NATIONAL INSURANCE BILL.
[n) THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SITE,—The attention of the thoughtful public should be drawn to Clause 51 of the National Insurance Bill, and specially to its bearing on the preservation of order and decency in working-class dwellings. The quiet and respectable tenants in a block of buildings might, if this clause were passed, have quartered among them for a year or so those who disturb and injure them in many ways without their landlord having any power to protect them. To managers of houses who, like myself, more often determine a weekly tenancy for the sake of securing quiet and order than for any remissness in paying rent, the idea of being unable to carry through a notice to quit for a year seems terrible. The influence of those managing the house would be greatly diminished, and the effect of such a clause might be to allow a vicious, drunken, or dirty family to remain among decent neighbours unchecked for a year. I say nothing here of the great injustice of levy- ing the full cost of an extra sick benefit on individuals, nor of the loss to many owners, poor and rich, which would result from such an enactment. I hope others will bring this forward clearly and strongly, but I wish here to point out the great added difficulty which would arise in managing a group of workmen's dwellings if no discretion of terminating weekly tenancies is left with owners.—I am, Sir, &c.,
OCTAVIA HILL.
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