"C.H." Reader Lives 17 Years in a Council

House and
Likes it
.BY A READER
FROM September, 1920, I occupied a Council house on a municipal housing estate on the outskirts of London. I left voluntarily in November, 1937, because my circumstances had so changed with the passing of years that I considered I was no longer entitled to ask the ratepayers to subsidise my rent.
Like thousands more I came back from the war in January, 1919, to find that I had no home other than a room in the house of my wife's people. Brothers, and other husbands returning from service, rendered thp position of my family (the largestl somewhat unpleasant. Rents were at an impossible figure, fancy prices were being asked for houses with three or four years' lease to run, and like the average ex-service man, I was faced with a problem beyond my own solution.
I WENT TO THE MAYOR In my difficulty I went to the Mayor of the borough and asked him to build houses for us workers. Ile was sympathetic, and, to cut the
story short, by September in the next year I was installed in a new council house on a new estate at a rent, all in. of nineteen shillings and something a week.
We had one large room downstairs which served as a living-room. There was a fair-sized scullery which for a time we tried to use as a kitchen, but had to give up the idea because it was too draughty. There were three bedrooms upstairs—one large and two small —bathroom was on the ground floor, and the water closet was outside the house It wasn't a bad little house, plenty of windows, rather on the cold side, and not very conveniently designed. Nevertheless, we were not in the mood to be particular. Close on two years with relations and in-laws had rendered us ready to welcome anything that resembled a home of our own.
OUT OF A JOB Frankly, we were delighted. It was our first house, for previous to the war we had lived in a fiat, it was compact and Just large enough for the family con. sisting of three children. The cost of Light was high, being ninepence a unit. and as the electricity undertaking was a municipal affair, all the council houses were fitted with electric light, though, as a concession to gas interests, stoves and heaters for cooking and heating hot water were installed at a rental to the tenant of 26s. a year above his normal rent There was 7s. 6d. deposit on the key of the house. £1 on the electric light meter to be found, and then all was in order.
By the time I moved in I had joined the police, being dissatisfied with prospects in the branch of the Civil Service in which I had been employed before and after the war. As a young policeman with the responsibility of a family I did not find life easy. In fact. for nearly the whole of the time we lived in this house we were in difficulties with rent and light. After all, one pound rent and something over for light was generally just a little more than I could afford each week and still keep my family as I wanted to, so the rent slipped behind when the need for a pound arose, and then it had to be made up by weekly sums of one shilling on the rent.
THE PIANO WENT After being here just over four years I was discharged from the police as unlit and for twelve months did not work at all. Our plight may be easily imagined. Not only did my gratuity from the police soon go, but my home as well, and a suite of furniture which we had obtained on the hire-purchase system. Earlier a piano had gone in the same fashion, but at my request.
Though we were often, at this time. four or five weeks in arrears with our rent, beyond notices calling our attention to the fact, and an occasional request from the collector to make up arrears, we were not bothered unduly by the Town Council.
At the end of the year I obtained work. and though the wage was not quite as large as I received when in the police, nevertheless it was enough to manage as well as we had done so up to this.
For about ten or eleven years in all we endured what can only be described as a struggle to keep our heads above water, and I know. as I knew then, that practically every other family on the estate was in much the same plight.
THEN I BEGAN TO EARN MONEY At the expiration of the ten or eleven years, my eldest, a boy, was ready for
work, and though for some years his wages barely kept him in food, they made, nevertheless, an addition to the family budget that could be felt. Three or four years later a daughter was ready for work, and later still a third, and by this time the First two were bringing in larger wages.
For the first time we found ourselves able to pay our way. Moreover, the children. anxious to help, put up sums from their pocket money to obtain extra things for the home
We began to accumulate a little fund of savings and were able to enjoy a holiday away by the sea, the first we had ever had. At the expiration of fifteen years we asked the Council to let US have one of the larger type houses at, naturally. an increased rent. The request was granted, and we moved into a house with a parlour. this being, as far as I can now see, the only advantage.
However, we were satisfied. Then to my astonishment I began to earn more money. My son was earning very good wages, and my daughters were more than keeping themselves. On reckoning up the income of my household I found that more than ffi a week was coming in while my rent, all in, did not exceed 21s.
POSTMAN GETS A CAR By this time most of us had had enough of the estate. The young people were anxious to get away from it, and as I felt I could now afford a higher rent we decided to move.
But here comes the rub. When we moved we left behind on that estate not one but dozens of families who, like ourselves, had weathered the bad times to find themselves in very comfortable circumstances. My next door neighbour. a postman, put down £250 for a new motor car, as did two more on the name street. Many, far too many, owned their own cars, and I knew families whose incomes exceeded ours by several pounds a week. They were content to remain in houses at the expense of the ratepayers, many of whom, as we have since discovered, have incomes far below the fortunate estate dwellers.
This state of affairs has since been remedied, but not by the tenants. The Council had to take action and request them to get out, so that workers of the type for whom such houses were intended could enter into occupation.
Flying Priest, Ex-German Air Ace, Plans Libel Suit
The " Flying Priest " of Alaska, the Rev. Paul Schulte, 0.111.I., is reported to be starting a libel suit against a Canadian daily newspaper. It is stated that Fr. Schulte plans to sue for 100,000 dollars.
The statements objected to appeared in the French Canadian Gazette of Montreal.
The article, headed " Flying Priest, Ex-German War Ace, Under Surveillance of Ottawa," said, among other things, that Canadian " Defence and Transport Departments have been keeping a close check on the activities" of Father Schulte, and " have shown some anxiety lest he may be establishing radio facilities in the Arctic country that might be useful to Germany."
In a statement made in Washington, Father Schulte declared he has never eetablished radio stations in the Arctic, although he has installed stations In other parts of Canada. He stressed that as a non-Canadian he is not eligible to apply for the necessary government licences to establish radio stations. and that in the places where he has done so applications have been made by the Bishops of the respective dioceses.
Father Schulte pointed out many errors in the article, the principal one being a reference to tam as "Bishop Paul Schulte, of the Diocese of Leavenworth."
Stanhope Essay Prize
The judges have reported to the ViceChancellor of Oxford University that they have awarded the Stanhope Historical Essay Prize, 1939, to J. R. Wingfield Dighy, S.J., of Campion Hall.
Just over a month ago the Rev. B. A. F. Basset, S.J., also of Campion Hall, was awarded the Lothian Historical Essay Prize.