230 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



Is this, then, the golden remedy for low 

 wages and bad houses ? Who is going to pay 

 the vastly increased imposts on rural farm- 

 lands ? If the farmer is to shoulder the new 

 burdens, how can he afford the better wages 

 urgently needed for his labourers ? If the 

 landlords pay the rates without foisting them 

 upon the tenant (a most improbable con- 

 tingency), how are they to accept less rent, 

 which in many cases they must do if the 

 labourers are to have decent wages ? And 

 what has happened to the coverts ? Will 

 any man who can afford to hunt or shoot shut 

 up his woods because of an increased tax of 

 11 14s. 8d. on 327 acres about the cost of 

 rearing a couple of dozen pheasants ? If on 

 the other hand, the 3d. or Id. rates are levied 

 the sporting landlord in the above instance 

 actually pays less under the new than under 

 the old system a strange reductio ad 

 absurdum ! Notice in any case that the 

 burdens on the farms, market gardens, and 

 allotments are increased. No, our villages 

 need something better, more definite, more 

 tangible than any mere alteration in our 

 rating system. The labourers are tired of 

 waiting, and they are not going to allow 

 practical reforms to be side-tracked by such 

 nebulous remedies as the " forcing of the land 



