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36
During the working day the labour of the peasant, or that
of members of his family, is engaged at the factory. During
the evening, and in holiday time, upon his own freehold.
Recreation with him brings profit. His wages arc inconsiderable,
compared with those of the artizan of England, but
his condition in life is vastly superior. Old age does not so
surely bring want and dependence, nor docs failing strength
deprive the peasant freeholder of the comforts and consolations
of home.
Under those conditions the scenes of the employment of
labour do not become centralized, nor does the competition
for shelter in town districts make rent the consumer of so
large a share of wages.
In the foregoing pages I have endeavoured to show that
the condition of overcrowding, as it exists at present and in
its prospective incidence, is a question which demands the
serious attention of Parliament; that the action of the Local
Authority, although useful in mitigating the evil effects of
overcrowding, in the present condition of the law, is
powerless in producing any influence upon the cause;
that overcrowding is existant from a failure in legislation,
and not from a failure in administration; that if the
question were comprehensively dealt with, the problem of
the relief of the unemployed would at the same time undergo
a solution; and lastly, that the health of the nation is in a
large measure dependent upon the relief of the overcrowded
condition of the town districts.