422

REMSCHEID.

with  several  floors  and  two  dwellings  as  a  rule  on  each  floor.  The  half-timber
buildings,  which  represent  the  traditional  architecture  of  the  Berg  country,
are  for  the  most  part  one  or  two  family  houses,  and  the  working  classes
usually  tenant  these  older  houses.  OE  1,179  workmen  who  made  returns  on
the  point  for  the  purpose  of  this  report,  900  or  76  3  per  cent,  lived  in  “halftimber ­
  ”  houses  (501  in  two-room  and  399  in  three-room  dwellings)  and  279
or  23  7  per  cent,  in  “  massive”  houses  (163  in  two-room  and  116  in  three-room
dwellings).  The  “half-timber”  houses  may  consist  either  of  the  ground  floor
only,  or  of  the  ground  floor  and  an  attic  story,  or  the  ground  floor,  a  first  story,
and  an  attic  story.  In  any  case  the  rooms  are  as  a  rule  smaller  than  in
dwellings  of  the  modern  flat  type,  for  here,  as  in  other  towns  where  the  smallhouse
  system  survives,  number  of  rooms  is  attained  at  the  expense  of  size.  There
are  great  inequalities  of  accommodation,  however,  and  in  the  outlying  parts  of  the
town  the  sanitary  arrangements  are  often  unsatisfactory,  though  there  has  been
a  distinct  improvement  since  the  last  typhoid  outbreak  of  1901.  The  newer
houses  are  much  better,  and  in  them  the  municipal  building  laws  are  enforced
with  some  vigour.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  subletting,  and  lodgers  are
frequently  taken  in  to  board.
The  usual  accommodation  of  a  working-class  family  is  two  or  three  rooms,
though  often  er  two  than  three.  Of  1,365  dwellings  actually  tenanted  by
working  people  whose  rents  were  classified  for  the  purpose  of  this  report,  664
or  48'6  per  cent,  consisted  of  two  rooms,  515  or  37*7  per  cent,  of  three  rooms,
128  or  9*4  per  cent,  of  four  rooms,  while  47  (3*4  per  cent.)  had  five  or  six
rooms,  and  11  (0*8  per  cent.)  had  one  room  only.  The  kitchen  is  invariably  used
as  the  living  room  and  not  infrequently  it  contains  a  bed,  if  not  more  than  one.
There  is  considerable  variety  in  rents,  according  as  the  dwellings  are  in  the
inner  town  or  in  the  environs,  and  this  is  particularly  so  in  the  case  of  dwellings
of  three  rooms.  Kent  is  calculated  per  room.  In  the  town  the  general  range  is
from  £4  10s.  to  £5  per  annum  for  an  ordinary  room  and  from  £2  Ids.  upwards
for  an  attic  room.

Predominant  Weekly  Bents  of  Working  Class  Dwellings.

Number  of  Rooms  per  Tenement.

Two  rooms  .
Three  rooms

Predominant  Weekly  Rent.

Inner  Town.

3s.  to  3S.  10d.
3s.  10d.  to  5s.  9d.

Outer  Districts.

Remscheid
as  a  whole.

3s.  to  3s.  6t/.
3s.  6d.  to  4s.  Id.

3s.  to  3s.  6d.
3s.  Gd.  to  5s.  2d.

As  a  rule  a  two-room  dwelling  in  a  half-timber  house  costs  6d.  per  week
less  than  one  in  a  “  massive  ”  building,  and  the  difference  is  proportionately
greater  in  the  case  of  three-room  tenements.  The  general  rule  is  that  the  tenant
must  do  the  papering  and  whitewashing,  and  he  usually  pays  for  the  removal  of
refuse,  the  emptying  of  cesspools,  and  chimney  cleaning.  In  the  newer  houses
the  landlord  undertakes  the  papering,  &c.,  and  the  rents  are  somewhat  higher
in  consequence.  Though  the  rent  is  reckoned  by  the  year  (from  May  to  May),
it  is  paid  monthly.  #
The  above  rents  must  be  regarded  as  high  for  a  town  of  the  size  of
Kein  scheid,  although  they  are  not  so  high  as  in  the  neighbouring  town  of
Solingen.  The  dearness  of  house  accommodation  is  due  in  part  to  the
geographical  conditions,  which  render  the  land  available  for  building  purposes
both  scanty  and  dear,  and  also  to  the  difficulty  of  procuring  building  materials
(since  the  neighbourhood  offers  no  sources  of  supply).  Taking  rent  in  Berlin
as  100,  the  corresponding  figure  for  Remscheid  is  56.
The  foregoing  rents  include  the  charge  for  water,  but  no  other  taxes.
The  taxes  which  fall  on  the  working  classes  in  Remscheid  are  the  State  income
tax,  subject  to  the  exemption  of  incomes  not  exceeding  £45,  a  municipal
supplement  to  this  tax,  which  falls  upon  all  incomes  above  £21,  and  a  church  tax.
The  municipal  income  tax  is  230  per  cent,  of  the  State  income  tax  on  incomes
above  £45,  on  incomes  between  £33  and  £45  it  is  150  per  cent,  of  a  nominal
State  assessment  of  4s.  (viz.,  6s.),  and  on  incomes  between  £21  and  £33  it  is
125  per  cent,  of  a  nominal  State  assessment  of  2s.  4'8d.  (viz.,  3s.),  while  the
church  tax  is  30  per  cent,  of  the  State  income  tax  in  the  case  of  Protestants  and