[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Bossom's articles on
slum clearance in your recent issues have been something to be thankful for. There arc those especially, perhaps, amongst unfortunates who are subjected to the now almost nightmarish conditions of the present House of Commons, who regard an appeal like Mr. Bossom's, for some clear-headed and constructive piece of action, as almost the only hope. For the haunting fear that this country has lost its ability to face crises with courage, however unfounded that fear may be, is undeniably with us to-day. Only action can dispel it.
I do not wish to deal in detail with Mr. Bossom's admirable
suggestions. He is a technician far more competent to speak than I am. His suggestion of roofing in the railways seems to the lay mind obvious and sensible ; but surely we need not limit the speed of our slum clearance work to the number of persons that can be temporarily housed by this means. It is quite possible to take slum dwellers to houses erected on open spaces in the suburbs for a. temporary period,. and bring them to their work in specially provided transport, either free or at a very reduced rate. Therefore, the first batch of slum dwellers can be rehoused at a good distance from their work temporarily while new houses are being built for them. This alone gives the possibility of additional speed ; for naturally Mr. Bossom is quite right, and Sir Robert Donald quite wrong, in supposing the slum dweller can be permanently rehoused in the suburbs at a distance from his work, where he will have to pay an altogether impossible proportion of his income in daily transport charges. .
I must, however, make one comment of substance on Mr. Bossom's proposals. Admirable as all his suggestions are, they remain, in the form in which he makes them, a mere exhorta- tion to action on the part of the L.C.C. Mr. Bossom, as an alderman, should tell us quite frankly what hopes he has of them being listened to. The .L.C.C., as Mr. B. S. Townroe states, is undertaking a fairly substantial housing programme already (about 7,000 houses a year). Large as the expenditure of this programme may be, it is probably by no means keeping pace with the natural. growth in the London population ; so it does not touch the slums at all. But neither the L.C.C. nor any other local authority either will, or, indeed, in most.eases can, undertake the enormous financial commitments of a really large-scale slum clearance scheme. Will not Mr. Bossom agree with us that nothing in fact will be done until and unless a central housing authority is set up, analogous to the Central Electricity Board, which can and will take the slum clearance problem out of the hands of local authorities and deal with it by direct, centralized action ? The local autho- rities, have now all got five-year housing programmes which will keep them thoroughly busy. These, of course, will not be interfered with ; but the Central Housing Board will undertake the job of national shim clearance. The money must be raised nationally, either on specially issued Housing Bonds, or on a direct Consolidated Government issue. Very important economies can certainly be made by a centralized building organization of this kind. A more detailed account than I venture to impose on your readers here will be found in a document shortly to be issued setting out in detail the general economic programme advocated by the signatories of the so-called " Mosley " Memorandum. We of this new group are convinced that housing is by far the greatest single piece of constructive work which awaits the attention of the commu- nity, and on .which alone a really significant proportion of the unemployed can be set at work. Our suggestion for a Central Housing Board, which will carry out this work, will, of course, arouse frantic opposition amongst all the conventionally- minded. All I can say here is that its critics should face one simple fact. Either the job can be done by this method or it cannot be done at all. Nobody can possibly pretend that the local authorities can, or will, clear the slums. A Central Housing Board could, and would, do so. In fact, of course, that is the real objection to it. People instinctively feel that it actually would do something. am, Sir, Ike.,
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