Sitting of 25 April 1923

Preamble
The House met at a Quarter before Three of the Clock, Mr. SPEAKER in the Chair.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
Metropolitan Railway (Various Powers) Bill,
As amended, considered; to be read the Third time.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS.

  EGYPT (THE KHEDIVAH MOTHER).
  Mr. A. LOYDasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether His Majesty's Government have refused to Her Highness the Khedivah Mother permission to return to Egypt; and, if not, why she is not allowed to do so?
  The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Ronald McNeill): His Majesty's Government have no objection to the return of the Khedivah Mother to Egypt. Her Highness has hitherto been prevented from returning at the instance of the King of Egypt, with whose wishes in family matters of this nature His Majesty's Government did not wish to interfere. King Found has, however, recently withdrawn his objection.

  CHINA (BOXER INDEMNITY).
  Mr. HANNONasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if it is the intention of the Government to appoint a special Committee to consider the procedure to be adopted in relation to the utilisation of the Boxer indemnity; and whether there is any suggestion that the Chinese Government should be asked to utilise the sum remitted to meet the coupons of the Chinese 8 per cent. Treasury notes which are now 12 months in arrears?
  Mr. McNEILL: The Committee is about to be appointed. I am very doubtful as to the desirability of utilising the indemnity funds in order to meet default on the Chinese unsecured debts, but I am prepared to refer the suggestion to the Committee.

  OUTRAGES ON BRITISH SUBJECTS, RUSSIA.
  Captain Viscount CURZONasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that a telegram has now been received from the skipper of the Hull trawler "James Johnson," recently seized by Bolshevik pirates off the Murman coast, to the effect that the ship has been confiscated and the captain has been fined £10; that he has no money and that the crew are well; whether His Majesty's Government will promptly take steps to seize an equivalent amount of Soviet property in order to compensate the owners of the vessel and the crew for the privations they have undergone; if not, what action His Majesty's Government propose to take in this particular case and in order to prevent the recurrence of similar cases in future; whether His Majesty's Government will take steps to secure the safe return of the officers and men of the ship; and whether, in view of these and similar incidents, His Majesty's Government propose to tolerate the continued existence of a so-called Soviet trade delegation in this country?
  Sir WILLIAM DAVISONasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether the Government are taking any steps to secure the payment of compensation by the Russian Soviet Government to the widow of Mr. C. F. Davison who, as stated by the Foreign Secretary in the Command Paper which has just been issued, was murdered in Petrograd in January, 1920, under revolting circumstances upon trumped-up evidence;
  (2) whether the repeated threats on the part of the British Government of giving publicity to the facts in connection with outrages on British subjects in Russia have had any effect in the way of obtaining compensation for the victims or their surviving relatives; and whether, under these circumstances, he will now terminate all official relations with the Russian

  425
  Soviet Government and request the removal of this specially privileged trade delegation in this country?
  Mr. McNEILL: The questions relate to a series of acts committed by the Russian Soviet Government, of which British subjects have been the victims. These acts, which have excited the profound indignation of His Majesty's Government and of the country at large, and concerning some of which papers have already been laid before the House, testify to a condition of affairs which demands, and is receiving, the earnest attention of His Majesty's Government. They cannot be considered or treated singly, but are parts of a whole directly affecting the relations between His Majesty's Government and the Soviet Government. It is proposed, without delay, to address a serious communication to the Russian Government on the subject. In the meantime, the British Representative at Moscow will not cease to exert his influence in the strongest possible manner in the case of the trawler mentioned in the Noble Lord's question, where the action of the Soviet authorities is regarded by His Majesty's Government as being wholly without justification.
  Viscount CURZON: Will the hon. Gentleman deal with the third part of my question unless he gets satisfactory assurances, namely, the amount of Soviet property to be seized? Is he aware that the action of the Soviet Government has caused the greatest indignation in the City of Hull?
  Sir W. DAVISON: Does the Under-Secretary realise the indignation which has been occasioned in the country by reason of the Foreign Secretary simply saying that he would publish the facts when a British citizen has been murdered? Is he not aware that the public were very deeply incensed that further steps were not taken?
  Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY: Is the hon. Gentleman not aware that the Admiralty received a deputation from the City of Hull asking for naval protection, which was refused, and that it was whilst naval protection was absent that the outrage occurred?
  Mr. McNEILL: I am aware of the indignation to which the hon. Member (Sir W. Davison) and the hon. and gallant Member (Lieut.-Commander Kenworthy)
  426
  have referred, but I think it would be wiser, in view of the answer I have given, that we should see what happens when the communications have been received by the Russian Government.
  Colonel WEDGWOOD: Is the Under-Secretary aware that the people of this country are not anxious to have a new war?
  Mr. McNEILL: I am perfectly aware of that, and it is for that very reason that His Majesty's Government have taken the action which they have taken.
  Major PAGET: Will the Government consider the advisability of re-employing the hon. and gallant Member for Central Hull (Lieut.-Commander Kenworthy) owing to his special qualifications in this matter?
  Mr. LANSBURY: What British citizen has been murdered?
  Mr. McNEILL: The one mentioned by my hon. Friend in his question.
  Mr. LANSBURY: Will the Under-Secretary lay on the Table of the House the evidence in this case?
  Mr. McNEILL: The hon. Gentleman is apparently not aware that a White Paper has just been laid on this subject.
  Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY: As the hon. and gallant Member for Bosworth (Major Paget) has just made a reflection upon me, is the hon. Gentleman aware that my endeavours in Russia have secured the release of five of our compatriots, and that I have supported the Government in making representations?
  Mr. McNEILL: I was quite aware of that, and I hope that I have not said anything to throw any doubt upon it.
  Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY: It was the hon. and gallant Member (Major Paget).

  TURKEY (CHESTER CONCESSION).
  Viscount CURZONasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to the speech of Admiral Chester, at a dinner of the Federated American Chambers of Commerce in New York, wherein he is reported to have stated that spheres of influence have thrown every kind of

  427
  obstacle in his way since he had been endeavouring to secure concessions in Turkey, and that the British Ambassador had assured him that Great Britain did not object, but that the Ambassador had been overruled; and whether there is any foundation for the suggestion that His Majesty's Government have taken any action by means of spheres of influence or in any other way to handicap the commercial enterprise of the United States Government or citizens in Asia as alleged by Admiral Chester?
  Mr. McNEILL: I have seen a report in the Press of the speech referred to, but am unaware of any foundation for the statements to which attention is called in the question. There is no record of the British Ambassador having given any such assurance as that described, and there is consequently no question of his having been overruled. His Majesty's Government have not taken any action to handicap American commercial enterprise in Asia.
  Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will take steps to obtain a copy of the Chester concession; whether he has as yet received any complaints that the Chester concessions conflict with concessions previously granted to British subjects; and whether the question of these concessions will be excluded from the peace discussions at Lausanne so far as Great Britain is concerned?
  Mr. McNEILL: The terms of the concession, as approved by the Turkish Government, have not yet, so far as is known, been made public, but steps are being taken to ascertain whether a copy is procurable. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative. In regard to the third part, His Majesty's Government have no intention of initiating a discussion on the subject at Lausanne.
  Colonel WEDGWOOD: Have His Majesty's Government any intention of preventing this question from coming up?
  Mr. McNEILL: I do not know that we have any power to prevent it coming up. All I can say is that we certainly do not court discussion on it.
  Mr. MOREL: Have accounts not been published in the Parisian newspapers?
  Mr. McNEILL: There have been accounts of the concessions, but I am not aware that they have been published textually.

  ROYAL NAVY.

    DOCKYARD WORKERS (WAR SERVICE).
    Mr. PETOasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to the fact that under Admiralty Order dockyard workers who volunteered for naval service during the War are placed at a disadvantage as compared with those who continued in regular dockyard employment, and that time on active service in the Navy does not count for gratuity; and whether he will consider the revision of this Order, so that men should not be penalised for volunteering for active naval service during the War?
    The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Commander Eyres-Monsell): Workmen employed in the dockyards before the War who joined the Colours for service for the period of hostilities are allowed to count such service for civil superannuation or gratuity. This concession is not extended to a workman who, during the period of hostilities, severed his connection with the yard, and joined the Navy under the ordinary continuous service engagement (namely, for 12 years).
    Mr. PETO: Why is there this discrimination between one dockyard employé and another, and why is it that a man who severed his connection with the dockyard in order to enlist in the Navy should have that counted against him, and that it should render him ineligible for the gratuity which he would have received had he remained in the same employment in the dockyard?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: In the one case the men join up for hostilities only and naturally count all their time in civil employment. In some cases, they severed their connection to join up as sailors, but when they came back, as they did, they were allowed to count their previous time. We could not allow them to count their continuous service in the Navy as civil time.

    FLEET RESERVE (RETAINER).
    Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty

    429
    whether his attention has been called to the fact that the War Office has been asking for single men to enrol in Class II of the Army Reserve at a retainer of 1s. per day for four years, with a bonus of £20 at the end of that period; whether the Royal Fleet Reserve are only offering a retainer of 6d. per day, with a bonus of £100 on completion of 20 years' service; and whether it is in contemplation to raise the retainer of the Royal Fleet Reserve to the same as the Army, especially in view of the greater skill and higher degree of technical knowledge required by seamen in the Navy?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: The first part of the hon. and gallant Member's question appears to refer to Section D of the Army Reserve, enrolment in which is for four years, with a retainer of 1s. per day. Candidates, however, are not required to be single men; nor is any bonus paid at the end of the period of service. Conditions of service in the Royal Fleet Reserve, Class B, are as stated by the hon. and gallant Member, except that the 20 years' service includes previous pensionable time in the Fleet. The Admiralty consider that the total emoluments of a Royal Fleet Reservist compare well with those of an Army Reservist, and that the increase of retainer suggested would not be justified.

    CORDITE FACTORY, HALTON HEATH.
    Mr. J. DAVISONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether an assistant superintendent has been appointed to the Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Halton Heath, Dorset; will he state the number of workers employed at the factory now and the number employed during the latter period of the War the present output in comparison with the highest output during the War when there was no assistant to the superintendent; the salary to be paid to this new official; and his qualifications for the post?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: Yes, Sir. The numbers asked for in the second part of the question are 777 and 3,471. The quantities asked for in the third part of the question are 10 tons a week compared to 150 tons a week. The reply to the fourth part of the question is £950 per annum. With regard to the
    430
    last part of the question, the Assistant Superintendent is a Commander, R.N., qualified in gunnery, who, until appointed to this post, was on the staff of the Chief Inspector of Ordnance for general work on propellants. The appointment of an Assistant Superintendent has been long overdue, and is necessary in order to relieve the Superintendent of the important experimental and research work on naval propellants, which has increased greatly since the War, and also to take charge of the factory during the absence of the Superintendent.
    Mr. DAVISON: Is this official in receipt of a pension as well as his salary?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: No, Sir; he is a Commander in the Royal Navy, and is not in receipt of a pension.

    BLOCKSHIP "LORNE."
    Sir ROBERT HAMILTONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty when it is intended that the removal of the block-ship "Lorne," in Water Sound, Scapa Flow, shall be undertaken; and whether it will be possible to undertake the work in time to allow a passage for fishing craft during the summer fishing?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: The Admiralty have not accepted and cannot accept any obligation in this matter, but further consideration will be given to it when the result of the contractual work for the salving of the "Numidian" has been completed. The reply to the last part is, therefore, in the negative.
    Sir R. HAMILTON: Why should the one depend upon the other? Are not the two salvages entirely different?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: They depend very closely upon each other. As the hon. Gentleman well knows, the work of salving these ships is very difficult in those waters, and until we know that the "Numidian" is going to be a success we cannot promise to undertake the "Lorne."
    Sir R. HAMILTON: If the "Numidian" is a success, will the "Lorne" be undertaken?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: I have said that it would be considered.

    BATTLESHIP CONSTRUCTION, TYNE.
    Mr. BUCHANANasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he is aware that workmen are being dismissed in large numbers from the firm who have undertaken the work of building the new battleship on the Tyne; and, as this job was intended partly as a scheme for relief of unemployment and as the work has now been sanctioned for five months, will he state what steps he is prepared to take to see that the work is proceeded with more expeditiously?
    Commander EYRES - MONSELL: I would refer the hon. Member to my reply of the 18th April to my hon. Friend the Member for North Newcastle (Mr. Doyle).
    Mr. BUCHANAN: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there has been no complaint about the progress of the work on the vessel that is building on the Mersey, and what is the reason for the delay in the case of the Newcastle ship? Why is it not proceeding with the same quickness?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: I do not think there is any delay at all, and I do not think there is any difference in the shipbuilding on the Mersey. It is quite natural that only a few men could be employed until after the ship's keel is laid, and for a few weeks or months previously. The amount of employment swells up to a peak in about a year's time.
    Mr. BUCHANAN: May I press the hon. and gallant Gentleman on this point? Is it not the case that in connection with the engine work of the ship there is no question of laying the keel, and that men who ought to be employed first on the engine department are being dismissed from the firm and are not being restarted, while on the Mersey ship they are being set to work on the most essential parts of the engines? Will the First Lord of the Admiralty make some inquiry?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: I have made inquiry, and my information is entirely to the contrary. The men dismissed by the firm building that ship were men employed on a P. and O. boat that was being repaired there, and that work has now come to an end. It has nothing to do with this ship.
    Mr. BUCHANAN: I beg to give notice that I shall raise this question on the Motion for the Adjournment of the House.

    NAVAL BASE, SINGAPORE.
    Mr. LAMBERTasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if any work other than the preliminary survey has been commenced at Singapore; and, if not, will it be delayed until the House has approved the project?
    The FIRST LORD of the ADMIRALTY (Mr. Amery): Beyond the sum of £4,000 expended upon Preliminary Surveys, etc. (as referred to in footnote, page 143, of Navy Estimates, 1923–24), no work has been commenced and no expenditure has been, or will be, incurred in connection with the Singapore Naval Base until Vote 10, in which an item for the scheme is included, has been voted in Supply Committee and reported to the House.

    ENGINE-ROOM ARTIFICER'S DEATH (T. P. MITCHELL).
    Mr. BARKERasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he has received a letter from Mrs. Laura Mitchell, of Alderney, Channel Islands, arising out of the death of her son, Thomas P. Mitchell, engine-room artificer, 4th Class, who was found shot in Barnton Wood, in January, 1921; will he state if an inquiry was held at Port. Edgar on the death of Mitchell; if so, what was the result; and will he see that a copy of the evidence given, and the finding of the Court, is supplied to the mother of the deceased?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: The reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. A Naval Court of inquiry was held, but obtained no evidence to explain his death, which was apparently self-inflicted, as was confirmed by the subsequent inquiry by the Procurator Fiscal. A copy of the evidence and finding of the Naval Court will be supplied to Mrs. Mitchell.

    CONTRACTS (IMPERIAL PREFERENCE).
    Mr. THOMAS DAVIESasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what the Admiralty have done to comply with the resolution passed by the Imperial Conference in 1918 to the effect that preference should be given, where practicable, to Empire products in Government contracts?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: In pursuance of the policy referred to, a 16⅔ per cent. preference in price was up to last year given in Admiralty contracts to products of the Empire. The question was then further investigated, and it was found that, by increasing the preference, on home products to 25 per cent., a substantial number of contracts would be diverted from the foreign to the home market, but that a similar increase in the preference granted to products of the other parts of the Empire would have no appreciable effect. The preference on home products was, therefore, increased to 25 per cent., and remains for Dominion products at 16⅔ per cent. In exceptional circumstances the above percentages may be slightly increased. On the other hand, if in any particular instance there were evidence of contractors taking advantage of the preference to secure undue profits, the preference would be reduced or altogether suspended. As a result less than 1 per cent. in value of Navy contracts, if oil fuel is excluded, went to foreign contractors during the last financial year. Of this percentage most of the commodities cannot at present be produced within the Empire, and in the case of the remainder the difference of price is large, in some cases as much as 50 per cent. or more.
    Captain WEDGWOOD BENN: Is there any sanction by the House of Commons of this additional burden on the taxpayer?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: It is allowed by the Treasury as a matter of administration.
    Captain BENN: But I am asking whether the House of Commons, which represents the taxpayer, sanctioned this additional burden?
    Commander EYRES-MONSELL: There is no additional burden. I do not think the House of Commons can sanction every administrative action, but I am sure that if it came before the House of Commons, the House would sanction it.
    Captain BENN: I am not asking the hon. and gallant Gentleman for his well-informed forecast, but I am asking whether this question has ever been before the House of Commons?
    Mr. SPEAKER: That question can be raised on the Navy Estimates.

    MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL'S BOOK.
    Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the right hon. Winston S. Churchill was given access to official documents at the Admiralty during the preparation of his book, "The World Crisis, 1911–15"; whether the telegram facsimiles which are published in the book are the property of His Majesty's Government; and whether any proportion of the funds realised by the sale of this book are to be paid to the Treasury, or to any charitable funds under the control of the Admiralty?
    Mr. AMERY: Mr. Churchill was not given access to official documents at the Admiralty, but as stated by the Prime Minister in reply to a question on the 15th February, copies of some of his own official minutes and of the Admiralty orders or telegrams based on or leading up to those minutes were given to him by the authority of the First Lord of the Admiralty. In the case of two telegrams, which had become historic, were no longer confidential, and were written in his own hand, the copy given was a photographic copy, and one of these is reproduced in his book. I am not sure how the question of copyright actually stands as between the Admiralty and Mr. Churchill as author of the document, but in any case, although the reproduction is interesting, I do not think that it can be regarded as affecting the selling value of the book, which I take to be the point of the last part of the hon. and gallant Member's question.
    Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHY: May I have an answer to the last part of my question as to whether the Admiralty, in giving this assistance, put in a caveat for some contribution to the naval funds?
    Mr. AMERY: No, Sir. The Admiralty did not consider that the photographic reproduction of Mr. Churchill's handwriting would add anything material to the value of the book, as compared with the literary skill embodied in it.
    Viscount CURZON: Is the hon. Member aware that Mr. Churchill's book contains one of the gravest possible inaccuracies in its relation to one of the most gallant officers of the Navy, and is he going to allow those inaccuracies to remain on record, and possibly be accepted as an official account of exactly what happened at Coronel?
    Mr. AMERY: The book is in no sense official. An official account of that history has already been published, giving a full account of this action.
    Mr. STURROCK: Is it not a fact that the whole Empire, which is deeply interested in the naval operations during the War, is very grateful to Mr. Churchill for the wonderful book he has produced?
    Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Board and the Naval Staff were consulted before the right hon. Winston S. Churchill's book, "The World Crisis, 1911 to 1915," was published, whether they were consulted before the references to our Deciphering Department and its methods, described on pages 461, 462, 463, and 464, were published; whether the Board or the Naval Staff were consulted before the facsimiles of secret telegrams were incorporated in the book; whether they are being consulted now as to the second volume, understood to be in course of preparation; and whether proofs are being or will be submitted to the Staff?
    Mr. AMERY: The reply to the first part of the question is in the negative, subject to what immediately follows. The particular passages referred to in the second part of the question were submitted to me and concurred in as unobjectionable by me after consulting the First Sea Lord. The replies to the remaining parts of the question are all in the negative, but I should add that there was obviously no longer anything secret in the telegram produced in facsimile, its contents having already been published in the Official Naval History.
    Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHY: Did the right hon. Gentleman consult the First Sea Lord to ascertain if the staff
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    had been consulted, or any member of the Cipher School, and is he aware that matters have been betrayed which we were trying to keep secret?
    Mr. AMERY: I think the hon. and gallant Gentleman may assume that all those matters were in my mind, and in that of the First Sea Lord, who is the head of the Naval staff.
    Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHY: Was the Cipher School consulted before these secrets were published to the world?

    NAVAL ARMAMENTS (WASHINGTON TREATY).
    Captain BERKELEYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, in the case of the United States of America, the number of ships of the "Indiana," "Maryland," and "Constellation," or any later class, actually built and in course of construction; in the case of Japan, the number of ships of the "Kaga," "Owari," and any later class of battleships, and of the "Amagi," or any later class of battle-cruisers actually built and in course of construction; in the case of Great Britain, the number of battleships and battle-cruisers of equivalent or greater tonnage and armament now in commission or in course of construction; and how many capital ships have been scrapped by the three countries mentioned, as well as by France and Italy, in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty?
    Mr. AMERY: As the answer to this question is in tabular form, I will, with the hon. and gallant Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
    Captain BERKELEY: Is it possible for the right hon. Gentleman to state to the House how far the table shows that the recommendations of the Washington Treaty have been carried out by other countries than this?
    Mr. AMERY: I would rather have it definitely in writing.
    Following is the table:

    437

    —

    Battleships.

    Battlecruisers.

    Capital Ships Scrapped.

    Built.

    Under Construction.

    Built.

    Under Construction.

    Indiana.

    Maryland.

    Indiana.

    Maryland.

    United States of America.

    Nil

    1

    6 (construction suspended).

    3 (1 construction suspended).

    Nil

    6 (4 construction suspended.

    2 being broken up. 5 dismantled preparatory to sale.

    2 being converted into Aircraft Carriers).

    Japan

    …

    Nil

    2 will be scrapped after being used as targets.

    Nil

    2 will be converted into Aircraft Carriers.

    5 have had their main armament removed. 8 have been paid off.

    France

    …

    —

    —

    —

    —

    Nil.

    Italy

    …

    —

    —

    —

    —

    Nil.

    Great Britain

    Nil

    2

    Nil

    Nil

    17

    Captain BERKELEYasked the First Lord of the
    Admiralty the number of ocean-going submarines, of 1,500 tons or more, with a surface speed of
    20 knots or more and a cruising radius exceeding 5,000 miles, completed, under construction, or
    projected by the United States of America, France, Japan, and this country, respectively,
    stating the

    —

    United States of America.

    Completed.

    Under Construction.

    Projected.

    Number

    …

    …

    …

    Nil

    3

    6 (but no money voted).

    Gun Armament

    …

    …

    1–5 inch

    1–5 inch.

    Minelayers included in total

    Nil

    Nil.

    Captain BERKELEYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the number of submarine warships launched in or after 1913 and now in commission or capable of being put into commission, respectively, in each of the following countries: United States of America, France, Japan, Italy, and Great Britain?
    primary gun armament in each case and the number of minelayers included in each total?
    Mr. AMERY: As the reply is in tabular form, I will, with the hon. and gallant Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
    The reply is as follows:
    Mr. AMERY: The numbers in full commission are

    United States of America

    76

    France

    41

    Japan

    43

    Italy

    43

    Great Britain (of which 12 are in reserve)

    52

    439
    The additional numbers capable of being put into commission are

    United States of America

    26

    Great Britain

    7

    and the remainder nil.

    GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS.

      WOMEN CLERKS, ADMIRALTY.
      Mr. HAYDAYasked the First Lord of the Admiralty what arrangements, if any, were made for the absorption into civilian clerical employment of a temporary nature, in his Department, of women demobilised from His Majesty's Forces (clerical units overseas or at home) from 1918 to October, 1920?
      Commander EYRES-MONSELL: On the demobilisation of women from His Majesty's Forces a number of women (Women's Royal Naval Service) were employed in the Admiralty and their employment was continued on a civilian basis. This continuation was confined to services approaching completion.
      Mr. G. HIRSTasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in the number of women employed on the clerical staff of the Admiralty in 1918, he includes those employed in industrial establishments or other out-stations; and, if not, what was the additional number thus employed?
      Commander EYRES-MONSELL: The reply to the first part of the question is in the negative. 3,205 women (other than industrials) were employed at the out-port establishments on the 11th November, 1918, but it is not possible to say how many of these were employed on clerical duties.

      EX-SERVICE WOMEN.
      Mr. G. HIRSTasked the Minister of Labour what arrangements were made through his Department, if any, for the absorption of unemployed ex-service women clerks into the temporary Civil Service since October, 1920; and what was the number of unemployed ex-service women clerks registered at Labour Exchanges in October, 1920 and 1921, respectively?
      Mr. GRUNDYasked the Minister of Labour what arrangements were made through his Department, if any, for the
      440
      absorption of ex-service women demobilised from the forces from 1918 to October, 1920, into posts in the temporary Civil Service?
      The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Major Boyd-Carpenter): Preferential treatment for ex-service women, in recruiting staff for temporary employment in Government Departments, was not specifically considered until September, 1920, when Lord Lytton's Committee on the appointment of ex-service men to the Civil Service recommended that the preferential treatment accorded to ex-service men should be extended to ex-service women. Action has been taken in accordance with this recommendation since that date. Statistics are not available as to the number of ex-service women clerks registered as unemployed.

      BOARD OF CONTROL.
      Mr. AMMONasked the Minister of Health whether he will furnish a Return of the cost of the Board of Control for the year 1922, including salaries, expenditure of office staff, and travelling expenses?
      The MINISTER of HEALTH (Mr. Neville Chamberlain): The total gross cost of the Board of Control for the financial year 1922–23 was approximately £470,236, less appropriations-in-aid (fees for licences, etc.) £7,756. The gross cost includes grants-in-aid to local authorities and voluntary institutions £408,791, cost of State institutions for mental defectives £26,795, salaries and expenses, etc., of head office staff £34,650.
      Mr. AMMON: Would not the work be carried out more economically, and with greater efficiency, if it were transferred to the right hon. Gentleman's own Ministry?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: The control is attached to my Ministry now.

      INSURANCE DEPARTMENT (INSPECTORS' SALARIES).
      Sir ROBERT NEWMANasked the Minister of Health what were the respective salaries of the men and women inspectors of all grades of the Insurance Department when they were appointed in 1912; what are their respective salaries

      441
      now; and in what respect the work as between the men and women has varied since 1912?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: With permission, I will circulate the details as to the salaries of the men and women inspectors

      INSURANCE DEPARTMENT.

      Outdoor Staff.

      Grade.

      Year.

      1912.

      1923.

      Men.

      Women.

      Men.

      Women.

      £

      £

      £

      £

      Chief Inspector

      …

      …

      …

      1,000 (fixed).

      —

      1,000 (fixed).

      —

      Deputy Chief Inspector

      …

      …

      …

      550–700 plus allowance of £100.

      —

      700–800

      —

      Chief Woman Inspector

      …

      …

      …

      —

      400–550

      —

      400–550

      Divisional Inspectors

      …

      …

      …

      550–700

      —

      550–700

      —

      Inspectors

      …

      …

      …

      350–500

      300–400

      400–500

      300–400

      Assistant Inspectors

      …

      …

      …

      100–350

      100–300

      100–400

      100–300

      Health Insurance Officers

      …

      …

      …

      80–150

      80–150

      90–250

      90–180

    EX-SERVICE MEN.

      TEMPORARY CLERKS, ADMIRALTY.
      Mr. ALLEN PARKINSONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty what proportion of the ex-service temporary civil servants employed in his Department on clerical duties are home service and overseas, respectively; and how many are men who did not sit for the recent special establishment examinations?
      Commander EYRES-MONSELL: The number of ex-service temporary civil servants employed at the Admiralty on clerical duties on the 1st April, 1923, was 703.
      The details asked for are not available, but on a former occasion when the number was 751, approximate details were:

      Home service

      58

      Overseas

      693

      The number who did not sit for the special examination was then 327, which number has since been reduced owing to a further examination having been held.
      The number employed at the outport establishments was 671 on the 1st April, 1923. No details of this figure are available.
      of the Insurance Department of the Ministry in the OFFICIAL REPORT. The work as between men and women has not varied in principle since 1912.
      Following are the promised details:

      UNIVERSITY GRANTS.
      Mr. ROBERT YOUNGasked the Minister of Labour whether he can state the number of ex-service men who have received a Government grant to enable them to finish their education at a university; how many of these have obtained a degree; of those so educated how many have applied to the Appointments Department of the Ministry of Labour for assistance in securing employment; how many through this agency have secured employment what was the nature of the employment thus secured; and how many are still registered with the Appointments Department awaiting employment?
      The MINISTER of LABOUR (Sir Montague Barlow): The number of ex-service men who have received a Government grant to enable them to finish their education at universities or colleges of similar standing in Great Britain is approximately 19,850, of whom up to the present about 10,110 have obtained a degree or a diploma. Of the men so educated, 4,357 have registered with the Appointments Department, and 1,845 have secured employment through

      443
      the agency of that department. The employment found was, generally, of a professional, technical or commercial character. There are at present 579 men so educated registered with the Appointments Department as requiring employment.
      Mr. R. YOUNGasked the Minister of Labour how many ex-service men who have received grants to complete their education at a university and who have registered themselves for employment through the Appointments Department have by these means received appointments as secondary school teachers, and how many as metallurgical chemists at home and abroad, respectively?
      Sir M. BARLOW: While precise figures are not available, it is known that, of the ex-service men who received grants towards their education at a university or college of similar standing in Great Britain, over 500 have been placed by the Appointments Department as secondary school teachers at home and four abroad; over 27 have been placed as metallurgical chemists at home, and one abroad. There are at present on the register of the Appointments Department 53 men so educated requiring posts as secondary school teachers and 31 requiring posts as metallurgical chemists.

      TRAINING.
      Mr. FREDERICK HALLasked the Minister of Labour what is the total amount of public expenditure which has been incurred up to date on the training of ex-service and civilian women, respectively, for other careers than that of domestic service apart from funds provided from the Central Committee on Women's Employment, and not obtained from taxation; what figure has the total expenditure on similar training for ex-service men reached to date; and whether the non-combatant home-service men employed in such units as Army pay and records offices were eligible for the latter, and had, in fact, received them?
      Sir M. BARLOW: The expenditure incurred by my Department to date on the training of women is approximately £292,000. Separate figures are not available for the expenditure upon ex-service and non-ex-service women or upon training for domestic and other careers. The expenditure incurred by my Department
      444
      to date on training ex-service men is approximately £21,600,000. In addition, considerable sums have been expended by other Government Departments upon the training of ex-officers and men. No distinction has been drawn by my Department between home and overseas service when deciding eligibility for industrial training, but the conditions laid down (such as inability on account of disablement to follow pre-War occupation) have in practice excluded nearly all home-service men.

      CIVIL SERVICE.
      Mr. CAIRNSasked the Minister of Labour what arrangements, if any, were made through his Department for the absorption of ex-service men, overseas and home service, respectively, demobilised from the forces from 1918 to October, 1920, into posts in the temporary Civil Service?
      Major BOYD-CARPENTER: I have been asked to reply. In accordance with the recommendations in the Second Report, dated May, 1918, of the Gladstone Committee on the Recruitment to the Civil Service after the War, preferential treatment in filling vacancies in temporary posts in the Civil Service was accorded to such disabled and demobilised men as were from time to time available. In September, 1919, following upon the Report of the Committee on the employment of disabled men in Government Departments, steps were taken to secure employment for disabled men in each Department to a number representing not less than 8 per cent. of the temporary staff, male and female, employed on 30th June, 1919; and all future vacancies in temporary posts, other than those excepted in the Report, were reserved for disabled men, or, failing disabled men, for demobilised men. As regards the latter category, preference was given in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee to men with service overseas. The First Report, dated August, 1920, of Lord Lytton's Committee recommended the institution of Departmental Substitution Committees and a central co-ordinating body, with a view to increased substitution of the existing temporary staff by ex-service men, among whom preference was accorded in the first place to disabled men, and, in the second, to those with service overseas, and those recommendations were adopted.

      POOR LAW RELIEF.
      Mr. D. G. SOMERVILLEasked the Minister of Health if he will inquire from the different boards of guardians throughout, the country how many disabled men they have afforded shelter and relief to during the last six months; and how many such men were receiving such assistance on 21st April, 1923?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I assume that my hon. Friend refers to disabled ex-service men. I doubt whether it is practicable to obtain information on the lines suggested and of any value on this subject, but I will consider the matter further and communicate with my hon. Friend.
      Mr. LANSBURYasked the Minister of Health if he has received a communication from the Poplar Board of Guardians calling his attention to the fact that the Ministry of Pensions has transferred five ex-service disabled men to the charge of the Poor Law guardians of that union, and protesting against this treatment of ex-service men and the transference of the State's obligations to the shoulders of the local authorities; and what does he propose to do in order to assist the ratepayers of the Poplar Union in this matter?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I do not appear to have received the communication to which the hon. Member refers. When it reaches me, I will give it my attention. In the meantime, I am unable to express any opinion on the matter.

      MINISTRY OF HEALTH.
      Mr. HAYDAYasked the Minister of Health what proportion of the ex-service temporary civil servants employed in his Department on clerical duties are home-service and overseas, respectively; and how many are men who did not sit for the recent special establishment examinations?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: Of a total of 531 ex-service temporary men clerks at present employed in the Ministry of Health, 36 are home-service men and 495 served overseas; 74 in all did not sit for the recent special establishment examination.

      TAILORING TRADE BOARD.
      Mr. J. DAVISONasked the Minister of Labour the amount of money that has been expended on the Time Equation Committee of the Retail Bespoke Tailoring Trade Board; the number of tests made; the results of those tests; and why they have not been put into force?
      Sir M. BARLOW: The cost of attendance of members of the Trade Board at the Log Equation Committee has been, approximately, £150. 400 tests have been made by officers of the Department in the course of their ordinary duties, and 3,500 tests have been made without expense to the Exchequer by employers' and workers' associations. The tests do not show a result which can be stated concisely, and the detailed results were obtained in many cases in confidence. In reply to the last part of the question, the trade board have not, up to the present time, been able to reach a decision upon the use which should be made of the results of the tests.

      EMPIRE SETTLEMENT.
      Sir HARRY BRITTAINasked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been called to the formation of the West of England Empire Settlement Scheme for collective migration to the Dominion of Australia; if so, whether His Majesty's Government has been asked to contribute towards the cost of the scheme; what contribution, if any, was promised; and whether he can state what progress has been made in respect of emigration under the auspices of the scheme referred to?
      The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Ormsby-Gore): I have been asked to reply to this question. My attention has been called to the recent formation of a Migration Committee for Devon and Cornwall. I understand that this Committee has arranged for Lieut.-Colonel S. F. Newcombe, D.S.O., R.E., to proceed, as their representative to Western Australia, to discuss the possibility of a joint county settlement scheme with the Oversea Authorities, and that he left this country on the 9th March for this purpose. His Majesty's Government has not been asked to make any pecuniary contribution, nor have the Committee's proposals reached

      447
      the stage at which any such question would arise. This matter will come up for consideration on Colonel Newcombe's return from Australia.

    UNEMPLOYMENT.

      JUVENILE CENTRES.
      Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCKasked the Minister of Labour what number of juveniles is in attendance at the centres for unemployed juveniles; and whether it is the intention of the Government to renew the grant for their continuance after the 31st May?
      Sir M. BARLOW: On the 18th April, 1923—the latest date for which figures are available—8,358 juveniles were in attendance at juvenile unemployment centres. The scheme for the revival of centres was designed to prevent the deterioration of unemployed juveniles during the winter months. I propose, however, to extend the period during which grants will be payable in the case of all centres up to the 30th June next, and in those cases in which centres have only recently been opened for such further period, not beyond the 21st July next, as shall complete a period of three months.
      Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCK: Why does the right hon. Gentleman propose to terminate the grants on 30th June?
      Sir M. BARLOW: The scheme was designed for the winter period and the suggested limit of the training courses was three months. The large majority have come to an end before that period.

      RELIEF WORKS.
      Mr. D. G. SOMERVILLEasked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the fact that unemployment still continues on a large scale, his Department is in possession of sufficient funds to promote whatever relief works may be necessary; and, if not, whether the Government proposes to ask the House for further allocations for this purpose in anticipation of the need which it is now clear roust exist for some time?
      Sir M. BARLOW: The funds set aside for providing Government assistance
      448
      towards relief works are not administered by my Department. The question whether Parliament should be asked to place further sums at the disposal of the grant-making Departments is under consideration by the Government.
      Captain SHIPWRIGHT: Is it not a fact that the Ministry of Labour is responsible for 150,000 men on out-relief works?
      Sir M. BARLOW: No, that is not the fact. The Departments concerned are the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Health. There is no direct responsibility on my Department for the administration of these funds, though naturally we are very closely concerned.

      NECESSITOUS AREAS.
      Mr. CECIL WILSONasked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that in the week ending 7th April, 1923, the Sheffield and Ecclesall guardians granted £8,216 in unemployment relief, and that in the following week, owing to the gap, this was increased to £13,077; and whether he proposes to arrange for any relief for this and other necessitous areas towards bearing this added burden?
      Sir M. BARLOW: There are no funds at my disposal out of which I can make any grants for the purpose suggested. As the hon. Member is no doubt aware, the Unemployment Insurance Act recently passed made a substantial increase in the grant of unemployment benefit and reduced the gap in benefit to a fortnight, thereby giving great assistance to the ratepayers throughout the country. I would point out further that the figures quoted by the hon. Member illustrate forcibly the extent to which during the last 2½ years the unemployment insurance scheme has assisted in bearing a burden which would otherwise have fallen upon the local ratepayers.
      Mr. T. THOMSON: Is the right hon. Gentleman still of opinion that the gap of a fortnight has not meant a considerable burden on local ratepayers, as he stated in Committee, and if he has no funds will he make representations to the Government that they should assist necessitous areas out of other grants from the Treasury?
      Sir M. BARLOW: As to the first part of the answer we had the matter under

      449
      full discussion when the recent Insurance Act went through the House. With regard to necessitous areas I do not think that really arises out of the question, nor should it be addressed to me.

      BENEFIT.
      Mr. LANSBURYasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that some Unemployment Exchanges are declining to grant out-of-work pay to young men over the age of 21 years and compelling parents of 60 years of age and over to maintain these adult sons; and whether this is in accordance with the Regulations?
      Sir M. BARLOW: Uncovenanted benefit is only payable if, in the opinion of the Minister, payment is expedient in the public interest. It is the rule that such benefit shall not be paid to single persons living with relatives who can reasonably be expected to support them. Each case is dealt with on its merits by the local committee, who are directed not to refuse benefit on this ground if the refusal would cause real hardship. I should add that, as I promised during the Debate on the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1923, I am considering whether in present circumstances this and other rules ought to be modified in any way—and I hope to deal with this point to-morrow in the discussion on the Estimates.
      Mr. LANSBURY: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in one case a man of 60 who is a joiner and carpenter has been called upon to maintain two sons of 25 and 30?
      Sir M. BARLOW: I was not aware, but I hope in the discussion which will arise to-morrow that sort of point may be dealt with.

      NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.
      Mr. GRATTAN DOYLEasked the Minister of Labour what is the number of unemployed persons in the Newcastleon-Tyne area at present; how this number compares with the last three, six, and 12 months, respectively; and what diminution, if any, is attributable to the order recently given for the building of a battleship on the Tyne?
      Sir M. BARLOW: The number of persons registered at Employment Exchanges in the Newcastle area at 16th April, 1923, was 20,142, as compared with 21,447 on 1st January, 1923, 19,250 on 2nd
      450
      October, 1922 and 17,904 on 3rd April, 1922. It is not possible to say what part of the recent decrease is due to the contract referred to.
      Mr. DOYLE: What stage of the building of the battleship was reached, and what was the number of men employed?
      Sir M. BARLOW: I do not want to shirk the issue, but that question really ought to be addressed to the Admiralty.

      GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS (DISCHARGED WOMEN).
      Mr. HAYDAYasked the Minister of Labour what amount of unemployment benefit was paid to women discharged from Government Departments in 1917 and 1918; and what, if any, facilities were available for such women at that time which were provided at the expense of the taxpayer and not by voluntary funds placed at the disposal of the Central Committee on Women's Training and Employment?
      Sir M. BARLOW: Prior to November, 3920, temporary Government employés, other than those in certain industrial establishments, did not come under the Unemployment Insurance scheme. Moreover, up to November, 1918, the war-time demand for labour was such that very little benefit was paid to those insured. At the end of November, 1918, the out-of-work donation scheme came into operation, and applied to civilian workers up to November, 1919, but it is not possible to say how much donation was paid to women discharged from Government Departments. So far as I am aware the State did not, prior to 1919, provide facilities for training women.
      Mr. ALLEN PARKINSONasked the Minister of Labour whether the amount of unemployment benefit and facilities of training for professional careers for temporary women clerks demobilised from the Civil Service since 1921 has been greater or less than those provided for similar women demobilised in 1917 and 1918?
      Sir M. BARLOW: Temporary women clerks discharged from Government service have since 1920 been entitled to unemployment benefit in proportion to contributions paid, and may also be granted uncovenanted benefit. Previously

      451
      they were not insured against unemployment, and the only provision of this kind made for them was the out-of-work donation scheme, which applied to all civilian workers from November, 1918, to November, 1919. So far as I am aware the State did not provide facilities for training women prior to 1919.

      KING'S ROLL.
      Sir W. DAVISONasked the Minister of Labour whether he can inform the House as to the results of the special appeal which has been made to those local authorities who have hitherto failed to place themselves on the King's Roll; and when he intends to publish the names of those authorities who have still failed to undertake this national duty?
      Sir M. BARLOW: The King's Roll National Council have not yet received all the replies to their appeal to local authorities not on the King's National Roll, and I am not, therefore, in a position to acid anything to my previous replies on this subject.
      Sir W. DAVISON: When may I put down a question to which the right hon. Gentleman will give a reply?
      Sir M. BARLOW: I do not think that there is any undue delay. The matter is necessarily in the hands of the King's Roll National Council. They are discovering, as I discovered, that there are difficulties in the matter. I would suggest that the hon. Gentleman should put himself in touch with the Vice-Chairman of the King's Roll National Council, who is a Member of this House, and then the matter might be accelerated.
      Viscount CURZON: What are the difficulties?

      SUSPENSION OF BENEFIT (L. R. BRIGGS).
      Mr. GAVAN DUFFYasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that the uncovenanted benefit of L. R. Briggs, of 9, South Street, Egremont, Cumberland, has been suspended by the manager of the Cleator Moor Employment Exchange on the ground that he is residing with relatives to whom he can reasonably look for support; that the average earnings of this man's father are 30s. per week; that he has seven children and a
      452
      wife dependent upon him; and that he has had nearly two years of unemployment; and, in view of the situation of his family, will he have Briggs's case reconsidered?
      Sir M. BARLOW: I am having immediate inquiries made into this case and will communicate the result to the hon. Member.

      WOMEN CLERKS, RICHMOND.
      Mr. McENTEEasked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that amongst unemployed women clerks resident in Richmond there is a feeling that they cannot expect fair treatment in future through the Richmond Exchange, having regard to the attacks recently made on the employment of women as clerks by the local employment committee; and what steps he proposes to take to remedy this state of affairs?
      Sir M. BARLOW: I have not been made aware of any feeling on the part of women clerks resident in Richmond that their treatment at the Richmond Employment Exchange would be otherwise than impartial. I may add that I am asking the local employment committee to consider whether, having regard to the industrial circumstances of the district, it is desirable that further representation on the committee should be accorded to organisations of women workers.

      INDUSTRIAL WAGES.
      Sir WILFRID SUGDENasked the Minister of Labour if he will give details of wages paid to employés in the nine principal industries of the country in 1913, and to date; and if he will state what action he is taking to adjust the wages in those industries where the increase has not been in keeping with the cost of living, and where the numerical strength of their trade unions nor the Trade Wages Board have been able to give such proper protection to the relativity of their wages?
      Sir M. BARLOW: A special article giving comparative information, so far as available, as to the rates of wages paid in the principal industries at the beginning of August, 1914, and at the end of March, 1923, is published in the current issue of the "Ministry of Labour Gazette," a

      453
      copy of which I am sending to the hon. Member. With regard to the second part of the question, I have no authority to take action of the kind referred to by the hon. Member. Except in the case of trades the conditions in which make it necessary to establish Trade Boards for the purpose of fixing minimum rates of wages, the policy of the Government is to leave employers and workers free themselves to settle the conditions in their industries.

      HEALTH AND PUBLIC WELFARE SERVICES.
      Mr. THOMSONasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the serious overlapping occurring in the provision of the various health and public welfare services, he will appoint a Committee of Inquiry in order that by means of better co-ordination more satisfactory services can be secured in return for the expenditure incurred by the Ministries of Health, Pensions, and Labour, the Boards of Education and Trade, and the Home Office, in these matters?
      Major BOYD-CARPENTER: I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Lincoln on the 7th March last.
      Mr. THOMSON: Can the hon. Gentleman call the Prime Minister's attention to the fact that this matter has been deferred for some years now, and is it not possible to expedite a decision?
      Major BOYD-CARPENTER: The hon. Member must be aware that there is a Committee sitting at the present time.

      FARM LABOURERS (WAGES).
      Mr. LINFIELDasked the Prime Minister whether the Government will, when submitting their proposals for the relief of agriculture, provide that the farm labourer shall in no case be paid a rate of wages less than that of the terms arrived at in the recent settlement in Norfolk?
      The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Sir Robert Sanders): I have been asked to reply. It is proposed to introduce a Bill to amend Section 4 of the Corn Production Acts (Repeal) Act, 1921,
      454
      which deals with the formation of conciliation committees in agriculture with a view to making compulsory the registration of agreements arrived at by conciliation committees. These agreements are, however, of a voluntary nature, and the Government cannot impose a condition such as is suggested by the hon. Member.
      Mr. LINFIELD: Are we to understand that the Government do not consider it necessary to inquire into the wages paid to farm labourers while they are inquiring into the agricultural position?
      Sir R. SANDERS: That was not my statement.
      Mr. MACPHERSON: Will this Section apply to Scotland?
      Sir R. SANDERS: I should like notice of that question.

      BRITISH MUNITIONS, FRANCE.
      Mr. SNOWDENasked the Prime Minister if an import duty was charged by the French Government during the War on munitions sent from Great Britain to France for the use of British troops in France; if so, what was the amount of the duty and what was the total sum paid in such duties; and if the British Government were charged the cost of transporting these munitions over the French railways, and, if so, what was the sum paid?
      The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Lieut.-Colonel Guinness): I have been asked to reply. The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. The second part, therefore, does not arise. As regards the third part, the British Government were charged the cost in question as part of the general French claim for transportation services, but details showing the amount included on account of the transportation of munitions are not available. The question of the general settlement with the French Government for transportation services is still under consideration.
      Mr. SNOWDEN: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the contractor stated in a Conservative newspaper last Saturday that an ad valorem duty of 10 per cent. was charged on munitions imported into France?
      Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESS: That is quite without foundation.
      Mr. D. G. SOMERVILLE: Is it not a fact that the French Government gave reduced fares to the military who were travelling?

      INTER-ALLIED DEBTS.
      Mr. LAMBERTasked the Prime Minister if any offer was made by British Ministers to cancel Allied debts; whether such cancellation was contingent on reparations being received by Great Britain from Germany; what share under this suggested offer would Great Britain receive; and how would such sum compare with the British debt to America?
      Major BOYD-CARPENTER: If the right hon. Member has in mind the conference at Paris in January, the answer to the first part of his question is in the affirmative, subject to the point that it was the net Allied Debts we were prepared to cancel; the answer to the second part is in the affirmative; the answer to the third and fourth parts is that we estimated at Paris that we should receive approximately 18 milliard gold marks against a debt, to America of 20 milliards, say 900 million pounds as against 1,000 million pounds. Fuller information on all these points will be found in Command Paper 1812
      Mr. LAMBERT: Does that mean that we shall have to pay, supposing the proposals of His Majesty's Government were accepted, £100,000 more than we receive?

      GERMAN REPARATION.
      Mr. LAMBERTasked the Prime Minister if any responsible offer has been made to pay reasonable War reparation by the German Government; if so, what sum was offered; and what is the sum His Majesty's Government consider it is within Germany's capacity to pay?
      Mr. HARMSWORTH: Is not the word "reasonable" in this question controversial, as to what is reasonable, and would it not be better to leave it out of the question?
      Mr. LAMBERT: In asking this question may I say that "reasonable" is not a stunt word?
      Major BOYD-CARPENTER: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is not aware of any offer which is not already public property. He sees no use in considering whether the offers in March and April, 1921, were responsible and reasonable at the time they were made. They are two years old and subject to conditions, e.g., as regards Silesia which cannot now be fulfilled. The German tentative plan of December, 1922, and his reply that it could not be considered satisfactory have been published (Command Paper 1812, pages 57 to 60). In the same Paper, page 68, and in his reply to the hon. Member for East Dorset on the 19th March last, my right hon. Friend has given all the information he has about the German overture at Paris which did not become an offer for the reasons he has repeatedly stated. As regards the third part of the question, the sum which we considered in January to be within Germany's capacity to pay was £2,500,000,000. Whether subsequent events have reduced that capacity is a matter which my right hon. Friend would want thoroughly examined by experts before coming to any conclusion.

      EMIGRATION FROM WESTERN HIGHLANDS.
      Mr. SHINWELLasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that large numbers of people from the Western Highlands of Scotland have recently emigrated; whether the Government have received a memorial from the Highland and Islands Committee of the Free Church in relation thereto, embodying their views regarding the agricultural and industrial development of the High lands; and whether the Government propose to take action in the matter?
      Captain ELLIOT (Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health, Scotland): I have been asked to reply. I understand that a considerable number of people have recently gone to Canada from the Western Islands. The reply to the second part of the question is in the affirmative. My Noble Friend has agreed to receive a deputation next month from the Highlands and Islands Committee of the Free Church on the subject of the memorial.
      Mr. SHINWELL: Does not the serious de-population of the Western Highlands and the driving away of the best of Scottish manhood from that part of the country call for the special consideration and immediate attention of the Government?
      Captain ELLIOT: This Committee asked my right hon. Friend if he would receive them, and he has fully met their request.
      Mr. SHINWELL: Is it not the case that arrangements have been made for the continuance of this stream of emigration, and is it not desirable under the circumstances to take immediate steps to deal with it?
      Mr. SPEAKER: The hon. Member must put that question on the Paper.

      ANGLICAN AND EASTERN CHURCHES (RE-UNION).
      Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that the visit of an English bishop to Bucharest in January for the purpose of promoting the suggested union between the Anglican and Eastern Churches was regarded by Rumanian opinion as an attempt by His Majesty's Government to influence political and economic conditions in Eastern Europe; that a number of protests were published; and Whether His Majesty's Government have given any support or approval to the efforts of English ecclesiastics for the union of the Anglican and Rumanian Churches?
      Mr. McNEILL: I understand that the Bishop of Gibraltar, in the exercise of his diocesan duties, visited certain Balkan States in the autumn of last year, and that some ill-informed and mischievous comments have since been made on the visit in one or two Rumanian newspapers, alleging the existence of a plan for a union between the Anglican and the Orthodox Churches. The idea that the Bishop was acting in any way whatever on behalf of His Majesty's Government, or that the latter attempted through him to exercise influence of any sort in Eastern Europe, is not only untrue, but is too absurd to have imposed upon any persons not wholly ignorant both of the Anglican Church and of the methods of the British Government.
      Captain BERKELEY: Does the diocese of the Bishop of Gibraltar extend as far as the Balkan States? [HON. MEMBERS: "Yes."]
      Sir H. BRITTAIN: Is it not a fact that the Anglican Church does not, and never has interfered in any shape or form in international politics?
      Colonel WEDGWOOD: Is it not desirable that when these events give rise to such unfounded rumours as have been spreading through Rumania recently, that they should be expressly denied by His Majesty's Government?
      Mr. McNEILL: Certainly, and I am grateful to the hon. and gallant Member for giving me an opportunity to do so.
      Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHY: Are we to understand that there is no connection between His Majesty's Foreign Office and the Anglican Church?

      NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE (WOMEN PRACTITIONERS).
      Mr. BURGESSasked the Minister of Health how many women physicians are at present acting as panel doctors?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: The total number of women medical practitioners engaged in insurance work in England and Wales is 215.

    HOUSING.

      RENTALS (BRADFORD).
      Mr. LEACHasked the Minister of Health if he is aware that 2, Lonsdale Street, Bradford, rateable value £13 5s., is let by the owner as follows: living-room 32s. per week, two bedrooms 22s. per week, attic 17s. a week, or a total of 93s. weekly; and whether, in view of this evidence of profiteering made possible by the housing shortage, he will consider the introduction of preventive legislation?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I have no knowledge of the particular case referred to. I am considering the question of profiteering, together with others arising out of the operation of the Rent Restrictions Act, in the light of the recommendations of the Departmental Committee which reported in February last.
      Mr. LEACH: Will the right hon. Gentleman make inquiry into this particular case?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: If the hon. Member will be good enough to give me particulars, I will make inquiry.

