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i Here and There.

The Cardiff Muddle.

--THE RECENT SPORTS ATI CARMARTHEN,

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I YANKEE YARNS.

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DEAN VAUGHAN & THE TEMPLE,I,

A GLASGOW MiNiSTER UNDER SUSPENSION.

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FACTS AND FANCIES.

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-. SYMPATHY WITH MR MUNDELLA…

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i A MILITARY CADET DROWNED.…

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Houses of the People.

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Houses of the People. HOW DEMAND IS MET IN THE RH0NDDA. Building Clubs & theip Methods. I ARTICLE VI. ) I (BY SPFCIAL I I In my last article I spoke of building clubs, and referred to the hundreds of cottage.* that had been erected in and around Pontypridd, along tlw hiils of thp Rhondda., and in other mining centres by the wcrkmen themselves through the assist- ance of these clubs. A building club is not a building society. It is vary necessary that this distinction should be borne in mind. A Building Society is a .-pecula- tiva concern formed to advance money, usually on property already partly or fu!!y erected. These societies are very careful never to advance money witl-j(IUL a good tuargi.i of security and the borrower who would as ail himself of the assistance they offer must needs have himself a small amount of capital te constitute the required margin of security. The working man, auxious to become the owner of his own house, but who has no nest-egg, has little to hope for from building societies. Even, however, assuming he had 220 or £ 30 of his own, the interest exacted "ft^n acts as a deterrent to those anxious to borrow. The building society process is undoubtedly easy, but it has disadvantages from which the building club is free. j TERMINABLE BUILDING SOCIETIES. There are also the "tertr.inabtf" budding f J societies, as distinguished front the permanent societies referred to above. These include the Starr-Bowkett, Perfect Thrift, and similar organisations, which at one time were so popular. But; although there are a large number of them in the Rhondda and elsewhere fifty are too slow in operation. A man must need* have a double portion of Job's inexhaustible patience to exp-ct to become the owner of his dwelling with the assistance of those societies. The very faot that a member may go on paying his monthly con- tributions for 10 or 12 years before securing an appropriation is enough to daunt the stoutest heart. Of oourse, there are many lucky indi- viduals who have, by the fortunes of t'.e ballot, drawn out their lot at an early period in the history of a society; they thereby get an advance of £ 100 or P,200, as the case may be, free of interest for 12 or 16 years, but they must meanwhile pay in their share contribution all tho same to the end of the chapter. But such a system as this, which necessarily favours one member at the expense of another, does not meet with the workman's notiou of the eternal fitness of things; and the thrifty householder, who would like to become his own landlord, has to seek other less costly inetnod* if he would gain his ends while yet in the prime of life. I THE BUILDING GL- B METHOD. It is the buildintrclub system that meets hiscase. Tii' se vary so much in their methods that it would to filict even two clill), working on identical Thoir methods are fashioned by the circim.-s anets of the men that form thorn, and herein lies the seoret ot their popularity. But in one respect they are all are illvarahly founded on the golden priliciple of co cpeiation and the results that have been attained are lC05t satisfactory. Let us take as an illustration the commonest method adopted. Sixty men, say., in a new I colliery district, where cottage* are scarce and I rents are high, form thetnsel ves into a club, appointing as thir officers men drawn from their own ranks. They secure :t site for the erection of 60 houses. Each member takes one Larp, and one share reprtt-sonts one house. The cUllt¡-ih1- tions are fix..d at £ 1 per share pet' lunar mouth, with an addition of 3d per share to meet such miscellaneous expanses as stationery and rent of room. The receipts will thus be £ 60 a month; in year i capital of £ 7d0 wili have been got together. With this capital the club will probably proceed to build 20 houses at a cost, say, of J3140 per house—a total oe £ 2.800. A further say of six I months, will have elapsed before the houses are completed, and InpanwhiifJ the capital will have increased from L780 to £1170. The difference between this and the £ 2.