166 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



sympathetic clergyman in the village. The men in these 

 remote rural parts, and indeed in most counties outside 

 Norfolk and Suffolk, were destitute of any shred of organ- 

 isation. Hopelessly would I look round for any man left 

 in the village capable of forwarding an application to the 

 Board of Agriculture in the event of failure to obtain land, 

 or to the Local Government Board wherever cottages 

 were badly needed. 



In vain too was it to look for " six registered parliament 

 ary electors or ratepayers " under Section 23 of the Small 

 Holdings Act, when allotments were not forthcoming, to 

 send in a representation in writing ; or after the 

 passing of the Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909, 

 almost in vain was it to find four independent householders 

 who would have the courage to sign an appeal to ask the 

 Local Government Board to hold an enquiry on a village 

 which contained insanitary cottages or needed the erection 

 of fresh ones. 



Good as the Housing and Town Planning Act was on 

 paper it managed to close eleven cottages to every one it 

 caused to be built ; and the Small Holdings Act, though not 

 intended to be a housing Act, managed to get many more 

 cottages built than the famous Housing Act. Fear of 

 eviction killed the effectiveness of the Act. 



Two instances will illustrate how fear dominated village 

 life. In 1905 the Hemel Hempstead District Council 

 instructed the sanitary inspector to make a Report on the 

 housing conditions of this village. In the course of his 

 Report, referring to the labourers the inspector said : "If 

 they complain of the cottages they live in they either get 

 notice to quit, or if any improvement is made their rent is 

 increased." 



In 1906 the Hertfordshire County Council held a public 

 Enquiry on the same subject, when the following evidence 

 was given : 



Q. You said people seemed afraid of something. What were 

 they afraid of ? 



A. They were afraid to give me evidence because they were 



