§ I would like to say a word about the stamping out of tuberculosis, the most terrible plague that ever afflicted any country. Some municipalities have dealt with this problem with great public spirit. Notably that is so in the case of Liverpool and Birmingham. Some county councils in England, Scotland and Wales have shown the same spirit. I wish I could say the same thing of the municipality that ought to lead the cities of the Empire for bettering the conditions of its working people—I mean London. For reasons which I could probe, but do not intend to dwell upon, they have been dilatory, suspicious, obstructive and laggard in the attempt to stamp out tuberculosis. There is some excuse to be found in rates. We propose that in future local authorities shall be pressed to show greater activity and enterprise in grappling with all these evils that are sapping the national health and happiness. We are on the eve of proposing great changes to deal with the housing problem. The first thing is to put local authorities in a position to carry out these proposals without being crippled and handicapped by rates. The only pressure you can bring now to bear upon public authorities to deal with public health is through the obsolete, antiquated and futile methods of the mandamus. You 77 may as well go into action now armed with a flint axe. The idea that you could mandamus the whole of the members of a municipal corporation that is levying rates of nine, ten or eleven shillings in the pound, because they really cannot face the problem of finding another twopence or threepence, is a thing that no Local Government Board has ever been able to bring itself to the point of doing.
§ The Committee has made a recommendation that, for the first time, a Grant should be given in respect of Public Health, and that that Grant should be given—granted or withheld—according to the efficiency of the whole service. The principle on which we will proceed is action. It has worked well in relation to the police and in relation to education. I am far from saying that the educational standard of this country everywhere is up to the level of what it ought to be; but I am appalled to think what it would be in many districts had it not been that the Grants depended upon some sort of efficiency. The Committee have recommended a fairly substantial Grant. In our judgment it is inadequate. It is no use giving a Grant which will not enable you to exercise the necessary hydraulic pressure to lift the weight. A Grant which is something under one penny in the pound would not lighten local authorities in many districts sufficiently to induce them to undertake the big task which we hope will be undertaken in the course of the next few years in the way of improving the health conditions of and life of the people. The Police Grant is now 38 per cent. of the expenditure. We propose to raise it to at least one-half. The Education Grant is now 46 per cent. We propose to raise it. [An HON. MEMBER: "How much?"] By and by I will tell you. Main roads now receive 35 per cent. We propose to raise the amount to 50 per cent. We propose that the Public Health Grant we recommend shall be equal to 15 per cent. of the gross expenditure and 25 per cent. of the net expenditure. I do not say that will be the basis of contribution, but that is the basis of computation in the original instance.
§ Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINI am very reluctant to interrupt the right hon. Gentleman, but would he tell the Committee what he means by the difference between gross and net expenditure?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe difference is this: If the right hon. Gentleman will read the Annual Report of the Local 78 Government Board he will find that all sorts of undertakings like waterworks are included in the gross. Housing, for instance, is included in the gross. On one side the expenditure is £610,000 in respect of housing, but there is an income on the other side of £510,000. That shows a loss of £100,000. The same thing applies to waterworks. That is what I mean by the difference between net and gross. We propose to use this contribution as a means of pressing local authorities to deal with more spirit and boldness with all these problems which I have enumerated, and which affect the well-being of the community under their care—housing, including the clearing of slums and the provision of better accommodation; the provision of a sufficient number of hospitals, and the grappling with greater energy with tuberculosis; the provision of small holdings and allotments. We could not do so unless the Grants-in-Aid were real and substantial. I have the figures here for the whole of the United Kingdom. The total Grant for the United Kingdom will be £4,000,000 for the first full year. It will come to £1,300,000 for the first, or this, year. For England and Wales the figure is £3,200,000.