COTTAGES THAT PAY. [To THIC EDITOR OF THE "Srecrexoa."]
SIR,—The letter of Mr. Harold Cox on this subject in last week's Spectator induces me to add my own experience on this pressing problem, gained in this parish during the last eight years, in the hope that it may interest or help some of your readers. This is not an agricultural district, but contains a population engaged in various occupations, whose wages vary from about 1Ss. to 23s. a week. The ground on which the cottages stand was mine in the first instance, which was an advantage, and had previously been let out in allotments bringing me an annual rental of 210 a year. Two classes of cottage have been erected; one class at a rent of 5s. a week, the tenant paying all rates; the other at 4s., the rates being defrayed by private arrangement. The contract for the more expensive cottage was 2210, the other was 2195, and they are in blocks of two tenements. Every tenement has three rooms upstairs and three on the ground floor, with an excellent garden attached and water laid on from the South Hants Water Company's main. The cost of repairs has been carefully calculated by an experienced builder at V. 7s. 6d. a cottage per annum, which exceeds what has been expended at present. The rents are punctually paid, and are invested in more tenements. Twenty-three cottages have now been finished, and it is proposed to provide seven more. They are mostly bespoke before a brick is laid. Allowing a fair valuation for sites and a few extras, the return has yielded a clear 4 per cent. The initial outlay may, for a few years, involve some personal sacrifice ; but is it not worth it ? In these days of increasing personal self-indulgence of every description is no thought ever to be given by private effort to grapple with some of the greatest public evils of our time ?-
Previous page
