THE LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002402844 COST OF LIVING IN BELGi/n TOWNS. RE^PORT OF AN ENQUIRY BY THE BOAKD OF TRADE INTO VOEKING CLASS RENTS, HOUSING AM RETAIL PRICES, TOGETHER WITH THE RATES OF WAGES m CERTAIN OCCUPATIONS IN THE PRINCIPAL INDUSTRIAL TOWNS OF BELGIUM. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY MEMORANDUM AND A COMPARISON OF CONDITIONS IN BELGIUM AND THE UNITED KINGDOM. iiresentelr to ^parliament bg ittommanti of l^is Mm»ts. >" LONDON':- PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, By DARLING & SON, Ltd., 34-40, Bacon Street, E. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from WYMAN AND SONS, Ltd., Fetter Lane, B.C., and 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W. ; or OLIVER & BOYD, Tweeddale Court, Edinburgh; or E. PONSONBY, 116, Grafton Street, Dttblin. [Cd. 5065.] Price 2s. 2d. To THjE President of the Boaed of Trade. Sir, The Volume which I have the honour to submit herewith is the fourth of a series containing the results of an investigation undertaken by the Board of Trade into certain matters affecting the condition o£ the working classes in industrial towns in various countries. The present Report refers to Belgium, and is based upon the results of an enquiry which extended to fifteen of the principal towns in that country. I have, &c., H. LLEWELLYN SMITH. 24th February, 1910, PREFATORY NOTE. To THE Secretary or the Board of Trade, S]R, The present Report deals with the cost of living and the remuneration of the working classes in the principal industrial centres of Belgium, and contains information comparable, so far as possible, with that given for the United Kingdom in the Report on the Cost of Living of the Working Classes [Cd. 3864], issued by this Department in January, 1908 ; for Germany in the Report on the Cost of Living in German Towns [Cd, 4032], issued in the same year ; and for France in the Report on the Cost of Living in French Towns [Cd. 4512], issued in 1909. The statistical material contained in these previous Reports related mainly to the same standard date, October, 1905, but in the case of Belgium the difficulties in the way of obtaining sufficiently complete information for that date rendered it necessary to choose the month of June, 1908, as the standard date. For reasons which are fully set out in Part II. of the General Report it does not appear that this difference in respect of dates affects appreciably the validity of the comparative results obtained. The main subjects of investigation were the principal types of housing for the industrial population ; the customary standards of accommodation and the rents commonly paid by working-class tenants ; the kinds of food usually consumed by working-class families and the prices most generally paid ; and the wages and hours of labour in the principal occupations in each town. In order to arrive at some estimate of the standard of living of the industrial classes of Belgium, over 1,850 budgets showing the expenditure on food by working-class families in a normal week, and representative of numerous occupations and of all grades of working-class incomes, were obtained fi-om various towns, and an analysis of them is included in the present volume. The general methods of investigation adopted have been fully indicated in the Prefatory Notes to the volumes on the United Kingdom and Germany ; and it is here desirable only to express the cordial thanks of the Department to the Belgian Govern- ment (and in particular to the officials of the Office du Travail), to His Majesty's Diplomatic and Consular Officers in Belgium, to the municipal authorities and official Housing Committees of the various towns, to the officials of numerous trade unions, co-operative societies and associations for promoting social welfare, and to a large " multiple " firm and many retail tradesmen for valuable assistance rendered to the officers of the Department in the course of their enquiries. The General Report which follows this Prefatory Note has been prepared on the same lines as the General Reports contained in the previous volumes of this series ; and the same statistical methods have been utilised. In the first part of the General Report the data relating to the three principal subjects of enquiry— housing and rents food prices, and wages and hours of labour in three comparable trades (buildino-' engineering and printing) carried on to a greater or less extent in all the lo towns' investigated— are summarised, and the towns compared among themselves in respect of each of these matters. It will be observed that a broad distinction can be drawn between the towns, according to the racial characteristics of their inhabitants and the industrial occupations pursued by them. The Walloon towns of south-eastern Belgium contain the principal centres of the Belgian coal, metal, glass and small arms industries ; whilst the Flemish towns of north-western Belgium are concerned mainly with the textile industries The general rent level of the Walloon towns is a little above that of the Flemish towns '• the rates of wages, in the industries selected for comparison, are higher— this was to be expected in view of the geographical distribution of industries, which has been mentioned • and the level of food prices is also somewhat higher, whilst, as appears from the analysis of the budgets, there are marked differences between the dietaries prevalent in the two districts. In the second part of the General Report an attempt has been made, by the use of the same statistical methods, to compare the results of the present enquiry with those previously obtained for England and Wales in regard to rents and prices, and the (13147—4.) Wt. 1618-3436. 2000. 3/10. D & S. IV wages in certain occupations in the building, engineering and printing trades, which are practically identical in character in both countries. The difficulties in the way of such a comparison, and the limitations to which the results obtained are subject, have been fully set out in the Prefatory Notes to the previous Keports ; and it is necessary in this place only to emphasise the fact that such results can at best be only approximate, and must be regarded as liable to many qualifications arising, for example, in the case of prices from differences of kind or of quality between the articles consumed in the various coimtries under comparison, or in the case of rents from differences in the kind of accommodation. In the present instance, however, this latter limitation scarcely applies. Tenement houses of a large size are infrequent in the Belgian towns, and the predominant type of housing accommodation there, as in England and Wales, is the small self-contained house or cottage, though the number of rooms in such a dwelling occupied by a Belgian family of the artisan class is generally less than in that occupied by an English family of the same class. Large rooms are, however, more prevalent, and rents are much lower ; if allowance be made for the element of local rates included in the English rents, the predominant rents paid in Belgian towns are only about three-quarters of those paid in English towns for a corresponding amount of accommodation. As regards prices, on the other hand, there does not appear to be any such marked difference, the general level in Belgian industrial towns being only shghtly below that prevalent in similar towns of England and Wales. Consequently, on the assumption which has been adopted for these international comparisons, it follows that an English workman, with an average family, who should go to Belgium and endeavour to maintain there his accustomed mode of living, would find his expenditure on housing, food and fuel slightly diminished. But at the same time, so far as can be judged from the trades selected for international comparison, he would find his wages reduced by about one-third, in spite of much longer hours. I have, &c., G. R. ASKWITH. CONTENTS. PREFATORY NOTE MAP OF BELGIUM, SHOWING GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF TOWNS INCLUDED IN THE REPORT (to face p. vii.) PAGE iii GENERAL REPORT :— Introduction Part I.— Report on Belgian Conditions— (i) Housing and Rents (ii) Budgets and Retail Prices — Budgets Retail Prices (iii) Rents and Retail Prices Combined (iv) Wages and Hours of Labour — Wages Hours of Labour (v) Relation of Wages to Rents and Retail Prices ... Part II.— Comparison of Rents, Budg-ets, Prices, Wages, and Hours of Labour in Belgium, with those in England and Wales— (i) Housing and Rents (ii) Budgets and Retail Prices — Budgets Retail Prices (iii) Wages and Hours of Labour — VI 1 via xi xvii XX xxi xxii xxiii Hours of Labour (iv) Summary of Comparisons Note on Changes since October, 1905, in Rents, Prices, Wages, and Hours of Labour, in England and Wales and in Belgium ... ... ... ... ... ... ...; XXIV xxvii xxxi xxxiv xxxvi xxxvii Appendices to General Report- Table A. — Index Numbers of Wages, Rents, and Prices Table B. — Condensed Budgets — Belgium Table C. — Condensed Budgets — United Kingdom ... xxxix xl xli DETAILED TOWN REPORTS :— Brussels Antwerp Bruges Charleroi Courtrai Ghent ... La Louviere Liege ... Louvain Malines Paturages Seraing Tournai Turnhout Verviers 1 25 38 47 57 71 82 95 108 118 126 135 158 164 APPENDICES :— I. — Summary Table. — Wages and Hours of Labour — Building Trades 178 Engineering Trades, Compositors, and Gas Workers 179 II. — Summary Table. — Rents 180 III. — Summary Table. — Retail Prices — Coffee, Sugar, Bacon, and Eggs 180 Cheese, Butter, Margarine, Potatoes, Flour, Bread, Milk, Coal, Paraffin Oil, and Beef ... 18J Mutton, Veal, and Pork 182 I3U7 Tl APPENDICES— con^mwcd. PAGE IV.— Specimen Wortshop and Colliery Rules, and Conditions of Municipal Employ- ment— ,„„ (i) Workshop Eules in the Engineering Trade at Tournai — "^ (Si) Colliery Regulations Q' Centre" Goalfield) ••• ••• ^"* (iii) Regulations relative to Minimum Wages and Maximum Hours oj Lalaur in the execution of Public Works at Ghent ... -•• ••• loa (iv) Regulations applying to Workpeople employed on Public Works at Charleroi (Extracts) ■'-°° (v) Regulations applying to Workpeople employed on Public Works at Tournai (Extracts) 186 V. — Workpeople's Pensions and Benefits — (i) Rules of the Old Age Pension Fund established for the Leather Trade at Tournai 187 (ii) " Le Bon Grain " Co-operative Society — Regulations relative to Benefits 189 VI. — Laws and Regulations relative to the Preparation and Sale of Food — (i) General Laws and Regulations relative to the Preparation and Sale of Food ... 190 (ii) Regulations relative to the Abattoir, Sale of Meat, &c., at Gourtrai ... 195 V^II. — Building Laws and Regulations — (i) Law relative to Workmen's Dwellings and the formation of Housing Committees , 197 (ii) Workmen''s Dwellings and Institutions for the Promotion of Thrift — Royal Decree as to the Organisation and Duties of Housing Committees 199 (iii) Municipal Regulations relative to Insanitary Dwellings at Liege ... 201 INDEX TO DETAILED TOWN REPORTS 203 ' 5 v G E R M A N Y pop 5 >« E ;• 5 5^ — -a — o — w "u ^ . .-■ ■•••■... ■•-■■•. ■ °l a ^ ■OS -0) J f ^ ••'• 4 ts ;•■■ •^ "■-. o ; rfci 3 /■•■v 1 1 3 3 .-■■•.•••.•' 3 8- *1 °!3 1 '*•••,. 1 M 1 w , 1 •s • ': .' c 3 n. ■«! «« •...-,.•■*'"•; < o o o o -J o ." • ..•.•'■ ■; 3 1 ^ } /f^ •. *, 03 : » oyj •■ !o p 3 *~v / r^^^ i-- O a. ■*J \ 7 • § 3 ■w A\^'- o 1 5 3 .•'•• O o ■a •o , o •' so 3 O ;z; 3 Is Da o u o OF lUM f Towns i ade-Enqui Miles o % y o \ » tq \ ;■' ^ujl| £• »IO 5Mr,5 \ • CD " § o ft? Csl \ BO OQ c W) o sq \ ll fei \: 5.S ° °a • s !> Vll GENERAL REPORT. The present volume contains the results of an Enquiry undertaken by the Board of Trade into the condition of the working classes in certain of the chief industrial towns of Belgium, with , especial reference to the customary types and rents of working-class dwellings, the prices usually paid by the working classes for food and fuel, their standard of living (as shpwji by a large number of family budgets), and wages and hours of labour. For the purposes of this enquiry the investigators of the Board visited 15 towns, containing an agjtjregate of about 1,680,000 inhabitants ; the populations range from 630,000 in Greater Brussels and 311,000 in Antwerp to 21,000 in La Louviere and 11,500 in Paturages. But whilst the majority of the towns investigated are comparatively small— besides Brussels and; Antwerp only two, Liege and Ghent, have populations exceeding 100,000, and three-fifths have less than 50,000 inhabitants— the numbers stated do not indicate the full extent of the industrial population dealt with in this Report. In several important instances, such as Li^ge, Charleroi, La Louviere and' Paturages, the towns to which the enquiries primarily related are the centres of more or less extensive areas throughput which practically the same economic conditions prevail ; Courtrai and Verviers are surrounded by smaller communes engaged in the same indus- tries ; and at Antwerp and Ghent there are important suburbs which are only adminis- tratively and not topographically or socially distinct, The large amount of original statistical material relating to rents,^ prices and wages and hours, which was collected in the course of the enquiry is set out in detail in the reports relating to the individual towns, and is summarised in part in this General Report ; but much information was also obtained (and is included in the separate town reports) as to the general conditions of industrial life in Belgium, including such matters as the distribution of occupations and organisation of industry, workmen's associations, co-operative societies, experiments in housing reform, urban sanitation and other public services, vital statistics and local taxation. The industrial occupations dealt with in the separate reports include coal mining, metal working and engineering, the various branches of the building trade, the textile trades (cottons, woollens and worsted, silk, linen, lace and clothing), the manufacture of small arms, glass making, diamond cutting, woodworking and furnishing, paper making, printing, sugar refining, brewing, the tobacco industry, the chemical industries, dock labour, various municipal employments and miscellaneous occupations. The present Report is the fourth of a series issued by the Board of Trade,' and containing the results of other, investigations conducted on similar lines ; the volumes already issued relate to the United Kingdom (Cd. 3864 ; 1908), Germany (Cd. 4032 ; 1908) and France (Cd. 4512 ; 1909). In order that the results obtained for the individual countries might be as comparable as possible, the information collected for these three volumes related mainly to the same standard date (October, 1905); but in the case of Belgium it proved impracticable to obtain information for that date of a sufficiently detailed and comprehensive character. Consequently for the investigation in the Belgian towns the month of June, 1908, was adopted as the date to which the information to be collected should relate ; but from such evidence as is available it is apparent that in wages and rents the differences between prevailing levels in October, 1905, and June, 1908, were so slight as to be scarcely appreciable. Accordingly the data collected on these heads in Belgium and relating to June, 1908, may properly be regarded as comparable with those collected in the United Kingdom, Germany and France for October, 1905 ; as regards prices, some caution is necessary, as the prices of some commodities appear to have altered appreciably (c/. p. xxxi). The purpose of this General Report is to summarise the results arrived at in regard to the three main heads of the enquiry — rents, prices, and wages and hours, and to compare the Belgian towns among themselves in these respects, and to make such comparisons as may be possible with the results reached in a similar manner for the towns of England and Wales. 13U7 Vlll PART L— REPORT ON BELGIAN CONDITIONS. (i) Housing and Rents. In order to ascertain the rents usually paid for the kinds of dvyellings which are :geneijaUy occupied by the industrial working classes in Belgium, information was obtained &otn various sources, but the bulk of the rent returns were collected for the purposes of this I enquiry directly from the tenants themselves. In each town a number of houses were visited by the investigators of the Board of Trade, in order that some account might be given of the prevalent standard and character of housing accommodation. The types of housing found in the Belgian towns investigated present on the whole great uniformity, and approximate somewhat closely to those which prevail in English industrial towns ; that is to say, the small house occupied by one or two families is the predominant type, whilst tenement houses play only a very small part, and even where they exist, are rarely of large size. In this connexion it must be remembered that the majority of the towns investigated were relatively small, with populations not exceeding 50,000 ; and that in a number of them, such as Seraing, Turnhout, La Louviere and Paturages, the conditions are still of a semi-rural character. Tenement houses appear to be of importance only in Antwerp, where there are a number which are considerable in size, in some parts of Greater Brussels, in the centre of Li^ge, to a small extent at Charleroi, at Tournai, and particularly at Verviers, where this style of building seems to have been determined by topographical conditions, which cause the town to be the only one investigated in which tenement houses containing four or more families constitute practically the sole type of working-class dwellings. Six- roomed houses, divided between two families, are reported to be the prevailing type of working-class housing at Antwerp ; four-roomed houses occupied by two families are common in Brussels ; at Li^ge the two rooms forming the upper floor of a four-roomed house are commonly sub-let ; but even in these towns the separate house of one or two floors, containing usually from two to four rooms with appurtenances, and in the occupation of a single family, is frequently to be found, and elsewhere it may be regarded as the representative type. Usually such houses have a loffc or attic, in addition to the habitable rooms, and a cellar ; and in the smaller towns they frequently possess a small yard or garden. It may be remarked that in Paturages, which still retains in its appearance many of the characteristics of a large village, a ver j^ considerable proportion of the houses are owned by their occupiers. As regards the standard of accommodation, as distinct from its kind, in Greater Brussels four-fifths of the dwellings occupied by the working classes consist simply of one or two habitable rooms, whilst in Brussels City nearly one-half ■ are of only one room : one-roomed dwellings are also of some importance at Liege and Verviers. In Antwerp, on the other hand, dwellings containing three rooms constitute the largest class, although those with two and four rooms respectively are also numerous. Two-roomed dwellings are found in large numbers at Bruges, Charleroi, Li^ge, Louvain, Paturages, Seraing, Tournai, Turnhout and Verviers ; dwellings consisting of three rooms are of importance at Bruges, Ghent, Paturages, Seraing, Turnhout, and Verviers ; whilst four-roomed dwellings, frequent in Bruges, Charleroi, Ghent, Louvain, Malines, Paturages, Tournai and Verviers, are said to be almost general in Courtrai and La Louviere. Dwellings of even larger size, containing five or six rooms, are found in Ghent and Malines ; but they cannot be regarded as in any way typical of working-class housing in Belgian industrial towns. Whilst, however, the types of housing approximate to those of the English working classes, the sanitary conditions which prevail in the Belgian towns investigated can only be described as unsatisfactory. In the large towns, such as Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Liege, and even in such relatively small towns as Courtrai, Louvain, Seraing and Tournai, many small houses are crowded together in courts and blind alleys lying behind the houses which front on to the streets ; the small size of the houses prevents some of the worst results of this system from making their appearance, but nevertheless the arrangement is open to obvious objections. Moreover, the equipment of working-class dwellings, in respect of water-supply and sanitary conveniences, is almost everywhere IX totally inadequate, when judged by even a moderate standard. Only a very small pro- portion of them possess a separate water-supply ; even at Brussels the inhabitants of working-class dwellings are nearly always compelled to fetch water for domestic use from outside the houses, from pumps in the yards or more or less distant stand-pipes in the streets, and frequently to obtain it from wells ; and these unsatisfactory conditions are intensified in some of the smaller towns. The rents most usually paid in each town for dwellings of various sizes are set out in the separate town reports, and also in Appendix 11. (p. 180). From the data given in that Appendix, which are based on rent quotations obtained in this enquiry for about 32,000 working-class dwellings, the following Table has been constructed to show the predominant range of rents for dwellings of the various sizes occupied generally by the Belgian working classes. The rents do not include any element of local taxation, or, as a rule, any charge for water (since it is only rarely that a separate supply is laid on to a working-class house or tenement). The nature and extent of local taxation, so far as it affects the classes to whom this Report relates, will be examined later. Predominant Rents of Working-class Dwellings in Belgium. Number of Towns to which the figures relate. Predominant Range of Weekly Rents. Number of Towns in which the Mean Rent is Number of Rooms per Dwelling. WUhin the limits of the Predominant Range. Below the limits of the Predominant Range. Above the limits of the Predominant Range. Two rooms Three roomfi Pour rooms 12 11 12 Is. M. to 2s. 3d 2s. M. to 2s. lOd. 2s. M. to 3s. &d. 6 6 8 3 3 2 3 2 2 • From this Table it will be seen that the two-roomed tenement was found to be an important type of working-class dwelling in 12 out of the 15 towns investigated, and four-roomed dwellings in an equal number, whilst three-roomed tenements were con- spicuous in almost as many towns. It has already been remarked that in Brussels tenements of more than two rooms are seldom occupied by the working classes ; it is, therefore, impossible to compare dh-ectly the rents paid for tenements of various sizes in the capital with those charged for similar accommodation elsewhere, except in the case of two-roomed tenements, for which the mean rent in Brussels is Ss. OJc^., and in the rest of Belgium 2s. In the case of Antwerp, however, rents are quoted for working-class dwellings containing two, three, and four rooms respectively, and the difference between the rents prevailing in that city and elsewhere m. Belgium is very marked. Thus, whilst the mean rent for two rooms at Antwerp is 3s. 2^d., in the other towns as a whole it is 2s. ; for three rooms the respective mean rents are 3s. 9^d. and 2s. 6d, and for four rooms 4s. 3d in Antwerp and 3s. Id. in the rest of Belgium. In order to compare the rent levels of the various towns between themselves, making due allowance for the varying degrees of importance of the different sizes of dwellings the following method was adopted. The means of the predominant rents for each class of dwellings in the whole of Belgium, given in the Table above, were taken as a base, and the ratios of the mean predominant rents in each town to the mean predominant rents for all Belgium were worked out ; the average of the ratios for any town gave an index number for the town as compared with the predominant level for all the towns investigated. The resultant index number for Brussels was then taken as a basis and the index numbers for the other towns adjusted accordingly. In the following Table the index numbers so 13147 e 2 ^ calculated are given, skewing the relative level of rents in each of the Belgian town^ investigated as compared with Brussels, the predominant rents in the capital being taken as the base ( = 100). Rent Index Numbers in Descending Order. Town. Index Number. Town. Index Number. Town. Index' ^ Number. Brussels Ant-werp Liege La LouTiere Charleroi 100 99 88 75 74 Tournai Louvain Ghent Verviers Seraing 74 65 63 6L 59 Bruges Courtrai Malines Turnhout Paturages 59 58 52 44 ' 43 It will be seen that there is practically no difference between the rent levels of Brussels and Antwerp, and that rents at Liege, the next largest town, are 12 per cent, lower than at Brussels, but considerably higher than at any of the other towns included in the investigation. At Ghent, which is the fourth town in point of population and only slightly smaller than Liege, rents are low (37 per cent, less than those prevalent at Brussels), and, in fact, except in the three largest towns, there appears to be no relation between the size of a town and its comparative rent level. Thus La Louviere and Charleroi, which are small towns, have high rent index numbers, which may be due to the fact that each is a centre of an extensive industrial area ; Bruges and Malines, on the other hand, which are large towns more or less isolated, have relatively low index numbers. If Brussels and Antwerp be excluded, it is possible to divide the towns investigated in the course of this enquiry into two groups, according to the racial characteristics of their populations, whether Walloon or Flemish. The Walloon country includes south- eastern Belgium, and therefore the towns of Liege, Seraing, Verviers, La Louviere, Charleroi and Paturages {see Map given as frontispiece to this volume). Tournai, though situated in what is officially regarded as the Walloon country, is a Flemish-speaking town, and has consequently been included for the purposes of this enquiry in the Flemish country (or north-western Belgium), which includes also Courtrai, Louvain, Ghent, Malines, Bruges and Turnhout. It will be observed that the centres of the metal, coal- mining, glass and small arms industries are in the W^alloon districts, whilst the centres of the textile trades are in the Flemish districts, with the important exception of Verviers which is industrially isolated. Antwerp is (so far as the working classes sre concerned) a Flemish town, but it is so much larger than any of the other Flemish towns that it appeared advisable to treat it separately ; and Brussels, as the capital city, also stands by itself. The rent index number being 100 for Brussels and 99 for Antwerp, the mean index number for the " Walloon towns " is 67, and for the " other Flemish towns" 59. In connexion with housing conditions and rents, it may be pointed out that, owing to the cheapness of travel both by workmen's trains and on the system of light railways which has been so extensively developed in Belgium, many workmen live at a considerable distance from their place of employment. Thus the greater number of workmen engaged in the building trades in Brussels are said to travel in daily from more or less distant villages, and workmen come in daily even from Louvain, which is 18 miles distant. From Tournai it is reported that these facilities have induced many workmen to settle in the surrounding villages ; and at Seraing and Lidge there are stated to be large numbers of artisans who are in the towns (living in lodging-houses) from Monday to Saturday, but return to their own homes for the week-ends. In other towns also it is apparent that the provision of cheap means of transit has facilitated the distribution of population over a comparatively wide area. XI housing by Public Enterprise and by Employers.— VnAer the terms of a law en^ted in 1889, and regulations made by royal decree in 1895, Housing Committees {ComiUs de Patronage^, consisting of persons nominated by the central and provincial governments, are established in every administrative district to study the housing conditions ot the working classes and all matters connected therewith, and to facilitate the construction and renting of healthy dwellings and their sale, either for a single payment orfor payments distributed over a series of years. The Committees receive grants of public money, and may also accept gifts and bequests. The Law further provides that the National Savings and Superannuation Fund may invest part of its funds in loans for the construction or purchase of working-class dwellings ; but individuals desirous of obtaining loans can do so only through a recognised society established for the purpose (the full text of the Law and of the supplementary royal decree is given in Appendix VII, pp. 197-201). In nearly all of the towns included in this enquiry societies have been formed, sometimes with municipal assistance (as, for example, at Brussels and Courtrai), to take advantage of the provisions of this law : details of their organization and mode of working will be found in the separate town reports ; but it will be seen that their operations have not hitherto, as a rule, been on a large scale, Liege (p. 104) being, perhaps, the most conspicuous instance to the contrary. Housing reform enterprises working independently of the Law of 1889 are comparatively rare ; they are to be found at Liege, Tournai and Verviers, but in these cases also their operations are very limited. Housing of workpeople by employers exists only on a small scale. The most noticeable instances are at Seraing, where one large firm has erected a very considerable number of houses, which are gradually acquired by its employees, and another firm lets houses either at very low rents or rent-free to its workpeople, giving those not so provided for an extra allowance as rent-money. At La Louvike there are a fair number of houses owned by the proprietors of colheries and other works, but in other places housing by employers is on so small a scale as to be quite unimportant. Local Taxation. — The municipal revenues of the Belgian towns are derived mainly from (I) grants by the central government, the principal one being as compensation for the loss of revenue consequent upon the abolition of the octroi duties ia 1860 ; (ii.) tolls and dues, rents and proceeds of municipal enterprises where they exist ; and (iii.) local taxation. This last is levied (apart from miscellaneous taxes which are in the nature of licences) in the form of additions to certain state taxes — the land tax {impdt fancier') on the rental value of land and houses built thereon, and the contribution personelle etmobiliere, which is a tax payable by every householder and estimated on the rental value of his dwelling, the number of doors and windows, the value of his furniture, &c. This is, then, a tenants' tax, but the Housing Laws of 1889 and 1893 provide for the exemption fi-om it of all workpeople who occupy, either as owners or as tenants of a non-resident landlord, dwellings whose assessed rental value does not exceed an amount which varies with the size of the town, the maximum being £6 16s. lOd. The relation between the assessed value and the actual rent is not uniform from town to town ; but the result of these provisions is that very few working-class occupiers pay any direct taxation at all. Thus in Brussels and Antwerp the great bulk of working-class rents are below the tax limit ; at Grhent a,nd Bruges it is stated that all occupiers of working-class dwellings are, in fact, exempt ; and in the other towns investigated the proportion of the working classes which pays local taxes is undoubtedly very small. The extent to which the taxes payable by the landlords are shifted on to the tenant is another matter, and one in regard to which it is impossible to form any estimate. (ii.) Budgets and Retail Prices. Budgets of Working-class Families. For the purposes of this enquiry a large number of forms asking for particulars of the weekly income of a workman and his wife and children living at home, and their expenditure on rent and food in an ordinary week, were distributed by means of trade unions, and in other ways, in the various Belgian towns dealt with in this Report. After a certain number had been rejected on account of the insufficiency of the information given, or for other reasons, there remained 1,859 available for statistical purposes. Of these 318 were obtained from Brussels, 367 from Antwerp, 671 from other Flemish xu towns, and 503 from Walloon towns. The next Table shows the distribution of these budgets among the various industrial occupal ions : — Industry. Number of Budgets. Industi^'. Number of Budgets. Metal' working aiid Engineering Woodworking Textiles :puilding and Works of Construction. . . Trade, Warehousing and Commerce... Food, Drink and Tobacco Stone, Brick, Earthenware, Pottery, and Glass. Printing and Bookbinding Mining and Quarrying 500 227 156 139 13C) 113 89 76 61 Brought forward Clothing Paper, Cardboard, Indiarubber Chemicals Straw, Feathers, &c Factory Hands, unspecified Labourers, unspecified Others unclassified Total 1,589 47 19 5 4 40 68 87 Skin and Leather (including Boots and Shoes and Gloves). , 1,859 The next Table shows the distribution of the budgets according to family income : Amount of Weekly Income per family. Number of Budgets. Under 20s 315 20s. and under 25s 500 25s. „ 30s 362 30s. „ 35s 247 35s. „ 40s 152 40s. and over 283 In order to show the extent to which the total family income is due to the earnings of the husband, and to the supplementary earnings of the wife and children living at home, the following Table gives the average family income in each of the above classes, and the average amount contributed thereto in each case by the husband, wife, and children respectively : — Limits of Weekly Family Income, Under 20«. 20x. and under ihs. 25«. and under 30«. 30«. and under 3Sj. 3S«. and under ids. iOs. and lOver. Average number of children living at home. Average family income : — Husband Wife Children , Total 2-16 s. d. 15 6J 1 4 6 2-32 s. d. 19 5i 1 11 1 H 2-52 s. d. 21 2i 2 Hi 3 3f 2-96 s. d. 22 4i 3 4i 6 31 3-27 s. d. 23 6i 2 81 10 9i 3-94 s. d. 25 7| 2 6| 23 lOf 17 4i 22 5i 27 54 32 0| 37 Oi 52 li The joint contribution of the wife and children is thus important throughout, but its proportion to the total family income is most striking in the three highest income classes, in which it ranges from 30-2 to 50-8 per cent. The wife's share ranges from 4-9 per cent, in the highest class to lO'Z in the class with incomes of 25s. and under 30s, : this latter Ipel is nearly maintained in the next higher class also, where it is 10-5 per cent., so that the wife's contribution is both actually and relatively largest in the two middle income XIU groups. The share contributed by children living at home is just under 3 per cent, in the lowest income group and 5 per cent, in the next ; it then rises with great rapidity, being 12 per cent., 19'7 per cent., 29"1 per cent, in the three following groups and 45 "9 per cent, in the group with 40s. and over. In this last class, however, the average number of children living at home is considerably in excess of the highest average in any other income group. The following Tables show the general results of the analysis of the budgets. The first gives the average, for eacii income class, of the receipts and detailed expenditure upon food by the working-class families to which the returns relate, whilst the second sets out the quantities of the various commodities consumed. All children living at home, whatever their age, have been included. Average Weekly Expenditure on Certain Articles of Food consumed by Workmen's Families in Belgian Towns, 1908-9. Limits of Weekly Income ... , Under 20s. and 25s. and SOs. and 35s. and 40*. and 20*. under 2os. under 30*. under 35s. under iOs. above. Number of Returns 315 500 362 247 152 283 s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Average "Weekly Family Income 17 4i 32 5^ 27 5i 32 Of 37 OJ 52 li Average Number of Children 2-16 2-32 2-52 2-96 3-27 3:94 Living at Home. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Bread 2 7 2 10 3 H 3 8i 4 Of 4 .8i Macaroni Oh o| Of 1 1: li If Wheat flour and buckwheat flour Of li 1 4 li Rice, barley, oatmeal, and potato 1^ If 2i 2i 2i 3i meal. Potatoes Hi 111 1 0^ 1 If 1 3i 1 5 Salad Oi 0^ Of 1 1 If Haricots li u If 2i 2i 3 Peas 1 4 li If 2^ 2i Other vegetables 2f 3| 5 5 6i 7f Beef i ^i 1 H 1 7f 2 Oi 2 3| 3 4 Veal 1 If 2i 3i ii 6i Mutton 1 If 2i 2i 2i 3i Fresh pork 4f 7 8i di 11 1 3i Horseflesh 3 3 4 4i 4i 4 Poultry — 0+ Of Of 1 li Rabbits — Oi li If 2i 3; Fish 3| 4 4i 5 6f .7 Gharcuterie 2i 4^ H 5f 6f ,9 Bacon H 5i 6 7i 5i 8 10 Lard, suet, and dripping 5 5 U 4i ^ 6 Butter and butter substitutes ... 1 5 1 lOi 2 3i 2 7| 3 1 4 3 Olive oil Oi of Of Of Of li Eggs 2^ 4 5 7 7f 8f 1 3l Milk 7i Si H 9 1 Cheese H 2i Si 3i 4i 6i CofiEee 5| 7i 8 8f 10 1 1 Chicory If 2 2 2i 2i 2i Sugar 2 3 3i 3i 4 5 Other items 2i 4i 6f 7| 9 Hi Meals away from home 9^ 1 2i 1 6i 1 9J 2 2i 3 Oi Total (excluding -srine, cider. 11 H 14 64 17 5i 19 lOf 22 8 29 8i and beer). Wine, cider, and besr 2i 4f 6 7i 8f 1 2i Total (including wiae, cider. 11 8i 14 Hi 17 Hi 20 6 23 4f 30 lOi and beer). XIV Average Weekly Quantitt/ of certain Articles of Food consumed by Workmen's Families in Belgian Towns, 1908-9. IiimitB of Weekly Income ... Under 20jr. 20«. and under 25*. 25s. and under 30s. 30;. and under 35*. 35«. and under 40«. iOi. and above. Number of Returns 315 500 , 362 247 152 283 s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d, s. d. Average Weekly Family Income 17 4^ 22 5i 27 54 32 Of 37 Oi 52 li Average Number of Children 2-16 2-32 2-52 2-96 3-27 3-94 Living at Home. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. Bread 27-26 29-57 32-28 37-82 41-18 48-12 Macaroni ... 0-17 0-26 0-34 0-38 0-49 0-58 Wheat flour and buckwheat flour 0-31 0-55 0-90 0-76 0-86 102 Rice, barley, oatmeal, and potato 0-77 1-00 1-20 1-11 1-23 1-66 meal. Potatoes ... 28-99 29-69 30-93 34-14 37-75 42-36 Haricots ... 0-64 0-87 0-98 1-22 1-37 1-48 Peas 0-57 0-73 0-81 0-97 1-01 1-52 Beef 1-79 2-11 2-53 3-11 3-46 4-92 Veal 0-11 0-20 0-27 0-38 0-47 0-68 Mutton 0-13 0-23 0-30 0-30 0-36 0-44 Fresh pork 0-61 0-87 1-01 1-13 1-34 1-87 Horseflesh 0-60 0-57 0-76 0-84 0-79 0-79 Poultry Rabbits 0-02 0-09 0-09 0-11 0-19 0-09 0-22 0-24 0-29 0-40 Fish 1-13 1-20 1-30 1-46 1-81 2-17 Oharcuterie 0-32 0-47 0-58 0-66 0-71 1-06 Bacon 0-58 0-69 0-78 0-95 1-03 1-28 Total Meat and Fish ... 5-27 6-45 7-84 9-16 10-S7 13-80 Lard, suet and dripping 0-66 0-66 0-63 0-75 0-62 0-81 3-96 Butter and butter substitutes ... 1-35 1-76 2-19 2-49 2-85 Olive oil 0-03 007 0-09 0-10 0-12 0-23 No. No. No. No. No. No. Eggs 2-7 5-0 6-9 7-6 8-3 14-4 pints. pints. pints. pints. pints. pints. Milk 6-20 7-29 7-83 8-69 8-36 11-11 lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. Cheese 0-24 0-36 0-48 0-55 0-62 0-88 CoflEee 0-74 0-96 1-02 1-14 1-25 1-57 Chicory 0-94 0-97 1-00 1-08 1-13 1-31 Sugar 0.67 0-96 1-17 1-18 1-33 1-68 The next Table shows the proportions of the family income in each group which are spent on food and rent respectively : — Percentage of Weekly Income spent on Food and Rent. Limits of Weekly Family Income. Under 20s. 20s. and iinder 25s, 25s. and under 30«. 30s. and under 35s. 35s. and under 40s. 40s. and above. Percentage of Family Income spent on Food (exclvding wine and beer). Percentage of Family Income spent on Rent 66-1 13-2 64-8 12-4 63-6 11-6 62-1 11-2 61-2 10-5 57-0 8-6 Thus the percentages of family income spent on food and rent both diminish as the income rises, but this decline is very gradual except when we pass to the highest income group. After meeting expenditure on food and rent 20*7 per cent, of the total income remains over in the lowest income group, and the proportion rises gradually to 28'3 in the highest group but one, and to 34*4 in the group with incomes of 40s. and over. It may XV be remarked that the percentage of family income spent on food is slightly higher m the Flemish towns (excluding Brussels but including Antwerp) than in the Walloon towns— it is 63-1 per cent, as compared with 60-6. As the percentage spent on rent is also higher, 11-2 compared with 8-9, the margin of income over food and expenditure is appreciably less in the Flemish than in the Walloon towns, 25-7 in contrast with 30-5. _ jBread.— Practically only white bread of good quality is eaten by the Belgian working classes ; the average family consumption, as shown by the budgets, ranges from 27^ lb. in the lowest income group to 41| in the highest group but one, and to a little over 48 lb, in the highest group, where, however, the number of children living at home is unusually large. There is a small consumption of wheat and buckwheat flour, rising from a little over I lb. in the lowest income group to 1 lb. in the highest group ; but there iB little home baking. In regard to the bread supply an important part is played m many of the towns by the co-operative bakeries, which are noticed in the town reports.^ Potatoes. — The weekly consumption of potatoes is exceptionally large, rising steadily from 29 lb. in the lowest income group to 42J lb. in the highest group. In the two lowest groups it even exceeds slightly the consumption of bread, and in the others it approximates very closely. It is noteworthy that whilst in the Walloon towns the average amount of bread consumed is slightly greater than in the Flemish towns, the position is reversed in regard to potatoes, the average weekly consumption being considerably the larger in the Flemish towns. Vegetables.— The average weekly consumption of haricots, of the hard-dried bean kind, rises gradually from f lb. to IJ lb. with the increase in income and in the size of the family ; so also does that of peas, from a little more than ^ lb. to_ 1^ lb. The average expenditure on other vegetables, for which it was impossible to obtain quantities, is not very large ; in the lowest income group it is 2|i. a week, and it increases to 7ft?. in the highest group. Mea^.— The following Table, based on the budgets, shows the respective proportions of the various kinds of meat to the total of all kinds consumed : — Percentage of Total Weekly Consumption of Meat. Beef. Veal. Mutton. Pork. Horseflesh. Poultry. Rabbits. Charcuterie, Bacon. Total. 40-8 4-6 4-1 15-7 10-1 1-0 2-7 8-8 12-2 100 It will be seen that beef and veal constitute nearly one-half (45'4 per cent.) of the total amount consumed, whilst fresh pork, bacon and charcuterie account for more than one-third (36*7). Thus four-fifths of the meat diet of the Belgian working-classes consists of beef, veal and pork, whilst horseflesh constitutes an additional 10 per cent. The insignificant consumption of mutton is very noticeable. The total consumption of meat of all kinds (including fish, of which the average amount rises from 1'13 lb. to 2' 17 lb.), as shown by the budgets, increases from 5^ lb. in the lowest income group to IO5 lb. in the highest group but one, and to 13;| lb. in the group with incomes of 40s. and over, where the number of children living at liome is much larger than in any other group, and their ages correspondingly higher. The percentage of weekly income which is spent on meat and fish is, however, curiously uniform ; it is shown in the following table : — Limits of Weekly Family Income. Percentage spent on Meat of all kinds, and Fish. Under 20s. 20s. and under 25s. 25s, „ „ 30s. 30s. „ „ 35s. 35s. „ „ 40s. 40s. and over 16-1 16-3 16-7 16-6 16-8 16-1 The average consumption of meat per head (as indicated in the budgets) shows marked variation from town to town, but nowhere is it very large. The maximum annual consumption, as estimated on the budgets, is 88 lb. at Charleroi and Brussels, 84 lb. at both La Louviere and Antwerp, and 81 lb. at Paturages ; it will be noticed that three out of the five towns which are highest in the scale are important centres of 13147 X.V1 the mining industry. The smallest consumptions shown by the budgets are 43 lb. at •Bruges, 60 lb. at Turnhout, 62 lb. at Malines and 63 lb. at Tournai. Tn the other towns the average annual consumptioti ranges from 70 lb. to 78 lb. The highest proportionate consumption of heef appears at Paturages, where it amounts to 59 per cent, of the total consumption stated in the budgets ; it is 57 per cetlt. at Bruges, Ghent and Tournai, and 50 per cent, at Turnhout. It is 46 per cent, at Charleroi, and in the other towns the range is from 40 per cent, to 31^ per cett. It thus appears that beef constitutes a relatively more important part of the meat diet of the working classes in the Flemish parts than it does in the Walloon districts. Veal constitutes 13 per cent, of the meat consumption at Tournai and \1^ per cent, at Verviers ; in no other town does it reach 7 per cent, and at Ghent it is only 1 per cent. The proportion of fresh pork is largest at Louvain, where it is 27 per cent., at Ghent it is 25 per cent. ; in th(3 other towns the rang(3 is from 19 per cent, to 9 per cent. Thfe consumption of bacon is relatively greatest at Seraing, where it amounts to 25 per cent. ; it is 22 per cent, at Liege, 17 per cent, at Verviers, 16 per cent, at Turnhout, 15 per cent, at Louvain and 14 per cent, at Charleroi ; in four towns it is between 13 and 11 per ■cent., and then drops to 4 per cent, at Ghent, 3 per cent, at Bruges, 2^ per cent, at Paturages, and 2 per cent, at Tournai. On the whole it is much larger in the Wallobli than in the Flemish towns. Charcuterie (various prepared meats, sausage, &c.) represents 15 per cent, of the total meat consumption at Verviers, and 14 per ceiat. at Louvain and Seraing, whilst at Charleroi and Antwerp it is 10 per cent. ; it then gradually declines until it is only 4 per cent, at La Louviere. The proportioti of mutton ranges from approximately 8 per cent, at Brussels to 1 per cent, at Ghent and Louvain and nil at Turnhout. The consumption of horseflesh reaches its maximum at Antwerp, where it amounts to 19 per cent. ; it is 16 per cent, at La Louviere, 15 J per cent, at Malines and 15 per cent, at Turnhout ; on the other hand it is insignificant, less than 1 per cent., at Verviers, Tournai and Bruges. In the other towns it ranges from 5 to IQ^ per cent. For the best cuts prices from h\d. to Id. a lb. are recorded, the lowest price being 2^d. Though the inferior cuts are very cheap, there is no evidence that the consumption of horseflesh is due to this fact to any appreciable extent ; it is largely a matter of local custom and taste. Rabbits form a somewhat important article of diet at La Louviere, where they form 9 per cent, of the total meat consumption shown by the budgets, and at Bruges (8 per cent.) ; at Brussels they constitute 5 per cent, and at Malines 4 per cent, of the meat consumed ; in nine towns- they are 2 per cent, or less, whilst at Seraing they do not appear at all. Poultry is quite insignificant, being 3 per cent, at Seraing, 2J per cent, at Brussels, and in the other towns less than 2 per cent, (in Bruges, Ghent and Louvain it does not appear). Turning to other articles, it will be observed that the consumption of butter (including some amount of margarine) rises somewhat rapidly from 1^ lb. in the lowest income group to 4 lb. in the highest group, the expenditure rising in almost exactly the same proportion. The per capita consumption of all fats (including butter, margarine, lard, suet and dripping) is very much larger in the Walloon than in the Flemish districts, and in the former two mining towns, Paturages and Charleroi, head the list. The average number of eggs per week ranges from 2"7 in the lowest income-group to_8-3 in the highest group but one, and to 14-4 in the group with 405. and over. In this instance there is a marked difference between the two racial groups, the weekly per capita consumption of eggs being nearly three times as great, according to the budgets, in the Walloon as in the Flemish towns. The weekly amount of milk is small, and increases only very gradually with the rise in family income in the four lower incdme groups, from 6-2 pints in the lowest group to 8-7 pints in the group with incomes oi 305. and under 35s. In the next group, in spite of the_ slightly larger families, there is a positive decline in the average weekly con- sumption of milk ; in the highest group there is again an advance. The cheese eaten by the Belgian working classes is mainly Dutch, but includes a large number of local varieties. The budget consumption ranges from \ lb. in the lowest income group (at an average cost of l^d.) to about 14 oz. in the highest income group (the average cost being 6j5. for the 14 oz,) The consumption of cofiee and chicory combined ranges from If to nearly 3 lb. It will be observed that the chicory (which is very cheap) exceeds the amount of coffee in the two lowest income groups, and in the other groups the quantities of the two com- modities are nearly equal. On the whole in the Flemish towns the consumption of chicory exceeds that of coflEee, whilst in the Walloon towns the conditions are reversed* In Bruges, chicory is mixed with coffee in the proportion of 2 J to 1, and in Louvain XVI 1 Malines and Tournai, it is nearly double the anaount of coiFee consumed ; on the other hand in Verviers it is only a quarter o£ the total consumption of chicory and coffee combined, and in Liege and Seraing it is less than one-fifth. In the other towns- the proportions are roughly equal. _ . < lu • The average amount of sugar shown in the budgets is very low ; it is only fib. ui the lowest income group and If lb. in the highest. Finally, it may be noted that the expenditure on " Other items " ranges from 2\d. to llJJ. ; and that " Meals away from home " cost on the average ^d. a week in the lowest income group, the amount increasing gradually to 3s. OJc?. in the highest group. Retail Prices. Information as to the prices commonly paid by the working classes for a number of food commodities, for coal and for paraffin oil, was obtained from a number of shopkeepers in each of the towns investigated, and also from the co-operative societies, where these existed^ The predominant prices for each of the commodities in each of the towns are given in the separate reports, and also in Appendix III (pp. 180-2). It must be remembered that the prices therein shown are not necessarily the minimum prices at which the commoditiea could be obtained — in most cases they are not — but simply the prices which the majority of working-class customers did in fact pay in the month of June, 1908 ; and where a range of prices is given, it is because two or more prices appeared to be of equal frequency. The differences between one town and another represent therefore in part actual differ- ences in the cost at which identical or quasi-identical commodities were obtainable, and in part variations in local tastes or in local standards of comfort. The following Table shows the predominant range, for Belgium as a whole, of retail prices commonly paid by the working classes. Predominant Retail Prices in Belgium in June, 1908. Number of Towns in which the Mean Predominant Price is Number of Towns to which Predominant Range " Commodity of Retail Prices, Within Below A tove June, 1908. the limits the limits the limits the figures of the of the of the relate. Predominant Range. Predominant Range. Predominaat Range. Coffee per lb. 15 &\d. to 8|d 15 Sugar, Loaf )» 15 2|d „ 'ild. 13 1 1 Bacon, Salted ■• ,1 14 Id. „ Sid. 12 2 Eggs per Is. 15 12 „ 14 8 3 4 Cheese, Dutch ... per lb. 14 nd. „ ^d. 13 1 Butter ij 15 ls.Oid.„ls.lid. 10 3 2 Margarine )i 15 nd. „ 8|d 11 3 1 Potatoes per 7 lb. 15 2id. „ M. 15 Flour, Wheaten ... )' 15 9id. „ lOd. 10 2 3 Bread, White per 4 lb. 15 Hd. „ bid. 15 Milk per quart 15 2ld. 13 2 Beef per lb. 15 6d. to Id. 11 2 2 Mutton •■ »» 15 6id. „ nd. 11 2 2 Veal )) 15 Sid. „ lOid. 13 2 Pork »» 14 lid. „ 9id. 13 1 Coal per cwt. 15 Is. O^d. „ Is. 2|d 10 3 2 Paraffin Oil por gallon 15 6ld. „ lid. 13 1 1» For coffee the maximum price recorded, as the upper limit of a range, was 9^d. at Ghent and Paturages, whilst the minimum price was Qd. at Courtrai. Q^d. was quoted as the lower limit of a range in ten towns, and 8^d. as the upper limit in seven towns (whilst at Tournai it was the only price quoted). The lowest ranges were Qd. to 7d. at Courtrai and 6^d. to 7d. at Brussels and Liege. The maximum price quoted for loaf sugar was 4d. a lb. as the uppermost limit at Tournai, whilst the minimum price quoted was 2Jrf. (the only price at Verviers and the lower limit of a range at Bruges and Ghent). 2f(i. was quoted alone at Liege and as the lowest of a range of prices in three towns. '6d. was the only price quoted at Charleroi, Courtrai and La Louviere, and appears as the lowest price in five towns and the highest- in three. '6^d. ,was the upper limit of a range at four towns and 3 Jrf. the upper limit at Louvain and Paturages. The extreme range of prices for salted hacon, the only kind at all generally con- sumed by the Belgian working classes, was from 6c/. and %^d. (quoted as the lowest prices usually paid at Turnhout and Courtrai) to 8f c/. in seven towns. 13U7 d 2 XVlll The prices quoted for eggs varied greatly. The number usually obtained for 1^- f'?|® fetated to be 10 at La Louviere, from 10 to 12 at Seraing and Toumai, and 12 or Irf m seven towns. The maximum numbers were 14 at Ghent, and 16 (either alone or as tne upper limit of a range) at Bruges, Louvain, Turnhout and Courtrai. For Dutch cheese the extreme range was from Id. to \0^d. a lb., though m the case of this commodity there does not appear to be anything approachmg to uniformity of quality. Id. occurs as the lowest price in five towns, and 10^ 18-6 15-8 19-2 15-1 18-4 Meat and fish 27-3 26-S 28-8 S6-7 28-8 27-4 Fresh, milk 5-5 4-1 6-1 8-9 6-1 3-8 Butter, oils and fats 11-7 15-1 11-4 15-9 11-3 15-6 Potatoes 4-5 6-0 4-2 5-8 3-8 5:7 Other vegetables and fruit 3-3 4-4 4-0 4-a 4-4 4-4 Tea, cofifee and chicory, cocoa ... 6-8 4-7 6-5 4-6 6-5 4-4 Sugar 4-7 1-7 4-3 1-5 4-2 1-5 Other foods, and meals out 17-7 18-6 18-9 18-S 19-8 19-8 100-0 100-0 100-0 100-0 100-0 100-0 Regarding the several items in greater detail, and comparing the quantities and qualities with those consumed by the families with corresponding incomes in this country, it may be noted in the first place that the Belgian working-class family, like the Engl^sh^ consumes in general white wheaten bread : rye bread, or grey bread made of mixed wheat and rye flour, is very little eaten, though a certain amount of 'buckwheat flour is purchased for making buckwheat cakes. The purchases both of wheat and buckwheat flour for housef- hold consumption are, however, extremely small, as will be seen from the budget oni XXIX "p. xiv., amounting only to some 12 to 14| oz. per week. As shown by the condensed budgets on pp. xl. and xli., and by the table below, the combined consumption o£ bread and flour in the Belgian family, including the small amount of buckwheat flour consumed in the latter country, is very much in excess of the consumption in corresponding families in the United Kingdom. The excess runs from 11 per cent, in the lowest income class <:onsidered to 40 per cent, in the highest ; remembering the smaller size of the Belgian household in the case of the families with incomes between 25s. and 30s. a week, this means an excess of the per capita consumption of 31 to 43 per cent, throughout. Table showincj the Ratios of the Quantities of and Amounts spent on certain articles of Food consumed by Workmen^s Families in Belgium to the Quantities of and Amounts spent on similar articles by Workmen^ s Families in the United Kingdom, possessing Incomes between the same limits. Commodity or Group of Commodities. Limits of Weekly Family Income. 25«. and under 30«. 30.S. and under 35*. 