MR. RAMSAY MacDONALD finds in the dull rows of ugly houses, in which so many families are compelled to live, a fruitful cause of class hatred, and he believes that the provision of “beautiful and comfortable homes” is the best cure for social evils. We are in entire agreement with the leader of the Labour Party, though we would suggest that there has been a considerable improvement in the type of small house being built now in outer suburbs as compared with the horrible, over-ornamented villas erected thirty or forty years ago. The jerry-builder, too, has been foiled by the Act which authorizes local authorities to advance part of the purchase price for houses under a certain value. The advance is never made unless the local surveyor is satisfied that the house is decently built. Comeliness, too, is not contemned, and many American labour-saving ideas have been adopted. The progress should not be ignored, but much, of course, remains to be done, and Mr. Ramsay MacDonald is more than justified in his suggestion that beauty is of almost as great consequence as comfort. It is interesting to note, by the way, that in times when men thought little of comfort they cared much for beauty.

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