170 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



He dared not open his front window for fear of the bricks 

 falling down. A fire could not be lighted in a grate. 

 Needless to say the room was never occupied. It was pre- 

 served as a small holding mausoleum for Mr. Runciman to 

 see, who was then President of the Board of Agriculture. 



" They say 100 has been spent on our place," said a 

 small holder's wife, pathetically, " and it is now supposed 

 to be repaired. We have to pay 6 per cent, on that 100, 

 and yet we don't know how the money has been spent. 

 Our rent for the 16 acres, instead of being from 305. to 

 405. an acre, has now risen to 40." 



An elderly Dorsetshire man, gaitered and wearing the 

 look of a yeoman farmer, begged me to come and see how 

 the County Council had erected a cowshed for him. He 

 farmed only 6 acres, and his rent stood at 3 145. an acre. 

 He had to buttress the doors and windows of his cottage, 

 and on the other side of his parlour wall his pony was 

 stabled. He asked the Council to erect a detached cow- 

 shed for about 25. It was built ; but it stood empty. 

 The tenant was afraid to house either a pony or a cow 

 there. It was made of thin weather-boarding, roofed with 

 corrugated iron sheets, which barely met and let in a good 

 deal of wet. The concreted floor had to be laid three times. 



The bluff old Dorset farmer drove his fist against the 

 weather-boarding to show how easily he could have smashed 

 it. This building instead of costing 25 cost 57, on which 

 6 per cent, was charged. 



The choicest dwelling, though, was that occupied by a 

 man with about 50 acres. It was so bad that the County 

 Council had been driven by the sanitary authorities to build 

 a brick cottage to take its place. On the occasion of my 

 visit the family was still living in this cottage, and it was in 

 such a shocking condition that when a storm arose the small 

 holders' wife told me, " We dusn't go to bed, it do wave 

 so." 



Even under normal circumstances few of the family 

 dared to sleep upstairs, for all the bedrooms had to be 

 propped up to prevent the thatched roof from tumbling in 

 upon them ; and having propped up the bedrooms, it was 



