cottages in many country districts. It must, however, be remem-
bered that an owner cannot be expected to build cottages without the prospect of getting some slight return on his outlay; and it is very difficult to get a weekly rent which bears any pro- portion to the cost of the building. The country landowner is required to house his tenants better and pay them higher wages than in past times ; but the tenant expects to get a better house at the same rent as before. Then the condition in which the cottages are kept depends very greatly upon the tenant. An owner cannot possibly keep count of the small repairs necessary which the occupier might bring to his notice at once, or do for himself. By the time the owner is informed the probability is that habitual neglect has turned a trifling defect into a serious matter; and an owner gets tired of being called upon to put in order a dwelling which the tenant is at no pains to keep nice when he has it. Your correspondent speaks of a house with " low ceilings black from smoke " and o' rain flowing under the door." Could the occupier not have nailed a board across the door and whitewashed the ceilings P I know a case of a gardener living in a cottage belonging to a house of which the owner was absent for a considerable time. The owner, not being able to see what state the cottage was in, asked a friend to report upon it, who found the back kitchen black with soot. The gardener had had nothing what- ever to do but ask for some lime and do the whitewashing him- self, but had simply neglected it through idleness. In another case a family complained of water standing outside the door. It never occurred to them to dig a little trench to carry it off.
am, Sir, &c., COUNTRY LANDLORD.
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