Letchworth as an Industrial Centre.
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We drew attention, in our issue of the 2th March, 1907, to the suitability of the many building sites of the First Garden City, Limited, for the erection -of engineering and other factories. .Since that date, considerable progress has been made in the development of the undertaking, and there are now _some 12 factories in working order, or approaching completion. Letchworth, as a model industrial and residential town, was started about five years ago, with the object of showing that, if towns were properly planned and developed on well-thought-out lines, most -of the evils incidental to large towns -could be avoided. It covers some 3,818 acres, and the land was purchased at a cost of about ..";40 per acre. This involved a capital outlay of £151,569 -9s. 6d., and since the purchase about ,too,000 has been spent in the development of the estate, a recent valuation -of which has shown its value to be
'379,5oo, or an appreciation in the four years of A;130,000.
At a luncheon to representatives of the Press, given at the Letchworth Hall Hotel, on Thursday last, Mr. C. H. St. John Hornby, one of the partners in the firm of Messrs. W. IL Smith and Sons, who occupied the chair, gave a brief outline of his personal experiences of Letchworth and its suitability as a manufacturing town. Mr. Hornby is not a director of the First Garden City, Limited, and, beyond being part owner of one of the largest works there, he has no interest whatever in the development of the estate ; his remarks may, therefore, be read with interest by many of our readers. In the course of his speech, he stated that : "The problem which the promoters of the Garden City movement had to face was the decentralisation of manufactures and industries. As all business men were aware, the running of a big works in London, or any of the large manufacturing cities of today, was very difficult, owing to several causes. The first of these was the enormously high ground rents ; the second was due to the very high local rates ; and the third was the difficulty of housing employees, who day by day have to go further from their work, owing to the demolition of their dwellings in the centre of the town. It thus becomes increasingly difficult for them to get to their work, .and they have to pay enormous rents for the very poor houses in which they live. In every way, the difficulties which confront the manufacturer in one of the big towns are very great. The usual way of getting out of these difficulties was for the manufacturer to choose some country spot and to take his .works out there, but, when he gets there, he finds himself confronted with almost as great difficulties as when he was in London or any other big town, because, although he may have got a site at a cheap rent, and have erected his factory cheaply, he finds great difficulties hecause he is the only manufacturer in the place. Then he probably finds that he has to manufacture his own gas, or to
generate his own electric power, and, probably, to build cottages for his Own workpeople."
Mr. Hornby then proceeded to outline how the Garden City promoters had provided for the supply of gas, water and electric light and power for the various factories, and had taken steps to ensure that the supply of workmen's dwellings should at all times be equal to the demand. With reference to the factory in which he was more intimately concerned, he proceeded to state that these works had now been in operation for a year, and, although before taking up their quarters there he and his partners were told that they would experience difficulties with regard to labour, and in dealing with the Garden City promoters as a body, he could fairly say that, after working for a year, his company was absolutely satisfied with having migrated to Letchworth.
The various factories which our representative visited certainly are modelled on very up-to-date lines. The buildings are well ventilated and well lighted, and the workpeople carry out their various duties in the healthiest possible surroundings. The only one of the works or factories which employs male labour solely is that of the Heattey-Gresham Engineering Company, which company is the maker of the " Rational " motorcab and of several models of stationary and portable internal-combustion engines. In most of the other factories, the majority of the employees are girls and women.
However suitable may he the sites for the establishment of engineering or other concerns employing male labour, we fear the labour question will be found to be a serious one, in spite of the Garden City's proximity to London, and the facilities for quickly getting there on business or pleasure, Whilst a large section of the workmen can profitably and agreeably spend a goad proportion of their spare time on the land, there is another and much larger class of workmen which cannot take any pleasure in such pursuits, and not only prefers, but insists that its amuse rnents shall be provided. The promoters of this healthy scheme might well give their careful consideration to this problem, as, until they can convince manu facturers that the conditions of labour and of private life alike are such as to conduce to the contentment of workmen, they will hesitate to establish factories on the estate.