114 GREAT BRITAIN AND IREI.AND - MISCEl,I,ANEOUS 



£ 



Total net rent of agricultural land 24,500,000 



Total earnings of 405,588 labourers between 20 



and 65 19,000,000 



Extra amount needed to raise the earnings of labourers between 2c 

 and 65 to : 



£ 



(i) i8s 591,000 



(2) 20s 2,041,000 



(3) 22s. 6d 4,663,000 



(b) Rural Housing. 



Reverting to the question of Rural Housing the Report outUnes the at- 

 tempts made by the lyegislature during the past sixty years to deal with this 

 problem. They have, however, had but little effect in improving housing 

 in the country districts, and the Committee estimates that, if all the cot- 

 tages now unfit for human habitation were closed, there would be a shortage 

 of no less than 120,000 cottages. 



Under the Housing and Town Planning Act of 1909, much has been 

 done by local sanitary authorities to improve the condition of existing 

 cottages, but under the same Act a large number of cottages (more than 5,000 

 up to the end of 1912) have been closed and this action, though admittedly 

 necessary, has made the housing problem even more acute. On the other 

 hand, owing to the lack of alternative accommodation, the authorities re- 

 frain from closing many houses which are really unfit for habitation. 



Private enterprise has completely failed to supply the need for new cot- 

 tages, for reasons already noted, and though a certain number of cottages 

 have been erected by the rural district councils under the Act of 1909, the 

 number erected is smaU compared to the number closed. The Committee 

 recommend that the Ivocal Government Board should be given increased 

 powers of insisting upon the erection of cottages by local authorities and 

 should also have the power of themselves acting in default. 



Apart from the insufficiency of the housing accommodation and the un- 

 sanitary condition of many existing cottages, there is another important aspect 

 of the rural housing question. The agricultural labourer (more particul- 

 arly in the South of England) very often lives in a cottage which he rents 

 from his employer. To this system, known as the " tied cottage system, " 

 is largely attributed the labourer's lack of independence. The labourer 

 who lives in a tied cottage knows that his employer can not only dismiss 

 him from his work but can evict him from his home. 



The great difficulty of obtaining another cottage naturally makes the 

 labourer doubly afraid to take any action by which he may risk losing his 

 employment. Moreover he is afraid of asking necessary repairs for his 

 cottage lest it should result in his dismissal. 



