§ Mr. KeyI have been requested by the citizens of Poplar to seek your permission, Mr. Speaker, to present a Petition against the Rent Bill. They claim that, suffering from a very severe shortage of housing accommodation in their area, if the Bill becomes operative, many of them, having lost security of tenure, will have to pay very high uncontrolled rents because no alternative accommodation will be available. But the vast majority of them, whilst retaining security of tenure, will have to pay severe increases in rent with no guarantee at all that their places are maintained in an adequate and proper state of repair. They therefore ask that, if the Bill cannot now be amended to deal with these injustices, it should be abandoned altogether, and they conclude by saying, as they should:
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
§ To lie upon the Table.