POSITION OF RURAL AUTHORITIES 335 



beyond the reasonable means of a country district, and 

 an undue increase in the cost of producing the com- 

 modities on which such district seeks to thrive. 

 Handicapped in this way, it is scarcely possible for 

 agriculture to flourish. 



In the next place, rural authorities must seriously 

 consider the important question of building by-laws, 

 with a view to facilitating the more economical con- 

 struction of labourers' cottages, while still securing 

 adequate regard for considerations of health and sanita- 

 tion. The whole subject of rural education also calls 

 for revision, and action might more especially be taken 

 by County Councils (where this has not already been 

 done) on some such lines as those followed in the case 

 of Essex, as described in Chapter III. It may be open 

 to doubt whether County Councils are well-advised in 

 spending public money in teaching the art of butter- 

 making to dairymaids operating at individual farms, 

 since the lesson taught in the most emphatic manner 

 by our colonial and foreign competitors is that the 

 large quantities of butter which the British market 

 requires can only be successfully made by the adoption 

 of the factory system. But there can be no doubt as 

 to the value of analyses, of field experiments, of 

 scientific research, of the work of travelling professors 

 and demonstrators in fruit and farming districts, and of 

 agricultural instruction in general, all of which matters 

 come well within the scope of our County Councils. 



Action along these lines would be both legitimate 

 and desirable ; but I could not advocate that County 

 Councils should emulate the example of the local 

 authorities who have resorted to municipal house- 

 building in the towns (at the cost of the ratepayers) 

 by themselves speculating in land in the country, with 

 the idea of creating colonies of small holders. Still less 



