We may pick out another of Mr. Lloyd George's rhetorical
follies. The effect of his speech was to lead his hearers to suppose that the rural cottages of England are the most rotten and miserable hovels in the world, and that the Con- tinental rural labourer is far better housed. We have no wish to say that there is no cottage problem in England, for we know there is; but we do venture to suggest that the next time Mr. Lloyd George is motoring in Normandy, Brittany, in Provence, or in any part of Italy, he should go into the poorer type of peasant labourers' houses. He will find the average infinitely below that of England. For the most part he will see two-roomed hovels rather than houses—places which cannot compare for a moment with the normal English cottage. We want more cottages, better cottages, cheaper cottages, but in spite of that want we are far ahead of the foreigner in the matter of rural housing.
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