THE RURAL PROBLEM 37 



The Act of 1890 being optional was valueless, and hardly 

 ever applied. From 1890 to 1909 only nine loans to six 

 R.D.C.'s were granted for the erection of labourers' dwellings 

 under the Act. 



Under the Act of 1909 considerably more has been 

 effected. From 1909 to August, 1913, 71 loans have been 

 sanctioned in respect of 37 R.D.C.'s for application in 54 

 parishes, amounting to £87,662 ; whilst further schemes 

 amounting to £110,000 were under consideration by the 

 Board in August. 



Thus 54 R.D.C.'s have been stirred into action under the 

 later Act from 1909-1912, as compared with six R.D.C.'s 

 under the prior Act from 1890-1909.* 



Taking the figures as comparative, the progress appears 

 good ; but in view of the enormous dearth to be made good, 

 little has really been achievcd.f The Act is virtually 

 useless to deal with the rural housing problem, for the 

 reason that the rents of cottages built under it arc too high 

 for the ordinary labourer. The rents have averaged between 

 3s. 6d. and 4s. a week, while in many cases they have been 

 much higher, 4s. 6d., 4s. 9d., and even in some cases 6s.J 



§ 2. The Financial Problem. 



There arc one or two fallacies which have drifted into 

 almost general acceptance in connection with cottage 



9 



* L.G.B. Annual Report, 1912-1913. Cd. 6981. 



f In one respect the operation of the Sanitary clauses of the Act 

 has only made the housing problem more acute. Up to March 31st, 

 1912, 23,GG7 houses in rural districts were represented, under Section 15, 

 as not being in all respects reasonably fit for habitation. Of these 

 14,C2G were patched up, but 722 were closed altogether, and 9,740 

 notices were still in abeyance, owing to scarcity of cottages in the 

 neighbourhood. During the three years ending March 31st, 1912, 

 88,453 cottages were represented as being unfit for human habitation. 

 Of these 3,270 were compulsorily closed, and 14,25."> either patched up 

 or closed or demolished voluntarily without the issue of an order. 

 Thus 3,992 cottages have been compulsorily closed, large numbers of 

 others voluntarily closed or demolished, but up to October 31st, 1912, only 

 398 new cottages had been built in their j>lace. During the past year the 

 same process of closing lias gone on apace : but the loans at present 

 sanctioned since 1909 only provide for the erection of 470 cottages. 



X White Paper No. 293, issued by L.G.B. August 1st, 1912. 



4( 73 



