HOUSING OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER. 289 
the earliest opportunity should be taken to make it an adequate weapon. 
In Bengal and Bombay Presidencies particularly, Town Planning Acts 
are urgently required and we believe that in other provinces this form of 
legislation would be found useful. These Acts should provide for the 
acquisition and lay-out of suitable areas for working class populations 
and for the opening up and reconstruction of congested and insanitary 
areas. Fchemcs approved by the Ministry of Health should be eligible 
for Government grants and loans. Other sections of the same Acts should 
deal with the “zoning of industrial and urban towns, whereby in 
future the erection of new factories or other industrial CONCerns can 
be prohibited, except in areas specially allotted for industrial develop- 
ment, and other areas can be reserved for industrial housing schemes. 
The principle of zoning has been applied with advantage in other coun- 
tries and its early application in India would prohibit for the future the 
haphazard growth which has so much enhanced town-planning diffi- 
culties. Other provinces might well follow the example of Madras by 
appointing a Director of Town Planning so that expert advice might 
be available, not only to local authorities, but to leaders of industry. 
Improvement Trusts. 
In some of the large centres such as Bombay, Calcutta and 
Rangoon, Improvement and Development Trusts have done valuable work 
in opening up congested areas, in re-planning those under reconstruction. 
and in preparing new areas for housing schemes. Such bodies are usually 
provided with full powers to acquire land for these purposes, but so far, 
except in Bombay, they have attempted little in the way of providing 
working class housing. Apparently, private individuals and local autho- 
rities were left to provide the houses after sites had been prepared. The 
re-planning and rebuilding of some of the smaller slums can be dealt 
with in this manner, but we consider it to be the duty of every Improve- 
ment Trust to provide housing for the working classes and recommend 
that this should be a statutory obligation. The Cawnpore Improvement 
Trust and the Rangoon Development Trust are two examples which may 
be quoted in support of this recommendation. In both these cities the 
Trusts have done admirable work in opening up and developing areas 
suitable for housing, but there is some reason to fear that one result of 
their activities has been to increase overcrowding, particularly in those 
areas where congestion was worst. Moreover, in certain cases there 
seems to be lack of co-operation between Municipal Councils and Im- 
provement Trusts. It should be possible for the latter to provide land, 
roads, sewers and sanitary conveniences for new areas where loans 
have been raised, but the cost of street lighting and water mains 
should be met by the Municipalities in the same manner as for other 
areas within municipal limits. So far as existing slums are concerned 
Municipal Couneils need not acquire the land as they have the power to 
condemn houses unfit for human habitation. Improvement Trusts can 
Acquire a whole area, develop it and lay it out. These different methods 
are applicable to different cases, but we believe that progress will only be 
made possible when these bodies co-operate whole-heartedly with each