§ 76. Mr. SMITHERSasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that local feeling is being aroused in certain districts by the refusal of the Ministry to grant housing subsidies to working men who have obeyed the spirit but unwittingly broken the letter of the law by starting to build before making application for subsidy; and whether, in view of the fact that country folk are admittedly slow in assimilating new rules and regulations and that these men are showing great keenness and initiative in building their own houses, with their own hands and in their own time, he will consider the advisability of relaxing the stringency of the existing Regulations, making the Regulations more widely known, and granting the subsidy on the recommendation of local authorities if. after inquiry, it can be proved that the Regulation has been broken in letter but not in spirit?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINI am aware of complaints which have been received in cases where building has been commenced without an assurance of assistance by the local authority. As previously stated in the House, I am prepared to authorise the payment of the equivalent of the subsidy in cases in which building was put in hand on the strength of assurances of subsidy by the local authority even though the authority's scheme had not beer approved when the assurance was given; and in a considerable number of such cases a payment has been authorised.