88 THE HOUSING QUESTION Re-housing Schemes shall be fully subsidised by the h Treasury. A The Minister of Health has thus by his administrative s action defied the Act, and to all intents and purposes o entirely stopped the possibility of the use of small u empty houses by Local Authorities for their working 1 classes. The breach of faith is gross. q (2) The reduction of amenities and of the size of rooms. ^ The following reply was given in the House of Commons on nth May, 1921 :— I Mr. Gillis asked the Minister of Health whether the Ministry r are now obtaining tenders for houses on housing schemes at ^300 L less per house than in September last by cutting out all Type “ B " parlour houses and substituting Class “A” non-parlour ( houses ; omitting all dressers, cupboards, etc., reducing the size of rooms ; and cutting out upstairs bath-rooms and lavatory basins and placing bath in scullery, to be fed from washing copper, C thus doing away with all hot-water service. g Sir A. Mono : “ The reductions which have been made in r tenders have in general been due to lower costs of production and not to the substitution of one type of house for another, and have not averaged so much as £300 per house. Modifications t in design have been advised where necessary to secure economy, ] but these have not been of such a character as is suggested.” j The last twelve words of the reply were definitely and categorically false. All the kinds of modification 1 suggested in Mr. Gillis’ question had been taking £ place constantly at the express instance of the Minister ^ of Health in his dealings with all Local Authorities. The utmost pressure was continuously brought to bear by the Regional Officials of the Ministry upon the