Mr. De la Bèreasked the Minister of Health whether the Government will consider making a grant of a loan at 2 per cent. from the Treasury to approved building societies throughout the country to enable them to lend money to market gardeners and agricultural labourers who are in a position to pay a deposit which would enable them to borrow a sufficient sum of money, maximum £500, to purchase their houses, subject to certain safeguards by a life insurance of the individual borrower for the sum advanced, and bearing in mind the potential ability to meet the interest charges, having regard to their employment?
§ Mr. BernaysThe Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts enable persons to borrow
1618Wmoney from local authorities for the purpose of purchasing houses a t the lowest rate of interest which can be accepted without loss to the public funds. My right hon. Friend thinks that, from the point of view of the persons whom my hon. Friend has in mind, a much more satisfactory solution lies in the provision of low rented houses on the lines of the recommendation of the Central Housing Advisory Committee which, as my right hon. Friend has already stated, he proposes to embody in the forthcoming legislation.