MODERN DWELLINGS OF THE PEOPLE. 81
The necessity of doing something to provide better house-accommodation was
fully realised ; the difficulties in carrying out any comprehensive and complete
scheme were perceived ; the prospects of success, and the chances of failure
were put into the scales with deliberate impartiality. The origin and
outcome of this movement mark an epoch in the modem annals of Edinburgh.
Quietly and steadily the workers plodded on, against ignorance, prejudice,
and interested opposition, With undivided zeal they set their minds
to the task of organisation, and there was no example then to guide them.
Public meetings were held at which men of influence, who intelligently
sympathised with the scheme, gave addresses ; appeals were made and
information was diffused through the press. Gradually a capital of &IO,OOO,
and then of ~ Z O , O O O , was accumulated ; land was purchased, and building
commenced. In fifteen years accommodation has been provided for wellnigh
10,000 individuals, and houses have been erected to the value of not less
than A304000-the dividends, which have ranged from seven to fifteen per
cent, contributing towards the comfort of many thousands.
Had nothing more been done, this would have been a great industrial
triumph, and although we claim nothing for it but a successful and welldirected
combination for a specific end, the influence does not terminate with
the financial results ; it is many-sided, and bears the impress of a high moral
and social purpose. As a commercial undertaking-as a means of social
amelioration and industrial advancement-as a practical illustration of what
unity, economy, and perseverance can do, the Edinburgh Co-operative Building
Company must be accepted as a signal success. It may not have solved
any great problem, but it has certainly established the fact that good and
pleasantly situated houses for workmen can be erected so as to meet all
sanitary requirements, and yield a fair return on the capital invested. The
houses may not realise our highest ideal, but they will compare favourably
in every respect with the best of the class ewcted elsewhere; they vary in
size and internal arrangements ; for the most part they are two stories high,
and contain from three to six moderately sized apartments, with every convenience,
the best -ita+ arrangements, and (as at Stockbridge) a plot of ground
twenty feet square in front, and the use of an ample bleaching green. The first
row of houses or street erected was named Reid Terrace. Hugh Miller Place
followed j elsewhere Colville Place-named in recognition of one of the chief
workers. Many other places, terraces, and streets gradually rose up, making
here a goodly town, surrounded (as shown in our illustration) by picturesque
scenery, and containing within itself every healthful and elevating influence.
I.
82 EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
One feature in these modern dwellings for the people is specially notable
and rare, so far as Edinburgh is concerned. They are selfcontained-each
family having a separate entrance. The localities of the buikiings are Stockbridge,
Norton Place, Dalry Road, Hawthorne Bank, Edinburgh ; Henderson
Road, and Restalrig, Leith. The houses are chiefly the property of the
occupants, and have been acquired by the simple and easy process of paying
a moderate rental. Since this movement was commenced, the earnest attention
of social reformers has been largely directed to the truth that thousands
of workmen and their families are dragging out a miserable existence in
abodes where comfort and refinement are unattainable. Small, without pre
perly separated apartments, badly lighted, and indifferently ventilated, their
internal arrangements obstruct and discourage the pursuit of knowledge, and
mar all domestic and intellectual enjoyment.
No notice of the beneficial change which has taken place in Edinburgh
would be complete without some recognition of the scheme initiated during
the Lord-Provostship of Mr. William Chambers for the removal of decayed
buildings and the erection on their sites of houses containing all the modem
requirements attainable under existing conditions.
Notwithstanding all that has been done, there is still a wide field for
exteaded effort. All honour is due to the Peabodys, the model mill-owners,
and the civic corporations who have from their own resources, or aided by
the Skte, done so much ta wipe out the blacked stain on modem civilisation,
and whose splendid efforts are a monument of enlightened philanthropy.
But such generous and Wisely directed action is and must ever be of rare
occurrence and partial application. Beautiful and beneficial in itself, it can
only affect a small portim of the vast wage-receiving class, and cannot be
reduced to a self-acting system dependent upon the will and ability of a
limited class ; it must always be fitful and uncertain. What we want is some
simple agency, easily understbd, tvithin the reach of all, and of universal
application ; and this we have in the principle of combined action as illustrated
by the Edinburgh movement. It has been put to the test of practical experience;
and in Glasgow and many English towns the example is being
followed with the most beneficent results.
