where we remained until in 1914 the Society rented a house at 25 Tothill
Street, Westminster.

Another undertaking was a conference on Housing. Although the first
public effort of the Society was its conference at South Place Chapel in
1886, this particular form of propaganda has never commended itself to
the Executive, chiefly no doubt because conferences, to which numerous
representative persons are invited, are most useful for promoting
moderate reforms which have already made themselves acceptable to the
members and officials of local governing bodies. Such reforms the Fabian
Society does not regard as its special business; it prefers to pioneer;
it is true that it uses its machinery for spreading a knowledge of local
government in all its forms, but that is mainly a matter of office
routine.

However, for once we took up an already popular proposal. The Housing of
the Working Classes Act of 1890 was an admirable measure, but it was
hedged about with obstacles which rendered it very difficult to work in
urban areas and virtually useless in rural districts. We had drafted an
amending Bill for rural districts in 1895, which was read a first time
in the House of Commons on the day of the vote on the supply of cordite,
when the defeat of the Liberal Government led to the dissolution of
Parliament.

The Act of 1890 was singular in one respect. Part III was headed
"Working-Class Lodging Houses," and was drafted accordingly, but the
definition of lodging-houses was made to include cottages with not more
than half an acre of garden, thus enabling houses to be provided by
local authorities in town and country, apart from clearances of
insanitary areas. For years this definition was overlooked, and very few
people were aware that cottages could be built in rural districts by the
Guardians, and later by Rural District Councils. Our Leaflet No. 63,
"Parish Council Cottages," issued in 1895, was almost the first
publication drawing attention to the subject, and with one exception no
use was made of these powers of the Act in rural districts before that
year. Our Tract 76, "Houses for the People," published in 1897,
explained the Act in simple language, and was widely circulated.

In 1900 an amending Act, chiefly to simplify procedure in rural
districts, was promised by the Government; and the conference we called
was intended to agitate for widening its scope and strengthening its
provisions. The papers, read by Clement Edw