CHAPTER VII. 

 COTTAGES AND RENTS. 



THE important " cottage " question is one that has been 

 very much discussed, and ample information given, in 

 the shape of illustrative examples of their condition and 

 the rents paid for them in particular districts. We 

 propose now, and briefly, to deal with the question in its 

 general aspect, and especially with relation to the systems 

 under which cottages are built. The matter of free 

 and rented cottages will also be dealt with in more 

 than one chapter. Where free of rent, it is only a matter 

 of payment " in kind," and is seldom a gift in the proper 

 sense of the word, although there are instances in which 

 it may be so regarded. The " house-free " principle 

 is by no means confined to agricultural labourers, but 

 it is invariably a part of remuneration when held by 

 an employ 6 of any description. 



A large number of cottages are built by landowners, 

 and form part of farms, and are let with the farms for 

 the convenience of farmers. When all or the bulk of 

 the cottages in a village belong to the proprietor 

 of a large estate, the designation of " close village " 

 is adopted. As a rule, such cottages are the best built. 

 The inferior class of peasant dwellings occur mostly in 

 what are called " open villages." They belong some- 

 times to farmers, or to small owners who have built 

 them "to pay" as an investment. Properly - built 

 cottages, let at the rents agricultural labourers can afford 

 to give, do not pay. Badly built at the start, the cheap 