35«. and under 40«. Percentage of corresponding figures for United Kingdom. Bread and flour ... Meat (and fish)* ... Eggs Fresh milk Cheese Batter, oils, and fats Potatoes Sugar (Quantity) 140 iia 69 81 81 125 238 26 Vegetables and fruit Farinaceous foods (other than bread or flour) ... Tea, coffee and chicory, cocoa, &c. (Expenditure) 100 70 70 Including an allowance for meat not bought by weight and for fish in the United Kingdom. As regards meat {cf. the Table on p. xv. above) beef is, as in this country, by far the most important item, forming over 40 per cent, of all the meat entered in the budgets. Pork and bacon come next, accounting for 15*7 and 12"2 per cent, of the consumption respectively, and the fourth item on the list is horseflesh, with lO'l per cent. After horseflesh there follow in descending order of importance charcuterie (various pre- pared meats, sausages, &c.) 8-8 per cent., veal 4-6 per cent., mutton, of which very little is eaten as compared with the consumption in the United Kingdom, 4-1 per cent, rabbits 2-7 per cent., and poultry 1 per cent. The principal points of difference as compared with the_ average working-class diet in this country lie in the consumption of horseflesh, the relatively high consumptions of pork and veal, and the low consumption of mutton : charcuterie in the Belgian household economy only replaces the tinned meats tripe, liver, &c., so largely consumed in England. The consumption of horseflesh has been dealt with above (p. xvi.), but it may be as well to repeat here that the considerable ■consumption of such meat in Belgium, as in France and Germany, does not appear to be due to its cheapness alone, nor to indicate necessarily a low scale of livino-. The meat is eaten in almost the same quantity by the families with higher averad. a week, and the occupiers who sublet a room charge lid. a week for it. The rooms measure 17 feet by 14, and are 8^ feet high on the ground floor. One stand-pipe, connected with the municipal main, supplies water to the whole court ; for this each tenant pays 2d. a month in addition to his rent. Among dwellings of the third type visited on the outskirts of this commune, i.e., cottages built in long rows in more or less open surroundings, those with four rooms (two below and two above) seemed to be the most numerous. One row contained 30 such houses, each of which let at 3s. 2d. a week. In another row of 32 similar houses the rent was 25. lid. a week, but Is. 2d. a year extra was charged for water procurable from stand-pipes, of which there was one for every eight houses. Other tenants of houses of this class paid 3s. Qd. a week (no extra charge for water). As a rule, these houses are drained into cesspools, of which there is one to every two houses, and the emptying of which, twice a year, is an extra charge on the tenant. Closets are provided at the ratie of one to every four houses, and stand on unfenced ground at the back of the row. BRUSSELS. 1^ Of the suburban communes having a pronounced industrial character only Anderlecht remains to be mentioned. This is the largest, though not the most populous, of the communes comprised in what is known as the Brussels Agglomeration, and only a small portion of its total area is urban, viz., that part which lies nearest to the boundary of Brussels City. A considerable part of the working-class population live in the remoter semi-rural parts of the commune in separate houses similar to those on the outskirts of Molenbeek- Saint- Jean. The majority, however, live nearer the city, and are for the most part housed either in tenement blocks (many of which are of the back-house description referred to above), or in two-roomed cottages situated in courts or alleys. When a tenement dwelling is rented, the number of rooms seldom exceeds two. Here, as in the other Brussels communes, the tenants of working-class dwellings suffer from the usual inconveniences of having the water supply and the closets outside, and of being inadequately furnished with the latter. For the purposes of the present enquiry information was collected in the latter part of 1908 and the beginning of 1909 as to the rents paid for working-class dwellings in typical working-class streets in the City of Brussels and certain suburban communes in which the working classes are more or less strongly represented, viz., Molenbeek- Saint- Jean, Anderlecht, and Schaerbeek. From the Table on page 13, it is seen that, of all working-class dwellings in Grreater Brussels, 34 per cent, consisted of a single room and 45 '4 per cent, of two rooms. Having regard, therefore, to the relative unimportance of dwellings of three or more rooms as types of working-class housing in Greater Brussels, it seems permissible to omit such dwellings from the subjoined summary Table : — Predominant Bents of Working-class Dwellings in Greater Brussels. Number of Rooms per Dwelling. One room Two rooms Predominant Weekly Rents. Is. Id. to 2s. bd. %s. 5d. „ 3s. 8d. It should be observed that rents of working-class dwellings are most usually quoted (and paid) by the month. While the foregoing rents undoubtedly include a certain element of taxes (State and Provincial, as well as local) it is not possible to form an estimate, however rough, of the proportion in which that element is present in their composition. There are several taxes which bear directly or indirectly on housing in Belgium. Thus all land is subject to a tax {Impdt Fancier), which is levied on the rental value, not only of the soil itself, but also of any houses built upon it, and represents 11*29 per cent, of such twofold rental value {revenu cadastral). Another tax which enters as an element, at any rate, into the rents of certain working-class dwellings in Brussels is the Contribution personnelle et mobiliere — a fourfold tax, payable (with certain exceptions to be mentioned presently) by every householder, and intended to bear a certain proportion to his income as indicated by — (a) the rental value of his dwelling ; (b) the number of doors and windows in the dwelling ; (c) the value of his furniture ; and {d) the number of servants and carriage horses which he keeps (if any). For purposes of this tax, a householder is held to mean any person who owns or rents a whole house, or any person who rents part of a house in which his landlord does not himself reside. Thu% a person who rents part of a house from a landlord who lives in the same house is not liable to the tax. Nevertheless, he pays it indirectly, for in such cases the landlord is empowered by a speciaL clause in the law to recoup himself from the tenant, and he does so by adding something to the rent. The Belgian Law on Workmen's Dwellings of 9th August, 1889, as amended by the law of ]8th July, 1893, exempts from the payment of the foregoing taxes (a), (b) and {c), " all workpeople, or persons formerly coming within that definition but now incapable of work, who, not being owners of houses or land other than that which they inhabit and cultivate respectively, occupy, either as owner or as tenant of a non-resident 18 BRUSSELS. " landlord," a dwelling of an assessed rental value not exceeding a specified yearly sum, which varies according to the population of the town between the limits of £2 17s. Id. in communes with less than 3,000 inhabitants and £6 16s. lOd. in communes with 100,000 inhabitants and upwards. The proportion which the assessed rental value bears to the actual rent varies from town to town. In Brussels it is about one-half of the actual rent. In the capital, therefore, all working-class householders paying a rent of not more than £13 13s. per annum, or bs. Sd. a week, are exempt from the tax in question ; and from the above summary table of predominant rents it may be inferred that this is the case with all working-class householders in Brussels. It is, nevertheless, true that for some portion of working-class householders in Brussels, i.e., for those who rent part of a house in which the landlord himself also resides, the rents paid include a certain element of the Contribution Personnelle. Municipal opinion on methods of solving the housing problem in Brussels and its suburban communes is, on the whole, opposed to schemes which would place the municipality in the position of receiver of rents from working-class families. The only exception to this rule is furnished by the commune of Saint-Gilles, which has already erected four large tenement houses, and is erecting a number of others. Elsewhere municipal effort to relieve the great scarcity of suitable working-class dwellings has been confined to the investment of municipal funds in societies formed for that purpose under the Law of 1889. The municipal authorities of Greater Brussels which have adopted the policy are those of the city itself, Schaerbeek, Saint- Josse-ten-Noode, Anderlecht, and Molenbeek- Saint- Jean. As a rule, the initiative for the formation of the society has come from the municipality itself, which, together with the Public Poor- Relief Institutions (the Bureau de Bienfaisance and the Administration des Hospices), has provided the greater part of the share capital. The following are the best-kno-wn societies of this kind existing in Greater Brussels : — (1) Societe Anonyme des Habitations Ouvrieres de Bruxelles. This society was founded in the year 1900 with a capital of £52,800, in 13,200 shares of £4. Of these the City of Brussels subscribed 3,000 and the Administration des Hospices 4,000. Among the other shareholders are a number of the principal Brussels banks. Practically all the 57 houses built by the society up to the present are solely for letting, and are constructed to accommodate two or more families each. Eleven are of the large tenement-house type, with flats for eight families each. Two houses contain four flats each, 33 contain three flats apiece, four are for occupation by two families only, and seven are for occupation by either one family or two. (These seven houses are the only ones built for the purpose of being purchased by the occupiers on the instalment system.) In the tenement houses the minimum accommodation consists of three rooms, for which the rents range from 3s. lie?, to 4s. Id. a w:eek, the rents diminishing with the height from the ground. Dwellings consisting of five rooms and a cellar cost from 3s. Ad. to 7s.,. and dwellings of four rooms from 3s. 2d. to 5s. Wd. a week, the upper floors being, as usual, cheaper than the lower. (2) Le Foyer Schaerbeekois. — This society was established in 1898, its objects being " the construction, purchase, sale, and letting of houses intended for occupation by the working classes, and all operations incidental to those objects." Of a capital of £10,000 (in 1,000 £10 shares), the Municipality of Schaerbeek subscribed £8,000, the Administration des Hospices of that commune £1,000, and the Bureau de Bienfaisance £800. The remaining £200 was subscribed by four private individuals, the sole purpose of whose admission was to bring the membership up to seven, the minimum allowed by the Law for the formation of a joint-stock society. This society builds two classes of houses : (1) double or two-family houses, the ownership of which may be acquired by a workman on the instalment system in 20 or 25 years, with or without life insurance ; (2) tenement houses of three or four stories for letting to workpeople with large families and small means. In this society a workman desirous of acquiring the ownership of a two-family house is not required to pay the usual initial deposit of one-tenth of the purchase-money ; he may let half of the house, but must not charge more than 2s. lid. a week. Most of tlie houses hitherto built by the society are of this type, and cost £240 to £280, including the site. In spite of the easy conditions on which a workman may purchase, very few have so far attempted to do so, and these are usually subordinate officials of the State Railway or Customs Departments, or the Slite of the industrial working classes, such as printers, earning from 4s. 6d. to 5s. a day. In the society's tenement houses all the dwellings consist of three rooms (two bedrooms and a kitchen), with scullery, cellar, and water-closet. The demand for these tenements is always in excess of the supply. In order to be in a position to let the BRUSSELS. 1^ dwellings cheaply, the society has fitted up the ground floors of these houses as shops, which let at high rents. The rents charged for the accommodation described above range from 2s, Id. to 45. Id. a week, according to the part of the building in which the tenement is situated. In the society's three-story houses in the Rue d'Artevelde such a tenement Ts let for 3s, Ad. a week on the first, 2s. \\d. on the second, and 2s. Id. on the third floor. In the four-story houses in the Rue I'Olivier, the rents of the fi:ont tenements range from 3s. 6c?. to 4s, Id., and those of the back tenements from 3s. 2d. to 4s. bd. . (3) The Socieie Anonyme des Habitations Ouvrihres de Moienheek- Saint- Jean. — This Society was founded in 1899 on the initiative of the Municipality of Moleubeek- Saint- Jean. The share capital was fixed at ^B 10,200, in 1,020 shares of £10, Eight hundred shares were subscribed by the Municipality, together with the Administration^ des Hospices and the Bureau de Bienfaisance and the remainder by four private individuals. This society has so far built 50 houses, intended only to be rented, and not purchased, by their occupiers. The houses are built in blocks or rows. Each consists of five rooms, viz., two on the ground floor, two on the first floor, and a habitable garret. In addition there are a scullery (with sink), a loft (for lumber or for drying clothes), a closet, and, as a rule, a small garden. The rents range from 5s. &d. to Qs. 2>d, a week. (4) The Societe Anonyme : le Foyer Anderleehtois was established in 1907 with a share capital of £10,000, of which -the Municipality of Anderlecht subscribed £8,00(), the local Administration des Hospices £100, the Bureau de Bienfaisance £84, the remainder being found by the usual four private individuals required to complete the minimum statutory membership. The society has built 14 five-roomed houses, with scullery, closet, cellar, larder, and small garden. The rents charged are 3s. Qd. to 4s. Id. per week. All these societies have obtained large sums on loan, at a low rate of interest, fi-om the National Savings Bank, which, under the Housing of the Working Classes Law of 1889, is authorised to invest a part (not exceeding 7^ per cent.) of its funds in loans for promoting the construction or purchase of working-class dwellings. It has already been mentioned that such loans are granted only to societies (not to individuals) on the recommendation of the ofiicial Housing Committees {Comites de Patronage des Habitations Ouvrieres) established under the Law, Among the conditions subject to which a loan is granted, it is required that the borrowing society shall not pay more than a certain percentage (in no case more than 4 per cent.) as dividend on its paid-up share capital, and any profits earned in excess of such percentage must be placed to a Reserve Fund. Apart fi-om the Workmen's Dwellings Societies in which the Municipalities and Poor Relief Administrations are the principal shareholders, there are in each commune of Greater Brussels a number of other societies, formed for the purpose of benefiting by the provisions of the Law of 1889. In order to illustrate the working of these societies, it will not be out of place to give some particulars with regard to one of the best known amongst them — the Societe Anonyme des Habitations Ouvrieres d'Etterbeek, which exists for the purpose of facilitating the purchase or construction of houses of a value not exceeding £260. For this purpose the society grants loans on mortgage up to nine- tenths of the value of the property to be acquired by the borrower. It neither builds, buys, nor sells houses itself, but to those desirous of doing so, it gives expert advice as to the value of the«site or house which they have in view, and as to its suitability in point of health. It also guides them in the choice of plans. The borrower selects his own plot and his own architect and builder, but the plans must be approved by the society, and the builder must submit to the conditions prescribed by standard specifications prepared by the society. The grant of loans by the society is subject to the following conditions : — (a) No payment must be made to the builder without the consent of the society, whose architect must certify that the work has been properly executed, {b) The house must be insured against fire. (c) During the continuance of his contract with the society, the borrower must not carry on the sale of drink in the house, nor may he sublet it without the consent of the society, (jd) The borrower must take out a life insurance policy with the National Savings Bank, so that in the event of his death before discharging his liability to the society in full, the latter may suffer no loss, (e) The loan is repaid in monthly instalments, which include interest at 4 per cent, per annum and premium on life (but not on fire) insurance, 13147 G 2 20 BRUSSELS. - The amount of the monthly instalment per £40 liorrowed is as shown below : — Age of Borrower. Monthly instalment required for the Repayment of a Loan of £40 in 10 years. 15 years. 20 years. 25 years. 21 years 25 „ 30 „ 35 „ 40 „ 45 „ 50 „ 55 „ 8s. lOd. 8s. lOd. 8s. lOd. 8s. Ud. 9s. 9s. Id. 9s. 3d. 9s. 6d. 6s. Id. 6s. Id. 6s. Sd. 6s. 9d. 6s. lOd. 6s. lid. 7 s. 2d. 5s. 6d. 5s. Id. 5s. Id. 5s. 8d. 5s. lOd. 6s. 4s. lid. 4s. Ud. 5s. 5s. Id. 5s. 3d. Thus, a man of 30 years of age desirous of acquiring a house which could be built or bought for £260 would first of all have to find one-tenth of tbis sum himself, i.e., £26. He would then, through the agency of the Society, be enabled to acquire the ownership of the house by paying 36-6 francs (29s. Sd.) per month for 25 years. Should he die before completing his payments, his debt to the Society would be cleared by his insurance policy, and the house would become the property of his heirs. If the borrower should fail to keep up his payments to the Society, the contract would be cancelled, the house sold, and any balance remaining after the Society had recovered what was due from the borrower, would be paid over to the latter. Experience has shown that most workpeople find it difficult to save the amount needed in order to pay the initial deposit of one-tenth of the purchase-money, and this has led to the formation of societies for advancing the requisite sum. An association styled " La Premiire Pierre du Foyer " is a typical example. It has a capital of £200, in 25 £8 shares, of which the Etterbeek Society itself holds 15 shares, the remaining 10 being held by private persons interested in promoting the objects of the Society. Retail Prices. In virtue of its position in the centre of the highly developed system of Belgian railways and canals, Brussels enjoys exceptional facilities for obtaining a constant and plentifiil supply of food and other household provisions. The greater part of the trade in these commodities is still in the hands of the shopkeeping class, who do business on a modest scale. In recent years, however, the small shopkeeper has had fo face increasing . competition from three directions. The " family " grocer has now for his most serious competitor a certain well-known Brussels firm, which owns over 600 grocery shops in Belgium, including 83 in the capital. This firm caters largely for the working classes, and the prices which it quotes are as a rule appreciably lower than those quoted by other businesses, for what purport to be identical articles. A scarcely less serious competitor of the family grocer in the working-class quarters of Brussels is the Social Democratic : Co-operative Society, which has its headquarters at the Maison du Peuple, and owns 25 branch grocery and bread stores in different parts of the Metropolis and its suburbs. The class of small tradesman whose business has been most seriously affected by this Society, however, is that of the baker, whose existence has of late years been rendered still more precarious by the competition of a number of large machine bakery undertakings, which may be said to dispute the supremacy of the Social Democratic Society as purveyor of bread to the working classes. Some particulars with regard to this Society will perhaps not be out of place here. Founded in 1881, when the trade unions of Brussels had fallen into a state of decay, the Society's chief aim was to revive the organisation of the working classes by means of co-operation. The first co-operative baking oven was started in September, 1882, when the Society had 80 members and a capital of £24. During the first week it baked 552 BRUSSELS, 21 loaves, and, on the security of the Co-operative Society of Ghent, obtained 50 sacks of flour on credit. At that time it employed two workmen (at 2s. lid. per day), and owned one draught dog and barrow for delivering bread. In 1885 it numbered 700 members, worked three ovens, and owned three bread-delivery barrows. Since then the history of the Society has been one of uninterrupted prosperity. It now owns two of the best-equipped machine bakeries in Brussels (acquired at the cost of £20,000), where it employs 105 bakers and 80 bread deliverers, and produces 220,000 loaves per week. The price charged by the Society (in June, 1908) for the loaf of wheaten bread (weighing a kilogramme, or 2*2 lb.) is 30 centimes, of which 3 centimes are returned as bonus on purchases. !The price actually paid, therefore, is 27 centimes per kilogramme loaf, which corresponds to a price of 4f c?. per 4 \h. Members who wish to have their bread delivered at their houses usually buy a certain number of bread tokens at one of the Society's stores for 30 centimes each, and one of these is given to the bread carrier for each loaf so delivered. In the period 1883-1907 the aggregate bread sales of the Society amounted to £1,400,000, and of a net profit of £200,000 realised in that period the sum of £136,000 was returned to members in respect of their purchases of bread. The Society has gradually extended its operations to other commodities, more especially groceries, coal, drapery, hosiery, and ready-made clothes. A bonus of 6 per cent, is distributed on purchases of groceries, of which the annual sales amount to some £32,000. The sales of the drapery, hosiery, and clothing branch amounted to £18,000 in 1906, on which a net profit of £1,420 was made. The yearly coal sales average £20,000, and yield a net profit of some £1,300. In addition to its 25 branch establishments for the sale of groceries, &c., its coal sheds, and its two great bakeries, the Society has four shops for the sale of fresh meat. It has secured for its headquarters a large building in the rue Joseph Stevens, which adjoins the typical working-class quarter of the rue Haute, to which reference has already been made. This building (known as the Maison du Peuple) is, at the same time, the headquarters of the Brussels Social Democratic Trade Unions, who have their offices and assembly rooms there, as well as a cafe capable of accommodating 800 persons, which is filled nightly with working men and their families. While it is evident that a considerable section of the working-class population of Brussels obtain their household supplies from the Co-operative Society, the price quoted by that Society for a given commodity at a given date cannot safely be accepted as the price paid for it at that date by the majority of working-class buyers in Brussels. Many people who have a wide experience of the habits of the Brussels working classes maintain that most of them live " from hand to mouth," and obtain their supplies from petty shopkeepers in their immediate neighbourhood, to whom they are constantly in debt. It would, in fact, be difficult to account in any other way for the great number of small " general " shops which seem to thrive in any working-class quarter in spite of the presence in the same quarter of a branch store of the Co-operative Society, or one of the shops of the " multiple " firm. The prices paid by the workman's wife at the small shop where she has an account are invariably higher than those for which she could obtain the same article elsewhere for ready cash. In many cases she has to accept short weight and short measure, more especially in the matter of bread and coal. Many of these shops attract cash qustomers by displaying what appear fi-om their size to be kilogramme loaves, ticketed at prices considerably below that at which a kilogramme of bread can be bought, JThus at the time of the writer's visit, when the full- weight kilogramme loaf of the large machine bakeries was being sold at 27 to 28 centiqies, the " hucksters '* in a certain working-class neighbourhood were exhibiting what appeared to be kilogramme loaves at prices raoging from 20 to 25 centimes. Twelve such loaves, bought at as many different shops, on being weighed were found to be in every case short of their reputed weight, the average amount of the shortage being 166 grammes, i.e., 16*6 per cent. Many workmen's wives in Brussels buy their coal by the pail, reputed to contain 10 kilogrammes (22 lb.) This is especially the case with those whose dwelling consists of a single room (a large class, as has been seen). A pail of the most inferior unscreened coal — ^a mixture of small lumps and dust, labelled Tout-venant — costs from 30 to 35 centimes, or at the rate of Is. %\d. to Is, bd. per hundredweight ; while a sack of good screened coal {Charbon gras), entirely fi-ee from dust, can be bought for 1-75 francs, which corresponds to a price of Is, bd. per hundredweight. The subjoined Table summarises the data obtained from shopkeepers, large and small, in different parts of Greater Brussels, from the Working-class Co-operative Society, and from stall-holders at the City municipal markets as to the predominant retail prices of certain articles of grocery, dairy produce, potatoes, bread, flour, coal, and paraffin oil in June, 1908. 22 BRUSSELS. Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Commodity. Coffee Sugar, Loaf Bacon, Salted ... Eggs Cheese, Dutch Butter ... Margarine Potatoes Flour, Wheaten Bread, White .. , Milk Coal Paraffin Oil ... per lb. per Is. per lb. per 7 lb. » per 4 lb. per quart per cwt. per gallon Predominant Price. 6^d. to 7d. Sjrf. „ 3id. Id. 12,13 lid. to lO^d. Is. Id. to Is. 2d. Id. „ ^Id. Zd. ^d. i^d. 2id. Is. 5d. e^d. to Id. Of the above articles, the most important in the dietary of the Brussels working classes are bread, potatoes, cheese, margarine and coffee. The cheapness of coffee is noteworthy. In this connection it may be observed that unroasted beans are admitted free of customs duty, while a duty of 45. O^d. per cwt. only is charged on roasted coffee. Sugar is used very sparingly in the household, but very largely in the form of sweetmeats and confectionery. Margarine (manufactured in Brussels) is used more frequently than butter among the working classes. To what has already been said with regard to bread it may be added that the household loaf is made entirely from foreign wheat (La Plata, Austrian, and Russian), on which no import duty is charged. Meat. The great bulk of the meat consumed in Brussels is Belgian produce, and passes through one or other of the three slaughterhouses of Greater Brussels — that of the City, that of Anderlecht, or that of Schaerbeek. The Brussels and Schaerbeek slaughter- houses are municipal, while that of Anderlecht — the largest of the three — is a private enterprise. Of a total of 23,746 head of cattle (oxen, bulls and cows) slaughtered at the City Abattoir in 1908, only 3,191 were foreign, including 3,114 from Holland and 77 from France ; while of a total of 32,227 calves slaughtered at the same abattoir, only 24 were foreign (from Holland). These figures may be regarded as representing approximately the proportions in which native and foreign produce respectively enter into the aggregate meat consumption of Greater Brussels. Some notion of the relative importance of the different kinds of meat consumed may be gathered from the following table, showing the dead weight of meat obtained from the slaughterings at the three abattoirs in 1907. Dead Weight of Meat obtained from the combined slaughterings at the three Abattoirs of Greater Brussels in 1907. Brussels Abattoir. Anderlecht Abattoir. Soliaerbeek Abattoir. Total. Beef Veal Mutton Pork Horseflesh Goatflesh. Cwt. 150,668 43,074 17,470 82,068 5,305 50 Cwt. 155,450 49,800 31,491 135,550 13,769 Cwt. 24,204 5,839 158 8,658 408 Cwt. 330,322 98,713 49,119 226,276 19,482 50 Total 298,635 386,060 39,267 723,962 Thus, beef represents about 45 per cent., and pork about 31 per cent, of all meat slaughtered in Brussels ; veal ranks next in importance with 14 per cent. Mutton, which represents 7 per cent, of the total, is but little eaten, nor can horseflesh^ which represents 3 per cent, of all meat slaughtered in Greater Brussels, be said to constitute an importa,nt element in the meat dietary of the population in general. While the foregoing figures are useful as a rough index of the relative importance of the various kinds of meat consumed in and about Brussels, they cannot safely be regarded as representing the quantities actually consumed. No record is kept of the meat BBUSSELS. 23 slaughtered in the abattoirs of Brussels for consumption in outlying towns of the provinces, nor is there any record of imports into Brussels of meat slaughtered at provincial abattoirs, so long as it is duly stamped as having passed the provincial meat inspector. The imports of uncertified slaughtered meat into Brussels in 1908 amounted to some 17,000 cwt., besides which about 9,600 cwt. of prepared meats (sausages, bacon, &c.) were examined at the customs warehouse in Brussels. A considerable quantity of the bacon so examined is salted " American Fat Back," for which, it would appear, there is much demand, but rather among the class of clerks, shop assistants, and subordinate officials than among the working classes. Eeturns furnished for the purpose of the present enquiry by 318 typical working- class families (numbering 1,372 persons) in Greater Brussels, with various grades of income, show an average per capita consumption of meat of all kinds amounting to 27 oz. per week, which is at the rate of 88 lb. per year. Of the total meat consumption of these families, 37 per cent, consisted of beef, 12 per cent, of pork and the same percentage of bacon, 9 per cent, of charcuterie, 8 per cent, each of mutton and horseflesh, 6J per cent, of veal, 5 per cent, of rabbits, and 2J per cent, of poultry. The predominant retail prices of various cuts of butcher's meat in Greater Brussels in June, 1908, are shown in the subjoined table, based upon data furnished by_ retail butchers in diiferent parts of the agglomeration, including the keepers of stalls in the municipal market, and the meat selling estabhshments of the Workmen's Co-operative Society. Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Description of Cnt. Beef :— Ribs Brisket Silverside... Shin (with bone) Beef Steak Rump Steak Thick Flank Thin Flank Mutton : — Leg Shoulder Breast •^®°^ I Scrag End Chops Veal :— Hindquarter Q, Ifl r i ^i*^ bone ( without bone Ribs Chops Leg Pork :— Leg Foreloin ... Belly Chops Predominant Price per lb. lOj 8|d 4|rf. to 6d. lid. 4id \d. to lid. Is. Oid. lid. Id. Sid. 6d. 4^d. to 6d. 8id. b^d. 9id. to lO^d. 9id. to Hid. 7|d „ 9^d. lO^d. to Is. Oid. 9^d. to lO^d. 9id. Hid. IQ^d. 8|d to 9id. 8|d. „ 9id. Gd. „ 8id. 9id. „ lO^d. It may be well to observe that for the average working man's wife in Brussels, the above classification of cuts has little or no meaning. When she buys meat she does so without reference to, or knowledge of, the part of the carcase from which it is cut. In the case of beef (which is seldom bought more than once a week), the most usual purchase consists of some pieces of lean meat for making the popular Flemish stew known as carbonnade flamande. Neither butchers nor their working-class customers agree in their statements as to the part of the carcase from which carbonnade is cut, and, judging by what is exhibited under that name in the shops, it seems probable that the term may be applied to any odd pieces of lean beef which, in any other form but that of a stew, would be tough and tasteless. The prices generally paid for horseflesh by the working classes in June, 1908, were Id. per lb. for fillet, Qd. for faux filet, b\d. to ^d, for steak, and ?i\d. per lb. for inferior cuts. 24 BRUSSELS. - In the working-class quarters of Brussels, the butcher's most fornaidable competitors are the Charcutier and the Tripier. The latter is, in fact, the purveyor of meat for the poorest of the population. His stock-in-trade consists of the hearts of bullocks and sheep, the lungs of sheep, cooked feet of sheep, calves, and cows, cows' teats, giblets of poultry, and bones for making soup. Bullock's heart is sold at Z^d. per lb., an entire sheep's heart and lungs for 3c?., a boiled sheep's foot for \d., a boiled calf's foot for 2d., a plate of bones for 'i^d., and a "handful" (poignSe) of giblets-— sufficient, it is stated, to make soup for four or five persons-^ — for 3fc?. to 4|c?i Many who are interested in the welfare of the working classes in Brussels woiild banish the charcutier from working-class streets, as ofifering a temptation to the house- wives to avoid the trouble of preparing proper meals for their families. Even in the poorest quarters the shop window of the charcutier is made conspicuous by its attractive array of cooked delicacies, chiefly made from pork. In such shops little is bought by weight, the customer usually asking for 10, 15 or 20 centimes' worth of the particular article required. The savouries most in demand are boudin blanc,, boudin noir, pdte de foie and Kip-Kap. The first two are a black and a grey sausage respectively, of which pig's blood and fat are the chief ingredients ; pAte de foie, as its name implies, is in the nature of a paste, made chiefly from liver, and is sold in slices ; Kip-Kap is simply the Flemish equivalent for viande hachee, or minced meat. The dearest of these articles {pAte de foie) is sold at a price corresponding to ^d. per lb,, and the cheapest {Kip-Kap) at 2\d. per lb., while a pound of the black or grey sausage can be had for ^\d. To obtain these prices, 10 centimes' worth of each article was. bought at each of nine difl^erent shops, and the purchases were then weighed, in order to ascertain the average quantity supplied for 10 centimes (\d.). 25; ANTWERP. Antwerp, one o£ the greatest ports and commercial centres of the world, is situated on the right bank of the Scheldt, at a distance of 55 miles from the sea. It is connected with the industrial and commercial centres Of Belgium, Holland, Germany and France' by the Belgian railway and canal systems, and is the most convenient maritime outlet for.. Westphalia and South Germany. Railway communication with Brussels, which lies 27 miles to the south, has been greatly improved since August, 1908, by a frequent- service of fast trains, which perform the journey in 36 minutes. The most important port in Northern Europe in 1568, having succeeded to the larger part of the trade of Bruges, and greatly benefited by the changes consequent upon the discovery of America and of the Cape route to the East, Antwerp suffered heavily in the long wars of the second half of the sixteenth century, so that the population, which was estimated at 125,000 in 1568, had sunk in 1589 to less than half that, figure. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Dutch, having erected forts at the mouth of the Scheldt, prohibited the passage of sea-going vessels to and from the port, and Antwerp continued in an almost stagnant condition for the succeeding one hundred and fifty years. At the time of the French Revolution, when the French destroyed the Dutch forts and re-opened navigation on the Scheldt, its prosperity began to revive, and the first Napoleon caused large sums to be spent on the improvement of the harbour and docks. After Belgium had become an independent kingdom in 1830, however, the trade of Antwerp was again seriously hampered by the levy of tolls upon its shipping by the Dutch, who only finall}-, in 1863, yielded this right in consideration of a large money payment. The growth of the city in wealth and population may be said to date from this period, and was due to the remarkable development not only of Belgian industry, but also of that of Westphalia and South Germany. The population grew in the ten years between the Censuses of 1866 and 1876 by 28 per cent., and has continued to increase at a very rapid rate. ' The following table shows the population of the City of Antwerp at the three censuses of 1880, 1890, and 1900, and the estimated population on 31st December, 1907 : — ! Year. Population on 31st December. Increase., Percentage Increase. 1880 1890 1900 1907 (-estimated) 169,112 224,012 272,831 310,903^ 54,900 48,819 38,072 (in seven years). 32-5 21-8 14-0 (in seven years). The immigration into Antwerp from other districts is considerable. In 1866 the native-born population formed 67*2 per cent, of the total, while at the censuses of 1880, 1890 and 1900 the respective percentages were 63*1, 63'1, and 56'7. The foreign element is notably large, 40,858 foreigners of all nationalities, or 13"4 per cent, of the total population, being inscribed as residents on December 31, 1906. Of these 16,433 were born in Holland, 10,441 in Germany, 2,885 in Russia, 2,822 in Austria- Hungary, 2,740 in France, and 1,825 in the United Kingdom. The Germans are mainly engaged in foreign trade, and form the wealthiest foreign colony in Antwerp. The effective population of Antwerp is, however, considerably higher than would appear from the above table. Within the fortifications which surround Antwerp lie the two independent communes of Borgerhout and Berchem (with populations of 46,441 and 29,447 respectively at the end of 1907), which are in no way, save administratively, separate from the city proper, and the real population, therefore, amounted at the end of 1907 to 386,791. Including these communes the growth of Antwerp since 1880 is shown by the following table : — Year. Population on 3lBt December. Increase. Percentage Increase. 1880 1890 1900 1907 (estimated) 198,764 268,397 330,486 386,791 69,633 62,089 56,305 (in seven years). 35-0 23-1 17-0 (in seven years). 13U7 26 ANTWERP. In addition, the two communes of Merxem (population at the end of 1907, 16,259) and Deurne (population at the end of 1907, 11,886) situated just beyond the fortifica- tions, on the north and north-east boundaries of the city, are inhabited by a large number of workmen who are employed" in Antwerp, while Hoboken (population at the end of 1907, 15,111) is two miles from the southerli boundary walls. This comnaune, the seat of the shipbuilding industry, has nearly quadrupled its population since 1880. There are also other populous communes dlose to Antwerp, and it has been proposed to create a greater Antwerp by the incorporation of fourteen of them. It seems probable that Borgerhout, Berchem, Merxem, Deurne, and Hoboken, to which the street tfamways run, will be incorporated with the main city at some near date. , The following table shows the birth and death rates pel* 1,000 of population, and the infantile mortality rates per 1,000 births for the City of Antwerp for five years : — Tear 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 Birtli-rate per 1,000 of Population. 254 24-1 22-9 23-2 22-1 Death-rate per 1,000 of Population. 14-9 14-0 14-0 13-5 13-1 Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births. 169 165 179 156 165 It will be observed that both the birth-rate and the death-rate show a marked decline during the period. Industry is secondary to commerce at Antwerp, and in the latter direction the expansion of the city has been strikingly rapid in recent years. The following statement shows the value of the import and export trade of Antwerp, the number of passengers arriving at and departing from the port, and the movement of foreign-going shipping at the port, in 1907, as compared with the previous year and with ten years earlier : — 1907. 1906. 1897. Value of Total Imports (General Trade) Value of Total Exports (General Trade) £ 111,615,754 91,635,102 £ 100,427,002 92,170,456 £ 62,252,240 46,330,720 Total Value of Foreign Trade 203,250,856 , 192,597,458 .108,582,960 Total Number of Passengers and ( Arriving Emigrants. 1 Departing* 75,642 169,910 66,579 160,768 41,584 48,138 Total Tonnage of Vessels Entered and Cleared ) in the Foreign Trade, with Cargoes and in \ Ballast. ) 22,452,882t 21,676,118t 12,314,351t * Including indirect Emigfration. t The Belgian system of calculating the tonnage of vessels differs from that adopted elsewhere, and, in order to render these figures comparable with those of non-Belgian ports, they should be reduced by from 15 to 20 per cent. From this Table it is seen that the growth of the foreign trade of the port during the last ten years has been remarkable. During the decade 1897-1907 the value of all imports increased by 79 per cent., and that of exports by 98 per cent., the value of the foreign trade as a whole increasing by 87 per cent. During the same period the tonnage, of foreign-going shipping has increased by 82 per cent., while the total number of passeijgers arriving at and. departing from the port in 1907 was 2| times as ffreat as in 1897. British and German shipping represent more than three-quarters of the total tonnage, the tonnage entered in 1907 under the British flag being 5,653,239 tons (50 per cent, of the total), and under the German flag 2,895,043 tons (26 per cent, of the total). The import trade is mainly in coffee, rubber, cotton, wool, tobacco, timber, coal, ores and crude metals, crude chemicals, cocoa, cereals, hides and skins, resins and bitumen, dyestuffs and oleaginous seeds, while the exports include all kinds of manufactured articles from the chief industrial centres of Belgium and Germany. The transport trades are the most important in a vast port like Antwerp as regards the numbers occupied. On its industrial side, diamond cutting, its distinctive industry, is stated to employ some 4,500 men, and among other ANTWERP. 27 industries of the city and district may be mentioned the food-trades (biscuit and chocolate making, sugar refining, rice shelling, margarine manufacture, brewing, and distilling)* the manufacture of chemicals and the making of telephone apparatus, motor cars and cycles. Ship repairing aflEords much employment in the port, ' while ship-building is carried on at Hoboken. The Scheldt opposite the city varies in breadth from 350 to 600 yards, and its depth at low tide is over 26 feet. The right bank only is utilised for shipping, and the port is composed of two distinct sections ; the quays along the river-side, and the inner port formed of a series of docks. The quays have a length of about 3J miles, and are flanked by a broad embankment covered with sheds and warehouses. They are reserved mainly for steamers trading regularly with the port. There are eight inner docks, with a water surface of about 185 acres, in addition to the two intercalary docks opened in 1907, which have a surface of 69 acres and about 17^ acres of wharfage. The port of Antwerp is managed by the municipality. Mediaeval Antwerp is completely overshadowed by the remarkable modem out- growth dating for the most part from the middle of the nineteenth century. The old town, of which the Cathedral and the town hall square formed the core, is still largely composed of narrow winding streets of tall houses, for the most part with inner courts. Although the city is devoid of regular plan, broad straight streets mark the modern parts, which form more than two-thirds of Antwerp ; and, owing to the predomi- nance of stuccoed houses and light-coloured frontages, its general aspect is bright. The streets, however, are badly paved in many parts of the town, but, like the houses, they are rnaintained in a remarkable state of cleanliness. Antwerp affords many evidences of great wealth. The broad boulevards, which have taken the place of former fortifica- tions and are nearly two miles in length, are lined by fine houses ; and in many other avenues and boulevards in the neighbourhood of the Park and the Pepiniere, where the wealthier sections of the population mostly live, such houses are very general. There is an absence of public recreation grounds. The city is, in fact, cramped for space to accomm9date its rapidly rising population. For military reasons the building of dwellings within a certain surrounding zone has not been permitted, but it is anticipated that the present ring of fortifications, with its massive gates at intervals, and surrounded by a deep moat along the entire length, will be demolished. There, is a noticeable movement of the working population to the outer parts of the town, and to communes outside the enceinte; and this movement, although checked by the impossibility of erecting houses at convenient points near the city walls, has been aided by the excellent system of tramways. The tramway company encourages the working classes to live away from the centre by the issue of cheap tickets available before eight in the morning and between five and eight in the evening, when, for \d., workmen are enabled to travel distances for which other travellers pay \\d., 2d., or 2hd. The gasworks, waterworks, electric power and light works, and the tramway, system are owned and managed by companies which pay for their concessions. The care of the streets, the maintenance of abattoirs and cemeteries and a variety of other duties are undertaken by the municipality, which owns two museums, public libraries, two theatres, and maintains various technical schools in addition to the ordinary communal schools. The language of the mass of the people at Antwerp is Flemish, while the commercial and educated classes mainly speak French. Occupations, Wages and Houbs of Laboub. In the course of the thirteen years that have elapsed since the industrial census for the whole of Belgium was carried out (1896), the population of Antwerp and the district grouped with it for the purpose of that census has increased to such an extent that the industrial classification then made can no longer be accepted as even approximately corrects It showed, however, that at that date the industrial population in Antwerp and district (i.e., including Borgerhout, Berchem, Deurne, and Merxem) was inferior to that in Grhent. and Li^ge, each of which represented groups of .communes with about one half of the tptal population of the Antwerp group. _ The working men are organised in three main groups, the Liberal, Catholic, and Socialist. The diamond workers are the most strongly" organised group in Antwerp ; 13147 D 2 28 ANTWEEP. and these, with the workers in the tobacco, printing, and building trades, and the dock labourers, have been able to obtain wages agreements. The greater number of trades in the city, however, employ chiefly unskilled labour, a.nd are difficult to organise. The normal working day in Antwerp is from 10 to 10^ hours. "Work begins in summer at 6.30, and ends at 6.30 or 7 in the evening. The dinner interval is usually from twelve to half-past one. In addition to four great Church festivals, industrial establishments are generally closed on New Year's Day, Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the 21st July (National F^te), and two days each at Carnival and in August, but in some cases only half-days are granted on each of these occasions. Saturday is a full day in most trades. Building Trades. — Wages agreements came into force for a number of occupations in January, 1908, as the result of a strike which had taken place some months previously. Minimum rates of A\d. per hour for skilled and ^\d. for unskilled men were agreed upon, and the normal day was fixed at 11 hours in summer, between six in the morning and seven in the evening, save on Saturday, when it was to be one hour less. Rates higher by 25 per cent, are payable for overtime, but if work is done between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., or on Sundays or holidays, an increase of 50 per cent, is stipulated. These conditions are identical with those which have been imposed upon all public contractors at Antwerp since December, 1903. Shipbuilding and Engineering Trades. — In the city proper, ship repairing takes precedence of shipbuilding as a source of employment. The latter industry is concen- trated at Hoboken, where vessels of up to 6,000 tons have been built. No trade union rates are recognised in these trades, and both time and piece work are in vogae, the former, however, being the rule in all the repairing yard?. There exist some special trades in Antwerp, such as motor car building and the manufacture of telephone apparatus. The latter industry employed a large body of men some years ago ; in 1908 the motor car builders were working short time with reduced staffs. Diamond Cutting. — Some 4,500 men are estimated to be employed in this industry, which is peculiar to Antwerp and Amsterdam, although in recent years there has been a tendency for the industry to spread in Belgium, and factories are found in Boom,, Termonde, Turnhout, Lierre, Louvain, &c., to the number of about forty. Scales o£ payment for the various kinds of work are recognized. The workers fall into two main classes : those who handle the brilliants, and those who handle the inferior class of goods called roses ; and capable workmen in the former class earn far more than those in the latter. The workers in brilliants are, however, absolutely predominant, forming, according to the figures furnished by one trade organisation, over 92 per cent, of the total. The splitters, of whom there are some sixty in the entire Antwerp industry, earn the highest wages. Their task is to divide the stone conformably with its crystalline structure, an operation requiring great skill and delicacy, and one on which depends the perfection of the futui'e finished stones. They are paid by the piece, and the average capable splitter earns from £6 to £8 per week. The stones pass from the splitter to the cutter, who rubs diamonds one against the other to obtain the desired form. The cutters of brilliants earn about 60s. per week. The third, and most numerous class of all, are the polishers, who form over 50 per cent, of the total number of workers. Their earnings vary from 40s. to 60s. according to their capacity. The sertisseurs or setters earn from 24s. to 40s. per week. The weekly hours of labour in this industry are 52 : nine hours each day except Saturday, when work ceases at three, without any midday break. The select class of splitters, however, only work about 42 hours. Employers have not generally their own factory, but hire polishing apparatus (moulins) in a large building where several manufacturers carry on their work. The owners of these factory buildings are frequently not in the diamond trade. It was stated that in one single building of this kind 650 moulins were let out on hire. From 15 to 20 employers possess their own private and separate installations, and- are established on a large scale ; the remainder are small employers of labour, working as jiist noted, in hired premises, for the sake of cheaper motive power. As regards race, the Antwerp masters include a large- Jewish element of Dutch, Austrian, German, Polish and Russian extraction, the bulk of whom, however, are Belgian subjects. The workmen have formed a strong union, which had in 1908 nearly 3,000 members, and is locally characterised as being socialistic, in contradistinction to the "Neutral" guild founded in 1907, which numbers about 700 men. The former union possesses large offices and staff. The employers are also organised, and maintain a permanent offitje. ANTWERP. 29 Printing Trades. — The majority of the employers and men concluded an agreement in December, 1907, by which on and after January 1, 1908, the compositors, lithographers, and bookbinders were to receive at the age of 24 or after ten years' work at their trade ^d. per hour, the rate of wages for those of less than ten years standing varying with the length of experience. The numbers occupied in these trades are estimated at ab6ut 1,700, and in addition to the important daily newspapers published in the city a variety of commercial printing is done. Brewing. — Over 600 men are employed in the numerous breweries which exist^ in Antwerp. 'The majority are established upon a small scale, but there are three which employ at least 80 men each. Most of the beer brewed is of high fermentation, but the taste for light beer has greatly developed. This beer is made by the larger breweries, which employ a number of German brewers for the purpose. lobacGO Industry. — Piece-work rates are fixed by agreement for the manufacture of cigars and cigarillos in Antwerp, which (with St. Mcolas, Grammont, and Ghent) is a leading centre for this industry in Belgium. A number of firms, however, which count as Antwerp manufacturers, make their wares elsewhere, or possess merely small establish- ments in the city and manufacture more largely in other places, for example at St. Nicolas. In general, it is stated, the highest class of cigars are made here, not in the country centres. About half of those employed are women. There are a large number of small ma,nufacturers, employing two or three hands, and often themselves engaged as retailers. Dock Labour. — The wages of harbour and dock labourers are regulated by agreements, but owing to the casual nature of the employment and the constant change of employer it is obviously difficult to ascertain the normal weekly earnings in these occu- pations. The time wages for the various classes of work range from 3s. 7d. to 6s. 5d. per day of nine hours, but the majority of labourers earn from 4s. to 4s. lOd. per day. According to agreements adopted by the various committees appointed for the purpose after the great -strike of dock labourers in August and September of 1907, it was settled that men were to be paid for the time occupied in fetching their tools from the storehouses and in taking them back when the work was finished ; that the men were to be paid when, after engage- ment, they were unable to work through delay in the arrival of the ship or for any other valid cause ; and that men detained till nine o'clock in the morning without being able to commence work were to receive for such time of waiting the sum of Is., and when detained beyond that hour 2s., for the time lost, while in the afternoon the same sums were to be paid under similar conditions — Is. up to four o'clock and 2s. after four o'clock. The men employed in the stevedoring department of an important dock company in Antwerp in the years 1905 and 1906 were divided into three classes : (A) those engaged in fitowing the cargo in the ship's hold, at wages of 4s. lOd. per day ; (B) those assisting the stevedores in the hold, at wages of 4s. od. per day ; (C) those on shore bringing the cargo alongside the ship, at wages of 4s. per day. The working hours were : Summer (counted as from February 16 to October 31), 7 a.m. to 12 noon, with a pause from 9 to 9.30, and from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a pause of half-an-hour at four o'clock ; winter hours, 7.30 a.m. to 9 a.m., 9.30 a.m. to 12 noon, and 1.