While he was still Minister of Health, Dr. Addison appointed
a Committee to inquire into the high cost of workmen's dwellings. The Committee, whose report was published on Monday, had no difficulty in finding the reasons why cottages, for instance, are costing £1,000 or more. The local authorities had no incentive to economy. They were told that their expenditure would be limited to the produce of a penny rate, and that the State would provide the rest. Naturally enough, they embarked on grandiose schemes, regardless of the cost. Further, the Ministry sanctioned innumerable building programmes without con- sidering whether there was labour enough to carry them out. The building trade was overwhelmed with orders which it could not execute, and wages and the prices of materials went up by leaps and bounds. Dr. Addison displayed as much zeal for obtaining new houses—on paper—as he had done, at the Ministry of Munitions, for getting shells. But he did not count the cost. The country will long have to pay dearly for his reckless extravagance.
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