1920.] 



Agricultural Housing. 



1213 



accommodation for all our people. We must also bear in mind 

 the fact that just as we desire to raise the standard of housing 

 in the towns, so it is desirable to raise the standard in the 

 country also. The families of agricultural labourers are on 

 the average 16 per cent, larger than the families of the rest of 

 the population, therefore the bedroom accommodation in rural 

 areas should at least be as good as in the towns and cities. 

 I emphasise this point because it has been said that the standard 

 of housing laid down by the Ministry of Health is too high for 

 the country ; but if we are going in for better housing then there 

 is every reason why the higher standard should be applied in 

 the country as well as in the town. 



Now these 100,000 are not to be tied cottages, nor are they 

 to be for the use of agricultural labourers only. In our opinion 

 the bulk of these new houses will be in villages and hamlets. 

 That will be a great advantage. It will facilitate the educa- 

 tion of the children ; it will minister to the gregarious instincts 

 of man ; it will permit of the provision of a better water supply 

 and drainage. Moreover, the advent of the bicycle has made 

 it possible for the agricultural labourer to live at some little 

 distance from his work, which may be the case if the houses 

 are built in the manner suggested. 



The great difficulty with which we are faced at the outset 

 is the cost of building. Cottages which might cost £350 

 befoie the \\'ar would now cost at least £700. We are 

 so impressed at the Ministry of Health by the high cost of 

 building that we are stimulating experiments with new methods 

 of building and rediscovering old methods. \\'e hope that in 

 steel and concrete or pise-de-terre we shall be able to build 

 more cheaply in many districts. In some areas ;fioo to £150 

 may be saved by using these new or old methods in place of 

 brick. Then also, the Government have put aside £15,000,000 

 as a subsidy, and we hope that landowners will come forward 

 and join in providing houses with the inducement of the £150 

 subsidy for each house built within the next 12 months. We 

 believe there is a nucleus of building labour in some i*ural 

 districts which will not go to the towns but which could be 

 brought in to help in the emergency. The effect of these high 

 costs must be reflected in the rents of new houses, but before 

 discussing rents I want to ask you to bear in mind a few facts 

 which are apt to be put aside or forgotten. In the first place, 

 a large number of agricultural labourers, say, 300,000 to 400,000, 

 do not live in tied houses, and large numbers of these are 



