90 
THE HOUSING QUESTION 
May once again deceiving Parliament ? An indication 
of the true reply to this question can be gained by 
considering what Sir Alfred Mond has recently (on 
13th March, 1922) told the House of Commons. He 
said:— 
" No Local Authority is stopped to-day building houses from 
financial considerations under the guaranteed subsidy scheme." 
An unblushing inexactitude, considering that for 
months he has been refusing approval to almost all 
Local Authorities to build further houses. He went 
on to say a little later :—" The demand to get married 
does not exist to-day because among other reasons 
many people have gone on living with their friends.” 
Lord Robert Cecil interrupted :— 
" They have not got married because they cannot 
get houses.” Sir Alfred Mond replied :— 
" A large number have not got married because they 
cannot afford it.” 
The public and pathetic outcry against the Minister’s 
attempt to put forward the idea that the need for houses 
has lately lessened is too recent to need referring to. 
It may be well, however, to quote the following remarks 
by Dr. Buchan, Medical Officer of Health for Bradford, 
on April 1st, 1922 :— 
“ Dr. Buchan said Bradford is not decadent. Its population 
is virile and increasing, and the last census return was not correct. 
Yet there were fewer inhabitable houses in the city now than 
fifteen years ago. Men had come back from the war to young 
wives and could not get houses, and came to him and asked 
permission to live in some den which they had found. The