i8 
THE HOUSING QUESTION 
the needs as statutorily reported by Local Authorities 
in 1919 after detailed investigation. 
Does Sir Alfred Mond run his own business by cal 
culations such as these, or had he his tongue in his 
cheek when he palmed off those figures on to an 
innocent House of Commons ? 
Early in 1921, the Minister, following in this respect 
the example of the Unjust Steward, wrote down by 
departmental ukase the needs of Local Authorities 
(which had been carefully investigated by the Councils) 
to a figure more convenient to the Treasury. This 
was done without consulting the Local Authorities 
themselves. The results were somewhat unfortunate 
as it was found that the true needs could hardly be 
reduced at all. Indeed, owing to the lack of progress 
of the building programme, they had in many places 
grown considerably. The Minister therefore took the 
easy course of wiping off the slate all houses needed 
to replace unfit houses and insanitary areas—thus 
reducing the needs by one half ! 
At the beginning of 1921 the official newspaper of the 
Ministry, Housing, proclaimed that the needs had been 
greatly over-estimated, citing as evidence the annual 
report of the Registrar General, who had said that :— 
" As the estimated population for 1919 is 700,000 in excess 
of that of the last census, it would only require (apart from 
replacement of defective houses) a net addition of 140,000 houses 
for the whole period 1911-19 to maintain the 1911 average.” 
The Ministry carefully ignored the vital words— 
those in the parenthesis —and the Registrar-General