SIR,—Taper calls the housing achievements of the Conservatives 'notable and
constructive.' Certainly to have pretty nearly halved the rate of council building in the last five years is a notable achievement. Of course it can be argued that during the same period the rate of building for private owners went up from 88,000 to 124,000 houses; and of course most people would infinitely prefer to be private owners than to be 'under the council.' But to buy from choice on a cosy bank balance or a guaranteed wage is rather different from buying out of desperation because there is nothing to rent. And one wonders how con- structive the Government's policy will turn out to be when the older and cheaper houses which it is virtually forcing people to buy, without any provision for repairs or maintenance, begin to let in the rain.
To be fair to the Conservatives they do not pretend 'to use need as a criterion in housing. In a debate on authority housing on June 18, the Parliamentary Secretary had been discoursing on council waiting- lists when he was .asked by Mr. James Griffiths how many 'live' applicants these contained. Mr. Bevins replied, 'I am sorry that I cannot oblige the right hon. Gentleman with that figure. The fact of the matter is that I have no figure.'
1t would take Taper himself to comment adequately.,—Yours faithfully,
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