190 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



One of the reasons at the root of this unwilling- 

 ness is the simple fact that the applicant has 

 little prospect of securing any other house if 

 he abandons his present dwelling. Over 

 3,000 applicants had asked for houses. In 

 Cheshire 109 applicants out of a total of 150 

 wished for cottages on their holdings ; in 

 Northumberland 166 out of 274, and so on. 

 What is the net result of this large demand ? 

 Not a single cottage was apparently built by 

 any County Council in 1908, and in 1909 the 

 grand total amounted to seventy-four, while 

 of these no fewer than thirty-five were built 

 on a single estate. The figures at the present 

 moment (1912 Report) stand as follows 488 

 cottages actually built in five years. It is 

 true that no direct obligation, in this respect, 

 is imposed by the Act on the County Councils. 

 But what the figures and facts prove is that, 

 speaking generally, the County Councils carry 

 out the provisions of the Act in a dull and 

 grudging spirit, without a spark of real 

 enthusiasm or any ardent desire to render the 

 Act that widespread blessing which it might 

 become in more sympathetic hands. 



Cabinet Ministers have referred to the 

 results of the Small Holdings Act as if they 

 were eminently satisfactory, and, no doubt, 

 an excellent case can be made out, if we are 