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The system of working was with day and night gangs. The men employed during the day were allowed to work only three hours' overtime, and the night gangs came on at 10 in summer and 9 in winter months. Overtime and Sunday work were paid 50 per cent, extra in each case. The following table shows the average weekly earnings, for the whole of the years 1905 and 1906, of certain men working under these conditions. The figures given relate only to men who were on the books of the company during the whole of the year, whether 1905 or 1906, and may be taken as representing the average earnings of steady dock labourers per week (allowing for short time and overtime) in Antwerp. It might seem somewhat remarkable that the average earnings of the labourers of Class B were lower than those of Glass C in 1905 ; the explanation, however, is that the time worked during the year by men in the former class was, on the average, considerably less than that worked by those in the latter. 1905. 1906. Number of men to whom the figures relate. Average earninga per week. Number of men to whom the figures relate. ^ Average earnings per week. Labourers of Class A. » n B. 5) ») ^- 18 22 41 27s. lid 20s. lOd. 21s. 3d. 14 19 35 25s. 23s. id. 18s. 6d 30 ANTWERP. Public Services. — The tramway company is peAaps the largest single' private employer of labour in Antwerp, having (October, 1908) about 1,600 men, of whom half were drivers and conductors. The remainder were engaged in the maintenance of the permanent way, or in the repairs or other work in connection with rolling stock. The drivfers and conductors work 11 hours per day, and have a day off (unpaid) after every seven days' work. The majority of the drivers are paid from 3s. \Qd. to As. per day worked, while conductors are paid from 3s. M. to 3s. IM. per day. An annual allowance of 16s, is made for clothing. On the lines in the better quarters conductors frequently receive a halfpenny or penny from regular fravellers when the fare is paid. The gas company employs" some 1,200 men in winter, and about one-third less in summer. It maintains a special sick fund for its men, and grants pensions to those who after 25 years' service with the company have reached the age of fifty-five. The following Table shows the predominant weekly wages and hours of labour of men employed in certain principal occupations at Antwerp in June, 1908 : — Predominant Weekly Wages and Hours of Labour of Adult Males in the Principal Occupations in June, 1908. Fi-edominant Predominant Weekly Wages. Weekly Hours of Iiabour. Building Trades: — Bricklayers and Masons, Stonemasons (Cutters), ) Carpenters, Joiners, Plumbers, Plasterers and } 23s. 5d. 65 Painters ... ... ■•■ ... \ Bricklayers' and Masons' Labourers Labourers, and General \ 18s. 2d. 65 Ship Repairing : — Fitters. • ■ • • > ■ ... ... 26s. Hd. 60 Turners • . . ■ ■■ •■• ... 28s. lOd. 60 Smiths ... ... ■■* ■ ■■ 31s. 2d. 60 Boilersmiths ... ■•• • •■ .1. 28s. lOd. 60 Rivetters ... • • > ... ... 24s. 60 Carpenters ... ... 28s. 10^. 60 Riggers ... ... .. • ■ ■'. 26s. 5d. 60 Labourers ... ... ... 19s. 2d. 60 Engineering Trades* : — Fitters .*■ ••• ■•■ ... 21s. Id. 60 Turners ... ... ... 24s. 60 Smithg ... ■•■ ... ... 21s. Id. 60 Patternmakers .• t > •> . « . ... 24s. 60 Labourers ... ... ... 14s. 5d. 60 Boilermaking and Shipbuilding Trades* .—— Angle-iron Smiths •■a ■•• ... .•. 26s. bd. eo Other Smiths ... •■• ... ... 21s. Id. 60 Platers • . . ... ■ ■■ ... 24s. 60 Rivetters ... ■■• >>. ... 20s. 2d. 60 Caulkers •* . ... *.■ ... 19s. 2d. 60 Holders-up ... ••• ■*• ... 15s. 4d 60 Platers' Helpers ... ... 14s. 5d. 60 Labourers ... ... 13s, 5d to 14s. 5d. 60 Diamond Gulling (Brilliants) . Splitters ■■• ... ... . •■ £6 to £8 42 Cutters (in the rough) ... ... ... £3 52 Polishers .•> •■• ... .•* £2 to £3 52 Setters • -• 24s. to 40s. 52 Printing and Allied Trades .— - Compositors (Hand) ... ... ... 20s. 6d. 57 Compositors (Machine) ... ... 28s. lOd. 54 Lithographers ... ... ... 20s. 6d. 57 Bookbinders ... .... 20s. 6d. 57 Sugar Refinery Labourers ... ... ... 16s. IQd. 60 Chocolate Makers ... ... ... ,14s. 5d. to 16s. lOd. 60 to 63 Biscuit Bakers ..* ... ... 14s. bd. to 19s. 2d. 60 „ 63 Bakeries : — - - - Bakers, first men ... ... ... ... 27s. Id. to 29s. 3d. 60 „ 63 „ second men ... ... .• . ... • .. 21s. Id. to 24s. 60 „ 63 Bread Deliverers ; : ■ .,. 20s, lOd. „ 24s.' 60 (but irregular) * The wagea shown for the engineering, boilermaking and shipbtiilding trad,e3 are time-rates ; smiths, platers and their helpers, rivetters and holders-up often perform piecework, in which case their earnings are about 10 per cent, higher than, stated here. ANTWERP. 31 Predominant Weekly Wages, Predominant Weekly Hours of Labour, Breweries .•^— Brewers" Maltsters Coopers ... Draymen Labourers Cigar Making : — Cigar Makers (best cigars) „ (medium quality) „ (ordinary cigars) Labourers Dock Labourers : (see text). Public Services : — Road Department (Municipal) — Paviors Paviors' Labourers Navvies Labourers Gas Works (Company) — Gas Stokers Yard Labourers Waterworks (Company) — Labourers *... Tramways : (see text). 16s. to 20s, 16s. „ 20s. 20s. lOd. „ 22s. 5d 17s. Id. to 20s. 14s. b-i. to 17s, Id. 24s. to 32s. 16s. „ 24s. 14s. 5d. to 16s, 14s. 5d. 18s. 3d. to 22s. Id. 15s. id. „ 17s, 9d 16s. id. „ 17s. 9d. 16s. lOd. „ 19s, 2d. 28s. lOd. 16s, lOd 16s. lOd. 63 63 63 63 63 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Representing the level of predominant wages at Brussels by 100, the index numbers for Antwerp are — for the building trades, 92 for skilled men and 96 for labourers, for the «i)girieering trades, 96 for skilled men and 93 for labourers, and for compositors 78, The municipality, with grants of £60 from the State and £12 from the province, maintains a labour exchange, which is carried on with marked success. The diamond workers, cigar workers, and dock labourers do not, hoivever, come to the exchange, as, in the case of the diamond industry and the dock labourers to an especial degree, other well-organised agencies safeguard their interests in this respect. The following Table shows the average hourly wages at which men were engaged through the agency of this labour exchange, in 1907, for certain representative trades : — Average Hourly Wages at which Workmen were engaged in 1907, Building Trades : Bricklayers and Masons Carpenters and Joiners ... Plumbers Plasterers Painters Engineering, etc., Trades : — Fitters Turners ..; Erectors Smiths Rivetters Woodworking and Furnishing Trades . Woodcarvers .,, Cabinet Makers Upholsterers Printing and Bookbinding Trades : — Compositors Pressmen Bookbinders Boot and Shoe Makers Tailors Bakers Chocolate Makers Carmen Average Hourly id. id. 'did. ild. id. id. iid. Zid, Hd. ^d. i^. 3fd ■6^d. 3H 3|d Zld. M. Hd. iid. 3id 3|d. ?§ ANTWERP. Housing and Rents. The wealthy commercial and middle classes in Antwerp inhabit separate, self-contained houses, but clerks and working men live to a great extent in houses divided into two or more tenements. Houses inhabited by more than one household show a distinct tendency to increase, more particularly in the city proper ; in 1 900 the census figures returned the number of houses destined for habitation at 32,129, and the number of households at 68,006, or an average of 2'12 per house, as compared with an average of 1'63 per house in 1890. Houses occupied by several working-class families are found in great numbers in the First and Fourth Wards, which touch the quay-side ; outside these wards, while the majority of houses contain two families, a notable number of single-family cottages exist, especially in the Fifth and Ninth Wards. The working-class quarters are fairly widely distributed over the area within the enceinte. Owing to the excellent tramway system and the low fares charged at certain periods of the day, working men are enabled to live at a certain distance from their work. The two main classes into which the industrial population falls, those engaged in the shipping and transport trades, and those engaged in other trades, live, broadly speaking, in clearly marked districts. The former are grouped around the river and in the neighbourhood of the docks, while the latter live away from the central parts in the Fifth, Eighth, Mnih (the Ninth being outside the city walls) and Tenth Wards, and in the suburbs of Borgerhout and Merxem, the last-named being also outside the enceinte. The predominant types of working-class dwellings consist of two* three, and four rooms ; and of these the three-roomed dwelling is the most frequent. In the First and Fourth Wards dwellings of one and two rooms predominate, and a large number of tene- ments are found in the majority of houses in these quarters. The large houses in these wards require no special description, being ordinary tenement houses divided into dwellings of one or two rooms. In some cases these houses are very large, and one house visited, which had one entrance in the Place St. Andre, was stated to be occupied by forty households, the majority renting only one room. A feature of this quarter is the large number of back dwellings and closes or courts. The back houses, as a rule, leave much to be desired. A long, narrow passage is usually found at one side of the ij^-ont house, leading to one, two, or three back houses, and the light and air are severely restricted. The courts are either open or are entered from beneath a front house. The cottages within them, numbering from four to fifteen or more, usually contain one room downstairs and a mansarde or attic above, but sometimes there is only one room downstairs and a loft above. The Fifth Ward also contains a number of courts, but here they are more open (although some are extremely unsatisfactory), and the houses are larger, possessing always two, often three, and in some cases more rooms. The most typical houses occupied by working- men consist of three floors with six rooms ; and they are occupied by two families. The street door gives access to a vestibule or passage, in which the stairs are placed, and the passage goes through to a small yard which contains a pump and a closet for the joint use of the two families. It is usual for each of the two families to have one of the mansardes or attics, where the children sleep. The other type of three^roomed dwellings has two rooms on the ground floor and one room above, with an unenclosed space on the first floor serving as a lumber room. Dwellings of four rooms have simply two rooms on the ground floor and two on the first, while the two-roomed dwelling is generally a cottage with two rooms downstairs and a lumber room above, or two rooms taken in a house occupied by one or more families. The majority of houses have a yard (usually small), but gardens are rare. The closet is placed in the yard, and is drained into a cesspool. Water-taps in the houses are exceptional, less than one-third of the dwellings being equipped in this way. The amount paid for a private supply, with no restriction as to the quantity used for domestic purposes, is 6 per cent, of the assessable rental value of the tenement. The usual source of supply is a pump in the yard, or a street standpipe. Cellars are found only in the more modern dwellings. Among a large number of tenements of various kinds visited in the course of this enquiry the following may be taken as representative examples : — Bue des Poires. — Twelve houses of two stories containing four rooms, and each let to two households. The front lower room measured 1 3 feet by 1 1 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, and the back 10 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, while the upper rooms ANTWEBP. 33 measured respectively 17 feet, by 11 feet 3 inches by 8 feet 6 inches, and 10 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 9 inches by 8 feet 6 inches. There was a passage, a cellar, and a closet (in the yard), and a small garden. The rent of the house was 5s. 6d. per week, and the occupants of the first floor paid 2s. lOd. per week. Rue Luxembourg. — Twenty-four recently erected houses, all exactly alike, built in red brick, having four rooms and an attic ; let at from 4s. Sd. to 4s. 7d. per week. The passage had a width of 2 feet 9 inches ; the dimensions of the front room were 12 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 3 inches ; of the kitchen 9 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 3 inches ; of the front room on the first floor, 12 feet by 14 feet by 9 feet 3 inches ; and of the attic room 9 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 3 inches. At the back were small yards and gardens, the pump and closet being in the former, and there were two cellars. Several of the houses were occupied by two households. The occupants were bakers. Customs officers, gas workers, diamond workers, printers, etc. Hue de VAbhaye. — Twenty two-storied houses of four rooms, occupied by two house- holds, the whole houses being let at 4s. 2>d. per week. The front room of the downstairs tenement measured 16 feet by 11 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 9 inches, and the kitchen 11 feet 9 inches by 9 feet by 7 feet 9 inches ; in the upper tenement the front room was 14 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, and the back room 11 feet 9 inches by 9 feet by 9 feet 6 inches. The pump and closet were in the yard. Chaussee St. Bernard. — Eight new working-class houses in a court, having two rooms downstairs and two attics above. The front room downstairs measured 13 feet 8 inches by 13 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 3 inches, and the back room 10 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, the front attic 11 feet 9 inches by 13 feet 6 inches by 7 feet 3 inches, and the back attic 9 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 9 inches by 7 feet 3 inches. The street door opened into the front room, while the staircase was in a passage running from the back door of this room to the yard. There was a cellar, a small yard, and three pumps for the use of all the households. Place Lozanne. — In this square, off the rue Lozanne, there were 36 houses, of which 34 were exactly alike, having one room downstairs and two upstairs. The staircase was in the lower room, which measured 17 feet by 14 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 9 inches, while the upper rooms were 8 feet 3 inches by 14 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 6 inches, and 8 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches. Each house had a small vestibule and a small garden in which the closet was placed, water being obtained from a pump in the middle of the open space round which the houses were grouped. The rent of these houses was 4s. per week. Rue Schalkens. — A house in a court, containing three rooms, one above the other : measurement 16 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 9 inches by 8 feet 3 inches. Rent 4s. per week. Rue du Couvent. — A back house, entered by a long passage leading into two small courts ; it contained two rooms with an attic, and was occupied by cigar workers. There were five persons in the household, of whom the father, one son, and one daughter were wage-earners. The rooms were large, measuring 21 feet by 15 feet ; the height of the downstairs room was 13 feet, and of that on the first floor 8 feet 3 inches ; while the attic was 15 feet square and 6 feet 6 inches in height. There was no fireplace, but the usual long-piped stove ; the interior was very well kept, with good furniture and many little ornaments. Closet and pump for the use of five households. Kent, 4s. 6cZ. per week. Place St. Andre. — In one building, stated to contain 40 tenements, one tenement of one room measuring 15 feet by 13 feet by 9 feet 6 inches, cost 2s. %d. ; a second, at 2s. bd., measured 13 feet by 12 feet by 10 feet 9 inches ; and the two rooms of a third let at a rent of 2s. lOcZ. per week, had dimensions of 12 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches and 9 feet 9 inches by 5 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 6 inches. Rue St. Jean. — In a court off this street a tenement of two rooms and mansarde, let at 4s. 5d. per week, was occupied by a family of eleven. The two rooms measured 12 feet 6 inches by 14 feet, with a height of 10 feet 9 inches, but the attic room was lower. There were two closets for ten households. Rue Demi-Lune. — Houses of four rooms and two attics each, occupied by two families. The dimensions were : lower front room, 15 feet by 8 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 9 inches ; lower back room, 12 feet by 6 feet by 10 feet 9 inches ; upper fi-ont room, 8 feet 3 inches by 19 feet by 10 feet 9 inches ; upper back room, 12 feet by 5 feet by 10 feet 9 inches ; 13U7 E 34 ANTWERP. and attic, 8 feet 6 inches Iby 17 feet by 6 feet 6 inches. These houses cost 6s. per week, but two rooms on the first floor, with one attic, were sub-let for 3,?. There was one closet, a cellar, and a small yard, and a water tap was provided. These houses had only one entrance. Burgerswelzyn. — A broad court containing 28 houses, each containing four rooms and two attics, and occupied by two households. The houses were rented at ^s. M. per week, and sub-let. The court opened on the street, and had a general breadth of about 65 feet. Each house had a small yard, a closet, cellar, and well, and a passage leading into the yard. The ground-floor rooms measured respectively 10 feet 3 inches by 12 feet by 10 feet 3 inches, and 11 feet 6 inches by 8 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 3 inches ; the attics measured 13 feet by 11 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 6 inches and 9 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 6 inches. Each household had an attic. The following table shows the* predominant weekly rents for working-class dwellings consisting of two, three and four rooms at Antwerp (including the suburbs) in June, 1908 :— Predominant Rents of Working -class Dwellings. Number of Rooms per Dwelling. Predominant Weekly Rents. Two rooms Three rooms Four rooms 2s. Id. to 3s. lOd. .3s. 2d „ 4s. bd. 3s. M. „ is. lOd. The general level of rents at Antwerp is approximately the same as at Brussels. Taking rent at Brussels as 100, the index number for rent at Antwerp is 99, which is much higher than that for any other of the provincial towns investigated for the purposes of the present enquiry. The above rents include the use of water. As regards taxes, few workmen who are tenants pay either local or State taxes. The Bureau de Bienfaisance owns a number of workmen's dwellings in two wards. In 1908 there were 430 houses let to 700 households, at rents rather below the prevailing rents for similar accommodation in the same neighbourhood, the rents having been established some years ago when the Antwerp working men did not find it so difl&cult to obtain lodging. A number o£ workmen have availed themselves of the law of 1889, and have borrowed money from registered Loan Societies for the erection of their own houses. A deposit of 10 per cent, of the total cost is exacted, and under the newer regulations an assurance upon the life of the future proprietor must be efEected. The type of house most usually built by these workmen consists of two rooms (with perhaps a small back kitchen) on the ground floor, two rooms on the first floor, and above an attic and a lumber room. Several of these houses were visited in the course of this enquiry. The first house visited had been built by a printer, and contained the above number of rooms. The monthly sum due, including interest on mortgage and assurance premium, amounted to 26*., the house having cost £240, of which £200 had been advanced by the Loan Society. The front room on the first floor measured 15 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 3 inches, and the back room 13 feet by 10 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 3 inches. There was no tap in the house, water being obtained from a pump, but there was a small coal-cellar and a small yard. Another house, built by a cabinetmaker, cost £192, of which £180 had been borrowed. It contained two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs and a lumber room. The dimensions were as follows : Front room downstairs, 13 feet by 10 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 3 inches ; back room 13 feet by 7 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 3 inches ; upstairs front room 13 feet by 13 feet by 10 feet 3 inches ; back room 13 feet by 10 feet 9 inches oy 13 feet. The monthly payments were 20s. lOd. for a period of 25 years. The furniture of typical working-class houses in Antwerp is unusually abundant, and there is a general ambition to possess solid and carved furniture. The front room on the ground-floor is generally a bedroom, containing a good wardrobe and chairs, and various little ornaments. The scrupulous neatness and cleanliness of the houses is remarkable. This does not apply generally to the shipping quarters, but even there under very depressing conditions one may often remark the same striving towards cleanliness. ANTWERP. Retail Prices. 85 Save for the sale of vegetables, potatoes, and fruit, markets are of little account in the retail trade at Antwerp. Of the two co-operative societies founded by Liberal and Socialist organisations respectively, the former sells only bread, coffee, medicine, and coal, but the Socialist co-operative society deals not only in these commodities but also in general groceries, haberdashery, drapery, various dry goods, boots and medicines. The Liberal society in 1907 supplied bread to 13,500 households. Its members, i.e., those who buy its bread, have a right to free medical attendance during illness and medicine at half- price for themselves and families ; to 2'2 lb. of bread per day free up to a period not exceeding six months during illness or incapacity for work, and to free dental attendance. The Catholic workmen have no co-operative society, but a company established in 1901 receives their support. At the close of 1908, 10,130 regular customers were enrolled in the books of this company, which only makes and sells bread. Customers pay one Iranc (9^d.) to be enrolled and have certain advantages such as free medical advice and medicine, and free allowance of bread in case of illness or unemployment of the bread winner ; and, after five years of membership and at the age of sixty, they are entitled to a pension, based on the quantity of bread which they have purchased. In October, 1908, there were 125 pensioners of the company ; in 19u7 the highest pension amounted to £2 18s. 5d. In addition to these organisations, which appeal for support more or less directly to the political convictions of purchasers, other co-operative organisations exist, one of which, namely, the Co-operative Society of State Employees, is the strongest of its kind in Belgium. In 1907 it had a membership of 4,500, and a turnover of £52,000. In this case also bread forms the staple of the business, but coal, boots, general groceries, hardware, charcuterie (sausages, &c.), haberdashery and other dry goods are also sold. "Multiple" shops are not numerous when the size of Antwerp is taken into account ; there are three grocery firms (two of these have shops throughout the Kingdom) with a total of 22 branches in the city proper and eiglit in the suburbs. These firms also deal in many kinds of cotton, linen and woollen goods, and general haberdashery, hardware and various kinds of domestic utensils. Neither the co-operative societies nor the " multiple" firms deal in meat. This is sold by auction in two small covered markets, but these markets are too small to exercise an appreciable effect upon the general trade conditions in respect to this commodity. No frozen beef is stocked by the butchers in Antwerp. An attempt to introduce the sale of frozen mutton in recent years was made by a large company with six shops, but meeting with no success, the shops were closed after less than a year's trading. The fare of the Antwerp workman does not vary greatl}' from day to day. In the early morning at half- past five or six o'clock a fight breakfast of coffee (with a large percentage of chicory) and bread and butter or margarine is taken before going to work. Some slices of bread brought from home are eaten at about eight o'clock. At midday the chief meal of the day consists of soup, a little meat and potatoes. Soup is invariably taken and is made of onions, potato-meal, carrots, &c., with a little bacon fat or butter. In the evening between seven and eight o'clock coffee with bread and butter or bread and cheese with beer are generally taken. A large, number of men working in the harbour district take their midday meal in eating houses, at many of which soup, a plate of meat and potatoes, with bread and a glass of beer, are obtainable for A^d. or 5|c?. Groceries and other Commodities. In Antwerp as elsewhere in Belgium it is customary among all classes to mix chicory in large proportions with their cofiee. Margarine is consumed to a large extent by the working people and several margarine factories are established in Antwerp. Smoked bacon is comparatively little eaten, salted bacon being most in demand. The bread eaten is almost exclusively white bread. A mixed bread, five-sixths consisting of the same flour as the pure white bread and the remaining sixth of equal parts of the finest wheat and barley flour or of barley flour alone, is also baked, but it is eaten much as people in England eat brown bread, for the sake of change. At one bakery, which had a normal monthly output 13147 E 2 3S ANTWERP. of 1,100,000 lb. it was stated that only one-tenth of the bread made was of this kind. The loaf in common demand weighs 2-2 lb., and in June, 1908, was sold at 2^d. by the large co-operative or company bakeries which dominate this trade. The smaller bakers are only resorted to when credit is necessary ; the quality of the bread sold, and the inducements offered by the great bakeries, which do not give credit, attract the stabler ielements in the working class, and of course, when cash is not paid, a higher price is charged. When bought in quantities of 50 kilogrammes (110 lb.) coal cost from Is. Ifrf. to Is. 3|(^. per cwt. in June, 1908 ; coal is, however, generally bought by working-class households in quantities which are not weighed but are usually reckoned to weigh 22 lb , and which cost from M. to S^d. The following Table shows the prices of certain principal commodities at Antwerp in June, 1908 :— Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Comtnodity. Predominant Price. Coffee .. per lb. 7M to 8f C?. Sugar, Loaf »j M., Ud. lid. toBfd Bacon, Salted 3) Eggs . . per Is. 12,13 Cheese, Dutch . . per lb. Id. to ^\d. Butter ») Is. Id „ Is. 2d. Margarine » lid. „ 8id Potatoes .. per 7 lb. 2^d. „ 3d. Flour, Wheaten )? 9id. „ Is. Oid. Bread, White . . per 4 lb. iid. Milk . . per quart 2id. Coal .. per cwt. Is. Ifd to Is. 3|d Paraffin Oil .. per gallon 6id. to Id. Meat. Antwerp obtains its supplies of beef from its own province, and from the provinces of East Flanders, Brabant, and Hainault. A certain quantity also comes from Holland, but it is veal particularly which comes to the city from that country. The United States also exports to Antwerp about one hundred head of live cattle per fortnight. Mutton comes mainly from the Campine, where the soil is very suitable for sheep rearing. The mutton which arrives from the Argentine — in 1906, 49,619 sheep, in 1907, 57,023 sheep — is for the most part despatched to Brussels. Pork is plentiful in the neighbourhood. Probably no port in the world receives such a large number of horses for food purposes as Antwerp ; in 1906 and in 1907, 15,702 and 14,901 respectively were imported. A large proportion of this meat is destined for various other centres, and much of it goes regularly into country districts ; yet horseflesh is very popular among the Antwerp working classes, especially in the suburb of Borgerhout. All animals must be slaughtered at the municipal abattoir, and all dead meat introduced into the city must be examined before it is exposed for sale. The bulk of the meat consumed is killed in the abattoir, except in the case of pork, of which quite four-fifths is regularly slaughtered before despatch to Antwerp. Beef, pork, and horseflesh are the most popular with the working classes. Returns of weekly expenditure obtained for this enquiry from 367 families, comprising 1,751 persons, showed an average weekly consumption of meat amounting to 25" 7 oz. per head, which is at the rate of 84 lb. per year. Of this amount 35 per cent, was beef, 19 per cent, horseflesh, and 1 5 per cent. pork. Charcuterie accounted for 10 per cent., bacon for 13 per cent., veal for 3J per cent., mutton and rabbits for 2 per cent, each, and poultry for ^ per cent. Fresh pork, therefore, with bacon and charcuterie, amounted to 38 per cent. The workpeople buy chiefly the brisket, shin, and thin flank of beef, aud these parts, stewed with . potatoes, constitute what is known as carbonnade flamande. All parts of pork are bought, but especially the belly and leg. In regard to horseflesh the steak, which costs from ^\d. to &d. per lb., is the most popular, the inferior parts, costing only from 2hd. to M. per lb., being generally used for making a stew with potatoes and onions. ANTWERP. 37 The following Table shows the prices of the various cuts of beef, mutton, veal, and pork in Antwerp in June, 1908 : — Predominant Prices paid hy the Working Classes in June, 1908. Description of Cut. Shin Beef :— Ribs Brisket Silverside ( with bone ( "without bone Beef Steak Thick Plank ... Thin Flank Mutton : — Leg Shoulder Breast Best End Scrag End Chops Veal :— Hindquarter with bone without bone Ribs ... Chops Leg Pork :— Leg Foreloin ... Belly Chops Neck Shoulder Predominant Price per lb. Id. bid. %ld. 2W. to ?>^d. m „ bid. lid. lid. f,d. 9i\d. &d. to Id. i^d. „ bid. 8|d bid. to Id. S^d. „ lid. lid. to 9^d. lid. „ 8|d 8|d „ lid Sfd „ lid. lid. 9^d. to lid. Hid. 8id. lid. 8fd lOid lOid. 10\d. Taking Brussels as base (= 100), the following are the prices index numbers for Antwerp : — food other than meat 98, mea,t 90, all food 96, coal 87, and food and coal 93. The index number for rent and prices combined is 96. 38 BRUGES. Bruges, the capital of the province of West Flanders, lies 62 miles west-north-west of Brussels on the main line from the capital to Ostend. The latter town is 14 miles to the west of Bruges, Ghent is 26 miles to the east, while the sea lies eight miles to the north-west. The town enjoys good railway communication with other Belgian towns and the north of France ; steam tramways run from Bruges to different local centres, and a ship canal 6^ miles long, 230 feet broad, and 26 feet deep, connects it with the recently- constructed harbour of Zeebrugge. The Ghent-Ostend Canal also passes the town, and a third canal connects Bruges with L'Ecluse, 14;| miles distant, which is, however, in Dutch territory. In the middle ages Bruges, with a population which is estimated to have been about 200,000, was the chief commercial centre of northern Europe, and was regarded as the wealthiest city outside Italy. Its port was Damme, now a village, some three miles to north-east of the town. As the market for the busy Flemish centres of manufacture of broadcloth, laces, linens, and tapestries, Bruges possessed a large export trade, and in turn almost monopolised the importation of English wools and Russian furs, besides dealing largely in other articles. Its trade with Germany was very important, as it occupied the position of an entrepSt for the cities of the German Hanseatic League. Its prosperity declined in the fifteenth century owing to the rise of Antwerp and of the English ports, and the beginning o£ the English cloth industry, but chiefly because the Zwyn, or arm of the sea which went to Damme, ceased to be navigable for large vessels. At the present time Bruges is a town of but slight activity, being a considerable centre neither of commerce nor of industry. Although the creation of a harbour at Zeebrugge where the largest vessels may ride at anchor, and the building of the ship canal already mentioned, gave rise to many hopes, yet prospects of a considerable revival in the immediate future are held to be doubtful. Lacemaking by hand forms the largest single source of employment, over 3,000 women being engaged in this trade, but few of the other industries attain great importance. The population includes a large element of persons of independent fortune, many old civic families having been settled here for generations. The town is an ecclesiastical centre, being the seat of a bishop, whilst a seminary for the priesthood and over twenty convents, either of contemplative or teaching orders, are established in the town. As a legal, administrative, military, artistic, and foreign residential centre (residents of English nationality being numerous) it is also important. Bruges is a flat town situated slightly above the sea level in the low Flanders plain. The ramparts, which once encircled the town and had a length of about 4^ miles, have been razed, only four of the old town gates being left standing ; and on their site Isoule- vards have been laid out, with here and there gardens and fields. The boulevards are bordered by canals, so that the town is almost entirely surrounded by water ; it is, moreover, intersecbed by numerous branches of canals, by such sheets of water as the Minnewater, and by the Docks. Bruges owed its name, in fact, to the multitude of its bridges (Brugge, its Flemish form, signifies "bridges"). Externally it appears an essentially mediaeval town, all the principal public buildings being remarkable for their Gothic or Early Renaissance styles, while the old Flemish domestic architecture, with its pointed gables descending stepwise at both sides, is a con- spicuous feature. The streets are narrow and picturesque, with low houses roofed with red tiles, and the unfrequented canals are often lined with shady promenades or by the backs of houses, small and great. In this connection it may be mentioned that the muni- cipality, in its desire to preserve to the town its mediaeval aspect, allows grants amounting to about one-third of the cost of the frontage of the house, provided that the plans chosen conform to certain styles, and receive the approval of the town architect. Other charac- teristic features are the various signs which recur on the faqades : the Bear of Bruges or the Lion of Flanders, for instance, is often sculptured in the stonework, religious statues are placed in niches in the walls, while here and there — especially at street corners — are small shrines. BRUGES. 39 The population of Bruges as returned by the censuses of 1880, 1890, and 1900, and as estimated for 31st December, 1907, is shown in the following table : — Year. Population on Slat December. Increase. Percentage Increase . 1880 1890 1900 1907 (estimated) 44,501 47,497 51,657 53,781 2,996 4,160 2,124 (in seven years). 6-7 8-8 4-1 (in seven years). The population is not largely recruited from without. At the census of 1 900 it was found that 68*9 per cent, of the inhabitants had been born in the town. The following Table shows the birth-rates, death-rates and infantile mortality rates for each of the five years 1904-8 : — Tear. 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 Birth-rate per 1,000 of PoDulation. Death-rate per 1,000 of Population. 29-0 28-6 26-7 27-9 26-8 21-6 22-4 23-7 21-2 21-1 Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births. 160 153 174 138 134 Bruges is a Flemish-speaking town, and for some years the municipal reports have been printed in Flemish alone. Neither waterworks, electric power and light works, nor street tramways exist in the town. The gas works are owned by a company, which pays nothing for the con- cession. The maintenance of the streets is done by contract. The municipality owns a public library (grant in 1906, £296), theatre (grant in 1906, £608), museums, cemeteries, market hall and slaughter-house, and subsidises, in conjunction with the State and the province, schools of music and drawing, and technical schools. Occupations, Wages and Houbs of Laboue. The most important source of employment in Bruges itself is lace-making, which is carried on by betweea three and four thousand women, mainly working at home. The clothing trades are also important, but the only other industries of any note are building, printing, and papermaking. Outside the town the metal working, engineering, and woodworking trades are carried on, chiefly by one large firm. The wages paid at Bruges are low, and the hours are long. Besides the middav interval of from one hour to one hour and a half, morning and afternoon breaks of fifteen, twenty, or thirty minutes each are universally accorded by employers. On Saturdays a full day is worked in all the establishments, but on Mondays it is customary to cease work at four or five in the afternoon. The general holidays are : New Year's Day, Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday after May 3 for the Procession of the Holy Blood (a fke peculiar to Bruges), Ascension Thursday, Assumption Day (August 15), All Saints' Day (November 1), and Christmas Day. Work is also sus- pended in the afternoon of Shrove Tuesday. Working-class organisation is feeble at Bruges. The bulk of the wage-earners hold aloof from the trade union movement, which can be said to exist only among the Socialist section of their class. The following notes relate to the conditions of particular industries : — Building Trades. — No standard rates of wages prevail in any of the branches of the building trades. The predominant range of wages for skilled men generally is fi-om 16s. hd. to 19s. lid. for a week of from 68^ to 71^ hours, while the wages of labourers range fi"om 10s. lie?, to 14s. 2>d. In public contracts it is usual to stipulate for fixed minimum wages for the various classes of workmen, and it is of interest to note that for a considerable contract given by the municipality in July, 1908, bricklayers and masons carpenters and joiners, roofers, glaziers, plumbers, fitters and locksmiths, plasterers painters, and navvies, were to be paid a minimum hourly wage of ^\d. ; stonemasons (cutters) were to receive 3|rf., and labourers 2J(^. per hour. The maximum day at these rates was fixed at 10 hours, overtime to be paid one-third more. Another public 40 BRUGES: contract (in August, 1908) fixed the minimum rate of wages at 3i. per hour for roofers, glaziers, plumbers, fitters and locksmiths, plasterers, and painters, at S^d. for carpenters and joiners, and at 2d. for labourers. Metal and Engineering Trades. — Except one firm, which employs in all branches of the metal and woodworking trades some 1,200 persons, the establishments in this industry at Bruges are small. The firm alluded to is engaged in the building of railway rolling stock (including tenders, but not locomotives), tramcars, bridges, &c. The great majority of the men are paid on a combined system of time and piece rates. A number of the more skilled men have been recruited from the Walloon country, as well as from Malines, where they have served their apprenticeship in the State railway works. In the smaller establishments time rates are universal. Printing Trades. — Apart from the printing of newspapers, of which three are published daily and two thrice weekly, Bruges is a not inconsiderable printing centre. Some thirty printing works exist in the town, and the most important firm, with 2o0 employees, prints a large quantity of prize, religious, and scientific books, almanacks, commercial advertisement bills, &c., and executes extensively lithographic work of a religious character. Lace Industry. — Lacemaking is confined to women, who manufacture in their homes bone or pillow lace, and work mainly for the Brussels market. Over 3,000 women are occupied in this industry, but their earnings are small. Capable workers may earn 7s. or 8s. in a week of at least 60 hours, but 4s. lOd. to 6s. bd. is reckoned a normal good wage for those who follow this occupation as a trade, Lacemaking is taus:ht in several schools, notably in one or two convents at the east end of the town. Horticulture. — The climate being especially suitable for the cultivation of ornamental plants such as palms, bay trees, &c., the nursery industry is extremely important on the outskirts of Bruges and in the neighbouring communes, where over 70 firms are occupied, in the trade. (In the trade directory 152 names are classed as "horticulturists, gardeners, and flower dealers.") Three firms of Bruges are established upon a large scale, and of these one possesses more than 300 hothouses, and another 2 1 2, many of a very large size. The specialties are bay trees, palms, azaleas, and orchids, but many other plants are grown. The products find markets in France, Germany, Austria, and Russia, and also in England and the United States. Long hours and low wages are the rule in this industry. The skilled gardeners work about 12 hours each day for a weekly wage of from 14s. hd. to 16s. 10^., and the unskilled men receive from 12s. to 13s. 2d. a week. A considerable proportion of the men are also obliged to work several hours on Sundays. Brewing. — More than 30 breweries are established at Bruges and in its immediate neighbourhood, but practically all of them are small concerns, employing only a few men. Beer of high fermentation is generally brewed. The wages are uniform in the various breweries, and range from 12s. to 14s. bd. per week of from 66 to 70 hours. The maltsters work on Sundays for three hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Baking. — The majority of the bakeries in Bruges are small, and the master baker himself works, sometimes with the aid of a journeyman, who either lives in the house and receives a monthly wage of from 20s. to 32s., or lives out and is paid a weekly wage of from 14s. bd. to 16s. lOd. The following Table shows the predominant weekly wages earned by men employed in certain of the principal occupations at Bruges in June, 1908, with the number of hours most usually worked : — Predominant Weekly Wages and Hours of Labour of Adult Males in the Principal Occupations in June, 1908. _ — Predominant Weekly Wages. Predominant Weekly Hours of Labour. Building Trades : — Bricklayers and Masons, Carpenters, Joiners, and Painters. Labourers ... Engineering Trades : — Moulders Fitters Turners, Smiths, and Patternmakers Labourers 16s. 5(^. to 19s. lid 10s. lid to 14s. 3d 23s. 17s. lid 20s. 6d 12s. 68J to 71i 68i to 71i 64 64 64 64 BRUGES. 41 Predominant Weekly Wages. Predominant Weekly Hours of Labour. Printing and Allied T'rades .— Compositors Machine Composi tors Lithographers Bookbinders Woodworking Trades : — Sawyers Wood moulding Machinists Joiners ... - Polishers and Painters Labourers Horticulture : — Skilled Gardeners Others Brewing : — Brewers Maltsters Bakers {living out) Gasworks (Company) .• — Gas Stokers Yard Labpurers 18s. lOd to 21s. 2d. 24s. to 28s. 18s. lOrf. to 21s. 2d. 18s. lOd „ 21s. 2d. 16s. to 18s. Id. 18s. 7d to 23s. lid. 21s. M. „ 23s. lid. 18s. Id. to 21s. 'dd. 12s. I4s. 5d. to 16s. lOd. 12s. to 13s. 2d. 12s. to 14s. 5d. 12s. „ 14s. 5d 14s. 5d to 16s. lOd. 18s. 5d. 15s. 5d. 58f to 60 58i 58| to 60 58f „ 60 66i 66i 66i 66| 66i 72 72 66 to 69 69 „ 70 54 „ 60 69 In comparison with other towns in Belgium, wages at Bruges are very low. Taking wages at Brussels as 100, the index numbers for the wages of skilled men and unskilled labourers in the building trades at Bruges are 72 and 67 respectively ; wages in the engineering trades are represented by 81 for skilled men, and 78 for labourers, while the index number for wages of compositors is 76. When dealing with the economic situation of the working classes in Bruges, it is essential to make reference to the extensive and manifold sources of public and private charity. Public charity is exercised by the Bureau de Bienfaisance and by the Administra- tion des Hospices. The latter possess an annual income of some £24,000, which is devoted to the care of the sick and the assistance of the aged, while the Bureau de Bienfaisance, although far less wealthy, still possesses a large revenue, derived from the property which it has inherited and from its annual municipal grant. In 1901 and in 1906 respectively 2,552 and 1,685 families were assisted by this Outdoor Relief Society, and in the financial year 1906-1907 £4,501 was expended on relief, exclusive of establishment charges. In addition to these bodies many of the twenty odd convents and monasteries give daily doles of food, while other sources of help are the charitable societies attached to the various parishes, which distribute food, coal, and clothes to poor families. The facility of obtaining relief is, in fact, so great that it may well be questioned whether it has not a demoralising effect upon the working-class population, and whether its operation does not tend to the depression of wages in Bruges. Housing and Rents. The housing conditions of the working classes in Bruges cannot be held to compare favourably with those of the same classes in other towns of a like size in modern Belgium. Being a town of great age, and having experienced in the nineteenth century a period of relative commercial and industrial stagnation, Bruges has had no incentive to renovate the old houses, and the bulk of its wage-earning classes are housed to-day in dwellings which date back several generations. The low earnings of the workers preclude the payment of high rents, so that projierty owners are not induced to incur expenditure upon the erection of new dwellings. Like the majority of old towns, Bruges possesses many streets, and even some groups of streets, of quite a slum character, and here the large body of unskilled workers for the most part live. Several of these streets are very narrow, and contain houses hardly fit for human habitation, but the town authorities hesitate to deal with them in a summary fashion owing to the fact that the occupants, if driven away, would perhaps be unable to find accommodation elsewhere. There has been a considerable clearance of congested and unhealthy dwellings, but the slowness with which improved working-class dwellings are added is evidenced by the fact that, according to a return 13147 F 42 BRUGES. furnished by the municipality, out of a total of 1,028 new buildings erected in Bruges from the beginning of 1900 to November 24, 1908, only 182, or 17'5 per cent., were of this class. Although individual streets where the working-class element predominates are found in every quarter of the town, two distinctive districts are essentially of this character. The eastern portion of Biuges (separated from the rest of the town by the canal from the Porte de Damme to the Porte de la Grrille de Fer) is mainly working-class in character, as is also the neighbourhood of the railway station, in particular upon its northern side. Everywhere the single-family house prevails ; at the censuses of 1890 and 1900 the number of households per house destined for habitation was respectively 1"03 and 1"12. As no official investigation has recently been made into the housing conditions, it is not possible to state the percentage of tenements containing one, two, three, four or more rooms with the proportion of inhabitants in each group. Enquiry for the purposes of this report showed that the majority of the wage-earning families lived in houses containing two, three, or four habitable rooms. Houses possessing only one habitable room were found to be frequent in the courts as well as in some of the older parts of the town. The two-rcomed cottage usually possesses one room downstairs with an attic room above, or two rooms downstairs with a loft above, or again two rooms one above the other. The house has almost invariably a vestibule or lobby entrance, and a scullery projects into the yard behind. Cottages of three rooms have generally two rooms downstairs and an attic on the first floor, with a loft at the rear of the attic. Four- roomed houses are of two main kinds ; most frequently there is a small room in front and a large room at the back, and two rooms with loft above, or if the entrance is in the middle of the house, there is a room at either side and two on the first floor. Among the houses built in Bruges in the last half-century the former type predominates for workmen's dwellings. All classes of dwellings possess, for the most part, a scullery and a loft. Yards are general but they are often very small, while gardens are rather the exception. Cellars are unusual, and even in the newer houses there are receptacles under the staircase instead o£ cellars. The conveniences are placed in the yard. Water is obtained from wells sunk in the yard or from the public pumps, and to a large extent reliance is placed upon rain-water, which is collected in cisterns. The stairs are situated in the lobby or vestibule in the majority of cases, but in the newly built houses they are nearly always placed between the front and back rooms. These stairs are very steep, and might often be described as ladders. The lobby varies in dimensions, but its size is often excessive in proportion to the available space, especially in the cottages of three and four rooms. The building material used at Bruges is for the most part brick, and only in the newly built houses is the frontage left unpainted ; the others are painted white or pale yellow. The windows of the ground floor frequently possess outer shutters, the most favourite colour for which is green. The kitchen floors are usually tiled, and the walls white- washed ; in the older houses the beams of the ceilings are visible. Even in the poorest dwellings the fire places are discarded, long-piped stoves being in general use. Gas lighting is the exception, lamps being the rule. There are no water mains at Bruges, and the needs of the town in this respect are supplied by well water, canal water, or rain water — the latter collected in cisterns. Over 150 public pumps, and some public wells, are established in the streets. A large proportion of these pumps are supplied from the interior canals, the water of which is exposed to pollution by the sewage and slops from the houses which line them, and has also been contaminated higher up by the waste from the factories of Ghent, or of Bruges itself No systematic sanitary inspection is carried out, although a pubhc health department established in the town hall examines all complaints. The following notes upon individual tenements visited for the purposes of this enquiry will afibrd an idea of the accommodation possessed by working-class households in Bruges. Eue du Persil. — This street, at the north-eastern extremity of Bruges, is occupied exclusively by working-class families. The houses contain four rooms as a rule, and are let at rents which range from 2s. bd. to 3s. 2d. per week. A row of 13 houses of identical construction were let at 2s. bd. ; each house possessed one small room and vestibule in the front on the ground floor, and a good kitchen behind with a scullery, while there were two rooms and a loft above. The stairs were placed in the vestibule, which measured 7 feet 6 inches by 5 feet by 9 feet 3 inches. The front room had an area of 7 feet 6 inches by 8 feet 3 inches, and the kitchen measured 10 feet 9 inches by 13 feet by 9 feet 3 inches. No gardens were attached to the houses, and the yards were used in common by two or more households. BRUGES. 