Captain BENNasked the Minister of Health if any estimate has been made of the number of houses of the types erected under the housing schemes that could be erected in a year, having regard to the number of men available in the building trades and the possible output of materials; and, if so, what it is?
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN:I do not think it is practicable to make an estimate of any value, as it is impossible to forecast the reasonable demands on the building industry, of which house building forms only a part. I may say, however, that the maximum number of working-class houses built in one year before the War was approximately 100,000, and this figure was reached at a time when the labour strength of the building industry was a good deal in excess of what it is at present.