THE SCARCITY OF COTTAGES.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—To the dwindling minority of Englishmen who know anything about rural life it is very evident that one of the chief reasons for the scarcity of cottages is the attack made on the landowners by the present Socialist Government and the further taxation with which they are threatened.
It is no exaggeration to say that on the larger estates the agricultural labourer, where the cottage is let to him direct by the landowner, is housed at a loss. The average rent -which the labourer pays is about 2s. a week, whereas 4s. 6d. a week is the lowest rent at which cottages phy a fair return on the capital invested in them. Now that estates are being broken up the smaller men who purchase the lots into which they are divided are obliged to raise the rents in order to make a fair interest on their money. In short, they cannot afford to house the labourer at a loss, and the question is, Who is to do so, now that the big landowner is being abolished ?
This cheap housing of the labourer by the landlords is one of the remaining " shackles of feudalism." Another is the low rent asked by the landlords for their farms, which has been proved conclusively to be about 2 per cent. on their capital value. Another is what may be called the voluntary taxation of the landowner, namely, the privilege of heading all the sub- scription lists in his village. How much will the farmers and labourers benefit by the removal of these shackles P Indeed, of all the cant phrases now used by specious demagogues to deceive an electorate, mostly ignorant, this phrase, " shackles of feudalism " is the silliest —I am, Sir, &c.,
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