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each house to consist of three bedrooms, living room, kitchen and scullery, and having a frontage of six yards. They have obtained borrowing powers for £25,015, repayable in 58 years. The rents proposed will be from 4s. 9d. to 5s. 6d. per week.

Rural District Councils.

In 1896 the parish council of Penshurst, Kent, appointed a subcommittee to enquire into the cottage accommodation of the parish, which reported that 40 married men wanted cottages. On application, the rural district council agreed to build under Part III., and the county council and Local Government Board, after due enquiries, consented. A committee of three parish, and four district, councillors were appointed to manage the work. Three-quarters of an acre of land were purchased for £130. In November, 1900, the cottages, six in number, were completed at a cost of £501 for each pair, covered by a loan of 1,800 at 3 per cent., repayable in 40 years. At 5s. per week the receipts amount to £78, and the annual charge for interest and repayment is £74 9s. 6d. The accommodation provided is as follows:-On the ground floor a living room 12 ft. by 10 ft. 6 in.; a sitting room 11 ft. by 11 ft.; scullery 6 ft. 6 in. by 10 ft. 6 in.; entrance and passage. On the first floor three bedrooms, two with fireplaces, the third with a ventilating shaft: carefully planned to allow good positions for beds. Height of all rooms as required by Local Government Board, eight feet.

Since then eight more cottages have been built on leasehold land at a cost of £1,850, and are let at rents from 4s. to 4s. 9d. per week. The loan is repayable in 40 years, and the rate of interest 3 per cent. Maldon, Essex, rural district council has built six cottages at Bradwell at a cost of £1,400.

The rural sanitary authority of the Thingoe Union, Bury St. Edmunds, built in 1891 eight cottages under Part III. at a cost of £1,700, including purchase of four acres of land. The money was borrowed from the Public Works Loan Commissioners at 3 per cent., but the scheme has not been financially a success.

Westbury, Wilts, built four houses recently in the parish of Bralton, and they have been a commercial success.

What has been done.

The loans sanctioned by the Local Government Board during the last 20 years in English provincial towns and districts, under the Artizans and Laborers' Dwellings Acts, and the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, was £4,632,502. For the year 1904 the amount lent was 653,526.

How to get the Acts put in force.

In order to get the Acts utilized by the local sanitary authority, it is advisable to carefully collect facts relating to insanitary areas and dwellings, and thus to prove the necessity for municipal action. In large towns the work of demonstrating such need is only too easy.

When it is proposed to clear an insanitary area under Part I, or II. of the Act, "Sanitary Catechisms "* should be widely circulated amongst the tenants. Usually, the enquirers will find it best to fill in the form themselves. If given by others the information should be carefully verified. Then the results should be tabulated, and copies sent to the local press, public authorities, sanitary and medical officers, and the Local Government Board. In preparing such a report, the following points, amongst others, should receive attention: Measurements of narrow streets; air-space afforded in courts and alleys; details as to defects in design and building, such as back-toback houses; noxious effluvia from factories, slaughter-houses, etc.; extent, character and condition of closet accommodation; quality and quantity of water supply; provision made for refuse, etc. If the medical officer can certify that the death-rate in the insanitary area is higher than the average for the town, this valuable evidence should be secured. Photographs of slum-dwellings are valuable evidence, and exercise influence on public opinion.

The New Duty of Parish Councils.

The Act of 1900 empowers a parish council to appeal to the county council if the district council neglects to build under Part III., and further empowers the county council to take over and use the powers of the district council under the Act. It must be inferred from this that the parish council is henceforth expected to discuss the housing of the parishioners, and to request the district council to adopt the Act wherever new cottages are wanted. A new and important duty is therefore placed upon parish councils by the Act of 1900. Hitherto, if they discussed the insanitary condition of the cottages or the want of new ones, and passed resolutions to be forwarded to the rural district council, that body might with justice reply: "The law made housing and sanitation our business, and we do not need the help or advice of the parish council in the matter." Now the law makes it the business of the parish council to see that the district council does not neglect its duty in the matter, and it is therefore the clear duty of parish councils to look after the housing of the people in their parishes.

Amendments of the Act.

