Engines of Social Progress. By W. L. George. (A. and
C. Black. 5s. net)—The subjects discussed in this volume are eight,--viz., emigration ; small holdings ; garden cities, with an appendix on cheap cottages and rural housing ; model villages ; housing schemes; co-operation; the Trust public-hawse move- ment ; rescue (by which is meant the dealing with the social failures, partial or complete, remediable or hopeless). On all of these subjects the Spectator has from time to time set forth its opinions, and it would be impossible to restate them here. It will be sufficient, therefore, to direct the attention of our readers to this volume, which certainly will be found to repay careful study.—One of these topics, perhaps the most complex of all, is disarmed in Housing, by Percy Alden, M.P., and Edward E. Hayward, M.A. (Headley Brothers, le. net), the first of a series of "Social Service Handbooks." One remark the writer of this notice ventures to make, that the system of "building by-laws," as carried out by Rural District Councils, requires very consider- able modification. Harassing regulations are enforced, and the erection of cheap and perfectly wholesome dwellings is practically discouraged, while unwholesome cottages and shelters for hop and fruit pickers are left without interference. A w.a. apparatus of a certain construction may be insisted on, while huts without any sanitary accommodation at all, crowded with adults and children, are allowed to exist.
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