NATIONAL IKSURANCE BILL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."
Snt,—Amongst other provisions of this Bill Section 51 pro. vides as follows : " The owner of any house occupied by a person in receipt of sick pay under this scheme is liable to a fine of £50 if for a period of fourteen days (extendable to twelve months) after the tenant receives sick-pay he shall eject his tenant or distrain for rent due." The absolute dis- honesty and unfairness of this clause are so manifest that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon it, and I would ask how is the business of the country to be carried on under such legislation, and who in the future will build houses for the wage-earners under £160 a year if this clause is to become law ? The owner of house property will not be like a tradesman giving voluntary credit, but will be compelled, against his will, to give it, and at the same time he will have to pay out of pocket all charges for repairs, probably property tax, and, if a corn- sounding owner, all local rates. If this clause stands it is probable that more than half the owners of house property in England will become victims, and as yet little or no protest has been raised against it. The medical profession and the friendly societies are busy looking after their own interests, and surely it is time that all property owners' defence associa. tions and all owners of property awoke to a sense of the danger to which they are exposed.—I am, Sir, &c., [If the clause passes the result must be the raising of rents, or, what is as injurious to the poor, a demand for a year or six months' rent in advance. Our law of distraint is not an injury to the poorer class of tenants, but helps to give them credit where they would not otherwise obtain it. In future, men likely to fall all will be considered as dangerous and undesirable tenants, unless they are always a long way in advance with their rent. Very hard, if not intentional, are the blows we deal at the weak, the sickly, and the old.—En Spectator.]
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