Engines of Social Progress

D RURAL HOUSING Strictly speaking, there are no rural model dwellings, for the conditions of country life are such that families cannot be lodged in barracks, not only because small groups of workers are every day spread over wide areas, but because there are no means of communication which would permit rapid transit. Under the present system, agricultural land being in the hands of a limited class, whose employees must needs live practically on the spot, housing cannot be other than individual; from the point of view of the preservation of family feeling, this is perhaps an advantage. In any event, at the present time the attention of the reformer or philanthropic landlord has been brought to bear on one point onlyâ??viz., the cottage as a home for the agricultural labourer. The difficulties with which innovators have been faced are immense, and they all proceed from a common sourceâ??the poverty of the agricultural labourer.Bates of wages are low in the counties, and but little lower in proportion when a house is thrown in. The unskilled labourer spends practically all he earns where he sleeps, so that a reduction in his rental is the greatest boon that can be conferred on him. Taking as a basis the following table, published by a correspondent of the textit{Standard (November 16, 1905), we arrive at figures from which we can easily see that this is the case : Kental Of A Laboubee's Cottage. Capital outlay (building only), textit{£115; rent, at 8s. per wee...