THE RURAL PROBLEM 89 



requirements oi' a reasonable code of bye-laws. But this 

 could not include the cost of land, nor the provision of a 

 water supply where none exists." 



There is no doubt that, in certain localities, cottages have 

 been built more cheaply than this. But it does not follow 

 that because a building has been erected for a certain sum 

 in one district it can be duplicated somewhere else for 

 precisely the same price.* Moreover, the cost of building 

 rose 30 per cent, between 1887 and 1912, and is still rising 

 rapidly. After the coal strike prices went up enormously, 

 and have not yet come down to within 10 per cent, of their 

 previous level. f 



Experiments are occasionally made with special materials, 

 and it is not unreasonable to hope that some cheaper kind 

 of building may supersede brick, which up to the present 

 holds the field as the most obvious material for cottage 

 building. 



In view of the evidence it is impossible to estimate the 

 cost of 5-roomedf cottages, even when built in blocks of 

 four, at less than £200 apiece. Now an ordinary person 

 who builds cottages would want at least 5 per cent, on his 

 money after paying all outgoings, and most people want 

 6 per cent., or more, owing to the risk of losing rent which 

 is involved. Suppose the cottage (3 bedrooms) cost £200 

 to build with the land, rent would work out roughly some- 

 thing like this : 



* 5 per cent, on £200 



Rates 4s. on, say, £8 ... 



Repairs, say 



Water rate (if any) 



Empties (none if good locality) 



Collection 



Insurance 



Annual rental £13 17 8 



This works out at approximately 5s. 4d. a week. Ignoring 

 the collection and water rate, which might be avoidable, 

 the lowest rent at which a cottage can be built to pay may 

 be stated roughly as 5s. a week. 



* The Cheap Cottage. G. Gordon Allen. Garden City Press, Ltd. 



f See Appendix I. 



X One cottage in five could be built with only two bedrooms 