      HOUSE SHORTAGE.
      Mr. J. DAVISONasked the Minister of Health the number of houses required in England and Scotland in 1919, according to the Return made by local authorities, the estimated annual requirements thereafter according to the same Return, and the number completed since or in course of construction?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: As regards England and Wales, I would refer to the answer given to the hon. Member for Newcastle West last Thursday. For the figure relating to Scotland, I would refer the hon. Member to the Under-Secretary to the Scottish Board of Health.

      STATE-ASSISTED HOUSES (ALLOCATION).
      Mr. MARDY JONESasked the Minister of Health whether he exercises any supervision over the methods adopted by local authorities in the letting of State-assisted houses so as to ensure that the houses are let to the most desirable tenants who are in the most urgent need of houses; and whether he has received any complaints of local favouritism in connection with these lettings from any part of the country?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: The general management, regulation and control of houses erected under the Housing Acts are matters entirely for the local authorities. There have very occasionally been complaints in regard to the allocation of houses erected under the State-assisted scheme, bet I am satisfied that this is not a matter in which I should interfere with the discretion of local authorities.
      Mr. JONES: In view of the fact that such large sums are given as State aid for these houses, is the Minister prepared to reconsider the position if urgent cases of grevious mismanagement in that direction are brought forward?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: Under the Statutory provision the discretion is left to the local authority.

      SUBSIDY (SOUTH WALES).
      Mr. JONESalso asked the Minister of Health whether he has received resolutions of protest from local authorities in South Wales against the inadequacy of the proposed grant of £6 per house as State aid to encourage the provision of working-class houses?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, Sir. The objections to a differentiation in the subsidy have already been pointed out in the course of the Debate on the Second Reading of the Housing Bill.

      PARLOUR HOUSES.
      Mr. JONESfurther asked the Minister of Health whether he has received any representations from local authorities, from housing associations, and from other bodies interested in the provision of working-class houses, protesting against the exclusion of State assistance for the parlour type of house; and whether, in view of the demand for the parlour type of house as a necessary amenity in working-class life, he will reconsider his decision in the matter?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I would refer the hon. Member to the statement I made yesterday in moving the Second Reading of the Housing Bill.
      Mr. JONES: Will the right hon. Gentleman reconsider the matter in the statement which he will make?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I cannot have another opportunity of speaking on the Second Reading of the Housing Bill. Perhaps the hon. Member will pay attention to what is said by other members of the Government.

      DARTMOUTH (HOUSING CONDITIONS).
      Mr. RHYS DAVIESasked the Minister of Health whether, seeing that in 1911 the Dartmouth Cadet. College authorities complained of the bad housing conditions prevailing in the town, that the Ministry's inspector issued a Report in 1913 condemning a large number of working-class dwellings, and that the local authority has made repeated attempts to secure the necessary powers from the Ministry for slum clearances and loans for the purpose, but have failed, he will state why these powers have been refused?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I am aware of the housing conditions of Dartmouth, and I recently sanctioned the loan for which the local authorities applied.

      GARDEN PLOTS AND AFFORESTATION.
      Sir W. SUGDENasked the Minister of Health what steps he is taking to help local authorities, both as to suggestion of types and upkeep, where new housing schemes are being completed, to proper garden-plot and afforestation schemes in such districts where the climatic conditions make the same extremely difficult, for example, where concentrated industrial manufacturing processes obtain?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: Local authorities generally have had considerable experience in recent years in the planning of houses and estates. A number of the large authorities have their own expert advisers, but if any authority desires assistance from my Department, I shall be happy to advise them, so far as I am able to do so.

      SANITARY OFFICERS (QUALIFICATION).
      Mr. GRUNDYasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that the Sanitary Officers Order, 1922, contains no Regulations securing the training of those officers, he will state how the revision of qualifications required by the Ministry of Health provides for such training?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: The Sanitary Officers Order, 1922, requires, subject to a dispensing power, that every sanitary inspector appointed under that Order shall be the holder of a certificate of the Royal Sanitary Institute or the Sanitary Inspector's Examination Board. Whereas no qualification had previously been prescribed by the central authority for sanitary inspectors except in London, it is now necessary, as a condition of my sanction to the appointment of a sanitary inspector outside London, for the candidate selected to have undergone such training as enabled him to obtain one of the prescribed certificates.

      LOCAL RATES.
      Mr. T. THOMSONasked the Minister of Health the average amount
      462
      of local rates paid in rural and urban areas in England and Wales for the latest periods for which the figures are available?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: It is estimated that the average amount, per head of population, of the local rates paid in England and Wales in the financial year ended on the 31st of last month was

      £

      s.

      d.

      In rural areas

      3

      11

      0

      In urban areas (including London)

      4

      7

      0

      Mr. THOMSON: As urban rates are higher than rural rates, will the right hon. Gentleman say what provision he proposes to make for the relief of urban ratepayers to correspond with the relief given to ratepayers in agricultural districts by the grant of £2,750,000?
      Mr. SPEAKER: That does not arise out of the question.

      CONDENSED MILK.
      Mr. HURDasked the Minister of Health why the confirmation and signature of the Order for the standards of condensed milk are still being delayed; whether he is aware that the importation of skimmed condensed milk unfit for infants tends to increase week by week, while the importation and consumption of full-cream condensed milk falls; and whether, in view of the coming flush milk season, he will in the interests of public health and of British production cause this reform to be completed forthwith, in pursuance of the legislation passed last year?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I hope to be in a position to issue the Regulations to which my hon. Friend refers in the course of the next few days.
      Mr. HURD: What is the cause of the delay?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: It has been necessary to carry on some correspondence with the Canadian authorities, and also to obtain agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture and my Department. I think that that has caused the delay.
      Mr. HURD: What has what we do domestically here got to do with Canada?

      POOR LAW RELIEF (ENGLAND AND WALES).
      Mr. COLLISONasked the Minister of Health the number of persons in England and Wales in receipt of Poor Law relief on the 31st March, 1923?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: The number of persons in England and Wales in receipt of Poor Law relief on the 31st March, 1923 (including lunatics in asylums), was approximately 1,459,000.

      EARL SHILTON, LEICESTERSHIRE (SEWERAGE).
      Mr. HILLasked the Minister of Health if he is aware that Earl Shilton, in Leicestershire, has no sewerage nor sewage disposal system; that quite recently it has been discovered that, in many cases, the house drains had been laid into the public road but not connected with the main drains, so causing sewage springs to burst out in the roads: and, as this is a large manufacturing village, will he make inquiries with a view of taking measures to ensure that the health of the residents is no longer jeopardised by the insanitary conditions which now prevail?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I have not received any complaints as to the sanitary conditions of this parish, but I am making inquiries.

      NURSES REGISTRATION.
      Mr. R. RICHARDSONasked the Minister of Health whether the General Nursing Council for England and Wales has submitted for his consideration a rule, framed in accordance with the provisions of Section 3(2, a) of The Nurses Registration Act, 1919, under which Parliament granted to nurses entering the nursing profession the right to a prescribed training; whether he approves of the rule as submitted or what modifications, if any, he proposes so that persons desiring to be trained as nurses may know what they are required to learn before entering an approved institution for training; and whether, seeing that the Nurses Registration Act has now been in force for over three years, and that effect has not yet been given to this principle which incorporates an important right under the Act, he is prepared to sign a
      464
      rule with the least possible delay as the nurses' State examination has already been twice deferred, from 1923 to 1924 and from 1924 to 1925, pending the approval of the syllabus of prescribed training?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: The General Nursing Council have submitted an examination syllabus for the general part of the Register, which I have undertaken to approve subject to two small modifications which the Council have now accepted. This syllabus will be scheduled to, and will form part of, the Rules and it sufficiently indicates the subjects in which the candidate is required to be trained. The Council have decided to make the syllabus of training advisory only and I am advised that it is competent to them under the terms of Section 3 of the Act to adopt this course. As regards the last part of the question, I will sign the examination syllabus as soon as I receive the revised copy from the Council.

      LUNACY ACT (MRS. EMILY DEACON, BARNSBURY).
      Mr. RICHARDSONasked the Minister of Health if he is aware that Mrs. Emily Deacon, of 53, Richmond Road. Barnsbury, was taken in March, 1922, to the Islington workhouse infirmary; that after three days a magistrate gave her husband leave to take her home, but instead she was consigned to Colney Hatch Asylum, in contravention of Section 22 of the Lunacy Act, against her husband's wishes and without his knowledge; is he aware that she was there detained in spite of his repeated applications under Section 79 for her release till the end of November, 1922, when she was discharged to her home on a month's trial, subsequently prolonged to 2nd March, 1923; that, on reporting herself at the end of this period, she was again, without reason given, taken into the asylum; that her husband, being much distressed, applied to the visiting committee on 29th March for her release, undertaking the entire responsibility, in accordance with Section 79, but was met with a refusal; and, in view of the fact that the provisions of this Section are continually disregarded, will he take steps to have it brought effectively before the public, and cause such inquiry to be made as shall result in the discharge of Mrs. Deacon to the care of her husband?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I have made inquiries about the case referred to by the hon. Member, and I will send him a statement of the facts. Applicants for the discharge of patients under Section 79 are required to give the visiting committee a satisfactory undertaking that the patient will be properly taken care of, and the visiting committee have, in my view, exercised their discretion properly in this case.

      WIDOWS' PENSIONS.
      Mr. R. DAVIESasked the Minister of Health whether he is now prepared to publish for the information of hon. Members the Report prepared for the Ministry of Health on the cost of widows' pensions; and, if not, will he state his reasons for withholding the information it contains?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: The Report to which the hon. Member presumably refers was made to the Minister of Reconstruction, not to the Ministry of Health. As the Report was based upon the Census of 1911, and in some other respects also is out of date, it hardly seems worth while to publish it, but I will send the hon. Member a copy of it.
      Mr. DAVIES: Does the right hon. Gentleman not know that his predecessor in office secured a Report from his officers on which he based figures in connection with the suggested provision for mothers' pensions, and that that was the Report to which I referred?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, and I have said that I will send the hon. Member a copy of it.

      SMOKELESS COAL.
      Mr. HARDIEasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that coal can be treated and left smokeless, and weight for weight gives the same heat as raw coal, also that the smoke is condensed into marketable commodities; and whether his Department will frame a scheme for the scientific treatment of raw coal?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I am aware of the scientific facts referred to by the hon. Member, but I am advised that the formulation of a practical scheme for such a
      466
      treatment of coal must await the solution of engineering problems which have been and are still engaging the active attention of the Fuel Research Board and independent workers.
      Mr. HARDIE: Will the right hon. Gentleman consult the chief of the Fuel Research Board and ascertain whether he has not seen at work a plant which overcomes all engineering difficulties?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I will make inquiries.
      Mr. SHINWELL: Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware that there is at present on the market smokeless fuel which is regarded as being of distinct advantage to consumers?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: That is not the coal referred to in the main question.

      MILK (BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION).
      Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEasked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been drawn to representations by the Society of Medical Officers of Health, the British Medical Association, and others, to the effect that the charges authorised by the Ministry for the bacteriological examination of the various grades of milk under Statutory Rules and Orders, 1922, No. 1332, Dairy England, and Circulars of Ministry of Health, No. 335, of 28th August, 1922, and No. 356, of 12th December, 1922, involving the services of a skilled bacteriologist and the provision of the necessary material are inadequate; and whether he will consider their revision?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the reply which I gave on the 18th instant to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Holborn.
      Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLE: Has the fee charged had reference to the small laboratories where, obviously, the costs are greater, or has the right hon. Gentleman founded it solely upon the large laboratories of large municipal centres?
      Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I think regard has been had to the most important and larger laboratories.

BRITISH BROADCASTING COMPANY.
Captain BERKELEY: In pursuance of the notice given yesterday, I beg to ask a ruling as to whether the licence granted by the Postmaster-General to the British Broadcasting Company comes within the terms of Standing Order 72, which requires that certain contracts be approved by Resolution of this House. I hope that it is in order to point out that the decision on the point may have far-reaching effects from the point of view of the retention of Parliamentary control over contracts in relation to essential public services entered into by the Government. I do not anticipate that I shall have great difficulty in convincing you that the licence, so-called, is in fact a contract, because on the face of it it is a contract under seal, an indenture, entered into between the Postmaster-General and the British Broadcasting Company, which confers obligations and rights and contains a consideration. Unless you wish me to address myself to that point I shall not develop it further. It is necessary that a contract should extend over a term of years. That is so under Article 2 of the licence. It is further necessary that such a contract should create a public charge. My statement on that is that Article 25, paragraph 2, of the licence which reads:
"The Postmaster-General shall by each broadcast licence granted by him require payment to himself therefore of an annual foe of not less than 10s. per annum payable in advance."
taken in conjunction with Article 26, paragraph 1, which says:
"The Postmaster-General shall (subject as and in manner hereinafter provided) out of such aids and supplies as may from time to time be provided and appropriated by Parliament for that purpose pay to the company a sum equal to 50 per cent. of all sums received by him from his licensees in respect of fees payable under licences," etc.,
establishes quite clearly that a public charge is created by this contract. The next point is that it should be a contract for the purpose of telegraphic communication beyond seas. On that point the question that arises is whether the meaning of the order is that such a contract must be exclusively for the purpose of telegraphic communication beyond seas; that is to say, whether the fact that a contract contained any provision whatever for inland communication would be
468
sufficient to take it out of the operation of the Order, or whether it means that any contract which makes provision for oversea communication, or under which, in fact, oversea communications are made, requires the approval of the House in order to be binding. I would like to suggest an illustration. Suppose that a new telegraph company were founded for the purpose of taking over not only inland telegraphs but also cable communication, let us say, with America. Would not the contract between the Government and the company require to be approved under the Standing Order? Or, suppose that by reason of some cheapening in wireless processes it became possible for inland messages to be transmitted at cheaper rates than the existing postal telegraph rates, and, therefore, the Government desired to enter into a contract with the Marconi Company for inland and for overseas wireless telegraphic communication. Would not such a contract come within the provisions of this Order, and would it not require the approval of this House? My submission is that, in so far as any telegraphic communication under a particular contract which otherwise satisfies the conditions of this Order is beyond seas, it comes within the meaning of the Order.
This particular licence authorises the company to erect wireless telegraphy stations at selected points in the country, from which they will transmit, by means of their wireless apparatus, certain messages, and they are also authorised to receive messages. I submit that it is quite plain from the terms of the licence, that the broadcasting is not restricted to broadcasting in this country, because the preamble by its reference to the Telegraphs Act and the Wireless Act; by the absence of words of limitation and by the express provisions of Articles 12 and 16 of the licence—which provides that the wireless messages sent out by the company shall not interfere with naval signalling between ships at sea, and shall not interfere with existing commercial arrangements for wireless communication from land stations—makes it, to my mind, quite plain that the transmission of messages is not confined to this country. You can add to that the facts that, in actual practice, liners at sea can and do pick up these wireless messages. Therefore, it seems to me that, although this is

469
not a contract for the sole purpose of telegraphic communication beyond seas, yet telegraphic communication beyond seas does in fact take place under the licence and is, in fact, permitted by the licence. It is obvious that it is a development which must happen in this industry, and I submit that this is clearly a contract which should come within the meaning of the Standing Order and should be discussed by the House. I do not wish to stress the question of monopoly, but there is no doubt whatever a monopoly is created by this particular licence and it seems to me that one of the reasons why this Standing Order was passed by the House was in order that where monopolies, by necessity, have to be created, they should be supervised by the House. I submit that the prospectus of the company itself, shows that a monopoly does exist and, in the public interest, I beg to ask your ruling, Mr. Speaker, on this point.
Mr. SPEAKER: I have looked into this matter, and carefully considered all the points submitted by the hon. Member, which he was good enough to put in writing for my use. Otherwise it would have been rather difficult to follow them, though he is quite within his rights in putting them fully before the House. I think it is only necessary to say that, having examined the licence, it does not appear to me that it is a contract within the terms of the Standing Order creating a public charge, actual or prospective.

NEW MEMBER SWORN".
Lieutenant-Colonel GEORGE WINDSOR-CLIVE, C.M.G., for the County of Salop (Ludlow Division).

WOMEN'S ENFRANCHISEMENT.
Mr. FOOT: I beg to move,
"That leave be given to introduce a Bill to extend the suffrage to women on the same terms as men."
The Bill which I have the honour to submit is one of six Clauses. Four of the Clauses are operative and two are merely subsidiary. The character of the Bill will be seen from the first Clause which, with the consent of the House, I will read:
470
"A Woman whether married or unmarried shall be entitled to be registered as a Parliamentary elector for any Parliamentary constituency where she would be entitled to be so registered, if she were a man."
The second Clause gives to women the power of voting equally with men. The third Clause states that the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1918, relating to women only, shall have effect during the continuance of the present Parliament, and the fourth Clause stipulates that this Bill shall only come into force, as far as voting is concerned, on the expiration of the present Parliament. This Bill has a history running back to the compromise of 1918, and to the declaration which was made at that time to the country by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Carnarvon Boroughs (Mr. Lloyd George) and the present Prime Minister, who declared in their manifesto:
"It will be the duty of the new Government to remove all existing inequalities as between men and women."
I do not know how that promise was intended, but there is no doubt as to its interpretation throughout the country, and in the year 1919 a Women's Emancipation Bill was introduced into this House containing the Clauses which are in my Bill to-day. It passed its Second Reading without a Division and its Third Reading by 100 votes to 85, and among those who voted against the Government on that occasion, were seven hon. Members who to-day are His Majesty's Ministers. In 1920 the hon. Member for Rother Valley (Mr. Grundy) introduced a similar Bill which was carried on Second Reading by 122 votes to 38, and last year, on the 8th March, the Noble Lord the Member for Hitchin introduced a Bill which is almost identical with the one I submit to-day, and leave was given on that occasion by 208 votes to 60 votes. I think some objection was raised on that occasion by the hon. and gallant Member for Finsbury (Lieut.-Colonel Archer-Shee), who urged against the Bill that there was no demand for it, as was shown by the fact of 40 per cent. of the electors not going to the poll. He will allow me to remind him that since that speech was made there has been a new election, and we have a new House and a new atmosphere. Nothing was more noticeable in the last election than the keen interest taken by the women electors, and I think, generally

471
speaking, the women were just as keen upon their political responsibilities as were the men. Further, in that election a large number of promises were made by most Members of this House, and a number of Members of this House actually pledged themselves to the reform which I now suggest. I think they will welcome the opportunity of redeeming, at any rate, one of their pledges. It was at the beginning of the Session that I put a question to the Prime Minister asking him if he intended introducing a Bill upon these lines, and because his answer was in the negative, I have brought forward this Bill to-day. I do not intend entering into the general arguments in favour of this Bill. I think all that it is necessary to do is to refer to the famous essay written over 60 years ago by John Stuart Mill, in which he said:
"The difference of sex is as entirely irrelevant to political rights as difference in height or in the colour of the hair."
The compromise of 1918 was based on many fears which have not been justified by subsequent experience, and I think most. Members will agree with me that the election law as it exists to-day is full of differences, discriminations, and distinctions that are difficult to understand and absolutely impossible to justify. I know that the objection raised in 1918 and again last year was that this Bill would make more women electors than men electors. We are not responsible for that, and we have some better use for our time and energy than trying to remedy and rectify the supposed mistakes and miscalculations of Providence. It has been suggested that the women do not want this Bill. The answer is the organised demand of many associations throughout the country. If it were true that the women did not demand the Bill, I do not accept that contention as being a valid argument. Referring again to John Stuart Mill, I would remind the House that he said:
"It is a benefit to human beings to have their fetters removed oven if they do not desire to walk."
There is the further objection that this Bill would result in the enfranchisement of the young. That is not an argument against the Bill, but in support of it. It is certain, when you have growing up in the same household a boy and a girl and the boy is able to exercise his vote
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when he reaches 21 and the girl is not until she reaches 30, you have ample ground for resentment and indignation. The assumption, I suppose, is that it takes nine years longer for the woman's mind to mature than the man's. It is the same sort of resentment and indignation that I used to feel when I was one of a family of six exercising the vote, and my mother could not exercise it, although she had more sense than all the rest of us put together. As a matter of fact, this Bill will not only enfranchise the young. It will deal with the older women as well. The franchise law as it exists to-day actually excludes the great mass of women engaged in occupations and industry. I, therefore, urge upon those who have responsibility in this matter the wisdom of passing this Measure now. Nothing is more certain in an uncertain political world than that this reform must come. I only urge that it may be given as a concession and not be extorted from us in later years.
Lieut.-Colonel ARCHER-SHEE: I desire, very briefly, to give a few reasons in opposition to the hon. Member's Motion. It is a very invidious task, because I am not an anti-feminist. I believe in the words used by Chaucer, who said
"What is better than wisdom?"
He answered it himself, and said
"A woman."
Then he said
"What is better than a good woman?"
and he replied
"Nothing."
The point is that the hon. Member proposes to enfranchise something like 5,000,000 more people. It is only five years ago that during the Great. War, without the men being asked, without the existing electors being asked, a Measure was passed enfranchising something like 13,000,000 more people in this country. Although that has been more or less accepted by the people of this country since, I see no reason why the number of 21,000,000 who already exercise the franchise should be increased. Parliament even then, in 1918, very wisely put the age of women at 30, because there are something like 2,000,000 more women than men in the country. The reason for that—I think a very good reason—was that it would not be a good thing to have

473
more women voting than men, or, in other words, to give the electoral power into the hands of the women. After all, Government does not depend only upon public opinion. It depends very largely also upon the force in the background, and the physical force is the men's force. At the last election something like 5,000,000 people who were entitled to vote did not vote. I am including in that number the uncontested elections, in which there were something like 2,000,000 entitled to vote. That is more than 25 per cent. of the electors as it exists today. I suggest, therefore, that there is no necessity for this Bill. It would be far better to wait and see how the women's vote is going to work in future years.
The last franchise reform was carried only five years ago, in 1918, and, as I have said, 13,000,000 more people were enfranchised. That was many years after the previous franchise reform. Five years is nothing in the history of a nation. Surely we ought to see how the women's vote is going to work before we rush forward and increase the number. Another great objection which I have to this Bill is that we ought to ask the existing voters whether they wish their stock to be watered down. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh!"] Yes, it reduces the value of the vote by 20 per cent. Another objection is that it will cost an enormous sum of money. In the first place, to enfranchise 5,000,000 extra voters will mean, at 5d. each, 25,000,000 pence, or over £100,000, which you will have to pay to the registration officers. Then you have the printing of the registers, which in 1920 cost—I know, because I happened to be Chairman of the Publication and Debates Committee—£690,000, and you will increase that amount by another 25 per cent., or £150,000. This Bill, therefore, unnecessary as it appears to be, will cost the country at this time, when we are hard pressed to find money for many purposes, £250,000 at least. We have already, only three years ago, had very full discussions in Committee on this proposal. I remember we were kept on the first Clause of that Bill several days in Committee, and at the end of that time the Labour party, having got the first Clause out of nine, said that they would not proceed any further with the Bill.
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After all, this Bill ought not to be brought in except by the Government and then only in the last few months of its existence, and it ought not to be brought into force at all until the people have decided that the numbers enfranchised should be increased in this way. That is the proper democratic way of going about this reform, or whatever you like to call it, and that is the way in which we should proceed. There is a great danger of giving the electoral power of this country into the hands of the women, and there are great objections to that, owing not only to the fact that we control our own country but that we also control the destinies of one-fifth of the human race and one-quarter of the habitable globe. In addition, we may find that there will be a demand in future for disfranchising the men. I believe in the prophecy in "Punch" in 1917 or 1918, when one char-lady was represented as saying to another:
"When women get the Vote, will men be allowed to vote?"
And the other answered:
"Yes, my dear, at first."
By increasing the electorate in this country you will water down the stock, and you will make an election a joke. You will make it really difficult to get the opinion of the thinking people of this country. You are going to give 5,000,000 people the vote when you know perfectly well that at least 4,500,000 of them do not want it, and do not want to be bothered with it. I do not propose to divide the House on this question, because I think we ought to see what the Bill is like. I am against dividing against, First Readings, because we ought to see what a Bill is like.
Mr. FOOT: This Bill is like the Measure against which you divided last year.
Lieut.-Colonel ARCHER-SHEE: I do not approve of the action of hon. Members who bring in Bills like this and then do not print them, like the hon. and gallant Member for Leith (Captain W. Benn) who brought in a Bill some six weeks ago and a copy of which we cannot see yet. I am sure that my hon. Friend opposite intends to print this Bill, and therefore I do not propose to divide the House.
Question, "That leave be given to bring in a Bill to extend the suffrage to women on the same terms as men," put, and agreed to.
Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Foot, Viscountess Astor, Mr. Bonwick, Mr. James Butler, Major Entwistle, Mr. William Graham, Mr. Mosley, Sir Robert Newman, Mr. Snowden, Mr. George Thorne, Mr. Graham White, and Mrs. Wintringham.

WOMEN'S ENFRANCHISEMENT BILL,
"to extend the suffrage to women on the same terms as men," presented accordingly, and read the First time; to be read a Second time upon Monday next, and to be printed. [Bill 102]

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.
The CHANCELLOR of the EX-CHEQUER (Mr. Baldwin): I beg to Move
"That the proceedings on the Second Reading of the Housing etc. (No. 2) Bill have precedence during this day's sitting."
This Motion is one which, if carried, will enable the Members of the House to adjourn at a reasonable hour to-night. It is very desirable that we should get the Second Reading of the Housing Bill to-night, and I understand that by general agreement that can be secured, provided surrender is made of the rights of the private Members who were successful in the ballot for this evening. I am sure that the House is grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Blackley (Mr. Briggs) who has agreed to waive his privilege to-night, as also have done the hon. Members for Basingstoke (Sir A. Holbrook) and Cambridge (Sir D. Newton). They are quite willing to subordinate their own privileges to-night to what they believe to be the general convenience of the House, and I hope very much that the House will see fit to pass this Motion without a Division.
Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY: I feel that it may appear ungracious, after what the right hon. Gentleman has said, but, nevertheless, it is necessary, I think, always to protest when private Members' rights are interfered with in this House. This is such an occasion, and I think it is necessary that some protest should be made. I do not know why the Government cannot arrange its business so
476
that there is no interference with private Members' privileges. The hon. Members who have Motions down for to-night are only three of many who took part in the Ballot. I myself put down a Motion, but I was not successful, and it is extremely unfair to ask them to waive their rights in this matter. It is no answer to say that the right hon. Gentleman has approached these hon Members, and that they have waived their privileges. At any rate, it is for hon. Members of this House, private, back bench Members, to stand up for their rights, which I propose to do on this occasion. I shall have to put the House to the trouble of a Division, for if we are going to give way to the Government every time without a struggle, we shall end by having no rights left for private Members.
Mr. T. THOMSON: If this time is given to private Members, do the Government propose to proceed after 11 o'clock with the Financial Resolution on the Paper, which would be covered by the Motion, also on the Paper, to suspend the. Eleven o'Clock Rule?
Mr. BALDWIN: No, I do not propose to move the Motion suspending the Eleven o'Clock Rule, if this Motion he assented to. With regard to the question as to the Financial Resolution, it will, I hope, be taken some time at the beginning of next week.
Question put, and agreed to.
Ordered, "That the proceedings on the Second Reading of the Housing, etc. (No. 2), Bill have precedence during this day's Sitting.

STANDING ORDERS.
Resolution reported from the Select Committee.
"That, in the case of the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway [Lords] Petition for Bill, the Standing Orders ought not to be dispensed with."
Report to lie upon the Table.

BILLS REPORTED.
Ministry of Health Provisional Order, Confirmation (No. 1) Bill [Lords],
Reported, without Amendment [Provisional Orders confirmed]; Report to lie upon the Table.
Bill to be read the Third time To-morrow.
Ministry of Health Provisional Orders (No. 3) Bill,
Reported, with an Amendment [Provisional Orders confirmed]; Report to lie upon the Table.
Bill, as amended, to be considered To-morrow.
Bank of England Bill,
Reported, with Amendments; Report to lie upon the Table.
Greenock Corporation Bill,
Runcorn District Water Board Bill [Lords],
Reported, with Amendments; Reports to lie upon the Table, and to be printed.

MESSAGE FROM THE LORDS.
That they have agreed to—
Fees (Increase) Bill, without Amendment.
Indian Affairs,—That they have come to the following Resolution, viz.: "That it is desirable that a Standing Joint Committee on Indian Affairs of both Houses of Parliament be appointed to examine and report on any Bill or matter referred to them specifically by either House of Parliament, and to consider, with a view to reporting if necessary thereon, any matter relating to Indian Affairs brought to the notice of the Committee by the Secretary of State for India."

ORDERS OF THE DAY.

  HOUSING, Etc. (No. 2) BILL.
  Order read for resuming Adjourned Debate on Amendment to Question [24th April], "That the Bill be now read a Second time."
  Which Amendment was to leave out from the word "That," to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof the words
  "this House cannot assent to the Second Reading of a Bill which is inadequate to deal with the present housing shortage, ignores the difficulty of land purchase and transfer, fails to provide the means of securing a sufficient supply of building materials at reasonable prices; throws an excessive financial burden upon local authorities and interferes unnecessarily with their administrative powers, fails to reduce the burden of interest imposed upon dwelling-houses by the present financial system, and provides only for an unreasonably small type of house."—[Mr. Wheatley.]
  Question again proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
  Sir J. SIMON: Unlike the Labour party my Friends and I have not tabled a Motion to reject this Bill on its Second Reading. That is not because we are satisfied with the Bill as it stands, but because the Bill is so framed as to be capable of extensive amendment, and the rejection at this stage of this Bill outright, when no other or broader measure can immediately take its place, will necessarily aggravate the situation and delay still further the dealing with a problem that is already overdue. It seems to me that the House has no right seriously to contemplate the rejection of this Bill on Second Reading merely because it is not a complete or adequate scheme, unless, by rejecting it at this stage, we hasten the carrying into law of some better and fuller scheme. As things are, that plainly is not so, and, therefore, I do not myself think that resistance to the carrying of this Bill to Second Reading is justified. There has already been, by common admission, so much delay in dealing with this difficult subject that any action which would really result in further delay being incurred is action which, I think, puts a very heavy responsibility upon those who propose it. I,
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  therefore, rise merely to put, quite briefly, two or three considerations which occur to us in reference to the right hon. Gentleman's Bill.
  First, I would say that the fundamental test of any Housing Bill, as I think the Minister of Health will agree, must be this: Will the Bill, after suitable amendments have been made, help to build the houses? That is really the fundamental test. Will the Bill place those houses in the occupation of the people whom the Bill is intended to help, and will it do so at rents which those people are able to pay? That must be the test, especially at a difficult time like this, of any Housing Bill. If the Bill does not satisfy that test, then it is right to reject it, but if it may satisfy that test, then it seems to me that we ought, without undue delay, to get to the business of considering its provisions, and I will only add this on that question. If the Bill will not satisfy the test as to whether it is calculated to produce houses then it is no satisfaction to say that it is a Bill which carefully safeguards the interests of the British taxpayer or does something to stimulate private enterprise. This is the simple test: Does the Bill, with such Amendments as we may hope to see, promote the production of the houses?
  The Minister yesterday pointed out the contrast between this Bill and the scheme which goes by the name of Dr. Addison. Both schemes proceed on the basis of a partnership between the State, on the one hand, and the local authorities, on the other, but this new proposal is a proposal of limited liability for the State, and undefined and, indeed, unmeasured responsibility on the part of the local authorities, and I think it is a matter for very serious consideration whether that change of plan, which defines and limits the State contribution and which leaves the liability of the local authorities quite unmeasured, is really a plan which is going to produce the houses. Applying the crucial test, it must be admitted, in reference to the Addison scheme, that, whatever its defects may have been, that scheme, before it was cut off in 1921, was in a fair way to provide large numbers of houses. The defects of the scheme became, of course, as time went on, very obvious. There was very great delay in getting the machine into motion, there was an immense complica-

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  tion of bureaucratic control and supervision, and, as things turned out, for reasons for which I do not think Dr. Addison is entirely to be blamed, the cost that was involved turned out to be something perfectly prodigious, but since Dr. Addison is sometimes treated, in these days, as a gentleman who is a safe and sure target for any brick that is not needed as building material, it is, I think, only fair and just to remember that, whatever were the defects of his scheme, and however impossible it may have been to continue it, it was a scheme which was producing houses.
  He started in the days when the enthusiasm for homes for heroes completely drowned any financial anxiety, and he was cut off, in full career, at a time when the fears of expenditure overruled and obliterated these loftier and finer conceptions, and indeed caused a great many people to forget the promises that they had made. Nobody can go through the English countryside to-day without seeing in nearly every village some houses that have been erected under the 1919 Act. I think I am right in saying that some 5,000 villages and towns actually contain what I may call Addison houses, and that nearly 1,400 local authorities built under the Addison plan, and if you include the houses built in Scotland, and add them to the 176,000 that were built or approved when the axe fell, it is true to say of the Addison scheme, that it produced something like 200,000 houses, providing housing accommodation, I suppose, for, it may be, 1,000,000 of the population. I mention that, because it seems to me that when, under this new Bill, we reverse the partnership and say that the contribution of the State is to be fixed and limited and measured, and that the balance of loss, whatever that balance may be, is to fall upon the local authorities, it is a very serious and a very practical question to consider whether that method is going to produce the houses.
  I quite agree that there is no prospect whatever of reviving the Addison scheme, and, indeed, the House of Commons is bound, on reflection, to object to unlimited commitment of the State side by side with a strictly limited commitment of the local authorities. The real defect of the Addison
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  scheme was that, while you had financial responsibility here at the centre, you had the determination of the scope and character of the work at the circumference, and that, of course, meant an enormous army of officials. I was kindly furnished to-day with two sets of figures which I think are very illuminating on the point. It appears that on 1st January, 1921, when the Addison scheme was in full blast, the number of the staff of the Ministry of Health engaged on housing and town planning amounted to no fewer than 1,136 persons, and they cost £402,766 a year. The House can contrast that with two other figures with which I have been provided. The figures at the beginning of the present month for the corresponding staff were 238 persons, costing the not unsubstantial sum of £100,448 a year. Therefore, I ask the attention of the House very briefly to two or three considerations which bear upon the question. Is the limitation of the State contribution, accompanied by an unlimited liability on the part of the local authorities, likely really to produce the houses?
  First, it may be said—and I think the right hon. Gentleman probably will urge the point—that, at any rate, the local authorities now, to-day, have become accustomed to the responsibility and the interest which they recently took in the housing problem. Before 1919 there were very few local authorities, I think, that actually undertook housing provision. Under the Act of 1919, of course, it was their duty to survey their district and to prepare schemes—and there was very effective provision in the Act to make them do it—and 75 per cent. of the local authorities did, in fact, prepare schemes and build. Another point is that, as a result of what has gone before, though there has now been a shutting off of the further housing schemes, nearly every local authority has got its housing committee. It has got members who have, by recent interest and consideration, got a very practical knowledge of the needs of their district and a great desire to see them supplied. That, I think, is a new fact, and one of great importance, encouraging for the new Bill. They have bought land which, as it turned out in many cases, they have not yet been able to use. They have had the extreme aggravation of finding schemes which they have spent an immense amount of time

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  in preparing rendered abortive by the shutting down of the earlier provision, and it may therefore be said that, at any rate, the new Bill approaches local authorities who have been, by recent years' experience, trained to the point where they will be anxious to co-operate if they can, and who are well qualified to express a judgment on the matter in view of the survey of the area which they have made.
  I come to the next point. Is a single flat rate of £6 per house for 20 years for the country, for the great municipalities, for the smaller municipalities, for the rural areas—of Scotland, as well as England—really a satisfactory way in which to get the houses produced, so far as the local authorities are concerned? I only pause to say in a sentence that one cannot help feeling the force of the observation made by the right hon. Member for Swansea (Sir A. Mond) last night, when he said it would be rather better if it were £4 spread over 60 years, which I do not think involves a further burden, because, at any rate, in the case of the smaller authorities, it is surely a great convenience to authorities not accustomed to deal with great financial problems to get the State contribution spread over the number of years which is the period with which they are principally concerned in reference to their loans, and 60 years is the period for the loan in respect of construction. I want to go further than that. The right hon. Gentleman, no doubt, has been consulting some of the great provincial municipalities, and I have no doubt has received the most experienced help from them, but does it follow that because his flat rate of £6 per house for 20 years may be thought to be satisfactory, say, by Manchester, it will be satisfactory for areas of a very different kind?
  Take the case of a house, which, in a rural district, would let for 5s. a week, I do not think I am wrong when I say that such a house in a great municipality might easily let for 7s. 6d. a week. It is not that the house will necessarily be cheaper to build in the rural area than in the great municipality. I doubt very much whether it would be asserted that the actual cost of producing a house varies correspondingly, and yet when you say you have consulted the local authorities, and the local authorities are satisfied
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  with the provision of £6 a house for 20 years, are you really not consulting authorities who look forward to receiving the higher figure of rent, which is a good deal less than will be received by the rural authorities throughout the country? In those circumstances, may it not well be that you will have to revise your scheme, at any rate, to get some adjustment of your figure, having regard to the different positions of different authorities? One learnt last night that that is a view widely held in Scotland, and, as I see the hon. and gallant Member the Parliamentary tinder-Secretary to the Scottish Board of Health in his place, may I say with what admiration everybody heard his most amusing and brilliant speech last night? if I might venture one criticism it would be this: He corruscated with such dazzling effect that for the time being—but only for the time being—he concealed this obvious fact, that the real reason why the Government will not have a Scottish Bill is because, if they had a Scottish Bill, and it went to the Scottish Grand Committee, with the representation of Scotland such as it is at this moment, the Bill would come out of that Committee so altered that its own parents would not recognise it. All the brilliance of my hon. and gallant Friend cannot in the end conceal that obvious explanation.
  Lastly, I want on this head to put this point to the Minister. Is it not the case that the flat rate of £6 per house for 20 years is really going to involve a much heavier burden on the poor area with a small rateable value, than it will place on the rich area with a high rateable value? That was not true under the Addison scheme, because you had the product of the penny rate more or less. But, under this scheme, supposing you have two authorities, each of which requires 100 houses, and, therefore, each of which will get out of the Government scheme a subsidy of £600 per year for 20 years, it may very well be that the two areas, in making up their contribution, even though the actual amount of money to be provided is the same in the two cases, will have to exact from their ratepayers a widely different contribution and impose a far heavier rate in one area than in the other because of the low rateable value? That is a practical point of which we all have experience in connection with education. There you have a subsidy from the Exchequer, combined with the

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  product of the local rate, and, so serious has that difficulty been found that in the case of the subsidy for education you have had to deal specially with necessitous areas, and adopt a very elaborate formula, in order to secure that you shall not, by the mere administration of a flat rate, without regard to the character of the authority, put a burden upon the ratepayer in an area of small rateable value which is more than he can possibly bear.
  I have assumed, for the purpose of my illustration, that the two areas only want the same number of houses, but surely it often happens that a place with a relatively small rateable value will none the less have a greater housing need than some areas occupied by people with houses of different size and sort, the rateable value of which may be high. Therefore, I submit, will not your scheme of a single flat rate have to be carefully revised, so as to make it suit the varying needs of authorities of different resources? I notice in this connection that when the Minister comes to Subsection (3) of Clause 1, and provides for assistance in connection with the clearing of slum areas, he adopts a different principle—the principle of proportionate contribution as between the local authority and the Exchequer. I do not say that that system can be properly adopted in connection with the houses, but I do suggest to the right hon. Gentleman it would be well worth while to consider whether some much more careful formula must not be adopted in order to secure the provision of houses by local authorities in rural areas and by local authorities where there is a low rateable value, beyond that which he has got at present.
  Secondly, may I make a reference to the Minister's proposals to stimulate private enterprise under Clause 2? He has got three proposals. The second of the three proposals is the interesting proposal of allowing the local authority to make a contribution in lieu of rates. The third proposal is one which, I think, the whole House will accept, and it is a-proposal which I should have thought might even have been extended. May I ask the right hon. Gentleman why it is that in dealing with the third method of stimulating private enterprise, which at present involves a contribution, he does not extend Sub-section (3) to cover purchases under the Small
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  Dwellings (Acquisition) Act, 1899? It is referred to elsewhere in the Bill, and we all remember with pleasure that the eight hon. Gentleman has a special reason for being interested in that Measure. I should like to know why it is he does not extend Sub-section (3) so as to bring in the Small Dwellings (Acquisition) Act as well. I come to the first of his three provisions, and it does seem to me to be open to very serious criticism, indeed. Here is a proposal to give a lump sum subsidy, and I want to know whether I am not right on these two or three points about it. First of all, with one single exception, I cannot find in the Bill, as drafted, any conditions that are imposed on the person who receives that subsidy as to the use which is going to be made of the house which he builds, or, indeed, as to the kind of house which he builds. There is one exception, and it is a very curious one. It has been suggested, perhaps, by the melancholy experience of the second of the two Housing Bills for which Dr. Addison was responsible, which provided a subsidy, originally £160, and later on £250, which could be given to the private builder. I do not know whether the story is true, but I have been told that a gentleman who observed the language of the Housing (Additional Powers) Act, 1919, and applied himself strictly to the language of the law, without any regard to the real intention of Parliament, first of all built a small house and got a subsidy of £250. He then built another small house, and got another subsidy of £250 for that. The two houses were so close together that he subsequently knocked down the wall between them and united them into one, and thereby got a substantial private dwelling, with the gratifying assistance of £500 from the public Exchequer. Whether that be true or not, I do not know, but what I observe is that the only condition which this Bill appears to impose upon the recipient of the lump sum subsidy is this. It is in Sub-section (4), which imposes the condition
  "that during the period of five years from the payment of the grant the house shall not be used otherwise than as a separate dwelling-house and that no addition thereto or enlargement thereof shall be made."
  I rather wonder whether it is not the right hon. Gentleman's advisers who think that that hole, at any rate, ought

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  to be stopped if there is going to be any more subsidy to the private builder. There is a further question. Under the Bill as it stands—will the Minister be good enough to let me have an answer to this—could not the local authority use the State subsidy for subsidising builders without incurring any responsibility themselves as local authorities? In other words, what steps do the Government propose to take to secure that the local authorities shall have to make a substantial contribution? Obviously, it is a wasteful and a most undesirable method of stimulating house-building simply to give the State subsidy into the hands of the local authority without any conditions being imposed. Lastly, this lump sum subsidy is open to this objection. It is a method which helps the man who is building with a view to selling. What guarantee do we get under the Bill that he will build the kind of house which is most needed, or provide it for the sort of occupier who needs a house most? In contrast to that, of course, the other provisions under the head of stimulating private enterprise are provisions which do not assist the man who is trying to sell a house, but on the other hand, assist the man who is trying to build a house, or buy a house, or occupy a house, which I venture to think, is a much more desirable operation.
  Another point I desire to raise is this. A curious—I think, much the most curious—provision of the Bill which the right hon. Gentleman explained so ingeniously yesterday, is the provision for securing the right kind of occupier in these State houses, by securing that the State houses are not too big. It is a most amazing method of proceeding, Everyone agrees you do want to secure that the right occupiers get the opportunity of using these houses, but it would be a most melancholy thing if Government houses, like Government beer and Government bacon, came to be understood to mean something which is rather below the standard which one would wish for and expect. More than that, it is really a very retrograde proposal. The Addison scheme, whatever else it did, actually improved housing standards. I cannot see why the Minister ought not, and I hope he will, accept an Amendment which would allow the local authorities, at any
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  rate if they wish, to have the liberty to build better houses. We have got local authorities' housing committees all over the country who have learned to entertain a proper pride as to the housing newly provided in their own areas, and it would be a most disastrous thing if, instead of this liberty, these were compelled to build on a lower standard by being penalised in respect of the assistance given to them because they would not comply with your national requirements. I might add this, we all hope—and I am not talking in the spirit and language of rhetoric, for this is a serious matter—everybody in the House hopes that in the years to come—the sooner the better—the whole standard of housing accommodation in this country may be raised. Might it not be that a far-sighted local authority will consider that if they start building these tiny houses now, that, as a matter of fact, they are not providing as good a security as if they provided a better house? I do most urgently press upon the Government that they ought so to change this Bill as not to penalise the local authorities who take that view, and are prepared to back it up, with the approval of their constituencies. We should allow the local authorities to have a discretion in the matter.
  That would, as I have suggested, be quite in order on this Bill, which the Minister does not put forward as solving the problem, but as making a contribution only. If it really should evolve setting up an inferior standard from that which previous Bills have tried to set up, it would be a great pity. The Minister yesterday quoted figures from the London County Council, in which it was suggested that 80 per cent. of the people who wanted houses preferred to live in houses of two or three rooms. They do not. Nobody prefers that. All that that means is that if you put before people, who are hard-pressed, a schedule of different rents, there are a great many people who, because of circumstances, would be forced to pay the lower rent and take the smaller house. If you are going to put into the hands of the local authorities the right to control these rents or, at any rate, to say at what rent they intend to let houses, you ought to be careful not to lower the standard you are setting up. The right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Health spoke yesterday with some pride—

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  and he did so with right and justice—of his hereditary interest in the housing question. I am quite sure he would be the first to deplore the fact if the Bill, for which he is responsible, were to be known as the Bill which lowered the standard of housing set by previous Bills. We talk of the re-building of the social structure and all the rest of it, but the idea of the matter is, that the elements out of which we are going to reconstruct are the homes that the ordinary people live in. The analogy is quite a striking one, for just as you may say of a somewhat complicated living organism that it is built up of tiny cells, so in the same way with the national structure, you can say that it is really built up of the homes of the people. This cell—when you consider the complicated problem of life—may either be the focus of health and vigour or it may be the seed of disease and destruction. I really seriously suggest, ought we not so to change this Bill in the later stages as to secure that there shall not be a lowered standard of house construction, because if we do you may put forward what excuse you please as to the promotion of private enterprise, or the saving of public finance, but by lowering that standard of house construction, you are lowering and degrading the life and prejudicing the future of our people.
  Sir PHILIP PILDITCH: The speech to which we have just listened from the right hon. Gentleman (Sir John Simon), and which has pleased the House—as do all his speeches—indicates that neither he nor the section of the Opposition, with which he is associated, propose to move an Amendment to the Bill. [HON. MEMBERS: "This is the Second Reading!"] But I am not at, all sure whether the three criticisms he has made on the Bill, or two of them, do not go even more to the very root of the Bill than the speeches to which we have listened from the other sections of the House who have moved Amendments. I desire to support the main principles of the Bill, and I desire to support certain principles of the Bill which my right hon. Friend has attacked. The first principle that he attacked in the Bill was the principle which alters the basis of Dr. Addison's Act, which was that there was to be a limited contribution by the local authority and an unlimited contribution
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  by the State. It is true that Dr. Addison's scheme might procure some houses, but the very principle to which the right hon. Gentleman referred just now contained within itself the root of the evil by which Dr. Addison's scheme came to an end. What happened? Dr. Addison's scheme was received by every Member of the House, when it was brought in, with acclamation. I was one of the very few who criticised it; I criticised the financial aspect. I pointed out then that the 6 millions, subsequently raised to £7,500,000 per annum, which was to be provided by the State, and which it was thought would provide 500,000 Louses, would not go very far in that direction. The consequence is that we have a State Bill of £10,000,000 a year, and this has provided something like 200,000 houses. That is the principle which caused the building scheme associated with the name of Dr. Addison to be withdrawn. I venture to suggest that it would be a mistake to alter the basis of this Bill. That the State should definitely say that it will provide a certain amount of money on condition that the local authority should find whatever remains to be found is a perfectly sound principle. The needs and resources of localities differ immensely, and it is much fairer and much more appropriate that any variation between the subsidy provided by the State and provided by the local authority should be found by the local authority.
  I well remember going down to the opening of some of the houses that were built under Dr. Addison's scheme in company with an hon. Member, not the hon. Member for West Woolwich (Sir K. Wood), who then was acting as Parliamentary Secretary and had an interest in certain schemes, but another set of houses, at which ceremony I accepted the invitation of the chairman of the local authority to preside. In opening the houses that gentleman said—and he was then addressing the ratepayers—that these houses had cost them nothing, or that they were only costing them 1d. in the £, which meant only £200 or £300 upon the rates of that locality. But, added that chairman, these houses would actually cost a good deal more than £100,000, and the chairman half suggested, and the people seemed to think, that that State gift was money from heaven, so to speak. But it did not come from heaven. The Chancellor of the

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  Exchequer had to find that money, and he is continuing to find money of that sort. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for West Swansea (Sir A. Mond) said yesterday that the capitalised cost of Dr. Addison's scheme—I am not attacking Dr. Addison, for we all agreed with him at the time—the capitalised cost amounted to about £960,000,000. I do not quite know how the right hon. Gentleman got that amount on an annual loss of £10,000,000 for 60 years, and certainly there is an enormous capital burden lying upon the State, based upon this annual burden, and I for one think that the present Bill in this respect is sounder than that of the old Act.
  My right hon. Friend opposite went into another point; he criticised that portion of the Bill which deals with private enterprise, and where there is power to give a lump sum subsidy to private builders. It is possible that that may be the least favourable part of the scheme. I think that some of the other provisions are better than that. Such, for instance, as the proposal to allow Rates, which ties the subsidy to a house instead of an individual. I should be very chary of giving a vote either now or in Committee against anything, or almost anything, which would help to develop the principle of private enterprise in regard to the question of building houses.
  Then in respect to the third point of the right hon. Gentleman. I am one of those who believe that the main advantage of this Bill lies in the very limitation which has been so freely criticised. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Swansea said yesterday that we must have houses covering 1,000 feet instead of 850. One of the hon. Members for Edinburgh, speaking on behalf of the Labour party, said he also wanted a larger house, and the hon. Member for Wirrell asked for 1,150 feet, and there seems to be a united opposition to the Bill in this matter. But I believe that the Minister is perfectly right in confining the houses which are going to be helped by a State subsidy, coupled with a municipal subsidy, to a definite part of the people. I think it is right also to confine this to that part of the people where the need is greatest. Certain hon. Members, in speaking on the point, drew attention to
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  the need for larger houses by stating that in Glasgow about 66 per cent. of the hereditaments were two rooms and less. That gets to the root of the matter. Surely you cannot argue that when so large a proportion of the people of this country are, from one reason or another, living in houses which are two rooms only or less, that a six-roomed house of this description—because that is what it amounts to—is too small for them? You are absolutely by that method attacking the problem at a point where it is most vulnerable.
  Mr. WALLHEAD: It is not the size of the rooms, but the size of the six rooms to which we object!
  5.0 P.M.
  Sir P. PILDITCH: There are five rooms and a scullery, and as the scullery probably contains a range, it must be considered as a room. What are the facts connected with this particular house? It has a superficial area of 840 feet. After allowing for the scullery I have spoken about, you have on the ground floor 260 feet, which can be used for a good sized living room, in one corner of which the student of whom we have heard can pursue his or her studies, and where the lovers that have been referred to might conceivably be found in another corner. Some of my hon. Friends do not seem to know that young people seek other and more appropriate places in which to carry on their courtships than under their father and mother's roof. That is so in all classes. You have 260 feet left, and you have the choice to have one or two rooms if you like. I say you could not have a better method of attacking the problem at its worst than you have in this or some similar Bill. I am not prepared to say that I think this Bill is going to cure the housing problem. It hardly touches the slum question at all, which is the gigantic question with which we are faced. The Minister for Health told us in his opening speech perfectly frankly that he only looked upon this Bid as a first step in clearing away the difficulties of the housing difficulty. The reason I support this Bill so strongly is because of the very fact that it leaves the whole area, outside the tiny houses or cottages, open to the operations of private enterprise. That is where my hon. Friends who sit opposite will get their houses in the end.
  Mr. WHEATLEY: That is where we got our slums from.
  Sir P. PILDITCH: I would have liked, if it had been possible, to deal with the whole question of the removal from the Statute Book of the restrictions which are at present stopping the operation of house building by private industry. Once the State comes in or the municipality, private industry has nothing more to do with that particular part of the problem. Once you fill the ground with the State or the promise of State intervention, private industry is completely ousted, but by the principle of this Bill the field is left open, and if we come to the conclusion in this House—and I hope all parties will come to the conclusion that the time has come when private enterprise should be free from the restrictions which have impeded it in the last four or five years (very necessarily I admit in the crisis we have gone through)—if we come to the conclusion that private industry should, in due time and under proper conditions, be removed from control, my strong conviction is that it will be found to be a gain competent to fill the blanks this Bill will and must leave, and provide the houses for the better class artisan, for the lower middle class man, and for all the classes of the community who are not touched by this Bill. There is plenty of money that could be used for this purpose. If hon. Members looked at the "Times" this morning they would see in the commercial column an article on "Housing Finance" of which I will read a few lines. The writer says:
  "Housing finance presents one of the most difficult of post-War financial problems, and if a sound economic solution is to be found, it is necessary to discover the fundamental reason why house building by private enterprise, despite the great scarcity of housing accommodation, is so slack. Although there may be sound social reasons for putting into force Regulations which will prevent the monetary expression of the law of supply and demand, all such measures, whether for restricting or raising prices, are economically unsound. This is amply demonstrated by the experience of rent restriction and of similar operations during the War. The problem which requires solution therefore is how to bring the control of rents to an end at the earliest possible moment."
  I am not going to argue for a moment that any Government can bring about
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  de-control straight away, but it would be the wisest thing to do if any Government dared to do it. What would happen would be that prices and rents would soar; some people would buy their houses. Houses would be provided before long, and there would be a slump, and rents and prices would then fall to somewhere near the limit which people could afford.
  I am not theorising on this point. I would like the House to remember a matter which is within its own experience. Hon. Members may remember what happened over the business premises arrangement. During the passing of the last Housing Bill the occupiers of business premises had to pay high rents because people, who came home from the War and thought they could make a lot of money out of small businesses, rushed into the market and took offices and put up the rents of offices. No building was proceeding during the War; the position was very serious, and there was a great clamour that business premises should be included in the Bill. They were included, for one year, I think, and when the time came that that Bill had to be renewed, there was a great clamour that business premises should be kept in the Bill. The Government referred the matter to a Committee of the House. I was a member of that Committee, and during all the time we sat, from June to December, 1920, we had evidence from a great many landlords and tenants on both sides. The tenants were upset because their rents were so high, and we had a great deal of evidence of that kind. The Committee in their Report advocated that a certain amount of continuation of restriction of business premises should take place, and they gave certain reasons for their recommendation. I issued a reservation pointing out why I thought there was no need to take any such step at all. The late Coalition Government took that Report into consideration and they decided to remove the restrictions on business premises. They did so, and as soon as that restriction was taken out of the Bill people began to build offices all over London and other parts of the country. You can go into various parts of London and get offices for much less rent than was charged before.
  Exactly the same will happen in the case of provision of houses. If you put private

  527
  industry again on the field it formerly occupied, you will tempt the banker or the financier who financed the little builder, the little builder himself who built the houses, the man who lent the money on mortgage on the houses, the little investor who bought the houses—one, two or three, often a working man—you will tempt all these people to come in by showing that you have finished with restriction at a certain date. Let the market have full and free play, and you will find that your housing question will be solved. Of course, this would take a little time, and I am doubtful if there is any Government that would be strong enough or steadfast enough to stand the tremendous outcry that would arise during the earlier stages of the operation. There would be a lot of suffering in the interval; it would not be for long, but there would be suffering in the interval. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Health may mean to deal with this aspect of the question on a subsequent occasion; I do not know about that. My only desire to-day is to make this point, that the Bill is right from the standpoint that it limits the State and municipal subsidy to a certain definite and limited area of the whole field, and that it leaves the other part open to be dealt with by the operations of private enterprise.
  My right hon. Friend the Minister for Health will have to take his courage in both hands, if I may say so, and come to the House to help him to free industry from its shackles and let the building industry come into its own again. I had a letter two or three days ago from a certain alderman in a great city in the North of England who is the Chairman of a Property Owners' and Builders' Association. In that letter he said that there were 3,000 members of the association who had provided, at a cost of £12,000,000 in the years before the War, between 40,000 and 50,000 small houses, and he said that the majority of his members would be quite prepared, unless something was done on the lines I have suggested, such is the condition of the industry of building and owning houses, to sell their houses for the mortgage amount and that not one of them would touch a brick in the way of building houses for the working class again until it was made perfectly clear in this House
  528
  that control and restriction would be removed at a definite period. If that were done and private industry, the old-fashioned building trade were recognised as a respectable trade, worthy of being fostered in the interests of the people, he was satisfied that would form a solution of the whole question. My view is that you could not decontrol right off at this moment. What I hope we shall do before long is to fix a definite date, and that, in the meantime, the whole issue may not be settled at once and so cause an immediate upheaval, but that in the interval between now and the date when restrictions are removed, rents should be allowed to gradually rise by, say, 5 per cent. per annum. The consequence would be a gradual rise towards economic rents and at, once, in my opinion, the building industry would fulfil the duty which the Government has started in this excellent Bill.
  Mr. T. WILLIAMS: It is clear from the speeches to which we have just been listening that hon. Members all intend to make one point. I think the hon. Member who has just sat down has made that point pretty clearly. Boiled down, it amounts to this: that if the Government would decontrol all the houses, abolish the Rent Restrictions Act, and permit the landlords to charge just what they desired, there would be some encouragement to the speculative builder to enter the building world, knowing that he could just exact as much rent as he desired. I doubt the efficacy of that solution. Further, I would remind my hon. Friend opposite that, if the speculative builder desired to build houses for which he could charge just as much rent as he liked, the opportunity is open for him to do so, because for the new houses he builds he can charge just as much rent as he likes, therefore the whole argument from beginning to end is fallacious. Important facts have emerged from the Debate yesterday and to-day on the question of housing. First, there is a universal recognition that, of all the social problems with which the Government have to deal, housing stands out pre-eminently. All parties seem to agree that, if we desire to have a large number of happy, contented, healthy and virile people, or a highly intelligent, people, we can only secure them by attending to the housing problem as it should be attended to.

