between the size of rooms and their ventilating appliances, a certain
minimum of lighting, certain conditions of open space about the house
and sane rules about foundations and materials. These regulations would
vary with the local density of population--many things are permissible
in Romney marsh, for example, which the south-west wind sweeps
everlastingly, that would be deadly in Rotherhithe. At present in
England there are local building regulations, for the most part
vexatious and stupid to an almost incredible degree, and compiled
without either imagination or understanding, but it should be possible
to substitute for these a national minimum of habitability without any
violent revolution. A house that failed to come up to this minimum--
which might begin very low and be raised at intervals of years--would,
after due notice, be pulled down. It might be pulled down and the site
taken over and managed by the local authority--allowing its owner a
portion of its value in compensation--if it was evident his failure to
keep up to the standard had an adequate excuse. In time it might be
possible to level up the minimum standard of all tenements in towns and
urban districts at any rate to the possession of a properly equipped
bathroom for example, without which, for hardworking people, regular
cleanliness is a practical impossibility. This process of levelling-up
the minimum tenement would be enormously aided by a philanthropic
society which would devote itself to the study of building methods and
materials, to the evolution of conveniences, and the direction of
invention to lessening the cost and complication of building wholesome
dwellings.

The state of repair of inhabited buildings is also already a matter of
public concern. All that is needed is a slow, persistent tightening-up
of the standard. This would ensure, at any rate, that the outer shell
of the child's surroundings gave it a fair chance in life. In the next