22 NOVEMBER 1913, Page 28

The Garden City. By C. B. Purdom. (J. M. Dent.

10s. 6d. net.)—The history of the growth of Letchworth Garden City will be found in these pages, which are illustrated with a number of photographs. We notice that Mr. Purdom longs for the "happy day for Letchworth when the [cheap cottage] exhibition is forgotten and all its consequences are destroyed," on the ground that it set up a "rage for cheapness." The hatred harboured by the modern philanthropist and indeed, we might almost say, by the average Englishman against the "rage for cheapness" might serve as the theme for a sermon. We suspect that this same "rage" for cheap cottage construc- tion is likely to prove one of the chief factors in solving the rural housing problem.