Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 1930. HOUSING IN BRITAIN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 130, 14 March 1930, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 1930. HOUSING IN BRITAIN.

The Slum Clearance Bill, which, it is announced, the British Government intends to press forward as soon as possible, deals with portion of a problem that has occupied the attention of ministries for many years. The Labour Party contends that Hie chief agency in abolishing slums will be the provision of alternative accommodation by its house-building programme. It has in mind, however, much more ambitious projects for townplanning and regional planning with the idea of preventing slums creeping back again. Some months ago the Minister of Health prevailed on the House of Commons to pass a resolution postponing any reduction in the housing subsidies' until a comprehensive scheme for the clearance of slums had been evolved. According- to the "Daily Herald's!' forecast, under the proposed measure, local authorities will be given greater powers of acquiring condemned dwellings and, in addition, financial aid will be forthcomins to enable them to rehouse displaced tenants. Thus the scheme involves not only elaborate planning but also very serious questions as to ways and means. With the object of encouraging the, erection of houses in England, Scotland and Wales, Mr Neville Chamberlain (then Minister of Health) in 1923 devised a scheme of subsidies. This was pursued until 1924, when, under the Labour Government, the Wheatley plan, with higher subsidies and (he co-operation of local authorities, extended its scope considerably. In 1927, the earliest'date legally possible, Mr Chamberlain reduced the rate of the subsidy, and proposed a subsequent reduction to become effective last October, but, as already stated, the operation of this reduction was postponed. The basis of the Labour policy is that under absolutely normal conditions Britain needs 100,000 new houses every year to make good, losses and provide for a growing population. On the grounds that this rate was never achieved bv unaided private enterprise, that the leeway in wartime, prolonged by high building costs immediately after the war, had left huge arrears to be overtaken, the 1924 policy aimed at the building of 2,500,000 houses in 15 years. In its last election platform the Party affirmed its intention of pursuing "at any cost" its policy of house-building with assistance from public funds. It adhered to its ideal of having 2,500,(000 new houses built by 1939. If that pledge is to be carried out, it will certainly be at considerable cost to the public funds. Under the Whentlcv Act the State subsidy was increased to £9 a year for forty years on each house, with an annual contribution of £4 10s a year from the local authority for the same period. No estimate of the actual outlay involved is given in an official account of Labour's: housing policy. It is stated that the original Chamberlain subsidy, £G a year for 20 years, was about £75. It follows, therefore, that to pay £9 on 2,500,000 houses for forty years would run into many hundreds of millions, with half as much again contributed from local bodv funds.