  529
  The second vital point is the failure of the Government to adequately make provision for supplying all municipalities with building materials at reasonable prices. From whichever angle we approach this problem, we find ourselves face to face with the fact that the type of the houses, their size, and the amenities permitted inside them will be based largely upon the price of building materials which have to be purchased. Instead of devoting so much time to providing ways and means whereby we can stimulate private enterprise, it seems to me that if the Government are really serious in their pretensions to tackle the housing problem seriously, instead of stimulating private enterprise they should forthwith commence to stifle it by avoiding unnecessary increases in the price of building materials.
  I want to attempt to divert the Debate for a moment from the cities which were dealt with so adequately and effectively yesterday, to some of the mining villages of this country. I happen to be attempting to represent a large area of agricultural land, an area where new collieries are going down very rapidly, and the housing conditions in many of those areas are fast becoming like some of the housing conditions which were related before the Sankey Commission. To give a definite example of what exactly is taking place and what the conditions are, I propose to read an extract from the report of one of the Yorkshire County Council sanitary inspectors. He says, in dealing with the Doncaster Rural District in regard to housing at Edlington:
  "The sanitary survey of this district by my Department confirms the very bad housing conditions of the working classes. The tuberculosis records for the year 1921 disclosed the information that of the 62 cases which had been reported in the whole of the rural district comprising 40 parishes, 36 were from the parish of Edlington, which strengthens the necessity for serious consideration. New Edlington, as its name implies, is a new colliery village. In 1901 there was only one house there and 951 in 1922. In the 924 houses inspected the following conditions were noted: 217 had two families in each house; six had three families in each house; one had actually four families resident therein; 33, in addition to having two or more families, also had lodgers, and 419 had lodgers or more than one family. There are eight wooden houses in course of construction, the last of 102 such houses provided by the colliery company. The rural district council have tot propounded a housing scheme for this parish."
  530
  I want to ask the Minister responsible for this Bill what he intends to do with delinquent authorities, composed almost wholly of farmers who fear any possible increase in rates, and, as a result, definitely refuse to undertake any housing scheme at all? This is the result of the refusal of the Doncaster Rural District Council to take any steps at all to mitigate the housing evils in that particular parish. One can very well understand that, if the Government are going to place the larger part of the burden upon the local authorities, who are already heavily burdened with excessive rates, these same local authorities at least are going to think twice before they act once with regard to housing their people. Moreover, there can be no similarity between the urban districts and cities and the rural districts. Unless special concessions are going to be made to the rural people, I see little or no hope of the rural people actually being housed. This is actually what is taking place where new collieries are going down. The colliery company who, in the very nature of things, need a very large area of land, purchase sometimes either a whole village or possibly a great part of it, and in some instances even more than that. They do, at the outset, erect a few houses of their own, but they never erect enough houses to keep pace with the development of their colliery, for the new men who are continually coming along to work there, with the inevitable result that, as the colliery develops and the number of workmen increases, overcrowding becomes absolutely unavoidable.
  Most of these collieries are sunk in rural areas and the rural councils refuse to accept their obligations, with the result that overcrowding follows with the terrible results recorded in the report from which I quoted. It is true to say that in some instances colliery companies have done something towards housing their people, but they have never done sufficient to obviate overcrowding in districts similar to Edlington. Around Doncaster there are seven or eight new collieries either developing or going down very rapidly to the coal, and in every one of these districts to a greater or lesser degree the housing conditions are in a similar ratio to the conditions obtaining at Edlington. I submit to the House that unless rural areas are going to be given such concessions as will stimulate their efforts giving the rural council some

  531
  guarantee that the burden will not be too great for them there is no possibility of solving the housing problem under the Bill now before us.
  There is another side to the new colliery village housing problem. Whilst we have overcrowding in the early stages of a new mining village you bring together large numbers of little children. Just imagine, for instance, the conditions obtaining at Edlington. You bring together a large aggregation of children who have no outlet for their youthful energies, and the inevitable result is that all the natural beauty adjoining the houses is automatically destroyed, and you get the slum areas recorded in the dark pages of the Sankey Commission. Not only that but you get ill-health, low morality, and absenteeism at your collieries and you are not likely to get the output that hon. Members opposite are very often seeking. In many of the mining districts you have councils who have taken no part in the housing question at all and the people have been wholly dependent upon the speculative builder. We have one district in the Don Valley which would be well worth a visit by hon. Members of this House. There you have one of the sights which it is not a blessing to see. You have row after row of houses, or rather brick boxes with lids on, like Grenadier Guards on parade, without the colouring of the dress, since paint is very rare in that district. As there has been no development of housing in conjunction with the development of the collieries, overcrowding becomes inevitable, with all its destructive effects in every walk of life.
  Then, again, I want to ask the House what their intentions are with regard to the rising generation. The quality or size of the houses has been adequately dealt with by various speakers, but I want to ask hon. Members opposite if it ii, their intention that children should continue to be sent to school for six hours, and then permitted to spend the next 18 hours in the degrading surroundings that obtain in many of the mining districts. If that be so, we shall not get the health, the virility, or the intellectual qualities that we all desire. The Minister yesterday referred to the fact that the problem of housing did not start either during or after the War, and he took us back to 1909, when he referred to a particular Act. I want to suggest that
  532
  the housing problem began long before even 1909. From 1901 to 1911 there were something like 2,640,000 weddings, while during the same period only 840,000 houses were built. From 1910 to 1920 there were 3,675,000 weddings, while there were only 357,000 houses actually built. There were, therefore, taking those two sets of figures together, over 5,000,000 more weddings than there were actual houses built. During that period we had both Conservative and Liberal Governments, and also private enterprise, untrammelled by the Government and with ample opportunities of supplying all the houses that these people desired. If, therefore, we are to depend upon the same people who refused to house the population between the years 1901 and 1920, there is little or no hope in that direction.
  Medical officers of health all over the country are bewailing the fact that their curative treatment is absolutely futile. They recognise that, unless you have decent homes, with plenty of air and plenty of opportunities, they may as well be spending their time in some other way than curing diseases. Preventive legislation is absolutely necessary, and, if it is going to cost the country a few million pounds a year for a number of years, what is the cost compared with the cost of curing diseases as we are spending money at this present moment? Between £100,000,000 and £150,000,000 is spent annually in attempting to cure diseases which, in the large majority of cases, could actually have been prevented, and we are told, also, that something like 2½ per cent. of the possible working time is lost because of ill-health, which very likely could be avoided if the people were housed properly. I want just to give one illustration of what municipalities could do as compared with private enterprise, and did do in the days before the War. The small urban authority of Bolton-on-Dearne not only built houses in 1910, but they built a better quality of houses than the average speculative builder, and provided more social amenities—a bath and all other domestic requisites, and a decent garden all round the house: and the rents of those houses are the lowest in the whole district, even to-day. They have not only paid for themselves out of the rents that have been received, but the authority, while charging the lowest possible rents, are actually saving

  533
  money year by year. Since the War they have gone even beyond that. Recognising the dearness of bricks and of all materials that go to the building of houses, they purchased their own brickyard, and, after selling their bricks at the average price, they find themselves, at the end of 18 months, with an actual profit of £1,000 or £2,000. They have not been charging more for their bricks than has been charged in the private brickyard; they have lowered them whenever the general price has fallen; and yet they pay better wages and give their workmen better conditions, and they are saving money and building their own houses with their own bricks.
  There is no reason why we should longer dwell upon the futility of waiting for private enterprise to solve our housing problem. If the local authorities are given plenty of power to design the houses that they know their people require, and if they have the assurance of the Government that they will be permitted to purchase their materials at reasonable prices, I am convinced that not only will the houses be of a better type than millions of those that have been built, and of such a type as will give to the people the maximum of comfort, but the time will not be far distant when Government subsidies can automatically be dispensed with. I repeat that, instead of stimulating private enterprise in the vain hope that you will get houses from it, it ought to be stifled for a time, at least with regard to the price they are going to be permitted to charge for their materials. I have two letters from urban councils in the Don Valley Division, both stating very definitely that the real cause, so far as they can see, of houses not having been built is the high price of building materials.
  I want the Government to make up their mind that they are going to control the price of building materials, and I want them to remember, also, that there is a very great difference between the city and the rural area. If they desire houses to be built in rural areas, they must not only give to rural councils the power to build them, but they must reserve for themselves sufficient power to compel rural councils to build where they refuse to do so. If they will do this, I am convinced that we shall not only have made a start, but shall be well on our way
  534
  to solving the greatest social problem that ever confronted this or any other Government. If you want a contented and happy people, you must give them decent homes to live in. If you want a healthy and virile people, again you must give them decent homes to live in, where there is plenty of air; and, if you want a highly intelligent body of people, you must provide better opportunities and facilities for continued education than the one or two rooms that some hon. Members opposite have said are large enough. Again, if the employers of the nation want the maximum output, they can only get that output by building up a body of strong, virile workers, who will be able to work 100 per cent. of their time, instead of a small portion of the time because of diseases contracted in the poorest dwellings that were ever built in any country in the world.
  Sir ERNEST HILEY: I represent a constituency which has been almost built up, and is almost entirely populated, by working people, and the question of the repair of houses is of as great importance to them as is the provision of new houses in populous cities. I want, therefore, to ask a question with regard to Clause 10 of the Bill, which deals with repairs to houses. The wording of the Clause is rather unusual, but I gather that its effect is to deal with the powers of local authorities to serve notices on the owners of houses to repair, and I want to inquire—I am glad that the Attorney-General is on the Government Bench—whether the powers under that Clause will enable a local authority to make an owner paint and decorate his house. The question is a grievous one, and has been raised on many occasions. Various local authorities have put into force the existing powers, but they are very doubtful whether they really can compel the owner to paint and decorate a house. In my constituency many of the houses are so old that it is only the paper that keeps the plaster on the walls. I want to ask the Attorney-General whether he thinks the words of paragraph (a) of Clause 10 are sufficient to enable the local authority to prescribe works of painting and decorating to be carried out by the owner. I think it would be much better, as doubts do now exist, if these words were extended, and it was made perfectly clear that they did apply to painting and decorating.

  535
  Another point that I want to raise is this: It appears to me that the effect of this Clause is limited, in the county boroughs, to houses of £26 a year and under. I know that discussion has been going on for some years as to the type of house which should be brought in under these notices to repair. We have proceeded by stages. In the original Act, I believe, in the City of Birmingham, the limit was £10. Then, in the Act of 1909, it was worked up to £26. I am going to suggest to the Government that the time has come when the limit should be removed altogether, so that the local authority might be able to serve a notice in respect of a house of any rateable value. Certainly, at the present time, with the rents now in force, the limit of £26 is too low, and, if it is not thought fit to remove the limit altogether, certainly some increase ought to be made, so as to bring in houses, the rents of which have been increased by 40 per cent. under the Rent Restriction Acts. Before I sit down, I should like to join in the plea that has been made from all parts of the House to the Minister to increase the limit under Sub-section (2) of Clause I in regard to the size of buildings which are to receive a subsidy. I believe that the desire for that is very general throughout the country and, if the Minister could see his way to make an increase to 950 feet, he would make the Bill much more acceptable, and would make it a very much easier Measure for the local authorities to administer.
  Mr. McCURDY: I should like to join in what has been said by several speakers this afternoon, in saying that I would certainly vote for any Measure which I thought would help to provide houses. I would certainly vote for any Measure which I thought would stimulate private enterprise, as being what I believe to be the best way to get the houses that we want. I will not enter on any criticisms on minute details of the Bill. We on these benches shall be only too anxious to do all we can in making helpful suggestions to improve it in Committee, and if, as I suppose is inevitable, the Bill ultimately comes to be the law of the land, we shall be only too glad to do all we can to make it a success. But I find a grave difficulty in voting for the Second Reading, because the Bill to me is a pro-
  536
  found disappointment. The magnitude of the housing evil has been so eloquently expressed in the Debate, that I will not waste time in recapitulating it. The housing problem is one not only of appalling dimensions as it affects the poorest classes of the community. Some of the figures which have been quoted, with regard to conditions in Scotland, are really of a horrifying character. [HON. MEMBERS: "And in England!"] And in England. It is also a problem which not only is the problem of the very poor and the problem of the slum. It is also, though this is less important, the problem of all classes of the community suffering from a shortage of houses and the high rents, which are necessary in consequence of that shortage.
  There are really two quite separate problems, and unless we separate them we are not likely to find a real effective remedy. The first problem is how to restore to a condition of prosperity and efficiency the great British building industry. It was languishing before the War so far as the provision of houses for people to live in is concerned. It was practically killed by the War, it was coffined by the policy which transferred from the building industry to the shoulders of the municipalities the task of attempting to provide the houses of which we are urgently in need, and I believe to-day there are signs that British industry is stirring and awaiting a resurrection if it were given a chance. That is one problem, the problem of how you are to restore to prosperity one of the fundamental industries of Great Britain whose prosperity, looking over the centuries, is almost a thermometer of the general well-being of trade and industry as a whole—an industry which in time of peace used to support something like half-a-million skilled workers and in which there are at present no fewer than 140,000 men unemployed. The second problem is what steps should be taken, when they should be taken, by whom they should be taken, to clear away from our country the reproach of slumdom, to clear away the unsanitary areas, and that is a work which ought to be performed and will have to be performed either by this Minister of Health or by his successor at some date, not by pushing it on to the shoulders of private enterprise or the private builder but at the cost of the public Exchequer.

  537
  Let me separate those two questions and say a word or two on each.
  First let me deal with the question of the slum. I am in entire agreement with the views which have been expressed from the benches above the Gangway. I believe if you take into account the cost of preventible disease, the cost of preventible vice and crime, the lowered physique, the lowered efficiency of the worker, and the reduced output of national wealth consequent upon that, which are directly due to bad housing conditions, probably the annual cost to the nation at present of these slums exceeds what would be the annual cost of a national scheme for slum clearance. May I say how profoundly I regret that, owing to what I regard as the wholly mistaken financial policy of the Government at a time when unemployment is casting its shadow in every street, when there are houseless to be housed and unemployed to be employed, £145,000,000 of the taxpayers' money—£100,000,000 of which was obtained from him on the pious pretence that the Exchequer was to have no such surplus—is devoted to the comparatively barren purpose of Debt reduction, which will, I know, further improve the capital value of stocks and securities, which are already appreciating, but which would have been far more profitably employed, as regards part of it, in schemes for employing the unemployed, for finding houses for the houseless and in stopping the depreciation of the capital stock of flesh and blood, which is far more important to this country than the appreciation of securities. I believe that, sooner or later, this Government, or a Government possibly of a very different character, will be compelled, and rightly, to shoulder manfully the problem of slum clearance and the rehousing of that section of the population which is at present living in the one-room and two-room houses we have heard about, at the cost of the Exchequer, facing quite frankly the fact that you can never rehouse these people, you can never replace these slums, if you are going to wait until private enterprise is able to provide for the submerged tenth decent and respectable dwellings at a rent which will provide an economic return on the capital necessary for the purpose. It is sanitary work, it is hospital work, it is the work of cleansing out the Augean stables of the country
  538
  and restoring health and vigour to the youth and manhood of our people, and it is ridiculous to suggest that work of that kind is to wait, or ought to wait, until someone can figure out 5 per cent. on the capital which will be employed. That is not the way in which the Ministry of Health ought to envisage a sanitary measure of that necessity and that importance. Then can it be suggested that to that problem, to which hon. Members above the Gangway have devoted such eloquent speeches, this Bill contributes even the pretence of a solution. Can it be suggested that it is even a step in the direction of removing that reproach upon our civilisation?
  Now let me turn to the other question of the restoration of the building industry. The building industry—and that is why I beg hon. Members to separate these two questions in their minds—will never, whatever degree of prosperity it may attain, be able to achieve the impossible task of clearing away slum areas and rehousing the population and paying a satisfactory profit upon the transaction. But the business of providing houses for the rest of the population, who are also entitled to some consideration—the artisan in receipt of good wages, the young couple waiting to be married who, even, have a little capital with which they might commence the purchase of a house on the instalment system—is a problem which, I believe, British industry, without State aid or interference, ought to be quite competent to deal with, in a short time from now, if it were given a fair chance. Prior to the War one-third of the output of British builders consisted of houses below the rental limit of £20–100,000 houses per year. It had fallen off before the War, and when the War came building came to a stop altogether. Men were employed on other work and the operations of the private builders ceased. But when the War was over we found ourselves faced with a shortage of houses which had been immensely intensified, immensely aggravated, by the cessation of building during the years of the War. There was a shortage of houses in the sense that there was a crying national need for slum clearance and re-housing of the working classes before the War. After the War the shortage had spread upwards and extended into practically every stratum of society. The population had increased.

  539
  I speak from my own personal experience, which is probably shared by all hon. Members, when I remind them how easy it was to have a choice of middle-class houses before the War and how extraordinarily limited was the choice when the War was over. There were two methods by which the Government might have set about to help provide the houses which were necessary. The first policy would have been to encourage and to stimulate the building industry. There are various ways of doing it. The policy which was unfortunately adopted was to try to find some other agency which could come to the assistance of the State on the assumption that private enterprise had failed.
  Before the War, of the houses which were provided for the working class 90 per cent. were provided by private enterprise by the speculative builder. [An HON. MEMBER: "You can see them now."] Yes, and very good houses, too, do not make any mistake—some of them built by public utility societies, places like Letchworth built by private enterprise, and some by co-operative enterprise. Do not let us wander away into the quagmire of economic differences when we are discussing a simple but important issue like the housing problem. Ninety per cent. of the houses which were being provided before the War were being provided by private enterprise. [An HON. MEMBER: "100 per cent. slums."] No, I am speaking of what happened a few years before the War. There has not been time for any of those houses to become slums. Ten per cent. at the most were provided by municipal authorities, and the policy which was adopted after the War was to discourage the people who had been building 90 per cent. of the houses and to encourage the people who have been building 10 per cent. of the houses. Not merely to discourage on the one side and to encourage on the other—those terms are much too mild—but to put the private builder out of business as far as building small houses was concerned, and not merely to encourage the municipalities, but to bring all the pressure of the State to bear to force municipal authorities, who had had no more experience of house building than a mother's sewing class, to start upon the business of pro-
  540
  viding houses, where it was supposed that the great national building industry had failed.
  6.0 P.M.
  It was the most extraordinary experiment ever tried in the history of this or any other country. Whether it will ever be followed again one cannot say. Whether in some day of difficulty about ships the local authorities will be asked to build ships, or whether under some new policy of agriculture the local authorities will be asked to manage the farms, I do not know. At any rate, as far as the result of that policy was concerned, discouraging private enterprise and trying to transfer the task of providing houses from the great British building industry, which had been housing the people for hundreds of years, to the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker, the squire and the squire's lady on the rural district council or some other body, who had had nothing to do with house building, it was a disastrous failure.
  There was a hold-up of building materials for the benefit of the local authorities. Bricks were collected in millions for the use of the local authorities. Talk about rings and combines for putting up the prices of houses! There were rings then. There was, first of all, a ring round the builder, which deprived him of access to the land, of access to building materials, and gave him no chance of getting his plans passed, while the local authorities were preparing and getting on with their schemes. Presently that was, most naturally, succeeded by a ring round the local authority. There were the local builders who, before the War, had been competing with one another to get orders from the local landowner here, from the local authority there, building a house on speculation, or for a private client, with the assistance of the surveyor, the building society, and the local solicitor. All that great machinery for providing houses which had grown up as a result of centuries of building tradition in this country was scrapped and put on one side. The poor builders had nothing to do except to make a ring round the local authority, who was the only person to whom they could look for orders. Does anybody doubt that they did it? Does anybody doubt that they were bound to do it? If anybody does doubt it, let me remind the

  541
  House of a little incident that occurred when Dr. Addison was Minister of Health, There came a period when for a cottage which before the War a speculative builder would have built for £250, £950 was expended by the local authority. Dr. Addison put his foot down, and issued a circular to the local authorities and to the builders, and any evil-disposed persons, and said that tenders not under £800 would not be considered. In a few weeks there was a most surprising and gratifying result from all parts of the country. There were reports of tenders of £780, £760, £740 and so on.
  If you proceed to abolish free competition, and if you proceed to put the private builder out of action, to discourage the private building owner from carrying on his operations, and you reduce the matter to a simple game where there is one local authority, which does not know much about building, and that is the only client which the poor builders have to rely upon, we may take it that they will try to get the best terms for themselves from their one remaining client, the local authority. There is a good deal of nonsense talked about combines. I do not believe that at the present time the housing difficulties are necessarily much aggravated by the operations of rings and combines. [HON. MEMBERS: "Yes, they are!"] It is one of those popular delusions which I suppose will live with us for many years. I had the honour for some time of sitting as Chairman of a Committee, which was appointed in February, 1919, to consider the operation of rings and combines in this country. I had the advantage on that Committee of the assistance of some very able men, and not least among them was the hon. Member for Seaham (Mr. Webb). We had also on that Committee other gentlemen well known to the Labour party, Mr. Ernest Bevin, Mr. Hobson and others. A minority report was issued by the whole of the Labour Members of the Committee, and that report says:
  "We do not suggest that any action should be taken to prevent or obstruct combination or association in capitalistic enterprise. Apart from the experience that no such interference can be made effective, we have to recognise that association and combination in production and distribution are steps in the greater efficiency, the increased economy and the better organisation of industry. We regard this evolution as both inevitable and desirable."
  542
  While before the War 90 per cent. of the houses had been produced by private enterprise and only 10 per cent. by municipal enterprise, the costs of production were remarkably different. I speak from memory, because it is a good many years since I was actually concerned with house building; but at that time the figures were very familiar to me. In those days the cost of a municipal cottage, taking a survey of municipal housing schemes throughout the country, averaged about £300 per cottage. The lowest price that was ever reached was attained by an ingenious gentleman in the Potteries, who designed a cottage for a local housing scheme which cost something like £265. The houses provided by the private builder, which certainly were not slums, but which formed streets in the towns in the Midlands, with which I am acquainted—
  Mr. RILEY: Is it not a fact that the figure of £265 which the right. hon. Gentleman has given as the lowest figure for a municipal house is entirely incorrect?
  Mr. McCURDY: Comparing like with like as far as accommodation is concerned—I have not had time to verify my reference—and comparing the streets of artizans' dwellings in such towns as Leicester and Northampton, the cost of the production of private built houses was far lower, in some cases as much as 50 per cent. lower, than the cost of similar houses under municipal schemes. I am not suggesting that the houses built under municipal schemes did not get amenities in the way of more space round them, and better lay-out than the straight streets of the private-built houses; but the cost of building is the comparison I want to make. The consequence of that was that not only was the private builder extremely hampered and restricted, but when the Director of Building Supplies had got all the bricks and was holding them for the use of the municipal authorities, the private builder, who before the War had been in the habit of building the great majority of houses, was practically put out of the market.
  I was speaking yesterday to a gentleman who, before the War, was in the habit of building several hundred cottages every year. He asked me whether I saw any reason why he should not resume building and put up a couple of hundred houses this year. I did my best

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  to encourage him to do so. His doubt was this: "What is the corporation going to do?" When a corporation was paying £1,300 for a £200 cottage, it was obviously quite impossible for the private owner to erect cottages in competition with the municipal authority. The hon. Member for West Woolwich (Sir K. Wood) very much surprised me yesterday by quoting a passage from the President of the Surveyor's Institute, in which he seemed to suggest that private enterprise was afraid of the competition of the local authorities because local authorities built cheaper than private enterprise. The fact is exactly the opposite. At the time when the local authority was paying £950 per house, which price in a week or two was obligingly reduced to £780 and lower, it was impossible for the local owner-builder to get a fair price quoted to him for any work that he wanted to do.
  The policy of this or any other Government which intends to deal with this great problem on business-like lines is to do everything possible to restore British industry and to help it to carry on its normal work in providing such houses as can be built at economic rents, not the work of clearing and rehousing dispossessed tenants from the slum areas, which should be a matter for the State. At the same time, with 140,000 men in the building trade unemployed, in spite of what was said about the shortage of building labour, there is quite sufficient reserve of building labour to get on with a real national scheme of slum clearance and re-housing. If the Government will proceed on those lines they will find work for the unemployed and will benefit the country as a whole.
  A word about the Bill. I believe the Minister of Health will not seriously differ from the views I have just expressed as to what would be a desirable policy for this Government. Does he really think that this Bill carries out that policy? It seems to me to do the exact opposite. It goes on encouraging the very arrangement under which the public and the municipal authorities are being taught to believe that, if only the building industry is to some extent superseded by the municipal authority, houses will be provided at a lower price and at lower rents
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  than by private enterprise. They are being encouraged in that delusion. Does offering encouragement to municipal authorities to prepare fresh schemes encourage private enterprise? The only encouragement which it gives to private enterprise is this. It says that in certain circumstances the private builder may go to the local authority, which in this matter is apparently, if not the supreme judge, the tribunal whose opinion must be obtained before anything can be done, and persuade it that he should be given some assistance to build.
  I am not going to deal with points as to what is the best method of encouraging the private builder, whether by the remission of rates or a subsidy or more consideration for owners of house property when it comes to the assessment of Income Tax in regard to the cost of repairs and collection for small property. It would be impossible to deal with them on Second Reading, but I may lay down as a cardinal principle that, if you want to encourage private enterprise, you will not do it by filtering any sort of encouragement to it through the medium of the municipal authorities who are acting as its substitute for the last few years. If you do finance the private builder, you should consider whether you cannot do it directly instead of with all this circumlocution through the local authorities. The proposal in the Bill to encourage the private builder by a subsidy seems to me to be a very extraordinary one.
  Consider the position of the private builder. To-day every class of the community wants houses. Prices are still very high. Rents are still high and prices of material are falling. The position is not unfavourable for the builder. So far as I can see, the only really unfavourable factor at present, so far as building is concerned, is uncertainty as to the future. If he can get an order for houses he is on velvet. But not if he has to build on speculation with no certainty of what six months are going to bring forth in this year of falling prices. But he has got clients waiting for houses, people who can afford to pay rent for houses; some people who can even afford to buy a house. It is suggested that what we are going to do is to tempt the builder to build the smallest size houses which can be regarded as a decent habitation for working

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  men. We are not going to allow him to build such houses of a little better quality, for which people are anxiously waiting, which, if built, would be occupied and would leave accommodation elsewhere, but we are going to assist him to build the cheapest and nastiest house.
  But although it is to be the nastiest house, it need not be the cheapest when he comes to let it or sell it. He can build a house, but he is free to let it or sell it at the price of a better house. We give a subsidy if he builds a £350 house and sells it for £500. How is that going to solve the problem of low prices or the restoration of British enterprise? The real policy is to try to encourage the private builder in any way you like—some of the ways I have suggested—and to cry a decisive and definite halt on the mistaken policy which was entered upon after the War, when the Government of that day decided to turn their back upon the great national building industry and to look to municipal authorities, in the hope that they would display business enterprise and business organisation and reveal resources of business experience which were lacking in the industry itself.
  Mr. HARCOURT JOHNSTONE: I hope that I may claim the indulgence which is usually granted to a Member when he speaks here for the first time. To a certain extent I hope to secure for myself the indulgence of the Minister in charge of the Bill, and I also hope for indulgence because I have chosen the opportunity to speak when the Attorney-General is on the bench, as I am one of his constituents. I wish very shortly to draw attention, if I may, to one line in the Amendment which has been moved by the hon. Member for Shettleston (Mr. Wheatley) which I do not think has received sufficient attention—
  "It fails to provide the means of securing a sufficient supply of building materials at reasonable prices."
  I am very glad to see the hon. Member for Seaham (Mr. Webb) and the right hon. Gentleman who has just sat down in their places, because this question is closely bound up with the Report from which the right hon. Gentleman has quoted and which I will quote myself later on. But before I do that I wish to refer to some remarks made by the Minister of Health on 28th March in a most inter-
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  esting Debate on the question of the prices of the building materials. The right hon. Gentleman said with reference to the predicted rise in prices:
  "I think that there will be general agreement that we are all anxious to prevent any repetition of that great rise in prices which accompanied what are known as the Addison Scheme houses. I need hardly say that there is no one who is more vitally interested in the matter than myself because the inevitable result if such a rise in prices took place would be the throwing down, if not the wrecking, of the housing programme for which I shall be responsible."—[OFFICICAL REPORRT, 28th March, 1923; col. 682, Vol. 162.]
  We see from that the right hon. Gentleman is fully alive to the difficulty of providing these materials at reasonable prices, and, indeed, the position of the Government is in effect in this scheme that of contractor for the nation. I have very little business experience myself, but I should be very much surprised to know of any contractor who, before he fixes the financial portion of his scheme, would omit to provide himself with materials. It strikes me, and I speak subject to correction, that that is in itself an un-business-like way to begin your housing scheme. I understand from the right hon. Gentleman that he has appointed a Committee to watch prices and report to him, but I suggest to him that perhaps it will be found that, should this rise in prices take place, this Committee is rather a round-about way of immediately reducing prices. They have to report, the report has to be accepted and investigated by the Ministry, and after that action may or may not be taken.
  The right hon. Gentleman who has just sat down said—and I have no doubt that there is nobody with more knowledge of the question of rings than he has—that in the Minority Report adverse comment on rings was of the slightest description. I have the Report here, and I can only say that I think he has a little unfairly quoted one particular Clause or series of phrases in the Report. If I may be allowed, I would like to draw his attention to one passage which occurs further on in the paper which was presented to him and to the Committee on combinations in the building materials trades—by whom I do not know, as the names are not given—and you will see that it is clear that not, only are there rings, but that every contractor and builder knows it, and I speak in the presence of a very

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  eminent builder who is sitting on the Government Bench below the Gangway, and if I had any doubt on the matter this Report which was presented to the Committee on Trusts would dissolve any such doubt at once. That being the case, how are we to deal with the possibility of prices being thrust up against Municipalities? I see two ways, and possibly a sub-head of the first way, which is very difficult to work out, to which, if I may, I will call the attention of the House.
  The first way suggested yesterday by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Leith (Captain W. Benn) is that a tribunal, or perhaps more than one tribunal, should be set up which could take immediate and drastic action and summon before them the persons liable, in their opinion, for the rise in prices, and order the seizure of all documents, and publish from day to day their conclusions on the evidence before them, and so draw the attention of public opinion to this matter. Another way, also mentioned by my hon. and gallant Friend yesterday, is the creation of a free market in materials. At present we are faced, I believe, in the building industry, wherever we look, by this problem, that these houses are built mainly in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Housing, and in accordance with the general feeling that they are to be built mainly by small builders. Small builders in the supplying of materials—I speak very humbly on this—have two or three things against them. They have the question of capital, which drives them, after 30 or 40 years particularly, always to the same builders' merchant. They have, in addition to that, a system of deferred rebates by which they are held continually in thrall to that same builders' merchant. There is no doubt that the man, the small man particularly, who has not much capital, will not take the risk of looking elsewhere for his material, as he might lose the rebate, which may be as high as 20 per cent. in six months' time. In addition to that, the small man when he goes to his merchant has to obtain his merchandise on credit, and credit, perhaps, of a not very generous nature.
  This I understand is roughly the situation with regard to the small builder. What is the alternative to that? It is a free market. I know from conversations
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  with contractors, friends of mine outside this House, that they have been able on more than one occasion to face this ring in building materials by the mere threat of contracting abroad, without actually having to carry out the threat. That seems to me to be the only alternative which the Government and the municipal authorities have in facing these undoubted rings.
  I do not know exactly what amount of each material is available abroad, but I do know that there is a Department of Overseas Trade, and that it is part of that Department's duty to supply statistics, not only as to the available markets for British products, but statistics as to the available supply of products which are needed in this country. It is not a function which the Department exercises as often as it might. I believe that it is the general line of the Government, in dealing with the Overseas Trade Department, very strongly to discourage the giving of such information. I make no charge of any sort. It is very natural in a Conservative Government. Although that Government has not officially labelled itself as Tariff Reform, yet, perhaps all of us have been conscious that when there has arisen a question in which their natural bias can be exercised imperceptibly, it has been so exercised. That is the position. I know, because I have investigated the subject as much as I could in the few days I have had at my disposal, that there are vast stores of material abroad, material which could be imported into this country, or the import of which could be threatened. That would certainly lower or keep at their present level the prices of building materials. Let me quote from the minority report of the Committee on Trusts, for which I imagine the hon. Member for Seaham (Mr. S. Webb) is chiefly responsible:
  "In considering the prevalence of capitalist combinations in British industry, it is impossible to leave out of account the check on profiteering which may be afforded by foreign imports."
  Those of us in this House who are Free Traders did not need to be told that, but it seems to me that the statement has to a certain extent escaped the attention of the Government. I suggest that they should afford to the municipalities the opportunity of drawing the attention of builders to the possibilities of obtaining materials abroad. I know that at one

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  time the Minister of Health did very largely encourage what might be described as a housing bank of the Birmingham Corporation. I understand that he said on several occasions that this branch of the Corporation's finance could be, and in fact was, successful. If difficulties are found in detaching builders from their present builders' merchants, credits of a sort could be given from such banks, established by municipalities to deal with this housing problem. That is one side of the question. The Government ought to take steps to instruct the Department of Overseas Trade to circularise the municipalities, or whoever is responsible for building under this scheme, and to inform them that there are certain stocks of material abroad, certain factories which manufacture the articles used in the building of houses. We all know that there are large numbers of these materials which are free. There is a free market in timber and a free market in several other things. But there is a severely controlled market in very necessary articles. There is a market so controlled in cement, and the like of it has hardly ever been known. On 28th March, by interruption, I did rather impertinently suggest to the Minister of Health that that market would be even more strictly controlled than ever, that there is definitely the beginning of a building boom in America this year, and that I happened to know that a certain firm of American builders is in negotiation for the purchase of the Portland combine, with a view to exporting the whole of its production for use in America. That would shorten the market and raise the prices still further.
  There is, however, in Belgium, a market to which builders should be perfectly free to go for their cement. I understand from contractors that, though in a minor way Belgian cement does not come up to the British specification, it is in fact quite as good. [HON. MEMBERS: "No, it is not!"] I am not a builder, but I have talked to contractors who deal in many millions and use many thousands of tons of cement, and they tell me that the Belgian material is very nearly as good as the British. At the same time that is not the point. There are such things as tiles, which can be imported from abroad and which are just as good as British tiles. I do not wish to be taken as suggesting that we should in any way try to
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  spoil the British market. Anybody who has known England in the last four years knows how desperate is our position and how much in need of employment we are. We want every man and woman possible to be employed. At the same time, is it wise, is it even the ordinary prudence of commerce, to commence a great building scheme which involves the expenditure of many millions of pounds without taking due precautions against the inflation of prices which ruined the former scheme?
  I submit humbly that I have suggested a possible method of keeping prices down. I do not believe, and many of my Labour Friends do not believe, in anti-trust legislation. We have all seen how it has failed in America, how the Standard Oil Trust is dissolved about once a week and regularly pays a higher dividend each time it is dissolved. None the less, we must look for some method of preventing a rise in prices, and a free world market is perhaps the best way to ensure it. As long as we have the Government taking every possible step to make a close market for England, not to use the facilities which are at their command to open the market, but as far as possible to restrict it, we shall have the corollary of a rise in prices. Therefore, even though the actual method of doing this thing through the Department of Overseas Trade may not commend itself to the Government, they should take similar steps to deal with the problem; otherwise,, sooner or later, just as they found before, they will again find an inevitable rise in prices destroying this scheme on which all our hearts are set.
  Mr. LORDEN: I did not propose to deal with the question of rings and so forth until the end of my speech, but as the last speaker has referred to the subject and he thinks that every material bought out of England is better than the material which our British people produce—[HON. MEMBERS: "He did not say so"]—I feel I must say something in favour of British manufacturers. The hon. Member said that he knew nothing about the subject. He stated that Belgian cement is as good as British cement. As a matter of fact there is no comparison between the two. Belgian cement is a Portland cement, so called, but it cannot compare with the English article. I was very much struck by the line taken by the right hon. Member for Northampton (Mr.

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  McCurdy) and very much astonished at it, for he happened to be a member of the Government which did these very things. That is the curious part of it. He was in the Government when Dr. Addison turned the somersault which he objects to so strongly. I happen to know something about that question. When Dr. Addison first brought in his Bill I went to him and said, "You have excluded private enterprise altogether. You have put the municipalities into a position in which they cannot supply you with houses until at least two years have elapsed. You are expecting them to make bricks without straw." Further, at the request of a borough council of which I happened to be a member—and was a member of the Housing Committee—I went with the surveyor of the borough to Sir James Carmichael and said, "Private enterprise has offered to build in this borough 600 houses and to put them up before Christmas, 1919, if you are prepared to give them some encouragement." I will explain what encouragement they wanted.
  They are a well-known firm, and before the War they had been building houses which were costing them £300 each. They had the sewers in, the roads laid; they had a large quantity of material, scaffolding and so forth, ready for a start to be made. They wanted £150 subsidy. For that subsidy they were prepared to allow 5 per cent. per annum for 20 years off the rent. I said, "Here is a scheme. Private enterprise will solve in that borough the whole housing problem." What was the answer? It was, "No; the community must own the houses." Let us hear the result. When Dr. Addison brought in his Bill by which houses might be purchased, what happened? The borough council purchased those houses, built on that very same land, for £900 and more, and to-day the community is finding from £1 to 30s. a week on each of the houses, whereas £150 per house as a subsidy at the beginning would have solved the whole problem. I can give chapter and verse for my statement. I have stated the fact in this House three times before. I have the whole of the papers at home, and in looking over them recently I could not help thinking what idots we have been to exclude private enterprise. Now we find the right hon. Member for Northampton suggesting that
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  it was a topsy turvy sort of business. So it was. I admit that I do not believe in subsidies and that I did not like the idea of subsidies at the time. But when we see the result, that you have bought the houses and that you are paying £1 to 30s. per week on every one of the houses, I am obliged to reconsider my opinion.
  This Bill has gone some way towards making right that topsy turvydom, but I am afraid it does not go quite all the way. I quite agree with the right hon. Member for Northampton that we shall want further assistance before we can get private enterprise into these schemes. They want confidence. They want to know what is going to be done later on. If you can give them that confidence I believe you will get them into these schemes. They are quite ready to build but they have not got the cash to do it. The small speculative builder is the only man who can produce these houses. There is no use in going to the big contracting firms. You have to go to the small speculative builder who takes his coat off and works himself and shows the others the way to do it. I have never been in the house-building industry myself. I have been in the building industry all my life, and so have all my forbears, for many generations, but we have never been in the house-building industry.
  Let me relate one incident to show how I became acquainted with it. Years ago I was in business with my father, and he saw people doing speculative building, and he said, as others were doing it, he saw no reason why he should not also start to do it. I said, "All, right, father, fire away and I shall do anything I can to help, but I am sure you will fail." He did fail, because he had been used for many years to an entirely different class of building. He bought the land—some of it I have got to-day—and, having got the land, he allowed a speculative builder to start putting houses up, but when he went over the work with a plumb line and a level, he said "I cannot have this sort of work," so he took it into his own hands and did it himself. Those houses cost such a sum that we have never been able to sell them. I shall give another instance which shows how the speculative builder gets on. A certain amount of land came into the market and was about to be put up for sale by auction. I suggested to my

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  father that we should purchase it, but he said that we did not want it. I went to the auction myself. There were no bidders, and while I was there the auctioneer offered me the land at a ridiculously low figure. I had not any money of my own at the time, but I borrowed the money and bought it. I did not build upon it, but I got a man who who was in the speculative line, and I let the land to him at a low ground rent. He improved his ground rent, and I purchased his improved ground rent at 20 years' purchase, and afterwards sold the whole ground rent for 25 years' purchase, making a profit on the whole deal. The man who ultimately bought the ground rent got the houses, and I believe has them to-day, and they are quite good houses to-day, although what I am speaking of occurred 40 years ago.
  I welcome the Bill because, as I say, it tends to do away with some of that topsy turvydom which we saw in the first instance. I would point out to hon. Members who say that there is such a demand for houses that it is a matter which requires examination. It is said that every public body has got a very big list of applicants. In the borough with which I have been associated for many years they had an enormous list of people requiring houses. When we went into that list we found that there were on it a large number of people who were already quite well housed, but who thought they would like to go into a new house, and particularly into a subsidised house, with somebody paying part of the rent for them. I do not say that all the applicants for houses are of that type, but this does tend to swell the lists of the municipalities and county councils. There are people who want something a little better than they have got, as I suppose we all do, and they want to get a part of the subsidy which somebody else is providing. I am very glad to see the Minister of Health bringing in the Bill, and I am more than delighted to see how he proposes to deal with the Small Dwellings Act, although I want him to go a little further. We are glad to see a business man and a municipal man in charge of the Bill, and we hope he will bring to bear the lessons which he has learned in both those spheres for the advantage of the community.
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  Prior to 1909, as the Minister pointed out, a very large number of houses was being built every year. Since that unfortunate Finance Act was passed there has been a considerable diminution. You may say, if you like, that it is not all due to that Act, but it is very largely so. At the time I fought strongly against that Act, because I saw what was going to happen, and there is not the slightest doubt we are suffering to-day for it. The right hon. Gentleman who introduced that Bill and made it an Act, required a great deal of courage when he become head of the Aministration to scrap it, but he acknowledged he had made a mistake. I suppose everybody must make a mistake occasionally, and those who do not make mistakes often make nothing at all. It was a great point that the right hon. Gentleman should have been willing to scrap the Act which he thought was going to do so much good, but which actually did harm. We want to bring in the small builder—the man who is going to put up from two to 20 houses. You do not want to bring in people who are going to put up streets and so forth, but the Bill does not go quite far enough to enable this object to be achieved, and I hope that in Committee the right hon. Gentleman will be prepared to consider reasonable Amendments, although we quite understand that he is not going to scrap his Bill, or to risk his proposals with regard to the smaller houses. There is a great deal to be said for the smaller houses being subsidised, although it is rather difficult to see how the private builder is ultimately to get any advantage from it. Still, these houses are probably houses which are difficult to build by private enterprise.
  It has been the custom to run down the houses which were built by the speculative builder in the past. Why did he build those houses? Because they were the houses demanded and the houses required. They were the houses that sold, and they were the houses that let, and therefore he supplied them. There is no doubt that if you want something different he will be quite ready to supply that also. Furthermore, it is all very well to say that we only want 12 houses to the acre. I would rather see the houses closer together with a recreation ground, and I am under the impression that this would provide greater advantage than putting the houses so widely apart. There

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  is a Clause with regard to streets on which I shall speak later on, but I wish to say here and now that I do not believe in urban districts you ought to construct streets of a less width than 40 feet. That gives a wider space for vehicles, and affords many amenities.
  We have the lessons of the previous Acts in this matter, and if the first Act had given any encouragement to private enterprise we would not be in the sad state we are in to-day. There was an opportunity then of obtaining houses, but to-day the right hon. Gentleman has a most difficult task to resuscitate the builders who built the houses in the past. There have been various failures. Some of the houses, such as those built by the London County Council at Roehampton, were costing £1,700, and it is ridiculous to say they would ever fetch anything like £500. It has been suggested that the high cost is due to a ring of builders, but, as has been asked by the right hon. Member for Northampton, what were the builders to do? They were asked to compete; they were asked to do the work, but where can you find any firm of builders of repute or otherwise who built houses under the Addison scheme and who have made money out of it, although the price was so high? I could show you scores who came along with prospectuses and said they were going to do this, that and the other thing, and who had contracts for numbers of houses, but what happened? They never got through with them, they never finished their contracts. They went "broke" before they had completed the work.
  Mr. TURNER: What about McAlpine's?
  7.0 P.M.
  Mr. LORDEN: You Dray have some exceptions, but I am taking the general rue, and I know nothing about that firm, although I have heard of it. Fault has been found with the houses built by the speculative builder, but what sort of houses were built under the Addison scheme, and how long will they stand? Every crank idea possible was put into these houses, and many of them, in 20 years' time, will cost a great deal more for maintenance and upkeep than the rent they produce. Therefore, I think the wise policy of the Government will be to say to the people, and to the councils: "Sell the houses at whatever
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  price they will fetch." I believe that in the near future there will be such an increase in the cost of maintenance that it will be a great advantage to let the tenants have them at almost any price. [HON. MEMBERS "Put it on the poor people!"] Not at all. It is not because you want to catch the people, but because when a man lives in a house and owns it, he takes an interest in it, and has repairs executed at once, and a stitch in time often saves not nine but 90. A broken waterpipe or a loose tile may do enormous damage if it is left for some time, but if it is put right at once, the result is very little damage. You will find that in these houses an, enormous amount of repairs will be required, and I should get rid of them at any price they will fetch. When the municipality is the landlord, the tenant is not going to trouble. He is not going to drive a nail or turn a screw. If the door handle is coming off, and the set screw coming out of it, he will write to the landlord and ask him to put it on. That is the difference between a man owning his house and one who has got the municipality for his landlord. There was one thing the Addison scheme did do cheaply. It bought the land under market price. There are thousands of acres which could be let to private enterprise builders at a ground rent. I would let them do the same as I did, with my little speculation. I would let them improve the ground rent, and I would be man enough to recommend the local authorities to purchase the improved ground rent, because then the builder would be able to sell his house at less than it cost to build. In the past, the backbone of the small builder has been the profit he has made in the improved ground rent. Unless you are going to do something like that, you will not get the small builders into this. While they are building, on the local authority's land, and they have the power to finance it, they have it, all in their own hands.
  I should think it would suit some of the Labour party to let on a long lease. Hon. Members believe in owning the houses; why not let on a 99 years' lease; then, when that lease falls in, the community will own them. That is a method. I am not particularly keen on leaseholds, though I should like to see all leaseholds become enfranchised. I believe, in time, that will be so. A

