In the House of Commons on Monday the Housing and
Town Planning Bill was discussed in Committee. Under a special Closure Resolution the Committee work was to last only two days. There is something more to be said, however, for curtailing debate on this Bill than in most other cases, as the Bill is substantially a reproduction of that which was discussed at length in Grand Committee last Session. The most animated discussion took place on Clause XXX., which proposes to threw on local authorities the duty of providing quinquennially for the inspection and survey of dwelling- houses let at small rentals, and of recording particulars in a register. This clause was carried against the Government last Session. Some Members thought that the survey would be inquisitorial ; others that increased inspection was necessary. Mr. Burns hotly opposed the clause, declaring that other proposals in the Bill would do more good in one year than twenty quinquennial surveys. The survey would be both useless and expensive. The country could not afford to spend money in this way. It was wrong to suppose that we had much to learn from Paris. He knew Paris both by night and by day; it compared unfavourably with London as regards sanitation, although surveys were made there; and the same was true of Berlin. The clause was, we are glad to say, struck out of the Bill. The debate was continued on Tuesday, when the Bill passed through Committee.
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