THE HOUSING QUESTION 
u6 
that Speech to warrant any statement of that kind. I defy 
anybody to find anywhere a statement that the Government said 
that they would, regardless of expense and regardless of national 
finance, build 500,000 houses. . . 
Let us refer to the Second Reading debate of the 
Housing Bill, 1919. Dr. Addison, the then Minister 
of Health, speaking for the Coalition Government, of 
which Sir Alfred Mond was a member, and therefore 
equally responsible with Dr. Addison himself, said:— 
“ . . . We propose that our financial assistance, to which I 
will refer in detail, shall extend not only to the provision of new 
houses on cleared ground, but to schemes undertaken in slum 
areas, or with regard to unsatisfactory houses. 
“ The power is asked where a local authority defaults to either 
prepare a scheme or build the houses ourselves, and if that were 
the conduct of an Oriental potentate, I daresay we should have 
less trouble in the East. Let us come to the proceedings of the 
Industrial Conference the other day and what did they say ? 
In the Report signed by both employers and employed, that 
conference, on page 9, contains the following :—' In order to 
meet the present crisis, the Committee recommend that the 
Government should without delay proceed with a comprehensive 
housing programme. . . . The Committee urge that where 
the local authorities fail to utilise their powers to provide suitable 
housing accommodation the Local Government Board should 
take the necessary steps for the erection of suitable houses in 
the area of the authority, and special powers if necessary to 
compel authorities to act in accordance with the housing needs 
of the district.’ That is exactly what is in the Bill.” 
“ That is exactly what is in the Bill ! " There is the 
whole thing in a nutshell. The Bill, said Dr. Addison 
and the Government, proposed to carry out a “ com-