GROWTH UNDER STORMY SKIES. 209 



able to prove the rise in wages had put upon him an increased 

 burthen he should have the right to apply to a judicial body 

 such as a Land Court for a readjustment of his rent. 



Housing. They found that the proper administration 

 of sections 15 and 17 of the Housing Act of 1909 had prac- 

 tically broken down by the lack of alternative accommoda- 

 tion ; 120,000 new cottages were needed at once in the 

 rural districts of England and Wales, and private enterprise 

 had entirely failed to provide them. The usual rent for 

 old cottages ran from is. to 35. a week. Against these 

 rents no private builder could compete, nor was it possible 

 to get District Councils to build at an economic rent unless 

 wages rose. Thus the vicious circle went on. The Com- 

 mittee proposed grants-in-aid to stimulate local authorities 

 to build. It was estimated that about 300,000 labourers 

 lived in tied cottages. 



With regard to these tied cottages, they proposed that 

 six months' notice should be given, except in the cases where 

 occupation of a cottage was necessary for a man employed 

 in the care of animals, when a month's notice was considered 

 sufficient. It should be made illegal to let cottages to a 

 farmer for him to sub-let to his labourers. 



Access to the Land. Notices should be exhibited in every 

 village post-office telling the villagers what precisely are 

 their rights with regard to allotments, small holdings, and 

 housing, and the address should be given of some Govern- 

 ment official with whom a labourer could communicate 

 when he wished to make a demand. 



Cottage Gardens and Allotments. Probably not more than 

 one-sixth of the total number of the cottages in rural dis- 

 tricts have gardens of one-eighth of an acre or more. The 

 labourer preferred a garden of some size near his house to 

 an allotment at a distance. Only about two-thirds of all 

 the villages had any allotments. Most allotments in exist- 

 ence were utilised. Where this was not the case it was 

 because the land was of poor quality, or too highly rented, or 

 situated too far from the villages, or the hours of the 

 labourers were too long to enable them to cultivate their 

 allotments. There was still a great unsatisfied demand for 



VOL. II. I* 



