Whether the surveyor be learned or ignorant in the matters which he undertakes to survey must always be a matter of doubt, but it is evident that a person who exercises such arbitrary power ought on no account to be allowed to practise his profession for his private gain. _Humanum est errare._ We must not expect an impossible standard of morality in any man, and no surveyor ought to be placed in the invidious position of sitting in judgment on his own plans. These arbitrary by-laws must tend to check building operations, and to hinder the development of the art of the architect and the science of the builder. The restrictions are another instance of 'Art made tongue-tied by authority, And Folly, doctor-like, controlling skill;' and I feel certain that, in the interests of the public health, builders of isolated dwellings ought to be allowed to escape from the despotism which is so dear to modern democracy. Everything which tends to encourage the provision of adequate space round dwellings is a great gain. Such by-laws as I have quoted, when applied to country places, and when no exceptions such as I have indicated are made, are a downright incentive to overcrowding, and mischievous in the highest degree. THE COST OF THE DWELLING Everything which increases the cost of the dwelling must tend to increase overcrowding. The London rents are enormous; the artisan pays 7_s._ or 8_s._ for accommodation which he could get in a village for 1_s._ 6_d._, and in a country town for 2_s._ 6_d._ The rich man pays his 200_l._, 300_l._, or more for a house (without a square inch of curtilage) which out of London would fetch 40_l._ or 50_l._ at most. In London it happens, probably, more often than elsewhere that people pay in house-rent a sum which is an excessive proportion of their income, and their finances feel the strain of slight increments to the cost of the dwelling, and they are often driven to take lodgers or 'paying-guests'; or people apparently well off give up their houses and take a 'flat,' in which the crowding is excessive. This kind of thing goes on among the well-to-do classes, and certainly to a greater extent among the poor. When we consider the charges, other than rent, in London as compared with country houses, we must never forget that, rents being three or more times as high in London as elsewhere, the rating in the pound ought to be multiplied by three or four before we can compare London rates with country rates. Or we must take some other basis of comparison, such as the area occupied or the cubic contents. A house which I lived in in London for twenty-five years occupies an area of 18 by 72 feet, or 1,296 square feet, or 144 square yards.