Mr. THOMASasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Shipping Controller whether he is aware that the inadequate housing accommodation at Chepstow is causing hardship to the workpeople employed there, particularly to railway employés imported into the district who are not given the same consideration as the shipyard employés, and that the position is now aggravated owing to local farmers having served notice to quit upon a number of tenants in order to give immediate possession to farm workers recently returned from the Colours, which will result in a number of railway men and their families being deprived of a home or shelter; in view of the urgency of this matter, whether he will state what steps have been taken by the Government to push forward their housing scheme in this district; and what immediate provision will be made for the families who are about to be entirely deprived of housing accommodation?
§ Colonel LESLIE WILSONI am aware that the hack of accommodation at Chepstow is causing inconvenience to the workpeople employed in that district. The housing scheme was to provide accommodation for workers at the national shipyards, of whom there is a long waiting-list, but efforts have been made in urgent cases to provide for railway employés also. Every effort is being made to expedite the completion of the houses, and it is hoped that a further fifty-eight houses will be ready for occupation by the end of £this month. I am informed that no railway employés occupying dwellings on Government property at the national shipyards have been evicted or have received notices of eviction in order to provide accommodation for farm workers who have been demobilised, or for any other reason. Inquiries are being made as to whether such notices of eviction have been served on railway men in the neighbourhood, and, if 915W such is the case, the authorities at the national shipyards will endeavour to assist in providing accommodation for them.