AACHEN.
47
local super-tax incomes between £33 and £45 are also liable, the tax being
135 per cent, of an assumed State tax of 4s. The effect of the super-tax is that
small incomes would pay the following amounts for local purposes :—
Amount of local surtax.
5s. 5d.
8s. Id.
12s. 2d.
16s. 2d.
21s. Id.
28s. 4d.
35s. Id.
41s. KM.
Incomes.
£33 to £45, inclusive
£45 to £52 10s., inclusive
£52 10s. to £60, inclusive
£60 to £67 10s , inclusive
£67 10s. to £75, inclusive
£75 to £82 10s., inclusive
£82 10s. to £90, inclusive
£90 to £105, inclusive
While the housing accommodation provided during the last 30 or 40 years
is good, and increasingly so as it is of more recent origin, there is a vast amount
of unequivocal “ slum ” property. The conditions in some of the older houses
are extremely bad —dilapidated buildings, dark and fetid approaches, landings
which barely allow of the doors turning on their hinges, small and low rooms,
damp and rot in wall and wood, and a mass of poverty, dirt, and squalor beyond
description. Many of the staircases are enveloped in pitch darkness, so that it
is necessary to grope one’s way by the help of a rail, and others so steep that
it is unsafe to descend them face forward. In such districts house regulations are
of no avail, and it would be useless to attempt to enforce their provisions as to
cleanliness and order, for dirt and grime seem to belong to the natural order of
things. In normal houses, however, tolerable tidiness is preserved in the
approaches, and in many cases, where children are not too numerous, the
condition of things is beyond reproach. The rule is that stairs and landings
must be brushed every day and washed twice a week (on Wednesday and
Saturday), the tenants taking the duty in turn, and, where the landlord lives in
the house or is represented by a good agent, the rule is faithfully observed.
Several extracts from the report of the House Inspector for the year 1904
will give a fair indication of the prevalent deficiencies. “ During the year,” he
writes, “ 114 properties, containing 174 inhabited houses (¿.<?., blocks) were
inspected. These 174 houses contained 1,106 tenements, with 2,390 living and
bedrooms, including kitchens (an average of 2T6 rooms per dwelling). 1,808 of
these rooms were used as bedrooms, 1,752 by members of the tenants’ families,
and 56 by lodgers or servants. Of the 2,390 rooms, 1,089 were used
exclusively as bedrooms, 719 as kitchens and bedrooms, and 582 as livingrooms
or kitchens. In these 2,390 rooms were 616 male and 623 female persons
under 12 years, and 1,534 male and 1,540 female persons above 12 years, these
all being members of the tenants’ families ; while in the 56 rooms occupied by
lodgers and servants were 38 males and 11 females. Of the 1,107 inhabited
dwellings inspected, 278 consisted of one room, 467 of two rooms, 190 of
three rooms, 79 of four rooms, 15 of five rooms, and 31 of more than five
rooms. There were 47 empty dwellings, containing together 78 rooms—viz.,
24 of one room, 17 of two rooms, four of three rooms, and two of four rooms.
Complaint was laid in respect of 64 alcove bedrooms, 11 bedrooms on account of
overcrowding, 105 bedrooms on account of non-separation of sexes, 77 bedrooms
where the floor was less than 10 inches above the earth level, 34 bedrooms
on account of damp, three bedrooms on account of bad doors, 47 bedrooms whose
windows were insufficient in size, 22 bedrooms with defective flooring, and
10 bedrooms which were simultaneously used as workshops. The following were
also condemned:—16 buildings with defective stairs or balustrades, one
building With defective roof, 23 dwellings in which the plaster on ceilings and
walls wits defective, 35 properties with defective w.c. arrangements, two cellars
and eio'ht attics on account of accumulations of filth, 27 buildings with
defective chimneys, and three properties without proper water supply.”
Unquestionably the most serious aspect of the housing question at Aachen
is the smallness of the dwellings (two rooms, as has been shown, being the
predominant size), for it is here that the children problem comes in. Large
families are common among the working classes of Aachen, and under such
circumstances the observance of hygienic and moral conditions of life is a matter
