88 THE HOUSING QUESTION 
Re-housing Schemes shall be fully subsidised by the h 
Treasury. A 
The Minister of Health has thus by his administrative s 
action defied the Act, and to all intents and purposes o 
entirely stopped the possibility of the use of small u 
empty houses by Local Authorities for their working 1 
classes. The breach of faith is gross. q 
(2) The reduction of amenities and of the size of rooms. ^ 
The following reply was given in the House of 
Commons on nth May, 1921 :— I 
Mr. Gillis asked the Minister of Health whether the Ministry r 
are now obtaining tenders for houses on housing schemes at ^300 L 
less per house than in September last by cutting out all Type 
“ B " parlour houses and substituting Class “A” non-parlour ( 
houses ; omitting all dressers, cupboards, etc., reducing the size 
of rooms ; and cutting out upstairs bath-rooms and lavatory 
basins and placing bath in scullery, to be fed from washing copper, C 
thus doing away with all hot-water service. g 
Sir A. Mono : “ The reductions which have been made in r 
tenders have in general been due to lower costs of production 
and not to the substitution of one type of house for another, 
and have not averaged so much as £300 per house. Modifications t 
in design have been advised where necessary to secure economy, ] 
but these have not been of such a character as is suggested.” j 
The last twelve words of the reply were definitely and 
categorically false. All the kinds of modification 1 
suggested in Mr. Gillis’ question had been taking £ 
place constantly at the express instance of the Minister ^ 
of Health in his dealings with all Local Authorities. 
The utmost pressure was continuously brought to bear 
by the Regional Officials of the Ministry upon the