all views of the housing question which are taken from
tho political standpoint. The commissioners of party newspapers are too apt to have their conclusions fixed beforehand. Here is Mr. Haw saying that "the main reasons why country peolile flock into towns are because of the scarcity of cottages in their native villages, and of the foul and overcrowded state of so many country houses." There are thousands of villages and hamlets where the house accommodation is quite satisfactory, probably better than is to be found in any country of the world, but they suffer as much from this depopulation as the rest. The truth is that the average countryman does not care as much about this evil as he ought. He goes away because he gets better wages, because the town is more amusing than the village, because the most profitable agricultural work is made scarce by agricultural depression. The farmer has to dispense with wheat and turnip hoeing as much as he can because it does not pay him to do it. His only chance of getting on is by diminishing many out-of-pocket expenses as much as possible. Mr. Haw's animus is shown plainly enough when he denounces the Agricultural Rates Act. Does he think that the labourer is likely to be benefited in respect of better accommodation, or of anything else, if the Act were repealed?
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