mid Cottage Eco?iomy. 197 



But perhaps you may now say that I have made every thing appear easy 

 and plain, without any difficulty attending it, but still how is it at all to 

 be effected ? You have not proposed the question, but I beg leave to give 

 my opinions by answering it. 



It is practicable in two ways, by landholders and by parishes. 



1. By Landholders. — It is in the power of landholders to effect the pre- 

 sent plan of amelioration, without any loss, and in the end a real gain of pro 

 perry; and they would be also rewarded by seeing an increase of industry 

 and a decrease of crime upon their demesnes. But to the plan ; suppose a 

 landholder has 40 acres of good arable meadow land, that he is letting at 

 15s. per acre, that is 301. per annum ; I will show how to make something 

 more of his property, for 



£ *. d. 



Six cottages of the 1st class might 



be built at 55/. each - - 330 



2d class, at 65/. each . . 390 



3d class, at 70/. each . . 420 



£1140 



Then the rental of 1st class - . 21 12 

 Do. 2d class . . 36 



Do. 3d class . . 45 



Rental per annum 102 12 

 Deduct the land rent 30 



There remain 72 12 



per annum for the interest of 1 140/., which is above 6 per cent for the 

 money laid out, and the advantages to his tenantry will be incalculable. 



2. By Parishes. Upon an average, the different parishes in this part of 

 the country are paying 5s, per pound poor's rate ; so, if a parish is assessed 

 at 4000/., they are paying 1000/. annually for the regular weekly and 

 casual relief of the poor, which I shall divide into six classes, in order to 

 give a clear elucidation of my plan, viz. — 



10 families at 10s. per week . . 260 3 families at 10s. per week , . 78 6 « 



10 do. at 8s. per week - - 208 3 do. at 8s. per week R 62 8 



10 do. at 6s. per week , 156 3 do. at 6s. per week t , 46 16 



10 do. at 4s. per week . 104 3 do. at 4s. per week , . 30 14 



10 do. at 3s. per week - . 78 3 do. at os. per week . . 23 8 



10 do. at 2s. 6d. per week - 68 3 do. at 2s. 6d. per week , . 19 10 



£ 



s. d. 



. 260 







- 208 







. 156 







. 104 







- 78 







68 







874 







126 







.£1000 











£ t. d. 

 



60 874 Saved 2fi0 16 



— For casual expenses 126 874 



613 4 

 Casual Relief 126 



First year's assessment 739 4 



To demonstrate the above still more clearly, suppose a parish were to 

 take a long lease of 40 acres of land for 30/. per year, and to borrow, at as 

 low an interest as they could, 1 140/., for the building of eighteen cottages ; 

 that they were to place three families out of each of the ten in my first 

 statement ; by their removal from the parish books, the assessment would 

 be reduced 260/. 1 0s., as shown in statement 2., making the assessment only 

 739/. 4s., which would only be 3s. 9d. in the pound instead of 5s. The pro- 

 fits of the parish would be as follows : — 



£ t. d. £ s, d. 



Ground rent - ■ . 30 



Interest at 4 per cent of 1140/. - - . 45 12 



-JL 75 12 



Rental of cottages - - - . 102 12 



Reduction of rates - - - - . 260 16 



•> 363 8 



Annual saving £9Z1 16 



By the annexed calculation, the parish is enabled to pay the rent and 

 interest of building money, and has 75/. in hand, which, with the 260/. 

 reduction in the rates, would save 287/. annually ; and I have no hesi- 

 tation in saying, were either of these plans acted upon, the rates would soon 

 get much lower ; so, ultimately, the demand for labour would be greater, 

 and wages would be higher, and the poor's rate would only have to be levied 



O 3 



