144 THE AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 



which he had recently seen, for example, at Nieuport, would 

 not do for this country. 



Then as regards rents, what were they to be ? He was 

 perplexed about the matter. The Government's proposal 

 was that in 1927 the rents should be equal to two-thirds of 

 the cost of building to-day. That rent could not be an 

 economic one, and if they intended to do an economic thing 

 only they would do nothing at all. Rents were fixed to-day 

 according to those prevailing on August i, 1914. Then 10 

 per cent, increase was admitted under the Increase of Rents 

 and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, to come into 

 operation six months after the close of war. A typical 

 worker's cottage in an urban area in, say, Lancashire or 

 Yorkshire was rented at 55. to 75. weekly. Now for the 

 new cottages, taking into account the better design and 

 type, the rents should become 7$. 6d. to los. 6d., and local 

 authorities say that can be paid by the workers. The 

 Ministry of Health do not challenge the figures, and it can 

 therefore be taken that the new cottages will be rented at 

 about that figure. But there was also the agricultural 

 problem. Rents in rural areas were, say, is. 6d., 2s., 2s. 6d., 

 somewhere about 5 per annum standard rent. They would 

 now be asked to pay 55. or 6s., rates included. Houses in 

 the urban and rural areas cost the same to build, but in the 

 rural areas they were not able to pay the same rent as in the 

 urban areas. Was that fair or logical ? That was a matter 

 they must take into account when considering the rural 

 problem. 



The Government might say that in 1927 the rent was to 

 be two-thirds of the cost of building to-day, but local 

 authorities would not pledge themselves to that figure. The 

 National Housing and Town Planning Council, representing 

 about 1,000 local authorities, had told the Government they 

 could not pledge themselves to this rent and would ask the 

 Government to reconsider the case when it arose later. Why 

 should the figure be two-thirds ? If they applied it, they 

 would be committed to ask the labourers for 155. for a 

 cottage in 1927. At a meeting in Belgium a few weeks ago 

 he had a talk with a leading French housing expert, who said 



