78

THE  HOUSING  QUESTION

of  a  Local  Authority,  in  conjunction  with  the  Housing
or  Health  Committee,  through  the  protracted  stages
of  negotiation  for  and  valuation  of  land,  consideration
of  alternative  plans,  questions  of  compensation,  obtaining ­
  of  tenders,  and  the  discussion  with  and  approval
by  the  Ministry  of  all  these  stages  up  to  signing  of
contracts  with  builders,  would  be  two  years.  If  the
Government  had  ever  been  in  earnest  they  would  have
encouraged  Local  Authorities  everywhere  to  begin
working  out  these  details,  so  that  they  might  be  ready
to  carry  out  the  clearances  by  the  time  sufficient  new
houses  had  been  erected.
(b)  The  removal  of  the  review  of  all  slum-clearance
schemes  from  the  Ministry’s  Regional  Headquarters
to  Whitehall.  The  Ministry’s  technical  and  administrative ­
  staff  in  London  is  totally  inadequate  in
numbers  to  cope  with  any  real  volume  of  slum-clearance
schemes.  They  would  be  choked  in  the  bottle-neck.
(c)  The  gross  disproportion  between  the  number
of  unfit  houses,  schemes  for  the  demolition  of  which
have  up  to  date  been  confirmed  by  the  Ministry,  and
the  need  of  the  Country.
And,  most  important  of  all:—
(d)  The  stoppage  of  contracts  for  more  new  houses.
The  Ministry  have  deliberately  excluded  in  their
revised  statement  of  needs  any  houses  to  replace
unfit  ones.  The  argument  therefore  runs  thus  :
Slum-Dwellers  :  “  When  will  you  clear  our  slums  ?  "
Minister  of  Health  :—“  When  we  have  built
houses  we  can  move  you  to.”