Terms of Land Purchase.-Under the Lands Clauses Act, if any land be bought compulsorily for the purposes of Part III. of the Housing Act, the owner is always paid at least 10 per cent. over the full value, as compensation for disturbance. In other words, the landlord who churlishly refuses to build himself, or to let others build, the houses required by the necessities of the district, the one man who deliberately inflicts on his neighbors and tenants all the unspeakable evils, moral and physical, of overcrowding, is by law to be rewarded for his stalwart individualism by a payment for his land

*Fabian Tracts No. 68, "The Tenant's Sanitary Catechism," for places outside London, and No. 71, the same for London, should be used.

of 10 per cent. over and above its market price. This should certainly be abolished.

Powers for Parish Councils.-Parish councils, which are now elected to sit for three years, and are therefore more stable and responsible bodies than in earlier years, have been given power, under the Amendment Act of 1900, to complain to the county council if the rural district council neglect to build cottages. One step further ought to be taken, and the parish council empowered to build for itself. When the county council can build, and the district council can build, why should the parish council alone be left impotent?

Restraint on Rural District Councils.-The Act of 1900, which repealed the complicated regulations in the principal Act affecting rural districts, re-enacted the provision requiring the consent of the county council for the adoption of Part III. Experience has shown that the difficulties of building under the Act are so great that heedless or needless action is nowhere in the least probable. The county council check on rural district council impetuosity might surely be abolished.

Municipal Ownership.-The local authority which has acquired and cleared areas under Parts I. and II. may not itself build thereon without express permission from the Local Government Board; and if it does erect houses, it is compelled to sell them within ten years unless it obtains power from the Local Government Board to retain them. The above does not apply to Part III. These objectionable and antiquated provisions should be repealed.

NOTE. The Secretary will be glad to answer, to the best of his ability, any questions relating to the Act.

There are two associations specially devoted to the housing problem :

THE WORKMEN'S NATIONAL HOUSING COUNCIL.-President, W. C. Steadman, M.P.; General Secretary, Fred Knee, 120 Sugden Road, Clapham Common, S.W. This society publishes a penny monthly entitled The Housing Journal, and has hitherto mainly exerted its influence in London.

THE NATIONAL HOUSING REFORM COUNCIL.-Secretary, H. R. Aldridge, 432 West Strand, London, W.C. This body has been promoted by the Land Nationalization Society, and has devoted itself chiefly to the provinces, where it has held numerous conferences and established local associations.

"THE HOUSING HANDBOOK," by Councillor William Thompson (of Richmond), price 26 nett, 1903, is the best book on the subject. It contains a great mass of detailed information, together with the text of the Housing Acts, and many plans. Published by P. S. King and Son.

FABIAN TRACTS ON HOUSING.-No. 63, Parish Council Cottages, and how to get them. No. 68. The Tenant's Sanitary Catechism, for places outside London. No. 71, The London Tenant's Sanitary Catechism. All 4-p. leaflets: 6 for Id., or Is. per 100.

No, 101, The House Famine, and how to relieve it. No. 103, Overcrowding in London, and its Remedy. By W. C. Steadman, L.C.C. No. 109, Cottage Plans and Common Sense. By Raymond Unwin. All Tracts, 16 to 52 pp., one penny each, or 9d. per dozen.

Secretary, at the Fabian Office, 3 Clement's Inn, London, W.C. FABIANISM AND THE EMPIRE: A Manifesto. 4d. post free. FABIAN ESSAYS IN SOCIALISM. (35th Thousand.) Paper cover, 1/-; plain cloth, 2/-, post free from the Secretary. FABIAN TRACTS and LEAFLETS.

Tracts, each 16 to 52 pp., price 1d., or 9d. per dos., unless otherwise stated. Leaflets, 4 pp. each, price 1d. for six copies, 1s. per 100, or 8/6 per 1000. The Set of 88, 35.; post free 3/5. Bound in Buckram, 4/6; post free for 5s. I.-General Socialism in its various aspects.

