Turning to the housing problem, he maintained that it was
the duty of every owner of land to find enough cottages for the cultivation of the land, and to see that they were in a thoroughly sanitary and satisfactory condition. The State should build cottages for its own workmen—policemen, road- men, postmasters, &c.—while in regard to the third and most difficult class, cottages owned by small people, the State, preferably through the local authorities, should contribute towards their repair or rebuilding by means of grants-in-aid. We regret to notice that Mr. Long declared himself opposed to the attempt to build cheap cottages on the ground that they would be neither pleasant to look at nor agreeable to live in. He spoke, we venture to say, too much in the abstract and not from experience. A cheap cottage, i.e., one constructed without waste, may be much more agreeable to live in than a dear one—quite apart from the agreeableness of a low rent. What is pleasant to look at is a matter of taste. In our opinion the odds are always heavily in favour of the cheap cottage in the matter of looks, and for this very good reason— there is no room in the cheap cottage for the miserable, mechanical, meretricious attempts at ornament with which the builder so often renders the dear cottage an abomination in the sight of gods and men.
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