THE HOUSING QUESTION 
95 
sudden stop in the rise of prices synchronises with the change of 
Ministry and the determination not to load the industry with 
more work than it can undertake. . . 
The facts were, as set forth on page 41, that the 
fall of prices was brought about by Dr. Addison himself, 
who at the end of February, 1921, by a single adminis 
trative order lowered the price of houses from £950 to 
£800, and, by further administrative action before he 
retired, lowered that price about £50 more. 
On 27th July, Mr. Trevelyan Thomson, H.P., forced 
from the Minister an admission that his subordinate 
had misrepresented the facts. Dr. Addison also, in a 
letter to the Press, challenged the Minister to prove 
Sir Charles Ruthen’s statement, or to withdraw it with 
a suitable apology. 
No apology has been given for an untruth which was 
so laudatory of the present Minister. 
(6) The attitude of the Government to the various classes 
of Society. 
The Housing Act of 1919 authorised Local Authori 
ties to purchase land for housing compulsorily by 
making and publishing a “ compulsory order.” Such 
an Order had, however, to be confirmed by the Minister 
of Health before the Authority could gain possession 
of the land. Now the land, especially in rural parts, 
is usually in possession of various important people, 
whose wont it often was, when they found that the 
Local Authority were determined to get their land, to