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  man cannot possibly buy the land as well as build the house, but he can pay a small ground rent, and thereby you would bring in private enterprise. It is houses that we want, and I do not think the method of obtaining them, so long as it is fair and square, matters very much. Another question that will prevent private enterprise coming in is that of repairs. I hope the Minister of Health—although, perhaps, he cannot do it in this Bill—will, in some future Measure, make it compulsory upon a tenant to keep the house clean and free from vermin. That is one of the greatest drawbacks in regard to small property. A dirty tenant is a very great nuisance, not only in regard to the house he occupies, but to the public health. There is one point on which most of us agree. In Sub-section (2) of Clause 1 the Minister has set out the minimum and maximum sizes of his houses. There has been a great deal of controversy about that. I hope the right hon. Gentleman will see his way, not to increase the area of superficial feet largely, but so to increase it that if houses be built, the maximum number of superficial feet shall be something above the total there stated. It should be increased by 50 or 100 feet, or, better, by 150 feet. That would give a parlour which would be large enough.
  I come to Clause 2. The right hon. and learned Member for Spen Valley (Sir J. Simon) has touched on one of the points as to which I am very anxious. An extension has been made of the Small Holdings Act. It is a very good extension, but a little more is wanted. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of Sub-section (3) should also be made to apply to that Act. I cannot conceive why, if you are going to encourage housing, you should not give an opportunity to the local authority to guarantee or to pay off interest on the loan that has been advanced. That would be a great help toward getting more houses. With regard to the rates, I know what the right hon. Gentleman said in introducing the Bill. He does not like to tinker with the rates. As an old municipal hand, I can quite sympathise with him. The rates seem to be sacred; but the rates, and the Schedule A tax, at the present time, are a very great drawback to these small houses. I cannot see why some small, compulsory rebate cannot be
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  made from the rates, to enable the occupier, during the first five or 10 years, to occupy the house until we get back to quite reasonable prices in building. I know that some of the central authorities and the county councils say we cannot do that. As a man interested in municipal work, I am inclined to feel that way also. But we are now at a time such as has never existed before. Unless you take it now, you will lose it for ever, and not only the authorities, but the Government, will have to build entirely for people who have a less income than £5 a week. That will be a very serious state of affairs.
  I want to urge, that in Clause 5, Subsection (2, a), the Minister should put in a definite percentage, and that it should not be more than 5 per cent. We have heard that the Scottish people have borrowed money at something like 3 per cent. or 3½ per cent., which made one's mouth water. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh!"] At any rate, it was suggested by an hon. Member, on this side, that they were able to get money even below 4 per cent. I will not go below that. I will say 4½ per cent. If it can be borrowed at that sum, surely to goodness the expenses of administration ought not to be more than per cent. I therefore press that the loans should not bear interest on more than 5 per cent. In regard to Clause 5, Sub-section (2, b), I take it that 50 per cent. of the value of the site may be advanced. What we want to know is, how will a leasehold site be dealt with? Will no advance be made unless the site is owned by the builder? That is a very important point, which we ought to have cleared up in the Bill. There is no superficial extent mentioned in Sub-section (3), in regard to the £1,500, and I take it that the house can be as large as the builder likes, provided that it does not cost more than £1,500. I believe you would want at least 1,600 superficial feet to provide a residence with really comfortable and large rooms. [HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, hear!"] That is in regard to these houses and not where the subsidy occurs. I like home, and I like other people to have nice homes, also.
  There is another question to which I would refer. Under Sub-section (1) of Clause 5, the Metropolitan borough councils should in my opinion, have the right to appeal to the Minister. The

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  London County Council are a very autocratic body. As one who has served on both bodies, I think that where there is a difference, of opinion between the two, as to whether they want houses in their district or not, or as to whether advances are to be paid, they should have the right of appeal to the Minister. I hope to put down an Amendment to that effect during the Committee stage. I come to Clause 12, under which the Minister has power to approve of bye-laws relating to the construction of new streets. I want him to put in another Clause, to apply to the Metropolitan borough councils. I do not think those councils ought to be excluded. Provision should be made that when a road becomes a new street, and is taken over and made up by the local authority, the cost, which at present comes to something between £50 and £70 per house—15 or 20 years ago the cost was from £15 to £20—and is a very serious item, should be distributed over a period of 10 years. Many people say, "Why should the frontager be compelled to make up the road according to the views of the borough council"? There my municipal experience comes in. I think it is a very wise provision. Otherwise, I should perhaps feel with them that the road might be made up by the local authority. When, however, you have expenses of £50 to £70, which are three times the amount of profit a man will make out of a house, some help must be given in making up the roads. I hope the Minister of Health will make it apply in some way to London, as well. I can quite imagine the London County Council not wanting to be interfered with.
  We come to Clause 17, of which I so very much approve, and which is a great advance. With regard to paragraph (c), I cannot imagine why we should put in the condition that a man must occupy the house for a period of five years from the date when the advance is made. If he has to occupy the house for five years, how many will build when their work may take them away after a short period? It is unreasonable. If there must be some occupation, which I do not think is at all necessary, many people will build a pair of houses, one for themselves and one, probably, for their son or friend, and will let it. Are you going to stop that sort of thing? I do not know
  560
  why paragraph (c), requiring a man to occupy the house, has been put in at all. Certainly, five years is an unreasonable time, when business interests may cause his removal, and anything may happen during that period. Yet he is limited; he cannot sell, or do anything with the house; he must occupy it. I hope that provision will be modified; and the thing might be enlarged so that anyone who builds the house may have the advantage of letting it if he does not want to live in it. There is, again, the question of the value of the site to be taken into consideration, and that means a freehold site. Here, again, I would appeal to the Minister and ask what he proposes to do with a leasehold site? I hope a leasehold will not bar anybody from getting an advance on a house.
  I have dealt with the question of rings, but I had the honour, when the right hon. Member for Northampton (Mr. McCurdy) was presiding over the Profiteering Committee, to preside over the brick, tile, and stoneware trade, and I found there that there were certain combinations which had been brought about in this way. During the War the Government desired to have collective bargaining, and they asked these people to get together and formulate what would be a fair thing to pay their people, just the same as the trade unions decided what they wanted. When you had once got them together, they saw that there was something in combination, and they remained in combination, just the same as the trade unionists. If there are trade unions, there must be other combinations to combat the trade unions, or to keep them in check. We made a recommendation, which I will presently read. I believe you can stop all these rings and profiteering by publicity. At the present time limited companies have to lodge at Somerset House particulars of their profits. I would enlarge those particulars that have to be delivered, and I would have delivered particulars of firms where they are in combination. Our recommendation was as follows:
  "We are of opinion that where in any trade there are associations controlling 60 per cent. or more of an industry, steps should be taken to safeguard the interests of the community. We would, therefore, suggest that every such association should be required to obtain from its members, and at the end of each 12-monthly period

  561
  publish, a statement showing the average trading profit, the average net profit in relation to the turnover of the industry, in so far as it is covered by such association, the average ratio of turnover to capital, and the average wages earned per hour by skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled labour."
  If those particulars were given, the public Press would be able to go and see what was being done. It would give an indication of whether an unfair profit was being made or whether there was a retarding of output in the interests of any trade. I do not believe in the retarding of output, either by manufacturers or by men. I believe that everyone should give of his best to the community, and I am as strongly against combines which retard industry and output as I am against the trade unionist who does not give a fair day's work. They are all in the same category, to my mind, and, therefore, I believe that if we were to have an Amendment such as this it would be a good thing. It is very necessary, in our complicated system of industry at the present time, that we should know whether people are making a fair profit, whether they are paying a fair wage, and whether they are making more than a fair profit on their turnover or on their capital. I have dealt with the Bill in some detail, but this is an important occasion, and I know something about building and about housing, so that I feel that it is only right that I should say something on this matter. I hope it will be helpful to the Minister, and I am prepared to help him all I can, if I can be of any use at all.
  Mr. MARDY JONES: The hon. Member for North St. Pancras (Mr. Lorden) gave us a great discovery in regard to the failure of private enterprise in the building of houses, and we know now from him, as an experienced building contractor, that the reason why we do not get houses by private enterprise is because a plumb line is not introduced. In regard to his contention in regard to jerry building, perhaps it will interest the hon. Member if I relate an actual incident which occurred in South Wales during the great storm of 1913. Two building contractors were travelling together the next day, and one of them was very glum. His friend asked what was the matter. I should say that both were contractors in the same town and had built two streets of houses. The man with the glum appearance said, "The storm yesterday has blown down half my houses." His friend, who was
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  very cheerful, said, "I have been luckier. All the houses I built are still standing strong.' "How do you account for that?" said the other builder. "Oh," he replied, "the houses have been occupied for nearly 12 months, and fortunately the tenants have papered the walls." That will, I think, illustrate the stability of a jerry-built house.
  I should like to refer to the speech of the Minister of Health in explaining the Bill yesterday. I followed that speech as closely as possible, and I must say that it v, as a very lucid statement of the provisions of the Bill, but I think he was rather unfair to the Labour party when he twitted us with having long ago made up our minds to oppose any Housing Bill of any sort. That is really not the attitude of mind of the party to which I have the honour to belong. I venture to say that this party is as sincere as any party in this House in its desire to get houses built, either by private enterprise, or by public enterprise, or by the co-operation of both. It is quite evident that the present Bill is but a partial attempt to link up private and public enterprise, backed up by State subsidies and assistance from the rates by local authorities. The Minister was frank enough to admit that the Bill will not solve the housing problem and that it will merely act as a temporary experiment, subject to review after two years' trial. That was a frank admission, but even as an experiment I venture to say that there is no hope of success unless the Bill is materially improved in Committee on a number of important points.
  We must have a very radical improvement in the space allotted to the type of houses that have to be built. We were pleased to learn from the right hon. Gentleman yesterday that while the word "parlour" was not in the Bill, he did propose in the space allotted to make room for a parlour, but the actual sizes of the rooms that he himself gave us yesterday are very unsatisfactory indeed, and I hope the suggestion of the hon. Member for North St. Pancras, himself a builder of experience, will be taken by the Minister, and that we shall have at least 100 to 200 extra feet thrown into the minimum standard of house. A parlour, I suggest, is a vital necessity in practically every working-class house. There are far too many non-parlour houses in this country, and we should

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  discourage the construction of many more. I do not suggest that every house should be of the parlour type. There may be a case in certain parts of the country, and in some percentage in most parts of the country, for a non-parlour type of house, but at least half of the houses to be built should have a parlour of a large and commodious size. This is essential, because in the average working-class home, of father, mother, and several children, whether young children growing up and attending school or children who have grown up and are working and perhaps about to settle down to a married life of their own, a parlour is a necessity.
  The second improvement we desire in the Bill—and I speak on this, at any rate, for most of the local authorities in South Wales—is with regard to the State subsidy, which appears to be a fixed rate of £6 per house. We hope that that flat rate will not be adhered to, but that the subsidy will be based on a sliding scale, at a higher maximum than £6 for 20 years, or at a lower maximum for 60 years, because the variety of circumstances is so great over the country that it, would be far better to have a sliding scale, so that we could adapt the subsidy to the needs of the various regions with their differing circumstances. The third modification that we hope will be put in, either in this Bill or in a separate Measure, is that the Minister should give us the assurance in law that he was good enough to refer to in his speech yesterday, namely, that the Government are going to use the power they have got to prevent the profiteering hogs from dominating the building trade of the country. We want prices to be kept within reasonable limits for all building materials, and when houses are built and then sold to the occupiers, I hope the control will also have reference to the prices at which they are sold.
  The fourth point to which I wish to refer is this: The Bill will stand or fall, so far as public support is concerned, on this, that whatever particular method or series of methods of constructing houses may be adopted, the vital point after all, from the workman's point of view, is the rent at which he is going to get a house, and I hope the rental that will be fixed will not be the economic rent at all. It
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  is quite obvious that that will be impossible, but I hope it will be a rent commensurate with the wages prevailing in each industrial and rural region. If we can secure a number of Amendments on these lines, I think the Government will carry the country with them and will rally the best elements in the building industry, both capital and labour, to co-operate with the local authorities in providing adequate, decent homes at fair rents for the masses of the people.
  The Government must, I suggest, treat the experimental period of two years outlined in the Bill as the beginning of a national housing reconstruction policy to solve the housing problem within the next ten years or so. Surely it is not beyond the wit of British statesmanship to find means whereby we can provide adequate houses for the people of this country over that period of ten years or so, because even if this Bill is going to be amended in Committee along the lines we are expecting on this side of the House, it will not provide nearly sufficient houses to meet the requirements of the normal increase in the population. Yesterday the Minister made a statement in which he estimated that we have at present four and a half persons on an average occupying the houses in Great Britain. He made the point that, prior to the Budget of 1909, the average number of houses built in this country was about 80,000 a year, but that following that Budget, and largely because of the fiscal proposals in that Budget, the number of houses which were built fell to an average of about 46,000 a year right up to 1914. He also stated that the increase in population in the decennial period from 1911 to 1921 was a little over 181,000 a year. That is true of England and Wales, but the decennial figures, if Scotland is included, work out at 193,000 a year on an average. The number of houses built by State assistance, we are told, is about 215,000, and these houses have been built during the period from 1919 up to the present moment. Of this total, he said that 161,000 were required solely to meet the increase of population.
  I have checked these figures by the Census figures, and I rather think there are certain inaccuracies in some of these particulars, because I find, according to the Census of 1921, the population of Great Britain was 42,767,530, and that the

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  Minister's average of four and a half persons per house means that you must have at the present time about 9,500,000 houses, plus the 50,000 houses required to meet the increase of population since the last Census. I have not been able to secure a return of the number of houses shown in the Census of 1921. I understand the figures are not available, but if they are available to the Minister in charge of the Bill, it would be an advantage to this House to know. The latest Census return we have on housing is that for 1911, and, according to that, we have in Great Britain 8,155,150 inhabited houses. The Minister stated yesterday that the Liberal Government's average production of houses was about 46,000 in each of the years following the Budget of 1909. Let us put it at 50,000. Therefore, for the three years 1912, 1913 and 1914, we have built in this country about 150,000 houses: from 1915 to 1918 practically no houses were built at all, and, from 1919 up to the present moment, it is safe to say that the total number of houses built has been less than 250,000. So that the total number of houses built in Great Britain from the period of the last Census to date is about 400,000. Adding that to the total of known inhabited houses in 1911, at the present moment we have in Great Britain something over 8,500,000 inhabited houses. If that is correct, the estimate made yesterday by the Minister of four and a half persons per house may be very much out.
  The MINISTER of HEALTH (Mr. Chamberlain): The hon. Member has misinterpreted what I said yesterday. I did not say four and a half persons per house, but that four and a half is the average number of persons in a family.
  Mr. MARDY JONES: I am very glad the. Minister has been good enough to enlarge upon his statement of yesterday. In that case, it comes to this, that the average number of persons, including lodgers, and everybody else, works out at about five persons per house. In any case, the point I wish to make is that the Minister does not seem to have appreciated to the full extent the probable increase of population in the current decennial period. He made the point in his speech that the average increase in the last decennial period was about 181,000 persons per year. Beyond
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  that, he said nothing. We were left to assume that something similar would be the position in the coming 10 years, but I venture to say that the increase of population in the coming 10 years is likely to be far in excess of what it was in the last 10 years. [An HON. MEMBER: "Why?"] I will give the reason in a moment. According to the Census returns of 1911, there was then an increase of population over the previous Census of 1901 of 3,831,450 persons. The increase for the decennial period up to 1921 was only 1,936,134, which shows that the steady increase in population throughout all the decennial periods from the beginning of the nineteenth century upwards was well above 10 per cent. until the War, when it was reduced in the last decennial period to about 5 per cent. Therefore, there has been a drop of nearly 2,000,000 during the decennial period covering the War. Surely it is not an elaborate estimate to assume that the population in the next Census, 1931, will certainly be at least 3,000,000 greater than in 1921, and probably 4,000,000.
  The point I wish to make, and to which I desire to draw the attention of the Minister, is that, in all probability, we shall have a population in 1931 of 46,000,000 people in Great Britain, and, at five persons per house, it will mean that we shall require at least 9¼ million houses at that period. This shows that at the present moment, in the year of grace, 1923, we need to build a minimum of 100,000 houses every year for the next 10 years, if we are merely to keep pace with the increase of population, without at all reducing the overcrowding that is known to exist. But, according to the financial statement which has accompanied the Housing Bill, it is evident that the Ministry of Health estimate that, if their Bill goes through and is put into operation, we shall build State-assisted houses on an average of 60,000 for each of the two years covering the period of the Bill. Assuming that, in addition to the State-assisted houses, private enterprise, public utility societies, and other authorities build, say, another 20,000, which, I think, is a very good estimate of the probable building we shall get outside State assistance, it will mean that for the first two years covered by this Bill, there will be an annual shortage of 20,000 houses on the minimum of 100,000 a year

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  necessary to keep pace with the increase of population. The Government ought to face these facts of the growth of population, and enlarge their housing Bill accordingly.
  I wish to say one or two words with regard to the situation as we find it in the South Wales coalfield, the population of which, and its seaboard of Newport, Cardiff, Swansea and Llanelly, is over one and three-quarter millions. The bulk of the population of Wales is in that congested area. There has been in the South Wales coalfield, not in the last five, 10 or even 20 years, but always since the days of the industrial revolution, a shortage of houses for the people. Not only has there been a shortage of houses, but in the most prosperous period of the development of the mining industry in South Wales, the people have been abominably housed. I have no desire to occupy the time of the House in harrowing the feelings of Members with details of the conditions. The conditions are no worse in any part of Great Britain than they are to-day, I regret to say, in many of the older portions of the coalfield of South Wales, and I want the Minister to realise that I am speaking not merely my own opinion and determination, but for the entire mining population of South Wales, when I say that we will not tolerate any schemes of housing in South Wales which leave out a good sized parlour for the houses that are built. There is not a single local authority in any mining centre of South Wales that will function the powers of this Bill unless that provision be put in during the Committee stage.
  The mining population of South Wales is neither better nor worse than any industrial population in any other part of Great Britain, but I do claim that the people there are a clean-living and a very studious body of people, despite the sordid surroundings in which too many of them have to exist. There are thousands of growing boys and girls in our mining areas who are very studious, who want to take advantage of all the educational facilities, and who want enlarged educational facilities. What is the attitude of the Government on this matter? I am not satisfied that they are looking ahead to the needs in the homes of the
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  people for adequate amenities for a social and educated life. I myself have been brought up in a very small cottage, but even in that small cottage we had a commodious parlour. In similar homes most Members of the party to which I belong, and also, I believe, some Members of other parties, have been brought up, and have had a spare room in which, without interruption of home life, they were able to carry on their studies I assure the Minister that there is no point in this Bill which is so bitterly resented as the inadequate provision of a parlour in the type of houses they are going to build. Even the financial proposals are less distasteful, and, whatever else happens, if the Government wish to see this Housing Bill received by the people, carried out in the industrial areas and adequately administered, they have to make provision in that way.
  I wish to draw the attention of the Minister to one particular point which, to my mind, is not necessarily covered by this Bill, but which he will have to bear in mind in dealing with the needs of South Wales. Nature has decided for us largely the kind of life we have to live in the mining parts of South Wales. The greater part of that coalfield is very mountainous in character. It is divided physically into 14 main mining valleys. In each of these valleys there is a large and rapidly growing population. These valleys cover the richest portion of the South Wales coalfield right away from Monmouthshire, through Glamorgan into Carmarthenshire. These valleys are intercepted by mountain ranges of from 1,000 to 2,500 feet. The people live segregated, each valley living its own life, a complete community. Owing to the narrowness of the valleys, and the steep hillsides, most of the little bits of land of a sloping or flat nature in these valleys are already occupied either by houses, by industrial undertakings, or railways, with the result that you have this kind of anomaly in the Rhondda Valley. The Rhondda Valley is perhaps the biggest example we have of a population of 180,000, still increasing, with every acre of available land already taken up with houses, so that the local authority is not able to build any more houses in that locality. Personally, as one who has come from Rhondda, I hope they will never build another house. At the same

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  time the Rhondda urban authority requires at least 12,000 houses, and the neighbouring authority requires another 2,000. So far as Rhondda is concerned they cannot afford them there even if you give them that financial support they desire.
  One of the late Ministers was good enough to appoint a South Wales Survey Committee to go into the whole of this question. That Committee has had serving upon it some of the best public men in South Wales. The Committee has also had all the advantage of the excellent knowledge of the Ministry and of the South Wales people concerned that anyone could desire. They made certain recommendations, and I wish to bring this to the notice of the Minister in regard to the needs of that area. They recommended that instead of leaving it to each of the smaller local authorities to go its own way, to build half a dozen houses here, and half a dozen there, that South Wales should take advantage of the scientific progress of the last few years, particularly in regard to transport facilities, and in regard to the garden city and town planning projects. This Committee recommended that we should build two dormitory towns, two residential towns on the edge of the South Wales coalfield, one near to the town of Llantrisant and the other near to the town of Bridgend. By building two large central residential areas on garden city lines, just away from where the bulk of the future mining developments will take place, it was considered that we shall solve the housing problem for all those teeming valleys. By means of adequate and cheap transport this can be realised, and we shall have the advantage of the men living 5, 10 or 12 miles away from the pits where they work, and merely going up the valleys for their working hours, and the greater advantage of the men's families, their wives and children, living away from the sordid surroundings and rubbish heaps of the pits and the smoke, and living instead in the beautiful country parts of the beautiful valleys of Glamorgan. That is not a dream of the future. That is a thing that can be realised by the present Government if they have the courage and determination to carry it out.
  What is true of the South Wales coalfields is true of similar areas up and down
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  the country. I do hope that the Minister will put his foot down and give the local authorities that are inclined to be antiquated, backward, and out-of-date in their outlook a strong hint in this direction, and that in his Bill, or some Regulations made in connection with this Bill he will bear these points in mind. I venture to say with all due respect that if you can give us in South Wales some housing scheme on these lines within the next 10 years, you are going to do a great deal towards making the revolutionary spirit which now animates South Wales, as it does the Clyde and every industrial centre, a thing of the past. We have the extreme position in our political outlook generated for us by the social conditions in which we are compelled to live and work. I hope that the Government will give serious attention to this. Only last week there was a very representative conference of most of the local authorities in South Wales at Cardiff, and they were strongly opposed to the proposal of the Government Housing Bill mainly on two points, inadequate State assistance—that is the finance of the scheme—and also on the question of the parlour type of house. That conference appointed a deputation to visit this city, and to-morrow all the Welsh Members returned from Wales are asked to receive this deputation which will put the case for Wales, and particularly for South Wales, before it. As a Member of Parliament and of the Labour party we are determined to see to it that justice shall at least be done in any housing scheme proposed in this House.
  Mr. W. E. PEASE: In venturing to address the House for the first time, I do not pose in any way whatever as an authority on house building, but merely as an individual who, more by force of circumstances than anything else, has been forced into the position of being responsible, or partly responsible, for building many hundreds of houses. I may say that I have been connected with house building and building schemes, and schemes of housing for municipal employés. I was connected with the building of houses under the Addison scheme, and also with the building of houses for private firms. I may tell the House from this experience that it is evident that you cannot possibly hope, whatever house you build, or to whatever trouble or pains you may go, for one

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  moment to satisfy every man or every woman with the house you put up for him. I daresay people speak about the inconveniences of their new houses. Perhaps hon. Members have personally had experience of it in houses of their own, and, therefore, they will not be surprised at anybody going into one of these smaller houses, finding some fault with them, and displaying a tendency to grumble. I think that one does come to some conclusions after the building of a great many houses, and one of those conclusions is that the type which is satisfactory and right in one part of the country is not at all a suitable class of house in another part. I think hon. Members will also come to the conclusion that certainly two types, or it may be three types, will have to be built to satisfy the requirements of the people.
  In that part of the county of Durham of which I have most knowledge, and which is a pit district, we find an enormous demand for the small houses of three rooms. These rooms comprise a sitting room about 17 feet by 13 feet, a bedroom 16 feet by 12 feet, and a scullery, say, 12 feet by 10 feet. In that scullery there is what is called a Yorkshire stove. Next to it there is what looks like a table, but if you lift the lid of the table you disclose a bath with hot and cold water. There is also a sink and an ashpit closet, and a coal house in the yard outside. There is also a fairly large garden in front. These houses can be built for £285 including the cost of the roads, and the cost of railing in the garden. The superficial area of the house is 622 feet which is more than the smallest house suggested in the Bill. These houses are in great demand by young married couples. When the young men first marry they do not want to be compelled to have anyone in their houses. Naturally, they feel a desire to live by themselves. We find, therefore that these houses suit them very well for a period of years—sometimes longer, sometimes shorter—until the family begins to grow up and the house proves itself to be too small. The time, of course, eventually comes when that family may have to move to a larger house, and the type of house that they find best for them then is a four-roomed house or really a five-roomed house, consisting of a living room of the same sort of size as before, three bedrooms running,
  572
  none of them less than 12 feet square, perhaps a trifle larger. Then you have the scullery exactly the same as before, and you have the outhouses similar to the first house I have mentioned. These houses to-day are being built for £350 apiece each. They cover an area of 880 feet, which again is larger than the maximum under the Government scheme.
  There is another house built in the district smaller than that, which runs out to 585 feet. Again, this is larger, infinitesimally larger, than the minimum under the Government scale. We find by experience that this house is not so well liked as the larger ones I have mentioned These houses are built in streets, and by building them in that way you avoid one or two weaknesses in the Addison scheme. There you dotted your houses 12 to the acre. In the towns near to where I live there they stand to-day houses two by two dotted over the land. The result is that the cost of the new roads and sewers, the new water mains, gas mains, and electric cables in the case of the Addison scheme were out of all proportion to what they ought to have been had these houses been built in streets. There is no necessity to make your streets too long, but there is no doubt about it from the practical point of view to build your houses in streets is far more economical, and you get a better house than if you build them in the way they were built under the Addison system.
  The houses of which I am speaking were built by direct labour, the materials being provided for the workers. The total cost as I have given. I have had another experience in this matter and that is in building houses of the artisan type, and I think we must agree that this house must be of the parlour type. I remember being responsible for the erection of six houses for artisans of the character I am referring to, and I have in my mind what I call the perfect type of house in which they ought to wish to live. The house was designed with my ideas included. My great idea was a very large living room. I let some of my men see the plans, but they were not deceived with any great enthusiasm, and in the end I was referred to the "missus." Perhaps I need hardly tell hon. Members that in every case my plan was turned down by the "missus." She said, "No, a living room of this sort is no use to us, we must have a parlour." In the end

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  this plan was cut into and the parlour was built, which has given every satisfaction to those who have lived in it ever since. But it does show that when you get to the larger type of house than those of which I am speaking the parlour type of house is absolutely essential.
  8.0 P.M.
  There is just one Clause to which I should like to refer. That is the Clause which gives power to the local authority, municipal or otherwise, to make it easier for those houses, in fact to give a subsidy in the form of a decrease in rates. I regard that Clause with the greatest apprehension. After some 25 years of municipal experience, I consider that the rate ought to be absolutely sacred, and I should very much fear giving the local authority the option of giving a subsidy in the form of a decrease in the rates. I should like to urge on the Minister that if that sentiment is found to be in any degree general in other parts of the House, he will give it his earnest consideration with a view to seeing whether it could not be removed. I am speaking of a smaller type of house than most of the other Members who have spoken on this subject; I am speaking of the cheapest type of house that is to be built, and, after all, houses must be built cheaply if you are to be able to let them at a reasonable rent. There is one conclusion which I have come to during my experience in house building, and that is that the two types of houses I have spoken of to-night are both of them larger than the types included in the Bill The smaller type of house of 550 feet may, and very likely will, be required in some parts of the country, but so far as our experience goes, it has proved too small. In regard to houses of the larger type, which under the Bill will cover 780 feet, we find that we want even a larger type of house than that. Ours, as I have said, are up to 880 feet.
  Mr. AMMON: I am sure that all of us, irrespective of party, if I may be permitted to say so, will felicitate the hon. Gentleman, who has just addressed the House, on the speech he has delivered, which is full of information and knowledge of the facts of the case which he has to deal with. By a curious coincidence, yesterday the London County Council was discussing the problem of housing at the same time as this House. The Bill introduced by the right hon.
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  Gentleman was under discussion. I am bound to say that, although the members representing his own party defended the Bill as best they could, it was rather a case of damning it with faint praise. They felt that they had not a very strong case to defend, but they had to put up the best front they could. The position we are faced with at the present time can be estimated by the fact that, if we narrow it down to one county, two years ago the London County Council had a plan for building 29,000 houses, which was a conservative estimate of the needs of London. Unfortunately, the Minister of Health interfered with that and upset the plan, so that it was narrowed down to a few thousands. The London County Council have erected in that time something like 8,000 houses, but they have a plant in Becontree, 75 per cent. of which is useless owing to the action of the Minister in preventing the building schemes going forward.
  The Member for North St. Pancras (Mr. Lorden) seemed to be doubtful as to whether the applications which had been received for houses were genuine applications. Up to April, 1922, there were 25,000 applications for houses on the books of the London County Council. That was after the number had been fined down, and a very large number bad been rejected. Surely it is reasonable to say that this cannot be any exaggeration, but must be in accordance with the situation created by the fact that normal building had been suspended during the War years. There has been no building to meet the ordinary normal demand of the population during those years. When the hon. Member suggested that it was merely a case of people wishing to move from one place to another, he was quite right, but I would point out to him that these are cases of people who are living in overcrowded houses and are wanting new houses, and of people who want to get married and have been living up to now with their parents. That is the sort of thing that is indicated in those figures I have quoted. I want to join with the hon. Member for North St. Pancras in suggesting to the Minister of Health that he might consider the suggestion for giving a greater increase in the area of houses. The plans which were submitted, and which were on view in the County Hall yesterday, show that the rooms provided under this scheme give those figures for the proposed new parlour type of

  575
  house. The parlour will be 10 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches, and one bedroom will be 6 feet 10 inches by 10 feet 6 inches. What is going to happen when they come to put a bedstead into a bedroom like that we may leave to the imagination. There are stories of people having put up bedsteads and having to take them down again in order to get out of the room, and I am afraid that is what will happen in this case. The worst of it is that, while this type of room was exceptional now, under the Minister's own suggestion these will be made a standard, and will be wholly inadequate for the needs of the people.
  I want to reinforce what has been said about the needs of a parlour in the houses of working people. That is not a luxury but is an essential, and with growing families, and just now when we have so much talk and a certain amount, of good legislation passing through this House to protect young people, surely we should do all we can to encourage these young people and tie them to the formative influences of their homes. If we build houses like these, these young people will be driven into the streets where they will seek companionship instead of doing their courtship in the home and doing their necessary studies there. I hope that, at all costs, the Minister will reconsider this and, as far as he can, give us a parlour type of house with larger area which he has indicated. I do not want to go over the ground which has been so largely traversed already, but I want to call the Minister's attention and ask him for advice and further explanation in regard to one or two points in the Bill. In the ordinary way under Part III of the Principal Act, namely, the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, the Council, since the passing of the Housing. Town Planning, etc., Act, 1919, is largely confined to the exercise of its powers outside London, but having regard to the provisions of paragraph (b) of Sub-section (2), it will be noted that the assistance to be given by the Council under the Clause must only be given in respect of houses inside London. One of the difficulties that arises under this Clause relates to the powers of the local authorities to refund rates. As the Council does not receive any rates directly from any person liable for their payment in this respect differing very largely from other local authorities
  576
  under Part III. of the Act of 1890, it is doubtful whether it would apply to the Council. For the purposes of the administration of Sub-section (4) there does not appear to be any satisfactory provision enabling the local authority to ascertain whether any addition to or enlargement of the house has been made without its consent and whether the house is used otherwise than as a separate dwelling-house, or whether any other part of the regulations made by local authorities with the approval of the Minister of Health have been complied with. So far as London is concerned, notice of any intended addition or enlargement of the house would probably have to be given to the district surveyor, pursuant to Section 145 of the London Building Act, 1894. He would, however, be under no obligation to notify the Council of any works referred to in the notice to him. It seems desirable, therefore, that, apart from any other general modification of Sub-section (4), to secure the effective administration of Clause 2, I suggest it would be desirable to insert in the Clause a provision similar to Section 12 of the Housing (Additional Powers) Act, 1919, which relates to the execution of that Act in London. Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Health will give some consideration to that.
  I have only one other point, which concerns Clause 9 of the Bill. That has reference to the position of certain licensed premises. No one knows better than the right hon. Gentleman, from his municipal experience, that on insanitary areas there usually exists a considerable number of licensed premises, many of them of a very poor type, but they are rather lucrative to those who own them, and the actual structure having been rebuilt or kept in repair, can only be condemned when by reason of its position it obstructs light and air. This results that in order to effect the absolutely necessary destruction of a licensed house so as to enable a reconstruction of the surrounding insanitary area, a quite disproportionate expenditure is requisite from the all too slender funds available for dealing with slum areas. What I want to ask further information about is what will be done to ensure that it is no legitimate function of a local authority to take into consideration the extinction of licences, and that there should be no

  577
  opportunity for extremist temperance councillors to devoting money required for slum clearance to temperance matters. On the other hand, Licensing Justices would be probably only too willing to delay taking action on the assumption that the local authorities would take action and relieve them of a good deal of responsibility. Then it is not unreasonable to imagine that there might be a reduction of licences under consideration in certain areas which might be put off in the expectation that the local authority would face the expenditure necessary.
  I want to suggest that it should be made quite clear that the local authority would pay the property value and the Licensing Justices the trade value, and that both authorities would be paying less than if either had to deal with the matter themselves. I will quote one instance to show what happens in this respect in London in the Boundary Street area. The scheme was executed prior to the 1919 Act. Eleven public-houses were demolished. Their claim for compensation amounted to, approximately, £45,000. Settlement was effected for, approximately, £15,000, of which no less than, approximately, £14,000 was paid for the value of the liquor trade. Similarly, in the Clare Market scheme, on nine demolished public-houses settlement was effected for £75,173, of which the compensation for trade amounted to £46,000. My point is to suggest that these figures ought not to fall as a charge upon the building scheme, or upon the local authority, and I hope the right hon. Gentleman will be able to give us some clear explanation of that point.
  Mr. GILBERT: The Minister of Health, in introducing this Bill, said that he would be very willing to consider Amendments moved with the idea of improving the Measure. The small group of Liberal Members for whom I speak, and who represent London and Greater London constituencies, have spent a good deal of time in considering this Bill, and generally we are very anxious to support this Measure, because we realise that more housing accommodation is required, not only in London but in Greater London, and we are anxious to assist the Government's effort to provide more houses. In saying that I wish to state, that we think there are many points in this Bill which require very serious consideration, and I
  578
  am hopeful that when I have put my points to the Minister of Health he will be able to make some concession, or give us a promise that the points I am going to raise will be considered. My first point is as to the extent of the Act which was mentioned by the right hon. Baronet the Member for West Swansea (Sir A. Mond) yesterday, namely, that the grant is only to be given to houses completed before the 1st October, 1925. I think by putting that date into the Bill the right hon. Gentleman is only going to get a small number of houses from large municipal authorities who are willing to carry out this Bill. As the right hon. Gentleman the Member for West Swansea pointed out, it will mean the middle of the summer before you get the Royal Assent to this Bill. After that the local authorities will have to consider it and prepare their plans, and then you will only get the buildings put up next year. Therefore you will only get a small number of houses unless you are prepared to extend the date fixed under Clause 1.
  My next point is the question of the amount of the contribution to the houses. It is proposed by the Government that there shall be a contribution of payable for a period not exceeding 20 years. I wish to put before the Minister of Health and the House how this contribution will work out. The effect will be that you are going to put a very large charge on the municipal authorities who carry out the provisions of this Bill. The Government contribution is only for 20 years, and I presume that the ordinary local authority which is going to build houses under this scheme will borrow money on the usual housing terms of 60 years. That capital will have to be paid off in 60 years so far as the building and the land are concerned. Probably the cost of sewers and other such things will have to be repaid in 20 years. The effect of this £6 contribution will mean that for the whole period of the 60 years a very large contribution will have to be made out of the local rates, and while I think that the pressure on large municipal authorities like the London County Council will be strong enough to cause large municipalities to carry out building schemes with a gratuity of £6, I think the views which have been expressed by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Spen Valley (Sir J. Simon) to-day deserve the consideration of the Govern-

  579
  ment, because I have very grave doubts myself whether the smaller authorities will be prepared to build when they are going to have a liability of this kind hanging round their necks for 00 years.
  May I give the House a few figures to bear out the argument which I am endeavouring to put before hon. Members? I will give some calculations made in regard to the type of houses in London that can be built under the present Bill. It is estimated that this type of house would cost £425 to build. In addition to that, the land would cost £25, the road charges £40, and the sewers about £35, and that would be a total gross cost of £525. On a 4 per cent. basis for the first ten years providing a sinking fund on a 3½ per cent. basis, the debt charges would be £30 11s. 4d. The rent you would get for such a house as I have described in London is estimated at 9s. a week exclusive of local taxes. The cost of repairs and management of such a house would take a third of that rent, and that would make the net rent about. 6s. per week which would bring in yearly £15 12s. as against the charge of £30 11s. 4d. for the first ten years. The deficiency would therefore be £14 19s. 4d. The Government subsidy is £6 which leaves an annual charge of £8 19s. 4d. for the first ten years. For the next ten years the debt charges would be £27 18s. 10d. The deficiency is therefore £12 6s. 10d. The Government subsidy is £6, and that leaves a net deficiency of £6 6s. 10d. which is nearly equal to the Government grant.
  At the end of 20 years there is no further grant from the Government, so far as the local authority is concerned, and in the next 10 years the charge on the local authority would be £9 2s. 6d., while in the last 30 years it would be £6 17s. 5d. per annum. I know how difficult it is to quote a lot of figures, and I do not want to weary the House with more, but, if the calculation is made on another basis, from the point of view that the interest is coming down, it reduces the annual charge by a few shillings during the periods I have quoted. I think the effect of this, with all the recent charges which have been put upon local authorities by Bills that have been passed in this House, will be when it is worked out, that it will not make local authorities very enthusiastic
  580
  to carry out housing under the scheme proposed in this Bill. Therefore, what I am going to suggest to the Minister is that he ought to arrange for giving the Government subsidy over a much longer period than the 20 years proposed in the Bill. Probably he may reply that, if that is done, he might have to reduce the payment of £6 which is going to be made by the Government; but even if he does that, I think it would be very much fairer to the local authorities who have to build houses under this scheme, and I am certain that, if he considers such a proposal and will put it forward, he will get more enthusiastic support from local authorities in trying to work this Bill when it becomes an Act.
  There is one other point that I should specially like to put to the Minister on this question of gratuity, in connection, particularly, with London. I think it was mentioned yesterday by my hon. Friend the Member for West Woolwich (Sir K. Wood). I believe it is a fact that, when first the amount of the gratuity was proposed by the Ministry of Health, it was considered whether there should be a standard gratuity for the whole country, and whether London, owing to the extra cost of building, should have a larger amount. I believe it was suggested that it should be £1 extra for the greater London area, where the rates for workmen are highest—what is called the 20-mile radius from Charing Cross—and that houses built in that area should be entitled to a larger gratuity from the. Government than in other parts of the country. Speaking purely from a London point of view, I hope the Minister will give favourable consideration to that point in regard to London, because I believe it will help him in getting houses built under this scheme.
  Paragraphs (a) and (b) of Sub-section (2) deal with the size of the houses proposed under this Bill. I have listened to the Debate nearly all day yesterday and to-day, and I have heard no one express satisfaction with the size of houses proposed under this Bill. I want to join with other Members who have spoken, and to say that we in London are certainly not statisfied with the proposals made in these paragraphs. My hon. Friend the Member for North Camberwell (Mr. Ammon), who has just spoken, has mentioned that at the London County Council meeting yesterday plans

  581
  were exhibited showing the type of houses that could be built according to the sizes laid down in this Sub-section, and I am quite certain that, if those plans could be exhibited in the Lobby of this House, and it were pointed out to hon. Members what they would mean in regard to size, no one in this House would vote for the sizes proposed by the Minister in this Bill. A figure of 950 feet has been suggested by various speakers. I would suggest that it be made 1,000 feet, and also that the Government bonus should be payable, not only on the size, but on the cost of the house. If it were limited to houses costing up to £500, I think it would help local authorities in developing their own type of houses and giving the requirements that obtain in special localities; and if it is the right hon. Gentleman's object, as I believe it is, to get houses built, I believe that the more elasticity he puts into this Clause, instead of tying it down to 850 superficial feet, the better it will help the Government to get more houses built. I would respectfully ask the Minister to consider the suggestions that I have made.
  In his speech yesterday, the right hon. Gentleman made a point that a great many people in London, even in the new houses that have been provided by the County Council, are living in what are called two-room tenements. I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman realises it, but I think that if he goes into the rents that are charged, even under the Addison scheme, for two-room tenements in London, he will quite realise why these people are living in two-room tenements under the new scheme. I do not think, from my own knowledge, that they do so from choice; I think it is merely a question of rent. I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman realises what the rents are for some of these two-and three-room tenements in buildings which have been put up by the London County Council. In my own constituency there is part of a slum area which has been dealt with by the County Council during recent years—the Tabard Street estate; and in one of the last houses built on that estate, called Geoffrey House, the net rent which the tenants have to pay, with local taxes in addition, for two rooms, is from 11s. to 12s. per week. That means that the gross rents, with taxes, are from 15s. 5d. to 16s. 11d. per week. At that amount of
  582
  rent you do not, and cannot, rehouse the type of person who is turned out of a slum area like Tabard Street. As regards the other tenements in the same building, in the case of the three-room tenements the rents, without taxes, are from 13s. 6d. to 14s. 6d., while for four-room tenements they are from 15s. 6d. to 16s. 6d., and for five rooms the rent is 18s. 6d Adding the local taxes on to that, and they are fairly high, it means a very big rent for that type of tenement, in a not very first-class neighbourhood. The result is that the tenants in that type of tenement—this is a tenement building, and the same standard of rent, more or less, applies to other such buildings that have been put up by the London County Council—are people who are more or less in permanent employment, people who, in the ordinary way, would live in a very much better type of house; that is to say, the houses which were really built for the poorer working classes are being occupied by what may be called the comfortable middle class.
  This question of rent brings me back to the point I made before in regard to the size of the rooms. In view of the knowledge that we have gained in London from our experience of the Addison Scheme, we want to give as much freedom as possible, and not to tie down the type of house or the size of the rooms in the way that is done in Sub-section (2). Another Clause which the Minister mentioned yesterday, and which I am very pleased to see in the Bill, is Clause 3, dealing with slum areas. One of our difficulties in London, as regards housing, has been the question of dealing with slum areas. As my hon. Friend the Member for North Camberwell has just said, in some slum areas, such as Clare Market and the Shoreditch, Boundary Street, area, we have carried out slum clearances at very great expense. In those days we had no help from the Government, but the last Government brought forward an ear-marked sum of, I think, £200,000. Clause 3 goes much further than that, and I believe the effect of Clause 3 will be, as soon as you get a number of new buildings outside London, that it will help the County Council to deal with more slum areas in London. I was very pleased to hear the Minister say yesterday that he was still further considering the subject, and he hoped to bring in further legislation. I hope he

  583
  will, and though I do not know whether we have more slum areas in London than some of the larger towns in the North, at any rate, it is a very great drawback to life in a great city, and one of the best things a municipal authority can do is to spend money on getting rid of a great many of these slum areas. I hope the. Minister will favourably consider the points I have raised. If he can help to meet us on them, I believe it will assist him in getting the Bill through and it will have the effect of getting houses built, which all of us who have been connected with municipal life know is the first requisite to-day and what we all desire, and I hope he will achieve it under this Bill.
  Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLE: I should like to make a few remarks from the point of view of one who has essentially studied the question of housing for 20 years, for 15 of them as a medical officer of health, and more latterly in an administrative capacity in connection with the London County Council. I have also the extra advantage of addressing the House to-day inasmuch as some of my figures and writings have been already quoted from the other side in illustration of the conditions of housing that we want to meet. I do not think hon. Members opposite always give us on this side credit for recognising the facts. They often say the reverse in rather uncomplimentary language. But inasmuch as they have quoted me, I hope they will allow me to say I think the majority of my hon. Friends on this side are as keen on the realities of the housing question and the difficulties at present as I have been with the greater knowledge which it has been my duty to acquire in this matter, and no one on that side of the House can have a more intimate general knowledge of the disastrous effects of bad housing than I have had as a medical officer of health. I should like to make one or two remarks rather in correcting, in the true sense of the word, one or two of the references which have been made to the history of the movement in general. It is true, though it is not generally recognised outside, that the reduction in the provision of new houses began before the land Clauses of the Finance Act, 1909. A good many of us, seeing how rapid
  584
  was the reduction in 1910, rushed perhaps rather too much to the conclusion that it was due to that Budget. But one of my colleagues, who, I think, can be trusted to speak without any bias of any kind, except from the point of view of ascertaining the truth, made out that in one of the Northern industrial counties which may be considered fairly typical, a gradual decline had begun in the year 1901 or 1902 and continued from that date, and later investigation made into the subject bears out that general contention that the decline began about the beginning of this century, probably in connection with the South African War and other disturbances at that time. It was very much accelerated as the result, probably, directly of the political movement associated with the Budget of 1909, and has continued since.
  My own feeling about the real cause of the decline of housing is that in as much as what maintained the supply of housing in old days was the much abused jerry builder and those who speculated with him, housing slackened because the speculative builder and the man who supplied the money to the speculative builder, namely, the artisan and the clerk who invested their money in this way, were no longer prepared to invest their money in the same way in the future. The reason for it, to my mind, is one of the reasons which it is quite useful for philanthropists and enthusiasts like myself and hon. Members opposite, as well as on these benches, to realise, that the more we throw responsibilities on to people who are exercising any money for any trade the more shall we be frightening off the use of the money in that trade or enterprise into other channels. You see it in all sorts of ways. You see it very largely with regard to the enormous responsibility conferred on parenthood. Nowadays people avoid parenthood. You see it in the same way as regards housing. So great are the responsibilities of erecting houses, so high a standard is demanded in every little detail, even in small houses, that you frighten people away from investing their money in such property, I think it is the growth of the demand for a higher standard—a growth naturally more rapid than the growth of means to satisfy that demand amongst the people who wish to enjoy it—which has really been responsible for frightening off private enterprise. I think people have

  585
  also found various other channels for investing their savings. In the old days there was little except the house in which you lived, and perhaps the Post Office Savings Bank, but as the result of education people have begun to realise other possible channels. By the spread of education they have come to gain confidence in other channels of investment which are familiar to us in various ways, and more especially latterly the development of War Savings and now the National Savings movement; and the education of the country that resulted from the War has taught people how others have managed usefully to invest money in the City, on the Stock Exchange and in various ways, and it has induced men of the artisan and trading class not to invest in such a difficult and hazardous investment as that of working-class housing, especially their own houses, because it ties them down, but rather to go and spend their money in other directions.
  I have been surprised that as regards the different references made to high costs in the housing movement during the past two or three years, so little attention has been paid to the Report of the Committee of which Mr. Stanley Homes was Chairman in 1921. I thonght the Committee would like to be reminded of the main conclusions of that report as regards costs. I want, as far as I can in this Debate, as in all questions of housing, to dissociate myself from political bias on one side or the other. I should equally accuse rings of contractors of profiteering, just as I should say that the high prices and low output of labour almost merit the same words, if it were not that I should raise heat. We must avoid engendering heat in considering housing from the practical point of view. When we come to the question of the cost of materials we have the Report signed by the members of the Committee, and in general the result was this:
  "By the flooding of the market …. with an unprecedented State-aided house building programme in excess of the building resources then available, and by rendering the congested conditions even worse by the restriction of the period during which such State aid as was necessary would be forthcoming,"
  these conditions had a prejudicial effect upon the cost of building. The flooding of the market with a demand will inevitably raise the price of building
  586
  materials. That is one of the chief things that we have to consider. If we are to get what my hon. Friends on the other side of the House, as well as my hon. Friends on this side, wish, namely, a speedy solution of the housing problem, and if we had a sudden and enormous output of, say, half a million houses in two years, if it could be done, but it cannot, the result would be an enormous increase in the cost of building materials and of building, quite apart from the question of profiteering, and simply on the ground of the demand and the supply governing prices. The view of the Committee as regards the question of profiteering was summed up as follows:
  "Both labour and materials will be more readily obtained and the output will be better, but if such is the case there is certainly no evidence that prices at the time of contract included any excessive margin for profit. There is, on the other hand, evidence that the profit being obtained is not unreasonable."
  We must take that as being the general conclusion, although there were large and glaring exceptions in certain cases in regard to materials, and in certain parts of the country. Take such a thing as Portland cement. These materials rose to a price corresponding to a figure of about 400. I believe it even went to 430 for Portland cement, as compared with a figure of 100 before the War. What proportion does this bear to the cost of building a house? It is a very small part. The main cost of materials only rose at the most to 200 or 230 as compared with 100 before the War. The main cost of building always is labour, and I am bound here to repeat, as regards my investigations into high prices, that labour, including the labour in materials and so on, costs something like 75 per cent. to 80 per cent. of the total cost of building. I have no figures, nobody has any figures, showing what is the cost of labour in a whole house, because it is impossible to dissociate the cost of labour in all the different materials; but we may take one particular figure of the cost of the builder and the builder's labourer.
  What is material to our consideration is not the wages nor the hours worked, but the actual output. I know perhaps as well as any hon. Member what are the fallacies in the comparison as to the output of a bricklayer and a bricklayer's labourer. I went very thoroughly into the question with a manager who seemed

  587
  most fair, honest and able to give me a decided return. We went into the figures for a particular contract, which was one of several contracts under the London County Council, and I have no reason to believe that this particular contract differs from any of the others. The figures were that in 1914 wages per hour in the building trades were 10½d., whereas in 1920–21 they were 2s. 4d. an hour. In March, 1922, they were 2s. an hour. The hours worked before the War were 10, and since the War 8. The bricks laid per day varied. On a job before the War a man on a comparatively straightforward job would lay 800 to 1,000 bricks in a day, whereas in the worst time, in 1920–21, he only laid 200. Last March, the figure had got up to 500. The cost per brick laid as compared with 100 before the War had thus gone up in 1920–21 to as much as 853. In March of last year it had come down to 293.
  Mr. POTTS: Those figures are fallacious.
  Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLE: I have looked a good deal into the figures, and I should be glad if the hon. Member would give me other figures. The figures I have given are the result of three years' investigation. I am trying to be absolutely unbiassed. I should be glad to be corrected, because if my figures are wrong I shall not give them again. The figures were published in the "Times" and the "Morning Post," 18 months ago. [HON. MEMBERS: "That is your authority."] They have been published in other newspapers, including, I think, the "Daily Herald" and the "New Statesman," and I have had no refutation of them up to now. Perhaps my hon. Friends opposite will supply me with alternative figures. At any rate, I think they will find that the cost of labour rose to between 700 and 800 as compared with 100 pre-War. I think it rose to a figure as high as 853. I do not want to impute motives but, undoubtedly, War slackness did affect a great many people and affected the output, especially on State-aided housing schemes.
  The question is what is happening now. I am informed from the experience of those who are working the London County Council housing schemes that although wages are keeping up—and I am glad that they are, taking into account the cost of living—well above the level
  588
  before the War, and the hours worked are less, the output per hour is now approximating to what it was before the War. Whether that will continue or not under the big schemes is doubtful, because at the present time the contractors say that they have the great advantage that they can, to a certain extent, select their men. Men who do not work so well as others and do not put their hearts into the work do not have the same chance as the men who do. I believe that the psychology of the matter is not so deliberate and intentional as may be suggested by the employers' side. I think people are tumbling more to the need of housing, and are tumbling more to the need of working, and are doing their best to get houses.
  If we do not force the pace on housing I believe we shall get a good output under this new scheme. We must not force the pace. One of the most dangerous things is to force the pace beyond the capacity of the industry. I am afraid that one of our difficulties in the past in connection with the London County Council schemes has been in trying to force the pace, and trying to get the builders' unions to join us in bringing in ex-service men and training them for the work. The unions, I do not blame them, took the view that we might train a large number of men for the work, and that the schemes would come to an end and the market would be flooded with unemployed men from the building trades. I think they were wrong from their own point of view. The result has been that the building programme was brought to an end, and there has been a large number of unemployed in the building trade, in consequence of our not being able to go through with the schemes. The more we could then have thrown into the building trade the lower would the cost have been.
  I do believe that we are going to improve under this scheme, but we have got many details to make sure of, which I hope we can deal with in Committee. I do not wish to deal with them here. One of the points which interest me specially is that so much is entrusted to the decision of the local authorities. I am sorry that one or two of my hon. Friends on this side object to that. They say that it is much better for the Ministry to deal directly with the actual builders or societies who are building. I do not believe that. I think that the result of the

  589
  late scheme showed those of us who were trying to get houses built that Whitehall, when trying to deal directly with all these small interests all over the country, cannot know all the details required for the proper administration of public funds in those conditions, and they make regulations as if they knew, and these regulations work badly and do a great deal of mischief, and then we get an enormous over-developed Ministry in Whitehall which becomes a source of monstrous expense and is ineffective.
  I am an absolute believer and supporter of local government. After working for 15 years on a county council, I believe thoroughly in the work of local authorities. I admit that local authorities are often short-sighted and are often bad in administration in many ways, but that is the penalty which we pay for democracy. We cannot go back. Therefore we have got to give democracy the power to make its own mistakes and to suffer for it. Local authorities must be allowed to make their own mistakes and suffer for them. It is absurd for Whitehall to consider that they are going to save local authorities from their mistakes, and to be able to prevent them from making many expensive mistakes which are the educational means through which local authorities will become useful agents of government. The bigger local authorities are as efficient as Whitehall, but I am speaking now of the more provincial and smaller authorities. The Government must guard against the mistake of over-centralisation in Whitehall, and dictation with regard to details of housing and plans of every kind. I hope that we shall guard against that in this Bill, and I think that we have done so to a certain extent.
  There, again, we come up against the crux of a problem to which I must refer, because it is too often glossed over. That is the financial crux of the problem, as regards the reason why the expenditure for subsidy is limited to £6, and why it is restricted to such small houses. I hope that the limitation to £6 will bring us back to the right plane in which the local authorities and the central Government shall cover the cost of these big schemes, so that it shall be half national and half local. I believe from my experience that you get the best results when half the extra expense is borne by the local
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  authority and half by the Government. I cannot understand why a prejudice has grown up against this system of equal grants. We have increased the grants to 75 per cent. in some cases, and we have got a Committee inquiring into the ratio between the contributions from the two sources just now.
  9.0 P.M.
  In one or two of these Clauses we have got back to the stage that if the authority is going to share with the Government and the Government is making a flat rate the local authority will not go beyond the same rate, and it will become a double flat rate, so that you will have a total of £12, half provided by the authorities and half by the State. But at the same time you are going back to the principle which to my mind is sound and equal. It is only right to mention the real reason of the dropping of the late scheme, which is wrongly called the Addison scheme, when it was, I believe, due to Sir Auckland Geddes. The scheme was introduced at a time when the old arrangement between the State and the municipality had fallen through. That arrangement was that the State paid half. But, the local authorities would not build; so the late Mr. Hayes Fisher, afterwards Lord Downham, who in the London County Council as well as in this House did good work in reference to housing, proposed that there should be a grant of 75 per cent. towards expenditure. Unfortunately even then they could not get the local authorities to move. That was in 1918. The bait was not big enough. That was the reason for the so-called Addison scheme, the penny rate, the State bearing all the cost above the penny rate.
  It has been wrongly stated that it was due to Dr. Addison and that it was a mistaken scheme. It was the only scheme possible at the time. The need was to get these houses. The principle may have been wrong, but regardless of the principle we had to get the houses. The only way to get the authorities to build was by this system. It is unjust to the memory of Dr. Addison, who made many mistakes as everybody would have done in those difficult times, to say that it was a wrong scheme. It was the only scheme then and it produced houses at the time. Nobody could foresee how it was going to work out, or that the State was going to be fleeced on every side with

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  the result that the scheme had to be brought to an end.
  Again there is a misconception. It was necessary to bring costs down. The termination of the scheme is often attributed to the right hon. Member for West Swansea (Sir A. Mond), but that is not so. In the first instance we on the London County Council first showed in a detailed manner what was the real cost of carrying out the scheme, not simply the architectural cost, but the total cost including the overhead charges. We found, taking every care to keep down the charges, that the cost of these big five-roomed houses at Roehampton was running up to, not £1,000 or £1,100, the architectural cost, but to £1,700, taking in all. And when we were able to show the cost of this scheme and bring it before Dr. Addison, within a fortnight of that time he sent notices round to the different Departments of the Ministry of Health asking them to see what they could do to bring to an end this extravagance, without at the same time interrupting the supply of houses. The first economic proposals were made by him but that was not enough, and so we had to have the scheme brought to an end. Now we are trying to get a fresh scheme. I am glad that Members on all sides, including the Minister of Health himself, recognise the intense need of housing, though it was not emphasised, perhaps naturally, by the right hon. Member for Swansea when he was Minister of Health, as he had the opposite job to do, to stop the scheme, and therefore to make light of the need of houses, as he did over and over again in this House, though when twitted with it he said that he did not make light of it. The effect of his speeches always was to make light of the need of houses. He did not do himself justice by that.
  We have to make up our minds what we are to do to bring back private enterprise. Criticism of schemes is not always disinterested. There are hon. Members who criticise this or any other proposal with an eye to their respective political preferences. The one side wants to revive private enterprise. "Therefore," it says, "let us do everything we can to discourage the municipal side of building." The other side says: "We want to use this as a lever for bringing in municipalisation: therefore, let us dis-
  592
  courage private enterprise." I accuse both sides, and I ask them to set aside their political preferences. We must use both instruments to get building done. It will be a long time before the State will be able to provide the necessary housing. I do not believe the State will ever be able to throw on to private enterprise the work of re-housing after slum clearances. That work will have to be done by the State. The State can do a great deal that private enterprise cannot do now, but in our life-time it will be impossible to get housing done without the encouragement of private enterprise as well as of local authorities. How is it to be done? I do not see any signs of private enterprise coming back to the task of supplying working-class houses in the sense in which that term has been used in this Debate. I would remind hon. Members of the Labour party that they do not always limit the meaning of the term "working class." My much respected opponent at the polls used the term to include the black-coated class; in other words, the people for whom private builders are building houses now; but in this Debate hon. Members opposite have used the term in a more restricted sense, and apply it to those who cannot afford the houses that are being built by the private builder to-day.
  You must encourage the private builders to come back. How are you to do it? Under the last scheme they would not help because we improved our standard of housing so much that it did not pay them to come in. The schemes of the London County Council at Roehampton and Becontree gave the people everything that they wanted—hot water and cold water, baths of full size, cupboards and everything that they required, and if they could not pay a reasonable rent the expense fell upon the State. Where was the inducement for the private builder to come in? There was no inducement. If you want to bring the private builder back you must set apart for him a particular sphere of work. If you are to use the limited State resources to the best advantage, what must you do? The Minister has explained the reason why he limits his houses to a certain superficial area, and I very much regret that so many of my friends on this side of the House, in commenting on this Bill, have entirely failed to meet the right hon. Gentleman's point. My hon.

