II A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 



1894. 



The Local Government Act of 1894 has often been styled 

 the Rural Magna Charta. In support of it Gladstone made 

 liis last speech in the House of Commons. It was hoped 

 by many that by the creation of Parish and Rural District 

 Councils, the agricultural labourer, so long left out in the 

 cold from the management of his own parochial affairs, 

 would be able to secure allotments easily, would admin- 

 ister non-ecclesiastical charities, acquire village greens and 

 institutes, and above all a roof over his head which he 

 could call his own by a less cumbrous adoption of the 

 Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1890. 



So far, the only cottages built under this Act by the rural 

 sanitary authorities were eight cottages built at Ixworth 

 in Suffolk. This was done in 1893. It was the result of 

 labourers forming themselves into the Ixworth Agricultural 

 Labourers' Association, with the help of the liberal-minded 

 vicar, the Revd. F. D. Perrott, who instituted a Housing 

 Enquiry. There is no doubt about the need of new cot- 

 tages, for Ixworth was a rural slum, and a rural slum is 

 generally worse than a town slum, if this be possible. 



In a row of houses with forty-four inhabitants there were 

 only three closets. Water came into both bedrooms in some 

 of the cottages, and a bed quilt was seen covered with holes 

 made by the rats. In one cottage, when it rained heavily 

 the water ran through the back kitchen into the sitting- 

 room and formed a pool in the centre. Dr. Thresh, of the 

 Chelmsford and Maiden Unions, who was called in as an 

 expert, condemned the condition of the cottages. The 

 Enquiry was held in 1890. Overwhelming evidence was 

 adduced and the Council were read}' t<> issue their certificate, 



121 



