THE RURAL PROBLEM 129 



APPENDIX E. 



CONFIDENTIAL REPORT RY AN INVESTIGATOR ON A 

 SOUTH OF ENGLAND VILLAGE. 



A desolate deserted village ; crazy houses, ill-kept, rarely 

 repaired, with gaps in the streets where houses have fallen down. 

 Each year some houses have been condemned. No houses built in 

 the last (50 years. The houses stand as they fall into ruin, the 

 heaps of stone, roofing, and timbers lying there. Grass is growing 

 in the streets. The whole village and surroundings owned by 



, typical of the worst form of landlord ; he will not sell or 



lease land for small holdings, nor repair his houses, or do anything 

 whatever to improve condition of the village. Wages on farms, 

 lis. to 14s. a week, more often lis. ; farmer charges 2s. 6d. for 

 cottage and Is. in some cases a lug for allotment land (8 an acre), 

 paying 10s. on big farms themselves. Farms very large, very little 

 labour employed, very poor cultivation. Every natural advan- 

 tage for prosperity, except being 8 miles from train (the ancestor of 

 present landlord refused land for Great Western Railway to go 



through) ; lies on main London Road to ; good soil, well 



watered in low lands ; common lands on high downs still open ; 

 considerable number of men eager for land. 



Sample cases of overcrowding. 



Houses almost falling down ; bedrooms and windows very 

 small. 



W. V., Street ; 3 bedrooms (originally 2, one partitioned 



off more like a cupboard). Father, mother, mother-in-law, 

 sister-in-law, 3 grown-up sons, and 1 grown-up daughter. 



L. y Street ; 3 bedrooms (one a partition as above). Father, 



mother, 3 lodgers (labourers), son 21, daughter 15, son 6 ; grown- 

 up daughter occasionally at home. 



W., Street ; 2 small bedrooms. Father, mother, 3 sons, 



1 grown-up daughter. 



B., Street ; 2 tiny bedrooms. Father, mother, 7 growing 



boys and girls at school, 1 baby. 



E., Main Road ; 2 bedrooms (one leading through the 



other). Father, mother, 3 grown-up sons, 3 children at school, 

 1 little one. 



I saw Medical Officer of Health Was told I should find him 

 entirely in support of landlord, being dependent upon him, and 

 living in one of his houses, as all in the village do. 



Medical Officer of Health assured me that " was no worse 



than other villages, perhaps not so bad." Pressed him for a 

 worse. He would not say. He considered health very good, 

 overcrowding the natural habit of the people, same in all villages. 

 They did not want houses because no employment, and people 



