66

THE  HOUSING  QUESTION

Mr.  Trevelyan  Thomson  “  The  Minister,  in  a  reply  to  me
last  Thursday,  said  :
“  '  .  .  .  In  view  of  the  large  programme  of  housing  still  to
be  completed  ’—that  is,  the  176,000  houses—'  and  the  continued
reduction  in  prices,  I  hope  that  further  State  intervention  in  any
form  will  not  be  required,  and  that  the  building  industry  will
return  to  its  pre-war  economic  basis.’  .  .  ."
Viscountess  Astor  :  “...  It  must  be  confessed  that,
nationally,  private  enterprise  has  failed  and  failed  lamentably
in  the  matter  of  housing.  ..."
Sir  Alfred  Mond  :  "...  I  am  convinced  that  with  a  little
management  and  patience  we  can  induce  private  enterprise  to
come  in  again.  .  .
Lt.-Col.  Fremantle  (Coalition  Conservative  Member  and
Chairman  of  Housing  Committee,  L.C.C.)  :  "...  So  far  as
the  Minister  of  Health  makes  any  case,  it  is  that,  looking  at  the
problem  as  a  whole,  we  depended  before  the  war  on  private
enterprise  to  the  extent  of  95  per  cent.,  and  that  we  should  get
back  to  that  as  soon  as  we  can.  During  my  period  on  the  Housing
Committee  of  the  London  County  Council  I  have  been  challenging
those  who  advocate  private  enterprise  to  give  us  their  scheme.
They  keep  on  saying  that  the  Government  is  killing  private
enterprise  in  housing.  I  say  it  is  not  the  Government  which  is
killing  private  enterprise  now,  because  private  enterprise  has  not
done  any  of  this  kind  of  work  for  20  years,  and  would  not  do  it
at  the  present  time  even  if  the  Government  were  not  in
business.  .  .  ."
Sir  Alfred  Mono  :  "...  If  you  say  it  is  also  your  duty  to
provide  all  the  houses  that  did  not  exist  before  the  war  at  the
expense  of  the  taxpayer  and  Treasury,  when  before  the  war
any  such  housing  schemes  were  done  at  the  expense  of  the  ratepayer ­
  and  the  local  authority,  it  is  a  fundamentally  new  axiom
that  one  person  is  to  own  the  houses  and  the  other  person  is  to
pay  for  them  ;  one  person  to  build  and  another  to  finance.  .  .
This  extract  is  significant  as  shewing  what  the  present
Minister  of  Health  really  thinks  of  any  old-fashioned