296 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

the land is cheaper, but where the tenants will be burdened with
travelling expenses. In. deciding the size of rooms, the quality
of materials, and the amenities of an estate, a balance has to be
struck between the need to keep costs—and consequently rents—
down, and the desirability of planning dwellings in which the
tenants can take a pride, and which will be in future a credit to
the locality. It is frequently suggested that when people are
moved from slums into good houses, they turn the latter into slums
by their dirty habits. The behaviour of a handful of tenants has
provided material for innumerable stories of the "coals in the
bath" type; but experience shows that the enormous majority
of families will take good care of any dwelling worth caring for.
One of the most serious problems is concerned with the incomes
of the tenants. It is not the business of a local authority to provide,
out of a public subsidy, dwellings for people who could, without
inconvenience, get privately built accommodation and pay a rent
determined on ordinary commercial principles. On the other
hand, an authority cannot admit a tenant without reasonable
grounds for believing that he will be able to pay the rent. A
number of authorities charge different rents for the same accom-
modation. These differential rents may be graded on a definite
scale according to the tenants' incomes, or they may, be only
temporary rebates to those who have fallen out of work. The
system has the great advantage of ensuring that the subsidy is
applied for the benefit of those who most need it, and experience
shows that it can be successfully worked. It does, however, make
the administration of municipal housing more difficult, and,
unless the details are both just and easily understood, it can create
ill-feeling among tenants who see their neighbours paying a
smaller rent than themselves.

PLANNING.

Although the post-war building of houses has not yet removed
slums or overcrowding, it has been great enough to change the
face of the country in many areas. Combined with the develop-