HOUSING OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER, 291 
into operation ; and, judging from the purposes for which they have been 
used from time to time, there appears to be considerable uncertainty 
as to the class of cases to which they should properly be applied. Several 
applications from large industrial concerns in Bengal have been rejected 
within recent years, because Government was advised that these did not 
come under the definition laid down in Section 40 of the Land Acquisition 
Act. In their report the Indian Industrial Commission recommended 
that the local Government should acquire land compulsorily from pri- 
vate persons on behalf of an industrial concern, if certain conditions were 
satisfied. Discussing the question of industrial housing, the Commission 
also recommended that Government should use its power to acquire land 
on behalf of employers for the housing of labour subject to certain safe- 
guards and that, at the cost of Government or the local authorities, land 
might also be acquired and leased to employers at easy rates for the 
same purpose. We consider that, where employers are willing to cons- 
truct houses for employees, they should be assisted by Government to 
acquire the necessary building land, provided that the schemes have 
theapproval of the Ministry of Health. We therefore recommend that the 
Land Acquisition Act be so amended as to provide that the housing of 
labour shall be deemed to be a work likely to prove useful to the public 
and that the definition of “ Company ” be so modified as to include in- 
dustrial concerns owned by individuals or associations of individuals. 
These modifications do not seem to us to involve any change in the 
principles of the Act. 
Cheaper Types of Houses. 
Some of the type plans used by employers and others seemed 
to us to be unnecessarily expensive and, as it is of first importance to 
conserve financial resources, every effort should be made to evolve 
cheaper types. Acceptable designs will naturally vary from place 
to place according to the customs of the people, but experiments 
with different plans and materials cannot fail to prove advantageous. 
We have in mind the experiments carried out by the Empress Mills in 
Nagpur under the supervision of their welfare officer. There it has been 
demonstrated that two-roomed houses of suitable size, with adequate light 
and ventilation, can be constructed at a cost of Rs. 350 per unit. The 
development of schemes of these cheaper types would make the provi- 
sion of decent workers’ houses a much less remote contingency than 
it otherwise seems. In order to stimulate interest and to explore 
the best types, Government might consider the possibility of offering 
Prizes for plans and specifications of working class hoses. costing not 
more than a fixed amount. 
Co-operative Building Societies. 
A housing society on co-operative lines is being started by the 
Management of the Calico Mills in Ahmedabad, the workers’ share of 
bhe cost being advanced by the Company. Generally speaking, however, 
few attempts have been made to use co-operative building societies as a 
Means to provide additional housing for the working classes. An