92

THE1H0USING  QUESTION

before  the  war,  as  if  this  were  a  great  discovery  made  by  hie
Department,  and  that  therefore  you  had  got  a  huge  provision  for
two  and  a  half  million  people.  That  is  a  cheap  arm-chair  suggestion. ­

“  Anyone  who  knows  anything  about  the  real  needs  in  connection ­
  with  the  housing  of  the  working-classes  knows  that  those
450,000  empty  houses  are  an  absolute  essential,  not  only  for  the
working  classes  themselves,  but  also  for  industry.  Where  you
have  got,  as  you  have  at  present,  every  single  house  bound  up
and  full  you  cannot  possibly  have  any  movement  of  people,
and  thus  industry  is  clogged.  You  cannot  start  a  new  industry
in  any  particular  district  without  bringing  people  from  other
districts.  You  have  to  bring  your  artificers  and  special  tradesmen
probably  from  other  towns,  and  that  is  one  of  the  many  things
which  has  been  clogging  industry  since  the  war.  .  .
(4)  The  attitude  of  the  Government  towards  the  deliberate
restriction  of  output  by  the  Association  of  Manufacturers ­
  of  Light  Castings.
This  case,  more  perhaps  than  any  other,  indicates
the  grave  partiality  of  the  Coalition  Government
towards  employers  and  manufacturers,  as  compared
with  its  censorious  attitude  towards  Labour.  The
Government  in  1919,  under  great  pressure  appointed
Board  of  Trade  Sub-Committees  to  go  carefully  into
the  conduct  of  the  businesses  of  manufacturers  producing ­
  the  various  kinds  of  building  materials.  The
feeling  in  the  country  was  that  house  building  was
being  impeded,  partly  by  the  high  prices,  and  also  by
restriction  of  output.
The  reports  of  the  Sub-Committees  differed,  some
acquitting  the  manufacturers,  and  others  to  a  varying
extent  condemning  them.  But  there  was  no  doubt