THE HOUSING QUESTION 121 
What the Government are going to do is pretty clear. 
To bring in a new Housing Bills or new financial 
regulations which will throw so much extra burden on 
the ratepayer and on the Local Council as to ensure 
that very little more will be done. Before the war 
Local Authorities could always build houses. Although 
the burden on the rates was then negligible, few 
Councils did it. Will they do it in future if it means an 
increased rate ? The Government knows well that 
every such proposal—put forward as an alternative 
to their explicit national undertaking of 1919—will 
kill housing. That is why they will propose it. 
What they could have done from the start and what 
a Government which meant business would do to-day 
is this :— 
(1) Re-affirm the housing undertakings of 1919, viz., to ensure 
with or without the backing of each separate Local Authority— 
the building of a sufficient number of working-class houses in 
every district in Britain to give every man, woman, and child 
a decent home ; and to clear the slums. 
(2) Take as a basis the needs submitted by the Authorities in 
October, 1919, viz., 911,000 for Britain ; 800,000 for England and 
Wales, adjusting these figures as needed for houses built since 
then, and for any subsequent restrictions or additions which a 
further investigation may show to be necessary. 
(3) Let the Local Authorities choose the sites for the new 
houses and—subject to proof of need shewn—the number on 
each site. 
t For example, the unhappy "Economy" Bill introduced to 
Parliament, July, 1922.