COTTAGE ACCOMMODATION. 273 



up as follows : " Of the correspondents who 

 dealt with housing about half complained of 

 the want of cottages and of overcrowding and 

 insanitary conditions. In some cottages, Ave 

 are told, there are ladders to the bedrooms, 

 bad floors, bad roofs, and sieve-like walls. 

 Another correspondent speaks of a row of 

 cottages unfit for habitation, but ' labourers 

 must take them, for there are no others.' In 

 another village complaints have resulted in a 

 row of cottages being closed ; but as no new 

 ones have been built the effect is overcrowding. 



* The worst cottages are owned by , and 



if complaint were made, we expect the result 

 would be a notice to quit,' says another inform- 

 ant. In many districts, farmers hold or hke 

 the cottages, and sublet them to their labourers 

 — a thoroughly bad system, which goes far to 

 reduce the labourer to a state of servitude. 

 In some villages there are no cottage gardens. 

 Complaints to the local authorities, the Local 

 Government Board under the new Housing 

 Act, are made rarely, and have not as yet had 

 much effect." 



The worst evil in rural housing is this 

 system of farm-tied cottages. Not only does 

 it lead to uneconomic rents and low wages, but 



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