4'^ Throe other houses in this street were each found to contain lour rooms, with corridor^ good scullery, and loft, and were let at 8s. M. per week. The corridor (breadth 3 feet) ended at the kitchen, which measured 13 feet by 13 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, and the staircase was situated between it and the front room (9 feet 9 inches by 10 feet by 9 feet 9 inches). The scullery, having an area of 10 feet 3 inches by 6 feet 6 inches, projected into the yard, and the convenience and a coal shed were placed at the end of the yard. This type of house is very common among the new workmen's dwellings in Bruges, and especially in the communes which immediately adjoin. Rue Verte. — Ten houses, with two rooms downstairs and an attic upstairs, were let at 2s. 2>d. per week. The vestibule, which held the stairs, measured 7 feet 9 inches by 5 feet 3 inches by 9 feet ; the front room 7 feet 9 inches by 7 feet 6 inches by 9 feet ; the kitchen about 13 feet square and 9 feet in height. The houses were old. There were no cellars, the coal being stored under cover in a small yard, and no garden. Thirteen houses with four rooms each in the same street were let at 2s. 9c?. per week. The vestibule measured 7 feet 6 inches by 6 feet by 9 feet 3 inches, the front room 7 feet 6 inches by 7 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 3 inches, the kitchen 14 feet by 13 feet by 9 feet 9 inches. The upper rooms were lower, but the front room was broader than the front room on the ground floor. The staircase was in the vestibule. Rue du Mortier. — A house containing two rooms on the ground floor surmounted by a loft, was let at 2s. per week. The front room had an area of 8 feet 3 inches by 9 feet, and the back room measured 17 feet 6 inches by 13 feet. The yard was 9 feet 3 inches long, and part of it was occupied by a scullery 6 feet square. Petite rue des Tonneliers. — Five houses with one room downstairs and one room upstairs were let at 2s. per week. The vestibule, so general in Bruges in the older houses, held the staircase, and the living-room measured 20 feet by 10 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 3 inches less the space occupied by the vestibule, which protruded into the room and measured 4 feet 3 inches by 5 feet. Rue de Vlncendie. — Some twenty houses, containing one room with loft, which were let usually at Is. \d. or Is. Ad. per week. They were very old houses, with no windows looking on to the street, and in many cases the loft was used as a sleeping-room. In one house the loft contained three beds, and nine children besides the father and mother lived in the dwelling. In most of these houses the room downstairs measured 13 feet by 11 feet 9 inches by 8 feet 3 inches, but smaller dimensions were also found. The following Table shows the predominant weekly rents of dwellings of two, three, and four rooms respectively in Bruges : — Predominant Rents of Working-class Dwellings. Number of Booms per Dwelling. Two rooms Three rooms Four rooms Predominant Weekly Rents. Is. M. to 2s. Is. lid. to 2s. Id. 2s. M. to 3s. 2d Rents at Bruges are represented by the index number 59, rents at Brussels being the standard, = 100. Rents are paid monthly by working-class tenants in Bruges, and a large number of the owners of working-class property have combined for the purpose of rent collection. The working people are exempt from taxes in respect of their houses, for at Bruges no house of which the assessed rental value is below dBo 15s. 2d. is rated. This figure represents an actual rent of from 3s. IQd. to 4s. Id. per week. No industrial firms have built workmen's dwellings in Bruges, nor has the municipality undertaken any similar schemes. The charity organisations, such as the Hospices and the Bureau de Bienfaisance, own a large number of small houses, containing one or two rooms, which they let free of rent to elderly persons, whether married or single ; but families whose heads are still in the vigour of life hardly come within their charity in this respect. The law of 1889 has not been utilised to a large extent in Bruges, where only 58 loans have been made since the two existing loan societies were established. A group of 14 houses built by this means were visited. They had cost rather more than 13U7 F 2 44 BRUGES. £120 each, and contained two rooms with a good scullery on the ground floor, and two rooms upstairs. The corridor, ending at the kitchen door, was 3 feet 6 inches broad, the front room was 10 feet 3 inches square, the back room 13 feet square, and the scullery measured 9 feet 9 inches by 6 feet 6 inches. The stairs lay between the front and back rooms. A yard and a garden were attached. The rent paid for these dwellings, including purchase-money and insurance, spread over 25 years, amounted to 16s. per month. But although few workmen have entered into negotiations with the Housing Committee with a view to the construction of a house — the chief impediment being the difficulty of finding the initial deposit of one-tenth of the cost of a projected building — several cases were observed where the tenants were buying the houses which they occupied on the instalment system, by paying to the house-owner each month a sum over and above their rent. Retail Prices. Bruges is well supplied with markets for the sale of many commodities which form important items in the budgets of working-class families. Potatoes and vegetables are sold at three daily markets, and eggs and butter at a large market held every Saturday, whilst a considerable fish market takes place every Wednesday and Saturday, minor markets in this commodity being held every day. Meat is sold in two public squares on Wednesdays and Saturdays, as well as daily by some 30 stall-holders in the covered market beneath the great Belfry. Various kinds of dry goods, both personal clothing and household articles, boots, earthenware and other utensils are also sold in the public markets, but general groceries are not sold in the markets. The co-operative movement is not strong in Bruges, as tar as the working classes are concerned. Of the two co-operative societies the more important is the Union, which confines its membership to public service employees, with the result that its working-class element is composed almost entirely of railway and postal servants, with a few others from less important branches of public administration. In 1907 its membership amounted to lj321. Bread, general groceries, dry goods and boots form the bulk of its trade ; and the percentage return made to purchasers is paid in kind, and not in money. The co-operative society organised by the Socialist party counts about 600 members, and carries on an important bakery business, the value of the bread sold in 1907 being nearly £3,000 ; general groceries, dry goods and coal are also sold by this society. Both societies maintain meeting halls for their members, with caf^s and billiard rooms. One " multiple " grocery and hardware firm has four branches in Bruges. Groceries and other Commodities^ The working people in Bruges depend for their sustenance mainly upon bread, potatoes, and in a minor degree fish, while their drink is coffee mixed with chicory. Soup is largely consumed, and is made of potato meal, onions, haricots and other vegetables, with an addition perhaps of bacon fat. Meat is not much eaten, for although its price is not relatively high, the wages paid to workmen do not often permit the expenditure which its purchase would entail. The bread eaten is nearly always white bread : at the Socialist co-operative bakery more than 85 per cent, of the bread baked is white. The loaf weighs 2'2 lb., and in June, 1908, the co-operative societies sold white bread to their members at the price of 'i\d. per 4 lb., non-members paying 4jc?. The ordinary coffee sold is of Brazilian origin, arriving by way of Antwerp, and the working classes pay from 6^rf. to l\d. per lb. It is usual in Belgium to mix chicory with coffee, and often more chicory than coffee is present in the beverage as drunk by the poorer classes. In ^many of the budgets obtained for this enquiry in Bruges it was found that over 70 per cent, of the " coffee " was composed of chicory, and an independent dealer stated that the poorer people often drank pure chicory. Eggs are sold by the 13 in the market, a practice which many shops follow. Dutch cheese costs from 7|rf. to %\d. per lb., and is in common demand, while margarine is sold very generally at 8|3. per lb. Pure butter is not usually eaten by working people. Smoked bacon is not unknown, but the salted variety is the most popular form of this meat. Coal is sold by the Socialist Co-operative Society as well as by other coal " clubs." The members of the latter pay from 2^d. to 9^^. or more each week during the summer months ; and one of these clubs with 78 members received in 1907 the sum of £130. The coal is purchased in July and August, the period of the year when the price of coal is lowest. A large proportion of working-class households, however, buy their coal from the street hawkers. BRUGES. 45 The following Table shows the prices paid for certain principal commodities by the working classes at Bruges in June, 1908 : — Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Commodity; Predominant Price. Coffee per lb. Q^d. to l%d. Sugar, Loaf „ 2H » 3cf. Bacon, Salted „ 8|d EggB per Is. 16 Cheese, Dutch per lb. 7|d to 8|d Butter „ Hid. to Is. Id. Margarine „ Hd. Potatoes per 7 lb. 2\d. Flour, Wheaten ^d. Bread, White , per 4 lb. 4ieen a gradual decline in both the birth-rate and the death-rate. For the period 1904-8, the average birth-rate was 27-5 per 1,000 of population, and the average death-rate 20-8 per 1,000 of population, the birth-rate having varied from 26-1 in 1907 to 29-6 in 1905, and the death-rate from 18-5 in 1905 to 23-4 in 1908. The infantile mortality is (Jomparatively high, and has undergone no permanent reduction during recent years. The following Table gives the birth and death rates per 1,000 of the population and the infantile mortality per 1,000 births for the years 1904 to 1908 : — Tear. Birth-rate per 1,000 of Population. 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 28-6 29-6 26-2 26-1 27-1 Deatli-rate per 1,000 of Population. 23-2 18-5 19-7 19-0 23-4 Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births. 207 162 182 142 203 There has been much building and rebuilding in Courtrai during recent years, and the town has been much modernised, with equal advantage to appearance, public convenience, and health. The dominating feature of the town is the spacious Grand! Place, surrounded by many handsome buildings, including the Town Hall and the new Post Office, while in the centre rises the ancient Belfry. In the old part of the town several hundreds of insanitary dwellings have been demolished during the past thirty years, giving place to commodious streets and open spaces. Boulevards have been planned in several directions, small parks and gardens laid out, and statues and monuments erected. At the present time a large people's park is being constructed on the outskirts of the town. While, however, much has been done to improve the sanitation of the town, many improvements are still contemplated, and the rate of progress is only retarded by considerations of cost. There is as yet no public service of water, the supply being obtained from pumps, and the cesspool system of drainage ds used. COURTRAI. ,5,9 The town carries on no direct trading enterprise, with the exception of a pawn shop, the abattoirs, and the regulation of the markets and fairs, which are held in the streets and yield a revenue (1908) of £1,146. The gasworks belong to a company, which charges private consumers 3s. bd. per 1,000 cubic feet, and industrial consumers 2s. M. per 1,000 cubic feet up to 176,500 cubic feet, and 2s, M. beyond that amount. The tramways belong to the Sociiti nationale des chemins de fer vicinaux and are worked by a company the shares in which are chiefly held by the communes interested. Among municipal institutions of interest are a well-stocked library, museums of fine art and antiquities, and technical schools, with departments for designing, architecture and surveying, painting and practical sculpture (wood, marble, and stone), workshops - for weavers and apprentices, and special classes for engine-drivers and stokers. Over 400 students, representing some 30 occupations, attended the schools during the winter term, 1908-1909. There is also a municipal laboratory for agricultural and industrial chemistry. Hospitals and infirmaries exist for the care of the sick, aged, and afflicted poor, while the service of outdoor relief is discharged by the Bureau de Bienfaisance. to which the town in 1907 made a grant-in-aid of £3,725, the revenue fi-om endowments and other sources being £4,321, while the total expenditure was £8,356. The Municipal Council «lects five members of the committee of management. Eelief generally takes the form of money, but grants of bread, coal, bedding, and clothing are also made. The following Table summarises the recipients of rehef during the past six years : — — 1903. 190i. 1905. 1906. 1907. 1908. Families permanently relieved Families temporarily relieved 740 96 721 135 721 130 631 99 649 91 637 98 Totals 836 856 851 730 740 735 Individuals permanently relieved Individ aals temporarily relieved 3,767 495 3,605 555 3,736 681 3.255 531 3,905 516 4,072 541 Totals 4,262 4,160 4,417 3,786 4,421 4^613 The mean number of individuals relieved annually during this period has been equal to 124 per 1,000 of the population. In order to encourage thrift the Bureau de Bienfaisance opens bank accounts for children at birth, and pays 2s. bd. as a first deposit. The budget of the town for 1908 showed a total revenue of £48,117, of which j|35,239 was ordinary and £12,878 extraordinary revenue, the former including £9,840 derived froni the local supplements (^centimes additionnels) to the State property, personal, and trading taxes, £13,320 from the fund by which the communes are reimbursed for the loss of the old d. weekly ; 4rf. per hour is the maximum paid, except in special cases. Food and Drink Trades, — In addition to a large number of private bakeries, in which the patron generally works with his, men, .there are two co-operative bakeries of con- siderable importance, carried on in the special interest of the working classes. In the private bakeries the hours are longer and the wages in general lower than in these co-operative undertakings. Twd local peculiarities help to explain the longer hours usual in private bakeries. One is the custom of living with the master, and the other is the fact that the journeyman baker is expected to deliver the bread to customers when he has finished his work in the oven room. A working day of at least 12 hours is the consequence, though there is no recogni$ed number of hours. • The value of board and lodging was variously estimated by master 'bakers consulted at from 8s. bd. to 14s. weekly, and probably the mean of these sumis amply represents the money worth of this payment in kind. In addition first bakers! receive in money from 5s. %d. to 7s. bd. weekly, second bakers fi*om 3s. did. to 5s. 6d^,, and third bakers, who arc generally young learners, fi-om 2s. ^d. to 3s. %d. The hours Worked in the two co-operative bakeries are 57 and 66 weekly respectively, and the wages range from 16s^ lOd to 20s., though one society pays its men the uniform wage of 18s. bd. There are about 16 breweries in the town, most of them small, and doing only a local trade. The hours worked are from 60 to 66 weekly, and the wages paid to brewers are from 14s. bd. to 16s., with free beer at discretion, to be consumed on the premises. Miscellaneous Trades. — There are in the neighbourhood three large manufactories of roofing tiles, for which the fine clay available can be used with great success. The hours worked are 69 weekly, and the wages earned by the majority of the men range fi-om 14s. bd. to 21s. Id. Flemish pottery of a special kind is made at Courtrai, and relatively high wages are earned by potters, painters, and decorators. There are two manufactories of white lead, but the number of men employed is small. In one a 10 hour and in the ■other a 12 hour day is . worked. Other local industries are corn-milling and the manufacture of cattle cake from linseed and rapeseed ; in both 12 hours daily are worked. 64 COURTRAI. The Public Services. — The town employs few workpeople beyond those engaged on the roads and at the Abattou-, for the gasworks and the tramways are in the hands of companies, and there is no public water supply. The staff of the road department work 72 hours weekly in summer and 60 in winter, and unskilled labourers earn 14s. hd.^ which is the maximum rate of wages for unskilled labour in most local industries. It may be added that in connection with some factories and other works sick funds exist to which the employers contribute, but iu general little in the nature of voluntary benevolence is done for the working classes, except by means of the friendly societies {societes de secours mutuels), most of which have hsts of honorary members. There are seven of these societies, with 2,790 active and 360 honorary members. In addition there are some thirty saving and old age pension societies. The following Table summarises the predominant weekly wages and hours of labour of men employed in all the important trades and industries of the town in June, 1908 : — Predominant Weekly Wages- and Hours of Labour of Adult Males in the; Principal Occupations in June, 1908. Predominant Weekly Wages. Predominant Weekly Hours of Labour, Building Trades: — Bricklayers and Masons Stonemasons (Cutters) Carpenters Joiners ... Plumbers Plasterers Painters Bricklayers' and Masons' Labourers Engineering Trades -. — Fittei-s Turners ... Smiths ... Patternmakers ... Labourers State Railway WorTis^wps : — Fitters Smiths Boilersmiths and Coppersmiths Labourers Linen Industry .• — Scutching — Scutchers Breakers Spinning — Hacklers Drying-loft Men Weaving — Weavers, Linen Weavers of Furniture Stuffs ... Tuners (Tacklers, Tenters) Warpers Beamers Sizers Labourers Carpet Weaving : — Weavers Dyers and Labourers ... Jute Sack Weaving : — Weavers Bleaching, Dyeing, and Finishing Works : Bleachers Dyers Finishers 20s. 2d: 23s. to 25s. lid. 20s. 2d. 20s. M. to 23s, 20s. 2d. „ 23s, 20s. 2d, „ 23s, 20s. 2d. „ 23s. 14s. 5d. to 15s. Id. 22s. M. to 27s. M. 20s. to 27s. l)d 17s. M. to 22s. Gd. 17s. 6d. „ 20s. 2d. 12s. Id. to 14s, 16s, 4d. to 17s. 3d.* 18s. 3d. „ 20s. 8d.* 21s. Id* 14s. 7d* 12s. lOd. to 14s. 5d. 16s. 14s. bd. to 17s. 7d. 66 20s. 66 14s. 5d. to 16s. lOd. 63 to 6ff 21s. Id. to 22s. 5d. 63 „ 66 20s. lOd. to 28s. 63 „ 66- 13s. Id. „ 16s. 63 „ 66 14s. bd. to 20s. 63 „ 66 14s. bd. 63 „ 66 13s. 2d. to 14s. bd. 63 „ 6& Us. bd. to 16s. 69 13s. 2d. to 14s. bd. 69 10s. bd. Us. bd. 12s. to 14s. bd. 12s. lOd. to 14s. bd. * Rates paid to the majority of employees. See text 72 72 72 72 72 72 72 72 621 and 63 62i „ 63. 62i „ 63 62| „ 63 62i „ 63 60 60 60 65 69 69 69 63 to 72. 63 „ 70 62 „ 6& COURTRAI. 65 Predominant Weekly Wages. Predominant Weekly Hours of Labour, Art Furnittire Manufacture .- — Carpenters and Joiners Cabinet Makers and Polishers Upholsterers Labourers .. Pottery Manufacture .— Potters Ovenmen Painters and Decorators Labourers Roofing Tile Works : — Clay getters Moulders Kilnmen Sorters ... Labourers Whitelead Manufacture : — White Lead Makers Lead Melters Labourers Linseed Oilcake Manufacture ; — Millers Pressmen Labourers Printing Trades : — Compositors and Pressmen ... Lithographers Bookbinders Food and Drink Trades .• — Corn Milling — Millers Labourers Baking — Private Bakeries : — 1st Bakers 2nd Bakers ... 3rd Bakers Co-operative Bakeries : — Bakers Beer Brewing — Brewers ... ... Coopers ... Draymen Labourers ... Public Services : — Eoad Department (Municipal) — Paviors Paviors' Labourers Eoad Makers and Road Sweepers Carmen Gas Works (Company) — Gas Stokers Yard Labourers Tramways (Company) — Engine Drivers Conductors 5d. 16s. lOd. to 17s, 19s. to 20s. 20s. to 21s. 9d 14s, M. to 17s. f>d. 24s. 20s. 2d. 24s. to 28s. lOd. Us. 5d 14s. 5d. to 16s. lOd. Us. 5d. to 20s. 20s. to 21s. Id. Us. bd. to 20s. 12s. to 14s. 5rf. 17s, Id. to 21s. Id. 21s, Id. to 24s, 12s, to 14s, bd. 16s, IQd. 22s, bd. 12s, 16s. to 17s, M. 18s. M to 19s, 2d 16s, to 16s, lOd. 22s. 5d. 13s. 2d. to 14s. bd. 5s. 6d. to 7s. bd.* 3s, 8d. „ 5s, 6rf.» 2s. 2d. „ 3s, 8d* 16s, lOd. to 20s, 14s, bd. to 16s. 16s. 14s, bd to 16s, 12s, to 14s. bd. 22s. bd. Us. bd. Us. bd. 12s, 16s, lOd 13s, 2d. to 15s. Id. 17s, 6d. to 20s. bd. 19s. bd. 62 and 68 62 „ 68 62 „ 68 62 „ 68 68 68 68 68 69 69 69 69 69 60 and 72 eO „ 72 60 „ 72 72 72 72 57 to 60 57 „ 60 57 „ 60 72 72 72 72 72 57 and 66 60 to 66 60 „ 66 60 „ 66 60 „ 66 72t 72t 72t 72t 63 300 hours per month 60 * These are the money wages only : employees in private bakeries also receive board and lodging, valued variously at from 8s. 5d. to 14«. weekly. t The winter hours are 60 weekly. Representing the level of predominant wages in Brussels by 100, the index numbers for Courtrai are — for the building trades, 83 for skilled men and 79 for unskilled labourers, for the engineering trades, 95 for skilled men and 86 for unskilled labourers, and 63 for compositors. 13U7 66 COTJBTRAl. Housing and Rents. Relatively to the extent of the municipal area, Courtrai would not be regarded from the lenient standard applied to old towns in Belgium as densely populated. The number of inhabitants per acre of total surface at the census of 1900 was 6"5, comparing with 5'7 in 1890, 5*3 in 1880, and 4*5 in 1866. Taking only the area built upon, the population was in 1900, 95"5 per acre, comparing with 93"1 in 1890, 96*8 in 1880, and 100:4 in 1866. The diminished density shown by the latter figures is the result of two factors — primarily the demolition of the fortifications and the growth of the old town outwardy and in a secondary degree, the considerable number of clearances which have been made during the past three decades in congested and insanitary districts, leading to the erection of houses in more open situations. At the census of 1900, the number of houses per acre of municipal area was only 1'37. The number of households per house destined for habitation was returned as 0"98 at the census of 1900, and as 0*94 at the previous census of 1890. These figures illustrate a feature of the housing arrangements of Courtrai which is apparent at every turn, viz., the predominance of the one-family house. In the newer streets, particularly in the business centres, houses of three stories are com- mon, though not the rule, but in the town generally the middle-class house consists of two stories, and the working-man's house of one story, in addition to the ground floor in every case. The working classes are found in most parts of the town, except the newly-built quarters in the centre of the town converging on the Grand'' Place, but they almost entirely monopolise the old districts and those adjoining and across the river. Most of the streets are fairly broad, though there are notable exceptions, and all are paved from house to house with setts, or are roughly cobbled, flagged pathways being unknown. The houses are brick-built, often with painted fronts, the lower portions of which are kept clean by constant scrubbing. The usual accommodation of working-class households is four rooms — a sitting room and a kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms above, with, in most cases, a loft which can only be used for storage purposes, and a cellar ; some of the newer houses have a pantry, and small yards are almost universal, except in the courts and cites. There is little difference in plan between one four-roomed dwelling and another, except that a small proportion have passages, with a width of Si or 4 feet. In the absence of a passage, a small vestibule about two feet deep is sometimes built in wood before the door. The front room is invariably the sitting-room, and rarely has more than one window ; behind is the kitchen, with a door to the yard ; while the staircase leading to the bed- room may be approached from either room, or, where there is a passage, may lie between the two. The rooms are generally of fair size, and of moderate height. The kitchen and the passage, where this exists, are always substantially tiled, and often the entire ground floor is so floored. The rooms of the better class of houses are papered, and the windows on the street have wooden shutters. Both sitting-rooms and kitchens have fireplaces, but these have been built up or otherwise closed, for stoves are universally used on account of their economy and superior heating properties. Sometimes the stove is a bulky structure. Standing out four or five feet from the wall, but small iron stoves, placed close to the flue, are also popular. Water is obtained from pumps, and the conveniences are found in the backyards. The following notes relate to typical dwellings visited : — Rue Schinckel. — Two rooms downstairs (sitting-room in front and kitchen behind) with passage, pantry, and yard ; tAvo bedrooms and loft above ; also cellar. Size of sitting-room, 12 feet long by 10 feet wide, and 10 feet high ; kitchen, 10 by 6 by 10 feet j passage, 3^ feet wide ; passage, kitchen and pantry tiled. Thirty houses of this type rented at from 3s. to 3s. 4c/. weekly. Rue Decollets. — Two rooms downstairs and two bedrooms. Sitting-room, 9 by 8 by 10 feet ; kitchen, 12 by 10 by 10 feet ; passage, 3^ feet wide. All the ground floor tiled. Rents of twenty houses of this kind, 3s. M. and 3s. 4c/, weekly. ^ Rue D'Heule. — Two rooms downstairs, two bedrooms, loft, and cellar, with yard. Sitting-room 12 by 10 by 10 feet ; kitchen 10 feet square. Downstairs rooms tiled and papered ; pump in kitchen, closet in yard. Rent, '2s. M. weekly. Rue Berger. — Two rooms downstairs and two bedrooms, and loft above ; also a passage and a cellar. Downstairs rooms, 10 feet square. Rent, 2s. Id. weekly. COURTRAl. 67 It is clmracteriBtic of working-class houses in by-streets that in a considerable proportion of them the front downstairs room is used for business purposes, either as an estaminet, or as a small shop for the sale of fish, vegetables, groceries, sweets, or fuel. Sometimes almost every house is put to this subsidiary use, and it is almost invariably the wife who attends to the bar or counter, while her husband works in the factory or elsewhere. It does not appear that the practice has any perceptible influence upon rents. While, on account of age and neglect, much of the wOTking-class property in the older parts of the town is of a very inferior kind, the worst houses tnust be sought in the courts, alleys, and blocks of back buildings comprised in the terms impasses, passages, ruelles, cours, endos, cites, bataillons carrSs, &c. The whole of these may be grouped together as representing the cheapest accommodation which households of straitened means can afford and the extreme limit of the sanitary authority's toleration. Already a large amount of dilapidated property of this kind has been demolished — as a rule without compensation to the owners — and more houses are constantly being condemned and closed either permanently or until the required improvements have been carried out, but there are still many slum areas, small in extent yet evil in character, which readily find tenants. Nearly all these courts and cite, dwellings are inhabited by single families, and they are for the most part smaller, and proportionately cheaper, than the ■ houses in the open streets. The great majority of such dwellings consist of either two or three rooms. There are comparatively few dwellings of four rooms, and one-roomed tenements hardly exist. The four-roomed dwellings consist of the usual sitting-room and kitchen downstairs, and two bedrooms upstairs ; the three-roomed dwellings are without the second bedroom, or they have one large room below and two bedrooms. Occasionally houses of this size have a loft, but rarely a passage or a cellar. The rooms in the court and cite houses do not greatly differ in size from those elsewhere, though very small and low rooms were noted in some of the dwellings visited. Here, too, the tiled floor is common, but there is a noticeable absence of comfort, and in some two-roomed cottages ia a court off the Rue de Menin, the upstairs bedroom was reached by an open ladder. In the street just named there is a group of dwellings, of a type found in other parts of the town, consisting of a low ground floor and a loft in the high-pitched roof ; the rooms are very small and the entire accommodation primitive, though the rents were only Is. 3d. weekly. The water supply is obtained from pumps, which are sometimes placed outside for collective use ; the outside w.c.'s also often serve for several households, occasionally for as many as ten or a dozen, though this is an abuse which the Sanitary Committee is strenuously endeavouring to abate. Since 1901 a bye-law has been in operation requiring each house to have a separate w.c. and cesspool. The following are the predominant rents for the typical four-roomed dwelling and the dwellings of two and three rooms found in courts and cites : — Predominant Rents of Working-class Dwellings. Type of Dwelling, Four rooms — ordinary hoases Three rooms — Courts and Cites Two rooms — „ „ Predominant Weekly Eents, 2s. Id. to 3s. 4d. Is. Id. to 2s. Is. id. to Is. Id. Taking the level of rents at Brussels as 100, the rent index-number for Courtrai is 58. No direct local taxes are paid by the working classes, since the tenants of all dwelling-houses assessed at less than £4 l<5s. per annum, equal to an actual rent of £12, or 45. 7d. weekly, are exempted from the " personal " contribution {contribution personnelle), in the fixing of which rent is a factor. There is no separate charge for water, owing to its being obtained fi:om pumps. Rents are, as a rule, paid either weekly or monthly. Little has been done by employers of labour to provide dwellings for their work- people, though several own small groups of houses which are reserved for foremen and others whose duties require them to live near their work, and for which nominal rents are charged. Since 1892 a public utility Building Society, bearing the name Le Foyer {Bond den Eeerd), has existed for the purpose of lending money on mortgage to working men desirous of living in their own houses. It works with a capital 13147 I a '§8 COURTtlAt. of £4,850 (in £20 shares), of which the Municipality subscribed €4,000, and citizens of the town most of the remainder, and with advances obtained from the State Savings Bank at 2^ and 3 per cent, interest, the balance of these advances outstanding at the end of 1907 being £15,49'8. Money is lent for the erection, purchase, or reconstruction of houses, but it is a condition that the borrower must live in his house, unless compelled to .leave the neighbourhood, and must undertake not to use the house as a cabaret. The maximum loan granted is £200, and the borrower must pay down at least one-tenth of the total cost, though as a rule he pays more. The payment is spread over 10, 15, 20, or 25 years, and the rate of interest charged is 3^ per cent, if the loan is contracted in conjunction with a life insurance policy, and 4 per cent, without that additional security. The shareholders only receive 8 per cent, interest. Up to the end of 1907 231 houses had been built and 40 bought by the Society's help, and the loans on 74 had been entirely paid off. Of these houses 54 were built in Courtrai and most of the remaining 217 in neighbouring villages. In the aggregate £28,736, or £106 per house, had been advanced, and on December 31st, 1907, £17,410 was owing by borrowers. As a rule, the small houses . built in the country consist of four rooms, contained on the ground floor and a story above, and cost about £140, of which £28 is for the site and £ll2 for the building. Another Building Society similarly constituted, though wider in area, is the " Society for the purchase, construction, sale, and letting of working-class houses at Courtrai." It has been in existence since 1897, and works with a subscribed capital of £2,080 and loans. Up to the present it has erected over a hundred houses, consisting for the most part of four rooms, with cellars and gardeiis in many cases. The houses are of brick, and of simple construction, and the usual cost is from £100 upwards. Where let the rents charged are from 85. to IO5. 5c^. monthly. The Society pays 3 per cent, to its shareholders and charges 5 and 5J per cent, on advances. There is also a Building Society in the neighbouring commune of Iseghem. Retaii- Prices. There are no, covered markets at Courtrai, but open markets for farm produce and vegetables are held .every Monday on the Grand' Place and other convenient places, and a large proportion of the butter, eggs, and cheese consumed is in this way purchased direct from the country dealers. These commodities are, however, sold by most grocers, as well as in special shops. Milk is usually retailed from house to house in carts drawn by dogs. There are few provision stores of exceptional size, but a " multiple " firm, known all over Belgium, has a branch here. There are two co-operative societies, the VolksfecKt society, which carries on a bakery and a restaurant, in addition to a considerable general provision business, and the 0ns Huis society, which carries on a bakery and a restaurant. The Volksrecht society has 950 family members, and sells some 25,000 lb. of bread weekly, while the other society, which is of recent origin, sells a little more than half this amount. Groceries and other Commodities. Coffee is invariably bought in the bean, and is often roasted at home ; the qualities are many, from bd. per lb. upward, but the price usually paid by working people is from 6t/. to Id. It is used with a strong addition of still cheaper chicory. The cheese mostly eaten is Dutch, costing %\d, per lb. Tiiere is a large consumption of margarine, which costs 8|(i., against Is. Q\d. to Is. Id. paid for fresh butter, which comes from the neighbourhood. There is a very large consumption oi potatoes, and all working-class households who can afford it buy their winter's supply in bulk, but bought in small- quantities old potatoes cost ?>d. per 7 lb. The bakers have an association for the defence of trade interests, but only a small proportion of the 100 private firms belong to it. The bread eaten is almost exclusively wheaten, and it is baked in round and long loaves of I'l, 2-2, and 4-4 lb. The loaves mostly sold are of 2-2 and 44 lb., and the shop prices in June, 1908, were from 4,\d. to M. for 4 lb. The co-operaitive societies and many of the private bakers, however, give a half-yearly discount (called ristourne) of ^d. on 4 lb., and when allowance for this is made, the net price in June, 1908, is found to have been Ad. to 4Jcif. per 4 lb. A brown bread {pain gris), made of wheaten flour and bran, and costing about 4a!. for 4 lb., is eaten to a small extent. Salted bacon is eaten far more than _ smoked, the price being from 6|af. to Id. per lb. Goal is usually bought by the hundredweight, or by two QWtS. COtJRTRAI. 69 The following were the predominant prices paid by the working classes for various commodities in June, 1908 : — ' Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June^ 1908. Commodity, Predominant Price. Coffee per lb. &d. to Id. Sugar, Loaf )) M. Bacon, Salted f; &\d. to Id. Eggs ... per Is. 13 to 16 Cheese, DutcH per lb. 8|d Butter )) Is. OM to Is. Id. Margarine J» 8|d Potatoes per 7 lb. M. Flour, Wheaten J) ^d. to 2ld. Bread, "White per 4 lb. id. to 4W. Milk per quart 2\d. Coal per cwt. Is. lid. to Is. 2|rf. ParafEinOil per gallon &\d. to Id. Meat. There is a public Abattoir at Courtrai, and municipal regulations require that no animals intended for sale as human food shall be slaughtered elsewhere within the commune. The Mayor and Sheriffs may, however, authorise butchers resident in the surrounding villages to slaughter in certified places, but meat coming from other communes, or from abroad, must be examined and stamped at the Abattoir. Private individuals may kill pigs for home consumption on their own premises, and the same privilege may be exercised in regard to other animals by permission of the local authorities. No record is kept of the weight of meat which passes into the market from the Abattoir. Nearly the whole of the beef sold at Courtrai comes from the provinces of Flanders, and the same holds good of the mutton and veal. The sheep grown for the butcher are crossed with an English breed, and are said to yield very good mutton. The pigs come from various parts of Flanders, and have likewise an English strain. The horses used for food come from England, and to a less extent from France and Flanders. There has been no importation of cattle or sheep from Holland or France for several years, but several butchers have of late done a small trade in frozen meat from Argentina, the yearly importation being between 150 and 200 carcases of cattle and 80 sheep. There are in the town 104 butchers, and with the exception of the horsefl.esh butchers the majority of them sell all kinds of meat ; 98 sell beef, 95 pork, 75 mutton, one mutton only, and one pork only. There are four horseflesh butchers, whose trade is restricted to this kind of meat, and who are required to advertise their establishments conspicuously as " Boucheries chevalines.^' , . The working classes principally eat beef and pork, with horseflesh ; their con- sumption of mutton is small. The cheaper cuts of beef are bought, the price paid ranging in June, 1908, from b^d. to 7^d. per lb., while from 7d. to 8|c?. was paid for pork. The consumption of horseflesh has greatly increased during the past few years. In 1895 the animals slaughtered for food numbered only 170 ; in the four succeeding years the numbers were 240, 213, 239, and 203. In 1900 there was an ! increase to 404, and the average of the past three years shows a further increase of 50 per cent, upon that figure, an increase due to the fact that the area of supply has widened. The annual consumption of horseflesh may now be estimated at little less than 10 lb. per head of the population. The usual price of horseflesh is from b^d. to 5|'i. per lb. for the dearest cuts from the fillet, to S^d. to i^d. for steak, but inferior parts can be had for as little as 2^d. per lb. ; it is stated, however, that these parts are largely used in making "cervelas" sausage. There is a considerable consumption of sausage, which is popular owing to the fact that it needs no cooking and can be bought in small quantities as required. Grood sausage of beef and pork can be obtained for dd. per lb., but inferior kinds are sold as low as id. Poor families eat as a sandwich a pate of liver, of all kinds, which is usually bought by the pennyworth, and a minced preparation, made from the intestines and offal, known as Kip-kap, of which a pound can be obtained for twopence. There is not a large consumption of fresh fish, but salted herrings and dried fish are common articles of food. 70 COURTRAI. The following Table shows the predominant prices of various cuts of fresh meat paid by working-class buyers in June, 1 908 : — Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Description of Oat. Beef :— Ribs Brisket .. Silverside Shin, with, bone Beef Steak Rump Steak Thin Flank Mutton : — Leg Shoulder Breast ( Best End I Scrag End Chops Veal :— Hindquarter Shoulder j^itlifcoiie Ribs Ohops Leg Pork :— Leg Foreloin Belly ... Chops Neck without bone Predominant Price per lb. Hd. lid. bid. to 6d. lOid. to ll|d. Did. to Is, Oid. 5id. to Id. lOd. Ud. &d. 8fd. to lid bid. „ &d. 8|d 8|d to lO^d. lOfd to Is. Old. lO^d. \0\d. to Hid. I0\d. to Is. OJi. %ld. 7fd Id. 8|d For some time the Director of the public Abattoir has recorded the average prices charged by the retail dealers of Courtrai for various kinds of meat. The following Table shows the course of these prices during the past 12 years ; it will be seen that, subject to insignificant fluctuations, there has been a slight upward tendency, the most noticeable increase being in the case of veal and pork. Average Retail Prices per lb. of Meat Sold by Courtrai Butchers. Year. Ox Beef. Cow Beef. Veal. Mutton. Pork. 1896 8fd lid. lid. 8id. Ud. Id. 1897 8.d. 8ld. 9.d. Id. 1898 8^. lid. 8%d. 9|d Id. 1899 8k Ud. 8\d. 9k hd. 1900 m. l{d. 8-d. 9k hd. 1901 8d. Ad. 8ld. 9W. lid. 1902 8d. nd. ^td. 9ld. Id. 1903 9.d. 8id. m. 9rd. 1^. 1904 9:d. 8:d. 9 d. 9 d. id. 1905 9ld. 8id. %d. 9ld. lid. 1906 M. 8d. 9|d 9d. 8ld. 1907 9M. 8ld. Idid. 9id. lU. 1908 8|d. M. l%d. 9^d. 8id. As indicated by index numbers, prices at Courtrai are low. Representing prices at Brussels by 100, the index number for the price of food other than meat at Courtrai is 94, for meat it is. 91, and for food as a whole 93. For coal, the prices index number is 84 and for food and coal together it is 92. The index number for rent and prices combined is 86. 71 GHENT. Ghent, the capital of East Flanders, and the most important centre of the Belgian textile industry, is situated at the junction of the rivers Scheldt and Lys, which here break into several arms, and divide the city into thirteen islands connected by sixty-five bridges. It is on the main line between Brussels (36 miles) and Ostend (40 miles), and also pos- sesses direct railway communication with Antwerp (31 miles) and Lille (48 miles), while several steam tramways run to the smaller centres of the district. There are two impor- tant canals : one from Ghent to Ostend by way of Bruges, and the second from Ghent to Terneuzen, which is in Dutch territory. The latter canal has been recently widened and deepened, and having a breadth of 318 feet and a depth of over 26 feet up to the city, it allows the passage of merchant vessels of a considerable size and thus procures for the city the advantages of a sea-port. In this respect it is of great and growing importance. In 1907 the value of the total imports in the general trade was iBlO,472,000, while the value of the exports was £6,819,000. The total tonnage of vessels entered and cleared in the foreign trade, with cargoes and in ballast, at Ghent in 1907 was 1,682,664, according to the Belgian system of calculating tonnage.* The river and canal traffic returns for the same year showed that 15,690 vessels arrived by these inland waterways, Ghent is also the chief Belgian centre for horticulture. But although in the main an industrial and commercial town, it possesses other interests, and occupies a special position as the recognised capital of Flemish Belgium, corresponding with Li^ge in the Walloon division of the kingdom. Besides the Flemish Academy, one of the two State universities (with 1,054 students in 1908) is established here, and there are schools of industry, of horticulture, of brewing, of the fine arts (860 students) and of music, a training school for teachers, and a theological school. The town is also the seat of a bishopric, and has important law courts. In proportion to its population Ghent covers an extensive area (6,650 acres). It is pre-eminently a city of waterways, in which traffic is impeded at many points by the opening of swing bridges at all hours to allow the passage of boats. The surface of the city being for the most part quite flat, and long lines of quays, between whose banks flow sluggish waters often noisome through industrial and other effluents, being numerous, Ghent pro- duces upon the visitor a somewhat gloomy impression. This impression is increased by the numerous large factories and by the dull aspect of the majority of the buildings, the houses, save in the central parts, being constructed in sombre-coloured or painted brick, or in Ijrick faced with plaster. The large industrial population, in particular, lives in monotonous rows of mean streets, whose houses line the cobbled footways. During the last thirty years the city has been largely transformed, great clearances having been effected in the older parts by the demolition of many narrow and congested streets, lanes, and alleys. There are several open spaces, but only one park, which is some distance from the centre. Good communication between the various parts of the city and suburbs is provided by electric tramways. Ghent experienced a continuous growth in population in the nineteenth century. In 1815 the number of its inhabitants was returned at 62,226, a figure which had increased to 108,925 in the succeeding forty-one years. The following Table shows the population of Ghent as returned at the censuses of 1880, 1890, and 1900, and as estimated at the end of 1907 :— Tear Population on 31st December. Increase. Percentage Increase. 1880 1890 1900 1907 (estimated) 131,431 148,729 160,133 164,117 17,298 11,404 3,984 (in seven years). 13-2 7-7 2-5 (in seven years). It is noteworthy that two-thirds of the population were born within the town ; in 1890 and in 1900 66*8 per cent, and 65"1 per cent, respectively were found to be * The Belgian system of calculating the tonnage of vessels differs from that adopted elsewhere, and in order to render these figures comparable with those of non-Belgian ports, they should be reduced by from 15 to 20 per cent. 72 GHENT, indigenous. Although a busy industrial centre, Grhent exercises no strong attraction upon the neighbouring districts. Li^ge, Antwerp, and especially Brussels among the great towns recruit their population far more largely from without. Ghent has three important suburbs — viz. Gentbrugge. Ledeberg, and Mont-St.-Amand, which form independent commuues, but are in no way topographically separate from the city. Adding the population of these three suburbs to that of Ghent itself, the following figures are obtained : — Year. Population on 31st December. Increase. Percentage Increase. 1880 1890 1900 1907 (estimated) 153,282 180,189 198,446 206,470 26,907 18,257 8,024 (in seven years). 17-6 10-1 4-0 (in seven years). The population of Gentbrugge was only 4,298 in 1880, but it had nearly doubled by 1890, the number of inhabitants at that date being 8,262. In 1900 the population was 10,857, and at the end of 1907 it was estimated at 13,191. Ledeberg has not shown so great a development during the period under review, although its population is still slightly larger than that of Gentbrugge. The number of its inhabitants was 10,124 in 1880 and ] 3,878 at the end of 1907. Mont-St.-Amand has increased in population more rapidly than Ledeberg, but not so quickly as Gentbrugge. It is at present the most populous of the suburbs, haying 15,284 inhabitants at the end of 1907, as compared with 13,226 at the Census of 1900. The population of Mont-St.-Amand at the two previous censuses of 1890 and 1880 was returned as 10,836 and 7,429 respectively. The area within the comm.unal boundary of Ledeberg is almost entirely built upon, and it is, therefore, not probable that there will be any appreciable increase in the population of this suburb in future years. The other suburbs, having much building land still available, are, however, likely to show a continued increase in population. The birth-rate, death-rate, and rate of infantile mortality of Ghent in each of the years 1904-1908 is shown in the following Table, the most noteworthy features of which are the great decline in the birth-rate during the period and the very high infantile mortality : — Year. 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 Birth-rate per 1,000 of Population. 24-2 23-1 22-3 21-6 21-5 Death-rate per 1,000 of Population. 20-1 18-2 18-6 17-6 19-2 Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births. 273 221 246 209 258 The average birth-rate, death-rate, and rate of infantile mortality during the above period for Ghent itself and for the three suburban communes of Gentbrugge, Ledeberg, and Mont-St.-Amand is as follows : — Average Birth-rate per 1,000 of Population, 1904-8. Average Death-rate per 1,000 of Population, 1904-8. Average Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births, 1904-8. Ghent Gentbrugge Ledeberg Mont.-St.-Amand 22-5 22-6 21-8 25-1 18-7 16-1 l.''v2 17-7 241 151 185 255 It will be observed that the average birth-rate for Mont-St.-Amand is considerably higher than the average birth-rate for the other three communes, which are about equal. The death-rates and rates of infantile mortality for the four communes differ greatly. GHENT. 73 The activities of the municipality embrace the usual public services, including the supply of water, gas, and electric light and power. The tramway system, however, which has a length of 164 miles, is in the hands of a company which pays the annual sum of £3,600 to the city in return for the concession. Grants for indoor and outdoor relief, for night refuges, creches, and other charitable objects are made by the municipality, which also owns a library, two theatres (one for performances in French and the other for those in Flemish, both being leased and subsidised), an abattoir, labour exchange, public baths and cemeteries. OccTJPATioNs, Wages and Houes op Labour. The textile trades occupy a pre-eminent position among the industries of Ghent, flax-spinning, cotton-spinning and the weaving of flax, jute and cotton being the principal branches of these trades. The engineering trades also give employment to large numbers of workpeople, but, compared with the textile trades, their importance is quite secondary. Ghent is regarded as the headquarters of the Belgian trade union movement, and the strongest working-class organisations are identified with Socialism, the Liberal and Catholic trade unionists being inferior in number and influence. The normal working day begins at about six a.m., and ends between seven and eight o'clock in the evening. Intervals of fifteen minutes at about eight a.m. and four p.m. are taken in most industrial establishments, and the midday interval for dinner varies from one hour and a half to one hour and three quarters. In the textile factories work stops at five o'clock on Mondays, without the usual break at four. In the engineering shops the hours of labour are shorter than in other trades, and some firms start half-an-hour later and finish half-an-hour earlier on Mondays, closing at five on Saturdays, while others merely stop at four on Mondays without any other difference. There are eleven days in the year when work in Ghent is at a standstill : the first of January, the Monday and Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday, Easter Monday, Ascension Thursday, Whit Monday, two days for the communal fetes, August 15, November 1, and Christmas. Some trades have in addition their special fite day. Work in the principal trades at Ghent is fairly regular, their products being such as to be not much afi'ected by seasonal demands. In connection with certain trades for which wages are quoted below the following notes may be of interest. Building Trades. — No standard rates of wages are in force for private undertakings. The municipality, however, has established a scale of minimum hourly rates to be paid to men employed on municipal contracts. According to this scale, paviors must receive not less than 4i\d. per hour, plasterers, carpenters and joiners 4|rf., stonemasons 4:d. ("blue" stone), and A\d. ("white" stone), bricklayers and plumbers Sft^., painters, paviors' labourers, and navvies 2i\d., plasterers' labourers and bricklayers' labourers. ^\d. The normal day must not exceed ten hours, between 6 a.m. and 7.30 p.m., and overtime is to be reckoned as time and a half. Metal and Engineering . Trades. — The construction of large steam engines, loco- motives and boilers forms the bulk of the work done in the Ghent workshops. The State railway works employ nearly 900 hands in their locomotive and wagon repair yards in the suburb of Gentbrugge, where an important firm also employs 650 hands in wire- drawing and nailmaking. The latter occupations aff"ord good Ay^ages at piece rates, but in the engineering trades both time and piece rates are paid, although time rates are more general. The wages quoted for the railway works are lower than those earned in the private workshops, but the men have many compensating advantages such as pensions and help in sickness, in addition to shorter weekly hours of labour. Textile Trades. — Ghent is the chief cotton centre in Belgium. Of 61 cotton weaving mills no fewer than 57 are established in East Flanders, and over 40 of these are situated in Ghent and its suburbs. The counts spun are low, the bulk of the output being composed of counts ranging from 5 to 8, while only a few mills go beyond 40. A large variety of tissues are woven in the Ghent sheds, but plain goods, fustian, flannelettes and velveteens are produced in great quantities. With regard to the flax industry 1 7 spinning mills, including the three largest establishments in Belgium, are at Ghent, but flax weaving is of minor importance. As in the case of cotton-spinning the lower counts are mainly manufactured. Women are far more numerous than men in the flax trade, which 13U7 ' K 74 GHENT. occupies over 8,000 persons, being the largest single source of employment in the town. No wages agreements have been concluded in any branch of the textile trades. Printing Trades. — Hourly rates are recognised in the majority of the printing works. In one of the most important works in the town, which is the property of the Socialist party, the rates are somewhat higher than elsewhere, and an 8^ hours' day is worked by the majority of the men. In addition to their daily paper they print the bulk of the Socialistic literature for the whole of Belgium. The Catholic trade unionists also have a printing establishment, and publish a daily paper. Their men work from eight to ten hours per day, according to their special branch of work. Horticulture. — ^"At the beginning of 1907 there existed at Ghent and in its three suburbs 274 horticultural establishments or nurseries, while in the 13 surrounding communes there were 313. Azaleas, palms, bay trees, begonias, rhododendrons, orchids and gloxinias are the chief specialties of this industry, the products of which are mainly exported to foreign countries. Germany is the best customer, but the United States, France, Holland, Russia and England are also large buyers. In 1906 the value of the exports to the United States was over £62,500 (excluding consignments of less than £20 in value). None of the nurseries are as large as two establishments of the same kind at Bruges, but some 20 firms employ between 20 and 30 men, and some 50 frOm 10 to 20. The wages are low, and the hours are long, as will be observed from the table given below. The following Table shows the predominant weekly wages and hours of labour of adult males engaged in the principal industries of Ghent and suburbs in June, 1908 : — Predominant WeeUy Wages and Hours of Labour of Adult Males in the Principal Occupations in June, 1908, Predominant Weekly Wages. Predominant Weekly Honrs of Labour. Building Trades : — Bricklayers and Masons 21s. lid. to 24s. 2d. 72 Stonemasons (Cutters) {?^-J,f2ne ::: ::: 20s. Id. to 23s. 22s. 2d. to 27s. 8d 66 to 72 66 „ 72 Carpenters and Joiners 21s. 8d. „ 22s. 8d. 66 Plumbers 19s. to 23s. 66 to 72 Plasterers 23s. to 25s. lid. 72 Painters 19s. Gd. to 22s. 6d. 66 to 72 Navvies 18s. 5d. „ 19s. Id. 72 Bricklayers' and Masons' LalDOurers 17s. 3d 73 Engineering Trades : — Moulders 20s. to 21s. Id. 60 Fitters 19s. 2d. to 20s. 8d. 60 Txirners 20s. 2d. „ 21s. Id. 60 Smiths 20s. lOd. to 26s. 5d. 60 . Patternmakers 19s. 2d. to 20s. 60 Labourers 13s. 6d. to 14s. 5d. 60 State Bailway Works (Repairing Shops) :— Locomotive Works : Fitters 15s. M. to 18s. 3d. 58 Turners 16s. 4d. „ 18s. M. 58 Machinists 13s. 6d. „ 15s. 4d. 58 Smiths 17s. M. „ 20s. 2d. 58 Smiths' Strikers 13s, 5d. 58 Boilersmiths (iron only) 16s, id. 58 „ Helpers 13s. bd. 58 Labourers 12s, 6d. 58 Wagon Works : Fitters Us. 5d. to 16s. id. 58 Machinists Us. bd. 58 Smiths 15s. id. to 17s. 3d. 58 Smiths' Strikers 13s. 5d. „ lis. 5d. 58 Boilersmiths (iron only) lis. 5d. „ 15s. id. 58 „ Helpers 13s. 5d 58 Roofers 14s. 5d. 58 Joiners 16s. id. to 18s, 3d. 58 Painters. Us. 5d. 58 Labourers 12s. 6d. 58 GHENT. 75 Cotton Trade .- Scutchers Cairders Spinners Big Piecers Weavers 2 looms 4 looms Labourers Flax Spinning ; — Hacklers Bundlers Labourers Printing and Allied Trades : — Compositors, Hand Compositors, Machine Pressmen Lithographers Bookbinders Chemical Works: — Furnacemen, etc. Labourers Horticulture : — Skilled Gardeners Ordinary Gardeners and Labourers Tobacco Manufacture : — Skilled men Unskilled men ... Brewing : — Brewers ... Coopers Draymen Dock Labourers {Stevedores Quay Labourers Public Services: — Gas Works (Municipal) — Stokers Yard Labourers Water Works (Municipal)- Turncocks Labourers Tramways (Company) — Drivers and Conductors Roadmen Mechanics Fiedominant Weekly Wages. Predominant Weekly HourB of Labour. 14s. bd. to 15s. 6d. 13s. M. „ 15s. 6d. 24s. „ 28s. 16s. „ 17s. Id. 13s. 7d. tol6s. 17s. Id. to 21s, Id. 12s. to 14s. 5d. 16s. 3d. to 18s. 5d. 20s. 5d. „ 21s. 2d. 14s. 6d. „ 15s. lid. 20s. 2d. 24s. to 26s. 5d. 20s. 2a!. to 24s. 19s. 2£?. to 20s.. 2d 16s. lOd to 19s. 2d. 15s. Id. to 16s. lOd. 13s. 2d. 16s. lOd. to 19s. 2d. 12s. to 14s. 5d. 16s. 14s. 5d. 16s. lOd to 18s. 6d. 17s. Id. „ 19s. 2d. 16s. to 18s. 6d. 28s. lOd. 24s. 22s. Id. to 23s. 8d. 15s. lOd. lis. Id. to 20s. 2d. 15s. lOd. 19s. lid to 21s. 7d. 16s. lOd. 19s. 2d. 6U to 66 64| „ 66 64^ „ 66 64i „ 66 64^ „ 66 60 64^ to 66 66 66 66 60 48 60 60 60 67i to 70 60 to 67i 66 to 70 66 „ 70 60 60 66 to 70 63 „ 67i 66 „ 70 60 60 Summer 66 Winter 57 63 60 64 70 60 Eepresenting wages at Brussels by 100, the index-numbers for wages at Ghent are as follows : — Building trades, skilled men 87, unskilled labourers 91 ; engineering trades, skilled men 84, unskilled labourers 90 ; compositors 76. Housing and Rents. The factories, workshops, and docks being well distributed over the city area, the working classes are not confined to particular districts, although in general the central parts are occupied by the commercial and professional sections of the community, and the outer parts by the working people. The suburbs, or inde- pendent communes of Ledeberg, (ientbrugge and Mont-St.-Amand, which are co-terminous with the south-eastern and eastern sides of the town proper, are mainly inhabited by a similar population, .being indeed themselves centres of industry. Iti. dealing with the subject of housing and rents it will be convenient to consider in the first place the conditions prevailing in Ghent, and secondly those in the suburbs. 