to come, The Hud-
dersfeld corporation the first one IN Eng
land to obtain powers for operating the tram
ways as a branch of the municipal service, but
It has been most unlucEy in It's enterprise and
has not yet succeeded in balancing the annual
accounts the right side The corporation IN
troduced steam traction because the streets
were too steep for horsepower, and when an en-
gine ran away and a car was upset bill of
$50 900 damages had to be paid. Eight years
afterward there was another accident from a
defective boiler, and this cost the town $4,000.
No sooner had the lines been reconstructed for
steam haulage than electric traction became
necessary and this involved a large additional
outlay. Instead of a surplus from the tramway
service. which be applied as in Manchester.
Glasgow and other cities, for the reduction of
the rates. there has been in recent years a
deficit ranging from S23, ,695 to S5O,5O0 to be
provided for. The corporation is not likely to
abolish fares at any hour of the day when the
financial conditions are so unsatisfactory. The
average fare is a penny and a farthing, and
there is electric service of twenty eight miles.
There are some novelties in the management
of the tramways that worthy of notice.
There is letter box in every car, and this is
left In the general office in ST. Georges Square,
In the centre of the town, where the postoffice
, messenger empty 1t. By this method let
ters can be promptly sent out from the remote
suburbs and delivered in the general postof1ce
within hour. For this service and for free
carriage Of telegraph boys and postmen at all
hours the postof1ce pays 81. 500 a year to the
corporation. A letter be posted without
charge only when the tramcar is at rest. If the
car be stopped for the posting of a letter
| penny has to be paid Parcels are also carried
from one station to another on tramcars, and
this traffic is steadily increasing. and of
| the lines experiments have been made with
| coal deliveries. These services are not without
| charge, but have been adopted partly for public
| convenience in a town of steep gradients and
| also for the sake of increasing the income of
| the tramways. Municipal socialists in England
| believe in cheapening and improving public
vices for the benefit of all classes; but they have
not encouraged any one to expect that anything
can be had done for nothing
| Huddersfeld has been most energetic In its
| attempts to improve the housing arrangements
| OF the working people. Fifty years ago the ex-
| pertinent OF opening municipal lodging houses
was tried and the accommodations have been
enlarged until about 1, ,250 inmates are housed
every week. There are houses for married cou-
| pies homes for mechanics and lodgings for
| women as well as for men in separate buildings.
| Clean, wholesome places they are. and well man
| aged For few pennies night woman out of
| ernployment can have a good bed, and in the
| morning she can cook her breakfast at kitchen
| range and eat it in a comfortable sitting room.
! The charges in these common lodging houses
! SO low that the inmates live threepence
| a day with as much for the bed at night;
yet the institutions virtually self sustaining
and meet fairly well the requirements of work.
ing people of extremely narrow means. The
corporation has also built over $50 cottages,
each with four rooms which let to families
at rentals ranging from 81 16 to 81 81 week.
The houses are neat and comfortable and are
never without occupants; and apparently the
munfcipality is content with a rental which
barely covers the interest the cost of con-
struction. There not too many of them for
the corporation merely desires to provide for the
poorest class and not to encourage general de-
pendence upon municipal bounty. Hudders-
field having working population accustomed to
earn good wages in the woollen mills does not
need to be unduly generous in its housing r
rangements 1t had at one time complete sys-
tenn of wash houses designed for women who
could not do laundry work at home and wished
TO hire public stalls provided with hot and cold
water Little use has been made Of these stalls
which will ultimately be abandoned. The public
baths are popular. well managed and cheap.
There are municipal cemeteries. but every grave
must be paid for.
Huddersfeld is indeed we'll governed town
where faddists in the main have been kept un-
der restraint and where municipal ownership
has been intelligently directed by public spirited
,nan with conservative tendencies. The CITY
owns its own water, gas and electric supplies,