MINERS' HOUSING IN SCOTLAND.
(6) GARDENS IN MINING VILLAGES.
There are three other matters of sufficient importance to be mentioned here, viz. gardens, roads and footpaths, and lighting.

A reference has already been made to the absence of cultivated gardens in certain even of the more progressive mining communities of Fife, though ground can be had; and the same observation would apply to the West of Scotland. From this it may be deduced that the miner has no taste for gardening, and it certainly appears that the arduous nature of his eight hours' work below ground must naturally make him disinclined to "work another shift" when he comes to the surface. But the examples of several villages in the Fife coalfields, of Cowie in Stirlingshire, of Larkhall in Lanarkshire, and Niddrie in Midlothian show that this is not necessarily the case, but that, under favourable circumstances, the miner shows great taste for and skill in gardening. The three chief conditions to be fulfilled if this is to be developed are:- (a) sufficiently prolonged tenure of his dwelling and garden; (b) the adequate fencing of the latter ; and (c) proximity of the garden to his house.

Where there is constant shifting of the mining population, then, as among farm servants, the taste for gardening cannot develop; but when families remain long in the same village, either as tenants or, still more, as occupying owners, their gardens are often the subject of genuine pride. Thus it happens that, in some villages, especially in East Fife, good and well-cultivated gardens are associated with houses of a somewhat poor and antiquated type, the reason being that these are inhabited by families who have worked long and steadily in the same locality. In the same district good houses and good gardens are found in conjunction, but in this case also there has been continuous residence. The manager of the Wemyss Coal Company said in this connection that the occupants of most of the Company's houses "have been resident in East Wemyss and Buckhaven, their fathers and grandfathers, and sometimes their great-grandfathers, before them ; and although the houses are modern (the old houses have been pulled down and new ones put up), the families are there, and they have always been accustomed to keep a nice house and a good garden." It is also worthy of note that, where occupying ownership is common among miners, as in the Windygates district (East Fife) and at Larkhall, gardens are numerous and well kept. One miner, in Larkhall, when his garden was compulsorily taken by the railway company received £400 in compensation.

In a new village however, much depends on the extent to which the incoming miner finds the garden plot prepared. It should not be too large, as it was found at Kirkconnel that the large gardens originally provided were not taken advantage of until they were reduced to a more easily managed size. They also need some preparation by the company. But the chief point is that they should be adequately fenced - a point on which various witnesses laid emphasis. At Woodlands, where, as already stated, the upper part of the village showed signs of neglect, we were informed that the company hoped to remedy this by improving and strengthening the fences. One witness laid great stress on the necessity of having direct access from the house to the garden. But it was stated by a leading representative of the miners that, where this was not possible, small garden allotments might be provided a little way off. In this case, if the whole garden ground is fenced, the individual plots do not need to be. The last point was confirmed by a visit paid by us to two reconstruction schemes privately carried out some years ago in the burgh of Hamilton, the houses having been chiefly tenanted by miners both before and after reconstruction. Small areas of waste ground have been used to provide garden plots of 260 square feet, which have been taken up and worked by the tenants, with encouragement from the proprietor, who holds a competition and gives prizes every year ; and the success of the scheme has been most gratifying. The offering of prizes has also helped to promote successful gardening in the Cowie district. It was stated by Sir Thomas Munro, the County Clerk of Lanarkshire, and also by one of the representatives of the Mid-Lanark District Committee, that a demand is beginning to arise among certain of the miners for small allotments to work in their spare time ; and Sir Thomas Munro suggested that, if the provision of allotments could be combined in the same scheme with that of houses, the results would be excellent.

If Local Authorities receive and exercise in the future larger powers to control the lay-out of new villages, they can in this way secure the provision of garden ground ; but it must rest with the providers of the houses to promote the actual gardening. If this could be generally brought about it would do a great deal to redeem the mining villages of the future from the drab monotony of the past.

(7) ROADS AND FOOTPATHS.
In the evidence from all the chief coalfields reference was made to the extremely defective roads and footpaths which are common in mining villages. As representing the public health officials of several different districts, we may quote the following from the Sanitary Inspector for the Dunfermline District of Fife :- " Witness has in many reports referred to the very bad condition of the side streets 'or roads in mining villages. These roads in many cases have not been properly bottomed and drained, and in consequence they become covered with mud several inches deep in wet weather. The mud is carried with the boots into the houses, and it is impossible to expect that the floors can be kept clean while the roads are in such a state."

Dr M'Vail called attention to a photograph in his Report (p. 43) showing a row of "good 6 modern houses " with no external doorsteps and no footpath outside, and pointed out how the children, constantly running in and out from the ash-covered roads, made it impossible for their mother to keep anything but a dirty floor. His report calls attention to the extent to which the comfort and amenity of life in any village are influenced by the condition of the roadways within it.

Some strong expressions were used in this connection by the miners' representatives, but after some personal experience we could hardly take exception to their strength. It was stated that in one village in Stirlingshire the roads in wet weather " resembled the miniature bed of a river," and that in another case the Sanitary Inspector had to leave his vehicle at some distance from the village lest it should get stuck in the mud. In Ayrshire the difficulty seems particularly acute, perhaps because of the number of isolated "rows" at a distance from a high road. The representatives of the Miners' Union quoted several instances of excessively dirty roads and footpaths, but remarked on the great improvement caused in one row by the laying down of a clean concrete footpath.