13117 K 3 H GHfi^fT The single-family house predominates in Ghent, as in most other towns in Belgium. The census of 1900 returned the number of houses destined for habitation at 34,201 and the number of households at 42,141, or an average of 1*23 households per house, while at the previous census in 1890 the average was 1*15. The dwellings occupied by . working-class families are usually composed of three, four and five rooms, the groups with three . and five rooms being both considerably more numerous than those with four. Two-roomed cottages are mainly old property, met with in out-of- the-way streets and in the courts (see below), and are destined to disappear through the operation of the municipal bye-laws which enact that every dwelling-house must have a minimum of three habitable rooms, each with an area of at least 150 square feet. The newer workmen's dwellings include a certain proportion of six-roomed houses, but for such dwellings rents somewhat beyond the reach of the ordinary workers' incomes are charged, and many of these houses are divided into two tenements. The predominant type of three-roomed dwelling is a three-story house mth the rooms placed one above the other. The uppermost room is less lofty than the two lower ones, but in other respects the rooms are similar. The street door leads directly into the living room, and the stairs, for the most part closely resembling a sort of ladder, are generally placed against the opposite wall. These houses have a small yard behind, except in the courts (where they are extremely numerous) and where an open space often serves for the whole block. The four-roomed houses have two rooms downstairs, and two rooms upstairs with a loft, and are found both with and without corridors, (extending to the door of the back room) although all houses of recent erection possess them. In the five and six-roomed dwellings the additional rooms are built above the first floor. The new houses of four, five and six rooms have generally a back kitchen or scullery, but the space for this addition is almost invariably obtained at the expense of the yard area. The yards indeed throughout the working-class quarters are very small, and workmen's dwellings with forecourts or little back gardens are quite rare. Water is usually obtained either from pumps within the houses or in the streets, but town water is also provided in a certain proportion of the dwellings of four, five and six rooms. The closets are in the yards, and the majority of the dwellings of all kinds in the working-class streets have lofts and cellars. An important feature of Ghent housing conditions is the existence in every ward of a great number of courts usually situated behind houses that front a street, or blind alleys. At the end of 1907, 523. courts containing 6,938 houses and 6,985 households with 25,242 inhabitants (which is 15*8 per cent, of the town population) existed in the municipal area. An enquiry was made by the Housing Committee in 1904 and their report showed the population of the courts to be mainly composed either of young or of old households ; fifty per cent, of the houses contained two rooms, one above the other, ] 9 per cent, were of three rooms one above the other, and 1 6 per cent, had one room downstairs and two upstairs. Some of the courts are quite large ; in one visited in the course of the enquiry there were 62 houses (all with two rooms) and in another 67 houses. The genera,l conditions of these courts are not on the whole bad, although those which lie behind houses fronting a street are sometimes unsatisfactory. Their most objectionable features are their promiscuity and want of privacy. Water has to be fetched from outside the houses, and there are no separate yards or conveniences. Great improve- ments have, however, been made in recent years, and some of the most unhealthy and unsati-sfactory courts have been demolished. Despite the general increase in population the number of persons inhabiting courts has decreased from 29,181 and 29,149 respec- tively in 1880 and 1890 to 25,242 in 1907 or from 22-2 and 19-6 per cent, of the total population to 15*8 per cent, in 1907. The following Table shows the predominant weekly rents for dwellings of three, four, and five rooms in Ghent in June, 1908 : — Predominant Bents of Working-class Dwellings. Number of Booms per Dwelling. Three rooms Four rooms Five rooms Predominant Weekly Rents. 2s. 2d. to 2s. Id. 2s. lOd. to 3s. 3s. to 3s. Id. Rents at Ghent are represented by the index number 63, rents at Brussels being the standard, = 100. - GHENT. Tt , The above rents cover the supply of water. The working people do not pay any taxes as tenants of their dwellings. It is usual to pay rents weekly. The municipality has initiated no schemes for the better housing of the working classes, but, in conjunction with the Bureau de Bienfaisance (Outdoor Relief Com- mittee) and the Hospices^ it has provided four-fifths of the capital of a registered building society which is established in Ghent in accordance with the law of L889. There are also two societies which lend money under the provisions of the same law, and down to December 31st, 1906, they had eflPected 563 loans, amounting to nearly £67,260, for the construction of workmen's dwellings. fcJome of the textile firms have also built workmen'is houses. In one case 66 houses have been built in the centre of the town ; they contain four rooms with an attic and lof t ; fifty-eight of them are let at rents of 2s. 10^. per week, and the remaining eight at 3s. 2d. They have 13 feet of fi-ontage, possess corridors, cellars and pumps, but the town water is outside, and the yards are very small. A second firm has built some dozen houses, possessing four rooms and two attics, which are let at varying rents, the normal figure being 4s. per week. Of the three suburbs of Ghent, Ledeberg,. although not the largest in point of population, is the oldest. An enquiry was made into the housing conditions of the working classes in this commune in October, 1908, by the Housing Committee, when visits were made to 1,749 working-class houses or 53 per cent, of the total existing at the census of 1900. The single-family house has an absolute predominance, 1,798 house- holds having been found to inhabit 1,749 houses, and dwellings of four and five rooms represented respectively 54*3 and 22*6 per cent, of the total investigated, those of two rooms amounted to 14*3 per cent., and those of three rooms to only 8'3 per cent. The majority of the dwellings have their own conveniences in the small back yards, but there are very few gardens. Water is obtained fi'om pumps, the tx)wn water not being generally laid on. Rents are slightly lower than in Ghent ; the predominant range of rents paid for four-roomed dwellings in Ledeberg is from 2s. Ad. to 2s. 7d., as compared with from 2s. lOd. to 3s. for the same class of dwelling in the town. Genibrugge has developed with remarkable rapidity during the last thirty years. In 1876 there were only 820 houses, ten years later there were 1,451, and at the kst census in 1900 the number was returned at 2,346. No fewer than 612 new houses were built in the six years 1901-1906. The population, which, as already shown, has grown from 4,298 in 1880 to 12,759 in 1906, contains a large proportion of the employees of the State railway works, of wiredrawers and nailmakers, papermakers, and horticultural labourers — there are 64 nurseries in the commune — besides over 500 textile operatives. An investigation into housing conditions in Gentbrugge, carried out in 1907 by the Housing Committee, covered 1,855 working-class dwellings, inhabited by 7,782 persons. Only three courts, with 74 houses all of the same kind (having one room downstairs and one upstairs) were found in the commune and these houses sheltered 257 inhabitants. Over 46 per cent, of the dwellings visited — 863 out of 1,855 houses — contained four rooms, two on the ground and two on the first floor ; 1 1 of these were empty, 22 were tenanted by two households each, and one had three. Five-roomed cottages accounted for 36 per cent., and here again only the small number of 42 houses held more than one family. It is seen, therefore, that five-sixths of the total were of four and five rooms. It is probable, however, that in a large proportion of the dwellings counted as five-roomed tenements the back kitchen attached to a considerable number of the more recently built houses has been regarded as a room. In some cases this back kitchen, is of tolerable size, but as a rule it cannot be regarded as a living-room. On this account the four-roomed house may be taken as the predominant type of working- class tenement in Gentbrugge. The range of rents for such houses was'firom 2s. bd. to 2s. IQd. in June, 1908. Mont-St.-Amand differs from the two other suburbs in that it contains a notable number of courts. An enquiry made in 1906 showed that at that date 20 courts, with a population of 1,036, existed in the commune, and the bulk of the houses in them contained one room downstairs and one above. Elsewhere dwellings of four and five rooms proved the most numerous, the former predominating. The usual rents for four-roomed dwellings ranged from 2s. bd. to 3s. 2d. per week. All the houses, except those in the courts, have pumps, conveniences, and yards. Indeed the houses in the various suburbs which possess four or more rooms resemble closely in all respects the houses with a like number of roonas in Ghent itself. . A large number of working-class dwellings in the various quarters of Ghent and in its suburbs were visited for the purpose of this enquiry, and the examples given below 78 GHENT. will afford concrete illustrations of the accommodation contained in representative dwellings of this class. Rue du Marron. — Twenty-two houses, 11 on each side of a court, containing three rooms one above the other, and let at Is. lid. per week. There was a small yard and a small cellar ; water was obtained from a pump. The staircase was in the kitchen, which measured 16 feet 6 inches by 13 feet by 9 feet 9 inches. The houses were built in red brick, and the ground floor was paved with square tiles. A small out-building (2 feet 9 inches by 3 feet) extended into the yard, where the closet was placed. Rue de Saule. — Twenty-two houses built in recent years by the building society in which the municipality, the Hospices, and the Bureau de Bienfaisance possess four-fifths of the share capital. They contain two rooms on the ground floor, two rooms on the first floor, with an attic and loft on the second floor. A passage leads from the street door to the kitchen door. They are fitted with stoves and gasmeters, and in addition to a pump are provided with town's water. A small yard lies at the back. The windows on the first and second floors project slightly into the street. The rent of these houses was 3s. hd. per week. Their frontage measured 13 feet. Rue de la Corneille. — Some ten houses of four rooms and a loft let at 3s. 2d. per week. A passage led back to the kitchen, where the stairs were placed ; the front room measured 10 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, and the kitchen 13 feet by 13 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 9 inches. A court containing eight houses with four rooms and loft ran off this street. The rooms were larger than in the houses in the Rue de la Gomeille, but in other respects the houses were similar and fetched the same rent. Rue Snellaert. — Some 30 houses recently built by one of the largest textile companies in this and adjoining streets, and containmg two rooms on the ground and first floors and two rooms on the second floor. A passage leads only to the kitchen, where the staircase is situated, but the staircase on the first floor is not within a room. A lean-to behind the kitchen curtails the size of the yard, rendering it in some cases extremely small. The fi-ontage of the houses measured 18 feet, the front room 9 feet 9 inches by 14 feet by 10 feet 9 inches, the kitchen about 12 feet 6 inches square, and 10 feet 9 inches in height. On the first floor the front room measured 9 feet 9 inches by 17 feet by 10 feet 9 inches, and the back room 12 feet square, and 10 feet 3 inches in height, while the rooms on the second floor were only 8 feet 3 inches high. The rents paid varied, but 4s. per week was the normal charge to ordinary workmen with no claims on account of long service. Rue Van Dyk. — Some 30 houses let at 3s. per week and containing two rooms below and two above. As is usual in G-hent, the passage extended to the kitchen door, and had a breadth of 4 feet. The front room measured 10 feet 6 inches by 13 feet by 11 feet 9 inches, and the kitchen 10 feet 6 inches by 17 feet by 11 feet 9 inches. Rue du Bassin (in Gentbrugge). Nine houses containing four rooms with garden and small yard, let at 2s. 2d. per week. The front room, which measured 11 feet 9 inches by 11 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, was entered directly from the street, while a passage ran out into the yard behind. The back room was 10 feet 6 inches by 7 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 9 inches. Rue Lachaert (in Ledeberg), Thirteen houses with four rooms, two upstairs and two downstairs, let at rents of 2s. Id. per week. The lower rooms measured 10 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 6 inches. Retail Prices. Co-operative societies and " multiple " shops exercise an important influence upon the retail trade in many of the principal commodities of daily use. The working men of this city have been pioneers of the co-operative movement in Flanders, and their organi- sations, as developed in several directions, have formed a model for similar societies throughout the Kingdom. The Socialists were the first to found a co-operative distribu- tive society, entering later into the sphere of production ; and the proceeds of their enter" prise enabled them to establish and maintain not only a considerable political propaganda, but also schemes for old age pensions, insurance against accidents, sickness, and unem- ploymentjin addition to musical, dramatic, and gymnastic clubs, meeting halls, library, etc. Their society, the Vooruit, which was formed under its present constitution some GHENT. 79 thirty years ago, is the principal co-operative society in Ghent ; and in 1907 it possessed a membership of 7,500, and showed a turnover of £140,000. In the city and its three suburbs it owns 16 groceries, 7 pharmacies, and eight other establishments (bakeries, printing works, weaving sheds, etc.). On becoming a member, the nominal registration fee of 2^d. is payable, and 9^d. is retained at the first division of profits. All members of 20 years' standing who have purchased annually groceries and drapery and haberdashery to the value of at least £6 per annum are entitled, on reaching 60 years of age, to a pension of £4 16s., while higher annual purchases may bring the pension up to £12, In 1908 215 pensioners were receiving the aggregate amount of £973 per annum. The members also enjoy other advantages. At childbirth supplies of bread and groceries, based upon the purchases previously made, are given free of charge for a week, and at death the sum of 8s. is allowed to the nearest relative. For an additional payment of ^d. per week the member has the right in case of sickness to 2'2 lb. of bread per day for the maximum period of a year, with medical attendance and medicine. The members have free use of the library and of .the meeting rooms. The dividend returnable upon the purchase of various articles is paid in kind, and not in money, purchasers being credited with the amount due in the books of the society. The Roman Catholic trades unions also main- tain a co-operative society, the membership of which in 1907-1908 exceeded 2,300, Its turnover in the same financial year was £26,164, and in addition to paying a dividend in money of 6 per cent, upon purchases, it maintained a pension and life insurance fund. As in most Belgian towns", those employed in the State and municipal services in Ghent pos- sess a co-operative society which in 1907 counted some 1,500 members and had total sales of £10,400. The strongest " multiple " firm in Ghent is native to the city, having been established in 1887 as a joint-stock company. At the present time it possesses a regular clientele of 12,500 families, and carries on 14 branches in the city and suburbs. Its sales in 1907 were £192,000. In several features its business resembles that of the co-operative societies. All workmen who have taken during a year at least seven loaves per week are entitled to five loaves per week for ten weeks if they are unable to work. There are also life assurances for purchasers of bread, groceries, etc. A second " multiple " firm, which has branches throughout Belgium, possesses 14 shops in the city and suburbs, and allows bonuses in kind on many articles ; while another firm has five establishments. The multiple shops and co-operative societies deal not only in groceries, but also in haberdashery, drapery, and general dry goods, in ironmongery, brushes, etc. All the co-operative societies and the chief " multiple " firms carry on an extensive bakery trade, but in no case is fi-esh meat sold. It may be observed in passing that grocers' shops in Belgium approximate far more nearly to those in England with respect to the wares in which they deal than do those in France, Bacon and ham, for instance, are sold by the grocers as a rule in Belgium, In France the charcutier alone generally keeps these com- modities in stock. Markets are very largely resorted to for the purchase of potatoes, vegetables, and fruit, which are sold daily in one or more public places. The chief market day is Friday, when, in various streets and public squares close to the Town Hall and the Chdteau des Comtes, butter, eggs, margarine, poultry, and fish markets are held. Ironmongery, tin goods, hosiery, haberdashery and drapery, clothing, and a variety of other commodities are also sold in public markets twice weekly. Groceries and other Commodities. Coffee is usually bought at from 7^d. to 9^d. per lb. by working-class families, who drink it with a large admixture of chicory (l^d. to l^d. per lb,). White refined sugar in lumps or granulated is sold at from 2^d. to id. Butter and margarine may not be sold by the same dealer ; the former, on account of its price, is not largely bought by working-people, A considerable proportion of the potato supply of Ghent arrives by barge from Holland, Workmen who have cellars often buy potatoes in large quantities, especially in the early winter season, at prices ranging from 2s. lOd. to 3s. Sd. per cwt. ,At nearly all seasons potatoes are bought at the markets in quantities of two or four quarters ; the price stated in the Table, however, relates to purchases of smaller quantities. White bread almost exclusively is eaten in Ghent, and is sold in loaves weighing 2'2 lb. English, Belgian, and German coal is sold in the city, the Belgian coal being slightly dearer than the foreign, which is therefore in more extensive demand among the working classes. 80 GHENT The following Table shows the predominant prices paid in June, 1908, for certain principal commodities of working-class consumption, based upon returns of prices charged by the leading co-operative societies and multiple firms, as well as by private traders in various quarters of the city and suburbs : — Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Commodity. Coffee Sugar, Loaf ... Bacon, Salted Eggs Cheese, Dutcli Butter Margarine ... Potatoes Wheaten Flour Bread Milk Coal Paraffin Oil ... per lb. »> per Is. per lb. per 7 lb. ») per 4 lb. per quart per cwt. per gallon Predominant Price. 7|d. to 9\d. 2id. „ M. Id. „ 8|d 14 Sid. to d^d. Is. Oid. „ Is. Id. ^d. „ 8kd. U. 9i\d. to lid U. „ 4|d 2id. Is. lid. 6d. to Id. Meat. Flanders possesses a considerable cattle and pig-rearing industry, and the city is thus enabled to obtain the bulk of its beef and pork supplies within easy distance. Holland, and to a less degree France, export meat to Ghent to a limited extent ; in 1907, out of a total of 74,438 animals killed at the municipal abattoir, 839 head of cattle were of French origin, while 5,330 head of cattle and 1,682 sheep came from Holland. Mutton is, relatively, little eaten, and a considerable part of the supply is obtained in the Brussels markets, sheep rearing in the provinces of East and West Flanders being of little account. Frozen or chilled meat is not stocked by Grhent butchers. Horses are im- ported in large numbers ; of 11,693 horses and 51 asses imported in 1907 9,998 were embarked at London, 867 at Hull, and 826 at Goole, while the remaining 53 were embarked at ports on the Baltic. A part of this importation is directed to other places, a certain proportion is sold by the 21 Ghent retailers of horseflesh as fresh meat, but the larger proportion is converted into sausages at one of the eight local sausage factories. The suburb Mont-St.-Amand is a chief centre of this industry, 3,538 horses having been slaughtered in 1907 in this commune for that purpose. All animals for human consumption, lexcept poultry, game and rabbits, must be slaughtered in the city abattoir ; and it is forbidden by a municipal byelaw to sell any kind of meat, whether fresh, salted, smoked, preserved or otherwise prepared, without previous submission for examination by the town authorities. Fresh foreign meat may be introduced into the town only as whole carcases, sides, or fore-quarters with the lungs adherent, except in the case of mutton. The meat trade is in the hands of a large number of dealers. In 1907 433 dealers in fresh butchers' meat, 114 in fresh meat and charcuterie, 109 dealers in charcuterie alone, 707 dealers in commodities, the basis of which was meat, and 21 dealers in horseflesh were registered in Ghent. The list shows the importance of the trade in prepared meats and charcuterie. Meat is retailed in a covered market by some half-dozen stall-holders only. The meat consumption of the working classes in Ghent does not appear to be large. The consumption per head shown by the budgets collected for the purpose of the present enquiry from 241 families, comprising 1,171 persons, was 21"6 oz. per week, which is at the rate of 70 lb. per annum. The proportions of the chief kinds of meat eaten to the total were : beef 57 per cent., pork 25 per cent., charcuterie 6 per cent., bacon 4 and horseflesh 5 per cent., while mutton, veal and rabbits each constituted only about 1 per cent, of the total. There was no consumption of poultry indicated in the returns. The following Table gives the prices of the chief cuts of the various kinds of meat at Ghent in June, 1908 : — GHENT. Predominant Prices paid hy the Working Classes in June, 1908. 81 Description of Out. Shin Beef :— Ribs Brisket Silverside I with bone I without bone Beef Steak Rump Steak Thick Flank ... Thin Flank Mutton : — Leg Shoulder Breast ( Best End I Scrag End Chops Veal :— Hind quarter Shoulder with bone Ribs Chops Leg Pork :— Leg Foreloin... Belly Chops Neck Predominant Price per lb. b\d. to M, 8i(i. A\d.iob\d. bid. „ G^d, 8fd 8|d. 8irf. bid. to 6id. Hid. to d^d. Id. to 7|d bid. to 6d. 8|d 6d. S^d. to 9id. 8|d. to Sid. 8id. Sid. 8id. Sjrf. to 9^^. lid. to 8|d. lid. 6d. to 7|d lid. to 8id. The prices quoted are for home-fed, not chilled or frozen, meat, which as has been already noted, is not sold in the city, and the level o£ prices is low. Veal, which is sold at the uniform price of 8^d. per lb., is little bought by the working people, who also show small liking for mutton. The inferior cuts, and odds and ends of this meat are, however, not infrequently purchased for making a stew with potatoes and vegetables. Most butchers, with a working-class dientUe, also sell large quantities of minced meat ; this is composed most usually of beef and lard or fat, but frequently more than one kind of meat is included. Horseflesh has not a considerable vogue at Ghent, but is cheaper than other kinds of meat, the price of fillet ranging from i^d. to b\d. per lb., that of faux filet and steak being 4:\d. per lb., and that of inferior cuts from 2^c?. to ^d. per lb. Taking prices at Brussels as base ( = 100), the following are the prices index numbers for Ghent : — food, other than meat 97, meat 92, all food 96, coal 80, and food and coal 94. The index number for rent and prices combined is 89. 13147 82 LA LOUVIERE. Few of the towns which belong to the industrial Centre of Belgium have grown so rapidly during recent years as La Louviere, in the province of Hainault, a principal seat of the coal, iron and steel industries, lying south of Brussels, and about 12 miles from Mons. Three-quarters of a century ago La Louviere consisted of two farms and a small wayside inn, and the entire surrounding district was cultivated field and woodland. It was only in 1869 that a commune of La Louviere, with an area of 2,134 acres, was created out of a cluster of villages and hamlets which had in the meantime been called into existence, or had emerged from obscurity, owing to the development of coal mining. At that time the population was about 7,000, During the following 30 years it grew to 17,570, an increase of 151 per cent., and it is estimated that between 1900 and 1907 there was a further increase of 3,438, or 19"6 per cent. The population at the last three decennial censuses and the estimated population at the end of 1907 are shown in the following Table : — Tear. Population on 31 at December. Increase. Percentage Increase. 1880 1890 1900 1907 (estimated) 11,859 14,257 17,570 21,008 2,398 3,313 3,438 (in seven years). 20-2 23-2 19-6 (in seven years). It is commonly said that the population of La Louviere has been recruited from all parts of Belgium, and it is certainly true that the growth of the town has been due in the past, and is due to-day, far more to immigration than to excess of births over deaths. This immigration was naturally greatest during the early years of the town's development, yet during the seven years 1901-7, in spite of fluctuations, following the course of trade, a net addition of 2,175 inhabitants took place owing to this cause. The following Table shows the birth and death rates per 1,000 inhabitants and the infantile death rate per 1,000 births for the years 1904 to 1908 : — Tear. 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 Birth-rate per 1,000 of Population, 24-3 21-4 24-8 23-1 24-8 Death-rate per 1,000 of Population. 12-5 14-2 13-2 15-8 14-9 Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births. 119 120 115 148 136 It will be observed that during these years there has not been the heavy fall in the birth-rate which has occurred in many Belgian towns. The average birth-rate for the period under review is 23-7 per 1,000 of population, while the average death-rate is as low as 14-]. The average rate of infantile mortality was 128 per 1,000 births. La Louviere is surrounded by a large number of small industrial communes, most of which have grown considerably, though not with equal rapidity, during the past 30 years, The nearest and more important of these towns are Houdeng-Groegnies, Haine St. Paul, Haine St. Pierre, Morlanwelz, Bois d'Haine, Manage, and La Hestre ; the first three in particular, though not all in the same arrondissement, are so closely connected with La Louviere that they might well form one commune. The following table shows the extent to which the population of these neighbouring towns has increased since 1880 : — LA LOUVIERE. 83 Commune. Population on Slat December. Increase in 27 years. Per- centage 1880. 1890. 1900. 1907 (Estimated). Increase in 27 years. Houdeng-Goegnies Haine St. Paul Haine St. Pierre Bois d' Haine Morlanwelz Manage La Hestre 5,274 4,253 3,386 1,749 6,500 2,770 3,423 6,033 4,865 4,186 2,631 7,307 3,193 3,535 7,574 6,228 5,243 3,510 7,809 3,812 4,081 8,305 7,202 6,705 8,526 3,031 2,949 3,319 1,761* 2,026 1,042* 658* 57-5 69-3 98-0 100-7* 31-2 37-6* 19-2* * In 20 years. The importance of La Louviere and all these adjoining towns depends for the most part on the collieries and the great iron and steel industries which have been established in this busy part of the district known as the Centre. Coal was extracted in the neighbourhood as early as the fourteenth century, but it was only in the first half of -last century that coal mining reached large commercial proportions. There are four colliery companies in the immediate neighbourhood, viz., those of La Louviere and Sars- Longchamps, with a concession of 2,747 acres and seven pits ; Mariemont with a concession of 4,110 acres and five pits ; Bascoup, with a concession of 5,585 acres and five pits ; and Haine St. Pierre, Houssu, and La Hestre. with a concession of 2,529 acres- and seven pits. There are seven other companies in the Centre basin. The iron and steel industries are of more recent origin. They include a blast furnace, several rolling mills in which plates, rails, and profile iron generally are produced ; foundries, one of which specialises in pipes for drainage and water works, while others cast wheels, axle boxes, and miscellaneous railway material ; steel works ; large locomotive, boiler, machine, and carriage and wagon works ; several works which manufacture structural iron for bridges, roofs, &c. ; and bolt, nut and rivet manufactories — one an English establishment. The manufacture of rolling stock and other material for railways and tramways is the most important branch of the metallurgical industry of the district, several establishments employing in their various departments more than 1,000 workpeople each. Large contracts for locomotives, tenders, carriages and wagons are executed from time to time for the State railways, but the principal works chiefly depend upon foreign orders. The only other important manufactories are those of pottery (La Louviere), window glass (Haine St. Pierre), and glasses and goblets (Familleureux and Manage). These industries likewise export the greater part of their output, the United Kingdom being one of the principal buyers. The trade of La Louvifere is greatly assisted by the branch of the canal which passes the town on the way from Charleroi to Brussels. At two points where a considerable difference in levels has to be overcome, powerful lifts, which raise the boats in troughs, supersede the old method of locks. The canal brings to the town large quantities of agricultural produce and raw materials for industry and serves for the shipment of coal and heavy goods. Essentially a town of recent growth. La Louviere can hardly be said as yet to have taken form ; it is rather a town in outline, for the builders have chiefly followed the lines of the roads leading to adjacent communes and opened out streets at right angles to these, and except in the centre and in the older districts there are few finished areas of large extent. The town has ample space for development, however, and the administrative authorities have taken care to lay down in advance the broad features of its future plan. No one can doubt that an important future awaits La Louviere, and in spite of its present somewhat raw aspect there are signs of a disposition to build for appearance as well as utility. As yet, however, there a,re no noteworthy public buildings. The aspect of the houses of the working classes indicates a tolerable standard of well-being, but the dress and bearing of the male portion of the workers do not suggest that great regard is paid to outward appearances. Here as elsewhere in Belgium wooden clogs are common amongst both sexes. Wages are relatively high in the staple industries, and there is said to be considerable thrift. 13147 L 2 84 LA LOUVIERE. It may be noted, in illustration of social habits, tbat tbere are 750 estaminets and other places at which alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises, a ratio of one licensed house to every 29 inhabitants. The great majority of these estaminets are workmen's dwellings, the sale of liquor being carried on in the front room, the sole furniture of which consists of a simple bar, a small table, and several chairs or benches. In some streets 50 per cent, of the dwellings serve this purpose, and at times one may come across an unbroken succession of eight or ten estaminets. A tax of 4*., 8s. or 12s. per annum is levied upon the tenants by the municipality, independently of the State tax. The town's trading enterprise is confined to the abattoir and the management of the open markets, which are held twice a week in one of the public squares. There is no public water supply, though it has been decided to provide one, the existing system of house pumps having been condemned as insanitary. The gas works are in the hands of a company, which charges 3s. 2d. per 1,000 cubic feet to domestic consumers, and 2s. %\d. to industrial consumers ; and there is no electric light. The electric tramways are owned by the Societe nationale des chemins de fer vicinaux and are worked by an association of the communes afEected. The tramways are essentially inter-communal, yet owing to the formation of the town they serve the local needs of La Louviere equally well. The association of communes leases the rolling stock as well as the lines. Its working capital is small and the profits are relatively large. La Louviere derived from this source in 1906 £504 and in 1907 £1,032. Low fares are offered to workmen, who can travel six miles to and fro six times a week for Is. 4;^^., eight miles for Is. ^\d., 12 miles for \s. lU., and longer distances at diminishing cost. Considerable attention is paid to technical instruction in various forms. There is a large municipal Industrial School with a wide curriculum and special departments for mechanics and stokers, metal workers, electrical workers, the building trades, etc. ; and there are two housekeeping schools (one municipal and the other ecclesiastical), in which factory girls and others receive practical training in domestic duties. The commune of Morlanwelz has also a successful Industrial School, attended by about a thousand scholars fii-om the district, with special classes for joiners, fitters, turners, and drillers. The municipal budget for 1907 provided for an ordinary expenditure of £20,904. The principal sources of the ordinary revenue were the local percentages levied upon the State property, personal, and trading taxes, yielding £7,280, the town's share of the fund assigned in substitution of octroi duties by the Law of July 18, 1860, yielding £4,621 ; the town's share in the " special fund" created in 1899 for distribution among the com- munes, yielding £786 ; and State and provincial subsidies towards the cost of education, in amount £2,635. The purely local taxes on industrial, financial, commercial and agricul- tural establishments, on facades of buildings, footways, bars and tobacco shops, cafes using musical instruments, carriages, horses, and dogs yielded £2,498. The work of outdoor poor relief is discharged by the Bureau de Bienfaisance., which is conducted by a committee of ten persons, nominated by the Town Council. Its funds are derived from endowments to the amount of £4,668, yielding interest of £140, one- fourth of the cemetery fees, miscellaneous gifts and f^tes, and a municipal grant to make up each year's deficiency. In 1908 the total revenue was £1,324, of which the town contributed £726 or more than one-half. The number of families temporarily relieved was 180 and that of families permanently relieved 320. Occupations, Wages and Hours of Labour. Ija Louviere has few industries, but those industries are large and, owing to their character and the exceptional amount of capital which they need, they comprise a comparatively small number of establishments. The same thing holds good of the smaller towns which are within the industrial district of La Louviere. The coal, iron, and steel trades predominate, and enterprise on a large scale is the rule. Small inde- pendent entrepreneurs, employing a few men and perhaps working with them, do not form part of the industrial organisation which has been developed so successfully in this district during the past generation. Of the four companies which work collieries in the immediate neighbourhood, one employed 3,681 workers at a recent date, another employed 3,106, another 2,586, and the fourth 2,423. Several of the large engineering works regularly employ more than 1,000 workpeople, and this number is exceeded by the old-established pottery manufactory. The following enumeration of the industrial population has been supplied by the Factory Inspectors charged with the supervision of the district to which La Louviere LA LOUVIERE. 85 belongs, and which contains in addition the adjacent towns of Haine St. Pierre, Haine St. Paul, Bois d'Haine, Morlanwelz, Familleureux, Le Roeulx, and Manage. The total number of workers employed by .the four colliery companies, according to the return furnished, was 11,796, of whom 8,186 were employed underground and 3,610 at the surface, 560 of the latter being females. The following Table classifies the colliery workers in detail : — Age of Workers. Workers (under-ground). Workers Cabove-ground). Male. Female. Male. Female. 12 to 14 years 14 to 16 „ 16 to 21 „ Above 21 years 161 291 } 7,734 — 85 102 2,863 j [ 240 258 62 Totals 8,186 — 3,050 560 The following Table classifies the workpeople in other trades, those employed in establishments in La Louvifere being first given separately : — Total Number of Workpeople Employed. Number of Workpeople ■whose Sex and Age are available. Number of Workpeople Classified by Sex and Age. Groups of Trades. Males. Females. TJnder 16 years. 16 years and over. Under 16 years. 16 years and under 21 years. 21 years and over. La Louviere : Metal and Engineering Pottery Woodworking Quarrying and Stonemasonry All Other Trades 5,633 1,883 494 331 290 3,563 1,883 494 231 290 476 138 11 20 16 2,951 1,189 483 143 269 38 319 22 2 69 200 38 1 29 37 8 2 Total 8,531 6,461 661 5,035 381 308 76 La Louviere and District : Metal and Engineering Glass Pottery Woodworking Food Cement Quarrying and Stonemasonry Building All Other Trades 13,002 3,011 1,943 947 456 308 239 222 409 9,802 3,011 1,943 947 456 308 239 222 409 1,121 372 141 19 35 20 4 28 8,469 2,080 1,246 928 452 217 151 218 337 75 232 27 22 17 101 203 200 4 26 38 10 36 124 37 3 8 17 Total 20,537 17,337 1,740 14,098 692 582 225 The distribution of the principal industries (coal mining excluded) in the various communes included in the La Louviere district is shown by the following Table : — Total Number of Workpeople Employed. Commune. Metal and Engineering. Glass. AH other Trades. Total. La Louviere Bois d'Haine Familleureux Haine St. Paul Haine St. Pierre Le Roeulx Manage Morlanwelz 5,633 708 284 3 3,873 372 319 1,810 749 690 1,572 2,898* 128 36 230 286 24 171 751t 8.531 836 1,069 233 4,849 396 2,062 2,561 * See Table above. t Including 308 in Cement and 213 in Woodworking. 86 LA LOUVIERE. The usual hours of labour are from 59 or 60 to 66 per week, though in som6 industries hours both below and above this range are worked. Work begins, as a rule, at six o'clock, and there are intervals of a quarter of an hour at eight o'clock for breakfast, an hour at noon, and a quarter of an hour at four o'clock for tea (go&ter). It is the practice of many firms, and amongst them some of the largest, to begin work an hour later on Monday, and one firm, employing 1,300 workpeople, ceases work on Saturday at four o'clock. There are many holidays, and employers only count on a maximum of 300 working days in the year. In addition to the Church -festivals there are several days' holiday in carnival week, and not only each local commune but in some cases different hamlets in a commune have their special kermesses -or feasts, all of which are regarded as a pretext for ceasing work. Notice of longer or shorter duration is invariably necessary to the termination of an engagement. The labour organisations are few in number and weak in influence. The only unions that count are those of the miners, metal-workers, and building trades attached to 'the Socialist party, yet their combined membership does not exceed a few hundreds. The glass workers of the Familleureux and Manage districts, on the other hand, are well organised. The Roman Catholic ("Christian") labour movement is of recent origin, ,and it would appear that conditions at La Louviere are not specially favourable to its "growth ; at present only one trade union of this type exists, consisting of some 60 metal- .workers. There is an independent union of printers. No formal collective wages agreements have been concluded, though list or minimum rktes are observed in several trades, Piece rates are paid in all the important industries except to unskilled labourers. There is no public Labour Registry in the town. In general the industries of La Louviere are not those in which much female labour is employed ; the only exceptions are the pottery industry, in Vhich not only many young women but many children of both sexes are engaged ; the bblt and nut manufactories, in which girls do the tapping ; and certain operations at the pit-mouth, such as releasing the lorries from the cages, discharging and replacing them. Few married women are employed away from home, and even home work for wages would appear to be uncommon. Notes are added regarding special conditions of employment in various trades and industries :^ Building Trades. — No uniform hours are worked, but the working day is seldom less than 10 or more than 11 hours in length. In general organised workers decline to Tvork more than 10 hours daily. The Municipal Council, in its contracts with contractors^ stipulates a maximum of 72 hours weekly for bricklayers and masons, plasterers and labourers ; 66 for stone-cutters, carpenters and plumbers ; from 60 to 66 for painters, and 60 for joiners. Sometimes work begins later on Monday, , but there is no trade custom to that effect. The usual wages of bricklayers and masons, stonecutters, carpenters, plumbers and plasterers all range from 24s. to 26s. bd., and labourers receive fi'om 16s. IM. to 21s. Id. Coal Mining. — The coal pits in this portion of the Centre basin fall within a depth of from 700 to 800 metres, or 383 to 437 fathoms, but some are much under this depth. The coal seams are weak, often little over a foot thick, and dip at a very acute angle, causing exploitation to be difficult and profits low, though coal of a good quality is obtained. The pits are worked in two shifts, the coal being hewn by night and got out by day. The length of the shift is 9 or 10 hours, including descent and ascent, which, as a rule, occupy about an hour ; deducting this time, and half an hour for meals, which are taken at such times as may be convenient, the majority of those employed underground actually work 7J or 8J hours daily. Putters and trammers, however, work somewhat longer, while, on the other hand, driftmen only work 8 hours a day. Surface men work 10 hours daily. The hewers, gallerymen and driftmen are all paid by piece, the road men by piece or time, and the rest of the men belov^ ground, as well as the surface-men, receive time wages, though in one colliery the putters and trammers receive in addition a bonus proportionate to the number of lorries loaded, and the cagers and drivers receive a bonus proportionate to the total tonnage of coal extracted. Hewers earned in June, 1908, from 2os. M. to 30s. M. per week, putters and trammers from 17s. M.. to 24s., and surface men from 14s. bd. to 15s. 10c?. Wages are paid fortnightly, five days' wages being retained as security. A fortnight's notice is usual before a man can be discharged or can leave employment. A large number of the colliers are housed in small cottages belonging LA LOUVIERE, 87 to the companies, for which they pay low rents, ranging as a rule from Is. 6d. to 2s. Sd. per week for four rooms. They are also supplied with coal for home use at a reduced rate. Iron, Steel, and Engineering Trades. — The hours worked by blastfuruacemen are 63 weekly, and those in rolling mills range from 60 to 66. Payment is by piece, with a bonus additional in some cases. First rollers in plate rolling mills earn as much as" 67s. 2d. per week and in rail rolling mills from 36s. to 48s., while second rollers earn 48s. and 28s. 10^. to 33s. 7d. respectively. The wages of heaters are about the same. Wages_ are paid fortnightly. The usual term of notice is a fortnight, but at one establishment it is only a day. In these works, as in the heavy metal trades generally, a large part of the unskilled labour is done by Flemings. Coming from agricultural pursuits Flemish labourers are not suited to skilled work, but they are invaluable in occupations which call for physical strength and endurance. . In the locomotive, boiler,, carriage and wagon works the hours worked range! from 59 to 63, Piece work, combined with a system of bonuses, is here universal except as regards patternmakers and labourers.- Wages are paid fortnightly and the term of notice varies from 20 hours to a week. The wages earned show a con- siderable range ; those given in, the following table are the predominant rates, ascertained by a comparison of r;eturns supplied by all the principal works, but it should be added that the rates given by one important firm were abnormally high and as a consequence have not been quoted. Piece work is general in the bolt and nut works, of which there are six or eight, several of them carried ou ifi conjunctiqa with iron foundries. The hours worked are from 59 to 62 weekly. From two days to a week's notice is usual. Glass and Earthenware Industries. — La Louvi^re is not, strictly speaking, one of the centres of the Belgian glass industry, which attains its largest proportions in the Charleroi district, yet there are at Familleureux and Manage several manufactories of crystal glass, goblets, and table glasses, and. sheet glass is made at Haine St. Pierre. The hours worked by blowers and gatherers are 52'^ in the window-glass works and 60 in the goblet and glass works. The men work in shifts and payment is all by piece. The glass workers are thoroughly organised, and though no formal wages agreement exists^ there are fixed rates common to and observed b)' all the goblet and glass works. Some J ,300 workers, to a large extent youDg women and boys and girls, are employed in the pottery and tile works of Boch Freres, a firm whose boast it is that during the 65 years of its existence no strike has ever occurred amongst its workpeople. The hours of work are 58 g- weekly, and workpeople are engaged subject to a week's notice. Unskilled labourers in this trade, who in 1880 earned 13s. -2^. per week for 66 hours' work, now earn 18s, for nearly 8 hours less, and furnacemen who were then paid 14s. od. now receive 21s, 7d. Printing Trades. — The printing establishments are small, and the aggregate number of employees, does not exceed 50. There are two daily newspapers, but they are unpretentious and being produced leisurely by day they do not require composing machines. The printers are organised, and a minimum rate of 4^d. is observed, subject to the employer's right to require a minimum capacity, as proYfid by a test, but in practice this rate is often exceeded. Food and Drink Trades. — These trades include -two large corn mills, one owned by the Bon Grain Co-operative Society a,t Morlanwelz, seferal co-operative bakeries, in addition to the private bakeries, and about ten breweries, of which, three are co-operative, one belonging to the Bon Grain society, one to the Au Pr ogres society, and the other to the Union des Ouvriers (Workers' Union) society at Houdeng-Goegnies. Bakers are paid net wages ; there is no living-in and no allowance of bread. In the breweries free beer is customary, \ Pvblic Services. — The only workpeople employed by the town are those engaged in the repairing and cleaning of the streets,. . the house scavengers, the abattoir stafE, and miscellaneous labourers engaged in connection with the -markets. Their usual hours are €0 weekly. Ordinary works of street construction are done by contract. The gas works of the Societe anonyme d'eclairage du Centre, which supplies the town, employ 80 workmen as stokers and yard labourers. The drivers and- conductors of the electric tramways, worked by the Societe Intercommunale des Tramways, are paid ■ the same wages, which fall between minimum and' maximum' rates' of £4 12s. and £6 per month, or 21s. 3d. and 27s. 8d. weekly," most of the men earning from 23s. Id. to 24s. a week. 88 LA LOUVIEHE. The following were the predominant weekly wages and hours of labour of adult males in the principal trades and industries in June, 1908 : — Predominant Weekly Wages and Hours of Labour of Adult Males in the Principal Occupations in June, 1908. Predominant Weekly Predominant Weekly Wages. Hours of Labonr. Building Trades : — Bricklayers and Masons 24s. to 26s. 5d. 60 to 66 Stonemasons (Cutters) 24s. „ 26s. 5d. 60 „ 66 Carpenters 24s. „ 26s. 5d. 60 „ 66 Joiners 21s. Id. to 26s. 5d. 60 „ 66 Plumbers 24s. to 26s. 5d. 60 „ 66 Plasterers .. 24s. „ 26s. 5d 60 „ 66 Painters 19s, 2d. to 23s. 9d. 60 „ 66 Bricklayers' and Masons' Labourers 16s. Idd. „ 21s. Id. 60 „ 66 Coal Mining : — Hewers... 25s. 9d. to 30s. 9c;. 54 „ 60» Gallerymen, Drift-men 26s. M. „ 31s. 2d. 48* Putters and Trammers 17s. 5d. to 24s. 54 to 66* Surface Labourers 14s. 5d. to 15s. lOd. 60 Blast Furnaces : — First Keepers 24s. 63 Second Keepers 21s. Id. 63 Pig Carriers 24s. 63 Lower Feeders 18s. 3d 63 Upper „ 19s. 2d. 63 Labourers 18s. 63 Boiling Mitts : — 1st Rollers ... Plates Rails, &c 67s. 2d. 36s. to 48s. 60 60 to 66 2nd Rollers ... ■ Plates Rails, &c 48s. 28s. lOd to 33s. Id. 60 60 to 66 3rd Rollers ... ■ Plates Rails, &c 38s. 5d. 24s. to 33s. Id. 60 60 to 66 1st Heaters ... Plates Bails, &c 67s. 2d. 35s. to 50s. 5d. 60 60 to 66 2nd Heaters ... Plates Bails, &c 43s. 2d. 26s. 5d. to 33s. Id. 60 60 to 66 3rd Heaters ... Plates Bails, &c 24s. 23s. to 24s. 60 60 to 66 Hookers-on 21s. Id. 60 „ 66 Labourers 16s. lOd. to 19s. 2d. 60 „ 66 Steel Works .- — 1st Converters 31s. 2d. 59 „ 66 2nd 24s. 59 „ 66 1st Melters 33s. Id. 59 „ 66 2nd 27s. Id. 59 „ 66 Moulders 38s. 5d. 59 „ 6& Fumacemen 21s. Id. 59 „ 66 Labourers 16s. lOd. to 21s. Id. 59 „ 66 Machine, Locomotive, Boiler, Carriage and Wagon Works:— Moulders 26s. 5d to 31s. 2d. 59 „ 63 Fitters 23s. 8d. „ 28s. lOd. 59 „ 63 Turners 23s. 5d. „ 31s. 2d. 59 „ 63 Smiths 26s. 5d. „ 31s. 2d. 59 „ 63 Smiths in Boilerworks 28s. lOd. 59 „ 63 Patternmakers 24s. to 28s. lOd. 59 „ 63 Platers 30s. to 36s. 59 „ 63 Rivetters 20s. 5d to 26s. 5d 59 „ 6^ Holders-up 16s. lOd. to 19s. 9d. 59 „ 63 Platers' Helpers 16s. lOd to 18s. 59 „ 63 Joiners 26s. M. to 33s. Id. 59 „ 62 Painters 19s. 2d. to 23s. 59 „ 62 labourers ' 16s. lOd. 59 „ 63 Bask-to-bank times. LA LOUVIERE. 89 Bolt and Nut Works : — Nut Makers Bolt „ Fitters and Turners (dies) Labourers Glass Manufacture : — Window Glass — 1st Gatherers 2nd 1st Blowers Flatteners Cutters Labourers Glasses and Goblets — f Glasses Blowers \ Goblets Cutters Engravers Labourers Pottery and Tile Manufacture : — Grinders and Millers Pressers Moulders Furnacemen Painters and Decorators Printers Labourers Printing Trades: — Compositors (hand) Pressmen Food and Drink Trades : Corn Milling — Millers Labourers Bakeries — 1st Bakers 2nd „ Beer Brewing Brewers Draymen Private Bakeries Co-operative Bakeries . Private Bakeries Co-operative Bakeries . Private ... Co-operative Private Co-operative Public Services : — Road Department (Municipal) — Paviors Paviors' Labourers Roadmen Road Sweepers Carmen ... Gas Works (Company) — Gas Stokers Yard Labourers Tramways (Company) — Drivers and Conductors Weekly Wages. Predominant 26s. to 28s. IQd. 26s. „ 28s. lOd. 24s. „ 26s. lid. 16s. lOd. 43s. 2d. to 50s. 5d. 28s. lOd. to 36s. 52s. lOd. „ 62s. 5d. 36s. lid. 27s. 8d. 19s. 2d. 33s. Id. to 46s. 2d. 27s* 8d to 34s. Id. 33s. Id. to 36s. lid. 32s. 4d. „ 33s. Id. 16s. lOd „ 19s. 2d 18s. 22s. lOd. 31s. 2d. 21s. Id. 28s. lOd. 22s. lOd. 18s. 21s. Id. to 23s. Id. 22s. lOd. to 26s. 22s. 2d. to 24s. 18s. 6d. to 19s. 2d. 24s. 25s. 7d to28s. lOd. 19s. 2d. 24s. to 28s. lOd. 19s. 2d. to 20s. 29s. &d. „ 32s. 27s. M. 29s. 6d. to 32s. 24s. 18s. 16s. Wd. 16s. lOd. 20s. 8d. 2is. Id. 19s. 2d. 23s. Id. to 24s. Predominant Weekly Hours of Labonr. 59 to 62 59 „ 62 59 „ 62 59 „ 62 52^ 52i m 63 63 64i 60 60 60 60 60 58* 58i 58^ 60 58| 58i 58i 59 to 60 59 „ 60 60 to 72 60 60 to 66 48 60 to 66 48 62 to 66 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 65 Wages at La Louvi^re are comparatively high. The level of wages in Brussels being taken as 100, the index numbers for La Louviere are — for skilled men, 95 iu the building trades and 111 in the engineering trades ; for unskilled labourers, 100 in the building trades and 109 in the engineering trades ; for compositors the corresponding figure is 85, Several employers, in addition to the colliery companies, provide dwellings for a portion of their workpeople at low rents. The Boch Pottery Company also provides a casino and recreation hall, and attached to its works are a savings bank, a housekeeping school, a vocal union, an orchestra, etc. Sick funds are carried on in connection with 13147 M 90 LA LOUVIERE. many works ; the workpeople usually contribute 1 or 2 per cent, of their wages, and in some cases the employers contribute. Some of these funds give medical assistance when needed to all the members of the workman's faniily. There are also several pension funds, similarly supported, and affiliated to the State Pension Bank. The coalmining industry has a fund of its own, extending to the entire basin of the Centre. One firm near La Louvifere lends money to workpeople desirous of building their own houses. Small cottages containing two rooms downstairs and two upstairs, with or without a loft, and with a garden, cost from £150 upwards. Housing and Rents. La Louviere is so modern that the architecture of its streets presents no characteristics of special interest. Buildings of three stories (including the ground floor) are the rule in the principal streets, but working-class houses seldom exceed two stories, i.e., the ground floor and the first story, with in many cases a loft under the tiles. The usual building material is brick, plain or plastered, with a lowef course of granite, obtained fi-om the neighbouring quarries of Soignies and Ecaussines. In the better houses the framework of the windows is also stone. * The single-family house is general amongst all classes ; according to the census of 1900, the average number o£ households per house destined for habitation was 1*11. In a town whose interests are so exclusively industrial, a town still in the earliest stages of development, any widespread segregation of classes would hardly be expected ; the population is, in fact, very diffused, and except in the main streets, which are occupied by business premises, with dwellings above, and in several quite new streets of a superior type, the working classes live in all parts of the town. The cottage tradition of La Louviere and the general use of brick tend to produce great uniformity in architecture, and many of the streets are hardly to be distinguished, in severity and monotony of style, from the working-class quarters of English manu- facturing towns. The best of the dwellings are to be found near the centre ; on the outskirts there are streets of old and inferior property. Even inside the dwellings there is little variety. Either they have passages or have not, and are with or without pantries, in addition to the kitchens, but when these differences have been noted the originality of the builder has been exhausted. Practically there is but one type of working-class dwelling, whether in private or colliery ownership, viz., the through cottage consisting of the ground floor and first story, with a loft and often a cellar. There are two rooms downstairs, a sitting-room in front, approached either direct from the street or through a passage, 4 feet wide, and the kitchen behind, with a door into a small backyard or cour. The front room is generally of ample proportions, but the kitchen also is invariably a very serviceable apartment. The kitchen is always tiled, and often the entire ground floor, from front door to back, is so treated, an arrangement which housewives prefer. The stairs usually rise from a corner of the kitchen and give access to two rooms of equal dimensions with those below. The sitting- room, passage, and kitchen are often papered. The water-closet is always outside. The water supply is obtained from a pump inside the house or from one outside serving for a number of households. The following are the measurements of rooms in typical houses visited : — Rue de la Fraternite. — House of 4 rooms with pantry. Front room and kitchen both 11 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet ; pantry 10 feet by 6 feet by 10 feet. Both rooms tiled and papered. A small garden behind. Rent of this and, many similar houses about 3s. \Qd. weekly. i Rue Arthur WarocquL — House of 4 rooms, with passage, loft, cellar, and garden. Front room 18 feet by 18 feet by 10 feet ; kitchen 10 feet square ; passage 4 feet wide, all tiled. Rent Ss. M. weekly. Rue Arthur Warocque. — House of 4 rooms, papered. Front room 11 feet by 11 feet by 10 feet ; kitchen 10 feet by 9 feet by 10 feet. Rent 3s. 4rf. weekly. Rue des Moulins.