<;00 contract price is rai.sed.by mortgage on the security of the house* either with a bank, a building society, or a private capitalist, the money being obtained at i; erest varying from 4to 5% per cent. 2 j HOW IT WORKS OUT. nnen tho 20 houses are let at, say, 22s per t.i,month, and they produce an annual rov- «»• of £ 284, which, added to the contri- of thf) increase the totai rover i; of tho club from £ 730 to £ 964 per aiH.nm. In three years or so, at this rate, the ) w'v ije of tI 60 houses will have been erected, rtnd, by "Pi ying members' contributions, plus this rehto, u the liquidation of the mortgages I-ii ti eci of the 60 houses is wiped off in, *iy, seysn^or grit year. the ground rents, rates I and X, a.nd other incidentals having also in ty Ll!t- club. I have .^jiisidf-i .ibiy inder-timated tho receipts, for outages vorit £HG let as a rule at 24s, or 26".uio:: h. When tho club has thus cleared otj->-hc debt, general meeting of the members i- hi-bn' is taken for the houses, one or d\(Jn: of whir falis to the lot of each member t, t, number of his shares, and tb8:' a g.Vneral si ke hands all round. The leases t tt." dvveltr. are then made out in duo form to j;r r%KV=e:.i- owners. The ultimata remit of sit: > '>'d i- hat with a month'y contribution I "gf,.y r en yoa.*s, or a total contribution ijOj a )Ti can become poss&jsed of a house ,.Vh 'it •^>sr J to build. i; ¡' X iEIl OF CLUBS AT WORK. ) of thtse clubs in existence now? ii', :tnd many scf>res more iiavo II lions and have been dissolved, fav »s the Pontypridd and v licl the A.«jrd»r>» for the matter of that, woidd be I t" fi-d .¡ &lo;.{k vii!»ge or hamlet which has not {! t-ww» or "b-ee building clubs. Take, for instance.' tlie (.. owing list of clubs iu Ys trady- fo/.v/c •; -rish alcti > vTo. o £ j ousej. Lit- «K> Vii) •• M I irtr 'r 38 i 22 Tv i.. Y»u W Uflli. M :ldKL.11 20 .\3" "i!t: 11 Mr 31 bó D ) fcl Maine of No. of Club. Houses. Oddfellows' 12 Geliid.-uvel 30 Tylorstown 31 v* rfryu 25 Gobaith 25 Upper Gwernllwyn.. 29 Penrhys 10 Ouffryu 20 Feintlale 31 Feintlale 31 Maruy 28 564 I j i, we find 23 clubs now running, 'o |)(T.,w many as 564 cottages, winch R-P: .^Otuailv y ,t and tenanted » And this bv no n-.< f«i.v 4- the number, for in addition to ib;; abvvf we f £ j)e B^yoiiyfryd, the Beach- stiCet. an$V' <? "street Clubs, ad iu Fe;n- de :e Ibu'? Yyxrdwp/, tho Gray, and the Bryn- |i, ii.V Cl(',5)"> al; i: 'fylorstown; th* Wattstown K ..JIll: 01 :11, houses the Mardy New of 'i.cjsns and the Mardy Cottage Co.n- p ,y, ofhoustv In and about Pontypridd town wea'-so ^'r: '■— T'iame i J o. of Ch; t>. u-ses. K.vtiHt fSs-"«.r 46 C; ú f 37 .1 64 61 f ¡ N-inie of No. of Club. heusea. Wood-street 54 Cilfynydd 53 Albion 41 cdwenarth 32 i 40J vfiORIfi r V SUABLE PLANS. <• ^jaiembers of a club a,re able <\ subst n d sum at the start. Capital vui f "the work of the building is F.- nee, the life of the club is r sucr, d, and the members rAap a I :or«-esp.i,n-iing ntaga in decreased expenses, cevern; ■ amples of this method are found K'-t -Y»:» A club, formed entirely of n;), 1891 Jive houses at a cost of J members each contri- -Art a capital of about ider was borrowed at 4^ par e the houses, as soon as ihey ro oc-tlpi,-(] by the ineillb,,r., aid to the club a subscription th, an:} al»o a rent of 23s per id in three to four years the .o off, and the tenants became .tiding the rent, for in return for #as given in the form of occupation, s of the members would be— oital invented £ 50 Q o r-ntribr.tion 30s for o'/a 68 5 0 I Total 118 5 0 I- ••.r t Zlid Di u-ile impnib(irs in uhe owners of cottages of the value at JO. In this case no limit was placed giual capital to be invested per member the monthly 8llbscription. Tho larger :ents the earlier the redemption, and as a :ants thp a. •f fact some of too members exceeded the shown in the calculation and redeemed ■jses at an earlier period. The £ 118 5s ted per house in 314 years, added to ■id for the same period, furnished a 2169 11s 6d, winch just sufficed to clear r, together wllh the g-ronnd t, outgoings during the life vT HOUSES ERECTED. id of houses are these?" I asked who gave 1110 these particulars, llent oottag,S)» replied he, the j oeing 18ft- frontage by 25ft., com- ■nt rof>m, a larpe kitchen, and a j back kitchen, with airy bedrooms e are large 'ron grates In the 1;1 all. wronght-iron grates and a j room