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  Friends say: "We would like to have the rooms a little larger." It is very easy for them to say that, but they are not tackling the real point. If they are keen on bringing back private enterprise, the houses must be below the standard at which many people are now aiming. That is not in derogation of that standard, because that standard of house will still be supplied for people who can pay for the extra amenities included. All of us in this House would like to have extra things provided for us in the way of clothing, food and so forth. It is exactly the same in regard to these housing schemes. The standard for the State should be, not the maximum but the minimum. Logically, the scheme should be that the State should get on with a scheme of pill-box accommodation, so as to provide shelter pure and simple, leaving the people to fill in all the rest., so far as they could afford extra amenities.
  Mr. JAMES STEWART: Just as you do in the hospitals?
  Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLE: Yes. The Frenchman Mirabeau, in days gone by, said it was the want of logic that saved us. I believe that that is true. If we were logical, we should supply mere pillbox housing accommodation to meet the absolute needs of the people, and leave it to them to provide extra amenities. We are not logical. But still there is the difference between State houses and private houses that you cannot ask the State to provide all the amenities that you think would be useful.
  I am glad that the Minister has decided to help Public Utility Societies. That is one of the most excellent ways in which the working classes and the employers can provide their own housing. I hope that the idea will be very much developed in future. I trust, however, that the figure which my right hon. Friend has suggested as meeting the difficulty of Public Utility Societies—a figure which he will reveal in Committee, as the subsidy to be granted after 1927—will not only be something over 30 per cent., but something over 40 per cent., as against the 50 per cent. to be given to Public Utility Societies up to 1927. If my right hon. Friend limits the concession to the 40 per cent., there will still be some societies which will break down, and those who have invested their money in them
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  will not only lose it, but will set a bad example to others who are attempting a similar solution of the problem. As a medical man, who is most anxious to help to prevent the evils arising from bad housing and anxious to remedy them so far as possible, I make an appeal that all the available machinery should be utilised, and I ask my hon. Friends on both sides of the House to stimulate all the different circles in the community on which they have any influence, to co-operate in seeing that both private enterprise and public machinery are employed in the solution of the housing problem during the next few years.
  Mr. FALCONER: I rise not for the purpose of taking part in the general Debate, which has ranged over a great variety of subjects, but to refer, both for myself and for a number of my hon. Friends who sit on these benches, to the statement made last night on behalf of the Scottish Office in regard to the Scottish problem. Yesterday Scottish Member after Scottish Member spoke and all raised the same point, namely, that the proposals as regards the subsidy were not suited to Scotland. These statements were not made merely on the authority of the Members themselves, but were made with the backing of the authorities in Scotland—men who have been working at the housing problem in Scotland with great earnestness, who have devoted their lives to it, who have had the help of the best housing experts in Scotland and who have great experience in the matter. I had hoped that when the Under-Secretary to the Scottish Board of Health spoke, he would have dealt with the points which were submitted. I joined in the enjoyment of his speech and of his entertaining dialectics, but what he said seemed to be quite away from the really serious considerations which we desired him to take into account.
  Two points were made by the Scottish Members. The first was as to the amount of the subsidy and the second was that the Scottish part of the question should have been dealt with in a separate Scottish Bill, so that all the experience of the Scottish Members might be brought to bear upon these provisions. What answer did we get? I do not desire to indulge in dialectics, but I wish to look at this purely as a business pro-

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  blem. The answer we got was that the problem was the same in England and in Scotland. It is a complete delusion to suppose that building houses in England is the same thing as building them in Scotland If anyone is going to enter upon the building of houses his first consideration must be the conditions of the country in which he is going to build. The first problem is to discover the type of house suitable for the people, required by the people and in accordance with their customs and habits. One type may be quite suitable for large towns in England and quite unsuitable for large towns in Scotland. As was pointed out by hon. Members on the Government side last night, the custom of the Scottish people with regard to housing is entirely different to that which prevails in England. The first and the fundamental thing to do is to consider what is suitable for the people and what they require. There is another point of difference which is very material. The cost of building in Scotland, according to all the evidence and having regard to the type of house which is required there, is greater than the cost of building in England. That is a very important consideration in connection with the question of the subsidy which is to be given to the local authority. There is a third consideration. The rating system in Scotland is entirely different from that of England. In Scotland, as was admitted by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Scottish Board of Health, the owner has to pay the equivalent of about 4s. in the £ out of the rental in respect of owner's rates, and that practice, I understand, does not obtain in England. That diminishes the return which the local authority will get and increases the amount which they will have to provide. It absorbs practically the whole of the subsidy, and, in many cases, as compared with England it means that the local authority will be without any subsidy at all. On a £25 house 4s. in the £ means £5 out of the £6 subsidy, and if we compare conditions in England with those in Scotland, then, in such cases, a subsidy of £6 is being given in England and a subsidy of £1 in Scotland.
  Mr. McENTEE: On a point of Order. Was it not understood that yesterday was Scotland's day, and is it right that we should have all this again to-day? Some
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  of us who have sat here for two days listening to the claims of Scotland are completely shut out. We are still hearing about Scotland, while we cannot get in a word on the subject. I protest against it.
  Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER (Mr. James Hope): That is not a point of Order. I know of no such understanding as has been suggested by the hon. Member.
  Mr. WALLHEAD: I protest, also.
  Mr. FALCONER: If hon. Members will have a very little patience, I shall dispose of all the points I propose to make in a short time. We waited patiently yesterday for the declaration from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Scottish Board of Health, and we feel we cannot leave the question where it is without making our position clear. There is another matter which differentiates Scotland from England and that is the amount of the rental. It is no use telling us that in England local authorities are prepared to deal with the question on the footing of a £6 subsidy. It may be they can make it pay on that basis, but, as a matter of fact, it cannot be done in Scotland. What will be the result of all this? According to the information which we receive from people well entitled to speak on the subject, the result will be that the local authorities of Scotland will be unwilling to enter upon the scheme. A great deal has been said in the House on the subject, but very little has been said from that point of view. The local authorities are being asked to take all the risk, except as regards the £6 subsidy. That is the kind of thing local authorities have never been in the habit of doing in Scotland—undertaking an open risk of that kind. Who can tell what the total may be? There are unsettled conditions as regards the cost of material and labour, and uncertainty as regards the rent they will receive. Who that has ever had the duty of deciding for a local authority or of advising a local authority will say that he would be justified in undertaking an open risk like that, in view of the conditions that prevail in Scotland as regards housing?
  I put that very seriously. A man who has done a great deal for housing, representing a great community, said that he would not undertake the responsibility of advising these people to build. He is

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  probably one of the men who has been most earnest in housing. I ask the right hon. and learned Attorney-General to weigh well these considerations. They are not light and frivolous. They are real business difficulties, which Scottish people see, and we may miss the opportunity of getting housing done for Scotland, because these people will feel they are not justified in embarking on this enterprise on the risky terms that are proposed. The only other point I want to put is in regard to the great sense of dissatisfaction, expressed in all quarters from Scotland, with this method of dealing with Scottish business. The conditions are different. We have hitherto had on this housing question separate Scottish Bills, and now we find ourselves with only Clause 18 of the Bill, which professes to deal with this very grave question. There are many reasons why one objects to that type of Clause. One is that it is impossible for the Scottish people to concentrate their opinion upon it.
  Another reason is very pertinent. I defy any man to read Clause 18 so as to understand what the exact effect is in regard to Scotland. I ask the Attorney-General if he ever saw such a jumble of bad draftsmanship as that which is found in that Clause? I ask whether he himself can understand the Clause unless he is guided by some of his draftsmen, who prepared the Bill. No hon. Member, unless he have an expert draftsman at his disposal, can possibly make out what are the conditions in regard to Scotland. I have had some little experience in regard to Bills, but I have never seen anything like it. In the Scottish Clause, some sections of the English Bill are left out, and others are amended. You have Amendments of other Measures incorporated by reference, and these are again amended. It is not reasonable. If the intention of the Scottish Office were to bamboozle Members of Parliament, and make it impossible for them to study this question, to criticise and amend it, they could not have more effectively accomplished their purpose. It is no answer to say, in regard to that, that it is done either in the interests of time, or, as the hon. and gallant Gentleman the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health suggested, because of some difficulty about the Financial Resolution. There has been no obstruction of this Measure at all. We are all in
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  earnest about this, and anxious to get homes for the people. It would be just as easy to have a Financial Resolution dealing with a Scottish Bill, on other lines, if you like, in regard to the subsidy, as to include it in the English Bill.
  I do not know whether the Government are apprehensive as to what the opinion of the Scottish Members might be on this Measure if expressed in the Scottish Grand Committee. By the custom of this House, Scottish Members are entitled, as a matter of right, to have Scottish Measures sent to the Scottish Grand Committee. I am afraid that the real reason for such a glaring departure from public procedure which animates the Government is to prevent the Scottish Bill going to the Scottish Grand Committee. The Government are far too timid. Notwithstanding the fact that they are not in the majority among the Scottish Members, I think they might trust the Scottish Members to have before them a sense of their duty to their country and to their constituents upon this question, which would have led every man among us to support the Government where they were right and to help them to make a really good Scottish Bill. Why do not they give us the chance! I wish to make this protest, in the most emphatic way. It is becoming a practice. We had it in the Local Authorities (Emergency Provisions) (Scotland) Bill. The same thing—a serious departure from the Scottish law and practice—was introduced by a Clause of this kind, when there ought certainly to have been a Scottish Bill. I trust this is the last we shall hear of it.
  I am bound to say I do not think—upon the opinion given to me—that the Bill is going to do anything like what it ought to do for Scotland. If it were a Scottish Bill alone, my inclination would be to vote against it on the Second Reading, because I believe that would be the quickest way of getting a real Bill, in which we should proceed on lines that would give us the houses. I am only deterred from doing that by the fact that it contains provisions for England. While I am anxious to make the most emphatic protest I can, in regard to dragging in Scotland in this way—I resent it, and I think we are entitled to resent it—I am not prepared to express the opinion that the Bill should not get a Second

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  Reading, if it contains provisions—as it does—which seem to satisfy the local authorities of England, and the general body of hon. Members.
  Mr. J. JONES: It does not do anything of the kind.
  Mr. FALCONER: If I am mistaken, I will withdraw. I assumed, from what has been said, that the Minister of Health was proceeding after some consultation with the English authorities. If he were doing so, or if there was only a chance of it, I should not vote against the Second Reading, in the hope that some good might come out of the Bill for England, and, possibly, for Scotland, although that becomes more, and more difficult as we proceed. I cannot support the Bill, and I am placed in this position by this proceeding of introducing Scottish provisions into an English Bill. It deprives the Scottish Members of having an independent Bill dealing with Scotland. It practically shuts them out from their right to take their full part in the legislation of their country. I do not feel justified, in view of the opinion which has been expressed in regard to England, in voting against the Bill. Abstaining from voting is a position I do not like, and never have liked; but if the Scottish Office will tie Scotland to the tail of England in this way—
  Mr. JONES: It is just the other way about. England is on the tail of Scotland.
  Mr. WALLHEAD: I will introduce a Motion for English Home Rule, directly.
  Mr. FALCONER: It will be very welcome to me. If we are to be tied up with England in this way, we must do the best we can. I hope it will be quite understood, so far as all the Scottish Members, whom I know, are concerned, that they resent this method of dealing with Scottish business as hotly as they can resent anything.
  Mr. WEBB: The House will have felt that the extremely engaging way in which the Minister of Health introduced this Bill, and explained its Clauses, rather concealed its provisions, which we like the less the more we hear about them. I want to tender my humble meed of appreciation of the very charming honesty with which the right hon. Gentleman intro-
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  duced the Bill. I like to remember that he has an experience and a knowledge of this question which very few people in this House can claim. I want to add that I feel he has once more shown a great deal of public spirit in engaging in an enterprise for which I am afraid the necessary means and the necessary conditions have been withheld from him. I can appreciate all the more the energy which he has shown in drawing up this Bill. I suggest that this Bill is not only inadequate—and the right hon. Gentleman himself said that no Measure introduced at this moment could be adequate—but, as we think, it proceeds on the wrong lines, because it does not rightly conceive the problem which is before us. The right hon. Member for Northampton (Mr. McCurdy) said this was a problem of appalling dimensions, and I think those words were not too strong, but the Government are applying to this problem of appalling dimensions an apparatus which will not succeed in dealing with the problem even in 100 years.
  The Minister of Health said this was not an engine, but merely a starting apparatus to set the engine in motion. I shall try and show that it will not start any adequate engine for the purpose. However, let us acknowledge one good thing, namely, that the right hon. Gentleman does call in aid the local authorities. He said, "We want their hearty co-operation; we want to rely upon them for carrying out these purposes." I think that is not only necessary, but that it is absolutely the right way of going to work. I know the right hon. Gentleman has been criticised from his own side for even venturing to talk about the local authorities, but let me do him the justice to say that he talked about them very little in his speech. It would be hardly possible to find from his speech that he was counting on the local authorities at all, except as subsidising and handing out money to other people. That is not exactly the function with which the local authorities have been charged in this matter of housing under the various Acts which they have carried out in the past, As the bodies responsible for the public health, they have been charged with providing houses themselves, and I need not remind the House that the right. hon. Gentleman has himself been connected with a local authority which has provided

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  houses with considerable success. I mean the City of Birmingham. Are we to understand that that work is no longer to be encouraged by the Government in their desire to return to the reign of the private builder? Are the local authorities merely to be channels through which money is to be handed out to the speculative builder?
  The right hon. Gentleman's speech, and a great many of the Clauses in the Bill, seem to indicate that that is so, and it has even been suggested on his own side of the House that even that is too much for the local authorities to do. We have had opened out to us the appalling prospect of having to deal with all the 100,000 separate builders, and the hundreds of separate public utility societies, direct from Whitehall, and in order to protect himself from that terrible prospect and that reign of private enterprise, the right hon. Gentleman interposes the local authorities as a screen and says that they are to deal with the builders and the utility societies in order that Whitehall may not have to face that problem. There is no doubt the right hon. Gentleman is right in that. We do not wish to see him overwhelmed by grappling with these hundred thousand builders, but the local authorities will have to grapple with them. It seems to me that a Measure such as this, which subordinates the local authorities' duty of providing houses for the people, where they are not otherwise provided, to the duty of merely, subsidising the private builder, is not a worthy successor of all the Housing Acts which we have had, and is not a Measure which is likely to be taken up with energy by the local authorities themselves.
  I would ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he has considered—I do not feel sure that he can have considered—how many of the 1,100 separate local authorities who will be authorised under this Bill are likely to take the energetic action which he so much wishes that they should take. As a matter of fact, probably nearly every one of those 1,100 districts are in need of more houses of the type which is to be inhabited by a wage-earning family. I do not know how many more should be added for Scotland, but probably every local authority in Scotland is in need of more houses. Is it to be believed that any large proportion, numerically, of those 1,100 authorities in England are likely
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  to engage in this scramble of handing out subsidies to private builders, which will involve a heavy charge upon their own rates, with all the risk attendant on dealing in this way with builders? Of course, the right hon. Gentleman does include in his Bill power to himself to allow local authorities themselves to provide the houses if he is satisfied that no sufficient opportunity is given for the private builder to do it.
  I do not know how that is going to be administered, but I will venture on a prediction, that in a city in which there are as many private builders as there are anywhere, in a city in which their enterprise is as great as anywhere, namely, the City of Manchester—I predict that the city council of Manchester will want to handle these houses themselves, and that the right hon. Gentleman will not refuse to the city council of Manchester the opportunity of providing the houses itself, instead of subsidising the private builders to provide them. But if he does that for Manchester, will he do it for the other places? And if he does it for the other places, I venture to say that his speech will rather seem to some of his followers to have been a little bit misleading, because it has been implied that it was to be done by the private builders. In Manchester it will not be done by the private builders, and I gather that it will not be done by the private builders either in Birmingham, or in Leeds, or in Nottingham, or in any of the great municipalities of this country. I will not answer for Glasgow, but I shall be surprised if the city council of Glasgow hands out the bawbees to the private builders by way of subsidy. These big cities will be able to make use of the Measure in the way I should wish it to be made use of, namely, by the collective provision of houses, but, on the other hand, the great mass of the smaller places, I am afraid, will not have the opportunity of doing that, and as I am sincerely anxious for them to have more houses, I am afraid that in the majority of these places this Measure will prove to be ineffective.
  One of the things which seems practically to condemn this Measure to ineffectiveness is this wretched standard of the house to which the subsidy is to be confined. I do not want to say a word about the smallness of the houses; that

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  has been sufficiently dealt with. But I do venture to say, that if you are going to get the hearty co-operation of the local authorities, if you are going to rely on those local authorities for carrying out the purpose of the Act, is it wise to go to them and say, "You must, you shall have houses of this rigidly fixed character all over Great Britain, or nothing at all"? May I put my small experience in the matter? As far as I have found, almost every town in England, and certainly some of the Scottish have their own style of house. They may seem to differ very little, but I have been informed in town after town, that if a builder or a local authority puts up a house a little different from the kind to which the people have been accustomed, there is a prejudice against that house which would affect it to the extent of about 2s. a week. That may be exaggeration, but, at any rate, there is a prejudice which is disadvantageous if you build such a house. At Leicester they have a certain style of house. In Glasgow there is an almost entirely different style of house. It is a problem whether the houses could be brought within the same superficial area at the same rate. I suppose you must go on in Glasgow with these tall houses in separate tenements. [An HON. MEMBER: "No!"] I hope Glasgow may change its mind, but Glasgow, I am sure, has a peculiarity of its own which will very much prevent your attempting to force upon it the house which Leicester would prefer.
  I think you may assume that each one of these places has its own particular house. That is what the private speculative builder studies, and it is partly because of his half-unconscious skill in hitting off the taste of a particular town that he has been able to make a living. If you are going to substitute for that variety of size and accommodation one uniform house, I suggest it is not good business. The local authority is going to lose, one way or the other, to the extent that it will not get the same rent which it would get if the house were adapted to the particular prejudice of the locality. I do not know whether we are to impose the standard house on Scotland, or whether we are to impose any other standard house on any other place, but what is the use of trying to impose a standard house on any place? I quite
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  understand that the right hon. Gentleman must draw a line somewhere, and make a class to which alone he must confine the subsidy, but I do ask whether there is not some other way by which he can define that class, so as to avoid imposing a rigid standard. For instance, it has been suggested whether he could consider admitting, as qualifying for this subsidy, any house on which not more than £500 or some other sum has been spent. In that case, you could leave Scotland with the house it wants, and Leicester with the house it wants, and the Minister could satisfy himself that the house was somewhere about the price, and it would only be a question whether the house did bona fide come within the class to which you could reasonably provide a subsidy. I do suggest that he might see whether some other classification could not be adopted which would give him all he need have, namely, the limiting of the character of the house to which a subsidy is given, without involving what to me seems the absurdity of a rigid pattern of house for town and country alike.
  I cannot help thinking that not only the way this is put, but also the rigid standard, is going to discourage the local authorities. This Bill discourages their providing houses. The speech of the right hon. Gentleman discourages their providing houses. This is not a question, as some hon. Members seem to think, of whether a local authority can possibly be skilled in building. I am not arguing the difference, between direct labour and putting houses out to contract. Let us assume the local authority merely orders a house, puts it out to contract by competitive tender, and gets it carried out by a builder exactly as a private person may do. In that case, there is no necessity for the local authority to know anything about building or have anything to do with labour. The private builder is not ousted. He gets just as much work to do, and there is no question of superseding private enterprise. The only thing is that ownership remains with the local authority, instead of the person to whom the private builder sells the house which is built. I suggest that it is a ruinous practice in this 20th century to give your public subsidy to cover England and Scotland with houses—I do not say built by the private builder—they will be built by the private builder anyhow—but built by a man who intends to sell them,

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  and does not intend to own them for an hour longer than is necessary. I should think anyone who has any experience of house property knows that a house which has been built for sale is never as profitable in subsequent years to the occupier or owner as a house which has been built to keep. I am carefully avoiding the distinction, of whether it is done for profit for yourself. The difference is whether it is built to be occupied, or merely built in order to sell.
  One hon. Member referred to the great service rendered by the jerry builder. I do not wish to use any term of opprobrium, and I will say nothing about it being jerry built, but if a man builds a house with a deliberate purpose of selling it, he cannot be interested in the durability of that house, in the amount of repairs that will be required 20 years hence. I do not say he will put in bad plumbing; he will put in plumbing which will pass the clerk of works or the sanitary authority, but that plumbing will be thinner than if it had been put in in order to keep and if the builder was going to stand the racket of repairs 20 years hence. The painting may look all right, but there is all the difference in durability between one paint and an-other paint. The paint will inevitably be less durable than if the house is built to keep. Then take the walls, the height of the rooms, the window space, and the sanitary accommodation — all these matters are very important from the health point of view. You will find that the man who builds a house in order to sell it will produce an article which will look all right, but which everybody knows will not have the durability which would be the case if it had been built in order to be kept.
  Mr. H. H. SPENCER: Will the hon. Gentleman allow me to put this to him: the problem that is troubling some of us very much is that the local authorities will pass work for themselves that they will not pass for others.
  Mr. WEBB: The hon. Gentleman may have that sort of experience with local authorities in one part of the country, but my experience is not to that effect. So far as I know—and, perhaps my experience of local government is as considerable as any Member of the House—local authorities that are going to own property and maintain it will not be more
  606
  lenient in passing inefficient work than if they were passing it for a private builder. My experience indicates that where a local authority is going to keep and maintain property it is maintained at a higher standard than that of the private builder. That is obvious, for the local authorities have to pass through the criticism of half a dozen different classes of people, and the sanitary inspector at the finish, and you will find as a matter of fact that what the Government are proposing to do in this Clause, in handing these matters over to builders who build to sell, will lower the standard of building and of good healthy houses for a whole generation.
  10.0 P.M.
  We come next to the bye-laws. The right hon. Gentleman takes power to help the local authorities by giving them beautiful model bye-laws which they can adopt if they think fit. But in this matter I suspect that they will not be up to the standard of the London County Council bye-laws. In one part of his speech the right hon. Gentleman alluded to a point—I do not know whether Members realise the force of it—that in this Bill there is a Clause inserted giving him on his own will and authority power summarily to scrap all the bye-laws of the town or county and substitute for them new bye-laws or bye-laws such as he may think fit. It is of interest to notice that this provision does not apply to the London County Council. The right hon. Gentleman does not propose to take power to scrap the bye-laws of the London County Council, but he does take power to scrap summarily the bye-laws of the Manchester City Council, the Leeds City Council, and so on, if he thinks that these bye-laws "unreasonably impede" the erection of new buildings under the Act. I suggest that the local authorities will desire to give some little consideration to this Clause, whatever the Minister may say in defence of it. If they object to any lowering of the standard of houses they are entitled, I suggest, if they like, to make bye-laws which will preserve the standard of their own locality. Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman will in this connection admit that the Clause, as it appears, gives him autocratic powers when introducing this rigid standard of houses which some of us say will lower the standard for a generation. We do now know whether he is going to allow, these houses to be 12 or 20 to the acre.

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  Before he makes up his mind on this point, if he has not already done so, perhaps he will be good enough to give consideration to the suggestion that there is no such easy practical conclusion as that the difference in cost as between 20 and 12 houses to the acre will necessarily mean the difference as between 20 and 12. As a matter of fact it can be argued that putting up houses 12 to the acre only you may save in the cost, because you save on the roads, on the pavements, and all that sort of thing; and in addition you can give the people a garden, and what is more you can develop your town planning scheme on a somewhat rather better system than in the case of the hideous rows of colliery houses that we see in some parts of the country. I suggest that a maximum of 12 houses to the acre, having regard to the conditions in different parts of the country, ought not to be abandoned without further consideration.
  I want to make another suggestion—a novel one. The right hon. Gentleman very properly laid stress upon the necessity of rehousing first the very poorest, the most necessitous, and the most hard driven people. I would remind him that there is one class which suffers as much, perhaps more, from the shortage of housing accommodation than perhaps any other, and for which this Bill does nothing at all. I mean single women living away from their relations in a big city—and also to some extent the single men. In London we have an enormous number of these, probably 100,000. As a rule they earn only small incomes and they have to take what lodgings are offered. The right hon. Gentleman knows that they have no Rent Restriction Act to protect them, and the rents may be piled up and the circumstances in which they may be placed are really heart-rending. I will add another class, and that is the University students living in lodgings. In London I think we have 10,000 of these. Some are very poor. Certainly of my own knowledge, some of them are living under dreadful conditions. Little has been done up to now for them. Would it not be possible to extend these subsidies in certain cases, not exactly perhaps to £6 per house, but to give some help to enable blocks and
  608
  residential hostels to be put up to suit these classes? These cases really number some hundreds of thouands.
  The Bill is wrong in the first place, and we are opposed to it, because of the shortness of its term. Hon. Members have criticised previous Bills to some extent because of the fact that the subsidy was limited to a short term. That is the mistake which we are making again. You cannot do very much in this problem within 18 months or two years in which this Bill is likely to become operative. For reasons already given, you can only employ the labour available, and at the end of two years, supposing the Bill allows all labour available to be taken advantage of and everything possible is done, how much will have been accomplished? You will have made some progress, but my point is this: How much nearer will you be to the time when you will be able to remove the Rent Restriction Acts The object surely is, if hon. Members opposite want to restore private enterprise, to remove restrictions at the earliest possible moment, and you cannot hope to be able in two years to make up the shortage in housing to enable you to remove the restriction. It will not be made easier by the fact that at the end of that period you will be coming nearer to the General Election. If you cannot hope to be able to remove the rent restrictions at the end of the period during which this Bill operates, what is the advantage of putting in the limitation of time?
  I want in the few minutes left to me to suggest to the House that now is the opportunity for the policy of the Labour party to be put forward in this matter. I would like, if I may, to speak of the programme of the Labour party with regard to housing. [Hon. MEMBERS: "Speak up!"] We regard the condition in regard to housing as the greatest evil of the present time. It is a greater evil than drink. It is a greater evil, in my opinion, even than low wages, because housing and everything that depends on it really affects not only the material, but the moral welfare not merely of men, but of all the members of the families. We recognise the magnitude of the evil, and we should not attempt, we should not be able, we should not think it possible, to deal with it by a programme extending only over two years. We suggest that

  609
  this question can only be dealt with by a persistent effort, not by chopping and changing, but by carrying out a consistent programme to run over 15 or 20 years, because you have to increase your supply of skilled labour, and you cannot, whatever you do, obtain in the building industry an adequate supply of labour until you can guarantee to the men engaged in it some sort of continuity of employment. [HON. MEMBERS: "Speak up!"] The building industry has suffered so severely in the past from the see-saw of unemployment that you will not be able to get the labour that is required to build the houses that are needed without such a guarantee. You have never yet had such a campaign in regard to housing. The problem has simply been nibbled at, and the present scheme of the Government will not dispose of the problem. It is not even planned for that end. If this problem is to be solved, we shall have to attack it on several lines.
  It is a common error in this House to suppose that when we of the Labour party talk of nationalisation we want the Central Government to do everything. That is not the case. We rely very much more on the local authorities, but we do want the co-operation of the Central Government in order to give a stimulus to the local authority, and we want it for another reason. We want to equalise the burden to some extent among local authorities. You have to give the local authorities a free hand. [HON. MEMBERS: "Speak up!"] If you prevent any local authority forming a proper standard of housing it will not be easy for the standard of housing in that district to be kept up, and you must leave the local authorities freedom to do better in any way they can over and above the minimum set by the Central Government. We on these benches propose that we should have a plan large enough to cover the whole problem on a scale extending over a period of 15 to 20 years. We should provide for a sufficient recruitment of labour in the building trades, giving the necessary guarantees for the continuous employment of that labour, and we should provide a grant-in-aid adequate to induce the local authorities to take action in this matter. Only in that way do we think you can adequately cope with and solve the housing problems. [HON. MEMBERS: "Speak up!"]
  Mr. SPEAKER: The hon. Member is speaking quite loud enough if hon. Members would only listen.
  Mr. WEBB: If the House does not desire to hear me and signifies that it does not desire to hear me, I shall sit down. [HON. MEMBERS: "Go on!"] I say that only by a campaign on lines as large as that which I have mentioned can this problem be solved. Only by a campaign framed on lines as large as that, and with a full appreciation of the magnitude of the problem, can we adequately deal with housing. I will not say that anything less than that is worth nothing, because that would be going too far. I do not say that anything else would be waste, because that would be going too far; but I do say you are not getting full value for the money you are spending unless you deal with the problem as a whole. It means you are putting your efforts to cope with the problem at the greatest possible disadvantage, and that you are always being weighed down by the part of the problem which you are leaving unsolved. Consequently, we on this side of the House are going to vote for our Amendment, which has been moved; but if that Amendment be defeated, as of course it will be, we do not intend to take up any obstructive attitude, and I hope the Minister of Health, who has asked the House to co-operate with him in trying to make the Bill better, will allow us to help him in Committee. Although we disagree with his proposals, and although we think he is not adequately grappling with the problem, yet we will try in Committee to make the Bill a little better.
  Several hon. Members rose—
  Mr. SPEAKER: The Attorney-General.
  Mr. J. JONES: Are ordinary Members of the House allowed to speak?
  Mr. ADAMS: I wish to ask the Attorney-General to say whether, in the whole course of his experience, he has ever heard of any more brazen proposals for the endowment of private speculators from public funds?
  The ATTORNEY - GENERAL (Mr. Douglas Hogg): I think all hon. Members of the House who have had the privilege, as I have had during the last two evenings, of listening to nearly the whole of the Debate and the speeches

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  delivered on both sides will agree with me when I say that whatever else this Bill may have done it has undoubtedly produced a very instructive and interesting discussion. I hope that hon. Members opposite will forgive me if I add that after listening carefully and attentively to the arguments which they have put forward, I must confess to a feeling of some considerable disappointment at the attitude which they have seen fit to adopt. Yesterday and to-day we have had a series of speeches from members of the Labour party delivered in accents of obvious sincerity and often of real eloquence, in which they portrayed to a House, which I am sure was greatly moved by the portrayal, the conditions under which a great part of the population of this country are living at the present time. I agree that they are right when they say that no one could appreciate so fully what those conditions mean as those, like some hon. Members opposite, who have themselves had to endure them.
  Mr. J. JONES: And we endure them still.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The hon. Member will at least believe me when I say that we are trying to remedy those conditions. When one listened to that portrayal, when one realised the picture they drew of the conditions under which their own constituents were living, I at least hoped to hear the argument pressed somewhat on the lines of saying, not indeed that they believed this was a good Bill, not on the lines of saying that they thought that it solved the problem with which he had to deal, because I expected them to tell us that their panacea of a new social order was the only cure. We expected them to say that their methods would, in their opinion, be far better than ours. I had hoped, however, that they might have seen their way to say that, although they thought our method worse than theirs, and our measures inadequate to deal with the situation, yet housing was too big a matter to be made a question of party controversy, and that they would do their best to accept and facilitate the passage of this Bill, not as a solution, but as at least a mitigation, of the trouble which they feel so keenly.
  612
  It was a real disappointment when I heard some of the hon. Members opposite—I would refer especially to the hon. Member who moved the rejection of the Bill—telling the House that it was apparent from the speech of my right hon. Friend that he had no sympathy at all with the people for whom he was endeavouring to provide.
  My right hon. Friend needs no defence from me. His record on this question, if hon. Members will take the trouble to study it, compares not unfavourably in its achievements with that of anybody who has taken an interest in housing in Great Britain; and I am speaking within the recollection of the House when I ask the House whether those who listened to him with an unprejudiced mind were not satisfied that the Measure which he was bringing forward was brought forward to deal with a problem to which he had devoted months and years of anxious thought, and which he was most earnestly desirous of solving. I venture to doubt, however, whether even some hon. Members opposite really believe that my right hon. Friend has no sympathy in this matter. We were sorry to hear that expression of opinion emphasised by the hon. Member for Dumbarton Burghs (Mr. Kirkwood), who told us, as the House will remember, that they want no sympathy in this matter, that brotherly love was a, mockery and a sham, that cant and hypocrisy were at the bottom of the whole of our attitude towards housing. That sort of speech may, of course, be useful propaganda for those who wish to preach, as the hon. Member for Shettlestone (Mr. Wheatley) told us he did, the class war; but I doubt whether that attitude is the most helpful attitude for people who really want to get the houses which the people so urgently need.
  There is, of course, a section of the community—and hon. Members will believe me when I say that I do not suggest that it is largely represented on their benches—there is, of course, a section of the community, at any rate outside this House, who say and believe that revolution is the only cure for social evils, who say that they know that overcrowding and miserable conditions are the best breeding ground for revolutionaries; and who, therefore, to be logical—though the hon. and gallant Member for St. Albans (Lieut.-Colonel Fremantle) told us that very few people,

  613
  fortunately, are logical—who, to be logical, would say, "Let us prevent any improvement in housing conditions, because by so doing we are taking the best method to ensure that that revolution will come which we believe is going to cure all our ills." I do not believe that is the real attitude of any large section of hon. Members opposite. I would suggest to hon. Members who do not hold these views whether it is not true that a speech on the lines of some of those we listened to yesterday did not rather tend to encourage that position. The hon. Member for Shettlestone in his opening remarks, after criticising what he called the ignorance of my right hon. Friend of the problem and its causes, went on to make his own statement, which in my submission is really the root error which underlies a great deal of the criticism to which our Bill has been subjected because he said this:
  "May I say at the outset that the housing problem is not one of house building. It is really a problem of finance."
  It is because I profoundly disagree with that proposition that I suggest that our Bill ought to commend itself to the House. If it were true that this was merely a question of finance, it would not be nearly so difficult a problem to solve. If it were only a question of finding money and the houses would be there, it would be a comparatively easy job for any Minister to deal with the problem that is before us. The difficulty is, that it is not a problem of finance. It is a problem of houses. The difficulty is not in finding the money to build the houses. It is to find the men to build the houses. The hon. Member a little later on, forgetting perhaps the words with which he began, himself put his finger upon that weak spot, when he said:
  "Let me say quite frankly that when you set about building these houses you will find that you have not a sufficient quantity of skilled labour in this country."
  Mr. KIRKWOOD: Because you are driving them away.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I do not want to get into controversy as to who is responsible. It is not because I am afraid of the problem, but because I do not think it is helpful to discuss it at this moment. The problem we have to deal with is not why there is not enough
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  skilled labour, but how we are to get houses now when labour is scarce? [Interruption.]
  Mr. SPEAKER: Private Members have had a great opportunity of putting their case. It is the only condition on which Debate can be carried on.
  Mr. J. JONES: On a point of Order. I was here all day yesterday, and did not get a chance of speaking.
  Mr. SPEAKER: I may remind the hon. Member that there are 615 Members of the House.
  Mr. JONES: There are only about 19 of them, who talk all the time. [Interruption.] You will not shut me up—any of you can come and try.
  Mr. SPEAKER: If the hon. Member interrupts again, I shall be obliged to ask him to leave the House.
  Mr. JONES: I will do so gladly.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: If we appreciate what the hon. Member for Shettleston quite correctly stated, that this is a problem, not of finance, but of the finding of skilled labour, the House will appreciate, what I think hon. Members on both sides have perhaps not fully accepted, that is the provision which my right hon. Friend has had to make with regard to limiting the sort of house that is to be built. I said that I was not going to discuss the absence of skilled labour, but there is one observation which the hon. Member for Shettleston made which I should like to take up. He said that the difficulty was this, that there is no security in the future for regular employment, and that parents will not put their sons into this particular trade. I agree with the hon. Member that security is of the first importance. You will not get people to put their energy, their brains and their skill into learning a trade, unless they have some reasonable assurance that they are going to get work when they have learned it. My belief is that, of all trades under existing conditions, the housing business is one that offers some of the best opportunities. I should have hoped that that is realised, because the facts which have been brought out very fully in the House during the last few days show that there is, and must be for a long time to come, a shortage of houses. I hope I am not asking too much

  615
  if I suggest to hon. Members that if they make that point clear to those who consult them—as I am sure they often do—as to what is a suitable career for their sons, they will make a real contribution towards the solution of this problem.
  I would remind hon. Members opposite that the point upon which the hon. Member put his finger when he was seeking to find labour for houses is the same point which we are trying to deal with when we are seeking to attract capital into houses. Just as you will not get an adequate supply of labour to learn the housing business unless you give to those who are entering upon it a reasonable prospect of work when they have learned it, so you will never get the private builder to embark upon this enterprise unless you give him some reasonable security that when he has embarked upon the enterprise the fruits of his labour and the fruits of his expenditure will not be confiscated property. Therefore, it is quite true that security is one of the root problems which we have to face, and it is with a real desire to try to encourage the restoration of that confidence and that sense of security that a great deal of this Bill has been framed. The hon. Member went on to discuss the question of land, and he pointed out that the problem of land was a very small element in the case. It may interest him if I tell him, because he asked the question, that the difficulty of obtaining land is not the real difficulty to-day in connection with housing. He put the average cost of land at £400 an acre. Under the Addison schemes, the actual average cost was less than £200 an acre. There are to-day 20,000 acres which have been acquired by local authorities, and one of the methods which we hoped they will largely use in forwarding these housing schemes will be to put in that land at a cheap rate, so as to have the land available at once, partially developed as it is, for the provision of houses in the very near future. [An HON. MEMBER: "By the building speculator?"] I am sorry if I have not made myself clear. The plan we are suggesting is a subsidy which the State gives to the local authority, and the local authority where it can finds a private builder hands it on, with assistance from itself. The method which we suggest as a method of largely
  616
  accelerating the building of houses will be for the local authority to pass on the land at a cheap rate to the builder and by that means give assistance. [HON. MEMBERS: "Speculators!"]
  The next criticism levelled against the Bill was outlined by my right hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Sir J. Simon) and the hon. Member for the Westhoughton Division of Lancashire (Mr. Rhys Davies) who seconded the rejection of the Bill. My right hon. Friend says that the first question to be asked was—will this scheme get the houses? That is, of course, the crucial test of any housing scheme, and the hon. Member who seconded the rejection told us that, in his view, none of the progressive local authorities would have anything to do with the scheme, and that they would not attempt to work it. I do not know whether Lancashire will be grateful to the hon. Member, but I may tell him that Manchester, which is no mean city of the County Palatine, not only gave its name to the scheme which we have embodied in this Bill, but the Manchester authorities have already assured us of their willingness to co-operate with us in helping to make it a success.
  Mr. CLYNES: Does the right hon. Gentleman intend that statement to apply to all the Bill or only to its financial aspects?
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I intend the statement to apply to the outline of the scheme with which we provide the House. The point made against the Bill is that the local authorities will refuse to work it. The statement I make is that local authorities, including Manchester, have assured us of their intention to work the Bill and work it on the lines of the scheme and do their best to make a success of it.
  Sir J. SIMON: The question which I asked was not about the great municipalities, but what was the assurance that the rural authorities, the authorities with the smaller rateable value, would be able to work it?
  The ATTORNEY - GENERAL: That was another point that was put to me, and I am coming to it. The next point, which I took under a different heading, because it was developed differently by other speakers, was the question of what

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  may be called the flat rate. The suggestion made was that this scheme might provide sufficient money for the larger urban areas, but that it was insufficient in the case of the rural areas. That obviously is a matter which would have to be worked out, and it has been looked into before the figures were arrived at. To have a sliding scale in the sense of having a different rate fixed according to the varying conditions of each municipality would, as the House will appreciate, have involved that the Ministry would have had to make its own bargain with each local authority, and as we have been told that there are 1,100 of them that does not seem a quick way of getting houses. Of course it was necessary to consider the financial aspects with regard to rural areas. We have had worked out for us very carefully what the cost will be, and we have the figures and they show that it would be possible with this scheme for the local authority in a rural area to erect a house and find just a little less by way of subsidy than the State has to find in order to make the scheme a success, and the rent which is taken in order to arrive at that calculation is an average rent of 5s. 6d. a week. With regard to the larger urban areas, the House may remember that the original suggestion of the Minister was that if the State found £4 a year for 20 years, that would be finding half the total. The municipalities said that they did not regard that as enough, and my right hon. Friend, feeling, as I think the House will agree that he ought to feel, that the urgent matter was to enlist the sympathy and co-operation of the local authorities, deliberately accepted the higher figure, so that we might be sure that we were taking a figure which the local authorities themselves recognised as fair. I come now to the next criticism, which is that this Bill lowers the standard of housing. If that charge were true it would be a most serious charge. But who that has listened to the description of the present-day conditions of housing in this country will get up and say that the house which is provided under the Bill with this subsidy is not infinitely superior to the house in which the average person of those sections of the community who most need houses is living in at the present time?
  Mr. J. JONES: That is an insult.!
  HON. MEMBERS: Anything is good enough for the working man.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I did not say, and I do not think, that anything is good enough for the working classes. What I do say is that at this moment the urgent need is to get as many houses provided as possible. We have only limited resources, especially in the way of skilled labour, and what we have to do is to use those resources to the best of our ability. Of course, we have to provide a house which is fit for people to live in.
  Mr. NEWBOLD: Take over Buckingham Palace, then.
  HON. MEMBERS: Order, order!
  Mr. NEWBOLD: And the Speaker's House next.
  HON. MEMBERS: Name him!
  Mr. SPEAKER: These vulgar interruptions do not tend to the orderliness of debate. I hope the Minister will be allowed to proceed.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I want to make my point clear, as certain Members of the House wish to understand it. If we were building what are called rabbit hutches or hovels, or houses inferior to those in which the poorer sections of the community are now living, it would be a ground for objecting to this Bill. But, in fact, the house which we are building is infinitely better than the conditions under which those who will go into them are living at this moment. So far from these houses being unfit to live in, more than 40 per cent. of those built under the Addison scheme—the hon. Member for Dumbarton (Mr. Kirkwood) gave a testimonial to Dr. Addison for his scheme—do comply with the conditions of this scheme. Is it suggested that all these houses are unfit to live in? I do not think hon. Members opposite would seriously make that contention. It is said also that these houses are going to be crowded together; that the density of the houses to the acre is going to be too great, and the hon. Member for Shettleston actually suggested—I think I know where he got that suggestion from—that 20 houses to the acre was what our scheme proposed. I should like to assure the House that it is an entire mistake. Of course we are giving a certain discretion to the local

  619
  authorities; it is our deliberate intention so to do, and I gather that the hon. Member for Seaham (Mr. Webb) would agree with us in so doing.
  Mr. WEBB: Subject to a maximum.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: We are giving a certain discretion to the local authorities, and what the Ministry suggests to the local authorities is that about the rate of density at which to aim under this scheme, is 12 to the acre. The suggestion which the hon. Member for Shettlestone got—I think I know from where—is based on the suggestion which the Ministry made that in no circumstances should any one single acre have more than 20 houses. The House will appreciate at once the difference between saying that, and saying that 20 houses to the acre is the proper density. I think, therefore, the House may be re-assured on that point. Now I come to a point which has caused a great deal of discussion, and that is the question of the size of house to be erected. My right hon. Friend the Minister of Health has stated the problem very fully and, I think, very clearly, and I do not want to repeat too much of what he said. Shortly, the problem is this: We have to get as many houses as we can with the labour available, as quickly as possible. It is obvious if you build very large houses, you will take more labour and more time than if you build smaller houses, and therefore it is also obvious that in order to get the best result it is essential for this emergency Measure—because that is what it is—that we should get the largest number of houses in the time that the labour can give us. It is all very well for the hon. Member for Seaham to say that he would have a comprehensive scheme which would provide for the education of skilled labour and for the production of houses on a large scale over a large number of years. These people for whom we are providing houses have been waiting long enough, and we are anxious, and I think the House will think we are right in being anxious, to give them in the shortest possible time, the largest number of houses. That is the real governing consideration.
  It will be remembered that no Member on either side of the House has ventured to deny that houses of the type suggested
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  by the Bill are houses for which there is a very large demand. Nobody can doubt that if you provide large houses, at any rate you run the risk, that instead of giving more accommodation, you merely encourage persons who get the houses to take in lodgers, and probably you have more congestion.
  Mr. J. JONES: He will have no room for lodgers in your houses.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: My right hon. Friend, in order that the very real and natural anxiety of the House should be satisfied on this point, has arranged to have plans put up in the smoking room, which will show the houses which were actually being erected before this Bill was drafted, which are being erected, and which have been erected, and which comply with the provisions of this Section. Hon. Members, therefore, will be able to judge for themselves whether or not these are houses which anybody might quite fairly say are decent and respectable. [HON. MEMBERS: "Ten by six!"]
  Mr. HARDIE: Would the right hon. Gentleman say, taking the minimum area allowed, that a house built in one flat as a bungalow would cost more than a house built in two stories?
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: This provides for one-storied houses and for two-storied houses.
  Mr. HARDIE: But one costs more than the other.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: What we are trying to get is as many as we can—
  Mr. HARDIE: You cannot do it.
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am sorry if I have not grasped the hon. Member's point.
  Mr. HARDIE: You have got a bigger area—
  The ATTORNEY - GENERAL: Of course, the one-storied house—
  Mr. HARDIE: How can you do it?
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: We are giving to the local authority the power to provide either one-storied houses or two-storied houses, or flats. It is not a question of the cost of the house. It is a question of the subsidy, which we are

  621
  discussing at the moment. The subsidy of the State is to be the same, and the local authority is going to decide which to build. We are putting plans in the smoking room in order that they may be seen. There is this point, which has been urged by the hon. Members for North St. Pancras (Mr. Lorden), West Woolwich (Sir Kingsley Wood), and others. They have said that although these houses may be sufficient, there may be local authorities by whom a particular type of house is regarded as suitable for their own localities. There may also be local authorities who will say that they could not, consistently with the type of house required in their own area, erect a house precisely to these designs. That is a weighty and legitimate criticism. My right hon. Friend authorises me to say that it is a criticism the weight of which he himself has fully appreciated. He is proposing, when the Bill goes to Committee, as I hope it will, to give further consideration to the question, in order to see whether it is not possible, in some way, to meet the Objection in regard to size without departing from what is the principle of the Bill. How that best can be done is obviously a matter which can be discussed in Committee, but I thought it right, as it is a question that has been raised, and generally discussed in the House, that I should take this opportunity of making that statement.
  I pass to one or two criticisms which the hon. Member for Seaham made against the Bill. He said, first of all, that the Bill tied the local authority down too rigidly. If one looks at the Bill, it does not tie the local authority down at all. Except within the limits of space, it leaves the local authority a free hand.
  Mr. WEBB rose—[Interruption.]
  An HON. MEMBER: Sit down, nanny!
  HON. MEMBERS: Order!
  The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: If the hon. Member meant by his criticism merely that there ought to be bigger houses, then that seems to me to be a criticism which I have already dealt with, but—
  Mr. KIRKWOOD: Did you hear what an hon. Member opposite said? [HON. MEMBERS: "Order!" and "Sit down!"]
  Mr. SPEAKER: If the hon. Member rises to a point of Order and he addresses me—which is the only thing he is entitled to do—will he please say so. Then the House will hear him, and I will hear him.
  Art HON. MEMBER: Chuck him out!
  Mr. J. JONES: If you chuck him out, there will be a lot more to chuck out.
  Mr. KIRKWOOD: On a point of Order, Mr. Speaker. I want to draw your attention to this, that from the other side of the House they addressed our representative, an hon. Member of the House, a revered Member of our party—
  Mr. SPEAKER: What is the point on which the hon. Member rises to a point of Order?
  Mr. KIRKWOOD: They insulted him, in my opinion. They called out, "Sit down, nanny."
  Mr. SPEAKER: If I had heard an expression of that kind, I should have said it was grossly out of order. [HON. MEMBERS: "Withdraw!" and "Name!"] If hon. Members desire to prevent disorderly remarks of that kind, they must be quiet enough to give me the opportunity, and they may be perfectly assured that, from whichever side of the House it come, I shall insist upon its withdrawal.
  HON. MEMBERS: Withdraw!
  Mr. LAWSON: On a point of Order. I want, as one who never interferes and never interrupts, to put it that from the bench opposite, nearly under the Gangway, from one of the two Gentlemen at the end, that insulting insinuation was made, and we have a right to have an apology to a Member who never interrupts. I want to make the definite suggestion that the Noble Lord the Member for South Battersea (Viscount Curzon) made the remark.
  Captain Viscount CURZON indicated dissent.
  Mr. CHAMBERLAIN"That the Question be now put."
  Question put, "That the Question be now put."
  The House divided: Ayes, 305; Noes, 153.

