3 AUGUST 1951, Page 5

The ironical thing is that the Government could not, and

knows that it could not, run the country if it did not itself rely extensively on the principle of " tied " cottages. Almost none of its agencies, from the Foreign Office to the Forestry Commission, from the National Coal Board to the R.A.F., could continue to function efficiently for long if the doctrinaire objections to " tied " cottages were carried to their logical conclusions. If a shepherd or a chauffeur ought to have the right to change their job and keep their cottage, why should that right be denied to the village constable or the headmaster of the local school ? In what way, for the matter of that, does No. 10 Downing Street differ from a " tied " cottage ?