LIFE IN A VILLAGE
Sta,—Having moved from a bombed South London vicarage to rural Herefordshire last autumn, the primitive conditions of life are a revelation to me as they probably would be to most townsfolk.
Though only two miles from Ledbury where all amenities in the way of electricity, gas, main water supply and drainage are obtainable, we have none of these things. Villagers have sometimes to walk half a mile and more to fetch their drinking water from some wayside pump, and refuse which is never collected is dumped almost anywhere at will to pollute the countryside. There is an average annual rainfall of at least 3o inches which would be more than enough to provide all the needs of the village.
For war purposes we were able to lay pipe lines under the sea and provide the armies of Europe with an ample petrol supply, compared with which the laying on of water and drainage for the rural areas of England would seem a very simple task.
Moreover, with insufficient coal and no other available form of fuel for the barest necessities of cooking and heating, the electrification of the rural areas becomes no longer a luxury but an absolute necessity. The wealthier folk, by installing their own electric plant can largely solve this problem for themselves, but this is beyond the capacity of the cottagers and a majority of poorer folk.
Meanwhile, here in rural England, conditions of living are harder and more primitive than on the prairies of Canada or in the Australian bush ; whilst for years between the two wars millions of unemployed were walking our streets. There should be no problem of unemployment at least whilst the countrysitle is deprived of the ordinary amenities of modern civilised life in water, drainage, and electricity. What are the political parties offering themselves for re-election prepared to do about these vital matters so long overdue and affecting the welfare of so many
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