[Illustration: This is the house that Jack wants built.]
[Illustration: This is the landowner who (if the talk of a railway
being made over this bit of land doesn't come to anything, and the
corporation cannot, after all, be induced to buy it as a
recreation-ground, and no one makes a better offer) is willing to sell
the ground to carry the house that Jack wants built.]
[Illustration: This is the architect and surveyor who (as soon as he
has finished his designs for the new Town Hall, the proposed County
Hospital, the Cathedral Extension, the Borough power station and the
drinking-fountain, and provided that no more important commission turns
up) is going to design the house to go on the ground of the landowner
who ...]
[Illustration: This is the local authority who (if he can obtain
details of the several requirements of the County Council, Parish
Council, Central Housing Authority, Ministry Of Health, Board Of
Agriculture, Ministry of Transport, Congested Districts Board, and any
other departments interested, either now in existence or contemplated
for the future) is going to inspect, revise, amend, and positively
finally approve the designs of the architect and surveyor who ...]
[Illustration: This is the building contractor who (provided that
pressure of work allows him, and that he can get the materials, which is
doubtful, and the men, which is hardly probable, and the price, which is
practically out of the question) is going to carry out the designs, as
finally approved by the local authority who ...]
[Illustration: This is the railway official who (on the supposition
that the congestion on the line will possibly be easier later, and that
the supply of goods wagons is very considerably augmented, and that new
loops and sidings not yet suggested will be constructed to relieve the
pressure, and that a reorganisation of the railway staff does not move
him elsewhere, as will almost certainly happen) has promised to do his
best to expedite the transport of the necessary materials to the
building contractor who ...]
[Illustration: This is the merchant who (if prices are left entirely
to his discretion and time is of no importance, and if he finds that,
after all, it is to his advantage to sell in this country rather than to
export, and if he doesn't retire in the meantime, as he is thinking of
doing) has consented to try to send materials through the medium of the
railway official who ...]
[Illustration: These are the representatives of the building trades
who (if all matters in dispute are satisfactorily settled by that time,
and provided that they can all get their own houses sited, designed,
passed, contracted for, supplied and built first) are going to erect the
materials provided by the merchant who ...]
[Illustration: And this? This, incidentally, is Jack.]
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