13 NOVEMBER 1920, Page 3

The House gave the Ministry of Health Bill a second

reading on Tuesday, by 158 votes to 78, but most of the speakers criticized the Ministry very sharply, and many Unionists voted against the Government. The general feeling of the House seemed to he that Dr. Addison was imposing new and heavy burdens on the rates, whether the local authorities liked it or not, in connexion with housing, hospitals, and other matters. Mr. harden, as a practical builder, declared that the multiplicity of Housing Acts was delaying the construction of houses, because no one knew what to do or what not to do. We agree with him in thinking that private enterprise, if freed from Depart- mental meddling, would have produced more new houses by now than all Dr. Addison's elaborate and costly schemes.