asked the Minister of Health whether any persons, and, if so, how many, made applications to the Public Works Loans Commissioners, under Section 21 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1919, to construct houses for the working classes; what amount of money was advanced for such purposes: and how many houses were built and their accommodation in relation to the number of bedrooms provided?

Subsequent to the enactment of the Section referred to provision was made in the Housing (Additional Powers) Act for the private builders subsidy scheme. The advances of the Public Works Loan Commissioners were limited to cases where it was not proposed to obtain the subsidy, and in fact advances were only made in four cases, and amounted to £6,350.