The Labour Bill in Farmim/. 
115 
fair weekly rental for the five-roomed houses at Lavender 
Hill, '2s. would be thought a high rent for cottages which 
may be favourably compared with these houses for internal 
accommodation, and far surpass them in respect of gardens, 
supply of vegetables, power to bake and brew, command of pure 
air, nearness to work, and pleasant surroundings. It follows 
that in actual rental alone there is a difference of 35. 9f?. a week 
against the town-dweller and in favour of the peasant, while 
the produce of the garden and the profit of pig-keeping go to 
increase the relative advantages of the latter. 
Next as to cost of construction. If a man wishes to buy a 
five-roomed house at Lavender Hill, the price is 170/., exclusive 
of law charges. For this sum, however, he does not secure the 
freehold : he holds the house on a 99-years' lease, and must pay 
an annual ground-rent of 21. 12s. If this ground-rent be capi- 
talised, an addition of say 50/. must be made to the purchase- 
money, which will then come to 220/. On the other hand, Ave 
may reckon that the peasant's cottage costs about 150/., setting 
down nothing for the value of the land. Averaging the rent 
at Is. 9f/. a week, we have a yearly return of 4/. lis. from this 
investment, or about 3/. per cent. From this return, however, 
must be deducted rates and taxes, insurance, and repairs. 
There is no deduction for occasional loss of rent, nor is any 
account taken of the land occupied by the cottage .and garden. 
When a moderate allowance has been made under each of these 
heads, what remains for the landlord ? Barely 2^ per cent., 
and as soon as a cottage has seen its best days, even less ; while 
the lowest dividend realised by the Artisans and Labourers' 
Dwellings Company at Lavender Hill is 6 per cent. : and Lord 
Shaftesbury has stated that the Company might have divided 
10 per cent. 
Hitherto cottages in the country have been compared, in rent 
and accommodation, with new dwellings recently provided for 
labourers and mechanics in tlie suburbs of London. But com- 
paratively few town labourers can afford to live so far from their 
work. We shall now see what sort of lodgings they are able to 
procure in the heart of London. The private letter from which 
I take the followingr extract was written bv a arentleman inti- 
mately acquainted with the district he describes, with the wages 
and mode of life of town labourers there, and the rent they 
commonly pay : — 
" Within a two miles' radius of this spot (he refers to a street 
iu Southwark) a front room, 12 feet square, would let for 4s. a 
week, a back room, 8 feet or 9 feet square, would be about 2s. Qd. 
to 3s. A small house in courts and places with no thoroughfare, 
containing four rooms about 7 feet square, would let for from 
I 2 
