Page:Lectures on Housing.djvu/36

 Without labouring this point, I urge, then, that land must be cheapened, by rating, by improved methods of acquisition, by cheap transit, or by all three methods together.

As to improved development, there is no doubt that roads can be made somewhat more cheaply. This does not mean that we should have inferior roads, but with fewer houses to the acre, they need not be so heavy, the actual paved road can be narrower, and the spaces between the houses can be mainly utilised for gardens. A cheaper development per house is possible with 12 houses to the acre than with 40.

As to the house itself, there have been numbers of experiments in the cost of building. I was recently in a house which cost £90. It had a big kitchen and a scullery, a bathroom, and three bedrooms. It was very comfortable and very dry, but it was not beautiful, and as we want to make our houses better and not worse, we must not do too much, although we can do something, in the way of cheapening construction.