58  THE  HOUSING  QUESTION

“  (6)  The  Ministry,  soon  after  the  inception  of  the  scheme,
began  reducing  its  own  standards,  and  continued  doing  so  until
contracts  were  stopped  in  1921.  The  policy  of  reducing  amenities
was  never  publicly  given  out,  and  architects  could  only  become
aware  of  it  by  finding  their  plans  and  quantities,  drawn  up  in
accordance  with  the  Ministry’s  Manual,  cut  down  in  the  office  of
the  Housing  Commissioner.
"  (c)  Commissioners  continually  advised  the  Ministry  against
this  policy  of  attrition.
"  (d)  The  control  of  the  situation  was  all  along  entirely  in  the
hands  of  the  Ministry  through  the  Memoranda  which  it  issued  to
the  Commissioners.  Any  detail  of  plan  or  specification  which
exceeded  the  instructions  (to  Commissioners)  of  the  Ministry  was
as  a  matter  of  course  cut  out.  Moreover,  even  if  the  plans  were
in  accordance  with  the  Ministry’s  standard  at  the  time  they  were
submitted,  yet,  if  the  lowest  tender  exceeded  the  Ministry's
limits,  the  amenities  were  cut  down  still  further  by  the  Commissioner ­
  under  the  orders  of  the  Ministry.  Not  infrequently
further  excisions  took  place  at  the  Ministry  itself,  after  the  plans,
&c.,  had  been  passed  by  the  Commissioner.
"  It  must  theref  re  be  clear  to  any  impartial  person  that  the
architectural  profession  is  blameless  in  the  matter.  I  am  not  an
architect,  nor  am  I  now  an  official,  and  therefore  may,  perhaps,
be  considered  to  hold  a  neutral  position.
"  Late  Housing  Commissioner
for  the  South-West  of  England.”
E.  N.  Mozley,
Lieut-Colonel,  RE.  (retired).
These  three  excuses  are  instigated  by  clever  people
who  do  know  the  facts  (and  like  to  misrepresent  them)
and  are  repeated  by  other  people  who  do  not.  Running
down  men  who  work  in  the  public  service,  whether
Government  or  Local,  is  nowadays  done  by  certain
classes  of  society  as  a  matter  of  deliberate  policy.  It
is  a  clever  game  but  an  ungenerous  one,  and  people