The Government's Housing Scheme will probably be introduced as a
Bill next week. The more it is examined the more criticism it provokes. As we recorded last week, the £6 subsidy for twenty years is to be raised to £9 for forty years, and the local authorities are to be asked to provide a subsidy of £4 10s. The building trade will be given security for fifteen years. We admit that definite arrangements covering a long period are necessary, but in our judgment the chief cause for criticism is that a huge public expenditure is to be undertaken without any adequate guarantee either that there will be economy or that the houses in sufficient numbers will really be produced. The shortage of houses causes ghastly conditions in many districts, and when we contemplate the very small increase of man- power to which the building unions will consent, we feel very much as people would feel if the lifeboat crew refused to go out when a ship was being wrecked under their eyes.
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