§ 71. Mr. Blenkinsopasked the Minister of Transport if he will give a general direction, in the public interest, to the Railways Board to offer any railway houses for sale to their existing tenants before disposing of them in other ways.
§ Mr. Tom FraserNo. The Board is subject to the general law governing relations between landlord and tenant and it would not be appropriate to impose other restrictions of this nature upon it. I understand that where possible the Board first offers surplus houses for sale to the existing tenants. But this is not always practicable where blocks of houses become available for disposal. In these cases the Board normally give the first offer to the local housing authority.