When on Friday, July 13th, the Rents Restriction Bill passed
its third reading in the House of Commons, the really remarkable work done this Session by Mr. Neville Chamberlain was completed. He is one of the chief " discoveries " of the new Government. He was appointed Minister of Health when the position of the Cabinet was distinctly unsatisfactory, and he was called upon to solve, in housing and decontrol of rent, two of the most anxious of its immediate problems. The broad common sense of the schemes which he proposed, the perfect lucidity and temper, unfailing knowledge and resource which he has displayed in conducting them through House and Committee, have done much to establish the Government in the confidence of the country. By the Rents Restriction Bill control is continued until 1925 ; thereafter there will be an equitable adjustment of individual cases until 1930. The restric- tions themselves are modified to meet some of the more glaring cases of injustice ; as, for instance, by the pro- vision which enables an owner who wishes to occupy his house to obtain possession without being forced to offer alternative accommodation to his tenant. In general, the chief result of the Bill is that it relieves landlords and tenants alike from the suspense, uncertainly and tension which they have lately endured, and that the stages by which normal conditions will be restored are firmly and clearly laid down. * * * *
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