ii4 THE HOUSING QUESTION 
authorities now find that they are refused leave to 
build further houses, while their less provident neigh 
bours are allowed to complete houses at the high 
contract prices which obtained many months before. 
No wonder Councils are suspicious of Whitehall. 
Similarly with regard to the treatment of England 
and Wales, Scotland is to be allowed Z years to com 
plete ; even the Dagenham scheme in London has been 
given 5 years. But the rest of England and Wales 
has been stopped dead. And on nth August, 1921, 
in the House of Commons, the Minister refused definitely 
to allow to England and Wales the same privileges of 
extension as had been secured by Scotland. 
It is constantly stated that the Nation cannot 
afford the money for these houses. This fallacy has 
been dealt with on page 36, but it is worth while 
contrasting the amount spent on housing last year 
with that spent on armaments and on our new Oriental 
lands ( and militant policy. Dr. Addison, the late 
Minister of Health, said in August, 1921 :— 
" As an Englishman, I am ashamed that it should be necessary 
to give addresses of this kind in order to stir up the British Govern 
ment to keep its promises. 
" Is the Government of this country to be based on principle 
and on the fulfilment of its pledges solemnly given to the people ? ' 
he asked. 
" This is the third year of a victorious peace. And the Govern 
ment are proposing to spend in the year 1921-1922 £204,000,000 
on war services and £200,000 on the reduction of slums. 
" in other words, they are proposing to spend a thousand 
times more on war services than on the improvement of slums.