, and the remainder, slightly more than one-half, might be
repaid in half-yearly instalments during any period less than fifty
years. The county council was also given power to loan money to
tenants of small holdings to buy from their landlords, where they
could arrange terms of purchase but had not the necessary means.

Through the intervention of government, therefore, the strict division
of those connected with the land into landlords, tenant farmers, and
farm laborers has been to a considerable extent altered, and it is
generally possible for a laborer to obtain a small piece of land as an
allotment, or, if more ambitious and able, a small farm, on
comparatively easy terms. In landholding and agriculture, as in
manufacturing and trade, government has thus stepped in to prevent
what would have been the effect of mere free competition, and to bring
about a distribution and use of the land which have seemed more
desirable.

*75. Government Sanitary Control.*--In the field of buying and selling
the hand of government has been most felt in provisions for the health
of the consumer of various articles. Laws against adulteration have
been passed, and a code of supervision, registry, and enforcement
constructed. Similarly in broader sanitary lines, by the "Housing of
the Working Classes Act" of 1890, when it is brought to the attention
of the local authorities that any street or district is in such a
condition that its houses or alleys are unfit for human habitation,
or that the narrowness, want of light or air, or bad drainage makes
the district dangerous to the health of the inhabitants or their
neighbors, and that these conditions cannot be readily remedied except
by an entire rearrangement of the district, then it becomes the duty
of the local authorities to take the matter in hand. They are bound to
draw up and, on approval by the proper superior authorities, to carry
out a plan for widening the streets and approaches to them, providing
proper sanitary arrangements, tearing down the old houses, and
building new ones in sufficient number and suitable character to
provide dwelling accommodation for as many persons of the working
class as were displaced by the changes. Private rights or claims are
not allowed to stand in the way of any such public action in favor of
the general health and well-being, as the local authorities are
clothed by the law with the right of purchase of the land and
buildings of the locality at