BRITISH SHEPETOVKAS Sta,—The article " Shepetovka " in your issue
of February 25th gives a vivid picture of the backwardne;s of a Ukrainian village in 1909. In one important matter, however, the condition of rural Britain in 1944 is not one whit better. Drainless villages are to be found in every part of the land. In this and the adjacent rural parishes of Angus public water supplies are non-existent. For that reason it is almost impossible to find sites for new houses for agricultural workers. It would be a priceless boon for the women-folks in farm-workers' cottages to have water on tap inside the house, but to the vast majority that elementary amenity is denied ; there is nothing for it but the weary tramp in all weathers to the well.
Pumping plant—when in working order—eases the burden in the farmhouses, but a public supply of gravitation water and sewerage, alike for farmer and farm-worker and hamlet-dweller, is surely long overdue in the middle of this twentieth century.—I am, yours faithfully, Manse of Lunan, Montrose, Angus, THOMAS ALEXANDER.
Previous page
