On Thursday week in the House of Commons Mr. Long
explained his Bill to prevent the raising of the rents of small houses in certain areas during the war, as well as to stop increases in the rates of interest and the calling in of mortgages on such houses. The Bill applies to houses rented up to £30 a year in London and up to £21 elsewhere. An Order in Council may be made applying the Act to the administrative county of London, to boroughs or urban districts with a population of over a hundred thousand, and to other areas where overcrowding has been caused by the war. In Scotland and Ireland lower population limits are recognized. The Bill makes the difference between the pre-wax rent and an increased rent irrecoverable, but does not provide for the recovery of an excess of rent already paid. The Bill should be accepted as an emergency measure. In ordinary times it would be indefensible, and oven now it is easy to pick holes in it, but the principle on which it is based is necessary to save a large number of people from being victimized.
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