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9
The Dust Destructor occupies a portion of the site, but I
think it would be possible to leave about three acres for a
hospital if required, enough land for extension of the
Destructor, and still find space to house one hundred
families in fifty houses two storeys high, each house being
well isolated and garden space being available for cultivation.
Under last year's Amending Act, the period of repayments
for purchase of land has been extended to 80 years,
and for the erection of buildings to 60 years. Under the
second condition, £100 at 3 per cent. costs £3 12s. 3d. per
annum, or Is. 4^d. per week for the repayment of capital
and interest, so that if each house erected cost £600, including
land, a weekly rent of 4s. lid. would pay off the
capital and interest—a rent of 6s. a week should therefore
leave ample margin for higher interset and expenses. ±'he
class of home required should consist of one large sitting
room, with a scullery, and two bedrooms, with w.c. and a
good larder on the shady side of the house. A two-storeyed
cottage with this accommodation upstairs and downstairs
could be so built that the entrance to the two flats should
be at opposite sides of the house and the dwellings therefore
quite distinct. The dust could be placed outside every
morning and collected daily. The house would be kept dry
by a narrow piece of paving round it. As the roads would
not be thoroughfares, 40ft. would be needlessly wide for
the road and footpaths, and the space would be better
utilized as garden ground.
By building in the neighbourhood of the Destructor it
would be possible to provide a laundry and kitchen, worked
by steam from the Destructor boilers. It might be possible
even further to utilize the steam in heating the houses, etc.
I have shown where new dwellings can be placed, as in
every improvement scheme the great difficulty is the rehousing
of the displaced tenants.
The part of the town most suitable to deal with first
appears to me to be certain houses abutting on Cambridge