  Division No. 110.]

  AYES.

  [11.0 p.m.

  Agg-Gardner, Sir James Tynte

  Du Pre, Colonel William Baring

  Lloyd, Cyril E. (Dudley)

  Ainsworth, Captain Charles

  Edmondson, Major A. J.

  Locker-Lampson, G. (Wood Green)

  Alexander, E. E. (Leyton, East)

  Ednam, Viscount

  Lorden, John William

  Alexander, Col. M. (Southwark)

  Elliot, Capt. Walter E. (Lanark)

  Lorimer, H. D.

  Allen, Lieut.-Col. Sir William James

  Ellis, R. G.

  Lort-Williams, J.

  Amery, Rt. Hon. Leopold C. M. S.

  England, Lieut.-Colonel A.

  Lougher, L.

  Apsley, Lord

  Erskine, James Malcolm Monteith

  Lowe, Sir Francis William

  Archer-Shee, Lieut.-Colonel Martin

  Erskine, Lord (Weston-super-Mare)

  Loyd, Arthur Thomas (Abingdon)

  Ashley, Lt.-Col. Wilfrid W.

  Erskine-Bolst, Captain C.

  Lumley, L. R.

  Astbury, Lieut.-Com. Frederick W.

  Eyres-Monsell, Com. Bolton M.

  Lyle-Samuel, Alexander

  Astor, J. J. (Kent, Dover)

  Falcon, Captain Michael

  Macnaghten, Hon. Sir Malcolm

  Baird, Rt. Hon. Sir John Lawrence

  Falle, Major Sir Bertram Godfray

  McNeill, Ronald (Kent, Canterbury)

  Baldwin, Rt. Hon. Stanley

  Fawkes, Major F. H.

  Malone, Major P. B. (Tottenham, S.)

  Balfour, George (Hampstead)

  Fermor-Hesketh, Major T.

  Manville, Edward

  Banner, Sir John S. Harmood-

  Ford, Patrick Johnston

  Margesson, H. D. R.

  Barlow, Rt. Hon. Sir Montague

  Foreman, Sir Henry

  Mason, Lieut.-Col. C. K.

  Barnett, Major Richard W.

  Forest er-Walker, L.

  Mercer, Colonel H.

  Barnston, Major Harry

  Foxcroft, Captain Charles Talbot

  Milne, J. S. Wardlaw

  Becker, Harry

  Fraser, Major Sir Keith

  Mitchell, W. F. (Saffron Walden)

  Bell, Lieut.-Col. W. C. H. (Devizes)

  Frece, Sir Walter de

  Mitchell, Sir W. Lane (Streatham)

  Bellairs, Commander Carlyon W.

  Fremantle, Lieut.-Colonel Francis E.

  Molloy, Major L. G. S.

  Benn, Sir A. S. (Plymouth, Drake)

  Furness, G. J.

  Molson, Major John Elsdale

  Bennett, A. J. (Mansfield)

  Galbraith, J. F. W.

  Moore, Major-General Sir Newton J.

  Bennett, Sir T. J. (Sevenoaks)

  Ganzoni, Sir John

  Moore-Brabazon, Lieut.-Col. J. T. C.

  Bentinck, Lord Henry Cavendish-

  Gates, Percy

  Morrison, Hugh (Wilts, Salisbury)

  Berry, Sir George

  Gaunt, Rear-Admiral Sir Guy R.

  Morrison-Bell, Major A. C. (Honiton)

  Betterton, Henry B.

  Gould, James C.

  Murchison, C. K.

  Birchall, Major J. Dearman

  Gray, Harold (Cambridge)

  Nesbitt, Robert C.

  Blundell, F. N.

  Greaves-Lord, Walter

  Newman, Colonel J. R. P. (Finchley)

  Bonwick, A.

  Greene, Lt.-Col. Sir W. (Hack'y, N.)

  Newman, Sir R. H. S. D. L. (Exeter)

  Bowyer, Capt. G. E. W.

  Greenwood, William (Stockport)

  Newson, Sir Percy Wilson

  Boyd-Carpenter, Major A.

  Grenfell, Edward C. (City of London)

  Newton, Sir D. G. C. (Cambridge)

  Brass, Captain W.

  Gretton, Colonel John

  Nicholson, Brig.-Gen. J. (Westminster)

  Brassey, Sir Leonard

  Guinness, Lieut.-Col. Hon. W. E.

  Nicholson, William G. (Petersfield)

  Bridgeman, Rt. Hon. William Clive

  Gwynne, Rupert S.

  Nield, Sir Herbert

  Briggs, Harold

  Hacking, Captain Douglas H.

  Norman, Major Rt. Hon. Sir Henry

  Brittain, Sir Harry

  Hall, Lieut.-Col. Sir F. (Dulwich)

  Norton-Griffiths, Lieut.-Col. Sir John

  Brown, Major D. C. (Hexham)

  Hall, Rr-Adml Sir W. (Liv'p'l, W. D'by)

  Oman, Sir Charles William C.

  Brown, Brig.-Gen. Clifton (Newbury)

  Halstead, Major D.

  Ormsby-Gore, Hon. William

  Brown, J. W. (Middlesbrough, E.)

  Hamilton, Sir George C. (Altrincham)

  Paget, T. G.

  Bruford, R.

  Hancock, John George

  Parker, Owen (Kettering)

  Bruton, Sir James

  Hannon, Patrick Joseph Henry

  Pease, William Edwin

  Buckingham, Sir H.

  Harrison, F. C.

  Pennefather, De Fonblanque

  Buckley, Lieut.-Colonel A.

  Harvey, Major S. E.

  Penny, Frederick George

  Bull, Rt. Hon. Sir William James

  Hawke, John Anthony

  Percy, Lord Eustace (Hastings)

  Burn, Colonel Sir Charles Rosdew

  Hay, Major T. W. (Norfolk, South)

  Perkins, Colonel E. K.

  Burney, Com. (Middx., Uxbridge)

  Henn, Sir Sydney H.

  Perring, William George

  Butcher, Sir John George

  Hennessy, Major J. R. G.

  Peto, Basil E.

  Butler, H. M. (Leeds, North)

  Herbert, Dennis (Hertford, Watford)

  Pielou, D. P.

  Butler, J. R. M. (Cambridge Univ.)

  Herbert, S. (Scarborough)

  Pilditch, Sir Philip

  Butt, Sir Alfred

  Hewett, Sir J. P.

  Pollock, Rt. Hon. Sir Ernest Murray

  Cadogan, Major Edward

  Hilder, Lieut.-Colonel Frank

  Pownall, Lieut.-Colonel Assheton

  Cassels, J. D.

  Hiley, Sir Ernest

  Preston, Sir W. R.

  Cautley, Henry Strother

  Hoare, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir S. J. G.

  Pretyman, Rt. Hon. Ernest G.

  Cayzer, Sir C. (Chester, City)

  Hogg, Rt. Hon. Sir D. (St. Marylebone)

  Privett, F. J.

  Cecil, Rt. Hon. Sir Evelyn (Aston)

  Hohler, Gerald Fitzroy

  Rae, Sir Henry N.

  Cecil, Rt. Hon. Lord H. (Ox. Univ.)

  Holbrook, Sir Arthur Richard

  Raeburn, Sir William H.

  Chadwick, Sir Robert Burton

  Hood, Sir Joseph

  Raine, W.

  Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. N. (Ladywood)

  Hopkins, John W. W.

  Rankin, Captain James Stuart

  Chapman, Sir S.

  Houfton, John Plowright

  Rawlinson, Rt. Hon. John Fredk. Peel

  Churchman, Sir Arthur

  Howard, Capt. D. (Cumberland, N.)

  Rawson, Lieut.-Com. A. C.

  Clarry, Reginald George

  Howard-Bury, Lieut.-Col. C. K.

  Rees, Sir Beddoe

  Clayton, G. C.

  Hudson, Capt. A.

  Reid, D. D. (County Down)

  Cobb, Sir Cyril

  Hume, G. H.

  Remer, J. R.

  Cockerill, Brigadier-General G. K.

  Hume-Williams, Sir W. Ellis

  Rentoul, G. S.

  Colfox, Major Wm. Phillips

  Hurd, Percy A.

  Reynolds, W. G. W.

  Colvin, Brig.-General Richard Beale

  Hurst, Lt.-Col. Gerald Berkeley

  Richardson, Lt.-Col. Sir P. (Chertsey)

  Cope, Major William

  Hutchison, G. A. C. (Midlothian, N.)

  Roberts, C. H. (Derby)

  Cory, Sir J. H. (Cardiff, South)

  Hutchison, W. (Kelvingrove)

  Roberts, Rt. Hon. G. H. (Norwich)

  Courthope, Lieut.-Col. George L.

  Inskip, Sir Thomas Walker H.

  Roberts, Samuel (Hereford, Hereford)

  Craig, Captain C. C. (Antrim, South)

  Jackson, Lieut.-Colonel Hon. F. S.

  Roberts, Rt. Hon. Sir S. (Ecclesall)

  Craik, Rt. Hon. Sir Henry

  Jodrell, Sir Neville Paul

  Robertson-Despencer, Major (Isl'gt'n W.)

  Croft, Lieut.-Colonel Henry Page

  Johnstone, Harcourt (Willesden, East)

  Robinson, Sir T. (Lancs., Stretford)

  Crook, C. W. (East Ham, North)

  Jones, G. W. H. (Stoke Newington)

  Rogerson, Capt. J. E.

  Curzon, Captain Viscount

  Jones, Henry Haydn (Merioneth)

  Roundell, Colonel R. F.

  Davidson, J. C. C. (Hemel Hempstead)

  Joynson-Hicks, Sir William

  Ruggles-Brise, Major E.

  Davidson, Major-General Sir J. H.

  Kelley, Major Fred (Rotherham)

  Russell, Alexander West (Tynemouth)

  Davies, David (Montgomery)

  Kennedy, Captain M. S. Nigel

  Russell, William (Bolton)

  Davies, Thomas (Cirencester)

  King, Captain Henry Douglas

  Russell-Wells, Sir Sydney

  Davison, Sir W. H. (Kensington, S.)

  Kinloch-Cooke, Sir Clement

  Samuel, A. M. (Surrey, Farnham)

  Dawson, Sir Philip

  Lamb, J. Q.

  Samuel, Samuel (W'dsworth, Putney)

  Dixon, C. H. (Rutland)

  Lane-Fox, Lieut.-Colonel G. R.

  Sanders, Rt. Hon. Sir Robert A.

  Doyle, N. Grattan

  Law, Rt. Hon. A. B. (Glasgow, C.)

  Sanderson, Sir Frank B.

  624

  625

  Sandon, Lord

  Stott, Lt.-Col. W. H.

  Wheler, Col. Granville C. H.

  Sassoon, Sir Philip Albert Gustave D.

  Stuart, Lord C. Crichton-

  White, Col. G. D. (Southport)

  Scott, Sir Leslie (Liverp'l, Exchange)

  Sueter, Rear-Admiral Murray Fraser

  Whitla, Sir William

  Sheffield, Sir Berkeley

  Sugden, Sir Wilfrid H.

  Willey, Arthur

  Shepperson, E. W.

  Sykes, Major-Gen. Sir Frederick H.

  Wilson, Col. M. J. (Richmond)

  Shipwright, Captain D.

  Terrell, Captain R. (Oxford, Henley)

  Windsor-Clive, Lieut.-Colonel G.

  Simms, Dr. John M. (Co. Down)

  Thompson, Luke (Sunderland)

  Winfrey, Sir Richard

  Simpson-Hinchcliffe, W. A.

  Thomson, F. C. (Aberdeen, South)

  Winterton, Earl

  Singleton, J. E.

  Thorpe, Captain John Henry

  Wise, Frederick

  Skelton, A. N.

  Titchfield, Marquess of

  Wolmer, Viscount

  Smith, Sir Allan M. (Croydon, South)

  Tryon, Rt. Hon. George Clement

  Wood, Sir H. K. (Woolwich, West)

  Smith, Sir Harold (Wavertree)

  Tubbs, S. W.

  Wood, Maj. Sir S. Hill- (High Peak)

  Somerville, A. A. (Windsor)

  Turton, Edmund Russborough

  Woodcock, Colonel H. C.

  Somerville, Daniel (Barrow-in-Furness)

  Vaughan-Morgan, Col. K. P.

  Worthington-Evans, Rt. Hon. Sir L.

  Sparkes, H. W.

  Wallace, Captain E.

  Yerburgh, R. D. T.

  Spencer, H. H. (Bradford, S.)

  Ward, Col. L. (Kingston-upon-Hull)

  Young, Robert (Lancaster, Newton)

  Stanley, Lord

  Waring, Major Walter

  Steel, Major S. Strang

  Watson, Capt. J. (Stockton-on-Tees)

  TELLERS FOR THE AYES.—

  Stewart, Gershom (Wirral)

  Watts, Dr. T. (Man., Withington)

  Colonel Leslie Wilson and Colonel

  Stockton, Sir Edwin Forsyth

  Wells, S. R.

  Gibbs.

  NOES.

  Adams, D.

  Harbord, Arthur

  Phillipps, Vivian

  Adamson, W. M. (Staff., Cannock)

  Harney, E. A.

  Ponsonby, Arthur

  Alexander, A. V. (Sheffield, Hillsbro')

  Hay, Captain J. P. (Cathcart)

  Price, E. G.

  Barker, G. (Monmouth, Abertillery)

  Hayday, Arthur

  Richards, R.

  Barnes, A.

  Hayes, John Henry (Edge Hill)

  Richardson, R. (Houghton-le Spring)

  Barrie, Sir Charles Coupar (Banff)

  Henderson, Sir T. (Roxburgh)

  Riley, Ben

  Batey, Joseph

  Henderson, T. (Glasgow)

  Ritson, J.

  Benn, Captain Wedgwood (Leith)

  Herriotts, J.

  Rose, Frank H.

  Berkeley, Captain Reginald

  Hill, A.

  Royce, William Stapleton

  Broad, F. A.

  Hinds, John

  Saklatvala, S.

  Brown, James (Ayr and Bute)

  Hirst, G. H.

  Salter, Dr. A.

  Buchanan, G.

  Hutchison, Sir R. (Kirkcaldy)

  Scrymgeour, E.

  Buckle, J.

  Jenkins, W. (Glamorgan, Neath)

  Shakespeare, G. H.

  Burgess, S.

  John, William (Rhondda, West)

  Shinwell, Emanuel

  Burnie, Major J. (Bootle)

  Johnston, Thomas (Stirling)

  Short, Alfred (Wednesbury)

  Buxton, Noel (Norfolk, North)

  Jones, J. J. (West Ham, Silvertown)

  Simon, Rt. Hon. Sir John

  Cairns, John

  Jones, Morgan (Caerphilly)

  Sinclair, Sir A.

  Chapple, W. A.

  Jones, T. I. Mardy (Pontypridd)

  Smith, T. (Pontefract)

  Charleton, H. C.

  Jowett, F. W. (Bradford, East)

  Snell, Harry

  Collie, Sir John

  Lansbury, George

  Snowden, Philip

  Collison, Levi

  Leach, W.

  Stephenson, Lieut.-Colonel H. K.

  Cotts, Sir William Dingwall Mitchell

  Lee, F.

  Stephen, Campbell

  Darbishire, C. W.

  Lees-Smith, H. B. (Keighley)

  Stewart, J. (St. Rollox)

  Davison, J. E. (Smethwick)

  Linfield, F. C.

  Sturrock, J. Leng

  Dudgeon, Major C. R.

  Lowth, T.

  Thomas, Rt. Hon. James H. (Derby)

  Duffy, T. Gavan

  McCurdy, Rt. Hon. Charles A.

  Thomas, Sir Robert John (Anglesey)

  Duncan, C.

  Macdonald, Sir Murdoch (Inverness)

  Thomson, T. (Middlesbrough, West)

  Dunnico, H.

  M'Entee, V. L.

  Thorne, G. R. (Wolverhampton, E.)

  Ede, James Chuter

  McLaren, Andrew

  Turner, Ben

  Edge, Captain Sir William

  Maclean, Neil (Glasgow, Govan)

  Wallhead, Richard C.

  Edmonds, G.

  Macnamara, Rt. Hon. Dr. T. J.

  Walsh, Stephen (Lancaster, Ince)

  Emlyn-Jones, J. E. (Dorset, N.)

  Macpherson, Rt. Hon. James I.

  Warne, G. H.

  Entwistle, Major C. F.

  Marshall, Sir Arthur H.

  Watson, W. M. (Dunfermline)

  Evans, Ernest (Cardigan)

  Martin, F. (Aberd'n & Kinc'dine, E.)

  Watts-Morgan, Lt.-Col. D. (Rhondda)

  Fildes, Henry

  Maxton, James

  Weir, L. M.

  Foot, Isaac

  Middleton, G.

  Welsh, J. C.

  George, Rt. Hon. David Lloyd

  Millar, J. D.

  Westwood, J.

  Gosling, Harry

  Mond, Rt. Hon. Sir Alfred Moritz

  White, Charles F. (Derby, Western)

  Graham, W. (Edinburgh, Central)

  Morris, Harold

  White, H. G. (Birkenhead, E.)

  Gray, Frank (Oxford)

  Morrison, R. C. (Tottenham, N.)

  Whiteley, W.

  Greenall, T.

  Muir, John W.

  Williams, David (Swansea, E.)

  Greenwood, A. (Nelson and Colne)

  Murnin, H.

  Williams, Dr. J. H. (Llanelly)

  Grenfell, D. R. (Glamorgan)

  Murray, Hon. A. C. (Aberdeen)

  Williams, T. (York. Don Valley)

  Grigg, Sir Edward

  Murray, John (Leeds, West)

  Wilson, C. H. (Sheffield, Attercliffe)

  Groves, T.

  Murray, R. (Renfrew, Western)

  Wilson, R. J. (Jarrow)

  Grundy, T. W.

  Newbold, J. T. W.

  Wintringham, Margaret

  Guest, Hon. C. H. (Bristol, N.)

  Nichol, Robert

  Wood, Major M. M. (Aberdeen, C.)

  Guest, J. (York, Hemsworth)

  O'Grady, Captain James

  Wright, W.

  Guthrie, Thomas Maule

  Oliver, George Harold

  Young, Rt. Hon. E. H. (Norwich)

  Hall, F. (York W. R., Normanton)

  Paling, W.

  Hall, G. H. (Merthyr Tydvil)

  Parker, H. (Hanley)

  TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—

  Hamilton, Sir R. (Orkney & Shetland)

  Pattinson, S. (Horncastle)

  Mr. Pringle and Lieut.-Commander

  Kenworthy.

  Question put accordingly, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
  The House proceeded to a Division.
  Major-General Sir ROBERT HUTCHISON(seated and covered): On a point of Order. May I have the Amendment standing in my name put—that owing to

  627
  the inclusion of Scotland in this Bill, the Bill be read this day six months?
  Mr. SPEAKER: The Amendment I have just put is the Amendment before
  the House. The House will proceed to the Division.
  The House divided: Ayes, 340, Noes, 140.

  Division No. 111.]

  AYES.

  [11.12 p.m.

  Agg-Gardner, Sir James Tynte

  Cralk, Rt. Hon. Sir Henry

  Herbert, S. (Scarborough)

  Ainsworth, Captain Charles

  Croft, Lieut.-Colonel Henry Page

  Hewett, Sir J. P.

  Alexander, E. E. (Leyton, East)

  Crook, C. W. (East Ham, North)

  Hilder, Lieut.-Colonel Frank

  Alexander, Col. M. (Southwark)

  Curzon, Captain Viscount

  Hiley, Sir Ernest

  Allen, Lieut.-Col. Sir William James

  Darbishire, C. W.

  Hinds, John

  Amery, Rt. Hon. Leopold C. M. S.

  Davidson, J. C. C. (Hamel Hempstead)

  Hoare, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir S. J. C.

  Apsley, Lord

  Davidson, Major-General Sir J. H.

  Hogg, Rt. Hon. Sir D. (St. Marylebone)

  Archer-Shee, Lieut.-Colonel Martin

  Davies, David (Montgomery)

  Hohler, Gerald Fitzroy

  Ashley, Lt.-Col. Wilfrid W.

  Davies, Thomas (Cirencester)

  Holbrook, Sir Arthur Richard

  Astbury, Lieut.-Com. Frederick W.

  Davison, Sir W. H. (Kensington, S.)

  Hood, Sir Joseph

  Astor, J. J. (Kent, Dover)

  Dawson, Sir Philip

  Hopkins, John W. W.

  Baird, Rt. Hon. Sir John Lawrence

  Dixon, C. H. (Rutland)

  Houfton, John Plowright

  Baldwin, Rt. Hon. Stanley

  Doyle, N. Grattan

  Howard, Capt. D. (Cumberland, N.)

  Balfour, George (Hampstead)

  Du Pre, Colonel William Baring

  Howard-Bury, Lieut.-Col. C. K.

  Banner, Sir John S. Harmood-

  Edge, Captain Sir William

  Hudson, Capt. A.

  Barlow, Rt. Hon. Sir Montague

  Edmonds, G.

  Hume, G. H.

  Barnett, Major Richard W.

  Edmondson, Major A. J.

  Hume-Williams, Sir W. Ellis

  Barnston, Major Harry

  Ednam, Viscount

  Hurd, Percy A.

  Becker, Harry

  Elliot, Capt. Walter E. (Lanark)

  Hurst, Lt.-Col. Gerald Berkeley

  Bell, Lieut.-Col. W. C. H. (Devizes)

  Ellis, R. G.

  Hutchison, G. A. C. (Midlothian, N.)

  Bellairs, Commander Carlyon W.

  Emlyn-Jones, J. E. (Dorset, N.)

  Hutchison, W. (Kelvingrove)

  Benn, Sir A. S. (Plymouth, Drake)

  England, Lieut.-Colonel A.

  Inskip, Sir Thomas Walker H.

  Bennett, A. J. (Mansfield)

  Entwistle, Major C. F.

  Jackson, Lieut.-Colonel Hon. F. S.

  Bennett, Sir T. J. (Sevenoaks)

  Erskine, James Malcolm Monteith

  Jarrett, G. W. S.

  Bentinck, Lord Henry Cavendish-

  Erskine, Lord (Weston-super-Mare)

  Jodrell, Sir Neville Paul

  Berry, Sir George

  Erskine-Bolst, Captain C.

  Johnstone, Harcourt (Willesden, East)

  Betterton, Henry B.

  Evans, Ernest (Cardigan)

  Jones, G. W. H. (Stoke Newington)

  Birchall, Major J. Dearman

  Eyres-Monsell, Com. Bolton M.

  Jones, Henry Haydn (Merioneth)

  Blundell, F. N.

  Falcon, Captain Michael

  Joynson-Hicks, Sir William

  Bonwick, A.

  Falle, Major Sir Bertram Godfray

  Kelley, Major Fred (Rotherham)

  Bowyer, Capt. G. E. W.

  Fawkes, Major F. H.

  Kennedy, Captain M. S. Nigel

  Boyd-Carpenter, Major A.

  Fermor-Hesketh, Major T.

  King, Captain Henry Douglas

  Brass, Captain W.

  Fildes, Henry

  Kinloch-Cooke, Sir Clement

  Brassey, Sir Leonard

  Foot, Isaac

  Lamb, J. Q.

  Bridgeman, Rt. Hon. William Clive

  Ford, Patrick Johnston

  Lane-Fox, Lieut.-Colonel G. R.

  Briggs, Harold

  Foreman, Sir Henry

  Law, Rt. Hon. A. B. (Glasgow, C.)

  Brittain, Sir Harry

  Forestier-Walker, L.

  Linfield, F. C.

  Brown, Major D. C. (Hexham)

  Foxcroft, Captain Charles Talbot

  Lloyd, Cyril E. (Dudley)

  Brown, Brig.-Gen. Clifton (Newbury)

  Fraser, Major Sir Keith

  Locker-Lampson, G. (Wood Green)

  Brown, J. W. (Middlesbrough, E.)

  Frece, Sir Walter de

  Lorden, John William

  Bruford, R.

  Fremantle, Lieut.-Colonel Francis E.

  Lorimer, H. D.

  Bruton, Sir James

  Furness, G. J.

  Lort-Williams, J.

  Buckingham, Sir H.

  Galbraith, J. F. W.

  Lougher, L.

  Buckley, Lieut.-Colonel A.

  Ganzoni, Sir John

  Lowe, Sir Francis William

  Bull, Rt. Hon. Sir William James

  Gates, Percy

  Loyd, Arthur Thomas (Abingdon)

  Burn, Colonel Sir Charles Rosdew

  Gaunt, Rear-Admiral Sir Guy R.

  Lumley, L. R.

  Burney, Com. (Middx., Uxbridge)

  Gilbert, James Daniel

  Lyle-Samuel, Alexander

  Burnie, Major J. (Bootle)

  Gould, James C.

  Macnaghten, Hon. Sir Malcolm

  Butcher, Sir John George

  Gray, Frank (Oxford)

  McNeill, Ronald (Kent, Canterbury)

  Butler, H. M. (Leeds, North)

  Gray, Harold (Cambridge)

  Malone, Major P. B. (Tottenham, S.)

  Butler, J. R. M. (Cambridge Univ.)

  Greaves-Lord, Walter

  Manville, Edward

  Butt, Sir Alfred

  Greene, Lt.-Col. Sir W. (Hack'y, N.)

  Margesson, H. D. R.

  Cadogan, Major Edward

  Greenwood, William (Stockport)

  Mason, Lieut.-Col. C. K.

  Cassels, J. D.

  Grenfell, Edward C. (City of London)

  Mercer, Colonel H.

  Cautley, Henry Strother

  Gretton, Colonel John

  Milne, J. S. Wardlaw

  Cayzer, Sir C. (Chester, City)

  Grigg, Sir Edward

  Mitchell, W. F. (Saffron Walden)

  Cecil, Rt. Hon. Sir Evelyn (Aston)

  Guest, Hon. C. H. (Bristol, N.)

  Mitchell, Sir W. Lane (Streatham)

  Cecil, Rt. Hon. Lord H. (Ox. Univ.)

  Guinness, Lieut.-Col. Hon. W. E.

  Molloy, Major L. G. S.

  Chadwick, Sir Robert Burton

  Gwynne, Rupert S.

  Molson, Major John Elsdale

  Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. N. (Ladywood)

  Hacking, Captain Douglas H.

  Moore, Major-General Sir Newton J.

  Chapman, Sir S.

  Hall, Lieut-Col. Sir F. (Dulwich)

  Moore-Brabazon, Lieut.-Col. J. T. C.

  Chapple, W. A.

  Hall, Rr-Adml Sir W. (Liv'p'l, W. D'by)

  Moreing, Captain Aigernon H.

  Churchman, Sir Arthur

  Haistead, Major D.

  Morris, Harold

  Clarry, Reginald George

  Hamilton, Sir George C. (Altrincham)

  Morrison, Hugh (Wilts, Salisbury)

  Clayton, G. C.

  Hancock, John George

  Morrison-Bell, Major A. C. (Honiton)

  Cobb, Sir Cyril

  Hannon, Patrick Joseph Henry

  Murchison, C. K.

  Cockerill, Brigadier-General G. K.

  Harbord, Arthur

  Murray, John (Leeds, West)

  Colfox, Major Wm. Phillips

  Harney, E. A.

  Nesbitt, Robert C.

  Collie, Sir John

  Harrison, F. C.

  Newman, Colonel J. R. P. (Finchley)

  Collison, Levi

  Harvey, Major S. E.

  Newman, Sir R. H. S. D. L. (Exeter)

  Colvin, Brig.-General Richard Beale

  Hawke, John Anthony

  Newson, Sir Percy Wilson

  Cope, Major William

  Hay, Major T. W. (Norfolk, South)

  Newton, Sir D. G. C. (Cambridge)

  Cory, Sir J. H. (Cardiff, South)

  Henn, Sir Sydney H.

  Nicholson, Brig.-Gen. J. (Westminster)

  Courthope, Lieut.-Col. George L.

  Hennessy, Major J. R. G.

  Nicholson, William G. (Petersfield)

  Craig, Captain C. C. (Antrim, South)

  Herbert, Dennis (Hertford, Watford)

  Nield, Sir Herbert

  Norman, Major Rt. Hon. Sir Henry

  Robinson, Sir T. (Lancs., Stretford)

  Terrell, Captain R. (Oxford, Henley)

  Norton-Griffiths, Lieut.-Col. Sir John

  Rogerson, Capt. J. E.

  Thomas, Sir Robert John (Anglesey)

  Oman, Sir Charles William C.

  Roundell, Colonel R. F.

  Thompson, Luke (Sunderland)

  Ormsby-Gore, Hon. William

  Ruggles-Brise, Major E.

  Thomson, F. C. (Aberdeen, South)

  Paget, T. G.

  Russell, Alexander West (Tynemouth)

  Thomson, T. (Middlesbrough, West)

  Parker, Owen (Kettering)

  Russell, William (Bolton)

  Thorne, G. R. (Wolverhampton, E.)

  Pattinson, S. (Horncastle)

  Russell, Wells, Sir Sydney

  Thorpe, Captain John Henry

  Pease, William Edwin

  Samuel, A. M. (Surrey, Farnham)

  Titchfield, Marquess of

  Pennefather, De Fonblanque

  Samuel, Samuel (W'dsworth, Putney)

  Tryon, Rt. Hon. George Clement

  Penny, Frederick George

  Sanders, Rt. Hon. Sir Robert A.

  Tubbs, S. W.

  Percy, Lord Eustace (Hastings)

  Sanderson, Sir Frank B.

  Turton, Edmund Russborough

  Perkins, Colonel E. K.

  Sandon, Lord

  Vaughan-Morgan, Col. K. P.

  Perring, William George

  Sassoon, Sir Philip Albert Gustave D.

  Wallace, Captain E.

  Peto, Basil E.

  Scott, Sir Leslie (Liverp'l, Exchange)

  Ward, Col. L. (Kingston-upon-Hull)

  Pielou, D. P.

  Shakespeare, G. H.

  Warner, Sir T. Courtenay T.

  Pilditch, Sir Philip

  Sheffield, Sir Berkeley

  Watson, Capt. J. (Stockton-on-Tees)

  Pollock, Rt. Hon. Sir Ernest Murray

  Shepperson, E. W.

  Watts, Dr. T. (Man., Withington)

  Pownall, Lieut.-Colonel Assheton

  Shipwright, Captain D.

  Wells, S. R.

  Preston, Sir W. H.

  Simms, Dr. John M. (Co. Down)

  Wheler, Col. Granville C. H.

  Pretyman, Rt. Hon. Ernest G.

  Simpson-Hinchcliffe, W. A.

  White, Charles F. (Derby, Western)

  Price, E. G.

  Singleton, J. E.

  White, Col. G. D. (Southport)

  Privett, F. J.

  Skelton, A. N.

  White, H. G. (Birkenhead, E.)

  Rae, Sir Henry N.

  Smith, Sir Allan M. (Croydon, South)

  Willey, Arthur

  Raeburn, Sir William H.

  Smith, Sir Harold (Wavertree)

  Wilson, Col. M. J. (Richmond)

  Raine, W.

  Somerville, A. A. (Windsor)

  Windsor-Clive, Lieut.-Colonel G.

  Rankin, Captain James Stuart

  Somerville, Daniel (Barrow-in-Furness)

  Winfrey, Sir Richard

  Rawlinson, Rt. Hon. John Fredk. Peel

  Sparkes, H. W.

  Winterton, Earl

  Rawson, Lieut.-Com. A. C.

  Spears, Brig.-Gen. E. L.

  Wintringham, Margaret

  Rees, Sir Beddoe

  Stanley, Lord

  Wise, Frederick

  Reid, D. D. (County Down)

  Steel, Major S. Strang

  Wolmer, Viscount

  Remer, J. R.

  Stephenson, Lieut.-Colonel H. K.

  Wood, Sir H. K. (Woolwich, West)

  Rentoul, G. S.

  Stewart, Gershom (Wirral)

  Wood, Maj. Sir S. Hill- (High Peak)

  Reynolds, W. G. W.

  Stockton, Sir Edwin Forsyth

  Woodcock, Colonel H. C.

  Richardson, Lt.-Col. Sir P. (Chertsey)

  Stott, Lt.-Col. W. H.

  Worthington-Evans, Rt. Hon. Sir L.

  Roberts, C. H. (Derby)

  Strauss, Edward Anthony

  Yerburgh, R. D. T.

  Roberts, Rt. Hon. G. H. (Norwich)

  Stuart, Lord C. Crichton

  Young, Rt. Hon. E. H. (Norwich)

  Roberts, Samuel (Hereford, Hereford)

  Sueter, Rear-Admiral Murray Fraser

  Roberts, Rt. Hon. Sir S. (Ecclesall)

  Sugden, Sir Wilfrid H.

  TELLERS FOR THE AYES.—

  Robertson-Despencer, Major (Isl'gt'n W)

  Sykes, Major-Gen. Sir Frederick H.

  Colonel Leslie Wilson and Colonel

  Gibbs.

  NOES

  Adams, D.

  Hall, F. (York, W. R., Normanton)

  Murnin, H.

  Adamson, Rt. Hon. William

  Hall, G. H. (Merthyr Tydvil)

  Murray, R. (Renfrew, Western)

  Adamson, W. M. (Staff., Cannock)

  Hard e, George D.

  Newbold, J. T. W.

  Alexander, A. V. (Sheffield, Hillsbro')

  Hartshorn, Vernon

  Nichol, Robert

  Ammon, Charles George

  Hastings, Patrick

  O'Grady, Captain James

  Attlee, C. R.

  Hay, Captain J. P. (Cathcart)

  Oliver, George Harold

  Barker, G. (Monmouth, Abertillery)

  Hayday, Arthur

  Paling, W.

  Barnes, A.

  Hayes, John Henry (Edge Hill)

  Parker, H. (Hanley)

  Barrie, Sir Charles Coupar (Banff)

  Hemmerde, E. G.

  Ponsonby, Arthur

  Batey, Joseph

  Henderson, Sir T. (Roxburgh)

  Potts, John S.

  Berkeley, Captain Reginald

  Henderson, T. (Glasgow)

  Pringle, W. M. R.

  Bowerman, Rt. Hon. Charles W.

  Herriotts, J.

  Richards, R.

  Broad, F. A.

  Hill, A.

  Richardson, R. (Houghton-le-Spring)

  Bromfield, William

  Hirst, G. H.

  Riley, Ben

  Brotherton, J.

  Hutchison, Sir R. (Kirkcaldy)

  Ritson, J.

  Brown, James (Ayr and Bute)

  Jenkins, W. (Glamorgan, Neath)

  Roberts, Frederick O. (W. Bromwich)

  Buchanan, G.

  John, William (Rhondda, West)

  Robertson, J. (Lanark, Bothwell)

  Buckle, J.

  Johnston, Thomas (Stirling)

  Robinson, W. C. (York, Elland)

  Burgess, S.

  Jones, J. J. (West Ham, Silvertown)

  Rose, Frank H.

  Buxton, Charles (Accrington)

  Jones, Morgan (Caerphilly)

  Royce, William Stapleton

  Buxton, Noel (Norfolk, North)

  Jones, T. I. Mardy (Pontypridd)

  Saklatvala, S.

  Cairns, John

  Jowett, F. W. (Bradford, East)

  Salter, Dr. A.

  Cape, Thomas

  Kenworthy, Lieut.-Commander J. M.

  Scrymgeour, E.

  Charleton, H. C.

  Kirkwood, D.

  Sexton, James

  Clynes, Rt. Hon. John R.

  Lansbury, George

  Shaw, Thomas (Preston)

  Cotts, Sir William Dingwall Mitchell

  Lawson, John James

  Shinwell, Emanuel

  Davies, Rhys John (Westhoughton)

  Leach, W.

  Short, Alfred (Wednesbury)

  Davison, J. E. (Smethwick)

  Lee, F.

  Sinclair, Sir A.

  Dudgeon, Major C. R.

  Lees-Smith, H. B. (Keighley)

  Smith, T. (Pontefract)

  Duffy, T. Gavan

  Lowth, T.

  Snell, Harry

  Duncan, C.

  Lunn, William

  Snowden, Philip

  Dunnico, H.

  Macdonald, Sir Murdoch (Inverness)

  Spencer, H. H. (Bradford, S.)

  Ede, James Chuter

  M'Entee, V. L.

  Stephen, Campbell

  Gosling, Harry

  McLaren, Andrew

  Stewart, J. (St. Rollox)

  Graham, W. (Edinburgh, Central)

  Maclean, Neil (Glasgow, Govan)

  Sturrock, J. Leng

  Greenall, T.

  Macpherson, Rt. Hon. James I.

  Thomas, Rt. Hon. James H. (Derby)

  Greenwood, A. (Nelson and Colne)

  March, S.

  Trevelyan, C. P.

  Grenfell, D. R. (Glamorgan)

  Maxton, James

  Turner, Ben

  Groves, T.

  Middleton, G.

  Wallhead, Richard C.

  Grundy, T. W.

  Morel, E. D.

  Walsh, Stephen (Lancaster, Ince)

  Guest, J. (York, W. R., Hemsworth)

  Morrison, R. C. (Tottenham, N.)

  Warne, G. H.

  Guthrie, Thomas Maule

  Muir, John W.

  Watson, W. M. (Dunfermline)

  630

  631

  Watts-Morgan, Lt.-Col. D. (Rhondda)

  Whiteley, W.

  Wright, W.

  Webb, Sidney

  Williams, David (Swansea, E.)

  Young, Robert (Lancaster, Newton)

  Weir, L. M.

  Williams, Dr. J. H. (Llanelly)

  Welsh, J. C.

  Williams, T. (York. Don Valley)

  TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—

  Westwood, J.

  Wilson, C. H. (Sheffield, Attercliffe)

  Mr. Arthur Henderson and Mr. T.

  Wheatley, J.

  Wilson, R. J. (Jarrow)

  Griffiths.

  Bill read a Second time.

  Motion made, and Question put, "That the Bill be committed to a Committee of
  the Whole House."—[Captain Wedgwood Benn.]
  The House divided: Ayes, 75; Noes, 310.

  Division No. 112.]

  AYES.

  [11.25 p.m.

  Adams, D.

  Henderson, Sir T. (Roxburgh)

  Roberts, C. H. (Derby)

  Barker, G. (Monmouth, Abertillery)

  Hirst, G. H.

  Rose, Frank H.

  Benn, Captain Wedgwood (Leith)

  Hutchison, Sir R. (Kirkcaldy)

  Royce, William Stapleton

  Berkeley, Captain Reginald

  Jarrett, G. W. S.

  Scrymgeour, E.

  Butler, J. R. M. (Cambridge Univ.)

  Johnston, Thomas (Stirling)

  Shakespeare, G. H.

  Chapple, W. A.

  Jowett, F. W. (Bradford, East)

  Shaw, Thomas (Preston)

  Cotts, Sir William Dingwall Mitchell

  Kenworthy, Lieut.-Commander J. M.

  Short, Alfred (Wednesbury)

  Davison, J. E. (Smithwick)

  Linfield, F. C.

  Simon, Rt. Hon. Sir John

  Dudgeon, Major C. R.

  Lyle-Samuel, Alexander

  Sinclair, Sir A.

  Duffy, T. Gavan

  Macdonald, Sir Murdoch (Inverness)

  Spencer, H. H. (Bradford, S.)

  Dunnico, H.

  Macpherson, Rt. Hon. James I.

  Stephenson, Lieut.-Colonel H. K.

  Ede, James Chuter

  Marshall, Sir Arthur H.

  Sturrock, J. Leng

  Edge, Captain Sir William

  Martin, F. (Aberd'n & Kinc'dine, E.)

  Thomas, Rt. Hon. James H. (Derby)

  Falconer, J.

  Middleton, G.

  Thomson, T. (Middlesbrough, West)

  Foot, Isaac

  Millar, J. D.

  Thorne, G. R. (Wolverhampton, E.)

  Gray, Frank (Oxford)

  Mond, Rt. Hon. Sir Alfred Moritz

  Weir, L. M.

  Greenall, T.

  Morris, Harold

  Wheatley, J.

  Greenwood, A. (Nelson and Colne)

  Morrison, R. C. (Tottenham, N.)

  White, Charles F. (Derby, Western)

  Graves, T.

  Murray, John (Leeds, West)

  White, H. G. (Birkenhead, E.)

  Grundy, T. W.

  Newbold, J. T. W.

  Wintringham, Margaret

  Guest, Hon. C. H. (Bristol, N.)

  O'Grady, Captain James

  Wood, Major M. M. (Aberdeen, C.)

  Guest, J. (York, W. R., Hemsworth)

  Oliver, George Harold

  Young, Rt. Hon. E. H. (Norwich)

  Guthrie, Thomas Maule

  Paling, W.

  Young, Robert (Lancaster, Newton)

  Hall, F. (York, W. R., Normanton)

  Price, E. G.

  Hamilton, Sir R. (Orkney & Shetland)

  Pringle, W. M. R.

  TELLERS FOR THE AYES.—

  Harney, E. A.

  Ritson, J.

  Mr. Phillips and Lieut.-Colonel A.

  Murray.

  NOES.

  Adamson, W. M. (Staff., Cannock)

  Brittain, Sir Harry

  Croft, Lieut.-Colonel Henry Page

  Agg-Gardner, Sir James Tynte

  Brown, Major D. C. (Hexham)

  Crook, C. W. (East Ham, North)

  Ainsworth, Captain Charles

  Brown, Brig.-Gen. Clifton (Newbury)

  Curzon, Captain Viscount

  Alexander, E. E. (Leyton, East)

  Brown, J. W. (Middlesbrough, E.)

  Darbishire, C. W.

  Alexander, Col. M. (Southwark)

  Bruford, R.

  Davidson, J. C. C. (Hemel Hempstead)

  Allen, Lieut.-Col. Sir William James

  Bruton, Sir James

  Davidson, Major-General Sir J. H.

  Amery, Rt. Hon. Leopold C. M. S.

  Buckingham, Sir H.

  Davies, David (Montgomery)

  Apsley, Lord

  Buckley, Lieut.-Colonel A.

  Davies, Thomas (Cirencester)

  Archer-Shee, Lieut.-Colonel Martin

  Bull, Rt. Hon. Sir William James

  Davison, Sir W. H. (Kensington, S.)

  Ashley, Lt.-Col. Wilfrid W.

  Burn, Colonel Sir Charles Rosdew

  Dawson, Sir Philip

  Astbury, Lieut.-Com. Frederick W.

  Burney, Com, (Middx., Uxbridge)

  Dixon, C. H. (Rutland)

  Astor, J. J. (Kent, Dover)

  Butcher, Sir John George

  Doyle, N. Grattan

  Baird, Rt. Hon. Sir John Lawrence

  Butler, H. M. (Leeds, North)

  Du Pre, Colonel William Baring

  Baldwin, Rt. Hon. Stanley

  Butt, Sir Alfred

  Edmondson, Major A. J.

  Balfour, George (Hampstead)

  Cadogan, Major Edward

  Ednam, Viscount

  Banner, Sir John S. Harmood-

  Cassels, J. D.

  Elliot, Capt. Walter E. (Lanark)

  Barlow, Rt. Hon. Sir Montague

  Cautley, Henry Strother

  Ellis, R. G.

  Barnett, Major Richard W.

  Cayzer, Sir C. (Chester, City)

  Emlyn-Jones. J. E. (Dorset, N.)

  Barnston, Major Harry

  Cecil, Rt. Hon. Sir Evelyn (Aston)

  England, Lieut.-Colonel A.

  Barrie, Sir Charles Coupar (Banff)

  Cecil, Rt. Hon. Lord H. (Ox. Univ.)

  Entwistle, Major C. F.

  Becker, Harry

  Chadwick, Sir Robert Burton

  Erskine, Lord (Weston-super-Mare)

  Bell, Lieut. Col. W. C. H. (Devizes)

  Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. N. (Ladywood)

  Erskine-Bolst, Captain C.

  Bellairs, Commander Carlyon W.

  Chapman, Sir S.

  Eyres-Monsell, Com. Bolton M.

  Bennett, A. J. (Mansfield)

  Churchman, Sir Arthur

  Falcon, Captain Michael

  Bennett, Sir T. J. (Sevenoaks)

  Clarry, Reginald George

  Falle, Major Sir Bertram Godfray

  Bentinck, Lord Henry Cavendish-

  Clayton, G. C.

  Fawkes, Major F. H.

  Berry, Sir George

  Cobb, Sir Cyril

  Fermor-Hesketh, Major T.

  Betterton, Henry B.

  Cockerill, Brigadier-General G. K.

  Ford, Patrick Johnston

  Birchall, Major J. Dearman

  Colfox, Major Wm. Phillips

  Foreman, Sir Henry

  Blundell, F. N.

  Collie, Sir John

  Forestier-Walker, L.

  Bonwick, A.

  Collison, Levi

  Foxcroft, Captain Charles Talbot

  Bowyer, Capt. G. E. W.

  Colvin, Brig.-General Richard Beale

  Fraser, Major Sir Keith

  Boyd-Carpenter, Major A.

  Cope, Major William

  Frece, Sir Walter de

  Brass, Captain W.

  Cory, Sir J. H. (Cardiff, South)

  Fremantle, Lieut. Colonel Francis E.

  Brassey, Sir Leonard

  Courthope, Lieut.-Col. George L.

  Furness, G. J.

  Bridgeman, Rt. Hon. William Clive

  Craig, Captain C. C. (Antrim, South)

  Galbraith, J. F. W.

  Briggs, Harold

  Craik, Rt. Hon. Sir Henry

  Ganzoni, Sir John

  Gates, Percy

  Lumley, L. R.

  Russell, William (Bolton)

  Gaunt, Rear-Admiral Sir Guy R.

  Macnaghten, Hon. Sir Malcolm

  Russell-Wells, Sir Sydney

  Gould, James C.

  McNeill, Ronald (Kent, Canterbury)

  Samuel, A. M. (Surrey, Farnham)

  Gray, Harold (Cambridge)

  Malone, Major P. B. (Tottenham, S.)

  Samuel, Samuel (W'dsworth, Putney)

  Greaves-Lord, Walter

  Manville, Edward

  Sanders, Rt. Hon. Sir Robert A.

  Greene, Lt.-Col. Sir W. (Hack'y, N.)

  Margesson, H. D. R.

  Sanderson, Sir Frank B.

  Greenwood, William (Stockport)

  Mason, Lieut.-Col. C. K.

  Sandon, Lord

  Grenfell, Edward C. (City of London)

  Mercer, Colonel H.

  Sassoon, Sir Philip Albert Gustave D.

  Gretton, Colonel John

  Milne, J. S. Wardlaw

  Scott, Sir Leslie (Liverp'l, Exchange)

  Grigg, Sir Edward

  Mitchell, W. F. (Saffron Walden)

  Sheffield, Sir Berkeley

  Guinness, Lieut.-Col. Hon. W. E.

  Mitchell, Sir W. Lane (Streatham)

  Shepperson, E. W.

  Gwynne, Rupert S.

  Molloy, Major L. G. S.

  Shipwright, Captain D.

  Hacking, Captain Douglas H.

  Molson, Major John Elsdale

  Simms, Dr. John M. (Co. Down)

  Hall, Lieut.-Col. Sir F. (Dulwich)

  Moore, Major-General Sir Newton J.

  Simpson-Hinchcliffe, W. A.

  Hall, Rr-Adml Sir W. (Liv'p'l, W. D'by)

  Moore-Brabazon, Lieut.-Col. J. T. C.

  Singleton, J. E.

  Halstead, Major D.

  Moreing, Captain Algernon H.

  Skelton, A. N.

  Hamilton, Sir George C. (Altrincham)

  Morrison, Hugh (Wilts, Salisbury)

  Smith, Sir Allan M. (Croydon, South)

  Hancock, John George

  Morrison-Bell, Major A. C. (Honiton)

  Smith, Sir Harold (Wavertree)

  Hannon, Patrick Joseph Henry

  Murchison, C. K.

  Somerville, A. A. (Windsor)

  Harbord, Arthur

  Nesbitt, Robert C.

  Somerville, Daniel (Barrow-in-Furness)

  Harrison, F. C.

  Newman, Colonel J. R. P. (Finchley)

  Sparkes, H. W.

  Harvey, Major S. E.

  Newman, Sir R. H. S. D. L. (Exeter)

  Spears, Brig.-Gen. E. L.

