LAISSEZ FAIRE
Classes Lodging-House Act' empowered local authorities
so purchase houses, which should be used under their control
for the letting of lodgings; and the series of Torrens and
Cross Acts? not only deal with the demolition of insanitary
property, but authorise the building and maintenance of
improved dwellings by municipalities.
ras been This difficult problem has not been entirely left to public
partly dealt .
cith by authority however, as much useful work has been done, through
wild" the frugality and enterprise of the higher grades of artisans,
in providing themselves with comfortable houses. This has
been effected in many cases by the agency of building
societies, which enable their members to save money and
then to lend to one another on excellent security and easy
berms, so that they can build their own houses and evenbually
 live rent free. This form of self-help was put on
a legal basis by an Act in 1836° and has been very widely
taken advantage of, though it appears that its popularity
among artisans has been declining in recent years.
though ths There is no question in regard to which it is more diffiins
 cult to lay down the limits of interference by public authority
Ww dificult. with private transactions than that of the housing of the
poor. The standard of sanitary requirements is changing
rapidly, as medical science throws fresh light on the causes
of disease, and the evils of overcrowding become more patent.
It has often been found hard to bring home the responsibility
for the insanitary state of property to the proper person; and
it may be physically impossible to provide sufficient accommodation,
 within a limited area, at prices which the poor can
afford to pay. Recent improvements in rapid transit are
doing something to simplify the problem, but public authority
seems to be placed in the dilemma of attempting, either to
force individual builders and landlords to carry on their
business under unremunerative conditions, or to provide
shelter by its own action for the poorest classes in the community
 at the expense of the rest.

310

LD. 1776
—1850.

1 14 and 15 Viet. c. 34.
! These were consolidated in the Housing of the Working Classes Act in 1890,
5 6 and 7 William IV. c. 82, An dct for the Regulation of Benefit Building
Socteties.