The most serious difficulty in the way of Mr. Cross's
plan is cost, and we are sorry to see that the last report of the Peabody "Trustees is not encouraging. The Trustees have now been some .years at work, but they have only succeeded in housing 954 families, each of which has an average weekly income, in wages paid to its head alone, of £1 3s. 5d., while the buildings in which they are lodged only return 2 per cent. It is true the buildings last erected cost less than the earlier ones, but still none pay more than 3 per cent., and 5 per cent. must be obtained before such structures are paying -speculations. The Trustees would do well to explain next year why they receive so much less than Sir Sydney Waterlow's Com- pany does, and also the principle on which they fix their- rents. At present they are clearly giving their lodgings,—that is, are accepting from motives of charity rents which would not pay business men.
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