THATCHED BUILDINGS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Does not the writer of the interesting article on "The Village Thatcher" in your issue of December 2nd himself indulge in one of those sweeping generalisations of the in- accuracy of which he warns us in his opening sentences, when he writes that "the thatching of newly erected buildings has been prohibited" ? He, like too many writers on the cottage question, assumes that the old Model By-laws, with their restrictions in regard to inflammable material for roofing, have been universally adopted as they stand. This is not the case. In one Union that I know the by-laws as adopted do not contain any restriction of the sort; in another there are no by-laws whatsoever; in a third, where I have been respon- sible for the management of property, a thatched cottage roof was considerably extended with the sanction of the District Council, in spite of the objectionable form in which, to save themselves the trouble of revising them, they had adopted the Model By-laws, apparently en bloc.—I am, Sir, &c., J. T. MAL.LOCK
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