TRACTS.—121. Public Service versus Private Expenditure. By Sir OLIVER LODGE. 113. Communism. By WM. MORRIS. 107. Socialism for Millionaires. By BERNARD SHAW. 78. Socialism and the Teaching of Christ. By Dr. JOHN CLIFFORD. 87. The same in Welsh. 42. Christian Socialism. By Rev. S. D. HEADLAM. 75. Labor in the Longest Reign. By SIDNEY WEBB. 72. The Moral Aspects of Socialism. By SIDNEY BALL. 69. Difficulties of Individualism. By SIDNEY WEBB. 51. Socialism: True and False. By S. WEBB. 45. The Impossibilities of Anarchism. By BERNARD SHAW (price 2d.). 15. English Progress towards Social Democracy. By S. WEBB. 7. Capital and Land (6th edn. revised 1904). 5. Facts for Socialists (10th edn., revised 1906). LEAFLETS—13. What Socialism Is. 1. Why are the Many Poor? 38. The same in Welsh. II.-Applications of Socialism to Particular Problems. TRACTS.-128. The Case for a Legal Minimum Wage. 126. The Abolition of Poor Law Guardians. 122. Municipal Milk and Public Health. By Dr. F. LAWSON DODD. 120. "After Bread, Education." 125. Municipalization by Provinces. 119. Public Control of Electrical Power and Transit. 123. The Revival of Agriculture. 118. The Secret of Rural Depopulation. 115. State Aid to Agriculture: an Example. 112. Life in the Laundry. 110. Problems of Indian Poverty. 98. State Railways for Ireland. 124. State Control of Trusts. 86. Municipal Drink Traffic. 85. Liquor Licensing at Home and Abroad. 84. Economics of Direct Employment. 83. State Arbitration and the Living Wage. 73. Case for State Pensions in Old Age. 67. Women and the Factory Acts. 50. Sweating: its Cause and Remedy. 48. Eight Hours by Law. 23. Case for an Eight Hours Bill. 47. The Unemployed. By JOHN BURNS, M.P. LEAFLETS.-89. Old Age Pensions at Work. 19. What the Farm Laborer Wants. 104. How Trade Unions benefit Workmen. III.-Local Government Powers: How to use them. TRACTS.-117. The London Education Act, 1903: how to make the best of it. 114. The Education Act, 1902. III. Reform of Reformatories and Industrial Schools. By H. T. HOLMES. 109. Cottage Plans and Common Sense. By RAYMOND UNWIN. 103. Overcrowding in London and its Remedy. By W. C. STEADMAN, L.C.C. 101. The House Famine and How to Relieve it. 52 pp. 76. Houses for the People. 100. Metropolitan Borough Councils. 99. Local Government in Ireland 82. Workmen's Compensation Act. 62. Parish and District Councils. 61. The London County Council. 54. The Humanizing of the Poor Law. By J. F. OAKESHOTT. LEAFLETS.-68. The Tenant's Sanitary Catechism. 71. Same for London. 63. Parish Council Cottages and how to get them. 58. Allotments and how to get them. FABIAN MUNICIPAL PROGRAM, FIRST SERIES (Nos. 32, 36, 37). Municipalization of the Gas Supply. The Scandal of London's Markets. A Labor Policy for Public Authorities. SECOND SERIES (Nos. go to 97). Municipalization of Milk Supply. Municipal Pawnshops. Municipal Slaughterhouses. Women as Councillors. Municipal Bakeries. Municipal Hospitals. Municipal Fire Insurance. Municipal Steamboats.Second Series in a red cover for 1d. (9d. per doz.); separate leaflets, 1/- per 100. IV.-Books. 29. What to Read on social and economic subjects. 6d. net. V.-General Politics and Fabian Policy.

127. Socialism and Labor Policy. 116. Fabianism and the Fiscal Question: an alternative policy. 108. Twentieth Century Politics. By SIDNEY WEBB. 70. Report on Fabian Policy. 41. The Fabian Society: its Early History. By BERNARD SHAW. VI.-Question Leaflets. Questions for Candidates: 20, Poor Law Guard

ans. 24, Parliament. 28, County Councils, Rural. 56, Parish Councils. 57, Rural District Councils. 102, Metropolitan Borough Councils.

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SOCIALISM AND

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WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM AND PARTICULARS OF EXISTING CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST SOCIETIES.

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