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PART  III
The  Gorernment’s  Record  for  Truth  and  Justice
An  account  will  be  given  in  this  chapter  of  a  variety
of  important  matters  relating  to  Housing,  wherein  the
Government  and  more  particularly  its  present  Minister
of  Health,  have,  either  by  evasion  or  deliberately,
deceived  the  House  of  Commons  and  the  country  ;
and  wherein  they  have  shewn  wilful  bias.
(i)  The  purchase  of  existing  houses  as  dwellings  for  the
working  classes.
Section  12  (1)  of  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning
Act,  1919,  gives  powers  to  a  Local  Authority  to  acquire
existing  houses  for  the  use  of  the  working  classes,
and  to  alter,  enlarge,  repair  or  improve  them  so  as  to
render  them  in  all  respects  fit  for  habitation.
There  were  three  main  classes  of  dwellings  which
this  section  had  in  view.  In  the  first  place  large  empty
houses,  which  could  be  turned  into  working-class  flats.
In  the  second  place,  smaller  houses  which  were  being
deliberately  kept  empty  by  landlords  to  obtain  a  high
purchase  price.  In  the  third  place,  “  week-end
cottages  "  by  the  seaside  or  in  attractive  rural  scenery,
which  were  tenanted  and  occasionally  occupied  by
well-to-do  people  for  week-ends,  and  were  kept  empty
between  whiles.