  Hawke, John Anthony

  Newson, Sir Percy Wilson

  Stanley, Lord

  Hay, Major T. W. (Norfolk, South)

  Newton, Sir D. G. C. (Cambridge)

  Steel, Major S. Strang

  Henn, Sir Sydney H.

  Nicholson, Brig.-Gen. J. (Westminster)

  Stewart, Gershom (Wirral)

  Hennessy, Major J. R. G.

  Nicholson, William G. (Petersfield)

  Stockton, Sir Edwin Forsyth

  Herbert, Dennis (Hertford, Watford)

  Nield, Sir Herbert

  Stott, Lt.-Col. W. H.

  Herbert, S. (Scarborough)

  Norman, Major Rt. Hon. Sir Henry

  Stuart, Lord C. Crichton-

  Hewett, Sir J. P.

  Norton-Griffiths, Lieut.-Col. Sir John

  Sueter, Rear-Admiral Murray Fraser

  Hilder, Lieut.-Colonel Frank

  Oman, Sir Charles William C.

  Sugden, Sir Wilfrid H.

  Hiley, Sir Ernest

  Ormsby-Gore, Hon. William

  Sykes, Major-Gen. Sir Frederick H.

  Hinds, John

  Paget, T. G.

  Terrell, Captain R. (Oxford, Henley)

  Hoare, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir S. J. G.

  Parker, Owen (Kettering)

  Thomas, Sir Robert John (Anglesey)

  Hogg, Rt. Hon. Sir D. (St. Marylebone)

  Pattinson, S. (Horncastle)

  Thompson, Luke (Sunderland)

  Hohler, Gerald Fitzroy

  Pease, William Edwin

  Thomson, F. C. (Aberdeen, S.)

  Holbrook, Sir Arthur Richard

  Pennefather, De Fonblanque

  Thorpe, Captain John Henry

  Hood, Sir Joseph

  Penny, Frederick George

  Titchfield, Marquess of

  Hopkins, John W. W.

  Percy, Lord Eustace (Hastings)

  Tryon, Rt. Hon. George Clement

  Houfton, John Plowright

  Perkins, Colonel E. K.

  Tubbs, S. W.

  Howard, Capt. D. (Cumberland, N.)

  Perring, William George

  Turner, Ben

  Howard-Bury, Lieut.-Col. C. K.

  Peto, Basil E.

  Turton, Edmund Russborough

  Hudson, Capt. A.

  Pleiou, D. P.

  Vaughan-Morgan, Col. K. P.

  Hume, G. H.

  Pollock, Rt. Hon. Sir Ernest Murray

  Wallace, Captain E.

  Hurd, Percy A.

  Pownall, Lieut.-Colonel Assheton

  Ward, Col. L. (Kingston-upon-Hull)

  Hurst, Lt.-Col. Gerald Berkeley

  Preston, Sir W. R.

  Waring, Major Walter

  Hutchison, G. A. C. (Midlothian, N.)

  Pretyman, Rt. Hon. Ernest G.

  Warner, Sir T. Courtenay T.

  Hutchison, W. (Kelvingrove)

  Privett, F. J.

  Watson, Capt. J. (Stockton-on-Tees)

  Inskip, Sir Thomas Walker H.

  Rae, Sir Henry N.

  Watts, Dr. T. (Man., Withington)

  Jackson, Lieut.-Colonel Hon. F. S.

  Raeburn, Sir William H.

  Wells, S. R.

  Jodrell, Sir Neville Paul

  Raine, W.

  Wheler, Col. Granville C. H.

  Johnstone, Harcourt (Willesden, East)

  Rankin, Captain James Stuart

  White, Col. G. D. (Southport)

  Jones, G. W. H. (Stoke Newington)

  Rawlinson, Rt. Hon. John Fredk. Peel

  Whitla, Sir William

  Jones, Henry Haydn (Merioneth)

  Rawson, Lieut.-Com. A. C.

  Willey, Arthur

  Joynson-Hicks, Sir William

  Rees, Sir Beddoe

  Wilson, Col. M. J. (Richmond)

  Kelley, Major Fred (Rotherham)

  Reid, D. D. (County Down)

  Windsor-Clive, Lieut.-Colonel G.

  Kennedy, Captain M. S. Nigel

  Remer, J. R.

  Winfrey, Sir Richard

  King, Captain Henry Douglas

  Rentoul, G. S.

  Winterton, Earl

  Kinloch-Cooke, Sir Clement

  Reynolds, W. G. W.

  Wise, Frederick

  Lamb, J. Q.

  Richardson, Lt.-Col. Sir P. (Chertsey)

  Wolmer, Viscount

  Lane-Fox, Lieut.-Colonel G. R.

  Roberts, Rt. Hon. G. H. (Norwich)

  Wood, Sir H. K. (Woolwich, West)

  Lloyd, Cyril E. (Dudley)

  Roberts, Samuel (Hereford, Hereford)

  Wood, Maj. Sir S. Hill- (High Peak)

  Locker-Lampson, G. (Wood Green)

  Roberts, Rt. Hon. Sir S. (Ecclesall)

  Woodcock, Colonel H. C.

  Lorden, John William

  Robertson-Despencer, Major (Isl'gt'n W)

  Worthington-Evans, Rt. Hon. Sir L.

  Lorimer, H. D.

  Robinson, Sir T. (Lancs., Stretford)

  Yerburgh, R. D. T.

  Lort-Williams, J.

  Rogerson, Capt. J. E.

  Lougher, L.

  Roundell, Colonel R. F.

  TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—

  Lowe, Sir Francis William

  Ruggles-Brise, Major E.

  Colonel Leslie Wilson and Colonel

  Loyd, Arthur Thomas (Abingdon)

  Russell, Alexander West (Tynemouth)

  Gibbs.

  Bill committed to a Standing Committee.

  The remaining Orders were read, and postponed.
  It being after Half-past Eleven of the Clock, Mr. SPEAKER adjourned the House, without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.
  Adjourned at Twenty-three Minutes before Twelve o'Clock.

  WAR COMPENSATION CLAIMS.
  WAR COMPENSATION CLAIMS.
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS.
  TEMPORARY WOMEN CLERKS (DISCHARGES).
  TEMPORARY WOMEN CLERKS (DISCHARGES).
  WOMEN.
  WOMEN.
  EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES.
  EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES.
HOUSING.
  ACTON, KEW, AND KENSINGTON.
  ACTON, KEW, AND KENSINGTON.
  HOUSES UNDER £20 RATEABLE VALUE.
  HOUSES UNDER £20 RATEABLE VALUE.
  LEPROSY.
  LEPROSY.
  GENERAL NURSING COUNCIL
  GENERAL NURSING COUNCIL
  WATER SUPPLY, ORRELL.
  WATER SUPPLY, ORRELL.
  TUBERCULOSIS (TREATMENT, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE).
  TUBERCULOSIS (TREATMENT, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE).
UNEMPLOYMENT.
  RELIEF WORK, WEST BROMWICH.
  RELIEF WORK, WEST BROMWICH.
  CLAYTON MOOR.
  CLAYTON MOOR.
  DOMESTIC TRAINING (ASSISTANCE).
  DOMESTIC TRAINING (ASSISTANCE).
NAVAL AND MILITARY PENSIONS AND GRANTS.
  DISABILITY PENSIONS (G. A. LUMB AND S. NAYLOR).
  DISABILITY PENSIONS (G. A. LUMB AND S. NAYLOR).
  NAVAL PENSIONS (G. E. WITCOMBE).
  NAVAL PENSIONS (G. E. WITCOMBE).
  OPIUM TRAFFIC (SALES, CALCUTTA).
  OPIUM TRAFFIC (SALES, CALCUTTA).
  MERCHANDISE MARKS BILL (HONEY).
  MERCHANDISE MARKS BILL (HONEY).
  ELECTRICITY, TWICKENHAM AND TEDDINGTON.
  ELECTRICITY, TWICKENHAM AND TEDDINGTON.
  STEEL INDUSTRY (COKE EXPORTS).
  STEEL INDUSTRY (COKE EXPORTS).
EX-SERVICE MEN.
  BOARD OF TRADE.
  BOARD OF TRADE.
  TRADE FACILITIES ACT.
  TRADE FACILITIES ACT.
  TRAINEES (DIAMOND-CUTTING).
  TRAINEES (DIAMOND-CUTTING).
  CIVIL LIABILITIES GRANTS.
  CIVIL LIABILITIES GRANTS.
  DOMESTIC SERVICE.
  DOMESTIC SERVICE.
  EDMONTON COUNTY COURT (ACCOMMODATION).
  EDMONTON COUNTY COURT (ACCOMMODATION).
  WESTMINSTER HALL.
  WESTMINSTER HALL.
  TRIAL BY JURY.
  TRIAL BY JURY.
  JUDGMENT DEBTORS (EXECUTIONS).
  JUDGMENT DEBTORS (EXECUTIONS).
  GYPSIES (DAMAGE).
  GYPSIES (DAMAGE).
  IMPERIAL SERVICE MEDAL (T. TAYLOR).
  IMPERIAL SERVICE MEDAL (T. TAYLOR).
  UNEXPLODED SHELL, LEYTONSTONE.
  UNEXPLODED SHELL, LEYTONSTONE.
  WIRELESS BROADCASTING.
  WIRELESS BROADCASTING.
  SMYRNA (BRITISH REFUGEES).
  SMYRNA (BRITISH REFUGEES).
  VATICAN (BRITISH MISSION).
  VATICAN (BRITISH MISSION).
  TURKISH REPARATION.
  TURKISH REPARATION.
  COLONIAL MEDICAL SERVICES.
  COLONIAL MEDICAL SERVICES.
  WEST INDIAN COLONIES (HEALTH SERVICES).
  WEST INDIAN COLONIES (HEALTH SERVICES).
  KENYA COLONY (NATIVE LABOUR).
  KENYA COLONY (NATIVE LABOUR).
  NORTHERN RHODESIA.
  NORTHERN RHODESIA.
  NAVAL RECRUITING OFFICE, OXFORD (POLITICAL POSTER).
  NAVAL RECRUITING OFFICE, OXFORD (POLITICAL POSTER).
  SCHOOL HOURS (SUMMER TIME).
  SCHOOL HOURS (SUMMER TIME).
  IRISH FREE STATE (GLASGOW DEPORTEES).
  IRISH FREE STATE (GLASGOW DEPORTEES).
  CANADIAN CATTLE (IMPORTATION).
  CANADIAN CATTLE (IMPORTATION).
COAL INDUSTRY.
  CHECKWEIGHERS.
  CHECKWEIGHERS.
  SAFETY QUESTIONS (PUBLICITY).
  SAFETY QUESTIONS (PUBLICITY).
  OLD-AGE PENSIONS.
  OLD-AGE PENSIONS.
  VILLAGE CLUBS.
  VILLAGE CLUBS.
  COLLECTING SOCIETIES.
  COLLECTING SOCIETIES.
  WOMBWELL SITE (VALUATION).
  WOMBWELL SITE (VALUATION).
FINANCE BILL.
  INHABITED HOUSE DUTY.
  INHABITED HOUSE DUTY.
  EXCHEQUER RETURNS.
  EXCHEQUER RETURNS.
  INCOME TAX (ALIEN STAGE PERFORMERS).
  INCOME TAX (ALIEN STAGE PERFORMERS).
  GOVERNMENT INVESTMENTS.
  GOVERNMENT INVESTMENTS.
  INTER-ALLIED INDEBTEDNESS.
  INTER-ALLIED INDEBTEDNESS.
TRANSPORT.
  ROAD CONSTRUCTION (LAND ACQUISITION).
  ROAD CONSTRUCTION (LAND ACQUISITION).
  LONDON AND NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY (SECOND-CLASS CARRIAGES).
  LONDON AND NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY (SECOND-CLASS CARRIAGES).
  ROYAL AIR FORCE (PERSONNEL).
  ROYAL AIR FORCE (PERSONNEL).
Preamble
The House met at a quarter before four of the clock, The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL (GENERAL POWERS) BILL.
Read 2a.
MAIDSTONE CORPORATION BILL.
Read 2a.
NEWHAVEN AND SEAFORD SEA DEFENCES BILL.
Read 2a.
WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL (OLEVE- LAND STREET INFIRMARY) BILL.
Read 2a.
ARMY AND AIR FORCE (ANNUAL) BILL.
Message from the Commons: That they agree to the Amendment made by the Lords to the Army and Air Force (Annual) Bill without amendment.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDERS CONFIRMATION (No. 2) BILL. [H.L.]
House in Committee (according to Order) on recommitment of the Bill: Bill reported without amendment.

HOUSING.
VISCOUNT ASTOR VISCOUNT ASTOR rose to call attention to the lack of proper houses, the need for slum clearances and town planning, and matters connected therewith. The noble Viscount said: My Lords, it is a somewhat strange coincidence that the discussion on the Notice which I placed on the Paper many days ago should coincide with the discussion in another place on the Second Reading of His Majesty's
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Government's Housing Bill. I shall try so far as possible, to-day, not to deal in detail with the points which are contained in that Bill. Your Lordships will have an opportunity of doing that, but I welcome the chance which I have of raising certain aspects associated with housing, important matters that require careful consideration in order that they shall be dealt with properly and adequately.
I need not remind your Lordships, because I know the real interest taken in this House, of the fact that there are thousands of ex-Service men, and women and children housed under conditions of positive indecency. No other word properly describes the conditions which exist in many parts. Your Lordships will remember the many real difficulties with which we were confronted after the war, the huge need for houses and the big expectations in the country. The Government and the country were anxious to deal with the whole subject, and yet it was extraordinarily hard to do so because prices were unstable and the country was dislocated by the war. A bold attempt was made to deal with the problem, and I am not at all ashamed of having been associated with that attempt. In three years we made up the deficit of the previous six or seven years in spite of the difficulties of instability of price and the-dislocation of the country. We did more than that. We established new standards for the housing of the working classes. Anyone who travels round the country will see different kinds of houses, with labour-saving devices, and houses which provide more air and sunshine for the inhabitants. Although the first housing policy of this-country was severely criticised in this House, I know by experience that it is the admiration of many other countries.
To-day, the position is this: We have not yet made up the pre-war deficit, and we have an increasing population. I think that in the year 1920 the net increase of population was something over 400,000; that is, the excess of births over deaths. It is true that many men lost their lives during the war, but that does not mean that the houses they occupied became available for other families. Their families still occupy the houses. In addition, there is another factor that we have to remember, and it is the unprecedented number of

875
marriages that took place in 1919, 1920 and 1921, for in estimating the housing needs of the country we have to take into consideration not the gross figure of the population but the number of families requiring separate dwellings.
I will only say one word about the Bill which is being discussed in another place. The Government have quite rightly recognised that State financial assistance is necessary. I say, quite frankly, that if they had been in a position to announce their decision in December it is probable that the subsidy could have been less than it is now, because I have gained the impression that every adverse by-election tended to increase the subsidy which the Government had promised. The subsidy is a subsidy of £6 per house. Now I think it is quite likely that this will cause a large number of houses to be put up in urban districts, in large centres of population, but if £6 is the proper figure for large towns, I want to suggest to the Government that a larger subsidy will be required if we are to deal with rural housing. The cost and difficulty of putting up houses in the country are often higher and greater than they are in large towns.
I need not remind your Lordships that when we took on the housing problem we were not merely dealing with the urban problem, but also with the lack of modern sanitary houses in the country, and I think that if that shortage of houses in the countryside is to be made good it will be necessary to increase the subsidy for houses of that pattern. One other word upon this. The Government propose to give a flat-rate figure of £6 for each house, whether of minimum or maximum size. I suggest that if £6 is the right figure for the maximum-sized house, a smaller amount should be given for the minimum-sized house; otherwise, there is danger that builders will build the smallest type of house and draw the £6 subsidy. Now, the object of the subsidy is to stimulate building. What we want is to get the maximum output of houses that the building industry can produce, but we do not want to have a demand which is greater than the industry can supply, because if that should happen, and the subsidy is too big, the tendency will be for prices to go up.
The main factor is the output of the industry, which is determined by the
876
number of operatives in the building trade. My information—and I hope that the Minister will confirm or check this—is that there are only 60 per cent. of the number of operatives in the building trade that there were before the war. That means that if we are to deal with this housing problem rapidly and efficiently, the Government must have a policy for increasing the number of operatives in the building trade. It is no good merely condemning the trade unionist for resisting the attempt to increase the number of operatives in the building trade. I have no sympathy with those trade unionists who do not give of their best, so far as house-building is concerned, in a matter of national urgency, but we have to recognise that their fears are to a certain extent due to the short-sightedness and selfishness of some of the employers of past generations. It is no good having Housing Acts unless we have men to avail ourselves of them. The best Housing Acts that Parliament will pass are useless unless the country is guaranteed a proper supply of labour to build houses in the next few years.
I suggest, therefore, that it is not only necessary for the Government to pass an Act increasing the powers of local authorities and subsidising the industry—that is quite right—but they have to agree with the building trade on a national housing policy for the next ten, fifteen, or, it may be, even twenty years. If the building trade know that there will be plenty of work for the next ten or twenty years it will be impossible for the unions to resist the national demands that more operatives shall be admitted by those unions. The Minister of Health stated quite rightly that the Bill which he introduced in another place yesterday did not pretend to tackle, the slum problem. It makes a certain advance, but it does not pretend to deal with slums as a whole. We have a moral obligation to the men, women and children who exist—one cannot say who live in any sort of civilised conditions—in many slums to deal at an early date with slums, and it devolves upon us particularly to give a lead in the matter of slum clearances. None of us in this House lives under conditions of overcrowding. Many of us have more than one house; it is a case

877
of noblesse oblige. I know of no Assembly which has a greater responsibility than we have in this matter.
I entirely agree with the policy of the Government that it is necessary so far as possible to stimulate private enterprise, but I want to make it clear that in my opinion private enterprise will not and cannot deal with slums. I am fortified in that opinion by a speech which was made not very long ago by the present Minister of Health. He said that slum clearance is not an economic problem; you never get an adequate return from your renovated slum houses to pay you for the money you have to spend upon them to put them into decent order. Anybody who has had any experience of slum clearances knows that it is not a, paying proposition to clear slums and rebuild. It is because of that fact that private enterprise alone will not, solve this part of the housing problem; that is to say that further State action, further legislation, a tightening up of administration is necessary. It is most important in a difficult matter like this, where the most intricate questions of compensation arise, that the Government should be in a position to announce shortly a policy, so that local authorities not only may deal with the erection of new houses but may be making their plans for sweeping away the slums which, I regret to say, exist, all over the country.
I have referred to the need of having a, definite housing programme covering the next ten or twenty years. I am not in a position to say exactly how many houses should be built annually. I am not in a position to say what is the maximum output of the building industry at the present moment—60,000, 70,000, 80,000, perhaps 100,000 houses; it depends very largely on the amount of other building which is before the industry at the same time. But, in addition to the houses which we hope to see going up under the Bill which is now before the country, we have to face the fact that we have to demolish houses. We have not merely to build houses, to dell with the ordinary wastage, depreciation and replacement; we have, in addition to that, to demolish a large number of houses. That means that we have to put up a larger number of houses than is ordinarily contemplated when people talk of a housing programme.
I understand that there are something like two million houses in slums. Shall we say that perhaps one million of those ought to be pulled down in the next ten, fifteen, or twenty years? If a million slum houses have to be pulled down during the next ten years, that means that over and above the housing programme which is now contemplated we have to put up about one hundred thousand new houses every year. Many will say that an annual programme of two hundred thousand houses is excessive. Whatever the figure may be—even if it is only one hundred and fifty thousand—it is more than the building industry can now cope with. That is the point, which I want to snake clear. I do not believe that there is a sufficient number of operatives in the building trade now to deal with slum clearances and to put up the number of houses which the country needs if it really faces and tackles this slum problem. So it is essential that all parties (for this is not. a Party question) who are interested in the welfare of the community should join together, work out a national programme for the immediate future, announce that programme, and then take the necessary steps, whether it be by legislation, or by administration or by the enrolment of an increased number of operatives in the building trade, to see that we are in a position to carry it out.
Any programme on the scale that I have been sketching obviously must be a costly programme. Many people say that the country is not in a, position at the present moment to deal with houses on that scale. In my opinion there are more costly things than slum clearances. Slums are uneconomic; slums are expensive; slums are wasteful. They breed disease; they breed immorality. They not only breed disease and immorality, they are dangerous: they breed discontent, a feeling of revolution. Quite rightly: I should lose my faith in the people of this country if they were to be reconciled to the conditions under which many of them live to-day. Tuberculosis, a disease which is responsible for nine out of every hundred deaths, is a disease of overcrowding and squalor; it is a disease which sweeps men away in the prime of life; it is a long and wasting disease, an expensive disease. Venereal disease, the outcome of immorality, is very largely

879
due to overcrowding. Crime is often directly attributable to overcrowding and environment.
I believe that this country is spending over £20,000,000 every year unnecessarily because of the bad housing conditions under which the people live. The indirect wastage of disease, of crime, of ill-health due to insanitary housing costs this country something like £20,000,000 every year. A policy of slum clearances may be expensive, but it is a policy which we have to face. It is an act of humanity and of economy; it is an act of national insurance. It is only if the people of this country really believe that we are tackling this problem seriously that we can look forward to a period of reasonable contentment on the part of our people. We have to face this problem, and to find the necessary money for carrying it out. It is because I think most people are agreed that, unaided, private enterprise cannot deal either with the rural problem, upon which I have touched very lightly, or with the slum problem, upon which I have laid more stress, that I hope the Government will be able to announce that they are considering further legislation—the Minister of Health gave an indication of that yesterday when speaking in another place—in order that the country may know that they mean to deal fully and comprehensively with this very difficult problem.
There is another side of the question on which I should like to touch, and that is town planning. The Housing Act of 1919 provided that all local authorities concerned must provide town planning schemes within three years of January 1, 1923; that is to say, that something like 1,800 local authorities have to provide town planning schemes in the next three years. The Minister of Health in the Bill which is now before Parliament proposes to extend that period from three years to six. I hope this will not convey the impression to local authorities that the question of town planning is not a matter of urgency. I regard it as one of the most urgent matters before the country. It is no good putting up 250,000 houses and then wishing that we had prepared our town planning schemes before those houses were built. It is only common sense and logical to say that
880
town planning should so far as possible-precede the erection of any large number of new houses.
At the present moment town planning usually means town extension. The definition of town planning has been too narrow, and town planning has too often meant the mere extension of existing towns. I think that new powers will be necessary to enable authorities to re-plan existing cities. We ought to have powers for what is called zoning. There again, I am glad to see that the Minister of Health agrees with the view which I am putting forward—namely, that zoning is very necessary and important. Zoning means the dividing up of a town into districts and defining for each district the use to which it shall be put, allowing, of course, for a certain measure of elasticity, so that one district shall be commercial, another residential, and another industrial. It is important that local authorities should have powers which they do not now possess, to re-plan existing cities.
Then it is necessary to develop what are called garden cities. Garden cities will only be developed if there is some body or authority dealing comprehensively with the matter. Another very important matter is the question of regional planning. The increase in the use of our national roads has created an entirely new problem. New facts bear upon the question of housing. We have firms in London which send motor vehicles almost all over the country delivering goods from London throughout the neighbouring counties. There is a movement at the present moment to build a national road to join Manchester and Liverpool. I understand it is very necessary that there should be a big road connecting Liverpool with Manchester, and that the business community would be materially assisted were such a road in existence. But it is obvious that it is unfair and illogical to expect the smaller local authorities, burdened as they already are with heavy rates, to bear the cost of building and maintaining roads which are used by vehicles coming, it may be, from neighbouring areas and, it may be, from distant areas.
I believe that we have in the near future to face the fact that we must have a scheme of national roads, under a national authority, paid for by a national authority. We are moving in

881
that direction. The Ministry of Transport is already engaged in classifying many of the roads in the country. The Ministry of Transport is already giving considerable financial assistance to local authorities to improve their roads. The difficulty at the present moment is that the road in respect of which assistance is to be given depends upon the initiative of the local authority and not necessarily upon the national need. You may have a recalcitrant or backward local authority which is not asking for financial assistance to deal with this matter. I mention the question of national roads because it bears upon the whole problem of regional planning. Towns are more interdependent than they used to be. The increased use of roads, railways, motor-cars, newspapers, telephones and all the rest of it has made the whole country more interdependent. Two hundred years ago, villages three miles apart led absolutely separate lives. Now, the increased facilities for travel have made it possible for business men to travel every morning thirty miles to their business and thirty miles back in the evening.
Another factor which has to be borne in mind is the influence of the geological formations upon districts. The discovery of coal or iron will alter a whole district by converting a rural district into an industrial one. We have only to travel to the industrial Midlands and North to see what happens when adequate foresight is not exercised. We have to see that rural areas in which minerals, coal and iron are discovered are not spoiled in the future as other areas have been in the past. There is also, at the moment, another movement which has a bearing upon this subject. Factories are being ruralised. Factory owners are building their factories in the country, sometimes to escape the burden of the rates and sometimes in search of cheap labour or power. But the point I desire to put before your Lordships is that the smaller local authorities who are now the town planning authorities cannot possibly cater for or appreciate the needs of large surrounding areas.
It is absolutely necessary to take a wide survey and to deal with the matter not by town planning but by regional planning. It is absolutely necessary to get adjacent authorities to join together
882
and prepare a joint plan. That can only be done by wise administration at, and sympathetic assistance from, headquarters. It is because of those things that I am emphasising this particular point, and I hope the noble Earl when he replies will be able to assure your Lordships that the Ministry of Health is increasing its town planning section. Town planning is a very technical and difficult business. It needs experience and it takes time. It is a matter on which brains are cheaper than mistakes. We want to avoid the mistakes of the past. We can only do that if the Ministry of Health attract into the Department the men who are best qualified to assist and give guidance in this matter of town and regional planning.
The only other matter with which I wish to deal before I conclude is this. When the country is building a large number of new houses, when new factories are being put up all over the country, I urge upon the Government to deal with the question of smoke abatement. Legislation is necessary. I believe legislation has been contemplated and promised. If that is so, I earnestly urge the Government not to delay in bringing forward their Smoke Abatement Bill. It will mean more health and less expenditure. Now is the time to do it, when Parliament is not occupied with a large number of big proposals.
To sum up the matter, we have a shortage of houses; we have too many slums; and we have a great deal of ugliness where there ought to be beauty. In the country we have far too much disease directly attributable to bad and insanitary housing. We have a great deal of money wasted, directly and indirectly, through the existence of slums. Our slums, and our had housing conditions, are due partly to ignorance and to lack of foresight on the part of our forefathers. If we fail, we shall not be able to plead ignorance. If we fail, it will be through lack of civic consciousness on our part. If we fail, it will be because we have not had the necessary courage, attention, and determination to tackle this problem. I apologise for having gone so fully into so many different aspects of the subject, but I am sure your Lordships will agree with me that on such matters as town planning and regional planning it is vital that we should look ahead. There must

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be a national policy laid down. We cannot possibly deal with this properly if we go on in a hand-to-mouth way. I believe that I shall have the agreement of all your Lordships when I say that housing is one of the most important questions before the country to-day, because upon it depends the physical health, the mental disposition, the family life, and the national welfare of our people.
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: My Lords, the noble Viscount has done, I am sure, a good service, in initiating this discussion. It is timely. It may call attention to certain large and essential elements in this great and intricate problem which may be overlooked when, in another place or elsewhere, attention is fixed on the somewhat restricted issues of the Bill now presented to Parliament by the Minister of Health. It is needless, epecially after what the noble Viscount has said, to insist upon the urgency of the problem. It is immediate and pressing. But there is a danger, not I hope great but certainly not negligible, lest the very urgency of increasing the quantity of houses should lead to slackness as to their quality. We must take care that the necessity of building now is not taken as an excuse for building anyhow. It is most important that the houses which are to be built under the present Bill and in view of the present urgency should he of the right kind—right in standard, right in spacing, and right in planning with reference to future developments. It is true that the Government promise later legislation. The Minister of Health has said that his Bill is not a solution of the problem, but only the beginning of a solution. What is of great importance is that the beginning should not make the solution itself more difficult anywhere. Mistakes may be made now under the existing pressure which it will be difficult to rectify later on.
It is worth while, I think, remembering the very simple fact that a house is not merely the provision of a certain amount of room and shelter for an existing family. A house endures for at least two or three generations. The quality of houses that are built now by private enterprise or under this present scheme may affect the health, the comfort, and
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the happiness of thousands during these generations. Haste now may lead to repentance later on, but to repentance when there is no time for amendment. Let me say, first of all, a word about the quality of the houses—the standard which should be required. We shall probably agree that the general policy is wise of leaving a free hand so far as possible to the local authorities, and, through them, to private enterprise. It seems to me almost certain that, at least upon the local authorities, very strong pressure will be brought to bear which may lead almost imperceptibly to a lowering of the standard of the houses which are to be built, both as to size and quality.
I confess that I wish that the cubic space of the houses which it is proposed to subsidise could be greater than is at present proposed. I think the Minister of Health is justified in believing that in circumstances of natural demand there would be at present a very much greater demand on the part of the working classes for the smaller type of houses. In a housing scheme with which I am familiar, in circumstances of the operation of normal demand, the applications for the smaller houses as compared with those for the larger—I mean, to use the phrase which the Minister of Health himself rather deprecates, the non-parlour house—was about four to one. Yet I think it is of very great importance that in all the houses that are built now there should be an adequate quiet room in every house. We have to remember that increasingly the boys and girls of even the lowest paid working people attend our secondary schools, and it is of great importance that there should be some place where they can do their home preparation in peace.
Moreover, we are doing everything that is possible to enable working people to enjoy some real leisure in their own homes, and I believe that a very small extension of the space now provided for in the subsidised house would make it possible to provide a room which is a reality and not, as at present, rather a form. But apart from this, I most earnestly hope that nothing will induce the Ministry of Health to sanction local authorities giving way to pressure in the provision of unsatisfactory houses. At the very least, every house should have three bedrooms, a hot water supply, a bath-

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room, and—a point which is not mentioned in the conditions, I think, attached to the present Bill—the main entrance should not be direct into the living room. I apologise for these details. My point is merely to urge that whatever the pressure may be at the present time the Ministry of Health should stand by a high standard for all houses which it sanctions for subsidising.
Secondly, a word as to the spacing of these houses. I believe the standard recognised in schemes by the Ministry of Health is twelve houses to the acre. I do not think there is any prevision in the present Bill as to the spacing of houses. I think it is almost certain that many local authorities will either make proposals themselves, or sanction proposals made by private individuals, or building societies, for the building of as many as twenty houses upon an acre. We shall therefore have the old evil of overcrowding, not within houses but of the houses themselves, and I hope that whatever pressure or influence the Ministry of Health can exercise will be exercised in seeing that these new houses shall not be put on the ground in a larger number than ten or twelve per acre. Even if these points about the size and spacing of the houses should involve some slight addition to the proposed subsidy, I will hazard the statement that it is better economy to spend an additional £100,000 than to saddle two or three generations with unsuitable or overcrowded houses built under the pressure of the immediate necessity of the day.
Now I come to the third point, to which the noble Viscount has rightly attached the greatest importance; I mean the planning of these houses. Wherever possible, even the houses that are being built now to meet the present emergency should be built in accordance with well-thought-out housing schemes. We have no wish to add to our already overcrowded cities. It is a calamity to the social life of the country that our cities are so large as they are. No one can describe—the noble Viscount has attempted to do so in eloquent words—the loss to the community, and the stunting of the growth in intelligence, body and spirit, which is inflicted on those who are doomed to live in the dreary squalor of our city streets. It will be a great misfortune if these new
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houses are thoughtlessly built in the suburbs of the towns to increase the hideous tentacles which they are always throwing out into the surrounding country.
Again, we have no wish to dump down more of those sporadic groups of houses in our country districts with which we are painfully familiar. No one can travel through Lancashire and Yorkshire without deploring those miserable groups of houses, unrelated to one another, crawling about the countryside in the neighbourhood of pits or factories; groups of houses which have no interest or character of their own and which can give to those who live in them none of the benefits of any sort of community life. Our aim should be to keep the country free from the intrusion of the towns, to group the houses that are now being built so that they shall be the nucleus of some well-planned future township, with character, interests and resources of its own. We do not want more big towns; we want a larger number of self-contained towns with ample open spaces and access to the country, and industries of their own. We have an excellent example in the garden city at, Letehworth, which, I believe, has now a population of twelve thousand people and is gradually attracting a large number of industries which the people living tinder these healthy conditions may serve.
Above all, our aim must be to decentralise both industries and populations from our over-congested city areas and suburbs. There is a great lesson to be learned from Belgium, a very densely populated industrial country. I am told that although only twenty-three per cent. of the population of Belgium are employed in agriculture no less than fifty-six per cent. live in the country. I was informed that of the dockers in the great decks at. Antwerp no fewer than eighty per cent. are living in the country. It is impossible to exaggerate the difference that would come to the social life of this country if a larger number of our working people could be housed and could carry on their industry in communities where it is possible for them to have interest, occupation, stimulus to the health, and some connection with the country.
The moral of all this is, in the first place, that local authorities should be

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encouraged, and so far as it is possible should be pressed, to build now in accordance with planning schemes which have been prepared. It is good indeed that the present Bill proposes to extend the time within which local schemes can be submitted, but there may be a great danger that that should be regarded as a reason why local authorities should occupy themselves now with the building of new houses and suspend the carrying on of the equally vital point of the schemes under which these houses should be built. The moral, in the second place, is exactly what the noble Viscount has pointed out—namely, that wherever the circumstances make it desirable, local authorities should be encouraged at once to co-operate in what are called regional planning schemes.
I have in my hands a scheme which I think might well be taken as a model for other great districts where similar conditions prevail. It is the scheme adopted for the whole of that very important new industrial area which is surrounding the old town of Doncaster. The South Yorkshire coalfield has brought within immediate prospect the creation of what may be a now great industrial town occupying a large area in South Yorkshire. We are familiar enough in the old Yorkshire mining areas with the pitiful mistakes that have been made, and it seemed to many of us that here was a chance of showing what could be done in a more enlightened day. I presided at a conference of all the local authorities of the district before the war and pressed upon them the need of such a regional planning scheme. It was embraced with enthusiasm, but when the war broke out operations were, necessarily, suspended. I am glad to say that they have been resumed, and that all the local authorities of the area, as well as the county authority, have approved for adoption a scheme which embraces the whole of the great area of the South Yorkshire coalfield.
I hope I shall not be wasting your Lordships' time if I indicate what such a scheme provides. It provides for the development, within the orbit of Doncaster as a great civic centre, for some twelve or more well-defined self-contained towns, each of them surrounded by a large belt of country and making provision within themselves for parks and open spaces. It is proposed that these
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towns should each be of about ten or fifteen thousand people. It provides for that zoning of which the noble Viscount spoke, and lays down recommendations that the low-lying ground should be reserved for agriculture and dirty industries and the higher ground for housing, commerce and clean industries. The object is to prevent more houses being built on the low-lying ground, and to secure by local transport facilities a ready access from houses built on the higher sites to the industries or pits which occupy the lower level. It provides everywhere for a system of road transit, a matter which cannot possibly be dealt with in a haphazard way and may lead to every kind of mistake and misfortune unless it is taken in hand at once and treated with a view to the future.
The scheme also provides for the preservation of existing features of beauty and of open spaces on a systematic basis, and—I think this is a point of great importance—for the preservation of the character and beauty of the old existing agricultural villages. It provides—and I might relate this point to a discussion which recently took place in your Lordships' House—that new roads shall not make their way relentlessly through beautiful old country villages, but shall be diverted from them by a by-pass, so that their beautiful and historical features may still be preserved. Similarly, the scheme provides that pit heaps shall not be allowed to remain, but that all that material shall be used for filling up the lower lying areas for the erection of factories for the, employment of the people, who live in the higher zone. What I would press with the noble Viscount is that these regional plans should be undertaken under similar conditions all over the country. I think it would be a great misfortune if the pressure of the immediate problem were to be regarded as an excuse for postponing, and not accepted as a reason for pressing on, these general regional planning schemes.
I hope that no one will think that all this is the mere ventilating of ideals, and that in comparison with the immediate problem which the country is proposing to undertake all this is but an academic debate. That is the very heresy which I hope the noble Viscount's Question this afternoon may dismiss. We have before us the hideous and shameful legacy of

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the past and also the brighter possibilities of the future. We have to remember that the mistakes of the past were not made through wickedness but through want of thought, and we have to guard at this present moment against the danger lest the pressure of immediate necessity, leading to haphazard and ill-considered building, may repeat the mistakes of the past and cloud the prospects of the future. I trust most earnestly that local authorities everywhere will act with care and forethought and in reference to well considered schemes in carrying out the proposals of the present Bill, and that the Minister of Health will insist even now upon right standards of spacing and planning the houses that are to be built, and that in so doing he will be supported by the public opinion of the country.
THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE: My Lords, before the noble Earl replies I should like to add one word to the hint which was thrown out by the noble Viscount who introduced this subject as to the possibility of a differentiation of grants for the different authorities who undertake housing. He said that if it were right that there should be a £6 grant for an urban authority, surely there was every reason to claim that a county or rural authority should be given a greater amount of assistance. I am sorry to note that my noble friend the Secretary for Scotland has just left the House, because I wished to impress upon him that, if there is a necessity for a differentiation of the grant in England, there is all the more necessity for differentiation in Scotland in this respect. Not only does Scotland have to deal with higher costs in building but there are a greater number of schemes for dealing with the rural problem.
I have in my hand a report issued by the district sanitary inspector to the County Council of Fife, of which I am a member, on January 16 this year. It brings out the fact that in one mining village in Fife there are no fewer than 350 people applying for two-roomed houses. Those people are at present living in sub-let rooms, probably in two-roomed houses. I put it to your lordships that people living under those conditions cannot possibly live in any state but that of discontent and unrest.
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There are one or two specific eases which I think I ought to mention. One is that of a sub-let two-apartment house occupied by two families, consisting of ten adults and seven children, or seventeen persons in all. There are also a two-apartment house occupied by three families, consisting of seven adults and one child, and a small single-apartment house occupied by two families, consisting of five adults and two children. Those are evidences that in the rural areas of Scotland, certainly in the western mining district of Fife, the problem is one in which action cannot be delayed.
During the last three years local authorities have been charged with forming schemes and building houses to meet this shortage, but the progress has been much too slow. I think there are two reasons which have contributed largely to that result. One is the centralisation required by the Board of Health. Local authorities have been charged with building houses, and every detail of planning, every detail of lay-out and every detail of every accessory to the house has had to receive the approval of the Board of Health for Scotland. That which has caused more delay than anything else in mining areas is the selection of sites. Your Lordships will all know that some doubt always exists in a mining area as to the stability of a site, and that some risks must be run. We have had great difficulty in selecting proper sites for these housing schemes. In one particular instance a scheme was started on February 4, 1919, and only last month was the consent of the Board of Health received for that scheme to make progress. I think that, that fact shows a lack of appreciation of the importance of the subject on the part of the central authority. If the local authority, the county council, are not able to carry out their duty they should not be charged with that duty, but if they are charged with it, they should be given the responsibility of carrying it through.
The other point upon which I desire to place some emphasis is the additional assistance which might be given to individual enterprise. Individual enterprise, as the noble Viscount who introduced the subject pointed out, cannot deal with the whole question of the removal of slums, but it can do a great deal in the way of building houses, both

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from the point of view of the builder who builds for speculation, and, above all, of the builder-owner who builds for his own occupation. I hope that, as the result of the Bill which is now before Parliament, we may see a great increase in the encouragement given to the independent enterprise of the man who desires to own a house when it is built.
THE LORD BISHOP OF SOUTHWARK: My Lords, I will detain your Lordships only for a moment or two, but I wish to press upon you the urgency of this problem. I think there is no problem which more vitally affects the life and happiness of the people of our country than that of overcrowding, which is due to the shortage of houses. The present shortage of houses leads to the use of dwellings which are really insanitary, and also to overcrowding which is truly appalling. There are many dwellings which went out of use immediately before the war, but which are now crowded. I know of one, a large tenement building, in which 40 per cent. of the tenements were vacant before the war. Now, not only is every room occupied but there is a long waiting list of those who desire to find accommodation in these tenements, with foul atmosphere and small rooms.
The noble Earl who has just spoken gave us one or two instances of actual cases of overcrowding. I will give two that have come to my notice during the last few weeks. One was a very small room in which were two beds. There were seven persons in one bed and four in the other. They were living and sleeping in this room. In the other case there were five in the one bed, and the father and mother slept on a chair bed. The mother is about to be confined. These conditions are bad enough as they are, but unless they are dealt with drastically they will soon become worse, for streets which contain decent, sanitary houses are rapidly being ruined through overcrowding. A house intended for one family is now occupied by two, or three, or even four families. And that is not all. We are told, on very good authority, that a reasonably built house lasts about a hundred years before it turns into a dilapidated dwelling. In London, between 1820 and 1840, there was a very large amount of building to meet the increase of population that was then occurring. Now, these buildings, which are still
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inhabited, are very rapidly deteriorating, and within the next twenty years, in an increasing degree, their condition will have to be faced.
What are the results of this overcrowding? I want to mention two only. In the first place, there is growing up a population which has had none of the training and discipline which ordinary home-life gives. In London we have a very large number of adolescents between the ages of fourteen and twenty out of work. A very large number of them have literally no home to go to in the day. From early in the morning until late at night they live in the streets, wet or fine, occasionally taking refuge in a cinema when they are able to earn some money by an odd job or to win something by a bet; otherwise, they have to live in the streets. There is growing up a class which has none of that discipline in sacrifice and in the cultivation of the gentler virtues which comes so naturally from home life. That is a most serious situation for the future of the country. The other result has already been mentioned by the noble Viscount who introduced the subject. There is nothing which is making men more bitter, to-day, than the difficulty of getting houses. There is very little real revolutionary feeling in the country, but while you have bad housing you have a very fertile seed ground for the agitator, and men who would be untouched by revolutionary agitation on any other ground, find themselves almost driven to desperation when they have wages but are unable to find decent accommodation for their wives and families.
I recognise entirely that you cannot do away with the slums until you have built houses to which the people can move, and I should like, in conclusion, to endorse all that was said by the noble Viscount on the importance of providing labour for these buildings. I believe that however excellent the scheme may be, on paper, for providing new houses, it will fail entirely unless you meet the labour difficulty. There are not enough skilled men to build the houses which are absolutely necessary in the next few years. That, no doubt, is due to the restricting policy of the trade unions. Some form of dilution is necessary. I understand entirely the attitude of the working men in these trade unions, who oppose dilution, when they see an ocean of unemploy-

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ment all round them. I sympathise with their feelings on that matter, and I am convinced that the only way in which the Government can meet this difficulty is by a programme extending over ten years or so, on the condition that the unions are diluted. I do not think you would have any real opposition to dilution if the men felt that they were really certain of employment for a number of years. By this policy, I believe, you would not only meet the difficulty about housing accommodation, hut would also succeed in finding employment for a large number of ex-Service men.
VISCOUNT MILNER: My Lords, I should like to make a brief contribution to this debate on some purely practical points. As for the general considerations, which make this subject one of the greatest importance and the greatest urgency, I have nothing to add to what has been said by the noble Viscount who initiated this debate, and by the Archbishop of York. I would associate myself entirely, and on all points, with the speech of the noble Viscount, to which I listened with more sympathy and conviction than I have often felt for any speech on any social or political topic. I have said that I will not dwell upon the general considerations at all, except to express my conviction than there is no question, at this time of day, which more deeply affects the welfare and future of this country than the question of the conditions of life of the majority of the population, and that housing, important as it is, is only, as the noble Viscount pointed out, one side of this question.
If I may say so, there are three great branches of it—namely, the construction of better houses, the construction of better cities, and the supply of purer air, and you cannot really separate any one of them from the others, if you are going to deal comprehensively with the question of the conditions of life of our necessarily crowded population—forty or fifty millions of us—in these comparatively small Islands. That is the vital and pressing question of the immediate future, so far as home affairs are concerned. I cannot help saying this much about a subject on which I feel so intensely, but I apologise for delaying your Lordships when all this has already
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been better said by the noble Viscount and by the Archbishop of York.
To come to two practical points, I am familiar with the scheme which has been described by the Archbishop of York for the development of the Doncaster district. You have there, so far as I can understand, a very excellent plan indeed for controlling the development of that district in such a manner that the evils which have disgraced and defaced so much of our countryside in the past may be avoided in the future. One point about it I should like particularly to emphasise. We rather advanced social reformers are constantly told, when we urge this scheme or that scheme for tilt, amelioration of the conditions of the people, that it is all very well but we cannot afford it I think anybody who looks into that plan in detail will say that over a reasonable period of years the development of that district on the humane and enlightened principles which lie at the bottom of that scheme will be infinitely cheaper limn if you allowed the place to be tumbled up in the manner in which so many towns in the coal-bearing areas have been allowed to tumble up in the past.
I should like to ask the noble Earl who is going to reply for the Government a question which is really important. I defy ally number of competent judges studying the Doncaster scheme not to say that it is a great advance, and that it is eminently desirable that the district should be developed on those lines, instead of on haphazard lines. This scheme has been in existence for some years. What power is there really to compel the interested parties—the local authorities or the private people who are putting money into the development of this district—to work on those lines? It is all very well having this plan. I admire it, and I think that the money has been well spent. But it is no use at all if the scheme is merely to be pigeon-holed somewhere in a Ministry. What is the Government actually doing, if it is doing anything, to ensure that that district shall be developed on those lines, or on some reasonable lines, and not in a haphazard manner?
Secondly, I happen to live in a district which is going to follow the example of Doncaster district, in which there is now no longer any doubt that there are large

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quantities of workable coal, and coal-mining has already begun on a considerable scale; I mean the district of East Kent. It is a great national possession; it is one of the most beautiful districts of England, and it is also historically one of the most interesting. Do not let me be supposed to be speaking for my own interests. If I were driven out of that district I could go and live in one equally beautiful, and perhaps of equal historical interest; I actually have a little house in which I could live. But I am grieved at heart by the thought of the possibility that that region of England might be allowed to become a Black Country. It would be a national disgrace, as well as a huge national loss.
I have no hesitation in saying that, though undoubtedly the development of the coal mines must to some extent detract from the beauties and amenities of the region—that is, I am afraid, absolutely inevitable—with a little foresight, a little thought, and, above all, a little determination to carry out the plan to which foresight and thought may lead us, it is possible to develop that district in such a manner that, though it will suffer somewhat from industrial development., it will not suffer fatally, and especially that the most important points, like those to which the Archbishop of York has referred in speaking of the Doncaster district, will be observed. I hope the noble Earl when ho replies will tell me whether anything is being done to bring about such a combination of local authorities in that district as may lead to a general scheme being adopted, and adopted in time; and whether anything is likely to be done to ensure that, when such a scheme has been adopted, it can be carried out in practice.
THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH (THE EARL OF ONSLOW): My Lords, the noble Viscount at the outset of his very eloquent and able speech drew your Lordships' attention to the fact that, by an unfortunate coincidence, the debate which he has raised to-night falls on the day after the introduction of the Government Housing Bill in another place. In these circumstances, I think your Lordships may agree that a discussion on the merits of that measure would more profitably be postponed until the Bill itself is actually before you. My noble friend referred to
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the subsidy question, and the most rev. Prelate referred to the question of the size of houses and of their construction. I may inform the most rev. Prelate that this question of construction and size has not been lost sight of by the Department over which my right hon. friend presides. But I would prefer, with your Lordships' permission, rather to postpone the consideration of the policy of the Government for dealing with this problem until such time as the Bill is before this House for its Second Reading. I will therefore confine myself mainly to considering the three very important points which my noble friend has raised to-day, from the point of view of the existing state of affairs in the country.
Let me briefly review the situation as regards the house building trade during the last thirteen or fourteen years. Before 1910, private enterprise provided houses in considerable numbers. During that time and right up to the outbreak of war private enterprise was responsible for 95 per cent. at least—I think, perhaps, more—of the houses built in the country. Of course, fluctuations in the number of houses built each year took place, but on the average, before 1910, there were considerable annual additions to the housing accommodation, and ordinarily, in fact I might say practically always, there was a considerable margin of vacant accommodation to allow for expansion. Thus, in the five years ending in 1909 the average increase in the number of houses of less than £20 annual value was 80,000. Then in 1909 came an event with which we are all familiar, to which has been attributed the commencement of the housing shortage. I refer, of course, to the Budget of that year. The provisions of that measure undoubtedly shook the confidence of the builders; in particular, Sections 1 and 2, which imposed a tax on so-called increment value and a duty on undeveloped land. As your Lordships are aware, this has now been repealed, so that any difficulty on that score has been removed.
In 1910, the year which followed the famous Budget, the number of houses—and this is a very interesting figure, I think—of an annual value of less than £20 fell from 80,000, the average of the previous five years, to 5,813. Five thousand eight hundred and thirteen houses only were built in the year 1910! I should say that this was the lowest out-

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put during the five years subsequent to 1909; but the average for the five years from 1910 to 1914 was 46,000 per annum in comparison with 80,000 per annum during the previous five years. Therefore, there was a gross falling off in the number of houses built during the five years after 1909 of 170,000 altogether. This, of course, was a very serious blow to housing, but the margin in hand was so considerable that even the falling off in house building after the year 1909 had not produced an acute shortage of available houses when war broke out.
I may mention that in the Census of 1911 there were 400,000 empty houses recorded, and my right hon. friend recalled yesterday in another place the statement made last year by Sir Alfred Mond when he informed that House that when war broke out there were 430,000 vacant houses available. That fact was referred to by the right rev. Prelate, the Lord Bishop of Southwark, who told us of a tenement house which he knew in London in which there was then a great deal of vacant accommodation and which is now overcrowded and full to overflowing.
Of course, this slackening in building operations during the five years previous to the war enormously accentuated the difficulties which were created by the cessation of building operations during the war. As your Lordships are well aware, after the outbreak of war in 1914 and until 1919, or even later—because I believe only one hundred houses were actually completed in that year—building of all kinds, and not only house building, practically came to a complete standstill. When building of all kinds began again at the end of 1919 the actual building of dwelling houses suffered many serious handicaps. In the first place, there was a heavy loss in the personnel of the building trade. I shall have an opportunity of saying a few words upon that subject later in regard to the matter raised by my noble friend just now. That was the first difficulty. That loss, of course, had been reflected in the decrease in house building which took place during the five years preceding the war.
Thus, in the year 1901—that is to say, in the Census Year—there were approximately 940,000 men employed in the building trade. In 1911 that number had fallen to 873,000, and in 1919 the building
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trade had practically dissolved, because, except for war purposes, there was no building at all during the war, and the men had been mobilised and so forth, so that there was scarcely any organised building trade left at all when house building began again after the war. Even now it is estimated that there are only about 700,000 men in the trade. My noble friend said that the depreciation amounted to about 60 per cent. I have not worked the figures out, and I do not know whether they support his statement or not, but there has been a falling off of nearly 250,000 men between 1901 and the present time.
Further, the starting of building was seriously affected after the war by the lack of the supply of building materials. The manufacture of building materials, save in so far as they were required for military purposes, had ceased entirely and there was, of course, very little reserve in the country on which to draw. Naturally, the manufacture of building materials had to start before building itself could be proceeded with. And there was another difficulty. Directly after the Armistice house building was adversely affected by the imperative necessity for dealing with the arrears of repairs which had accumulated during the four years of war. I know from personal experience that a large firm of builders in the south of England employed a very considerable proportion of their available operatives to conduct these repairs. That, of course, militated against that firm being able to undertake house building on a large scale, or even to take up contracts. The employment of large numbers of men on repairs was going on all over the country. Then, again, there was another difficulty. In addition to repairs building other than the construction of dwelling houses was going on and was urgently required. A great deal of that kind of construction was necessary and it naturally competed with the building of houses.
All these causes contributed, in addition to the unfortunate falling off in building which took place before the war, to the great shortage of houses in 1919. It was further accentuated by the return of a large number of demobilised men many of whom intended to marry immediately and were looking forward to obtaining separate accommodation. I think that