— Rouse of 4 rooms, with garden. Front room 15 feet by 15 feet by 10 feet ; kitchen 10 feet by 15 feet by 10 feet. Staircase cut off kitchen. Rent 4s. The worst houses are those found in the alleys and courts (impasses), which are, however, _ few, and are for the most part inhabited by the poorer Flemish and other families. These houses consist of two, three, or four rooms, and are let at low rents. In the outlying small towns, Hke Haine St. Pierre, Haine St. Paul, Houdeng, &c.,, the housing conditions are far less favourable than in La Louviere, and there is much dilapidated and squalid property, though no overcrowding. LA LOUVlfeEE. ^ The tenement house is a negligible quantity, and there seems no likelihood of the development of this type of dwelling. A small number of groups of quartiers, as tenement dwellings are called — consisting as a rule of one room, though occasionally ot two — do, indeed, exist, but the buildings in which they are found comprise only the customary ground floor and one or two stories. Some of these tenements are in reality ohambres garnies, the owners letting rooms meagrely furnished to single persons or married couples at a monthly rent of 10s. or 12s. With these insignificant exceptions one-roomed dwellings do not exist. Owing to the large number o£ unmarried workmen who come to the town from ail parts of the country, many families let one or more rooms to lodgers. The usual charge for board and the use of a room is 10s. per week. In determining the predominant rents paid by working-class families in La Louviere,. it was found necessary to confine attention to the four-roomed cottage, since this is the typical dwelling. The usual range of rents for this accommodation is from 3s. id. to 3s. 8d. per week. Nearly two-thirds of all the dwellings of this size the rents of which were ascertained by direct enquiry fell within this range. This rent is not increased by any direct payment of rates, since the working classes, as a rule, live in dwellings the rents, of which exempt them from local taxation, nor yet by any charge for water, since, in the^ absence of a public supply, this is derived from pumps placed in the houses or the adjoining yards. Houses are as a rule taken, and rents are paid, by the month. Predominant Rents of Working-class Dwellings. Number of Rooms per Dwelling. Predominant Weekly Rents. Four rooms 3s. Ad. to 3s. Eent at Brussels being taken as 100, the rent index number for La Louviere is 75. There are some 750 employers' dwellings in the neighbourhood of the collieries and several of the larger industrial works, but they do not as a rule represent a high standard of housing accommodation. The La Louviere Colliery Company owns 220 houses, built many years ago in four blocks, each enclosing a large square, which is divided into garden plots and chicken runs. The houses contain four small rooms, with a pantry extra in some cases ; the bedrooms are very low. The closets and the pumps are outside. The monthly rents range from 6s. od. to 8s. The Haine St. Pierre and Houssu Colliery Company owns 100 dwellings at the former place and 146 at the latter. The accommodation is as above, and the rents are 8s. and 9s. 7d. monthly. The Mariemont Colliery Company owns 200 dwelhngs, which are let at from 4s. 9d. to 9s. 7d. monthly. Cottages containing four rooms, and costing 2s. 4d. weekly, are provided for over 40 families by the Mariemont Glassworks Company, and the firms of G. Boel (steel works) and Boch Fr^res (pottery manufactory) own a number of houses. Comparatively few working men own their own houses, although where land can be had cheaply a commodious dwelling of four rooms with loft, simply built of brick, can be had from £150 upwards. Two building societies — one carried on under " Liberal " and the other under Roman Catholic auspices — have been formed for the purpose of encouraging house ownership, but they only lend money to intending builders and do not build. Both societies have been established under the Housing Law of 1889, and enjoy the privileges and immunities which that law confers in respect of taxation, &c. The larger (Liberal) society, La Prevoyance, has existed for 16 years, and has now 84 members. The subscribed capital is £4,904, of which only £500 has been paid up, most of the needed fiinds being obtained from the State Savings Bank on mortgage or other guarantee. The society borrows from this source at 2 J and 3 per cent, and lends at 4 per cent. A work- man desirous of building a house is required to deposit one-fifth of the total estimated cost and the balance is advanced to him under a contract, of which a life insurance policy generally forms part, providing for repayment during a specified number of years, which may be 10, 15, 20, or 25, as desired. Up to the year 1906 the society had been instrumental in building 498 houses in the arrondissement, 163 of these being in La Louviere ; 129 houses had been cleared of debt, so that they were the unconditional property of their builders, and in the great majority of cases the loans had been contracted in conjunction with life insurance policies, the duration of which is concurrent with the period fixed for the repayment of the advances. In 1908 loans were still outstanding to the amount of £38,800, while the value of the property affected was £67,650. Houses 13147 M 2 92 LA LOUVlilRE. for single families are invariably built, the usual accommodation being two rooms below and two above, with loft and garden, and sometimes with pantry. As a rule it costs from £200 to £220 to build a good house of this size in the town, but small houses can be built in the villages for £150. The other society. La Maison Ouvriere, works on the same lines, except that it makes loans on houses which are intended to serve as estaminets, which the Prdvoyance society declines to do. Up to the present it has advanced money to 427 intending builders. There is a similar society at Houdeng-Goegnies, which since 1903 has enabled 56 members to acquire houses, and there are societies in the neighbouring communes of Morlanwelz, La Hestre, and Roeulx. Retail Prices. Groceries and other Commodities. There is no covered market at La Louvifere, but markets are held in the streets twice a week, on Monday and Thursday, for the sale of farm produce, vegetables, fruit, etc. There is a very large number of grocers' shops, but in many the stocks appear to be small, and it is obvious that their turnover is insignificant. There are two large co-operative societies, neither located in the town, though their sales there are very extensive, and there is an important " multiple " firm with shops in all parts of the district. Most grocers deal in butter, cheese, and eggs, but there are also special shops for the sale of these articles. The co-operative societies claim so large a share in the trade of the town and district, and are in themselves so interesting, that they are deserving of special remark. The principal society bears the name Le Bon Grain ; it dates from 1891 and is directed from the little town of Morlanwelz. In legal constitution it is in reality a joint stock company {societe anonynie), but this form was given to it owing to the fact that it owes its origin, to the action of a band of public-spirited citizens — large employers of labour and others — who, while desirous of placing within the reach of the working classes cheap provisions of the best quality, were prepared to take upon themselves whatever risk might be involved. The operations of the company are indistinguishable from those of an ordinary co-operative society ; the rights of the shareholders are so limited by the articles of association as to secure to customers all the advantages of systematic co-operation, and the surplus profits are divided half-yearly in bonuses in the usual way, while working-men co-operate on the board of management. Membership of the company, giving a right to participate in all the privileges offered, is obtainable for an entrance fee of Is. 8d., without a purchase of shares. The society deals mainly in bread, pastry, flour, beer, and vinegar, in each of which articles it has a very extensive sale. At Morlanwelz it owns a large block of buildings comprising a flour mill, capable of producing 2,400 sacks of flour weekly, a bread bakery with 16 ovens, now producing 28,000 4"4 lb. loaves every day, a pastry and biscuit bakery, a brewery with an output of over 450,000 gallons of beer annually, and a vinegar distillery. The beer is sold at A^d. per gallon, but 10 per cent, of the price is returned at the end of the year. The society has also established branch bakeries in three other towns. The members of Le Bon Grain exceeded 33,000 in 1908. In addition to money bonuses, the society grants free loaves to customers who are out of work owing to sickness or accident, and 76,000 loaves were given in this way in 1908, while buyers who have traded with the society for five years have a right to pensions at the age of 60 years, S5 per cent, of the profits, after the payment of bonuses, being assigned to a fund for this purpose. The amount of the pension depends upon the quantity of flour, bread, and beer purchased by the beneficiary ; it may range from £4 per annum to four times that sum. Widows of pensioners continue to draw pensions if of the qualifying age. A.t the present time about 2,000 persons are in receipt of these pensions, which represent deferred bonuses. In the event of a member's death the sum of £l is paid towards funeral expenses. The other co-operative society is a Socialist organisation, bearing the name Au Progrhs, and its headquarters are at Jolimont, near La Louvi^re. It has a member- ship of 28,000, representing 19,000 families. In addition to a large bakery, which produced during the year 1907-8 five and a half million loaves of 4-4 lb., to a value of £108,340, and yielded a profit of £10,270, it has at La Louvi^re and three of the neighbour- ing towns four shops for the sale of groceries and drugs, and eight for the sale of clothing or shoes ; also a butcher's shop, and a brewery with a production of 1,250,000 gallons, yielding a profit of £5,640, and five people s restaurants. The society's beer is sold to members at a uniform price of A\d. per gallon, subject to a bonus of 10 per cent, at the end of the half year, and the bonus on bread is 3 centimes {\d.) per 4*4 lb. loaf, LA LOUVIERE. 93 equal to about 6 per cent, of the retail price. The present trade in bread is about 20,000 loaves daily. The aggregate turnover in 1907-8 was £1 68,276, and the aggregate profits were £16,726. This society likewise gives to members, in addition to bonuses on the bread, beer, and other articles purchased, a 4*4 lb. loaf daily in times of sickness or incapacity, to a maximum of three months at one time, and pensions at the age of 60 years, subject to active membership for ten years. During the financial year 1907-8 the society distributed to needy members 1 25,837 loaves with a value of £2.530, and 900 pensioners were on the books, the amount of their pensions ranging from a minimum of £3 As. to £l 6 per annum. Neither of these societies allows credit. There is a third co-operative society at Houdeng-Goegnies, V Union des Ouvriers (Workmen's Union), which restricts itself to brewing. It may be noted that the competition of the co-operative societies has compelled many private dealers to follow their example in the return of bonuses or discount, generally called ristournes. Fond articles of a good quality are generally consumed by the working classes. Coffee is always bought in the bean, sometimes unroasted, and is most frequently used with a large admixture of chicory. Dutch cheese is commonly stocked, but Belgian kinds are also eaten. There is a considerable consumption of margarine, though many grocers do not sell it. The bread eaten is exclusively wheaten. It is sold in round and long loaves, though usually the former, weighing 4*4 lb., and the price in June, 1908, was fi"om 3|fi?. to 4|(i. per 4 lb. The competition of the two co-operative bakeries keeps down the price of bread. Both still sold bread at 4d. for 4 lb. in the summer of 1908, but this price was subject to a half-yearly bonus, which reduced the net price to abJut B^d. In Marchj 19Ci9, their shop price was 5d. per 4 lb. Prior to 1908 the price had stood at 4d. for about 10 years. Bacon is bought both salted and smoked, and more at the charcutier^s than the grocer's. The following were the prices usually paid by the working classes for various articles of common consumption in June, 1 908 : — Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Commodity. Predominant Price. Coffee ... per lb. IM. to 8|f7. Sugar, Loaf ,, 3d Bacon, Salted » lid. Eggs ... per Is. 10 Cheese, Dutch ... per lb. IM. to 8|d Butter -.. ,, Is. -Zd. Margarine, „ ^%d. Potatoes ... per 7 lb. 'id. Flour, Wheaten „ ^id. to 10|(f . Bread, White ... per 4 lb. m- „ ^d^ Milk ... per quart 2id. Coal ... per cwt. md. to Is. lid. Paraffin Oil .. per gallon Id. Meat. All but a comparatively small quantity of the fresh meat consumed at La Louviere passes through the public abattoir. The imported meat comes from several neighbouring towns, and it is estimated that local butchers send to these towns about as much as they sell in La Louviere. No account is kept of the weight of meat which passes into the market from the abattoir, and the only data on the point are the returns of animals slaughtered. The beef comes from the Brussels markets and from the surrounding district ; the mutton is for the most part of local origin ; the pigs come from the Brussels and Ghent markets ; and the majority of the horses are said still to come from England by way of Antwerp. The working classes chiefly eat beef, pork, and horse-flesh ; their consumption of mutton is small, and it is confined to -the colder months of the year. Returns of the weekly expenditure on food obtained for the purpose of this investigation from 94 LA LOUVIERE. 53 working-class families belonging to La Louviere and neighbourhood, and containing 287 persons in the aggregate, showed a meat consumption per head of 25" 7 oz, weekly, at the rate of 84 lb. per annum. Of the consumption shown by these returns, 36 per cent, consisted of beef, 16 per cent, of horse-flesh, 14 per cent, of pork, and 13 per cent, of bacon ; 9 per cent, consisted of rabbits, 5 per cent, of veal, 4 per cent, of charcuterie,' 2 per cent, of mutton, and 1 per cent, of poultry. The only available estimate of the general town consumption is one published by the municipal authority in 1902, which gave as an approximate figure 50 kilog. or 110 lb. per head. The consumption of horseflesh is a marked feature of the working-class dietary in this town. There are more than a dozen horse butchers in La Louviere and the immediate neighbourhood, and they have a ready sale for all the meat they ofEer. The comparatively high standard of life which the workers in the coal and iron trades are able to maintain suggests that the large consumption of this meat is a matter of taste and not of poverty. The price of the principal cuts is Qd. per lb., which is above the price of the cheapest cuts of beef and mutton ; inferior cuts cost 3rf. per lb. The following table shows the prices usually paid by the working classes in June, 1908, for various kinds of fresh meat other than horseflesh : — Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Description of Cut. Beef.*— Ribs Brisket Silverside y, . ( with bone '"^^^ i without bone Beef Steak Rump Steak ... Thick Flank Thin Flank Mutton : — Leg Shoulder Breast ( Best End I Scrag End Chops Veal :— Hindquarter ax. ij ( with bone Shoulder j^j^j^^^^^^^^ Ribs Chops Leg Pork :— Leg Foreloin Belly Chops Neck ■ Predominant Price per lb. 7ld. 5id. 8W. to IIW. ^d. b^d. to 6d. 9^d. to nid. Hid. to Is. OJd lOid. Id. 9^d. to 10^ lid. 5^d. to (id. 9^d. 6d. lO^d. lO^d. to Hid. 8M „ lOld. Hid. 8|d. to md. lOhd. 10|d 8M 8|fl!. lid. 9^d. to lOid. Taking prices at Brussels as the base, = 100, the prices index numbers for La Louviere are : 100 for food other than meat, 96 for meat, and 99 for food as a whole ; for coal the index number is 74, and for food and coal together it is 96. The index number for rent and prices combined is 93. 95 LIEGE. The town of Liege ia the capital of the province of the same name, and is the seat of a university, of a bishopric a,nd of a court of appeal. It is situated on the river Meuse, at a point where that river is joined by the Ourthe. At this part of its course the Meuse flows in two channels, one of which is artificial, and between them lies an island some two niiles long and half-a-mile wide at its broadest point, almost all of which is now built upon. Some of the town lies beyond this island on the right bank of the river, but the largest part is situated on the left bank, where buildings not only cover the low ground of the valley but extend up the steep hill slopes on to the plateau above. Whilst the altitude of the centre of the town is some 230 feet, the citadel, which lies on the edge of the plateau overlooking the town, is 520 feet above sea level. With regard to transport facilities the town is in a favourable position, as it lies 62 miles east of Brussels on the main line from that town to Cologne. The Paris-Cologne expresses also pass through Liege. The town is further connected with a large number of less important lines, belonging either to the State or the Nord- Beige Company. In addition there is a certain amount of goods and passenger traffic on the Meuse. The town of Liege contains many narrow streets and on the whole is very irregular in plan. On the other hand there are certain fine boulevards and squares ; parts of the quays are also well laid out, though a good deal might yet be done in the way of utilising the fine river frontage. Of late years the municipal authorities have spent considerable sums of money on improving the town, and they are at present engaged on an important scheme which will involve the demolition of much poor property near the river front. In the centre of the town and along the main thoroughfares houses o£ three, four, and five stories predominate, whilst in the outer parts of the town houses of more than two stories and an attic are uncommon. The following Table shows the population of Liege in certain census years, and the estimated population at the end of 1907. It will be seen that during the decade 1890-1900 the growth of the town was comparatively slow, but since 1900 it would appear to have again become more rapid. Year. Population on 31st December. Increase. Percentage Increase. 1880 1890 1900 1907 (estimated) 123,131 147,660 157,760 173,939 24,529 10,100 16,179 (in seven years). 19-9 6-8 10-3 (in seven years). With regard to vital statistics, there has been a tendency of recent years for the birth-rate to diminish. In 1904, the birth-rate was 19'0 per 1,000 of the population, and in 1908, 16"4, whilst the average for the five years 1904-1908 was 17"9. During the same years, the death-rate has varied between 13*9 and 15'2 per 1,000 of population, the average death-rate for the five years being 14"o. The infant mortality per 1,000 births has fluctuated between 119 (in 1907) and 146 (in 1906), the average for the period under review being 132. A Table with details of the vital statistics for the years 1904-8 follows : — Birtli-rate per Death-rate per Infantile Year. 1,000 of 1,000 of Mortality per Population. Population. 1,000 Births. 1904 19-0 14-4 122 1905 18-6 15-2 139 fl 1906 18-2 14-3 146 1907 17-5 13-9 119 1908 16-4 14-5 136 The only important trading enterprise in the hands of the municipality is the water supply. The undertaking was commenced in 1862 and water was first supplied in 1869. 96 LI&SE. At the end of 1906, 17,680 houses had a supply of town water, and the number of subscribers was 15,561. In the case of houses with a rateable value of less than £S per annum, the charge for water is 4ji. per 1,000 gallons, with a minimum of 2s. 5d. per half-year ; in other cases the rate is 8|^. per 1,000 gallons, with a minimum of 4*. per half-year. In the former case the meter rent is Is. 2^d. or Is. 7d. per half-year, according to size, while in the latter, double these rates are charged. Part of the tramway system, both in respect of permanent way and rolling stock, belongs to the municipality, but it is leased to a private company, which works it in conjunction with its own system. In return for the concession, which stipulates among other things a fixed fare of one penny for any distance on the municipal lines and a minimum wage for drivers and conductors, the company pays 35 per cent, of the gross receipts of the municipal lines to the town. In respect of its own lines the company pays 5 per cent, of the gross receipts to the town. In addition to the Liege Tramway Company, there are three other undertakings part of whose systems are within the municipal area. The gas and electricity undertakings both belong to private companies. Gas for lighting purposes is sold at 3s. 5d. per 1,000 cubic feet; when used for heating or power, the charge is only 2s. M. per 1,0U0 cubic feet. All profit beyond that which is sufficient to pay 6 per cent, interest on the capital of the company is divided, the company retaining two-thirds and the municipality taking one-third. The theatre and the abattoir are also municipal institutions. Occupations, Wages and Hours of Labour. In considering the principal industries of the town it is necessary to bear in mind that Li^ge is not an isolated community engaged in particular industries, but the largest and best known of an extensive group of communes, all of which are engaged in more or less similar industries, which may be shortly described as coal mining, iron and steel manufacture, engineering, boiler-making, iron and steel constructional work, and small arms manufacture. The town of Li^ge itself is generally associated with the last-named industry, but coal mining and engineering and boiler works are equally important. Other large industrial communities in the neighbourhood are Herstal, Jupille, Bressoux, Grivegn^e, Chinee, Angleur, St. Mcolas, Montegnee, Tilleur, Jemeppe, Ougree and Seraing; the last of which is the subject of a separate report in this volume. The small arms industry of Liege, so far as production for the general market is concerned, dates from the seventeenth century. Originally it was entirely a domestic industry and grew up in the hilly districts around Li^ge, where it frequently helped to support families whose agricultural resources were small. At the presetit time the industry is highly localised. Gun-barrels are made largely in the valley of the Vesdre, between Liege and Verviers, and also at Jupille. The breech actions and the lock actions of sporting guns are frequently made on the banks of the Meuse and on the Plateau of Herve, whilst the finishers work in Li^ge itself, or in the immediate neighbour- hood of the town. The barrel-mounters are to be found close to the proof-house at Li^ge. All this localisation applies to the manufacture of sporting guns, an industry still conducted to a considerable extent on the domestic system. The great variety of the work to be produced in this class of small arms, which depends upon the individual tastes of sportsmen, has checked the concentration of the different processes of manufacture under one management, as well as hindered the introduction of machinery to any very great extent. That does not imply, however, that the organisation of the industry has retained its purely domestic character. There has been a tendency for the different units of production to grow in size, and many processes are carried on in small workshops belonging to master- craftsmen who have various assistants to help them, rather than in the homes of the' individual workmen. The master-craftsmen work for various manufacturers, and generally speaking deal directly with them, though in the country districts there is a class of middlemen or recoupeurs who distribute the manufacturers' work amongst the various workers and afterwards collect it. The organisation of the military weapon industry is quite different ; here the factory system predominates, and the use of machinery is almost universal. The work is. very highly specialised, and division of labour is carried to a very high degree. Almost all the numerous small parts are made by automatic machines, which not infrequently are tended by women. In the small arras industry there are three classes of manufacturers. The first carry on all, or nearly all, of the processes of manufacture in their own establishments. The second LIEGE. 97 4ttt some of the work in their own establishments, and have some of it done outside, whilst the third class ha-ve all the actual work done outside, having only a few employees in their vparehouses to inspect the work in the different stages of manufacture, and to examine the arms when completed. Most classes of workmen receive their materials from the D^anufacturer, with one or two exceptions, such as the. barrel-maiker, who makes barrels on his own account and sells them to the smaJl arms manufacturers. The importance of the Li^ge small arms industry is best shown by the number of axms tested in the proof-house, three tests being compulsory for all double-barrelled breech-loading sporting guns, two for single-barrelled breech- loading sporting guns and Onie for all pistols and military weapons, though not infrequently sporting guns are submitted to a fourth test, and pistols and military weapons to a second. In 1906 the following tests were made.: — Single-barrelled guns ... ... ... ... 811,427 Double-barrelled guns . Horse-pistols ... Pocket-pistols ... Military weapons 563,288 224,615 679,938 179,973 Total 2,459,241 To show the development of the industry, during the second half of the nineteenth, century, the total number of tests made in certain years may be quoted. In 1835 the number of tests made was „ 1845 „- 1855- „ 1865 „ 1875 „ 18851 „ 1895i „ 19051 „ 1906! „ 1907 367,348 714,490 665,907 747,198 840,085 ... 1,786,206 .. 2,682,111 .. 2,459,241 .. 2,696,395 So long as the ; industry was organised purely on the domestic system, almost all workers, with the exception of the inspectors and viewers working in the manufacturers' warehouses, were necessarily paid at piece rates. With the introduction of the factory system, time wagesi have become possible, and are paid to a considerable extent in connection with somte of the finer work, but taking the industry as a whole, piece wages undoubtedly predon^iinate, though in the case of factory work a minimum wage is not uncommonly guaranjteed. Any attempt toi establish the predominant earnings of different classes of workmen employed in the maijiufacture of firearms is always difficult. Where the work is done on the domestic ' systeni in the small workshops of the master-craftsmen, who do work for difi'erent manufacturfers, it is impossible to trace the earnings. On the other hand, with the introduction of machinery on a fairly considerable scale, there has been a tendency for the earnings of different |classes of workpeople employed in large works to become equaHsed, as much of the work ttjat formerly involved considerable manual dexterity, acquired by long years of training ancj apprenticeship, has now become little more than machine tending. Coal Mining. — ^^This industry occupies more than five thousand persons in the town of Li^ge itself and many thousands more in the surrounding communes. On the whole the seams are thid, often less than two feet, and the hewers are obliged to work lying on their backs or sides {travail a col tordu). Not infrequently the dips are very considerable (more than 45 degrees), and in these cases the hewer works alone and for his own account, instead of with a party of four or five for joint account, as is usually the case where the dips are slight. The hours of labour stated in the table below for workers underground are bank to bank times (including intervals) for a week of six shifts ; those stated for enginemeili are also inclusive of intervals, which are taken as opportunity arises. The amusements indulged in by the miners have an important bearing on the question of absences from work on Mondays. The most important is pigeon flying. Pigeon-cotes are arranged in the attics or lumber rooms of hundreds of workmen's houses, and almost every week-end races take place, organised by the pigeon flyers' clubs. Prizes are offered for different classes of birds and much betting takes place among the members. The birds are tinred to reauh home on STinday momrng, and the club meets in' 13U7 98 LIEGE. the afternoon or evening to ascertain the winners and distribute the prizes. If, however, the weather is bad the pigeons are delayed and the miners wait for their return on Monday^ instead of going to work. Other amusements are cock fighting (which is illegal), Cock crowing and skittles. Machine Construction, Iron Founding and Boiler Making. — These branches of the engineering trades taken together, afford occupation to the largest number of workpeople resident in Liege. The work done is of a very varied kind, including the manufacture of locomotives, automobiles, motor cycles, bicycles, machine tools, boilers, iron and steel constructional work, etc. Several of the works are inside the municipal area, and a good many more are outside in the surrounding communes. There is a little rolling done in the town, but the chief concerns are outside the city limits and are dealt with in the report upon Seraing, where the most important works are situated. Tanning. — The " Quai. des Tanneurs " still exists at Liege to mark the former site of this industry, which is now mainly situated down the river in the neighbouring commune of Bressoux, though there are works in the town, of Liege itself. The number of work- people employed in the industry is inconsiderable. Below a Table is given showing the predominant .weekly wages and hours of labour of adult malea in the principal industries of Li^ge and its immediate district in June, 1908. Predominant Weekly Wages and Hours of Labour of Adult Males in the Prin&ipal Occupations in June, 1908. Predominant Weekly Wages. Predominant WeeklyHourB of Labour, Building Trades: — Bricklayers and Masons Stonemasons (Cutters) Carpenters Joiners . . . Plumbers Plasterers Painters ... Bricklayers' and Masons' Labourers. Coal Mining : — Underground : Hewers ... Timbermen Putters and Trammers Surface : Enginemen JEngineering Trades Moulders Fitters ... Turners Patternmakers . Labourers Boiler Making, &c, : — Smiths Smiths' Strikers Platers Rivetters Holders-up Labourers Manufacture of Small Arms :- Gaugemakers -Straighteners and Drillers Filers Stockmakers ... ' Finishers Viewers ... Printing Trades: — Hand Compositors Machine Compositors ... Machine Minders 19s. 6d. to 22s. 21s. Id. to 23s. 9d. 21s. Id. „ 23s. 9d. 20s. Id. „ 23s. 9d. 19s.2d.to2is. 18s. Id. to 23s. 9d. 18s. 6d. „ 23s. 9d. Us. 8d. „ 17s. Id. 24s. 9d. to 27s. 8d. 20s. fid „ 24s. 2d. 20s. Id. „ 23s. Id. 21s. Id. to 24s. 24s. to 28s. IQd. 20s. bd. to 26s. 5d. 21s. 7d. „ 26s. 5d. 22s. lOd. „ 25s. 2d. 14s. 5d. to 18s. 26s. 5d. to 31s. 2d. 18s. to 19s. 2d. 21s. Id. to 26s. 5d. 21s. Id. to 24s. 15s. Id. to 16s. lOd. Us. bd. „ 16s. lOd. 22s. lOd to 33s. Id. 21s. Id. „ 27s. id. 22s. lOd. „ 28s. lOd. „ 30s. 9d. „ 26s. 5d. 22s. lOd. 22s. lOd. 24s. to 33s. Id, 24s 26s. bd. to 30s. 26s. bd. 61 66 66 66 - 60 61 to 66 66 61 54 to 60* 61i to 72* 72t 58 to 60 58 „ 60 58 „ 60 58 „ 60 58 „ 60 57 to 63 57 „ 63 57 „ 63 57 „ 63 57 „ 63 57 „ 63 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 48 60 * Bank-to-bank times. t Including intervals. LIEGE. 9& Predominant Weekly Wages. Predominaat Weekly Hours of Labowr. Tanning : — Pleshers Dressers and Curriers -Gas Works (company) : — Gas Stokers Yard Labourers Electricity Works (company) .- — Enginemen and Stokers Labourers 19s. 2d. to 34s. 16s. lOd to 19s. 2d. 22s. lOd. to 26s. od. lbs. Id. to 20s. lOd. 28s. Id. 17s. 9d. 60 60 65 60 Wages at Brussels being taken as 100, the index numbers for the wages of both skilled men and unskilled labourers in the building trades at Liege are 84 ; wages in the engineering trades are represented by 99 for skilled men and 105 for unskilled labourers, while the index number for the wages of compositors is 91. The State Railway A.dministration issues cheap workmen's tickets which enable workmen to go backwards and forwards a considerable journey each day, though, where they live too far or the train service is inconvenient, it is usual to stay from Monday to Saturday at Liege or wherever else they are working and to spend from Saturday evening till Monday morning in their homes in the country. These workmen often inhabit the eafS-logemenfs to which reference is made in the section on housing. Bricklayers and their labourers are one particular class of workpeople whose homes are often in the country, some distance away, and the same is also true of navvies and certain classes of workers in the coal mines. These latter generally come from the Flemish parts of Belgium. The Labour Exchange was established in 1888, under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce and claims to have been the first institution of its kind in Belgium. At the present time it is managed by a committee consisting half of employers and half of workpeople, and its revenue is derived entirely from gi-ants made by the town of Liege (£60), the province of Liege (£20), the State (£24), and the Chamber of Commerce (£4). The number of applications for work and the number of situations offered vary very considerably from year to year. In the first year there were 3,348 applications and 1,596 situations offered, whilst in 1892 there were 5,453 applications and 3,338 situations offered. In 1900 the position was reversed, and whilst there were only 2,774 applications, 4,740 situations were offered. In 1906 there were 3,469 applications and 1,911 situations offered, whilst the number of situations known to have been filled was 602, In 1907 there were 3,115 applications and 2,160 situations offered, whilst 1,010 situations are known to have been filled. Housing and Rents. In any consideration of working-class housing accommodation at Liege, it is necessary to distinguish between (1) the large houses in the small streets about the centre of the town, (2) the small houses in the narrow courts situated mainly near the centre of the town, and (3) the typical working-class house of comparatively recent construction, with two rooms up-stairs and two down-stairs, a cellar, a lumber room and possibly an attic. Before giving any details with regard to these different classes of houses, it is necessary to draw attention to a point which must be considered as the most striking feature about housing conditions in Li^ge, namely, the almost universal practice of sub-letting. At the end of 1900 there were 21,506 houses destined for habitation in Liege, whilst at the same time there were 44,859 households in the town, or 2"09 per house. In 1890 the corresponding ratio was 2*06. An investigation was made by the Housing Committee several years ago into the conditions of some 1,952 working-class tenements. Of these 1,913 supplied information with regard, to the accommodation. 941 or 49*2 per cent, had only one room ; 675 or 35*3 per cent, had two rooms; 215 or 11*2 per cent, had three rooms, whilst 82 or 4"3 per cent, had four or more rooms. There is reason to believe, however, that an undue proportion of one-roomed tenements were investigated, and that if all working-class tenements throughout the town had been taken, two-roomed dwellings would have been found to predominate. 13147 N i 100 LiasE. According to the internal arrangements, the Liege houses are intended to be occupied by one family, biit actually whilst the landlord lets the whole house to one tenant, the latter sub-lets part of it ; or the landlord occupies part of the house himself and lets the rest. It is uncommon in Li^ge to find a landlord subdividing a house and letting the whole of it off in parts, as happens, for example, in Verviers. It is possible to distinguish two or three different types- of sub-letting. On the one hand the house may be too large for the owner or tenant to inhabit alone, and he con- sequently sub-lets some rooms, probably the two on the first floor, whilst retaining those on the ground floor and the attic, if there is one, for himself. On the other hand, some people make of sub-letting a regular, but secondary business. Thus shopkeepers frequently sub-let rooms situated on the upper floors above their shops, and the same applies to coffee-house and restaurant keepers ; though these latter tend to let their spare rooms furnished. In a lower class of cafe, beds, and not rooms, are let for the night. Finally there are some people who make sub-letting their chief means of livelihood : they hire two or three houses in the central part of the town and let off the rooms, singly or in pairs, furnished or unfurnished, as best they can, with a view to making a profit by sub-letting ; whilst in the other cases the shopkeepers, ca/'e'-keejxersj workmen, etc., in sub-letting superfluous rooms seek only to obtain the accommodation they absolutely require at a i;'educed rent. With regard to the large houses in the centre of thie town it is almost impossible to make any generalisations. They are three and four-storied buildings, of which the ground floor usually serves as a shop or cafe^ kept as a rule by the principal tenant, whilst on -each of the upper floors there are two or more rooms. The frontage is sometimes so narrow that it is not possible to have a separate entrance to the upper floors. In this case the building often serves as one of the cafe-logements ; these are very common in Liege, on account of the large number of workmen who pass the working days of the week at Liege and return home to the country from Saturday evening till Monday morning. Below, some account is given of one of these institutions, as well as details relating to three typical houses in the central district of the town. (a.) Cafe-logement. — The house which is about to be described may be considered as typical of many others in the old part of the town. The house is kept by a woman who is helped by a daughter aged 18. The husband is a tailor by trade, and is away all day. The front room on the ground floor is the cafe, 9 feet 9 inches wide and 20 feet long (9 feet 9 inches high). Behind the cafe is the kitchen, 9 feet 6 inches wide and 14 feet 3 inches long. Between the cafe and the kitchen is the staircase, paralM with the street. At the back of the house is a small yard, some 9 feet 9 inches Jby 11 feet 9 inches, in which are a closet, a urinal, and a sink and water-tap. To reach the yard it is necessary to pass through the kitchen. On the fir^ floor there are two bedrooms. The front one is 9 feet 9 inches by 20 feet (9 feet 9 inches high), and contains four beds, which were occupied by seven lodgers, three bricklayers and four navvies. The back room is 12 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches, and contained three beds, occupied by six lodgers — three bricklayers and three navvies. On the second floor the front room, 15 feet by 9 feet 9 inches (7 feet 9 inches high), was occupied by the landlady and her husband. The back room, 9 feet 9 inches by 1 1 feet 9 inches, contained three beds, occupied by four lodgers — -a bricklayer, a navvy, a mechanic, and a miner (who slept during the daytime). At the side of the stairs, between the front and back rooms, is a small dark room, 5 feet 9 inches by 8 feetj without any exterior light or ventilation. This was occupied by the daughter. In the attics there is a small fi:ont room, 9 feet 9 inches by 11 feet, which contained two beds, occupied by two lodgers, a bricklayer and a joiner. The back attic, 9 feet 6 inches by 27 feet, contained five beds, only two of which were occupied at the time of the enquiry, the one by a navvy and the other by a bricklayer. The charge for a night's accommodation is 2Jc?. for a single bed and IJrf. for half of a double bed. On the particular occasion described there were 21 lodgers, 14 at IJrf. and 7 at 2^d., from whom the landlady consequently received rather more tiian 3s, for the night. The weekly rent of the whole house was 13s. Id. (b.) A small corner house, in the centre of the town, quite close to the Town Hall. The house has 14 feet frontage to the principal street, and 27 feet to a side street. It is five stories high, and contains two rooms on each of the .foiff upper .floors. Downstairs there is one room, 11 feet 6 inches by 20 feet, which is used as a cafe ; behind are the passage and stairs, with a separate entrance into the side street. In the passage downstairs are the sink and tap, and under the stairs the LIEGE. 101 ■closet. The upper floors are all arranged alike, with, a front room, 1 1 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 3 inches, and are reached through the kitchen, the size of which is 11 feet by 11 feet 6 inches. The ground floor is 9 feet 6 inches high ; the first, 8 feet 9 inches ; the second, 8 feet 3 inches ; the third, 7 feet 9 inches ; and the fourth (attics), € feet 6 inches on an average. The coffee-tavern keeper rented the whole house for clos. 5d. per week, but did not sleep on the premises at night, and sub-let all the upper Tooms in pairs. A single woman occupied the first floor for 2s. 9d. per week ; the second rfloor was let to a family of three for 2s. Id. per week ; whilst a woman and her two daughters paid 2a. Id. for the two rooms on the third floor. A shopman rented the two attics for Js. bd. a week. Thus the principal tenant paid 15s. bd. per week and received from his sub-tenants 9s. 4t?. per week, which reduced the weekly rent of the cafi to 6s. \d. (c.) A house in the centre of the town, of 20 feet frontage and 29 feet -depth, with ground floor, first and second stories, and attics. Downstairs there is a shop, about 14 feet square, connected with a kitchen at the back, 12 feet square. From the street a passage, 3 feet 6 inches wide, leads past the shop to the staircase, which is behind, next to the kitchen. On the first and second floors there is a large front room, 18 feet by 14 feet 6 inches, and a back room, 12 feet square. There are two attic bedrooms, lighted by skylights (1 foot 9 inches square), the one 12 feet square, and the other 8 feet 9 inches by 14 feet 6 inches. There is also a lumber room, 9 feet 3 inches by 14 feet 6 inches. The ground floor rooms are 11 feet high ; the .first floor, 9 feet 9 inches ; the second, 9 feet 6 inches ; and the average height of the attics is 5 feet 6 inches. The closet is situated on the ground floor, underneath the stairs. There is no water supply in the house. There is a yard at the side of the house, access to which can be gained from the back room downstairs or through a gate opening into the street. This house, constructed about 1850, is typical of many others in the central parts of 'the town. It was rented by a widow, who carried on business as a horse butcher. She paid a weekly rent of 16s. lie?., and occupied, together with her family (a daughter of 16, a son of 15, and a brother), the shop, the kitchen behind it, the large front bedroom on the .-first floor (where the mother and two children slept), and an attic, where the brother slept. The remaining rooms she sub-let. The two back rooms on the first and second floors were occupied by a vegetable dealer, his wife, and child (four years old), the rent being 2s. Id. a week. The large front room on the second floor and an attic were let to a shoemaker and his wife for 2s. 7d. a week. {d.) A house in the centre of the town, with ground floor, three upper stories ^nd attics. The house has a fi-ontage of 17 feet, ^nd is 27 feet 6 inches deep. Behind is a small yard, 10 feet 9 inches by 16 feet, part of which is built in to form a store- room, 6 feet 9 inches by 8 feet 6 inches. In the corner of the yard is the closet, a.nd, close by, the water-tap and sink. Downstairs are a front room, 11 feet 9 inches by 13 feet, and a back room, 10 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 9 inches. There is a passage fi-om front to back, 3 feet 6 inches wide at the entrance, and 5 feet wide behind, where the stairs are situated. Access to the yard is gained from the passage. On «ach of the upper floors there is a large front room, 16 feet by 14, and a back room, 10 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 9 inches. On the ground floor the elevation is 9 feet, on the first floor 9 feet 9- inches, on the second 8 feet 9 inches, on the third 7 feet 3 inches, whilst the average height of the attics is 6 feet. The house, it may be added, is about SO years old. In the case of this particular house the landlord lets directly to various small tenants. Thus the two downstairs rooms and the shed in the yard, together with the large front room on the third floor, were let for 7s. 7d. per week to a couple who carried on a grocery business in the front room downstairs. The two rooms on the first floor were rented for "28. 9d. a week by a .'coal dealer and his wife. The front room on the second floor was let for Is. I'Qd. a week to a bricklayer and his wife. The small back room on that floor was let for Is. 6d. per week to a gunmaker, wife, and child. The front attic was rented by a single man for lie?, per week. The back room on the third floor and the back attic were vacant at the time the enquiry was made. The number of houses situated in impasses or blind alleys at Liege does not appear to be very considerable, though they are by no means a negligible quantity. Some ■of these alleys are not more than four feet wide, and the windows of the houses look 'straight on to a high wall or the back of another row of houses, all built at right angles to the street, from which access to the court is gained. In any case the ventilation and sanitation of these courts leave much to be desired. This is especially so where the e is -very long. - In one case visited in the course of the enquiry the court was 102 UEGB. some five feet wide and ninety yards long, and contained a large number of houses, all rnore or less of the same type. Downstairs there was a long, narrow room some 9 feet 9 inches by 20 feet, with stairs in the comer, leading up to a bedroom of the same dimensions, above which there was an attic and a lumber room ; behind was a small yard spme 10 feet square. There was also a cellar and a water supply. The weekly rent, including water, was 3s, 5d. In another impasse, some 10 feet wide, and a little nearer the centre of the town, a back-to-back house, with 20 feet frontage and 8 feet 3 inches deep, with one room upstairs, one room downstairs, and a lumber room, was let for 3s. 8c?. a week, with an extra charge for water. In the best class of impasse, dwellings are even more expensive. In one short entry,. 10 feet wide, were noted some four-roomed houses, with two rooms on each floor, with a passage through from the back to the front. The tenants paid 7s. 8d. rent per week, and sub-let the first-floor rooms, each 13 feet by 16 feet 6 inches, for 2s. and 2s. 5d. per weeki according as they were situated to the bq,ck or front. A back room with a small attic let for 2s. 7d. a week. Poor class tenements in the centre of the town sometimes fetch relatively high rents in consequence of the system of administering poor relief in the town. For purposes of poor relief the parish is taken as a basis ; many of the parishes are rich, and it is well known that they have a considerable sum to distribute in poor relief. On the other hand, in these more or less middle-class parishes the number of working-class tenements is few, and they are consequently in unusual demand by people anxious to benefit by thfe parish poor relief funds. As a result rents are forced up, and it is contended that it is Jargely the owners of cottage property who benefit by the poor relief granted in these parishes. In other parishes of the town there is no lack of court houses let at a lower rental. The typical working-class house of recent or comparatively recent construction is one containing two rooms downstairs, two rooms upstairs, a cellar, a lumber room, and sometimes an attic bedroom. This class of house almost always has a passage leading from the front door direct into the back yard. In this passage is situated the staircase, at right angles to the street, and rising to the first floor without any turn. Above it are the stairs leading to the lumber room and attic (if any). The stairs are generally in the back part of the house, so that the ft"ont room on the first floor occupies the whole width of the house. Where the ground slopes fairly steeply, as is not uncommon at Liege, another arrangement is frequently found, namely, a basement kitchen. In this case the stairs are generally close to the front door, which is on the half-way level between ground floor and basement floor. A small flight of steps leads up to the former, whilst another small .flight leads down to the latter. The stairs giving access to the bedrooms are also in two flights, with a landing midway. If access to the back yard is gained through the cellar, the back room on the ground floor, as well as that on the first floor, occupies the whole width of the house. If access to the back yard cannot be gained from the cellar level, there is a passage right thi'ough on the ground floor. In all houses of recent construction it is usual to find a water tap and sink in the passage on the ground floor, but sometimes in the basement kitchen, where that exists. Where water has recently been laid on to older houses, the tap is frequently placed in the yard. The municipal regulations require all new houses to be provided with a water supply, and, as far as possible, the authorities insist on old houses being supplied in the same manner. Where part of a house is sublet, it is the tenant who pays tor the water according to the quantity consumed, but he frequently obliges his sub-tenants to make a special payment on that account. The closets, which are generally on the waste-water system, are almost always in the yard, except in the case of some of the old houses in the centre of the town, where they are sometimes situated in the passage under the stairs. It will be noted that the practice of sub-letting influences working-class house archi' tecture in two directions. In the first place, the water supply is generally placed in the passage and not in the kitchen, so that it is accessible to the sub-tenant as well as to the tenant.- In the second place, there is almost always a through passage from the fi'ont to the back of the house, so that a sub-tenant can pass from his rooms on the first floor into the street, .or into the yard, where the closet and possibly the water supply are situated, without disturbing the tenant downstairs. With regard to dimensions, the newer working-class houses all closely resemble one another. The common frontage is from 16 feet 6 inches to 18 feet, whilst the depth of LIEGE. 103 the house is some 26 or 29 feet. The front room downstairs is some 12 or 13 feet wide and 11 feet 6 inches to 13 feet deep. The back room has about the same depth, but it is somewhat narrower on account of the increased width of the passage, due to the presence of the stairs. Upstairs the front room will be 15 feet to 16 feet 6 inches wide, and 11 feet 6 inches to 13 feet deep, whilst the back room will be the same as •downstairs. The municipal building regulations issued in 1879 are still in force. They regulate, among other things, the height of buildings in proportion to the width of the street. Thus the buildings may not exceed 26 feet 3 inches in height where the road is less than 13 feet wide, 36 feet where the width of the road is from 13 feet to 26 feet 3 inches, 42 feet 9 inches where the width of the road is from 26 feet 3 inches to 32 feet 9 inches, and so on. Another regulation prescribes that rooms on the ground floor and first floor «hall be at least 9 feet 9 inches high, on upper floors 9 feet high, and that the minimum height of cellars shall be 7 feet 9 inches. The following Table shows the predominant weekly rents of working-class dwellings in Liege :— Predominant Bents of Working-class Dwellings. Number of Rooms per Dwelling. One room Two rooms Three rooms Predominant Weekly Rents. Is. id. to Is. lOd. 2s. M. „ 2s. lid. 3s. 2d. „ 3s. Sd. Rent at Liege is comparatively high ; Brussels and Antwerp alone of the towns investigated have higher index numbers, viz. 100 and 99 respectively, as compared with ■88 at Liege. The one -roomed tenements referred to in the above Table represent single rooms sub-let principally in the large houses in the centre of the town. Two-roomed tenements also generally represent two rooms sub-let as a quartier either in the large old or small new houses. They may consist of a room and an attic. A few are two-roomed houses, but these are not at all common in Liege. Three-roomed tenements frequently represent the two ground-floor rooms and the attic of a small house which remain to the tenant after sub-letting the two rooms on the first floor ; or they may consist of three rooms in a large house, or they may constitute a small three-roomed house. Such a house either - has two rooms on the ground floor and a bedroom and lumber room above, or one room on the ground floor, a bedroom upstairs and an attic above. The number of working •- class families occupying four rooms at Liege is comparatively small, and consequently no rent figures are given for four-roomed tenements. In considering working-class housing conditions in a town such as Liege, which is ■entirely surrounded by industrial communes engaged in work similar to that done in the town itself, it is necessary to remember that very many of the workmen live outside the municipal area, though they may still be quite close- to their work within the town. In fact many of the houses in the commune of Bressoux are closer to the real centre of Liege and far more readily accessible than houses lying in the upper parts of Liege itself. The investigations made of recent years by the Housing Committee {ComitS de Patronage des Habitations ouvrieres de la ville de Liege et des communes limitrophes) •enable certain interesting comparisons to be made between housing conditions in Liege and the neighbouring industrial communities of Angleur, Bressoux, trrivegnee and Jupille, which may be regarded as practically suburbs of Liege. The figures are based upon information collected from some 4,500 households. In Liege the average number of rooms per household was 1-72, in Angleur 3'23, in Bressoux 2"54, in Grivegnee 2*85, and in Jupille 3"27. In Liege the average number of households per house was 3'68, in Angleur 1"17, in Bressoux 1*40, in Grivegnee 1*14, and in Jupille 1*02. The average weekly rent in Liege was Is. 7d. for one room, and 2s. 7d. for two rooms. In Angleur the average weekly rent was Is. 5d. for one room, 2s. Ad. for two! Tooms, 2s. 8d. for three rooms, and 3s. M. for four rooms ; in Bressoux the corre- sponding figures were Is. 5d., 2s. 4o?., 3.s. l(i. and 3s. 6d. ; in Grivegnee, Is. Sd., Is. lid., 2s. 5d., and 25. lOd. ; and in Jupille, Is., Is. 8d., 2s. Id., and 2s. 7d. The points brought out by these comparisons are that in Liege households occupy fewer rooms than in the suburbs ; that whilst in Liege there are houses containing several 104 LIEGE. families, in the suburbs sach houses are the exception. ; and lastly that rents, are higher ia Liege, though not as much as might be expected when the previous points are takea into account. : - In Liege, as in so many Belgian towns, there are building societies established under the. Law of August 9, 1889, the bulk of the money lent being borrowed from, the State Savings Bank (Caisse Genirale cCEpargne), usually at 3 per cent. By way. of guarantee, there are the niortgages on the different houses constructed and the uncalled capital of the building society. The building societies are of two types, those which only lend and those which build. The majority and by far the most important of the soeietieai' belong td the former class. The two largest building societies in all Belgium have their headquarters at Liege* The oldest is the Foyer de I'Ouvrier, founded im 1891. It has a nominal capital q£ £32,000 and there is an uncalled liability on the part of the shareholders of £28,692. At the end of 1907, '2,955 loans had been effected, the total sum loaned being £280^751,. whilst there were 2,404 loans outstanding, representing a sum of £189,755. At the same time the society owed the Savings Bank £211,360 in respect of capital and. £5,305 in.