behind. Yes, there are 'die front,doors to the kitchen, so ti rooin is private. The collier j lilt Bathrooms, did you say t No. more's the pity-at any rate not at present—but I find there is a demand by colliers for such con- veniences, but the difficulty is that of cost. A good sufcg^stion would be this, and it is gaining favour in many clubs, that the front room, or the parlour, of the collier should be done away with, and an open kitchen substituted, so as to afford space for a big room behind in which a proper bathroom, with hot water service, could be pro- vided Of course, a bathroom upstairs in a collier's cottage is nut of the question, for what housewife having any regard for cleanliness would like the male members of tho family to proceed in their wot, dusty clothes direct from the coal-pit to their bedrooms No. a collier's bath, to be of I any us•}, must be on the ground floor." | OTHER EXAMPLES. I The Wind sor Workmen's Bunding Club is also one of the flourishing institutions of Ynysybwl. A little over 12 months ago the club, consislinpr of 30 member?, erected 30 house* at a ost of £ 155 each, of wh:ch £ 100 only was borrowed on mort- gage. The member's subscription here ia 25s a month per share, with a rent of 24s per month per house, making a total pev member of 49., per I month. The gross receipt are nearly £ 80 per month, and as the interest on the borrowed capital is only 4% per cent., and the capital is being paid tr- montaly instalments, the given ordi- nary good fortune, will clear itself within a very few years. In some cases the promoters of a club are men of means drawn from the middle classes and, their personal credit beoig good, no difficulty is lomid in getting a local bank to finance them, so that the work of toe budding can be commenced at once even before any capital has accumulated. With a club composed entireiy or working- men, whose personal capital is represented only by their weekly savings, such a procedure is, of course, not always possible, and consequently building is deferred for a year or two while capital accumulates. An interesting illustration is that of the Tymawr (Jluli, Hopkinatown, Pontypridd, which was thus finaoced ov a local bank. This club has 64 mem- her. and 64 houses will eventually be blllit. As a natter of fact, this club commenced to build within thrn. nJOnths of its formation, and when the accumulated .subscriptions amounted only to £ 192. The first contract was for a biock of 16 houses, and the contractor was paid his first in- Rfcahnent five months after the ciub was started. A diffk-ulty is experienced to get workmen to join c.'iibs when the building is deferred once, however, the foundations are cut and the club houses begin to run up, members flock in. This was the case with the Tyin.iwr Cub. It was started by men in good positions in life, but it i* worthy of note that out of the 64 members of which it now consists, 50 are bosia- fide working men. The Tymawr houses are to cost £ 160 esch. so that the total contract price is £ 10,240. When this comes to be p- iJ, a mortgage will be found for £ 8 000, and a balance will have been obtained irom members' subscrip- tions and^ rents of houses already built and occupied. These houses let ;>t 25s pex iunarmorith, and it is estimated that the chib willl run out in Ii )r 8 ve,,r6. %V;tii t[i 7/2 °r 8 years. With these data, the reader can figure 01U the sum and Hud how much each house will cost a member. COLD WATER BATHS NO GOOD. f What kind of bouses tin you build?'' I asked a lytiiawr chihiiifui. Well," he replied, we p 1 y toe builder £ 160 each for them, and that shows they :i>e of substantial quality." Bathrooms?"—"No, none. There is no de- mand for them. I know of one ca^e m the Rhondda ace where a large number of houses were built with a bath attached to each house; ■ >Qm not five per cent. of tha baths are used for til" purposes they u.-io intended. Yon run up and have a look at them." I did, and to my regret found, his description t' ue. The houses r ^-rred to are those erected by the Wattst own ColJiety Comp.uiy. The baths ale elected on the* ground floor, it: the back kito.nei), and there is no hot water soivice. t n> reaie wash. Iviiieisetose at hand, which might well be used for heating the water for the baths. Th;.s, of course, would involve the lighting of a lire uaiiy under the boiier—evidently a serious drawback from the house-wife's point of view.

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WELSH COAL TRADE.

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