BILLETING--TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION--PERMANENT ACCOMMODATION
Of the indirect problems arising from a prolific output of munitions the
most acute has undoubtedly been the affair of the housing of the workers.
The opening of a new factory, or the conversion of existing works to the
needs of the State, often involve the transference of thousands of
workers, and in some cases the districts to which the stream of
immigration is directed are already congested, and already suffering from
inadequate housing accommodation.
In one town in the North, for example, the population has since 1914
increased by immigration from 16,000 to 35,000; in another town, where the
1911 census showed a population of 107,821, an unexaggerated estimate
gives the figure for the end of 1917 as 120,000; in other munition areas a
similar inflation of population has taken place. The housing problem has
been further complicated by the almost total prohibition of building
during the war period, save for Government purposes.
The effect of these conditions in the early days of the war was, as may be
imagined, highly unsatisfactory to the residents in certain munition
areas, as well as to the immigrant work-people. Overcrowding became rife;
lodgers were at the mercy of unscrupulous landladies, and all the evils
associated with bad housing conditions began to make their appearance.
Then the Ministry of Munitions came to grips with the question, and
although it remains a thorny subject, the activities of the Department may
be fairly said to have accomplished a miracle in some areas in the housing
of the munition workers.
The infinite variety of local conditions, as well as the humanness of the
workers, obviously complicate the matter, and while it has been found
possible to synthesize the factory system of a given area, no stereotyped
regulations can conceivably be produced to cover the accommodation of its
employees. The problem is therefore attacked piece-meal, each local
proposition being decided on its own merits. A broad guiding principle
has, however, been educed wherever the housing situation occasioned by the
output of munitions demands State intervention. In the first place, it is
decided whether the needed accommodation can be met in part, or
altogether, by existing houses--a system now sanctioned by the Billeting
Act of May 1917. Secondly, when it is found necessary to provide further
housing room, consideration is given as to whether new buildings shall be
of a temporary or of a permanent type.
_Billeting_
Chronologically, an authorized system of billeting munition workers has
been the latest development in the State housing schemes, but even in the
early days of the war this arrangement existed in embryo. Local committees
were then appointed which, with the aid of the Employment Bureaux,
compiled lists of suitable lodgings for immigrant women workers. From the
earliest war period, too, provision was made to meet young women
new-comers at railway stations and to place them, if necessary, in
temporary unimpeachable lodgings, until permanent accommodation was
available. This scheme has now developed into the regularized activities
of a Billeting Board (established August 1917), working under powers given
by the Billeting Act. Under this enactment, compulsory billeting is
provided for, but in practice is not adopted, sufficient facilities having
so far been forthcoming from voluntary sources.
The Billeting Board works in hearty co-operation with local authorities
and individuals, and has met with extraordinary success. In the first
instance, two executive members of the Board proceed to a congested
munitions area and, with local aid, institute an inquiry as to whether
billeting can be successfully carried out. In such areas as the Clyde, or
Woolwich, billeting would, for example, be out of the question, but in
other localities, such as Barrow and Hereford, where public opinion ran
that there was no further accommodation even for a stray cat, the Board
has yet found suitable billets for 900 persons in Barrow and 1,200 in
Hereford.
The question of transit, it is true, is intimately connected with the
housing problem, and through the action of the Billeting Board it has in
many cases been possible to remove difficulties of locomotion, and hence
to bring further accommodation within reach of the factories. The Board
has also been enabled to form local committees on which sit
representatives of each housing interest (e. g. landlady, locality,
lodger), and it has authority to recover rent from defaulting tenants.
These, and other powers, have resulted in throwing many additional
apartments on to the market. Yet difficulties remain in the administration
of the Act in that the industrial workers are under no discipline such as
that applied to soldiers, and there is no local authority to compel a
munitions worker either to go into a given billet, or to remain there
when placed. The goodwill of the locality and of the employees has,
however, been so great that the system works smoothly, and from August
1917 to December 31, 1917, 3,000 to 5,000 munition workers have been
placed in existing houses. In a congested district where lodging
accommodation is exhausted, the Billeting Board reports on the need for
further houses, and at such centres as Barrow and Lincoln new houses are
now being erected on their recommendation.