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point was brought out by the right rev. Prelate in his eloquent speech. He showed how the sudden increase in the demand for houses was consequent upon the number of marriages which took mace in the years immediately following the war.
The noble Viscount told us of the measures undertaken by the late Government to deal with this situation. He referred to the first scheme, the scheme of building through the local authorities. That was the first scheme which was undertaken with the object of dealing with the shortage of houses. Under that scheme the liability of the local authorities was limited to a penny rate, while the State assumed the remaining unlimited liability. Then came the second scheme in 1921, the scheme of the granting of lump sums to private builders. Neither of these schemes has sufficed to meet the shortage of houses, although, of course, they have contributed to the reduction of it. The first scheme resulted in the erection of 176,000 houses at a cost to the State of about £9,000,000 a year, in addition to the cost to the local authorities of a sum of another £1,000,000, represented by the penny rate. This charge will continue for a number of years. The second scheme—that is to say, the private builders' scheme—produced some 39,000 houses at a total cost "all in" of about £9,500,000.
Your Lordships will see, I think, that the local authorities scheme was a very costly affair and that it is going to cost us a considerable amount of money in the future. The conditions under which this scheme was undertaken resulted in a great increase in cost. The highest average figure reached for the so-called non-parlour houses—I do not like the term—in September, 1920, was £881. I should say that a non-parlour house is one which contains a living-room, a scullery and two bedrooms; it is a four-roomed house. As I say, the highest average figure for that house was £881, and a similar high-water mark for the parlour house—that is to say, the house containing living room, parlour, scullery and two bedrooms—was reached in June, 1920, and was £972. Prices then fell, at first slowly and then more rapidly. Thus, in December, 1921, costs were respectively £514 and £566, and in December, 1922, £346 and £387.
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Some pains have been taken to endeavour to arrive at a comparison between the cost of building in 1914 and the present time, and the increased cost is, roughly, fixed at about 60 per cent. in some places it may be higher, and in some places lower, but generally speaking the experience of my right hon. friend's Department and that of other authorities puts it at this figure. Therefore, houses costing £1,330 in 1914, which would be let for about £100 at 6 per cent., now cost £2,130; and £800 houses in 1914, which would let at about £60, now cost £1,280; £400 houses, which would let at £30, now cost £640; and a £215 house, which would let at £16, now costs £350. I take the figure £215, as it represents the pre-war cost on this calculation of a non-parlour house, costing £350 now.
I do not propose, as I said before, to discuss at length the Government proposals, as full opportunity will be given for that at a later date. I will only say this. The Government recognise that at the present moment it is impossible to proceed without some form of State assistance to houses. The fall in the cost in building, however, presents an encouragement to the hope that a return to private enterprise need not be indefinitely delayed.
I should like to say one word also upon a subject that my noble friend just touched upon—the subject of building materials. At the close of the war building materials were almost nonexistent, but I think I can say there is at present no shortage of material as there was in 1919, though the price is still high. The Government are attempting to deal with this, and my right hon. friend has appointed a very strong Committee, under the Chairmanship of Sir H. Mackinder, to examine the question. Its terms of reference are:—
"To he a Committee to survey the prices of building materials and to receive and consider complaints in respect thereof and to report from time to time to the Minister of Health and the President of the Board of Trade as to the facts, and in particular as to the extent to which in any case the price appears to be unduly high by reason of the operation of any trade combination, trust or agreement."
As I have already said, 215,000 houses have been produced by the two Government schemes.
In addition to this, a considerable number of houses are built and building

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entirely outside the subsidy schemes. A return has been asked for from urban authorities of houses of this kind built and building, and so far as it has gone already—and the majority have sent in returns—we have been informed that 12,562 houses were completed between September, 1922, and March, 1923; 15,726 were under construction on the date of the return, and plans for 20,823 had been passed. It may be mentioned that the greater proportion of these was of the smaller middle class type. The total figure is 49,211, but this figure is in excess of the actual number as some of the houses described as under construction are also included in the 20,823 for which plans had been passed. But there are actually built or building 28,283 and an indefinite number ready to proceed with shortly.
I now turn to the second item of my noble friend's Notice dealing with the question of slum areas and unsatisfactory houses, and of course it cannot now be denied, nor is it attempted to be denied, that there are very many areas which are of a most unsatisfactory description and many houses which are in a state far from desirable, not in slum areas only, but in other areas also. I think I may say that all members of the Government individually and collectively agree with what my noble friend has said as to the very great importance of this subject. There is no question that this is an evil which must be faced, and faced as soon as possible, and in every possible manner. It is the intention of the Government to do all that is practicable to combat this evil. My right hon. friend yesterday, in his speech in the House of Commons, in proposing the Second Reading of the Housing Bill, referred to the fact that only a small portion of the Bill was devoted to this question of slum clearance, and went on to say that it was merely an earnest of what the Government hoped to be able to do, and that it was not their last word on this subject. To that matter I think the most rev. Prelate called attention, and I am very glad to repeat to him the words that my right hon. friend used yesterday in another place.
I would like to say something as to the difficulties which are met with in dealing with this question of slum areas. The difficulties are, of course, enormously accentuated by the shortage of housing
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accommodation. The usual method of dealing with a slum is to provide a certain number of its inhabitants with fresh accommodation, either by the construction of new houses or by finding new houses for other people and moving the slum population to those vacated. This is a simple means if it can be carried out, as the vacant slum, or part of a slum, can be demolished and fresh houses erected on its site. I think this is the method which was adopted round Millbank, and which has transformed that quarter of London from a very poor and unsatisfactory into a very pleasant quarter. But nowadays there is difficulty in proceeding by this method. If you erect houses to accommodate a slum population, in order to allow a slum us part of a slum to be demolished, you are retarding the general population from getting houses because you are increasing the demand for houses. That is one difficulty. You also run the risk of the accommodation provided for your slum population being absorbed by other people looking for accommodation, and the people who are turned out of the houses in the slum proposed to be demolished may get left without accommodation. That is another difficulty.
My noble friend drew attention to the question of the shortage of personnel in building. This is also a difficulty. Owing to the shortage of personnel it is very difficult to do more than cope with the number of houses required to accommodate those who are urgently in need of them. It is also very difficult, for the same reason, to proceed with slum demolition and reconstruction. The right rev. Prelate, the Lord Bishop of Southwark, gave us an interesting description of a plan he had in his mind, and I can assure him that that question will be given consideration. I shall be glad to bring it before the authorities in my Department for their consideration.
The next point is that owing to the shortage of personnel in the building trade, it is very difficult to do more than cope with the number of new houses which it is possible to erect. Those who study the returns of the Ministry of Labour will see that there is a constant number of unemployed in the building trade, and they conclude that, if all the unemployed in the building trade were found work, more houses would be built. This, of course, is the assumption which would

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naturally occur to anybody at first sight. It must be remembered, however, that the building trade is not really a single trade but the multiple of a number of other trades. You cannot, for instance, build a house with only painters and carpenters, nor with only bricklayers and plasterers. The building trade is like an army, which consists of cavalry, artillery, infantry, supply services, etc. The building trade consists of bricklayers, plasterers, joiners, carpenters, painters and others. A house requires a due proportion of each of these callings for its erection, and, of course, with a number of houses it is the same. Therefore, the total number of houses which it is possible to build is represented by the work of the total number of men of the various trades who can be employed in the proper relative proportions to one another. If you have, for example, a large proportion of bricklayers over other trades, the surplus of bricklayers would be unemployed and unemployable until you are able to find a complement of other craftsmen to do the rest of the work. That is another difficulty which we have to contend with in dealing with slum clearance.
Let me say one word as to the condition of houses in slums. Your Lordships are aware that it is the duty of local authorities to have their districts inspected from time to time with a view to ascertaining whether any dwelling-houses therein are in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation, and it is also their duty to secure that unsatisfactory houses are dealt with. I should like to give your Lordships a few figures for the year 1921 as an illustration of the action which local authorities have taken in this respect. The noble Viscount said that there were 2,000,000 houses of a slum nature. I do not know whether that figure is correct, but if he wishes I will have inquiries made. During the year 1921, 1,171,000 houses were examined and inspected under the Regulations. Of these, 627,101 were found to be in satisfactory condition requiring no remedy; of the remainder, 250,454 were immediately remedied by the owners without the service of formal notice. In the case of 289,902, the defects were remedied after the service of notice, and only in the case
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of 3,814, were the defects remedied by the local authority and, of course, charged to the owner.
Your Lordships will agree that a noteworthy feature of these figures is the very great volume of repair work which was secured by agreement with the owners without the service of formal notice, and, where formal notice was served, that the work was in the vast majority of cases carried out by the owners and not by the local authorities. I think that attention should be called to this, as owners have been accused in many cases of deliberately withholding repairs. Certainly, the figures at our disposal do not bear out this accusation.
The noble Viscount has referred to the necessity for Government action. I have alluded to what the Minister of Health said in the House of Commons yesterday, but beyond what is proposed by the Bill he introduced, with which I do not intend to deal to-day, I should like to draw your attention to the measures which the Government have taken in the past to make provision for this matter of slum clearance. An annual State grant has been provided towards the annual losses of local authorities' schemes for dealing with slum areas. This amounts to a maximum of £200,000 a year, and the grant will be available during the whole term of the repayment of such loans as may be required to carry out the schemes. This grant will be supplemented by a contribution of a like amount by the local authorities, thus doubling the effect of the subsidy. Up to the present moment, £123,000 has been provisionally allocated. I may be asked, perhaps, why the whole sum of £200,000 has not been allocated, and my answer to that would be the difficulty of proceeding with slum clearance pari passu with the construction of new houses at the present time.
The proposals for dealing with the worst areas are going forward now in the biggest centres of population. London are proposing to undertake schemes on a considerable scale, involving an annual loss of £100,000, a moiety of which will be borne by the Exchequer, and proposals are also under consideration in Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Liverpool and elsewhere.
I now come to the third item in my noble friend's Notice, namely, town

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planning. The main matters with which town planning schemes deal are: (1) the determination of the local road system with provisions as to the incidence of the cost. of construction; (2) the allocation of areas to their general uses, for example, industrial or residential, including the designation of land for open spaces, or other specific purposes; and (3) the allocation of the density (number of houses to the acre), height and space of buildings. All these points have been mentioned during the course of the debate. My noble friend Lord Milner asked me two questions. The first question he put was: What powers have the Government to compel these schemes to be carried out? My reply is that the powers are contained in the Act of 1919, and I will explain the method under which the Act proceeds.
When the war broke out—I hope my noble friend will bear me out in this—but little progress had been made in town planning. Something had been done in consequence of the Act of 1909, but the procedure of that Act was rather complicated. Then the Local Government Board, I believe at the time when my noble friend was responsible for that Department, brought in the Town Planning Act of 1919, which considerably simplified and improved the procedure of the Act of 1909 by enabling local authorities to take the initiative in the provision of schemes without previously applying for the authority of the Minister, except, of course, when they wished to plan land outside their own local government area.
That Act also extended the power of the Minister to make Regulations. Under these Regulations the stages in the provision of a scheme are three. First comes a resolution by the local authority; then the provision of a preliminary statement of proposals; and, in the third place, the submission of a scheme embodying these preliminary proposals after they have been approved by the Ministry of Health. The preliminary statement and the final scheme are both submitted and are open to objections and representation, and we find that it is during the course of the hearing of the preliminary scheme that negotiations are embarked upon and the whole thing takes its essential shape. That is the procedure which is now
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adopted in regard to these measures of town planning.
In answer to my noble friend's question whether the matter is being pressed forward at a satisfactory rate, I may point out that owing to the fact that local authorities have been very much occupied since the war in all kinds of matters, such as unemployment, housing, and so forth, neither my right hon. friend nor his predecessors pressed them or hurried them in any way in the provision of these schemes. I do not think it would be fair to do so, and I do not think that it would have been of any great value. Probably the only result would have been unnecessary irritation without any beneficial effect. In spite of that fact, the number of authorities who have commenced the preparation of schemes is very considerable. Up to the beginning of this month there were 183 schemes, covering 800,000 acres, and of these twenty-four have already reached the third stage and been approved, and we know that there are a large number of other local authorities who are undertaking surveys and making preliminary investigations for the preparation of schemes.
My noble friend drew attention to the question of zones. I may say that we fully realise the advantages of including built-on areas in schemes as a whole, but I think my noble friend, from his experience in the Department, Will appreciate that the extension of town planning to cover existing development would, if adopted, raise many new problems connected with development, and the transition from old to new standards which do not arise in the planning of undeveloped land. There are various other difficulties, but I can assure the noble Viscount that the matter has not been lost sight of in any way.
As regards the question of regional surveys, which my noble friend raised, your Lordships are aware that the municipal borough, or the urban district council, or whatever the local authority may be, does not always correspond with the area which would form a good town planning unit. You may have two boroughs adjacent to one another and constituting one urban unit although they are separate for local government purposes. This urban unit which I might perhaps better describe as an economic unit—it is difficult to give an accurate description, but I think your Lordships

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will understand what I mean—is, of course, the only useful unit for town planning schemes. As the noble Viscount has pointed out, this has been achieved by regional surveys, and joint committees of the local authorities concerned have been constituted to deal with this matter.
The most rev. Prelate drew-your Lordships' attention to what has been done in the case of Doncaster and gave us a very interesting description. Although Doncaster—or rather the Doncaster coalfield—is one of the outstanding authorities which have dealt with this matter in the way I have described, other districts, such as that of Manchester which includes over seventy local authorities, have formed joint committees, and the same has been clone in the Tyneside and Deeside areas. In all there are twenty-one such committees in existence, and others are being formed. The noble Viscount, Lord Milner, asked me whether East Kent were following the example of Doncaster. All that I can say in reply to that is that it is, of course, open to East Kent to adopt a scheme such has been adopted in the Doncaster area. The authorities are under an obligation to prepare a scheme in due course, and I should think from what the noble Viscount told us that it is extremely probable that they will combine together to form a joint authority, as has been done in so many other places.
In dealing with this subject, my noble friend mentioned the Liverpool and Manchester road and the difficulties which local authorities find in dealing with the question of road construction and road maintenance. He gave it as his opinion that this might be done under town planning schemes. I am a little diffident in agreeing with him on that point. I rather think it is a matter which would be dealt with more properly under the terms of reference of the Royal Commission, of which I have the honour to be Chairman, which is dealing with local government areas—and generally this is a question of local government—rather than separately by town planning schemes. I do not know that I can say anything further, but that is what occurred to me when I listened to what my noble friend had to say on this point.
I think your Lordships will agree with me that it is undesirable to press these schemes forward in too great a hurry. It is much better to give time and delibera-
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tion towards producing a good scheme than to hurry it through and to produce an indifferent scheme. My noble friend was concerned in drafting the Act of 1919, and he knows that provision was made in that Act for interim development to proceed pending approval, and I may tell him that last August., acting under the provisions of that Act of 1919, an Order was issued from the Ministry of Health to empower local authorities themselves to permit development in accordance with reasonable requirements specified by them. Applicants were given the right of appeal to the Ministry in case they were aggrieved. That Order was issued only last August, and we have not really had very much experience of how it has worked, but I may say that only fourteen appeals have so far been made, so that presumably it is working fairly well. I may add that when the second stage of the town planning scheme —namely, the preliminary statement—has been passed, development is permitted, as naturally follows, only in accordance with the terms of that preliminary arrangement.
As your Lordships are aware, the Act of 1919 compels every local authority with a population of 20,000 and upward to produce a town planning scheme. In addition, many authorities of under 20,000 are preparing or have prepared voluntary schemes. This, of course, is more particularly the case where joint committees have been established. In a place like the Manchester district many rural district councils are also concerned in the scheme, and are represented on the joint committee. Therefore, with a view of assisting the local authorities in these heavy burdens the Ministry of Health have endeavoured to take as much work as possible off the shoulders of ale local authorities by standardising the schemes and procedure, in such matters as allow of standardisation, and have prepared a set of model clauses, with an explanatory memorandum, for the use of local authorities and, of course, they have always been ready to give such advice as they could. Model forms have been prepared in order to facilitate the preparation of preliminary statements. Draft notices and advertisements and such like things have also been prepared in London, and everything has been done to relieve the local authorities of extra work, so far as possible.

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I will refer for one moment to the last part of the Bill which is proceeding in another place. It has been the wish of the local authorities to be allowed an extension of time, and, as I think the noble Lord mentioned, the present Bill proposes to extend the three years provided in the Act of 1919 to six years. My noble friend expressed some alarm that the staff of the Ministry might not be adequate to deal with all the various and complex problems which present themselves in this question of housing and town planning. I can assure him that the present staff is adequate for the purpose, and although we, of course, do appreciate that it is possible that an increase may be necessary in the future, at present we have no fear but that our staff is adequate to deal with all the questions which come before it. I must remind my noble friend that the question of economy is always before our eyes, and before an increase was sanctioned careful consideration would have to be undertaken.
I am afraid that I have troubled you for a long time, but I think I have dealt with the three points raised in my noble friend's Notice as briefly as I can, and I have endeavoured to place before your Lordships the state of affairs as it exists at the present moment. The proposals of the Government dealing with the question will he laid before your Lordships on another occasion. In regard to the question of smoke abatement Lord Newton put a question down for to-day very much the same as that put by the noble Viscount, but as he has postponed it till to-morrow perhaps I may be allowed to postpone my reply also.
EARL BEAUCHAMP: My Lords, the interesting discussion which has taken place shows the importance which your Lordships attach, and quite rightly, to this question, and think those of you who are interested in it will have been particularly gratified by the speech made by the noble Earl who has just sat down. He is evidently alive, as are the Ministry of Health and the Government, to the importance and urgency of the question. Therefore, we may congratulate ourselves upon the fact that this important matter is being pushed forward by the Government with as much urgency as possible. I am struck by the fact—with which all members of this House who are
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accustomed to take part in, or who listen to, our discussions are familiar—that there is no matter of first rate importance ever discussed in this House to which some member of the House is not able, from personal knowledge and experience, to contribute something particularly valuable. The most rev. Prelate the Archbishop of York was able to tell us about Doncaster, and the Bishop of Southwark was able to draw a distressing picture of the condition of affairs in his own diocese.
We are bound to recognise the fact that there are few questions which do so urgently interest the people of this country as does this question of housing. There are hundreds of thousands of people to whom Mesopotamia and the Near East are merely names, but to whom the question of housing is a matter of urgent and immediate importance, and they are anxious that something should be done without delay. I confess we find ourselves, all of us who take part in this debate, in some difficulty, because of the ancient custom of the House not to discuss here a measure which is being discussed in another place. This Rule has, at any rate, been more honoured in the breach than is the observance this afternoon, and if I find myself also erring I can only throw myself upon the indulgence of the House, and plead the admirable example which has been set to me by those who have already taken part in the discussion.
One of our difficulties is the old difficulty of all reformers: that the ideal is always the enemy of that which is practical, and I hope His Majesty's Government will not be led astray by the idea of doing great things into doing little or nothing at all. I hope that they will do what is practical, and do it as soon as they can, and as much as they can, and that they will be practical in this matter. I am led to this observation by some of the remarks which have fallen from more than one member of this House. For instance, in regard to smoke. With regard to the smoke nuisance abatement, I think that it is hardly relevant to the immediate matter before the House, and that we had far rather deal directly and practically with this question of housing. Here, naturally, we find ourselves faced with another old question, of quantity and quality. Some people are anxious

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for quantity, and some people think that quality is more important. We are entitled to remember, and perhaps mention on this occasion with particular honour, the admirable work done by some philanthropists, like the late Mr. Cadbury at Bournville, who have set an admirable example in this matter. We also have in this House Lord Leverhulme, who, in Port Sunlight, has done a great deal in the same direction. It is an example which I only wish more of the large employers of labour in this House could have seen their way to follow.
I confess that the speech made by the right rev. Prelate, the Bishop of South-wark, was a depressing speech. It seemed to me from what he said that the conditions were even worse, and the standard even lower, than before the war—that, at any rate, that is so in many important directions. I remember the horrible story which used to be told in my younger days, of the rooms in which there were a number of families, and each family lived in a different corner, and the complaint which was made was that they would get on all right if only the people who occupied corners two and three would not take in lodgers. I hope we have not sunk quite so low as that, but I think it is evident that things are very bad indeed at the present time.
The most rev. Prelate's speech alluded to the necessity of having more sites for garden cities, and the necessity for decentralisation. He, no doubt, is aware, as are other members of this House, that that is a matter upon which more than one opinion is held. Indeed, I am bound to say that I think there is some reason for the criticism that unless these garden cities are well designed we may find the beautiful countryside of England defaced by a number of horrible buildings. I do not know, going about this country, to-day, that there is a more melancholy sight than to see side by side with some of the most beautiful old cottages (they may be insanitary, but they are very beautiful) the new houses which have been put up by the local authorities. They are in many cases a positive eyesore, and it is indeed a dreadful prospect that we should have a number of those put up all over the country and the landscape defaced by them. I wish that one of our public societies would try to influence in some way the various public authorities, in
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order to see that the designs of these cottages which are being put up are more in accordance with the older traditions of this country, and that there may be some prospect that in two or three hundred years from now people will look at them with something like the same admiration with which we contemplate the old cottages erected two or three centuries ago.
In any matter of this kind I should like to have had some hint from His Majesty's Government that they were prepared to deal with this matter not entirely upon one scale all through. It is obvious that when you are concerned with building in towns the cost is very different from what it is in some remote village. It is well worth consideration whether some different rate of payment, or some different rate of grant, should not be made where building is more expensive than it is in places near a railway centre, or where there is already a large centre of population. It is not uninteresting for your Lordships to remember in this connection the very real change which has taken place with regard to the criticism about the building of houses. Many of your Lordships will remember that a generation ago the criticism was that it was the landlord who prevented the building of houses; that he would not allow his land to be built upon. Now, I think, the criticism is different. It is a criticism of the capitalist, who asks for too high a rate of interest upon the money which is used for building, and I think there are comparatively few cases in which landlords at the present time hold up the land from being built upon. And when you come to consider the cost of building a house, the amount which is paid for the land is trivial to-day compared with what it was a generation ago.
The noble Viscount who spoke from the cross benches (Lord Milner) asked His Majesty's Government a question with regard to the town planning in Kent—a district in which, like him, I have a personal interest, and also an official and a hereditary interest. I am glad to be able to tell him that I believe the matter is well in hand, that the rural district council which is most affected, that of Eastry, some time ago held a conference with the other rural authorities interested in the matter, and that, if it has not already reached a stage of definite plans,

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at any rate the matter is well under consideration. It has not been forgotten, and there is no chance at all that any building development will take place in a haphazard or unfortunate manner. I am glad to think that they have made preparations, at any rate, for following the example of Doncaster, which was mentioned by the most rev. Prelate.
The noble Earl who has just sat down made a passing reference to the Committee on Trusts which has been set up. I hope very much that any Reports which they make may be made available to the public without any delay. I do not know what the method of procedure may be. I imagine they make a Report to the Minister of Health, and it may be that some time will pass before that Report is either laid before Parliament or made available to the public. May I suggest that at the very earliest possible moment that Report should he made available for the public, because I am sure that, supposing this Committee finds that prices are being raised unduly against the consumer, there is no method so likely to bring down the prices as the influence of public opinion. I should be glad if the noble Earl would be good enough to refer that point to his Department, and to ask them whether they could see their Way to secure for this House, and also the House of Commons, the publication of any Report at, the earliest possible moment.
The only other question upon which I shall venture to touch is the question of time. Unfortunately, we find ourselves already very nearly at the end of April and within reach of Whitsuntide. It. is unlikely that the Bill which the Government have on hand will be passed by this House much before the beginning of August. It can hardly receive the Royal Assent before the end of that month.
THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY dissented.
EARL BEAUCHAMP: Well, let us hope that it may be earlier. Certainly, I can assure the noble Marquess that on this side of the House we shall do all we can to help him.
THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY: In another place, I hope, too.
EARL BEAUCHAMP: But, supposing it reaches this House by July a great part of the year which is most favour able for building will have passed, and we shall already have lost some of the months in which building makes the most rapid progress. I am sure the noble Marquess, who is Deputy Leader of the House, will remember another Housing Bill which was discussed here in the year 1907 or 1908. I had then the honour of conducting that. Bill in this House, and the noble Marquess was very active in opposing it. I can assure him that when this Bill comes before this House I shall certainly do my best to assist the noble Marquess, and I think that probably we shall find ourselves much more in agreement on this Bill than we were on the last occasion.
THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY: You have a Conservative Government in power.
EARL BEAUCHAMP: I am talking of 1907. The only difference which is likely to occur on this future occasion as between the noble Marquess and myself is that we may try to urge him to go rather further than he is prepared to go, while on the last occasion he thought we were going a great deal too far. At any rate, he may depend upon this: that, in every part of your Lordships' Blouse there will be a very real anxiety to do what we can to supply more houses for the people of this country, and our only regret is likely to be that the plan which His Majesty's Government may suggest will not act so quickly as we should like to see it act.

DANGEROUS DRUGS AND POISONS (AMENDMENT) BILL.
Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
THE EARL OF ONSLOW: My Lords, this Bill increases the facilities for dealing with the illicit drug traffic which is going on at the present time, and which is largely of an international character. Clause 1 gives increased powers of search in regard to any person suspected of being in illegal possession of these drugs, or of being connected with the drug traffic. At the present time the only power of search which the police

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possess is the inspection of the books of a person carrying on the business of a dealer in drugs. Clause 2 increases the penalties, which have been found to be quite inadequate to check this traffic. The present maximum is £200, or six months imprisonment, for the first offence, and £500, or two years imprisonment, for subsequent offences. The Bill will increase this to a fine of £1,000, or ten years penal servitude, in the case of a conviction on indictment, and, in cases of summary conviction, a fine of 1!250, or twelve months imprisonment.
The people who commit purely technical offences are insured against the risk of these penalties, because the clause provides that no proceedings for an indictable offence shall be instituted without the consent of the Attorney-General or the Director of Public Prosecutions. Clauses 3, 4 and 5 deal with minor matters. Clauses 3 and 4 substitute for those at present in force certain amended provisions as to the supply of drugs to qualified medical practitioners, and Clause 5 specifies the calculation of the percentages in liquid preparations. I beg to move.
Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(The Earl of Onslow).
On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

PETROLEUM BILL. [H.L.]
Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Earl of Onslow.)
VISCOUNT LONG OF WRAXALL: My Lords, before the Question is put, I ask leave to make a few observations. I regret very much that it should be necessary to trouble your Lordships at an hour of the evening which is manifestly inconvenient for everybody. I also regret very much that we should be obliged to discuss a question of first-rate importance at such a time as this. I do not approach this question from the point of view of those who have placed Amendments on the Paper. I look at it in the light of the experience gained by myself and others during the war, and I find that the Bill runs so entirely counter to all
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recommendations based upon our experience during that time that had I been able I should have asked your Lordships' permission to move that the Bill should not be considered in Committee of your Lordships' House but referred to a Select Committee.
Unfortunately, owing entirely to the fault of inexperience and, as regards this House, of extreme youthfulness, I did not follow the stages of business. I find that the Papers circulated to us, especially the Blue Papers, are, if I may be forgiven for saying so, extremely confusing and, having been accustomed to the ways of another place, I frequently find that I am not keeping in touch with the business of your Lordships' House. This particular Bill was read a second time without my knowing it. Had I known of it, and had I been present, I should certainly have made the Motion which I have mentioned, that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee. On consulting the authorities of your Lordships' House I find that there is a precedent for moving that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee at the stage which has now been reached. I am, however, a very great believer in adhering to the Rules of that House in which one has the honour of a seat, and I should be the last person ever to strain those Rules even to meet an important difficulty and one which ought to be met if possible Therefore, I do not propose now to move that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee, but I do propose to urge upon the Government that they, who can do it if they will, should adopt such a course as that which I have indicated.
Nobody can contend that time is pressing in regard to this subject. It is many years since Parliament passed any legislation in regard to it, and, speaking with some knowledge of the subject, I know of nothing which suggests that the difficulties or the dangers are so great and so urgent at the moment as to call for the immediate intervention of Parliament. Certainly, as regards the time at your Lordships' disposal for the consideration of business. I do not think it can be urged that this Bill must be taken through its Committee stage in your Lordships' House this evening. I would, therefore, most respectfully ask His Majesty's Government to consider whether I am not making a case for referring this Bill to a Select Committee.

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I have been in communication with His Majesty's Government and I have been told that my fears are groundless and that they will be easily disposed of in debate. I can answer fair it that my fears are not groundless. Whether they can be disposed of is a matter with which I will not deal at the moment. But there is this one remarkable fact which cannot be disposed of. The responsibility for the storage, sale and distribution of this petroleum oil depends upon three different sets of people. There are the great shipping companies; there are the various distributing agencies; and there are the oil companies. Unless my information is entirely erroneous, there is absolute concord amongst those three different and very important bodies that this Bill will do great harm, that it is neither conceived nor drawn in the right spirit, and that it is very difficult by amendment to make it less harmful than it is.
I have said that this is a truly national question, and I have said it for this reason. During the war, immediately after the formation of the first Coalition Government, the then Prime Minister asked me to take charge of all petroleum questions. They were at that moment in a very parlous condition. When I tell your Lordships that at the time that I took over His Majesty's Navy were tied to their moorings and could not manœuvre for fear of exhausting their slender supply of oil and becoming unready to go to sea for immediate action, that there was only ten days' supply for Lord Haig's Army, that in order to feed our forces, whether at sea, on land, or in the air, it was necessary to take at that moment the most drastic measures with regard to the supply for commercial purposes at home, I do not think I need say more to convince you that the situation was a grave one, and that anything affecting the supply of oil in this country is not a local, or a trading, or a commercial question, but a national question of first-rate importance.
Shortly after I took over I had occasion to meet the late Lord Northcliffe and he told me that his firm had that day received notice that their supplies of commercial petroleum would have to be intercepted in order to feed the Navy and the Army. Although the late Lord Northcliffe was the last, man in the world to put his commercial necessities before
918
the needs of the nation, he pointed out to me with unanswerable force that if we stopped the supplies of petroleum and other oils for commercial purposes and that stoppage interfered with the production of the greatest newspaper in the world, the results would be of the gravest character to the Allies and to this country; and he was not exaggerating. Happily, I was able to tell him that I had been aware of this in the morning, that I had countermanded the order and that I proposed to take steps to deal with the question in another way.
I was fortunate enough to secure, as the real executive officer for this work, the services of Professor Cadman, now Sir John Cadman, and this very remarkable man, of immense ability, untiring energy, devotion to work, and unfailing courage, set himself at once to accomplish a task many of us believed to be impossible. It was largely due to him that our difficulties were, in the end, overcome. When we took over the chart, which we had prepared in the usual way, showing the existing supplies, the line was many, many points below that of mere safety, but, thanks to Sir John Cadman, when peace was declared the line was many degrees above safety, and supplies of oil to this country and to the Allies were ample and sufficient. Shortly after we took over this work it was found that we could not confine our operations to this country alone. France and Italy were vitally concerned, owing to their need of oil. The United States of America was one of the largest sources of supply. The result was that we had to form what was really an International Committee, over which I had the honour to preside, and on which there were representatives of the Allies and of the United States, which was not then in the war.
Looking back to that time, I remember the profound and almost terrible anxiety of not knowing when I went to bed late at night whether the, morning would not bring news of the loss of many of the tankers, which, of course, would have resulted in a grave diminution of our supplies of oil. I wonder whether my colleagues in that Coalition Government remember the, days through which we went, the clays of terrible and wearing anxiety, knowing that unless things could be pulled right by some herculean effort,

919
which it seemed almost impossible to accomplish, there would be great disaster for our Allies on sea and land, and in the air, and in the supplies for our commercial needs.
If I recite these facts I do so for one reason. This is the first time that I have had the opportunity of making public reference to the work done by Sir John Cadman. That work was unknown and unnoted, except by those with whom he was immediately and closely associated. If ever a man, by his own personal efforts and abilities, contributed more than almost any individual to the ultimate success of our arms, it was the man who put oil in sufficient quantities safely at the disposal of our fighting forces and our commercial services. I mention it not only because I want to do justice to a man who did most splendid work, but also because of the lesson that we learned. Why was it that we were faced with this terrible shortage? Everybody knew the need of oil. Everybody knew that it was the motive power without which ships could not sail, troops could not march, and wheels could not go round. Everybody knew this, yet how was it that we suffered from this terrible shortage? It was because we have always been desirous, I am afraid, of taking things a little too easily, of trusting that things will come right in short, to use a familiar phrase not altogether, I think, inaccurate, of risking many things and blundering through our difficulties. We did not blunder through, but we got through.
The one conviction left on my mind, and upon the minds of those who worked with me, was that if we were to be saved against the possibility of the recurrence of these difficulties we must multiply ten, twenty and thirty times the storage capacity of this country. We gave that advice to France. I have forgotten at this moment the name of the Italian Minister who served on my Committee, but Senator Beranger, who held a post similar to mine in France and was constantly here, would, I am sure, if he were here, confirm what I say when I declare that storage is of the most vital importance. So important is it, indeed, that we laid it down that everything possible should be done to encourage the people responsible for storing this great
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commodity to increase their storage power to the largest possible extent.
What is it that this Bill does I understand that it is alleged that there is some danger in connection with the storage. That goes without saying, and that danger must be sufficiently provided against. But it is very difficult to provide the great storage tanks that are required. When I was at the Local Government Board, a great many years ago, people were just beginning to realise the importance to public health of satisfactory drainage, and everybody in this land was prepared to pay tribute to the need that there was for a sound drainage system in the interests of the community, but when it was suggested that a sewage farm should be erected in the neighbourhood of their houses, or in the villages where they lived, or on land belonging to them, they were prepared to die on the floor of the Committee room of your Lordships' House or the other place in order to prevent such a monstrous thing happening. So it is in the case of these storage tanks. One of the first duties I had to perform when I went to the Board of Admiralty was to insist upon preparation for storage being continued. People in the neighbourhood where it was proposed to put tanks pointed with horror to these great, ugly erections, saying that they entirely destroyed the beauty of the landscape, and begged me to go somewhere else. I had to assure them that wherever I went the same criticism would he addressed to me. Therefore, you have to overcome a great deal of strong local opposition, and this cannot be done without determination on the part of the shipping company, or the oil company, or the dock board concerned, and it cannot he clone without the expenditure of a great deal of money.
Then I am told that a branch of the Department of Imperial Defence considers that these places should not be put where they are dangerous. Nobody has a greater respect for the Committee of Imperial Defence than I have. On a previous occasion I have said in your Lordships' House what I think about that Department, but this matter of the allocation of storage does not rest with them. Obviously, it is mainly a commercial question. I should have thought that it was the duty of the

921
various corporations and bodies to provide the storage in a full and adequate manner, and that it would then be the duty of the Committee of Imperial Defence to see that so far as possible protection was afforded. But do not let there be any mistake in the mind of the Government. I do really know what I am talking about in this matter, because I went into it very closely, and have been responsible for it myself, both in those two anxious years of the war and when I was at the Admiralty. If it is to be laid down that all these precautions, giving a Government Department power to make all sorts of conditions and impose all sorts of limitations, are necessary on the ground that these storage tanks will be exposed to attack and, therefore, can only be erected with the permission of the central authority, the local authority and the military authorities, I say that the Government are going absolutely wrong.
The choice in regard to the, storage of petrol is a very simple one. If they believe it to be so dangerous to the community that it cannot be stored in tanks there is only one alternative, and that is that it should be put under ground.I have no right to speak for the great corporations who are charged with the duty of providing this storage—I do not know their views—but I will undertake to say that if you compel these great bodies to put these storage tanks underground you will cast upon them a burden of expense which will make it impossible for them to provide the storage. The result will be a reversal to the policy of trusting for your supplies coming in and feeding your requirements as they arise. That is entirely contrary to every lesson we learned during the war.
Before the war, and since the war, the consumption of petroleum and its various products has increased by leaps and hounds. Every one of His Majesty's ships now launched is built to burn oil. Much of our commerce is dependent upon it. It drives our ships, enables our soldiers on land to be fed, and makes our flying possible. It does practically the whole of our business. Unfortunately, we cannot provide it in this country; we have to import it. The only chance for us, if we are to be safe in the event of war, which we all pray God may not come, though we shall not prevent it by
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not preparing for it, is the preparation for the storage of oil in ample quantities in this country. And it is not going to cost the Government or the country a single farthing. It will all he done by private enterprise. Private enterprise has been doing it, and is prepared to go on, but I am assured that if these new powers are passed into law it will make the position of the great corporations, who have to provide the accommodation, absolutely impossible. They have very able representatives in your Lordships' House and can very well make out their own case, hut I firmly believe they are right.
I speak with some practical knowledge of the difficulties connected with the provision of this storage. Before and during the war the provision of storage was wholly inadequate. When these great companies co-operated, as they did under my chairmanship with a public spirit and devotion for which they deserve the greatest credit and gratitude, they met the difficulty by superhuman efforts at the moment. We impressed upon them at once to begin storage. We did it at the Admiralty. It is clone by shipping companies and other corporations, and to check it in any way is to take a fateful step in connection with the safety of the country and in connection with our industries. During the war we set up a body called the Petroleum Department which was presided over by Sir John Cadman. He was succeeded by a very competent official, Mr. Clarke. I should like to know whether this Petroleum Department has been consulted with regard to the provisions of this Bill and whether they have given their entire assent. It is said that the Committee of Imperial Defence and General Staff have expressed the need for some of these powers. I should like to ask, therefore, whether the Admiralty are in accord with their colleagues in the Government in the proposals now made.
I have also been told that the Bill is based on the recommendations of a Committee. That, no doubt, is true; but when did that Committee sit? It sat in 1913, the year before the war—ten years ago, and ten of the most fateful years that ever passed over our heads; ten years during which we learned that much that we had been accustomed to think right was utterly wrong; ten years during

923
which we realised how inadequate had been our preparations in various directions! And a Bill based on the recommendations of a Committee made ten years ago is a Bill which deserves the fullest possible consideration. I do not know whether your Lordships will consider that I have made good my case. I dare say I have made it very badly, but it is not my own case. There are plenty of others, not only here but in allied countries who acted with us in the war, who will confirm what I have said. If I have exaggerated it a little surely I have made out a case sufficiently strong to show that the provisions of the Bill, however carefully prepared and however much time the Government and the Home Office may have devoted to it, should be examined by a Select Committee and not by a Committee of your Lordships' House, because nobody will contend that a big Committee sitting either in this House or in the other place is the best body for the examination of a matter which may require evidence.
You are dealing with something which is of vital importance not to defence alone but to the commerce of the nation. It is very easy to put a little sand in the wheel, it, is very difficult for the most skilled artificer to make the wheels go round faster. You may easily do irreparable harm. These great companies and corporations are showing a splendid public spirit in providing storage in the country, in introducing new works and new machinery which will be of immense value not only for the supplies they will give us but because they will employ British labour. I spent thirty-five years of my public life in different Government Departments and I shall be the last man ever to say a word against them, but there is one thing Government Departments do not do. They may be right, but they do not expedite the work of individuals or of corporations who are trying to carry out certain special operations. We heard from the noble Earl opposite, Lord Elgin, his account concerning housing in Scotland. If you are going to tell these great corporations with one breath that they are to increase storage to an unlimited capacity—and we are not likely ever to have too much—and at, the same time to hand them this Bill, passed into law, and to say that they are to do it subject to all these conditions, subject to the control of the
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local authority, subject to the control of a central authority in Whitehall, and in addition, by way of adding insult to injury, to tell them that they are to pay for the privilege of being controlled, I say that what will happen will be that they will go back to the old haphazard policy, and all the lessons we learned in the war will have been forgotten.
I apologise to your Lordships for keeping you so long at this late hour, and I am very grateful to you for listening to me. I would urge upon the Government that the case I have made is not one to be answered on mere Departmental grounds. If they are afraid that these explosive oils—and they are not all explosive—may cause damage, I should like to ask them: What about the storage of mines? Unless I am very much mistaken—it was certainly so when I left office—there are immense quantities of mines, enough to blow up half a town or more, stored in different parts of England. Are they all to be put under ground? It is no good talking about economy if you are going to embark upon an expensive activity of this kind. The expenditure will be simply huge if you are going to attempt to put everything underground which it is dangerous to keep above ground, because it might be exploded by an aeroplane. These reasons are not, in my judgment, sufficient. They do not justify legislation so drastic as this.
With great respect I must conclude by saying that I do not think that the provisions of this Bill have been drawn in the full appreciation of the very difficult question which they affect, and I would earnestly appeal to His Majesty's Government not to take the Bill through its stages here, but to refer it to a Select Committee, because I believe that careful examination before a Select Committee will result in our having it entirely recasted. That is the view which I hold, and on these grounds I beg to urge upon His Majesty's Government the request which I have made.
THE EARL OF ONSLOW: My Lords, the noble Viscount, with his usual great courtesy, wrote to me and informed me of his view on this matter, and I hastened to consult my right hon. friend the Secretary of State in regard to his suggestion. I need hardly say that the sugges-

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tion has received most careful consideration, but we are unable quite to see what advantage would ensue from pursuing the course suggested by my noble friend. I am reluctant to enter into any controversial matter with my noble friend, as I had the honour to serve under him during the most agreeable part of my official career, but I must say that I gather from what he said that he is incorrect in the conclusions which he reached as to the difficulties which this measure may cause.
I agree most earnestly with all that he said in regard to the necessity of increasing the production of petroleum, and I would also add what he was unable to add, how indebted the country was to him for the work which he did during the war and the manner in which he promoted the industry of producing petroleum. The work which the noble Viscount did during the war will not, I submit, be interfered with by this Bill. There is no intention whatever of discouraging the wide distribution of storage installations, and the most definite assurances have been given of the intention of the Government to give the utmost consideration to the claims of commercial interests. The proposals which are embodied in Clause are those that have been approved by the Committee of Imperial Defence. That Committee is desirous that some sort of coordination of control should be imposed in this very vital question for the defence of the country, as the noble Viscount himself eloquently described it.
I should like to instance one incident which took place during the war. There is an installation of petroleum which was erected under the licence of the Act of 1871 concerning which the defence authorities were not consulted. At a time when the necessity for guns and munitions on the Western Front was very acute, a painful moment which your Lordships will well remember, it was necessary to send guns to defend this installation, which could have been erected elsewhere under the co-ordination of licences proposed in this Bill, and many guns and munitions could have been diverted to the Western Front.
The noble Viscount asked me whether the Petroleum Committee had been consulted in this matter, and I may reassure him on this point. The Petroleum Com-
926
mittee itself was the first to take the initiative in this question. It has been consulted right through in the preparation of the Bill, and I may acid that it is really at the back of the Bill, which was prepared on its own recommendations. I hope your Lordships will agree that the Bill can receive adequate attention in your Lordships' House, and that it would really be more proper that its clauses could be discussed here rather than in a Select Committee. I venture, therefore, to hope that your Lordships will agree that the House shall go into Committee on the Bill.
LORD SOUTHBOROUGH: My Lords, by your Lordships' indulgence I should like to say a word on this point, and as I have burdened your Lordships' Notice Paper with a number of Amendments, and I promise that my proceeding will probably shorten the proceedings of the House, I hope that such indulgence will be accorded to me. The Bill which is now before your Lordships' House was introduced as a Bill to amend the Petroleum Acts of 1871 and 1879—a very long time ago. The petroleum industry to-day has no relation whatever to the petroleum industry as known to the promoters of those Acts, any more than the Stockton and Darlington Railway has to an electric railway of the present time.
On a first perusal of the Bill it appeared that it was intended merely to govern the future of the petroleum trade in regard to certain matters. There were, however, a number of important points; for instance, the Bill applied to all petroleum, and not merely to petroleum of high flash point, namely, the class of oil to which my noble friend referred as being of an explosive character; but there was really nothing on the face of the Bill as it was presented to make one think that there was any reason why it should not be beaten into shape in Committee of this House. At a very early period of consideration, however, and in consequence of the action which was taken, I think, by the Port, and Dock authorities, it suddenly turned out that the Bill was not merely a Trade Bill, but that behind it all was the question of Imperial Defence.
Directly that emerged all sorts of other questions arose, because people said at once: What has the Bill to do with Imperial Defence, and what is going to fol-

927
low? Does it mean that where under the Fill a licence has to be taken out for a particular oil installation that the conditions of that licence will impose upon the people who own the installation all sorts of things with reference to Imperial Defence? It is only an annual licence. Where is it going to stop, and why are questions of Imperial Defence by this method, and by this sort of Bill, to he imposed upon one of the greatest industries in the country? What is to be the delimitation of costs to be borne by those responsible for imperial Defence and those who carry on the industry? There is not a word on that point. I do not use the word offensively, but the Bill was masquerading as an ordinary Departmental measure, and it turns out, after a visit to the Home Office, to be a Bill involving questions of Imperial Defence of the highest order.
Your Lordships know the meaning of all that. Those responsible for Imperial Defence are not immaculate. They change their minds. It is not so long ago that France was the potential enemy of this country, and every method of defence which could be devised by our advisers was poured on to the southern coast of this Kingdom. All at once, through no fault on our part, the situation changed, Germany became the potential enemy of this country, and attention was turned to the East Coast—to Rosyth. We want some supervision to decide what is going to be done with regard to matters of defence, and there is nothing in the Bill to give a lead.
If I were asked what a Select Committee can do which cannot be done by a Committee of the Whole House, I should say (without inquiring into what the soldiers and sailors in secrecy desire to do) that a Select Committee ought to decide what are to be the impositions, respectively, upon the country in the name of defence, and upon the trade in the name of commerce. I agree with my noble friend that there is a great deal to be looked into in this Bill. It is not a Bill to amend the Petroleum Acts of 1871 or 1879. It is nothing of the kind. It requires a great deal of examination, and now, to make my pledge good, I only say that, in supporting the plea made by my noble friend, I also beg leave not to move my Amendments, because I do not
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wish to be responsible for endeavouring to amend the Bill. I would rather leave it to take its course.
THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY): My Lords, I feel there is some difficulty in asking your Lordships, at this period of the evening, to go into Committee effectively on the Bill, but I should like, if I may be allowed to do so, to say one or two words in order to clear away what I think is entirely a misconception as to the intentions of the Government and the operation of the Bill, which seems to have entered into the minds of certain noble Lords. I listened with the greatest care to the speech of my noble friend Viscount Long, who rightly claimed to have a special title to speak upon the question. He did, during the war, take charge of the petroleum provision in the manner which he described, and he conferred great services upon the country. I need not say, therefore, that I listened to him with very special regard.
As I heard his speech proceeding, however, I felt all the time that he was arguing not against the Bill but in its favour, because what my noble friend pointed out was the vital importance of oil in time of war. He recalled to your Lordships the immense difficulties which beset this country owing to the shortage of petroleum. He showed how vital it was, not only for the conduct of the ordinary business of the country but vital to the Military, Naval and Air Services of the country. What he said is true, but it will be much more true in the next war, if there is one. It will be doubly vital, and does he think we should have done our duty as a Government if we had not taken, at the earliest opportunity which presented itself to us, every necessary precaution, so that we might be prepared if and when another war should come? Why! my Lords, the proper conduct of the business of this country necessitated that the moment the late war was over we should make every preparation to prevent such a catastrophe falling upon us again, and so far as this Government is concerned there shall be no time lost. Therefore we entered into the necessary precautions at once.
What is the great danger to the storage of petroleum? It is, of course, abundantly open to air attack, and was it therefore

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very surprising that the Government should have desired that there should be some direction as to where these petroleum stores were to be put, so that when war came they should not be open to direct air attack? Of course, that is the most reasonable thing imaginable. I have the earliest recollections of the late war, when it was my duty in another capacity to look after a part of the coast, and it was not the smallest part of my small jurisdiction to look after a small oil storage upon that part of the coast. That storage had been put in the wrong place, and it involved special protection from the beginning to the end of the war. Does my noble friend wish to have that repeated? Of course, he does not. This Bill is not a measure to put obstacles in the way of the petroleum trade, in order to restrain the commercial use of petroleum. Its object is to give to the central authority some voice as to where these petroleum stores should be placed. I very much hope that the actual operation of the Bill will not be very common, and that it will not be difficult to come to an arrangement in every case, but some kind of control is surely necessary.
Now I come to the machinery of the Bill. The machinery of the Bill is that there should be a licence from the Home Office. It is very simple machinery. My noble friend spoke as if these stores were now put up without any licences. That is quite wrong. They have to have licences now, but they are local licences. All we say is that in the grant of such licences the central authority should be consulted. It is a most reasonable, modest, and moderate request, but, of course, the Government will listen to any observations of your Lordships with a view to improving the machinery of the Bill. If any noble Lord thinks the Bill seeks to acquire too great powers, or that there are any means of preventing undue interference, by all means let him suggest an Amendment, which we shall consider with the greatest possible care. But do
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not let him represent that we are oblivious of the great necessity of favouring this great oil trade, or that we desire to put any obstacles in the way, because that would be the reverse of the truth. I hope I have said enough to show what is the real meaning and bearing of this, and that the more you say about the importance of oil the more necessity there is for some such provisions as are contained in this Bill.
VISCOUNT LONG OF WRAXALL: It is forgotten that a great many of the most important of these storage reservoirs are under the control of the Admiralty.
THE MARQUESS of SALISBURY: Yes, certainly they are.
VISCOUNT DEVONPORT: I desire to ask the Deputy Leader of the House what are his intentions with regard to the Committee stage. It is very late, and I understood him to indicate that he did not desire to take that stage to-night?
THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY: The Government desire to study the convenience of your Lordships. I feel that it would be rather difficult to go into Committee to-night, and, if your Lordships will allow us, to go pro forma into Committee, I would consent to the House resuming immediately.
On Question, Motion to go into Committee agreed to.
House in Committee accordingly.
[The EARL of DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]
House resumed.

FEES (INCREASE) BILL.
Read 3a (according to Order), and passed.
House adjourned at a quarter past seven o'clock.

WILLIAM BROWN NIMMO CHARI- TABLE TRUST ORDER CONFIR- MATION BILL. [H.L.]
SOUTH OXFORDSHIRE WATER AND GAS BILL. [H.L.]
Returned from the Commons, agreed to.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY (ADDITIONAL POWERS) BILL. [H.L.]
PETITION FOR ADDITIONAL PROVISION.
Examiners' Certificates of non-compliance with the Standing Orders referred to the Standing Orders Committee on Tuesday next.

OAKHAM GAS AND ELECTRICITY BILL. [H.L.]
Reported, with Amendments.
SOUTH ELMSALL AND DISTRICT GAS BILL. [H.L.]
Report from the Select Committee, That the Committee had not proceeded with the consideration of the Bill, no parties having appeared in opposition thereto; read, and ordered to lie on the Table: The Orders made on the 27th of February last and the 27th of March last discharged, and Bill committed.
SHROPSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND STAFFORDSHIRE ELECTRIC POWER BILL. [H.L.]
Report from the Select Committee, That the Committee had not proceeded with the consideration of the Bill, no parties having appeared in opposition thereto; read, and ordered to lie on the Table: The Orders made on the 15th and 27th of March last discharged, and Bill committed.
MAIDSTONE CORPORATION BILL.
Committed: The Committee to be proposed by the Committee of Selection.
WEST SOMERSET MINERAL RAILWAY (ABANDONMENT) BILL. [H.L.]
Committed: The Committee to be proposed by the Committee of Selection.
STANDING JOINT COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS.
A Message ordered to be sent to the House of Commons to communicate the Resolution passed yesterday, and to desire their concurrence.
AGRICULTURAL RETURNS BILL. [H.L.]
To be read 2a on Tuesday next.
CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY SEA BILL. [H.L.]
Committee of the Whole House (which stands appointed for Tuesday next) put off to Tuesday, May 8 next.
UNIVERSITIES OF OXFORD AND OAMBRIDGE BILL. [H.L.]
Committee of the Whole House (which stands appointed for to-morrow) put off to Wednesday next.