On the employer's side the evidence varied somewhat, and represented a variety of practice, while it was claimed that considerable improvements had been made. The manager of the Wemyss Coal Company expressed himself as satisfied with the footpath made up with ashes in ordinary circumstances; but Mr Forgie, speaking for Messrs William Baird & Co., said, "We are providing all new rows with from 5 to 7 feet wide granolithic pavement adjoining the houses, and are also doing this gradually at our older rows. We provide and maintain well-made streets, roads, and footpaths where required." Witness added that part of the deterioration of service roads was due to the immensely heavier traffic, including many delivery vans, which they now have to carry, and stated that it was difficult to persuade the Local Authority to take over roads even when they had acquired a definitely public character. The manager of the Lochgelly Coal Company spoke of the reluctance of landward as compared with burgh authorities to undertake this service, and the same point was spoken to by the representatives of the Ayrshire coalmasters. The County Clerk of Ayrshire was disposed to admit that "it might be quite a proper thing" for the Road Authority to take over a number of the roads leading only to small colliery villages. He said the only difficulty was that in practice it would mean a very large addition to the road mileage for which the District Committees were responsible. Witness explained that the working rule was that before roads were taken over they " must be put into good order to the satisfaction of the road surveyor," and the proprietor must " show that the rate derived from the property to be accommodated by the road will be sufficient to maintain it " -which ought not to be difficult in the case of mining communities.

As against the criticism of landward Local Authorities by the coalmasters, we have to take the complaint regarding many of the owners of miners' houses by officials of the Mid-Lanark District Committee. They stated that in the original lay-out of building land, while attention was paid to the structure of the houses, little or none was paid to surroundings and means of access - as indeed we have seen to be the case; and also that, when complaints were lodged in regard to the disrepair of roads, all that has been done is " a little patch from year to year, with the result that matters have never improved."

(8) POWERS REGARDING ROADS AND FOOTPATHS.
But, even though there may have been a disposition in more than one quarter in the past to shirk responsibility for the provision of proper roads and footpaths in mining villages, it was made quite clear by various witnesses, including those last quoted, that the statutory powers of control in landward areas are insufficient. The defects in the statutory powers have already been referred to, from which it will be seen that there are practically no powers for county areas outwith special scavenging districts to secure the proper upkeep of private streets and footpaths. It seems clear that this matter should be dealt with on the footing that suitable access is necessary to every habitable dwelling rather than under the " nuisance " clause of the Public Health Act. In Dr. M'Vail's Report …. he mentions that a sheriff had at the date of writing recently given a decision that a road might be a " nuisance " simply through its muddy and dirty condition. The decision just referred to will not necessarily be followed by other sheriffs.

To a considerable extent the difficulty would be met if all Local Authorities, in counties as well as burghs, received authority to approve of the sites of and access to new houses. As regards the upkeep of private streets and footpaths, there seems no reason why the powers which county Local Authorities at present possess, but which are exercisable only in Special Scavenging Districts, should not be available outwith these districts, and we recommend that at least this additional power should be given. At the same time we consider that the maintenance of roads should in future devolve largely on the Local Authority. There is a steady movement in favour either of the main through roads being taken over and maintained by the State or of a substantial grant being given from State funds to assist Local Authorities in the upkeep of these roads. It is recognised, we think, that the main roads are in no sense local, and that the nation as a whole should take them over or at any rate bear a proportion of the cost of their upkeep. In the same way we consider that roads, other than the main roads and highways, are in no sense private roads, being available to and used by the public generally, and serving their convenience. Accordingly we recommend that, whenever an owner (or a series of owners) puts a road belonging to him (or them) in order to the satisfaction of the Local Authority, the latter should be under obligation to take over and maintain the road in future as a public highway. Wherever a dispute arises between an owner and the Local Authority as to whether a road has been put in proper order, we recommend that the dispute should be referable to the Local Government Board. We are aware that the above suggestions would leave open for dispute between an owner of a road and a Local Authority the question of whether a road was a private road or a public road. Accordingly, we recommend that in the event of any such disagreement the point should be referred to the Local Government Board for decision.

While this matter has arisen specially in connection with roads in mining areas, the same difficulties which we have discussed arise in other areas, and accordingly we consider that our recommendations above should be applicable to all districts.

(9) LIGHTING OF MINING VILLAGES.

As regards lighting also many of the mining villages appear to have been neglected; and when the above account of the condition of their roads and footpaths is taken into account - not to mention the even worse conditions of filth that persist in certain of the older and more neglected rows - it seems clear that they have an even stronger claim to adequate lighting than other communities of similar size. It was, for instance, stated that in Fife the colliery villages had until recently been entirely unlit. In Stirlingshire it was indicated that only in rows within or adjacent to County Lighting Districts were there any lighting schemes. In the West of Scotland the position appears to be the same, as Messrs William Baird & Co. do not provide public lighting in any of their numerous properties ; while the Ayrshire coalrnasters stated that " the lighting of villages is not usual" but that, in several instances, gas lighting is provided by the owners, even for villages not lying within lighting districts. It should, however, be stated that in the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire there are twenty-four Special Lighting Districts, with a total population of 129,813, as against twenty-three Special Drainage Districts, with a total population of 124,731.

In 1914 the Mid-Lanark District Committee obtained a Provisional Order to remove difficulties in putting into force certain powers of the Burghs Gas Supply (Scotland) Act, 1876, which are adoptive in landward areas. They anticipated great benefit from this Order in the supply of certain of the smaller villages. At the time of giving evidence they were hopeful that it might be found possible to establish one or two main gas works, from which gas could be conveyed throughout the whole district. If, after the war, this scheme proves a success in the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire, it would help to solve the problem of lighting mining and similar villages were the powers now obtained by this District Committee to be made applicable through-out the county areas of Scotland. It is also possible that in colliery villages which could not well be lit by a Local Authority, the works' installation might be extended more frequently to the miners' dwellings.

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