- respect of interest. In the case of 2,317 of the loans there was an insurance policy on the borrower's life for a sum equal to the amount of the loan outstanding ; the cost of this insurance being met by a single premium paid at the commencement and added to tha loan. The Foyer de TOuvrier lends money for building purposes in alli parts of the Province of Liege,- and it is estimated that not more than one-tenth of the loans effected relate to the town of Liege. The society does not lend more than £140 to any one borrower, and the rate of interest is fixed at 3^ percent, per annum. The borrower must provide the site or its value in money. , The sum borrowed, together with the life insixrance premium, is paid back by means of equal monthly instalments^ during a period . not exceeding 25 years. . The second most important building society in Belgium is the SocieU anonyme de garantie pour favoriser la construction de Maisons Ouvrieres dans V arrondissement de Liege which was established in 1892 with a nominal capital of £37,620 and an uncalled capital liability of £33,858. This society, unlike the other, only grants loans in the arrondisse- ment. At the end of 1907 it had made 1,571 loans amounting to £222,660, of which 1;308 loans and £163,773 were outstanding. The sum owing by the Society to the Savings Bank was £168,000 in respect of capital and £4,463 in respect of interest. The rules of the Society require that the borrower shall provide the land or its value, and that the sum lent shall not exceed £200. Of the 1,571 loans, 1,336 had been effected in connection, with an insurance policy on the life of the borrower. The time of repayment . in three-quarters of the loans was for the maximum period allowed, namely, twenty-five years. For the construction of houses within the commune of Liege itself, 170 loans, amounting to £28,882, had been granted at the end of 1907. The average value of each house built, including land, was £225, while the average loan was £170. The third large building society. at Liege is the Societe Liegeoise des Maisons Ouvrieres. This differs fi:om the other two societies, in that it builds houses and then sells them to working-class people ; and furthermore it has no connection with the National Savings Bank. It was established in 1867 with a capital of £16,000, part of which was subscribed by the municipality of Liege and by the Poor Law authorities. From time to time new shares have been issued and the capital amounts at present to £60,000, upon which the Society pays 3 per cent, interest. On December 31, 1907, after an existence of forty years, the Society had built 562 houses, of which 257 are sold and entirely paid for by their purchasers, 184 are in course of being sold on the instalment plan, and 121 are let pending an opportunity of selling them. With a few exceptions all the buildings erected by the Society are at Li^ge, principally in one of three large groups, Laveu with 161 houses, Cornillon with 159 houses, and Bas-Rhieux with 102 houses. The general policy of the Society has been to construct houses in terraces, with a view to reducing the cost. Some are small and some fairly large, but the houses that sell most readily are those with two rooms upstairs, two downstairs, cellar, lumber room and possibly attic. Experience has shown that it is difficult to dispose of a house costing more than £240 to £260 all told, and of recent years the Society has found it difficult to build a standard type of house at this figure, principally on account of the increasing cost of land. Thus during the last 16 years it has built only 112 houses, or an average of 7 a year, whilst during the first 24 years of its existence 450 houses were erected, or an average of nearly 19 a year. Quite recently the Society bought land just outside the municipal botmdary where it is cheaper (less than 4Jd. a sq. foot, whilst in Liege it is almost impossible to find land at 9d. a sq. foot), and where also the building regulations are less severe. Consequently it has been possible to erect houses of the standard type, with about 1,300 square feet of garden, which can be sold for £200 to £220. LIEGE. 105 It seems probable that in the immediate future the Society may build considerably more houses, as a new municipal regulation provides for cheap loans to working-class people wishing to buy houses. On the ground that improvement schemes then being undertaken by the municipality in the central parts of the town would lead to the dis- appearance of a certain number of working-class houses, the Town Council decided on June 17, 1907, to favour the purchase or construction of working-class houses within the municipal area, on certain conditions, of which the most important are as follows : — The town is prepared to lend a workman a sum not exceeding £260, in order to enable him to become the owner of a house. Interest will be calculated at 3 per cent., and a further J per cent, will be charged to provide a sinking fund. At this rate the sum borrowed will be repaid after 66 years, though the borrower may repay it more quickly if he desires. The borrower is under an obligation to insure his life for at least ^40. As in the case where the loan is obtained from an ordinary building society, the owner is not allowed to sub-let to more than one tenant. As a beginning, the Council has voted £12,000 to finance the new scheme. It will be noted that the municipal loan scheme differs in certain important points. from those of the ordinary building societies. The great object was to lend the money as cheaply as possible, so that the monthly instalment might be low, the idea being to offer facilities to classes poorer than those provided for by the building societies. To secure this object it has been necessary to extend the time of repayment from the maximum of 25 years allowed by a society to 66 years. At the same time the rate of interest is lower, so that the annual payment is considerably reduced in this manner. Again, with the idea of reaching another class of people, the town is prepared to lend £260 to a single borrower, as compared with a maximum of £200 lent by one building society, and £140 lent by the other. Furthermore, the town does not require the borrower to provide the land or its value (which in Liege is equal to about 20 per cent, of the value of the building), a guarantee insisted upon by the societies. Finally, the stamp duty and law charges in connection with the transfer of the property may be paid out of the municipal loan, whilst the societies require the borrower to defray them out of his own pocket. Like the societies, the town takes a first mortgage on the house until it is entirely paid for, but it is evident that the security, for a good many years at least, is very poor. If the borrower dies early, there may be no more than £40 insurance money with which to meet the whole of the outstanding costs of construction. If the borrower, after a few years,- allows the contract to lapse, the town is practically certain to lose money. The new scheme does not seem to appeal to the poorer class of working people in the way originally expected. It is rather the quite young skilled workmen who are purchasing houses under the scheme, as they are able to secure a good modern (say) five-roomed house for a monthly instalment much below the normal rent, even though they insure themselves for a fairly considerable sum, payable 30 or 35 years later. In this way they can hope during their lifetime to become the complete owners of their houses. During the early years, at least, of the contract they count on sub-letting part of the house. A practical example may be given by way of illustration. Take a five-roomed house value £250, which would be rented for about 5s. Qd. a week. A young compositor of 21 years of age borrows £260 from the town, wich which to pay for the house and the legal and transfer expenses. He would be under an obligation to pay monthly to the town some 15s. 2d. by way of interest and sinking fund. Further, he decides to spend 4s. lOd. monthly by way of insurance. This would enable him to receive £121 at 55 years of age, i.e., after the contract of purchase had been in existence for 34 years. Assuming he had paid his instalments regularly, he would still owe the town £185 at the time of receiving his insurance money. If he paid this £121 to the town he would only owe £64, and it would be necessary to continue the monthly instalment of 15s. 2d. only between eight and nine years in order to pay off the debt entirely. The Housing Committee is authorised by the Act of August 9, 1889, to grant certificates entitling workmen to a remission of 50 per cent, of the duty payable in connection with a purchase or loan effected with the object of securing a house. From the organisation of the Committee in 1890 to the end of 1907, they have delivered 1,012 certificates for the purchase of a house, 3,072 for the purchase of a building plot, and 2,759 for a loan effected with the object of buying or building a house. The approximate number of houses acq[uired or built by workmen who have received certificates from the Committee is 4,898. The number of certificates delivered each year has been growing fairly steadily since the Act was passed. The figures quoted relate to Liege and the surrounding communes, including such places as Seraing. 13147 106 LIEGE. Eetail Peices. The town of Liege is well provided with shops, as is only natural in view of the fact that it constitutes the shopping centre for all the surrounding communes. In the middle of the town there are numerous large shops, which, however, cater principally for the middle classes. Working-class people generally buy their food supplies from small shops in their own district. So far as groceries are concerned, there are a large number of " multiple " shops, both of a local and a national character. These shops, besides selling groceries pure and simple, nearly always deal in spirits, wine and beer, and also not infrequently in haberdashery, hosiery and drapery. Belgian law forbids the sale of margarine and butter in the same shop at the same time, and the usual arrangement appears to be for "multiple" shops to restrict themselves to the sale of margarine. Generally speaking, Belgian shops resemble English more closely than do French. The buildings are usually arranged as shops, and are not mere adaptations of private dwellings. Consequently they have the customary shop windows, are moderately well lighted, and partake less of the character of general country stores. A certain amount of market garden produce is sold in the early mornings on one of the Liege squares, but this market does not appear to be very important, so far as working-class people, at least, are concerned. The meat market is more important. The market hall was erected in 1558 and covers an area of 5,900 square feet. For some time past the Town Council have been considering a project for the erection of a more modem and adequate hall. The present one contains 108 stalls, not more than two of which may be held by the same dealer. The rents yield the town £778 per annum, whilst the expenses amount to a little less than half that sum. There is one fairly important Socialist Co-operative Society at Liege, known as La Populaire. It was established in 1887, and at the present time has a central store and two branches in Liege itself, and five branches in neighbouring communes. In 1906 the total sales amounted to £34,465, whilst in 1907 they amounted to £39,092. The net profit in 1906 was £2,220, and in 1907 £2,680. Of the sales in 1907, bread accounted for £15,802, clothing, &c., for £5,485, boots and shoes for £1,618, and groceries for £16,187. Groceries and other Commodities. Although Liege is situated in a mining country, coal is not very cheap. The majority of working-class people buy it by the bucket from street hawkers who pass round every day with small barrows, to which generally one or two dogs are harnessed. The purchaser brings out a bucket to be filled, and pays 35 centimes (3jrf.) for it. To say that an ordinary household bucket, carelessly filled with this coal, weighs about 20 lb. is probably a fair estimate, and this gives the price as being at the rate of about Is. Id. per cwt., but this is for almost the poorest quality of coal, largely slack. Bought in larger quantities, good household coal costs Is. A^^d. per cwt., whilst commoner coal can be bought at Is. 2|^. per cwt. Miners generally have a right to coal at half the latter rate, that is, at about 7\d. per cwt. For purposes of comparison with other towns the price of coal has been taken at Is. 2\d. per cwt. The summary table of prices at Liege calls for no special comment. Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Commodity. Predominant Price. Coffee ... per lb. Q\d. to Id. Sugar, Loaf ,, 2|d Bacon, Salted „ nd. to ild. Eggs ...per Is. 12,13 Cheese, Dutch ...per lb. lid. Butter ... J) Is. Id. Margarine ■ ■• jj Id. to Sjd Potatoes per 7 lb. %\d. to 3d Flour, Wheaten )) 8id. to 9id Bread, White per 4 lb. i\d. to 5rf. Milk per quart Hd. Coal {see text). Paraffin Oil per gallon 6id to Id. LIEGE. 107 Meat. The slaughter-house is a municipal institution, erected in 1865 and greatly enlarged in 1903, the total outlay being £46,000. The importation of foreign meat is very considerable ; in the case of veal, it is estimated to be seven times as great as the quantity slaughtered at Li^ge, and in the case of pork about equal to the amount slaughtered in the town. A large number of the cattle and sheep slaughtered at Li^ge are of Dutch origin, as its abattoir is one of the six in Belgium where it is permitted to slaughter animals coming from Holland, provided they cross the frontier in sealed waggons and are conveyed thus directly to the abattoir, where they must be slaughtered within 48 hours. A few years ago an attempt was made to introduce into Liege frozen meat, imported at Antwerp, but after a short time, it was given up, as it proved unremunerative. Attached to the abattoir is a cattle market, but it is not very important, as in 1906 only 4,300 animals of all kinds were sold there, as compared with 97,870 slaughtered at the abattoir. Returns obtained for the purposes of this enquiry from 212 working-class families^ representing 880 persons, showed an average weekly consumption per head of meat of all kinds of 23-7 oz., which is at the rate of 77 lb. per annum. Of this, 34 per cent, was beef, 22 per cent, bacon, 13 per cent, pork, 9 per cent, horseflesh, 8 per cent, charcuterie, 7|- per cent, mutton, and 4 per cent. veal. The remainder consisted of rabbits, which formed IJ per cent, of the whole, and poultry, which constituted 1 per cent. Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908, Description of Cut. Shin Beef :— Ribs Brisket Silverside with bone without bone Beef Steak .., Rump Steak ... Thick Flank Thin Flank Mutton : — Leg Shoulder Breast ... Best End ... Scrag End ... Chops Veal :— Hindquarter Shoulder « ^^^^ '^"^^ Ribs ... Chops ... Leg ... Pork:— Leg ... Foreloin Belly ... Chops ... Neck \ without bone Predominant Price per lb. Id. to lid. 5|d b^d. ^id. to b\d. b%d. „ 6|d lO^d. Is. Id. 8|d to 9ld. 5fd „ 6d. 9id. Id. to lid. 6d. „ G^d. 8id. i^d. 2id. lOid. Gid. lUd. 9^d. to lUd. 8ld. 9id to low. 8id „ 10|(f. 9id. „ lltd. lid. to Is. Old 9^d. to lO^d. 8|d „ 9id 6d. „ lid. 8id, „ lO^d. As regards horseflesh, the price of fillet in June, 1908, was 5^d. to 7^d. per lb., of faux fiiet 'k^d. to Qd. per lb,, and of steak h^d. to Q^d. per lb. Representing prices at Brussels by 100, the index number for the price of food other than meat at Liege is 98, for meat it is 95, and for food as a whole 97. For coal the index number is 87, and for food and coal together it is 96. The index number for rent and prices combined is 95. 13147 a 108 LOUVAIN. Loiivain, once the capital of the Duchy of Brabant, is now the second (Brussels being the first) city of the Belgian province of that name. About 18 miles east of the capital, on the main line of the State Railway, it is the first stopping-place for fast trains travelling from Brussels towards the German frontier. The town is connected toy canal not only with the capital, but also with Malines, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Ostend and other important cities of Belgium, and is traversed by the Dyle, a small unnavigable river, which connects it with Malines and ultimately with the Scheldt. The boundary of the town is marked by an almost circular belt of wide boulevards 4 J miles in length, coiistructed on the site of the ancient fortifications, and enclosing an area of over 1,000 acres, of which two-thirds still consists of open fields and market gardens. Almost at the centre of the circle formed by the surrounding boulevards stands the ancient Hdtel de Ville, or Town Hall, dating from the middle of the loth century, and considered to be — next to the Brussels Town Hall — the finest specimen of late-Gothic florid architecture in Belgium. From the space (^Grand' Place) surrounding this building the main streets radiate approximately north, south, east and west, dividing the circle of urban territory into four sectors and crossing the boulevards at points formerly occupied by town gates. Of these four districts, that on the north-east contains practically all that is of importance industrially in Louvain, viz., its breweries, flour mills, saw mills and timber yards, which cluster round the docks provided for the accommodation of the canal craft. In this neighbourhood, but just outside the periphery of the town, are also to be found some important foundries and engineering works, including those of the National Light Railway Company. This quarter of Louvain has for its southern boimdary what may be described as the principal street of the town — the rue de la Station, a wide, straight thoroughfare about a thousand yards in length, which runs from the railway station (which is just outside the periphery) to the Grand^ Place. Confronted for the first time with this long and regular perspective of formal-looking, light-coloured bouses, opening from a wide ornamental space outside the handsome railway station, the visitor receives the impression of a modern, spacious, and scrupulously clean, but somewhat somnolent town. As regards modernity and spaciousness, however, this impression is apt to be modified on further acquaintance with the place. Within a hundred yards' radius of the Grand! Place Louvain still preserves much of its mediajval character, and consists for the most part of a congeries of narrow, irregular and picturesque streets, with footways scarcely wide enough to allow of two people walking abreast, and roughly paved with cobbles or setts. Many of these streets are flanked by alleys and courts of small, whitewashed houses, for the most part occupied by working-class people. Passing from the centre of the town towards the boundary of boulevards on the south, west and north, the main streets quickly assume a rural aspect, and have almost acquired the character of country roads before they reach the lonely boulevards which are traversed for a part of their length by a light railway communicating with neighbouring communes. Louvain was famous in media-val times for fts woollen cloth, and at a later period for its dyeing mills and tanneries, but of these industries scarcely a vestige survives, and the town is now noted less for any special industry than for its historical associations and antiquities, its scholastic, religious, and charitable institutions, and its markets for agricultural produce. The University, founded in 1426, was suppressed during the French Rev&lution, but revived in 1817 by the Dutch. Three years after the Declaration of Belgian Independence the University was abandoned by the Government;, to be re-opened in 1835 as a Roman Catholic institution. There are at present 41 convents, monasteries and seminaries within the municipal area, while 12 other similar institutions are scattered among the neighbouring rural communes. The number of persons (members of various religious communities) residing in the former now approaches 2,000, and tends to increase year by year. These institutions, together with the churches, the various colleges connected with the University, the almshouses, orphanages, and other establishments for dispensing public charity, besides two large prisons and extensive barracks, are the most conspicuous features in the architecture of a town in which the total number of houses falls short of 9,000, and where few private dwellings exceed two stories in height or accommodate more than a single family. LOUVAIN. 109 The population of Louvain, estimated to number 42,219 on the 31st of December, 1907, may be said to be ahnost stationary, its estimated increase in the period of eight years since the last Census (1900) having amounted to 149, or 0'4 per cent. only. The number of inhabitants at each of the last three decennial censuses is shown below in com- parison with the estimated population on the 31st of December, 1907. Year. Population on 31st December, Increaee. Percentage Increase. 1880 1890 1900 1907 (eBtimated) .35,893 40,624 43,070 42,219 4,731 1,446 149 (in seven years). 13-1 3-6 0-4 (in seven years) In the 17 years 1890-1907 the total increase o£ the population has amounted to less than 4 per cent. In spite of a great reduction in the mortality figures, the rate of natural growth of the population has declined steadily during the last quarter of a century owing to the declining birth-rate. During the years 1904-8, the average birth-rate per 1,000 of population was 22*6, the average death-rate was 18'7, and the average rate of infantile mortality 156 per 1,000 births. The following Table shows the birth and death-rates per 1,000 of the population, as well as the infant mortality per 1,000 births in each of the years 1904-8 : — Tear. 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 Birth-rate per I jOOOBf Population. 23-9 22-5 22-2 22-0 22-5 Deatli-rate per IjOOOof Population. 18-5 20-4 17-5 17-7 19-5 Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births. 171 179 134 167 131 The revenue-producing undertakings of the Municipality of Louvain are the Gas- works, the Canal and the Slaughterhouse. Until the year 1905 the gas supply was in the hands of a company. The last contract with this company was renewed in 1874 for a further period of thirty years from the 1st of January, 1875, and on its termination the municipality undertook the supply. The prices are as follows : — For communal buildings : 2s, o\d. per 1,000 cubic feet. A f p . y%^* — ^^' ^^- psr 1,000 cubic feet. „ motive power (^heat — 25. 6d. per 1,000 cubic feet. 2s. 6d. per 1,000 cubic feet. The receipts from the gasworks in 1907 amounted to £30,336, and the expenses to -£28,729, leaving a profit of £1,207. The canal showed receipts amounting to £8,346, as compared with an expenditure of £1,182. Of the receipts under this head £5,571 consisted of navigation dues, and £1,580 of dues for loading and unloading on the canal banks. The receipts at the slaughterhouse amounted to £1,091, against £386 spent. The bulk of the regular revenue of the Municipality is made up of (a) the Communal Endowment Funds, (b) Local Taxation, and (c) Market tolls and dues, &c., and rents from communal property. The Communal Endowment Funds represent one of the main sources of Belgian Municipal revenue. Of the two funds of this kind, one was instituted in order to compensate the communes for the loss of revenue entailed by the abolition of all octroi duties in 1860. This fund, which consists of a certain proportion of the State revenue derived from the Postal Service, and fi-om the taxation of wines, liqueurs, beer and vinegar, is divided among the communes year by year, according to certain fixed principles. The sum which, accrued to Louvain from this fund in 1907 amounted to £17,974. The second (or " Special ") Endowment Fund is of more recent origin : it dates fi-om 1899, and consists 110 LOUVAIN. of a share in the State revenue from new licences and from Customs duties on live stock and meat. Louvain's share of this fund in 1907 amounted to £1,683. The receipts from local taxation amounted in 1907 to £12,668, of which the greater part (£10,588) was obtained by levying, for local purposes, an additional 80 centimes per franc levied by- the State under the heads of the Contribution fonciere and the Contribution personnelle respectively. Of the other local taxes, that on new buildings yielded £1,746, that on public amusements (dancing saloons, &c.) £146, and that on waitresses in cafis £124». The receipts from market tolls and dues, and from rents from communal property amounted to £4,180. Among the ordinary expenditure of the municipality the items Public Education and Fine Arts represent a relatively large sum (£10,138) in comparison with the expenditure under the head of Poor Relief (£571). Of the expenditure under the latter head the chief items were £252, representing! the town's share of the cost of maintaining, persons detained in the State Dep6ts for mendicants, and £200 as a municipal subsidy to a philanthropic organisation for providing - poor -children with meals at school... Municipal grants in aid of unemployed benefit funds in 1907 amounted to £21 only. It should be understood, however, that practically the whole cost of the public relief of the poor in Louvain (some £21,000 per annum) is defrayed out of Charitable Endowments controlled by an Administration which is entirely distinct from the Munici- pality, though its members are appointed and its finances controlled by the latter. The Conseil General dC Administration des Hospices et Secours de la Ville de Louvain is- responsible for the following nine institutions for the relief of the poor : (1) a maternity home, (2) a home for orphan boys and aged men, (3) a home for orphan girls, (4) a home for foundlings, (5) a home for aged women, (6) a similar institution for old married, couples, (7) a home for the blind and incurable, (8) a lunatic asylum, and (9) a generat hospital. In addition to the foregoing, which have an official character, there are very many charitable institutions in the town supported by private philanthropy, and for the most part in the hands of religious communities. Louvain is, in fact, noted among Belgian towns for the number and wealth of its agencies for dispensing public and private relief. The published statistics as to the distribution of poor-relief' in Louvain are not presented in a form from which it is possible to ascertain the number of individuals - in receipt of the various kinds of public poor-relief at a given date. There is, however,, good reason for supposing that a very large proportion of the working-class population habitually receive such relief in one form Or another. The report on medical out-relief, for example, shows that the services o£ the medical officers of the poor were given gratis in connection with 564 confinements in Louvain in 1907. Since the total number of births recorded among all classes of the population in the town in that year only numbered 947, it would seem that the majority of working-class women, when they are. confined, must invoke the assistance of the Poor-Law doctors. The water supply of Louvain is in the hands of a Company, whose concession does, not expire until the year 1929. For domestic consumption the company charges a minimum of 9s. Id. a year for a supply up to 7,920 gallons. For water consumed in excess of that limit the charge per unit (220 gallons) varies from l^d. to 3Jc?., according to the amount of the excess. The town shares to the extent of 25 per cent, in any profits^ exceeding £2,800, but not exceeding £4,000. On profits exceeding the latter sum, the town's share is 50 per cent., and once the profits exceed £5,000 the town has the^ right to reduce the prices charged to private consumers, but so that the profits may not be less than £5,000. For this purpose it has a right to inspect the Company's books and papers. Louvain is still without a tramway system, unless that expression may be applied to a line of horse-drawn cars owned by a company and plying along the rue de la Station between the railway station and the Grand' Place, a distance of a little over half a mile Communication by light railway between Louvain and a number of communes on the north-east, south, and south-west is, however, maintained by the Societe nationale des chemins de fer vicinaux, whose lines are laid along the boulevards on the east, south, and. west of the town. Towards the capital of this undertaking the town has subscribed, various sums amounting in the aggregate to £24,000 and payable in yearly instalments, extending over a period of 90 years. The sum of £816 paid under this head in 1907 corresponded to the town's share in the profits of the company for that year. LODVAIN. Ill The question of supplying Louvain with electricity and with a system of electric tramways has for some time been engaging the attention of the Municipality, but the •schemes actually under consideration contemplate the assignment of these services to private enterprise. Occupations, Wages and Houes of Labour. At the last Belgian industrial census in October, 1896, the number of industrial work- people in Louvain was found to be 6,476, including 1,260 homeworkers and 187 members •of households assisting heads of families at their trades. Between that date and the 1st of August, 1908, only 519 persons were added to the population of the town, and, so far as can be judged, the distribution of the occupied working classes among the different trades underwent no material change during that period. From a statement kindly prepared for the purposes of the present enquiry by the Factory Inspector of Louvain and the surrounding district, it appears that at the beginning of the present year (^1909) there were altogether about 4,400 adult males employed in factories and similar establishments in Louvain and the outlying communes. Of these, 1,950 work in the metal and engineering trades, 576 in chemical works, 470 in brewing and malting, 412 in cigar- making, 272 in wood-working, and about 200 in flour mills. With regard to the number employed in the building trades, details are wanting, as these trades do not come within the purview of the Inspector of Factories and Workshops, There is, however, no reason to suppose that the number of workpeople now employed in the building trades differs materially from that ascertained on the occasion of the 1896 census, viz., 598. By far the most conspicuous works of the locality are those of the metal and ■engineering trades, which are engaged in the manufacture of railway material (iron bridges, girders, turntables, locomotive tenders, railway and tramway carriages and wagons), steel tubes of every description and automobile chassis. Some 1,800 men are •employed in the manufacture of these articles in three large establishments situated just outside the town boundary on the north-east, in the neighbourhood of the canal. The ■chemical works (manufacturing sulphuric acid, superphosphates and formic aldehyde) are in the open country at some distance from the town, and cannot be ranked as urban for the purpose of the present enquiry. The principal breweries, flour mills, timber yards and cigar factories, however, all lie within the municipal area, The level of money wages is considerably lower in Louvain than in Brussels, in spite -of the fact that the two towns are only about 18 miles apart and are connected by a frequent and cheap service of trains. The difference is held to be due in part to the fact that the most efficient and enterprising of the workmen of Louvain either migrate to Brussels or obtain employment there and travel to and fro daily with a workman's ticket on the railway, which costs them Is. Ad. per week. Any shortage thus brought about in the supply of labour for Louvain is made up from the surrounding villages, where wages are so low that even those paid in Louvain attract a sufficient number of work-seekers to that town. Many are of opinion that the exceptionally large number of richly endowed institutions for dispensing public and private charity in the town helps to keep down the level of wages in Louvain. Labour organizations are but little developed, and are divided into two camps, that •of the Christians (Roman Catholics), who are non-militant, and that of the Social Democrats, the former numbering about 710, and the latter about 910 members. The unions with the largest membership are those of the metal workers, of whom 525 are ■organised, including 375 in the militant and 150 in the non-militant union. Among the journeymen bootmakers (almost all employed in small workshops) 260 are organised, including 200 in the Social Democratic Union. Of 235 men organised in the building trades, the majority (180) belong to the non-militants, but in the only two remaining trades (cigar-making and woodworking) in which there are organisations of both kinds, the Social Democrats are the stronger in point of membership, having about 140 members in each case, as compared with about 60 in each case in the Christian unions. There are Christian unions of tailors, compositors, brickmakers, wagon loaders, and lampmen (railway service), numbering altogether some 200 members, but no corresponding Social Democratic unions. Strikes are rare, and collective agreements fixing standard rates of wages and other •conditions of labour are unknown in Louvain. In almost every trade, however, certain time rates of wages are recognised as locally current, and for the great majority of adult jrorkmen these range between B^d. and id. per hour for skilled men, and between 2^d. ■and Bd. for unskilled men, while the weekly hours of labour range from 60 to 72. 112 LOUVAIN. The following table shows the predominant weekly wages and hours of labour in June, 1908, of adult male workpeople employed in the principal trades and industries of Louvain. The wages stated are time-rates, except where otherwise indicated : — Predominant Weekly Wages and Hours of Labour of Adult Males in the Principal Occupations in June, 1908. Predominant Predominant Weekly Weekly Wages. Hours of Lafionr. Building Trades : — Bricklayers and Masons • •• 20s. 2d. to 21s. 4d. 72 Stonemasons (Cutters) ... 23s. 72 Carpenters •.• ... ... .. • ••• 30s. 2d. 72 Joiners ... ... ... ■• . ••■ 20s. 2d. to 20s. 9^. 72 Plumbers, Plasterers and Painters ... 20s. 2d. 72 Bricklayers' and Masons' Labourers ... 17s. M. 72 General Labourers Us. 5d. 72 Metal and Engineering Trades : — I Railway material, [Time [ Piece 17s. lid. 64 Fitters ] &o. 19s. 2d. to 21s. 6d. 64 ( Steel tubes ... 16s. lOd. 60 Railway material, (Time [ Piece 23s. 64 Turners &c. 25s. M. to 27s. 8d. 64 Steel tubes ■ ■ ■ 19s. 2d. „ 21s. Id. 60 ( Railway material, i Time [ Piece 23s. 64 Patternmakers' ... &c. 25s. id. to 27s. M. 64 Steel tubes ... 19s. 2d. 60 ( Railway material, ITime [ Piece 16s. 5d. 64 Boilersmiths &c. 18s. to 19s. 8d. 64 ( Steel tubes ... 21s. Id. to 24s. 60 Planers, Drillers, ( Railway material. ( Time Piece 14s. 4d to 19 s. 5d. 64 Milling Machine- &c. 15s. M. „ 23s. 4d. 64 men, and Mortisers. ( Steel tubes ... 16s. lOd. 60 Railway material. Time Piece 19s. 5d 64 Rivetters &c. 21s. 5d. to 23s. id. 64 ( Steel tubes ... 16s. lOd 60 Holders-up Railway material. Time Piece 12s. lOd. lis. Id. to 15s. id. 64 64 Steam Hammermen ' &c. Time Piece 35s. lOd. 39s. 5d. to 43s. 64 64 Hydraulic Pressmen (steel tubes) ... 19s. 2d. 60 Labourers / Railway material, 1 Steel tubes fee. ... 13s. lOd 64 ... 12s. to ]Ss. bd. 60 Sawmills : — Sawyers ... ... ... ••■ ... 15s. Id. to 17s. M. 63 to 65t 63 „ 65| Other Unskilled Men ... 12s. Id. „ 13s. Id. Cornmills : — Millers ... .«. ... ... ... 16s. lOd. to 23s. 60 to 72 Labourers ... 12s. to 15s. Id. 60 „ 66 Breweries : — Brewers ... • •• ... lis. M. to 15s. IQd. 66 Maltsters ... 15s. IQd. to 16s. lOd. 66 Coopers ... ... 16s. lOd to 18s. &d. 66 Cellarmen ... ... lis. bd. to 15s. lOd. 66 Labourers ... 13s. 2d. to 14s. bd. 65 Cigar Making : — Cigar Makers ... ... lbs. Id.* — Light Railways : — Ticket Collectors ••• ... ... ... ... 20s. lid. 60 Engine Drivers ... • <.• ... 22s. Id. 60 Stokers ... ... 16s. lOd 60 Permanent Way Men ... 13s. 2d. 60 Municipal Employees .— Carmen (street cleaning) ... lis. bd. 60 Gas StokerG • . ... **. ... 19s. U. Gas-yard Labourers ... lbs. Id. 72 Figure supplied by the Labour Exchange. LOUVAIN. 113 Representing the level of wages at Brussels by 100, the index numbers for wages in the building trades at liouvain are 80 for skilled men and 91 for unskilled labourers, while for the engineering trades the index numbers are 82 for skilled men and 84 for unskilled -labourers. Housing akd Eents. Working-class housing conditions in Louvain compare very favourably with those in Brussels, and this fact, combined with the cheap and rapid railway communication between the two towns, and the higher wages obtainable in the capital, is an inducement for many workmen to live in Louvain and work in Brussels. With very few exceptions every working-class family occupies a whole house containing, as a rule, either four rooms or two. Houses of three rooms are difficult to find. Two classes of small houses may be distinguished: those situated in the courts and alleys {impasses), and those situated in thoroughfares. The former, which represent the older type, are almost invariably white- washed, while in the latter the brickwork is left exposed. With increasing distance from the centre of the town houses of the latter sort, built in long or short rows, tend to become more general, but even in the suburbs groups of the older white-washed cottage-like houses, built in courts or blind alleys, are fairly numerous. As the words " court " and " alley " are usually associated with insufficiency of light and air, some misconception may be prevented by stating here that, in Flemish towns generally, one of the chief objections to this style of building is obviated by the fact that the houses are invariably low, having seldom more than one story above the ground floor, and frequently no upper room whatever beyond a loft or attic with a dormer window. The light and air which are thus freely admitted combine with the practice of whitewashing the house fronts in producing an eifect which is the reverse of gloomy. It is true that insanitary housing conditions are more prevalent in the courts and alleys than in the thoroughfares, but this is usually due to the fact that the houses date from a time when the importance of internal air space, properly lined cesspools, a good water supply, and adequate closet accommodation was less generally recognised than now. The following were found to be the predominant weekly rents of houses of two, three and four rooms occupied by the working classes : — Predominant Eents of Working-class Dwellings. Numtier of Rooms per Dwelling. Two rooms Three rooms Pour rooms Predominant Weekly Rents. Is. Id. to 2s. 3d. 2s. 3d to 2s. lid. 2s. 9d. to 3s. id. Rent at Brussels being taken as the base, = 100, the rent index number for Louvain is 65. The houses obtainable at rents falling within the above limits are not of the most modern construction, for the older houses are still in the majority. The following are some concrete examples of houses of various sizes, which were actually visited in the course of the present enquiry : — (a.) Two-roomed Houses. — 1. The house forms one of many similar dwellings built in rows in a working-class street {Rue du Saint Esprit) approaching the periphery on the south-west. It consists of a lower room and an upper room. The former is entered direct from the street, {i.e., there is neither forecourt nor vestibule) and measures 13 feet by 1 1 feet 6 inches. The height from the tiled floor to the ceiling is about 8 J feet. Behind this room is a small space in the nature of a pantry or scullery, a great part of which is, however, occupied by a narrow stairway leading to the upper room, whose measure- ment from front to rear exceeds that of the lower room by about 2J feet. The upper room has a sloping ceiling and a dormer window. A small fenced-olF portion of the open land at the back serves as a vegetable garden. One closet is provided for every two houses. Water has to be fetched from a stand-pipe in the street. The rent is 2s. ^d. a week. Other houses in the same street and similar in every respect were being let at 2s. per week. 2. In an impasse a& the rue des Nains, near the western periphery, two-roomed houses were let at Is. 8d. per week. They consisted of a lower and an upper room, the 13147 P 114 LOUVAIN. former entered direct from the alley. Both rooms were 13 feet square ; the lower one measured 9 feet from floor to ceiling, while the upper room had a sloping roof and dormer window. The conditions as regards garden, closet accommodation and water supply were identical with those described in the preceding example. The fact that the rents were lower by about Id. per week was due to the houses being situated in an impasse or blind alley, as well as to their being somewhat further from the centre of the town than those in the rue du Saint Esprit. 3. In the south-eastern suburbs, in a court {^Impasse de la Mare Noire) some 160 feet long, and 60 feet wide, were 40 two-roomed cottages each let at 2s. per week. Each consisted of a lower room and an upper room, the former measuring 16 feet by 18, and the latter 14 feet by 12. The distance from floor to ceiling in the lower room was 9 feet, and in the upper room about 6 J feet. "Water had to be fetched from a stand-pipe in the main street, and the closets, of which there were 10 for the 40 houses, were situated in the court. There were no gardens. (h) Three-roomed Houses. — These usually consist of one room below and two above. The gr®und-floor space is divided into two parts, viz. : the front living room, which is entered direct from the street, and a small compartment at the back, which is entered from the li^ang room, and contains the staircase communicating with the upper rooms ; of these one is in front and corresponds to the living room, while the other (much smaller) is at the back and corresponds to the space beneath, containing the staircase. Houses of this description, each having a small back garden, about 40 feet in length, and each with a separate closet, are to be had at 25. bd. a week in the western suburbs. As usual water has to be fetched from a stand-pipe in the street. It sometimes happens that two long rows of houses of this description are back-to- back. In such cases the back rooms are of necessity windowless, and the garden and closet are in the front of the house. Most of the other examples of three-roomed working-class houses observed in Louvain had the appearance of being converted two- roomed houses, a third room having been obtained by dividing the upper room into two if it happened to have two windows. (c) Four-roomed Houses. — The four-roomed cottage appears to be the usual standard of housing accommodation for working-class families in Louvain. Such cottages invariably consist of two lower and two upper rooms. The latter are, as a rule, reached by a staircase ascending from the back room (or kitchen) on the ground floor. Stairs ascending from the front room or from a vestibule are exceptional. Ground-floor rooms are invariably paved with red or black and white tiles. Of the four-roomed cottages visited, the following were let at rents falling within the predominant range of 2s. 9d. to 3s. 4(i. per week. 1. Banksiraat, in the south-western suburbs, in semi-rural surroundings : This street contains a row of 21 houses of modern appearance, with plain brick fronts. Each has a tiled vestibule with the " best " room on one side, and the kitchen at the end. Each of these rooms (also tiled) measures 13 feet by 11 feet 6 inches, and is 11 feet high. A staircase from the kitchen gives access to the two upper rooms, front and back respectively, of dimensions corresponding to those of the lower rooms, even as regards the height from floor to ceiling. Behind the kitchen is a species of scullery, in the nature of a shed open to the air on one side, and beyond this a small plot of garden (about 25 feet square), in which the closet is situated. These houses contain the additional accommodation of a loft and two cellars. Water for drinking is fetched from a standpipe in the street ; to reach this some of the tenants have to walk a hundred yards. The rent charged is 3s. 4d. per week. Houses very similar to these, but lacking the vestibule and the scullery, are to be -had in the neighbourhood for 2s. lid. per week, while others, with somewhat larger gardens, but situated about 200 yards from a street standpipe, are let at 3s. 2d. a week. 2. Rue de Terveuren, also in south-west suburbs : Here there are houses similar in character to those described above, but with much smaller rooms (about 10 feet square), and lacking both vestibule and garden ; they cost 2s. lid. per week. In these the closet accommodation is less satisfactory, the provision being one to every three houses. 3. Rue Willems, in the east-central part of the town, and within a short distance of the railway station, contains four-roomed houses, each with small vestibule, garden, and separate closet: they are to be had for 2s. 9d. per week. These houses have the dis- advantage of being situated nearly 400 yards from the nearest standpipe for the supply LtJDVAIN. 'll''> of drinking water, the neighbourhood being one in which middle-class houses, each with its own water supply, constitute the majority. As regards the improvement of working-class housing in Louvain, direct action on the part of the municipality is limited to the granting of a small yearly subsidy towards the expenses of the Housing Committee established for the arrondissement of Louvain under the Law of 1889, and to the provision of a room at the Town Hall for the meetings of the Committee. The total sum received by that body in public subsidies (State, Provincial, and Municipal) in 1907 amounted to £18 only. The greater part of the work of the Committee consists in dealing with claims for the pension of £2 12s. per annum to which aged and necessitous workpeople are entitled under the Law of May 10th, 1900. Thus the Committee had to deal with 629 such claims in 1907, as compared with 266 applica- tions for certificates of eligibility to benefit by the provisions of the Working-class Housing Law of 1889. It is worthy of note, moreover, that of the 266 applications of the latter kind only 40 were made by persons belonging to the town of Louvain, the rest being from people residing in the rural communes of the arrondissement of that name. There are in Louvain two societies for promoting the objects of the Working-class Housing Law of 1889 — a credit society and a building society. The former (Societe Anonyme de Louvain pour favoriser V acquisition de Maisons par la Classe Ouvriere), founded in 1892, aims at enabling a workman to purchase a house for his own occupation on easy terms of payment. Nine-tenths of his purchase money (not exceeding £220) is advanced, and is repayable by monthly instalments extending over 10, 15, 20, or 25 years. The rate of interest charged is 3^ per cent., if the borrower insures his life for the amount, and deposits the policy with the society ; otherwise the rate of interest is 4 per cent. Up to the end of 1907 the society had granted 341 loans, amounting to £32,749. Of the share capital of the Society, amounting to £8,000, £7,189 was paid up, while the Society was indebted to the Statq Savings Bank for loans amounting to £21,000, advanced at 2J per cent, per annum. The second society {Socieie Anonyme de Louvain pour la construction de Maisons Ouvrieres), also founded in 1892, builds or purchases houses with the object of selling them to workpeople, or letting them to such people at rents sufficiently low to enable the tenants to effect the savings necessary to enable them to accumulate the initial deposit of one-tenth of the cost, and so become purchasers with the assistance of the credit society. Up to the end of 1907 the Society had built or purchased 93 houses. Of its share capital, amounting to £1,200, only £120 had been paid up, and the Society was indebted to the State Savings Bank for loans amounting to £2,052. Retail Prices. The organisation of the retail food supply of Louvain presents few features deserving of special notice. The more thrifty and energetic among the housewives procure their supplies of butter, eggs, cheese and potatoes and other vegetables in the open-air markets, held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at prices somewhat lower than they would have to pay at the shops. In the case of butter, for instance, the price is usually from Ji. to f 5. per lb. lower in the market. As regards eggs, the question of economy in visiting the market instead o£ the shops scarcely concerns the working classes, who, it would seem, seldom spend money on eggs. Groceries and other Commodities. Among the shops at which groceries and other provisions are retailed, there are four establishments where coffee and sugar are offered at prices which, from their relative lowness, are calculated to attract working-class customers. Of these establishments three are owned by a well-known " multiple " firm, while the fourth is a store, owned by the bocial-Democratic Co-operative Society Le Proletaire. It is not apparent, however, that these low prices attract the custom of any large proportion of the working classes of Louvain, whose Flemish conservatism and frequent inability to pay ready money (a con- dition insisted upon at the stores and the " multiple " shops) have enabled the small private dealers to retain the majority of their old customers in the face of their more powerful competitors. In respect to bread, on the other hand, there is reason to believe that the small bakeries, where the dough is still kneaded by hand, have suffered severely 13147 P 2 116 LOtfVAIN. from the competition of the machine bakeries, of which there are two — one belonging to the co-operative society already mentioned, and another owned by a co-operative baking society organised among minor officials of the railway and other public departments. The following table summarises the data supplied in response to enquiries made among shopkeepers and others in different parts of Louvain as to the prices most usually paid by working-class customers for these articles in June, 1908 : — Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Commodity. Predominant Price. CoflEee .. per lb. &\d. to Sfci. Sugar, Loaf 5) 2id „ 3H Bacon, Salted ly Tfd Eggs .. per Is. 16 Cheese, Dutch .. per lb. Hd. Butter )) lid. to Is. l\d. Margarine ii 8id to %d. Potatoes .. per 7 lb. M. Flour, Wheaten )) 2^. to 9lld. Bread, White ... per 4 lb. 4id „ M. Milk .. per quart 2id. Coal .. per cwt. Is. 2id. Paraffin Oil .. per gallon l\d. Meat. With the exception of a small quantity of Argentine beef which arrives in sides from Antwerp, the fresh meat supply of Tjouvain consists of Belgian produce, purchased by the butchers at the local cattle market, which is held every Monday. All cattle and other live stock intended for consumption in the town have to be slaughtered at the public abattoir, where they undergo rigorous inspection. Here it may be mentioned that Louvain has had a public slaughterhouse since 1778, and has therefore possessed such an institution longer than any other town in Belgium. The original slaughterhouse continued in use until April, 1908, when it was superseded by a new abattoir, constructed at a cost of £30,000, and stated to be one of the best-equipped establishments of its kind in Belgium. The total number of animals slaughtered in Louvain in 1908 was 23,169, of an aggregate (live) weight of 87,516 cwt. Of the total weight 52'1 per cent, represented beef, 32"4 per cent, pork and preparations thereof, and 12*7 per cent. veal. The remaining 2'8 per cent, of the total weight of slaughtered animals represented mutton, horseflesh and goat flesh. These figures show approximately the relative importance of the different kinds of meat in the dietary of the population as a whole, and warrant the conclusion that among flesh foods beef ranks first, and pork with its variants second. In the working-class dietary, however, beef occupies a secondary position. Returns obtained for the purpose of the present enquiry from 91 typical working-class families (consisting of 491 persons) in Louvain, with reference to the weekly consumption and cost of different kinds of food, showed an average per capita consumption of 22*6 oz. of meat of all kinds in the week, or 73 lb. in the year. Of the total meat consumption beef represented only 31 "5 per cent., while pork, bacon and charcuterie together constituted 56 per cent, (pork, 27, bacon, 15 and charcuterie, 14 per cent.). Among the other kinds of meat consumed hj the working classes the most important is horseflesh, which was found to enter into the total meat consumption to the extent of 8 per cent., while veal, mutton and rabbits were represented in the proportions of 3, 1 and 0*5 per cent, respectively. Not one of the 91 families from whom returns were obtained reported any purchases of poultry. The predominant retail prices of various cuts of meat in Louvain in June, 1908, are shown in the subjoined table, based upon data obtained from butchers' shops doing business in different parts of the town. LOUVAIN. Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June,, 1908. 117 Description of Out. Predominant Price per lb. Beef :— Ribs Brisket Silverside Shin / "^^^ bone \ without bone Beef Steak Rump Steak Mutton : — Leg Shoulder Breast ( Best End \ Scrag End Chops Veal :— Hindquarter Shoulder (-with bone) Ribs Chops Leg Pork :— Leg Foreloin Belly Chops Neck nd. 5W. to 5|d nd. bid. ^d. to %d. nd. ^Id. Id. to l\d. 5M „ &d. 8id Qd. 8|rf. 8|d. to ^d. lid. Sid. 9id. 9^d. Hd. 8|d nd. to 8f d. 8|d As regards the purchase of meat for the household, working-class customs in Louvain are similar to those prevalent ia Brussels {see pp. 23-24). The habit of buying ready- prepared pork savouries {boudin blanc, boudin noir, pdte de foie and kip-hap) from the charcutier, in order to avoid the trouble of cooking, is perhaps even more wide-spread in Louvain than in the capital. There are 39 charcuteries in the town, besides the 126 vendors of fresh meat. Fish is also a popular article of food ; not less so, in fact, than either pork or beef, and its sale is centralised at a special covered market conveniently situated in the middle of the town. The sale of horseflesh is confined to two shops, which disposed of 210 horses in 1908. The prices charged for horseflesh in June, 1908, were 5^d. per lb. in the case of fillet or steak, and 4^^^. per lb. in the case of faux filet. Prices at Brussels being indicated by 100, the index number for the price of food other than meat at Louvairi is 97, for meat it is 91, and for food as a whole, 95. For coal the index number is 87, and for food and coal together 94. The;index number for rent and prices combined is 89. 