THE  HOUSING  QUESTION

21

It  is  true  that  if  needs  were  re-investigated  some
areas  would  to-day  show  a  decrease.  But  the  contrary
would  be  true  in  other  areas,  especially  in  a  vast
number  of  country  villages,  where  houses  were  much
needed,  yet  were  not  proposed  in  the  original  Surveys
of  Local  Authorities.
The  Minister  told  the  House  of  Commons  on  13th
March,  1922,  that  the  Surveys  of  Local  Authorities
were  not  serious.  Why  does  he  say  that  ?  His
Department  puts  Local  Authorities  to  immense  trouble
and  then  he  ignores  and  insults  the  results  they  arrive
at.
NOTES  ON  THE  FOREGOING.
(1)  The  following  interruption  by  the  Minister  of
Health,  Sir  Alfred  Mond,  during  the  speech  of  Lord
Robert  Cecil  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  13th  March,
1922,  is  illustrative  of  his  mind  :—
Lord  Robert  Cecil  :  "...  There  were  five  years  during
which  no  houses  were  built.  Then  it  was  said  with  a  good  deal
of  force  that  the  ordinary  number  of  houses  which  were  built
in  every  year  was,  I  think,  80,000,  and  therefore  in  five  years,
since  no  houses  were  built,  you  would  expect  a  shortage  of  400,000.
Add  to  that  the  already  proved  shortage,  which  I  say,  and  many
of  my  Hon.  Friends  opposite  say,  was  due  very  largely  to  the
unfortunate  experiment  in  land  taxation—but  whatever  it  was
due  to,  which  is  not  the  point  for  the  moment,  there  was  a  shortage
of  houses  before  the  war.  If  you  add  to  that  shortage  the  400,000
which  were  not  built  during  the  war,  you  come  very  near  the
500,000,  which  the  Right  Hon.  Baronet  regards  as  such  a  ridiculous
figure.”
Sir  A.  Mono  :  "  What  about  the  number  who  were  killed  ?  ”