THE RURAL PROBLEM. 26 



class problems in some form of associations for mntual protection 

 and assistance. In some respects the establishment of the most 

 intelligent labourers on small holdings robs the class of its natural 

 leaders, while it is almost impossible to conceive the establishment of 

 a small holding for each of the 400,000 adult labourers in England 

 and Wales. 



Allotments have not hitherto been mentioned because they 

 are regarded rather as a method of enabling the labourer to eke 

 out an existence than as helps to the improvement of the essential 

 conditions of his life. Only a very few allotment holders in rural 

 districts ever attain the position of self-supporting cultivators. To 

 most of them an allotment is a means of increasing income to meet 

 immediate needs, and to many it is a means to be relinquished as 

 soon as the need disappears. There are now many districts 

 where allotment cultivation is declining because employment 

 and incomes have been regularised. On the other hand there are 

 some districts where there is an unsatisfied demand for land for 

 allotments. Frequently these are industrial or semi-urban areas 

 where allotment cultivation is regarded partly as a form of recrea- 

 tion. But the machinery for obtaining allotments now exists, 

 and in most cases only intelligent initiative is required to obtain 

 the supply. 



One of the most important causes of dissatisfaction amongst 

 labourers' sons and daughters, especially the latter, is the lack of 

 cottages or the deficiency of existing cottages. The shortage of 

 cottages or deficiency in quality cannot be separated from the 

 question of economic return from the industry-. Cottages are 

 not built or improved because owners of land who provide cottage 

 equipment cannot build so as to secure the cm-rent rate of return 

 on the capital invested. Farm rents again are too low to cover 

 the cost of new or better cottage equipment. In some cases, how- 

 ever, cottages have been improved as a matter of social duty. 

 Investors in small property do not build or improve cottages for 

 the occupation of farm labourers because the rates of wages do 

 not provide a sufficient margin for pa^mient for better housing. 

 Where the difficulty is one of absolute shortage of cottages, many 

 complaints have been made against the restrictions of the local 

 building bj^e-laws. But in the main the local rules are based on 

 fair demands for a standard of housing under modern conditions ; 

 and in view of the general complaints as to the deficiency in quality 

 it is useless to build cottages which will not meet the fair demands 

 of the labourer and his wife. 



The shortage of cottages in rural areas is often the cause of 

 hard conditions, for the labourer who lives in a " tied " cottage 

 may have to leave his cottage as well as his employment at the 

 end of a short notice. With an adequate supph' of free cottages 

 the hardship would be mitigated to a great extent, but ^^•hen all 

 cottages are full the labourer may have to remove to another 

 district. 



