122 
THE HOUSING QUESTION 
(4) Institute a Central or Regional Building Department on 
the lines of the Ministry of Munition Building Departments in the 
war. Consult Local Authorities as to plans and amenities, but, 
wherever the Local Council are not putting their best foot foremost, 
let the Government carry out the actual building themselves. 
Houses would then be delivered as promptly and numerously 
as shells in the war. 
(5) Guard against the return of that rise of price, which nearly 
killed the schemes in 1920, by :— 
(a) Spread the period of building over a far longer period ; 
10 years for new houses and 10 more years for slum clearance 
would not be too long. 
(6) Make use of building by Direct Labour of Local Author 
ities, by Building Guilds, and by the Office of Works itself, in 
order to check any excessive tenders by local contractors, and 
to stimulate true competition. During 1919 and 1920 building 
contractors killed competition and raised prices by private 
agreements in their federations. 
(c) Stop local “ luxury ” building or repairs, where local 
housing schemes were not making proper progress. 
Such measures would shew that a Government 
meant business. There would occasionally be local 
friction and outcry. Councillors who were trying, for 
reasons of their own, to stop housing, would complain 
that officials from London or from the centre of a 
Region were dictating to them, but once the Nation 
saw that the houses were really going up and the 
slums really being removed, the Government would 
have all the support it required. 
Let us recall the words of the King on April nth, 
1919, at Buckingham Palace, when he addressed the