not used the Acts at all since 1879, seven had used them very slightly, and six only to a considerable extent. Sir Richard Cross's Artisans' Dwellings Act of 1875 has been more successful, and has improved the condition of London. Many of the worst "slums " have been cleared away. But there is naturally a great complaint of the large sums of money paid away in compensation under Cross's Acts of 1875, 1879, and 1882. The loss to the ratepayers of London is said to amount already to a million and a quarter sterling. In many cases far too much has been paid in compensation to the owners of unwholesome dwellings. It has been too much overlooked that a house so utterly bad and rotten that repair is impossible is a comparative rarity. The majority of the houses, even in an unhealthy area, are capable of being made habitable, and as they are let and sub-let, sometimes through five or six hands, the compensation is a heavy item in settling with those interests, besides the actual receiver of the rent ; and when a business is carried on, the claim for compensation is heavy and difficult to arrange. And the result seldom satisfies any one. The vendors are not willing parties, and are not satisfied with the 17s. per foot instead of 18s. per foot that Mr. Chamberlain says they have been paid to clear the sites dealt with under Cross's Acts. Miss Octavia Hill understands this subject as well as any one in "Homes of the London Poor." Preface, page 8, she says: "Clearing away old abuses cannot pay, except in the sense in which all reforms pay. Abolition of slavery did not pay; the nation had to pay for it; happy if by mere payment in money it could efface so great a wrong! So it must be with these courts and alleys.