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Page 22Thef ond would postpone the crisis, but onlyPtgentut5 ÿt.
It would bring us moral discredit and seems to me quite.
unacceptable.
7.
I am clear that the Government cannot refrain from at least aiming at the increased target for 1953 without definitely announcing a change in their policy.
8.
1954 is another matter. If the Government were to come to the conclusion that they must take longer than 1954 to attain their objective of 300,000 houses then the rate at which new instalments are issued could be slowed down from the date at which the decision was taken.
What I wish to emphasise now is that the suggested action for 1953 means an immediate reversal of our policy and an immediate announcement.
9.
I can at this stage do little to alter the cost or design of houses to be completed in 1953. Most of them are already under construction or in contracts let.
My colleagues are aware that on taking office we rapidly developed the idea of the smaller house, already explored by Dr. Dalton. This led to the publication of "Houses 1952". The People's House was launched.
Within a few months of the publicity which we have worked up we have achieved remarkable results. I am told that the People's House will cover at least two-thirds of the 1953 programme, I will press forward with
it.
10.
The adoption of the People's House saves about 10% of structural materials. It does not save any great amount of timber. We are now working on house designs to reduce the use of timber. But we must take time for our experiments to be fruitful and to have the results accepted.
Success will, of course depend on the substitutes (largely cement and high tensile wire) being available. But in any case designs of timber saving houses cannot be fed into the programme this year. If our experiments are successful they can affect only a proportion of the 1953 starts and the 1954 completions. I am working on the details of this problem.
11.
Although for convenience and for the purpose of political propaganda, a calendar year is a useful measure it has but a slender relation to a production programme. This must be a continuous and a steady process,
The building industry has bitter memories. The mistakes of booms and slumps at short notice have been made before. They must not be made again.
In 1950 a Working Party on building made this report - "Unfortunately the building industry, more perhaps than any other, has in the past suffered on account of recurrent failure to implement announced programmes. If building is to be looked on as a tap which can be turned on and off for economic reasons, then efficiency cannot be expected. "
This is a profoundly true observation,