A COTTAGE FOR 2100.
[TO THE EDITOR OP TEE 'SPECTATOR."] f SrB,—In a note at the foot of a letter appearing in the Spectator of March 9th you suggest in effect that any one who can show landlords how to build a decent labourer's cottage for 2100 will confer a great benefit on rural districts. You may, then, like me to state that about two years ago I got an excellent cottage, brick and slate, with four rooms (two downstairs and two bedrooms over them), a back kitchen with furnace and a good cooking grate in the kitchen, erected for the very sum you name, 2100. I believe that it would be possible (except, perhaps, during periods when building materials have been raised, as they have been during the last twelve months, to an abnormal price) to get cottages built on similar terms, but for the fact that it is impossible to induce the great majority of men employed in the build- ing trade to do a fair day's work for a fair day's wage. The circumstances under which I got the cottage I have referred to built were these. The tenant of a small farm urged me to build a labourer's cottage which was badly wanted. I con- sulted a builder I knew and could trust, and he told me that the lowest possible sum for which he could build such a cottage as I have described would be £150, and possibly extras might result in my paying a little more ; so I told my tenant I could not see my way to expend this sum, as his holding was but a small one. He came to me, however, shortly afterwards and said that if I would leave the building to him he would get the cottage built for £100; that he had arranged with a small builder he knew to do the work for that amount, he (the tenant) hauling the bricks from the nearest brickyard, which he was willing to do at his own cost on the terms of my letting him the cottage when built at £4 a year. I can only say that as the result I have an excellent cottage, which no one could describe as jerry-built, though it is, I am afraid, more sub- stantial than picturesque. I was not asked for a sixpence in excess of the 2100, and when I settled with the builder I inquired how he made it pay. His answer was that he em- ployed no labour ; he and his sons did the work with their own bands ; they worked hard and steadily while they were at it: whereas ordinary builders' men endeavour to do as little as they can, are constantly away drinking or wasting time, and the cost of supervision, especially in small jobs, is a serious item of expenditure, as unless constantly watched the men idle
and neglect their work.—I am, Sir, &c., H.
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