For the rest, he stated that under his 1923 Housing
Act 53,535 houses had been approved for erection by local authorities, and 116,158 by private enterprise. In the twelve months ending September 30th 110,000 houses had been built, which compared with the maximum in any one year before the War of 129,000. Of the new houses 86 per cent, had been built by private enterprise —a surprising and most satisfactory figure. Mr. Wheatley had contended that most of these houses were not for the poor, but as a matter of fact 90,000 were of less than 126 rateable value. Mr. Chamberlain showed his wisdom and his sincere desire for a " national " policy in pro- mising that he would try to make Mr. 'Wheatley's Act work so far as he humanly could, though it was less of a Housing Act than a Money Act, as it had enormously increased the subsidies for houses. lie praised Mr. Wheatley's scheme for the increase of labour, and pro- mised it his full support.
Previous page
