"Let me take you over one of the former." The courtyard has been covered in. The large room which Jooked quite nice and airy when we first saw it kas been cut into two by partition, and a passage way with storage loft over, made at the side. In the front pari, about ten feet square, we have the lessor and his family, five persons in all. He, of course, pays the rent of the whole house to the landlord, letting out the rest to various sub-tenants. In the back portion, about 10ft. by sft. we have three' persons. The kitchen has been sectioned off, and. three more live in a 9 by 9 room. Upstairs, the large front room has been divided into two. 'The front part is the best the house, for it has light and air and runs the full width: itis occupied by a young couple. 'The back part, smaller' by reason of the passage, is home to three persons. The room over the kitchen has its advantages Because it is secluded: two people living in told you this was originally a tworstoreyed house: but lofts have been made in the slope of the root only a height of 44 Gln. at the apex of the roof: it is about eight feet deep and shelters two persons. The back room, about 10ft. square, is} right under the slope: it is only aft. high at the back, and occupied by ingle person. What was the drying stage has been partly enclosed, and two more people live in it—about Oft.
"As you all know, the population of the Settlement has been growing continuously. From 783,000 in 1920 it has gone to 1,135,000 in 1934. That, you will say, should be good for house-property owners, and so it has been. "During the same period there has also been considerable building activity, and the number of Chinese type houses has increased from 61,000 1920 to 82,000 in 1994. Combined with this there has been a very decided drop in the general compara-live earning power of the people.
"This latter fact has had an inevitable effect on the rental question. When everything is on the up-and-up and people generally are prosperous when business is turning over on profitable basis, salaries. are gene erous and commissions and bonuses are the order of the day—when savings in the form of investments are bringing in good dividends—every tone is happy and the rent is paid Ught-heartedly. But when the fend depression calls for cuts in pay—when sales are few and commissions has] and bonuses disappear—when divi dands cease and income from all then rent bill, the largest single! hem in the average family man's Dudget, becomes a matter for serious consideration. And as greater difficulty Is experienced in meeting it, the question arises as to whether It 4s not too much to pay for the accommodation, or whether it would not be better to find something smaller or Jess expensive. This 1s where the landlord is faced with the problem reducing the rent or. losing tenant. square.
"So what we thought might be all right for a family (even using that word in the broad Chinese sense) is now serving as hearth and home for ess than 28 persons of varying ages. When T remind you of the absence of sanitary arrangements, and the presence of the inevitable wooden bucket in each of those nine so-called rooms: that none of the inner rooms have any direct access to light and air—then you will appreciate the Kind of unhealthy atmosphere which pervades the majority of these over-Populated houses,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.