NOTES 667 



needs separate dwellings to live in, instead of tenement houses in which he is 

 herded like cattle and where, experience suggests, he rapidly degenerates ; that 

 the dwellings must satisfy the wants of the tenant even when these requirements 

 are not quite in accord with the views of the builder, and that a little ground 

 allotted to each cottage will be turned to profit by the tenant, and therefore 

 become an asset to the nation. His experience in building, together with his 

 sympathy and knowledge of the needs and psychology of the working man, has led 

 him to criticise the schemes for better housing now mooted and to suggest what 

 he considers a workable remedy. In Sir William Lever's opinion the matter 

 admits of no tinkering, and some drastic step will have to be taken to insure, not 

 only adequate building in the present, but a continuous supply for the future. He 

 combats the scheme that has been brought forward (for the Government to take in 

 hand all these building operations) on two grounds : (1) that it would drive the 

 private builder out of the field through his inability to compete with the Govern- 

 ment. Thus, if the Government were unprepared to maintain their building 

 operations for an indefinite period, building would languish after the Government 

 had ceased to deal with the question ; and (2) that the Government is unsuited 

 to the work, owing to its ignorance of local conditions. In proof of this statement 

 he instances a case of a London architect erecting in Yorkshire a house eminently 

 suitable for Surrey, but not even rain-proof in the stormy climate of the former 

 county, and also the mistakes of Government in laying out an estate at Woolwich, 

 where the roads and buildings were so planned that the children had to go a mile 

 and a half to the nearest school, and the only connection with the main roads was 

 at the two ends of the estate. As the Government architect could not deviate 

 from the order to build 1,400 cottages, he therefore could not allow space for the 

 necessary playgrounds, schools, etc. Sir William Lever's remedy is for every 

 municipality to purchase suitable land in the suburbs of its own town and give it 

 free to the builders for the erection of cottages at such a rent as will enable the 

 tenants to pay their fares to their places of work and still live cheaper than they 

 could in the slums. He says : "As to the objection that it may be unjust to the 

 remaining portion of the population, the rates payable on the property built on this 

 free land would not only pay for the land which was being given, but, in addition, 

 result in a profit to the municipality adopting this policy." Neither is this giving 

 of land as revolutionary as it seems, for it has a precedent in the principle of the 

 free education of the people — entirely State-supported — the utility of which is 

 rendered abortive by compelling the children to live in conditions that " absolutely 

 neutralise all the benefits derived from education." To sum up in his own words : 

 "... Dear land is the chief cause of high rents for cottage houses. The 

 cheapening of the land will be the most powerful factor in reducing cottage 

 rentals." 



Lack of space forbids the detailing of the cogent reasons given in support of 

 these theories and Sir William Lever's views in general, but those interested in 

 this vital question will find them given in the Liverpool Courier of November 4th 

 and 6th ; Three Addresses by Sir William Lever, Bart., at Bolton, October 7th 

 1916, Manchester, October 20th, 1916, and Liverpool, November 8th, 1916 ; and 

 Port Sunlight, a Record of its Artistic and Pictorial Aspect, by T. Raffles Davison 

 (Batsford, Ltd.). 



Bos, Probus, and Pacificus 



Once upon a time there was an old farmer called Bos, who lived in a clearing 

 in a great forest. By dint of hard work he had gradually become rich ; and 