_Temporary Accommodation_
Excluding the utilization of local lodgings and the adaptation of existing
buildings such as Poor-Law structures, Elementary Schools, charitable
institutions, three distinct types of provisional accommodation for
munition workers have made their appearance: temporary cottages, hostels,
and colonies. The temporary cottage corresponds fairly closely to the
ordinary type of permanent industrial cottage, save that the former is
built of wood or concrete and is usually one story instead of two; it
contains three to five rooms, and is rented on the basis of about 5_s._
6_d._ to 7_s._ 6_d._ per week for a three-roomed abode.
Generally speaking, these rooms are allocated to married rather than to
single women; sometimes the wife, as well as the husband, works in the
neighbouring factory, but more usually the wife, housed in the temporary
cottage, remains at home, housekeeping for the man worker. The unmarried
girls and women workers in crowded districts are generally accommodated in
hostels, or in colonies, the term used for a group of hostels. The hostel,
which is designed to accommodate from 30 to 100 persons, is provided with
its own kitchen, dining-room, and common-room, and to a certain extent
life therein approximates to that of a large family.
The Colony, or group of hostels, has been found convenient where a large
number of women must be housed. Each hostel, or hutment, in the group is
arranged for the sleeping accommodation of 100-130 persons, the
dormitories being divided into cubicles (some single, some double),
accommodation for bath-rooms being always made in these dormitory blocks.
Under the Colony system, meals are usually partaken of in a separate
building or buildings. The residents from all the hutments also meet in
the recreation-room and in the laundry, common to all.
Experience, however, teaches that each hostel should have its own common
room and that a Colony should not shelter very large numbers. About 500
girls, in five hostels, seems to be the ideal number for effective
home-making, yet we have large housing schemes for the accommodation of
many thousands which are at present answering their purpose as a war-time
measure. For the management of the Colony an exceptionally capable lady
superintendent is needed, into whose hands usually falls the selection of
the hutment matrons and their staffs, as well as the canteen managers and
their subordinates. In the most developed Colonies a recreation officer is
often appointed.
I recall a visit to one of the largest Colonies for munition workers in
the Midlands. The scheme embraces the housing and feeding of some 6,000
women, drawn from every part of the United Kingdom, indeed, possibly from
every corner of the Empire. The staff, in all, comprises some 300 persons.
Perfect harmony reigned, and the girls seemed thoroughly at home in their
novel surroundings. Each girl can claim a separate cubicle, which is
divided from the adjoining compartment by a wall and door. Here and there,
indeed, the arrangement was varied and two friends--terrified at sleeping
alone--had secured permission to pool their bedrooms and to arrange a
double sleeping-room and dressing-room.
The cubicle system is, notwithstanding, much appreciated by the woman,
who, working in company of hundreds of her fellows, and sharing perhaps a
common life for the first time, rejoices in the possession of some spot in
which to express her inner self. In some cubicles in that Colony a desire
for beauty asserted itself and the walls were gay with prints from
illustrated papers; in others, dainty coloured curtains had been
introduced and the locker was covered with a cloth to match. In another
room, the owner had evidently a taste for embroidery, and all the toilet
accessories bore this feminine touch. But, generally speaking, the chief
feature I noticed in that, as well as in other Colonies where the cubicle
system prevails, was the cleanliness and order of the apartments. A taste
for purity is infectious, and it is unlikely that girls, having once come
under an influence that induces them to leave their sleeping apartment
immaculate before going to work before dawn, will ever again tolerate slum
conditions.
The many problems involved in the housing of these girls of various types
are indeed almost lost sight of by the visitor, but, as a lady
superintendent once reminded me, there are difficulties inherent in the
job. Some girls will arrive with uncleanly habits, even when the medical
officer has sorted out those unclean in person; others will, at first,
show signs of violent antipathies and strange fears, and there is always
the need for upholding an atmosphere of religious and racial toleration.
