RATING (Hansard, 1 July 1924)

§ Mr. McENTEE

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision with respect to the rating of the owners and lessees of unoccupied houses, and for purposes connected therewith. May I say that this little Bill is my first ewe lamb? It is quite a simple and innocent one, and I hope that its simplicity and its innocence will commend it to the House, and that its usefulness 1138 will enable it to be passed. I think everybody will agree that at a time like the present, when there are so many people seeking housing accommodation, it is not desirable that houses, in any considerable number at any rate, should be allowed to remain idle for any considerable period, and yet everybody knows that in almost every district in the country there are larger or smaller numbers of houses remaining idle, some of them for very long periods of time. The general purpose of keeping these houses unoccupied is, of course, that they are offered for sale, and an attempt is being made to obtain a price for them that the people desirous of purchasing are not able or willing to pay. This morning I made inquiries in the borough that I represent, and in which I live, and I was informed that at the present time there are 62 houses unoccupied, and that the number at Present is rather lower than the average for a considerable time past. The annual amount that the Council is losing in rates at present is £1,219 2s. 6d., and I know that nearly all the unoccupied houses are of a type that, were they offered at a rent about the same as that of houses of a similar character in the district, they would be occupied by people who are now seeking houses.

I made inquiries as to the number of applications there are in our own town hall by people who are seeking housing accommodation, and I found that the number at the end of June was 3,716. Those were people who have applied to the local council for housing accommodation. Amongst that number there are 256 families who are at present occupying one room. Some of those families consist of father, mother and six children, that is, eight people occupying one room. Of course, that is the exception, but all of them are average families, and, probably, it would be found that amongst the 256 families, most of them consist of perhaps four or more people. In addition, 326 families who have made application for housing accommodation occupy two rooms, and I had a letter myself during the last three or four days, asking me if anything could be done for a family consisting of father, mother and three children, who are living at the present time in a small scullery at the back of a kitchen, where there is a sink and a copper 1139 in the corner. Five people are at present living in that scullery. Conditions like that—and they can be multiplied in a great number of districts—ought to make it clear to anybody that it is criminal to keep large numbers of houses unoccupied, and, at the same time, allow them to be free from the ordinary rates which have to be paid by people for houses which are occupied.

I can remember, a few years ago, when a strong campaign was carried on by some of our morning newspapers in London, the public was informed that if Socialism came into power, the consequence would be that wives and husbands would be separated from their children, and family life would be entirely destroyed. Yet I see to-day in my own constituency—and similar conditions prevail in many parts of the country—the husband living in one part of the town, the wife in another part, and the children probably scattered in several homes in and out of the district. This state of affairs is growing, and is very serious at the present time, and every decent man and woman ought to do everything possible to remedy it. We have considerable power in that direction to compel these people who hold up houses to allow those houses to be occupied by people living under the horrible conditions in which they are living at the present time. I hope, therefore, this House will enable this Bill to pass, so that we may show our goodwill towards those people who are seriously seeking house accommodation, and our determination, at the same time, to say to those people who are holding up houses for sale against the public, and against the municipal authorities, that we, at any rate, will no longer be a party to such conduct.

§ Mr. HOPKINSON

I rise to oppose this Bill, in the first instance, because the privilege of introducing Bills under the Ten Minutes' Rule seems to me, as to many of my colleagues in this House, to be very gravely abused at the present time. Every Session thoroughly foolish and ill thought-out Measures are brought before us, the time of the House is wasted, and the opinion held by people outside is steadily depreciated as a result. This Bill is a good example of thoroughly badly thought-out legislation, which is intended, I have no doubt, to catch a few votes from ignorant people, and not to remove 1140 any grievance. Let us consider for a moment what the whole principle of rating is. Rating, I take it, is a form of Income Tax on a peculiar form of income, that is to say, income arising from property within the district of a rating authority. If that income does not arise from the property, it is perfectly obvious that it is a gross injustice to tax an income which does not arise. The income does not arise, and, therefore, the tax does not arise. Let us take an analogous case, in order that hon. Members opposite may see exactly the basis of this argument. Supposing a man, who is ordinarily employed at £3 a week, is out of work, and is offered 40s. a week for that work, and he refuses to take the job at that price. He say, "The normal price, and the price I will have, is 60s., and not 40s., and, therefore, I will not accept the job." Does the hon. Member who has asked leave to introduce the Bill say that that man ought, by some method of taxation, or compulsion, be forced to give his labour at the price which was offered?

The case is completely analogous. A man has something which he wishes to offer in exchange for money in some form or another. He finds he is unable to get what he thinks is a reasonable return for what he offers, and, therefore, he waits until he can get it. In exactly the same way, every man in the country who has labour to give, if he gets an offer he does not think is acceptable, maintains, quite rightly, that he is justified in refusing to give his labour for the wages offered him. I say this Bill cuts at the root of the whole rating system, in the first instance, because it proposes to levy an Income Tax on income which does not exist; and, in the second place, it cuts at the root of the whole system of individual liberty, upon which the life of this country, at any rate in theory, though I am afraid of late years not in practice, is based. Therefore, I do hope that the House will refuse leave to introduce this Bill, first of all, to mark its disapproval of the abuse to which the Ten Minute Rule has been subjected during the lifetime of the last two Parliaments, and, secondly, to maintain as long as we can that the House shall be the guardian of the liberties of this country, and shall not lend itself to the destruction of liberty in a way which was quite unknown in past, days