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ment, they should be swept away. This is costly
work and for the capital expended there is nothing
to show but the demolition of insanitary houses.
It will, however, not be in worse case than that of
erecting municipal models in which the rental minus
the rates fails to balance the interest paid on the
capital expended. In either case there is loss. This
may not be the alternative, however, and it is for
the Council to decide whether they can erect
municipal dwellings at a cost that will enable them,
without loss, to charge rentals the same or lower
than those exhibited in the tables.
I have pointed out that there is an accumulation
of persons in the cheaper of the three-roomed
tenements contrary to the rule in which it is found
that the cheaper of each class of tenements are the
least crowded. The reason is that the tenement
rental for three rooms is, in these cases, not higher
than the tenement rental for two rooms. It is the
tenement rental which is determinant of the number
of the rooms rented, and if municipal dwellings are
to secure the provision of suitable accommodation
for all classes they must do so by being provided at
a rental that shall attract from the inferior and inadequate
class of tenement dwellings.