THE  HOUSING  QUESTION

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be  the  result  ot  this  policy  ?  Not  a  single  house  the  less  will
be  built  for  18  months  in  England,  and  for  two  years  in  Scotland.”
And  again  in  the  same  speech  :—
“  We  are  only  now  crying  a  halt—not  to  stop  building.  There
will  not  be  a  single  house  the  less  built.  On  the  contrary  'here
will  be  more  houses  built.  .  .  .”
"  Not  a  single  house  the  less.”  And  in  June,
eleven  months  later,  more  than  80,000  of  the  building
trade  are  unemployed.  Could  not  these  men  be
building  houses,  houses  that  to-day  cost  £500  or  less  ?
Was  it  the  House  of  Commons  that  the  Prime  Minister
was  deceiving,  or  only  himself  ?
The  same  question  may  be  asked  in  respect  of  Sir
Alfred  Mond.  On  14th  July,  1921,  he  made  the  following ­
  deliberate  pronouncement  to  the  House  of
Commons  :—
“  We  are  endeavouring  to  review  the  situation  at  a  time—and
I  want  the  House  particularly  to  note  this—at  a  time  when  sufficient ­
  contracts  have  been  approved  to  give  occupation  for  at
least  18  months  to  the  whole  of  the  building  facilities  of  the
country.  The  approval  of  more  contracts  would  not  provide
in  the  next  18  months  any  appreciably  increased  number  of  new
houses."
Eleven  months  after  this  statement  there  is  great  and
increasing  unemployment  in  the  building  trade,  and
yet  the  Government  will  allow  practically  no  more
houses  to  be  begun.
The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  people  of  England
have  been  deceived,  are  being  deceived,  and,  if  Mr.
Lloyd  George  and  Sir  Alfred  Mond  and  members  of
the  Cabinet  can  manage  it,  will  continue  to  be  deceived.