In the Midlands Colony a system has been adopted of placing the bedrooms
of girls from one part of the United Kingdom in the same corridor, the
Irish in one wing, the Scotch in another, and so on, but in the other
parts of the country I have found perfect harmony where such
classification is not observed.
[Illustration: PAINTING A SHIP'S SIDE IN DRY DOCK]
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF WOMEN AT WORK ON AIRCRAFT FABRIC]
[Illustration: THE CANTEEN]
The feeding of the hostel residents presents its own difficulties,
especially in these days of war. In some hostels and colonies, such as the
one in the Midlands, the residents take their meals in their own canteen;
it being possible to supply the needs of a shift in the interval from
work. In other hostels, arrangements are made by which meals can be had
either at the hostel or the factory canteen.
In these days of fluctuating food prices, it is difficult to indicate the
cost of up-keep of a munition-workers' hostel, but, in general, it has not
been found practicable to put the hostel on an entirely self-supporting
basis. This is especially the case in the Government establishments, where
the return on expended capital is at present only sought in increased
munitions output.
_Permanent Accommodation_
At first sight, the provision of temporary accommodation alone may appear
the obvious method for the housing of munition workers. Cheaper and more
rapid construction is obtainable by this method, and existing buildings
may be adapted. But if, in an area of pre-war housing shortage, there is
good prospect of permanent manufacturing activity, it is more often
decided that permanent, rather than temporary, structures are provided.
It may be of interest to note the methods that have been adopted by the
State in the provision of permanent accommodation. These may be detailed
under four heads:
1. In a certain number of cases loans have been made to Public Utility
Societies for the construction of dwellings for munition workers. Such
loans are conditioned after the manner already made familiar to the public
by Garden Suburb and other Associations.
2. Loans have been made directly to certain individual firms to enable
them to house their immigrant employees. These loans have been issued at
the current rate of interest--usually 5 per cent.--and run, generally
speaking, for a period of forty years.
3. In a few exceptional cases, certain private firms--now Controlled
Establishments--are permitted to charge a part of the increase on the cost
of building (due to war conditions) to that portion of the firm's profits
which would otherwise have gone to the Exchequer.
4. A contribution is, in some instances, made by the State to certain
local authorities of a part of the capital cost of building. In all cases
this contribution is less than the estimated increase due to war
conditions.
The type of permanent building erected by such means is that which
characterizes many of our newer industrial districts, namely a two-story
brick cottage, containing two or three bedrooms, a living-room and a
kitchen, a bath, in some cases a bath-room. Sometimes a complete village
or township has arisen, as it were from the earth, to shelter the working
population who have so willingly left their homes to further the common
cause by land and sea. In another instance, a large National factory has
been erected on an isolated waste in the North country. The workers come
from long distances, and not only need accommodation, but some reasonable
provision for recreation and the amenities of life.
Beyond the great high road sweeping on to Scotland, some one- or
two-roomed cottages, a village shop or two, and a few more imposing
residences there was, in June 1915, nothing but bogland in the immediate
neighbourhood of the site of this new factory. The landscape presented a
view of coarse grass and brackish water; beyond that, beach and sea, and a
horizon bounded by rugged mountains, capped in winter by snow. It needed
courage, as well as genius, to undertake the transformation of such a
desolate waste into surroundings which should offer a lure to industrial
workers. But the work has been done in silence, quickly as well as
efficiently, with imagination, as well as thoroughness, and with an eye to
the future destiny of the place.
By July 1915, the first huts were occupied, and by December 1917, when I
was a privileged visitor, there had arisen a thriving busy township and a
village some five miles beyond. Excellent railway communication between
township, village, and factory has been established, many good roads have
been built, there are permanent cottages, churches, a school, shops, a
staff club, an institute, a large entertainment hall, a cinema house, and
a central kitchen, providing cooked meals for all the workers in the
factories, and raw food-stuff for hostels and huts. Little gardens
surround the houses big and small, temporary or permanent, and allotments
are in great request, and there is also provision for outdoor recreation,
such as bowls, tennis, cricket, &c. The permanent brick cottages are built
in blocks of twelve, which are now thrown together to form a hostel. The
construction is so planned that ultimately these cottages can be
re-separated for family use.