118 MALINES. Malines ox Mechlin, the fifth town in Belgium in point of population, is situated in the province oif Antwerp almost midway on the main line from Brussels (13 miles) to Antwerp (14 miles). Several arms of the river Dyle traverse the town, and the canal uniting Louvam with the Scheldt by way of the Kethe skirts its southern and western sides. Steam tramways run to Antwerp, also to -Lierre, to Boom, and to various other places of local importance. The town lies in a level, fertile plain, and within its boundaries but slight inequalities of surface are : observable. Its general aspect is pleasing. Broad boulevards, which have taken the place ,o£ the ancient fortifications, surround the main part of the city, which contains several open spaces, while a large number of the private houses have gardens of considerable size. The majority of the houses are painted white, and a general air of cleanline.ss is everywhere noticeable. The streets, however, are not well paved, and an absence of regular footways is noticeable in many parts. In the centjre of the town are a number of streets, such as the Bue des Beguines and the Bue de la Chevre, so narrow that two vehicles cannot pass in the roadway. Malines i^ predominantly a working-class town, owing its industrial importance partly to the ejxtensive workshops of the State railways, which employ several thousand men, and partly to its loiig-established, distinctive industry of furniture and chair-making. The lace-maki4g industry, with which its name is still identified, has migrated to other centres, including Bruges, Brussels, and Turnhout ; but tram and waggon building, linen and cotton weaving, printing, malting, brewing, and the growing and preserving of. vegetables, afford in the aggregate a ponsiderable amount of employment, As the cathedral city and the place of residence of the Primate of Belgium, having two large theological seminaries for the priesthood and a number of religious communities, Malines is also the chief ecclesiastical centre of the country. The following Table shows the population of the town at the Censuses of 1880, 1890 and 1900, and also the estimated population at the end o£ 1907 : — Year. Population on 31st December. Increaee. Percentage Is?««9». 1880 1890 1900 1907 (estimated) 42,381 51,014 55,705 59,107 8,633 4,691 3,402 (in seven years). 20-4 9-2 6-1 (in seven years). At the Census of 1900, 71"0 per cent, of the inhabitants of Malines were returned as having been born within the town. The corresponding percentages in 1890 and 1880 were 69'4 and 66"0 respectively. The following Table shows the birth, death, and infantile mortality rates for the five years 1904-8 : — Birth-rate Death-rate Infantile Year. per 1,000 per 1,000 Mortality of Populalifin,. , of Population. per 1,000 Births. 1904 25-5 16-4 140 1905 24-4 15-5 120 1906 24-9 18-6 175 1907 23-5 15-4 124 1908 • 23-3 15-7 154 The average birth-rate for the period under review is 24"3, while the average death-rate is 16"3. The infantile mortality rate has fluctuated greatly, having been as low as 120 per 1,000 births in 1905, and as high as 175 in 1906, the average rate for the five years 1904-8 being 143. MALINES, 119 Municipal enterprise is of little account in Malines. The supply of gas is under- taken by a private company, which has received the concession from the municipality under conditions regulating the prices to be charged, wages to be paid and other matters. No waterworks existed in 1908, but a town water supply is to be established, a contract having been entered into in the latter half of 1908 for the necessary works. Among municipal property may be mentioned the abattoir, cemetery, public library, theatre, music school and employment bureau. There are no tramways within the town. Occupations, Wages and Hours of Labour. In the course of the last thirteen years the most marked industrial development in Malines has been the growth of the State Railway workshop^, in which, at the close of 1908, some 3,000 hands were employed. The activities of the railway workshops at Malines are confined to the repair of locomotives and general rolling-stock, no new construction work being undertaken. On five days of the week, work in these shops comniences at 6'45 a.m. and ceases at 6' 15 p.m., there being an interval of 1|- hours at ttiid-day and two intervals of 10 minutes each, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon. On Monday, the mid-day interval is reduced to 1^ hours, and there is an interval of 10 minutes in the morning only, work ceasing at 4 p.m. The net working time is thus 56 hours 10 minutes per week. The wages paid are low, but the hours are shorter than in the other industrial establishments in Malines, and the men enjoy many advantages. They have a right, since 1906, to a pension without contribution. If they wish to insure themselves for the benefit of their wives and children they contribute 4 per cent, of their wages, but this payment must have been made for ten years to entitle the family to benefit at the husband's death. Medical attendance is free, and during illness part wages up to 2s. per day are paid. The furniture industry at Malines has existed for several centuries, but an important branch of this industry, the manufacture of chairs (for other than local needs) is stated to have commenced only at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The specialty of the industry is carved furniture (especially in oak, but also in walnut and mahogany) of all kinds, in ancient and modern styles, while in respect of chair making Malines is noted as the producer of ordinary goods made of beech, elm, and ash, with wooden or plaited straw bottoms, for use in kitchens, in inferior cafes, and in churches. While the majority of the chair makers work at home, the greater number of the furniture- makers work in factories. In connection with these trades it may be stated that at the end of 1907 there were in Malines 60 joinery or carpentry yards, 14 wood carvers' works, 17 wood turners' works, 147 furniture factories, and 48 chair factories. No wages agree- ments exist in these trades, but hourly rates are usually paid to the joiners and cabinet makers and piece rates to the carvers, turners, and wood-moulding machinists. The normal working day in the factories is about eleven hours, but a fair proportion of the workpeople cease work early on Mondays, and the normal week varies from 60 to 66 hours. The day in summer begins at six and ends at seven, with intervals of one hour and a half at mid-day, a quarter of an hour in the forenoon and another in the afternoon. The home workers in the furniture trade are sufiiciently numerous to call for some special remarks. They seldom work alone, but employ one, two, or three improvers or apprentices, to help them in the rougher operations. In a publication of the Belgian Labour Department (1907) on the Furniture Industry at Malines many instances of the wages earned by home workers are cited. One cabinet maker, aged 36 years, working with two improvers, who were paid respectively l\d. and l\d. per hour, and an apprentice, who received Is. Id. per week, manufactured in 16 days objects for which he was paid £5 4s. 10 ance of 14s. 5d. ] beer. 18s. M. 12s. 6d. 13s. 19s. 2d 12s. to 14s. 5d. Predominant Weekly Hours of Labour. 60 63 63 63 60 60 60 60 Wages at Brussels being taken as 100, the index numbers for the wages of skilled men and unskilled labourers in the building trades at Malines are 81 and 7G respectively y wages in the engineering trades are represented by 71 for skilled men and 74 for unskilled labourers ; the index number for the wages of compositors is 72, Housing and Rents. • Whilst the middle classes live in the central parts and along the boulevards, the working people (especially those who earn regular wages) prefer to live in the suburbs, i.e., the quarters beyond the Louvain Canal and the arm of the Dyle running along the eastern side of the town. Of the working population the furniture and chair makers and unskilled labourers live in the Old Town, the necessities of their trades obliging many of the former to live in the very centre, while the latter are unable to find, save in the oldest and least desirable streets, the lodgings which .they can afford. The main body of work- people dwelling in the centre are congregated in the west and south-west parts, although individual streets with such occupiers are found in every quarter of the town. The dominant type of dwelling for all classes in Malines is the single-family house. The Census of 1900 returned the number of houses destined for habitation in the town at 10,402, and the number of households at 12,400, which gives an average of 1"19 households per house ; the previous census in 1890 showed an average of 1'17. Building, especially as regards workmen's dwellings, has been active since 1900, and the new houses may be said to be almost without exception single-family houses. The communal bye-laws forbid the construction of houses of less than two stories {i.e. ground floor and first floor), and the bulk of the existing workmen's dwelhngs have at least that number. The majority of the working-class families inhabit houses containing four, five or six rooms. The four-roomed house possesses two rooms on the ground, and two rooms on the first floor ; that of five rooms has the additional room either as an attic or as a kitchen projecting from the main building into the yard ; and the six-roomed tenement contains either both these additions, or, less usuallj^, two attics. All houses have a grenier, or lumber room not fit for habitation immediately underneath the roof, save when there are two attic rooms over the first floor ; and the great majority also possess a cellar or cellars. Gardens are not commonly attached to these dwellings in the central parts of the town, but in the outer areas they are practically universal, though sometimes, owing to their limited size, they are not of great utility. Many workmen, however, rent small plots, of ground for the cultivation of potatoes, onions, leeks and other vegetables. Some characteristic features of working-class dwellings may be noticed. Corridors^ which end about the centre of the building, are general in the modern dwellings, houses where the street door leads directly into an apartment being found chiefly in the older houses and in the central parts of the town. The staircase is placed either in the middle of the house separating the front from the back room, or in the front or back room ; in. the last case it is on the side contiguous with the front room. In a few cases the stairs are in the same position as that which they usually occupy in small English houses — in the second half of a through corridor or passage. The entrance to the cellar lies sometimes in the corridor, but more generally it is situated in the back room. When there are three rooms on the ground floor the third room, which is at the back, has generally a sloping roof 13147 Q 122 MALINES. . • - and often tlie upper portion of the outer wall is made of glass ; otherwise this third room resembles the third room on the ground floor in an English workman's house, being an addi- tion built out into the yard. The ceilings of the ground-floor rooms are almost invariably higher than those on the first floor, and the latter are a good Seal higher than the ceilings of the attic rooms. The windows of the last-named rooms are less than half the size of the windows of the other rooms, and their width usually exceeds their height. Attic windows built in the roofs of houses are rarely found at Malines. Not infi*equently in the older houses access to the attic is obtained by means of a stair which is little more than a ladder communicating with a kind of trap-door. In the kitchens fireplaces are seldom used, stoves with long pipes being regarded by working-class households as more economical. The corridors and kitchens are paved with cement, and the walls are more often papered thaii whitewashed. The conveniences are found in the yard or garden as the case may be. A municipal water supply not existing -at Malines, water is obtained from wells, and- the majority of houses are provided with pumps.- The homes of the working people in Malines are extremely well kept in the majorii^ of cases, being scrupulously clean, and many efforts at adorn- ment are noticeable. Pottery is popular, and the furniture generally includes several carved objects, such as oak cabinets and oak tables. In the outer parts of the town the front room is usually set apart for the reception of friends ; in the central districts, where the bulk of the woodworkers and especially the homeworkers live, one room generally serves as a workshop. The following notes relate to typical working- •class houses visited for the purpose of the enquiry : — Rue St. Jean Berckmans. — Four four-roomed houses in red brick, each with a corridor 3 feet 3 inches broad leading through the house to the kitchen. The stairs were situated between the front and back rooms. The former measured 9 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 3 inches, and the latter 13 feet by 11 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 3 inches, while the front room on the first floor had an area of 13 feet by 9 feet 3 inches, being 9 feet 9 inches high, and the back room measured 13 feet by 11 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 9 inches. Behind the house were yard, garden and convenience. Beneath the. front room was a cellar. The rent was 2s. lid. per week. Rue Moons. — Five newly-built houses in an old quarter, each having two rooms on both the ground and first floors and an attic above ; they were let at 3s. 4^. per week. The staircase separated the fi-ont and back rooms, of which the dimensions were respectively : 9 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 6 inches and 14 feet by 9 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 6 inches. The front room on the first floor measured 14 feet by 10 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 9 inches and the back room 14 feet by 9 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, while the attic facing on to the street measured 14 feet by 10 feet 3 inches by 8 feet 3 inches. There was no garden. Rue Doddoens. — Four houses, each containing five rooms and an attic and let at 3s. 2d. per week. The front room measured 12 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 3 inches, and the back room 14 feet 9 inches by 13 feet by 10 feet 3 inches. The stair- case was placed in the back room. The upper front room measured 12 feet 3 iaches by 13 feet by 9 feet 9 inches, but the back room had the same area as the rooms below. Each house had cellarage and a garden. Quartier de Louvain, Rue de Tour. — Some eighteen houses of uniform construction (situated close to the railway works), each having four rooms and an attic, with cellars, yards, and gardens ; they were let at rents of 2s. Id. and 2s. ^d. per week. They had no corridors, and the rooms on the first and ground floors had the same dimensions, viz. — front rooms 11 feet by 9 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 3 inches, back room 11 feet by 10 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 3 inches. The ceilings were a little lower on the first floor. The stairs were in the back room. Quartier de Louvain, Rue du Marteau. — Fifteen houses containing four rooms, an attic, and a back kitchen, which were let at 3s. 2d. per week. The dimensions were : — Front room, 11 feet by 8 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 9 inches ; back room, 13 feet by 12 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 9 inches ; back kitchen, 10 feet 3 inches by 7 feet 9 inches by 7 feet 9 inches ; corridor, 3 feet 6 inches wide. The front room on the first floor was wider than the front room below by the breadth of the corridor and its height was 10 feet 3 inches, while the height of the attic was about 8 feet 3 inches. A small garden was attached to each house, which possessed the u^ual cellar and lumber room. MALINES. 123 Grande rue Niev^ndyk^. — Ten new houses in red brick, containing three rooms on the ground floor, two on the first floor and an attic, owned by the same proprietor and let at 3s. M. per week. The corridor had a t»readth of 3 feet 3 inches, and the stairs (enclosed) were in the kitchen, but the entrance to the cellar lay between the front and back rooms. The ground-floor rooms had the following dimensions : front room 11 feet 9 inches by 8 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 6 inches ; back room 11 feet 9 inches by 13 feet by 10 feet 6 inches ; second back room 9 feet 6 inches by 13 feet by 11 feet 9 inches. The ceilings on the first floor were only 9 feet 6 inches high, but the front room had a breadth of 13 feet. The inner walls were painted, and the ground-floor rooms and corridor were paved with yellow and black tiles. The gardens were small. The following table shows, for working-class dwellings of two, three, four, five and six rooms, the predominant rents, in June, 1908 : — Predominant Rents of Working-class Dwellings. Number of Rooms per Dwelling'. Two rooms Three rooms Four rooms Five rooms Six rooms Predominant Weekly Rents. Is. M. to Is. lOd Is. 8i. „ 2s. M. 2s. to 2s. lid. 2s. Id. to 3s. 4d. 3s. 2d. „ 3s. M: These rents are seen to be low. The rent index number for Malines is 52, rent at Brussels being represented by 100. Working-class tenants of houses ol which the revenu cadastral., or assessed rental value, as fixed some 30 years ago, does not exceed £5 15s. 'id. per annum (for towns of over 40,000 and under 100,000 inhabitants) are exempt from the communal taxes. In this way the vast majority of working-class families in Malines are fi-ee from local taxation. It is generally accepted that all rents not exceeding 3s. Wd. per week are exempt. Hents are paid monthly, and a month's notice to quit is necessary. No regular housing inspection is carried out by the municipality. Neither the town nor the State Railway Works Administration has undertaken any scheme for the construction of workmen's dwellings, and private employers of labour have done little ot importance in this direction. The Housing Committee issued in 1907 100 certificates in respect of the acquisition of houses or of building ground by working people, and 55 certificates authorising loans to be made for the acquisition or construction of working-class houses. Eetail Prices. The working classes of Malines buy a considerable proportion of their meat and vegetable supplies in the covered markets, which are held daily, and are conveniently situated in. the centre of the town. Some 150 butchers (of whom 12 sell horseflesh only) and dealers in charcuterie have shops in the various quarters throughout Malines, but a number of these are included among the 114 meat stallholders (10 of whom sell horse- flesh) in the markets. The grocers' shops, large and small, sell bacon, ham, lard, and sausages, of which a high percentage are composed mainly of horse-flesh. Two " multiple " grocery firms have each one branch- in the town. Co-operation has made much progress. The Co-operative Society of Public Service Workers had an active membership of 1,872 in the last quarter of 1908 ; and its balance-sheet for 1907 showed a turnover of £18,300, to which the sale of bread contributed £7,413, groceries £4,605, coal £1,499, and the, general drapery business £4,430. In 1907, by way of dividend, members were credited with 16 per cent, of the value of their bakery purchases and with 13 per cent, of the amount expended by them on other articles, and these amounts were paid in goods. The bulk of the members are employed in the railway workshops. The Socialist Labaur organisation has also established a Co-operative Society for the sale of bread, groceries, general drapery articles, boots, &c., hut its operations are far less important than those of the society already mentioned. The main elements of the general dietary of the working-class households are coffee,, bread with butter or margarine, potatoes and other vegetables. Soup made of vegetables- 13U7 Q 2 124 MALINES. (including potatoes) is usually taken at the chief meal, and it is customary to add a slight meat flavouring by means of bacon fat or other pieces of meat. A very large number of families eat fresh meat on Sundays only ; on the week days fresh or salted bacon, ham, and sausage meat of various kinds form the ordinary chief dish. The Malines district being a noted centre of market gardening, vegetables are cheap, tomatoes, cabbage cauliflower, potatoes, peas and asparagus being grown in great abundance. Groceries and other Commodities. Coj^ee is bought by the Malines working people at prices which range from 6^d. to 8^d. per lb. Pure coffee is never drunk, a large proportion of chicory being invariably mixed with it. The price of chicory is from IJrf. to l^d. per lb. Gouda cheese is popular with the working people. Smoked hacon is not sold in the shops, salted bacon and ham being chiefly in demand. The Belgian coal is not in such great demand for household purposes as the German, chiefly on account of its higher price. As the majority of the working-class houses possess cellars it is possible to buy coal in larger quantities than one or two cwts., and stocks are laid down in the season when lower prices rule. Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. Commodity. Predominaiit Price. CofEee .. per lb. Ghd. to 8M. Sugar, Loaf J? 3d.,3W. Bacon, Salted S) Id. to 8|d Eggs .. per Is. 12,13 Cheese, Dutch .. per lb. Id. to 8|rf. Butter • • )) Is. Id. Margarine 5). IM. to 8M Potatoes .. per 7 lb. 2\d. Flour, Wheaten •* )9 9iid. to 9|d. Bread, White .. per 4 lb. ^d. Milk .. per quart 2d, 2ld. Coal .. per cwt. Is. Qid. to Js. 2Jd Paraffin Oil .. per gallon Id. Meat. The Brussels market is the chief single source of the beef and mutton supply for Malines, although markets are held at Malines, and in several neighbouring communes. Pigs are reared largely in the surrounding district, while the horses come from Antwerp, the bulk of them having been shipped from London and Hull to that port. All meat for human consumption must be submitted for examination. All animals must be slaughtered at the municipal slaughter-houses, where the meat inspection takes place. Returns specially obtained for the purposes of this enquiry from 113 working-class families, consisting of 594 persons, showed an average weekly consumption of 19"1 oz. of meat per head, which is at the rate of 62 lb. per annum. Of this, 37 per cent, was beef, 15'5 percent, horseflesh, 13 per cent, pork, and 11 per cent, bacon. Charcuterie amounted to 8 per cent, of the whole, veal to 6 per cent., mutton and rabbits to 4 per cent, each, and poultry to I'o per cent. The cuts of beef generally bought are the thin flank, silverside and shin. Mutton is not largely consumed by the working people and is not sold in the markets. When the inferior parts are bought by them, they are used to make a sort of Irish stew. Veal is considered a delicacy, while the leg of pork is sold for curing purposes, rarely in a fresh state for immediate consumption. Pigs' ears and feet are often bought, however, and cost about twopence apiece. Horseflesh increases in popularity, and its prices are lower than for other kinds of meat, the fillet costing from b^d. to 6d. per lb., steak from 4|(i. to 6d., and inferior cuts from 2^d. to S^d. per lb. The following Table shows the predominant prices of the various kinds of meat in June, 1908, and is based upon a number of returns giving the prices both at private dealers' shops and at the market stalls. MALINES. Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in June, 1908. 125 Description of Cut. Beef :— Ribs Brisket . . . Silverside Shin, with bone Beef Steak Rump Steak Thick Flank Thin Flank Mutton : — Leg Shoulder Breast Neck [ ^^^* '^'^^ ^®*^^ I Scrag End Chops Veal :— Hindquarter Shoulder, with bone Ribs Chops Leg Pork :— Leg Foreloin... Belly Chops Predominant Price per lb. Id. to lid. Hd. ' ' Id. ^d. 6d. 7M itd. Sid. 8|d to lOhd. lOid. M. Hd. Aid. 8|d 6id. to Id. bid. Id. to 8id. lid. to 8|d 8|d Id. to 8|d 8|A 8|d 8jd Id. to 8|d 7|d „ 8|d 6d. „ Id. lid. „ Sid. Taken as a whole, the price of meat is lower at Malines than at any other of the towns included in the enquiry, the index number being 84 as compared with 100 at Brussels. The price of other food is represented by the index number 96, and of food as a whole by 93. The index number for coal is 79, and for food and coal together 92. For rent and prices combined the index number is 85, which figure is lower than that obtained for any other of the towns investigated, except Turnhout and Bruges, for which towns the " combined " rent and prices index number is 84. 126 PATURAGES. A line drawn from Aix-la-Chapelle to Namur along the valley of the Meuse and thence to Valenciennes in France very fairly indicates the general position of the Belgian coalfield which is naturally divided into five separate basins known as those of Liege, Namur, Charleroi, the Centre (including La Louviere) and the Borinage, or basin of Mons, respectively, the last three being, all in the province of Haiuault. The mining district known as the " Borinage " is an ill-defined area with a population of about 130,000, lying west, south-west and south of Mons, comprising some 16 or 18 communes in the arrondissement to which that place gives its name, and is separated from the central basin by a belt of land of varying width in which the coal measures have been denuded ; of this group of communes that of Paturages, six miles to the south-west of Mons, forms more or less the centre. The commune of Paturages, or Les Paturages as it was formerly called, had no independent existence prior to 1760. It was, as its name implies, merely the pasture land over which certain contiguous communes had rights of common of pasture. When, in 1760, Paturages was constituted an independent commune, these rights of common of pasture were set aside, and compensation, in the form of grants of land, was given to each commune and to the Hospices civils (or Indoor Poor-Relief Administration) of Mons, which also shared them, so that even to-day the freehold of much of the land of Paturages is owned, not by individuals, but by other neighbouring communes, and as the whole area is only 820 acres the communal position in Paturages is somewhat peculiar. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, these communes began the practice of granting 99 year leases of their lands in Paturages for building purposes. After a number of years the owners of the buildings began to realise that they were only leas0T holders and not freeholders, and this seriously checked building operations ; the check is, however, in process of removal, for as the leases lapse the extra- communal owners are arranging to sell their freehold rights to purchasers on reasonable terms. One curious result of this land difficulty is that a large portion of Paturages, or what should be Paturages, is not within the commune at all but over the border in the communes of Quaregnon and Wasmes. Even the railway station of Paturages is in the commune of Quaregnon. The greater part of the commune of Paturages is spread over two spurs of the hills which lie to the south, the spurs themselves running almost due north. In the valley between is a small stream, the Rieu du Coeur, which traverses the commune from south to north, and on the western side of the western spur is another stream, the Ruisseau de Wasmes or Rieu des Rats d'Eau ; both streams pass through the commune of Quaregnon, in which they ultimately unite. The distribution of the houses in Paturages is somewhat peculiar. The town straggles in two lines along the western and northern slopes of the two spurs above mentioned, the eastern spur holding the bulk of the village of Paturages proper, and the western an overgrown hamlet the northern end of which merges into the village of Wasmes. About the middle, these two groups of houses are connected by a transverse line of buildings crossing the valley between the spurs, a bridge over the stream completing the junction, so that the general plan of the agglomeration is that of the letter H. The working-class dwellings are nearly all on the lower ground bordering the streams, while the business premises and the houses of the middle classes are, as a rule, situated on the high ground and for the most part close to the Quaregnon border to the north. The main streets are fairly broad but irregular, the smaller ones narrow and tortuous, the whole place having grown up without plan of any kind. Paturages is served by a branch line of the State railway, and local passenger traffic is provided for by a system of electric tramways forming part of the national light railway system. From 1846, when the number of inhabitants was 7,:^45, to 1890, the population grew steadily, especially in the earlier years, but between 1890 and 1900 the increase was very slight, the number of persons in the commune in the latter year being 10,811 ; at FATURAGESr 12^7- the end of 1907 the population was estimated at 11,551. The population returned at the censuses of 1880, 1890 and 1900, and the estimated population at the end of 1907, together with the absolute and percentage increases, between these dates, are shown in the Table below : — Year. Population on 31st December. IncreaBe. Percentage Increase. 1880 1890 1900 1907 (estimated) 10,090 10,739 10,811 11,551 6-1 0-7 ()-8 (in seven years). The excess of births over deaths in Paturages is considerable. The average birth- rate per 1,000 of population for the five years 1904-8 was 20-8, the highest for any individual year being 22-6 in 1905, and the lowest 18-9 in 1908. The average death-rate per 1,000 of population during the same period was 14-4, the highest 15*8 in 1905 and 1908, and the lowest 11*5 in 1906. The rate of infantile mortality in Paturages is decidedly low, the average per 1,000 births for the above period being 83, with a maximum of 99 in 1907 and a minimum of 56 in 1906. In view of the sanitary conditions described on p. 131, the lowness of the recorded mortality is remarkable. The following Table shows the vital statistics of the commune for the five years 1904-8 :— Year. 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 Birtli-rate per 1,000 of Population. 20-8 22-6 20-5 21-3 18-9 Deaith-rate per 1,000 of Population. 14-3 15-8 11-5 14-4 15-8 Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births. 85 83 56 99 92 In view of the somewhat peculiar communal position of Paturages it is perhaps not surprising that the municipality has taken up no public works of any kind. Even the services most commonly found in other towns, water supply and a public abattoir, do not exist. There is no gas in the town and such electricity as is used is supplied by a private company which also furnishes the power for the system of inter-urban tramways referred to above. Occupations, Wages and Hours of Labour. Employment in Paturages is entirely dependent upon the coal mining industry. The principal mining communities of the Borinage in addition to Paturages are, from N.E. to S.W., Ghlin, Cuesmes, Frameries, Quaregnon, Flenu, Wasmes, Hornu, Boussu and Dour. The commune of Paturages may be considered as typical of the mining communes of the district, although conditions are not identical in all the mines, since some are hotter than others and the dip of the seams is not everywhere the same. The wages information, which forms the basis of the figures given in the table which follows, was obtained partly in Paturages and to a considerable extent in neighbouring communes, and may be taken as representing the whole of the Borinage. In che year 1907 there were 23 coal mines at work in the district ; these gave eniployment to 26,307 workers underground, of whom 6,865 were hewers. In addition there were 8,014 employed on the surface, making a total of 34,321 workers. The total q'llantity of coal extracted was 4,934,000 tons (English). A sum of £1,853,000 was paid in wages and salaries, and working expenses amounted to £1,019,000. The total cost of working was £2,872,000, and the value of the coal raised £3,259,000. Of the 23 companies 19 made a profit of £471,000, whilst four incurred a loss amounting to £84,000. The average selling price was 13s. ^^d. per ton (English) ; of this 7s. 6d. or 57 per cent, represented wages, 45. l^d. or 31 per cent, working expenses, and the balance Is. 7d. or 12 per cent, profit. 128 PATUHAGES. Table The course of wages of the miners of the Borinage is shown by the following; Average Daily Earnings of Miners in the Borinage, 1902-7. 1902. 1903. 1904. 1905. 1906. 1907. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. <^. S. £?. s. d. - Hewers 3 5 3 6 3 4 3 6 4 2 4 8 All Underground Workers 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 7 4 All Surface Workers 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 6 Underground and Surface \ Workers together ... J 2 10 2 11 2 10 2 10 3 3 3 8 During 1 908 wages showed a considerable decline. An interesting comparison may be made between the average wages paid in the Borinage and those of the other principal coal districts of Belgium ; this is shown in the following Table : — Average Daily Earnings in the Principal Coal- Mining Districts of Belgium in the year 1907, Districts. Hewers. All Under- ground Workers. All Surface Workers. Underground and Surface Workers together. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Province of Liege (including Liege-and Seraing) 5 1 4 5 2 8 4 Charleroi (including town of Charleroi) 5 8 4 11 2 9 4 3 Centre (including La Louviere) 5 2 4 5 2 11 4 Borinage (including Paturages) 4 8 4 2 6 3 8 Province of Hainault (Charleroi, Centre, and Borinage districts together). 5 2 4 6 2 9 4 From this table it appears that wages in the Borinage are lower than in any of the other districts. This is probably due to the fact that coal mining is practically the only important industry of the Borinage. Iron and steel, glass and other allied industries do not compete to such an extent in the local labour market. As an example : in the whole province of Hainault, J ,734 workmen were employed about blast furnaces alone in the year 1907, of whom 1,630 were in the Charleroi district, 104 in the Centre, and none in the Borinage. In the steel works, all Hainault employed 8,229 men, of whom 6,429 were in the Charleroi district, 1,800 in the Centre and none in the Borinage. In puddling and rolling iron 6,938 men were employed in the whole province of Hainault, of whom 4,970 were in the Charleroi district and 1,968 in the Borinage and Centre combined. It may also be noted that whereas in the other districts a very large number of Flemish hands are employed, the supply of native labour in the Borinage is quite sufficient. The production of coke in the Borinage is important. In 1907 there were 14 establishments engaged in this industry, with 971 ovens and 1,026 workmen. 724,000 tons of coal were consumed and the production of coke amounted to 539,000 tons, worth on the average 21s. M. per ton. The manufacture of briquettes is almost unknown in the Borinage. In Paturages and the other mining towns of the Borinage the chief amusement of the miners consists in shooting, with bow and arrow, at artificial birds set up at the end of a long pole (perche). The shooting meetings are generally the occasion of much drinking and betting. PATURAGBS. 1^9 The following Table shows the predominant weekly wages and hours of labour o( adult males in the principal occupations at Paturages : — Predominant Weekly Wages and Hours of Labour of Adult Males in the Principal Occupations in June, 1908, Predominant Predominant Weekly Wages. Weekly Hours of Labour. Building Trades .— Bricklayers and Masons 26s. 5d. 66 Carpenters 26s. 5d. to 27s. Id. 69 Joiners 19s. 2d. „ 23s. M. 60 to 66 Plumbers 21s. Id. „ 24s. lOc^. 69 Plasterers 26s. 5d. 69 Painters 24s. lOd. 69 Bricklayers' and Masons' Labourers 16s. lOd. to 19s. 2d. 66 Coal Mining : — Hewers 24s. 8d. to 25s. id. 54 to 66* Putteis and Trammers 22s. Id. 60 „ 66» Driftmen 28s. Id. to 29s. M. 48 „ 54* Road Cutters 23s. 6d. 54 „ 66» Enginemen (surface) 28s. to 30s. lOd. 84t Labourers ( „ ) 16s. lOd. to 18s. 3d 60 Printing Trades : — Compositors 21s. Id. 60 Mumicipal Employees : — Paviors 26s. 5d. 54 Paviors' Labourers 19s. 2d. 54 Electricity Works (Company) .• — Enginemen ... 29s. 6d. 721 Stokers 27s. 8d. 72 Electricians 25s. lOd. 72- • Bank-to-bank times. t Including intervals. Representing wages at Brussels by 100, the index numbers for wages at Paturages are 98 for skilled men and 95 for unskilled labourers in the building trades, and 82 for compositors. The Labour Exchange at Paturages is organised by the Comite de Patronage, i.e., by what has been called in these pages the Housing Committee, for the district. It was established about the middle of the year 1895, and at the end of 1907, when it had been in existence about twelve and a half years, there had been offered by employers, through its agency, 7,328 situations, while during the same period the number of applications by workpeople for employment numbered 4,712. In 1907, 862 situations were offered and there were 432 applications for work during the same period. The bulk of the work of the agency consists in the demand for domestic servants, for whom 707 situations were offered in 1907 ; against this number there were only 339 applications for employment. As regards other occupations there were 155 situations offered by employers and 93 applications from workpeople. The Labour Exchange depends entirely for financial support upon grants from certain of the communes, from the province of Hainault and from the State. Its management is in the hands of a committee consisting of an equal number of employers and workpeople with an independent chairman and vice- chairman. The Paturages Labour Exchange differs from most others of the kind in Belgium, in that it serves not only Paturages but the whole of the Borinage. Housing and Rents. As has already been stated, the commune of Paturages consists of tWo distinct groups of houses. One of these groups is the village of Paturages itself, lying on the extreme north-east of the commune, while the other is the so-called hamlet {le Hameau), which covers the greater part of the area of the commune. The upper parts of the village, round the market place, where the church and the offices of the commune and the principal street {la Grande Rue) are situated are occupied by the working classes to a very small extent only.. The tenants^ are chiefly shop 13117 R 130 PaTURAGES. keepers living over their places of business and persons of the middle class, in so tar as these dwell in Paturages at all. Leaving out of consideration the upper parts of the village proper, the houses are well spread out, and gardens of fair size are the rule. This is a natural result of the comparative cheapness of land, suitable building plots costing from 1*. to Is. 8d. per square yard freehold, and the relative sparseness of the population, viz. — 11,551 in 1907, on an area of 820 acres, or 14*1 persons per acre. At the present time the usual size of a building plot is about 240 square yards, of which one quarter is generally covered by the house, leaving about 180 square yards for the garden ; older houses often have gardens of much greater area. It is a characteristic of Paturages that each family occupies a separate house ; the census returns of 1900 showed that the average number of households per house destined for habitation was 0*99, i.e., practically a house to every family. In considering the standard of housing in Paturages, it is possible to divide all houses roughly into two classes which may be briefly described as the old type and the new.. The former are survivals from the days when Paturages was little more than pasture land, being practically converted farm houses, originally large and roomy single- storied buildings with living rooms, cattle stalls, stables and barn all adjoining one another and all under one roof. These houses have been divided into three or four dwellings, the old loft being frequently transformed into attic bedrooms. As the population increased and the need of more housing accommodation began to make itself felt, single-storied cottages with a wide frontage were erected along the various roads, and in a few cases, in groups in the fields at some distance from the road. The lofts under the sloping roofs of these cottages, though hardly intended for such a purpose originally, were sometimes used as attic bedrooms. Some of the cottages were small when built and contained only two rooms of modest size, but generally speaking, they were large and commodious with ample room on the ground floor to accommodate a family of considerable size. In recent years two tendencies have been at work which have greatly modified housing conditions in Paturages : — (a) The subdivision of wide-fronted, large-roomed cottages with no habitable upper rooms into two or more narrow-fronted, small-roomed houses by the conversion of the old lofts into attic bedrooms. In the original house the rooms extended from back to front, now there is a front room and a back room of only half the original depth or less, and very frequently the width has been seriously curtailed. The attic bedrooms resulting from the conversion of the old lofts are at best poor places and often exceedingly bad. (b) The raising of the roofs of transformed cottages in order to provide the new houses with proper bedroom accommodation above the ground floor. The whole question of the subdivision and transformation of cottages at Paturages is closely connected with the very widespread ownership of cottage property in the commune. The purchase of this class of property appears to have been a favourite form of investment among miners and other residents for many years past. Simple subdivision of the cottage frequently occurred when the owner grew old ; be found it unnecessarily large and wished to secure a small income for himself in his old age. The cottage was therefore divided, he living in the best part of it and sub-letting the remainder. If his means allowed, he would have the roof raised and the cottage thoroughly trans- formed, as the extra expenditure generally proved a profitable investment. Frequently the new houses created by the sub-division of these old cottages are sold, and thus the number of small owners is being continually increased. Modern houses are also frequently occupied by their owners ; it is thus not surprising to learn that with about 2,800 dwellings in Paturages there are nearly 1,500 owners of house property in the place. Modern hpuses in Paturages are of the four-roomed type so common in Belgium, and consist of two rooms on the ground floor and two above, without passage of any kind. The stairs are situated between the front and back rooms or at the side of the latter, being, however, in either case shut off in some way. The number of these houses is very limited as compared with those of the older type, and they have very frequently been erected by their occupiers, with or without the aid of a building society, to whose operations more detailed reference is made below. Many of the cottage type of houses, especially when inhabited by their owners, are in a very poor condition indeed and would seem to be more fit for demolition than habitation. This unsatisfactory state of afiairs is largely due to the fact that when one member of a family inherits a cottage from his parents he has to pay over to his brothers and sisters their share of the value of the house, and not infrequently this financial burden prevents him from keeping the cottage in a proper state of repair. PATTJRAGES. 131 The public water supply, if such it can be called, consists of one well, unprovided with either windlass or pump ; those who go to it for water having to supply their own ropes and buckets. The number of private wells in the commune is limited, and the inhabitants are largely driven to the use of rain water collected in cisterns, generally placed in the cellar, from which it is obtained by pumping, or to the two sewage- contaminated streams. The Housing Committee of the district, so far back as 1896, pointed out in a detailed report that these two streams were little better than open sewers. The water was analysed and the percentage of organic matter it contained was found to be very excessive. Despite warnings, the dwellers on the banks of these streams used the water from them for drinking purposes with deplorable results. The working of the upper seams of coal has drained the water from the surface, and the deeper seams have rendered deep well sinking useless ; accordingly, very few of the wells can hold out through a dry season, and the cistern supply, generally very meagre, ceases entirely ; thus, during a period of small rainfall, the inhabitants of Paturages are placed in an exceedingly unpleasant position. Such was the case in the summer and autumn of 1908, so that in November of that year, at the time of the investigator's visit, almost every house was entirely devoid of a water supply, and had been so situated for many weeks. The people were obliged to beg water from their few more fevoured neighbours, walk long distances to obtain it from the public well, or buy it of street hawkers. Though conditions were no doubt specially bad in the autumn of 1908, similar scarcity of water is by no means infrequent ; for years the people have been demanding that the local authority should solve the question of water supply, but so far nothing has been done beyond some abortive attempts to arrange joint schemes with neighbouring communes which are in the same predicament. The sewage disposal arrangements in Paturages are primitive in the extreme ; badly constructed cesspools and puits perdus, i.e., mere holes in the ground, without lining of any kind and serving the same purpose, are common, and their drainage finds its way, as best it can, to the lower levels. The state of the subsoil of Paturages is thus anything but satisfactory, and though some efforts have been made to remedy these evil sanitary conditions, so far they have had but little result. The surface soil is shallow, rarely much more than 30 feet deep and lies immediately over the coal measures, which are of considerable thickness and underlie the whole district. In consequence of the contortion of the strata some of the upper seams crop out on the surface, and these have long ago been worked out and the workings abandoned, with the result that the surface is full of hidden cracks and fissures caused by subsidences. Apart from quite modern houses erected upon the standard plot, measuring about 16 feet 6 inches by 130 feet, it is impossible to generalise as to the dimensions of working- class tenements. Two, three and four rooms appear to be the most frequent, the usual arrangement being two ground-floor rooms, one upper and two lower rooms, and two lower with two upper rooms respectively. The following details of a few of the dwellings visited by the investigator will serve to give some idea of the size of houses in Paturages. (1) A small house at the end of the market place : — Front room 14 feet by 16 feet 6 inches, back room 14 feet square ; height 9 feet ; stairs at side of kitchen. Upstairs one bedroom and a lumber room. Water supply from a well. Rent 2s, per week. (2) Small house (sub-division of a former cottage) with two rooms upstairs and two below. Dimensions of front room 9 feet by 11 feet 6 inches, and of back room 9 feet by 13 feet. Water from well and cistern. Rent 2s. Sd. weekly. (3) A modern new house with front room 14 feet by 11 feet 6 inches ; kitchen oehind, 15 feet by 14 feet. Stairs between front and back room. Two bedrooms above of similar dimensions. Water from cistern only. Rent 2 s. M. weekly. (4) A cottage, with a large room, 11 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 6 inches, and two small ones at the side, one at the back and one at the front, 8 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 6 inches. No upper rooms. One well and one cistern for three houses. Rent Is. 8d. weekly. (5) A two-roomed dwelling, with no upper rooms, part of an old cottage : — One large room 15 feet by 16 feet 6 inches, and a small one at the side 7 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 6 inches. Rent Is. 4d. weekly. (6) A fairly modern house containing two rooms upstairs and two downstairs. Front rooms 15 feet by 16 feet 6 inches, back rooms 16 feet 6 inches square. Staircase between front and back rooms. Water from cistern. Rent 2s. Id. weekly, (7) A two-roomed tenement, originally one room of a cottage. Each room 20 feet by 6 feet 6 inches ; height only 7 feet 6 inches. Water from cistern. Rent Is. 4id. weekly. 13117 B 2 132 PATUBAGES. ' (8) A two-roomed house, part of a former cottage ; both'rooms on the ground' floor, each 11 feet 6 inches by 13 feet. Water from cistern. Rent Is. 4i. weekly. (9) An old four -roomed house, part of a former cottage: — Two rooms below; each 8 feet 3 inches by 15 feet ; two attic bedrooms above of the same size. Rent Is. 8d. weekly. (10) A four-roomed house with a large front room, 16 feet 6 inches square, and a small back room, 8 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 6 inches, below and two bedrooms above, of the same size. Stairs at the side of the kitchen. Rent Is. lOd. weekly. -^ Such building regulations as exist in Paturages are embodied in the Police Regula- tions, which require, among, other things, that the height of rooms (other than attics), intended' for habitation shall not be less than 8 feet 6 inches. The following summary Table showing the predominant rents of dwellings of various sizes does not call for special comment. The rents do not apply to any of the best type of modern four-roomed houses, as on the one hand these are comparatively few in number, and on the other they are hardly ever let, being almost invariably occupied by their owners.. Predominant Bents of Worhing'Class Dwellings. Number of Booma per Dwelling. Predominant Weekly EentB. Two rooms Three rooms Four rooms Is, %d. to Is. 5i. Is. M. „ Is. 9d. Is. 9d. „ 2s. 3d. Rent at Paturages is lower than at any other of the towns included in the present enquiryj the index number being 43, as compared with 100 at Brussels. Two building societies organised under the law of August 9, 1889, carry on operations in Paturages. The one is the Foyer de VOuvrier Borain and the other the Epargne Ouvrihre ; both societies have their head offices at Mons. The Foyer de VOuvrier Borain was founded in 1891, and has a capital of £12,000, on which the uncalled liability is £10,756. Since its establishment it has made 659 loans for the purchase or construction of houses, the total amount lent being £65,190. 484 of these loans, amounting to £38,939, were outstanding on December 31, 1907. At the same time the society owed £36,320 in respect of loan capital, and had paid, in the year 1907, £1,151 in interest on. the same, including £971 to the National Savings Bank. The 659 loans of the society have been made in 28 different communes, of which those of Dour and Boussu, with 112 and 107 advances respectively, are the most important. Paturages comes fourth on the list with 52. Taking all the communes together, some two-thirds of the loans have been made to miners, and it is probable that the proportion in Paturages is even greater. The Epargne Ouvriere was established in 1893, and has a share capital of £24,000, of which £19,430 is subscribed but has not been called up. At the end of 1907 this society had effected. 1,180 loans for a total sum of £123,832, of which at the same date l,05l loans, for a total sum of £105,352, were outstanding. .On December 31, 1907, £100,480 was owing to the National Savings Bank in respect of borrowed capital, and £2,330 in respect of interest. The society has never published or prepared statistics showing the number of loans granted in different communes, and thus the number for Paturages cannot' be stated exactly, but the officers of the society estimated it at about one hundred. The Epargne Ouvriere lends sums at 3| per cent, per annum, upon the condition that the borrower provides, in money or in land, not less than one-tenth of the value of the house and land, which is to serve as security for the loan. The borrower is under an obligation to live in the house and not to use it, or any part of it, for the sale of alcoholic drinks. The repayments are to be made by monthly instalments. The type of house generally bnilt with moneys borrowed from one or other of these building societies on the usual building plot of 16 feet 6 inches by 130 feet has, as a rule, two rooms on the ground floor, about 15 feet 6 inches by 13 feet to 16 feet 6 inches ; two bedrooms above, and a lumber room over these, the staircase being placed between the back and front rooms. Sometimes there is a passage leading through the house either to the back yard or to the kitchen only, but the commonest arrange- ment is one in which there is no passage at all, both the front and back rooms occupying the whole width of the house and being in communication. The ground floor is cellared and contains the rain-water tank. The owners of this class of property, PATlTRAGfiS. 133 when they have saved' sufficient money, or have paid off enough to "enable them to borrow a little more, frequently build an addition at the back of the house to serve as a kitchen. The advantages enjoyed by a workman building his own house in Paturages are the same as in other parts of Belgium under the law of August 9, 1889. They consist in the remission of about half the duties and law charges, including the lawyer's fees, in connection with the transfer and registration of the property and the preparation of the mortgage on which the loan is secured. Further, if the rateable value of the house in a commune with between 3,000 and 20,000 inhabitants does, as in the case of Paturages, not exceed £3 16s. lOd. per annum, which corresponds with an actual weekly rent of about 3s. 8d., all personal taxes, based upon the value, the rent and the number of doors and windows of the house, whether payable to the State, to the Province or to the Commune, are remitted. Retail Prices. Groceries and other Commodities,' The market of Paturages is comparatively unimportant, and the town is well supplied by private traders and branch establishments of large firms with shops all over the country. There is a Socialist , Co-operative Society doing a considerable trade, of which, as usual, the bakery forms the basis. The prices paid by the working classes for articles of common consumption are set out in the table: below. The conditions of sale and prices of bread and coal require some comment. ; Bread. — Every baker is required to be registered and has a number assigned to him, which number, stamped in figures 1 J inches high, must appear on all loaves made by him, with the exception of cakes,. fancy articles and. loaves of ordinary bread of less than I'l lb. in weight. All loaves of and above 2*2 lb., made or sold within the commune, must be marked with dots in the bread, as follows : Loaves of 2'2 lb., two dots ; of 3'3 lb., three dots ; of 4'4 lb., four dots. These dots must be four-fifths of an inch apart. Scales and weights are to be kept in the baker's shop always ready for use, so that the purchaser or an official may have a loaf weighed at any time. All loaves not stamped as above, or of short weight, may be seized . Coa^.^Miners are entitled to coal at reduced rates, but this arrangement applies to married men only. The price to ordinary purchasers ranges from 8^d. to d^d. per cwt. Married miners are, however, allowed to purchase up to 8 cwt. monthly at prices varying according to quality from 3J