7 AUGUST 1926, Page 2

We regret that the Bill was not received by the

Opposition parties as though they wished to help in the improvement of rural housing. The earlier Housing Acts have certainly produced houses in urban and suburban areas, though at enormous cost to the taxpayers. On Wednesday Mr. Chamberlain stated that the Ministry of Health had determined to give notice to the local authorities that the subsidies under the Acts of 1923 and 1924 would come to an end in fourteen months' time for England and Wales, and a year later for Scotland, where the steel houses have been so slow in starting owing to the jealousies and prejudices that seem to be forgotten now. The House had one more unfruitful little wrangle over the coal dispute and then adjourned, nominally until November.

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