There is housing accommodation for over 6,000 women operators, which was
practically all in use. The task of supervising the home conditions of
this army of women falls into the hands of a lady Welfare Superintendent,
who keeps all the complicated machinery of hostels, huts, and lodgings in
running order. The possibilities in the housing of industrial women away
from their own homes have, I believe, never been so clearly demonstrated
as in this town on the marshes. The lady superintendent who has pioneered
this movement is of the opinion that its success is bound up with the fact
that the hostels are limited to the accommodation of from 70 to 100 girls
in each. Other key-notes to the prevailing happiness of the women
residents are, I gathered, that a minimum number of rules are enforced and
that the women are treated as responsible human beings. The elder women
are often housed in bungalows under the care of a housekeeper-cook, and
they greatly enjoy the greater independence and the appeal to their
individuality possible in such surroundings.
The hostels, at the time of my visit, were in most hospitable mood. It was
the eve of Christmas, and festivities, tempered to war-time needs, were
the order of the day. The sound of a piano and singing outside a certain
hostel suggested a frolic within. We entered, the lady superintendent and
myself. The lower floor had been converted into reception-rooms and supper
was laid out on tables decorated with spoils from the hedge. Gleaming red
berries and glistening holly-leaves were on walls and brackets and here
and there a sprig of mistletoe placed in suitable places for 'auld lang
syne'. There were present young men, as well as girls, and a lively game,
'the Duke of York', was in progress.
Suddenly the singing and accompaniment came to a sudden halt and the whole
of the company trouped in from adjoining rooms. A young girl came forward.
'We wish to take this opportunity', she said, 'of thanking our matron and
our secretary for the most happy time we have had under this roof. We do
it now because we hope not to be here next year, but instead to be
welcoming our boys home from the Front'. It was a simple, spontaneous
expression of the general emotion of the hostel residents in that area.
Everywhere I found a similar joy of life among the workers: in the
Institute clubs, where both girls and men were reading, studying, singing,
and dancing; in the cinema hall, where the ever-popular 'movies' were
taking place; and in the big recreation hall, where a weekly 'social' was
being held. There, two girls provided the band, to which other girls
danced with girls, or with men in khaki, or with factory workers in
civilian dress. There was a healthy comradeship between girls and men and,
when the hour of parting came there were leave-takings of which no one
could be ashamed. Laughter and jollity in plenty, and snatches of song up
and down the darkened streets, as group after group found its way home,
but self-respect and dignity noticeably present.
In a new town, emerging during the hurry and bustle of the war, amongst
new occupations, at which women needs must wear a masculine costume, we
have at least accomplished this: that the spirit of home-life, of joy,
and of love has not been discouraged: rather has it been fostered, or
rekindled, in these unaccustomed homes provided by the State. Indeed, many
of the girls passing through this strange war-time adventure have
assuredly gained by their pilgrimage precisely in those qualities most
needed by the wives and mothers of the rising generation.
It was an inspiring glimpse into a new industrial world, a portent, maybe,
of the time to come. The words of a golden sonnet welled up:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when, with eagle eyes,
He stared at the Pacific--and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise--
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Welfare work has since been officially extended to factories other
than those engaged in munitions production by Clause 7 of the Police,
Factories, &c. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (1916).
[2] _Health of Munition Workers Committee_, Memorandum No. 3, Report on
Industrial Canteens (Cd. 8133); Memorandum No. 6, Appendix to Memorandum
No. 3, Canteen Construction and Equipment (Cd. 8199); Memorandum No. 19,
Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions as to Dietary: Report by
Leonard E. Hill, M.B., F.R.S. (Cd. 8798).
[3] A Food Section of the Ministry of Munitions has since been established
to carry on the work of the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic).
[4] _Punch_, September 6, 1916.