The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-08

many quarters of the mayors contention that the question of rent is the principal hugbear in the lives of these poor people. To one and II she spoke sympathetically and remarked in the course of her tour, I have come in the spirit of mother to her children" When finally she left. the Bethnal Greenites, with shining faces and much waving of hands, gave the quiet woman in black such a rousing send-off as has not been heard in that quarter for many a long day.
 FIXING THE BLAME
 Since then events have followed one another with interesting rapidity. One of the first things that the Queen did after her visit to the ''byways'' was to
 summon to Buckingham Palace Dr. Ad- dison, president of the local government board. the body that divides with the London County Council responsibility for
 the well-being of Londoners. The Queen
 had a heart-to-heart ,aIk with pr. Ad- dison and, report says, spoke her mind with complete freedom. The president of the local government board, no doubt was able to convince Her Majesty that he was fairly conversant with the sub iect of their conversation already, for he has since outlined, in the House of Commons, big housing bill for Eng land and Wales which represents part of the government policy of reconstruc- ton and social reform. and which has just been published. Briefly this bill di- vides the country into eleven housing districts to each of which a housing commissioner is to- be appointed to fa- ciitate the work of the local govern ment board Already the schemes sub mitted involve proposals for the erection | of 5000 houses. This is all to the good. and it is highly probable that pr. Ad- dison was requested by the Queen to I get on with it. as they say in Eng | land, with all possible expedition and | dispatch
 Meanwhile, as direct consequence of the Queens visit to Bethnal Green, the 1 London County Counci1 has got be- | lated move on and decided to begin I forthwith the clearance of the Brady Street slums there. At the last meet l ing of the council a scheme for an ex- l change of sites with big brewing firm Mann, Crossman and Paulin, whose 1 works are located in the district, was I agreed to. This scheme, it was stated can be carried into fleet as regards the l acquisition of the property at cost of 1 about &275 000 and will enable the coun- | cil to provide ccomodation for 15.0O0 l persons in block dwellings, or 800 per
 sons in cottages. The Mayor of Beth nal Green accordingly, must be well satisfied with the unexpected and boun- 1 tiful fruits of the address which he de- | livered at St. Martins church.
 1 This, moreover, is not nearly all that 1 has happened in the same direction 1 Queen Mary, having set the ball rolling, quite evidently means to keep it in rev 1 olution About a week after her talk l with pr. Addison, she and King George held at Buckingham Palace what was l described as a housing durbar To 1 this were summoned members of every l important body which is concerned With l the matter of housing, representatives 1 being present of the executive committee ! of the county councils, borough coun- cils urban councils, rural district coun- | eils and of the nahonal housing and l town planning council. It was a gath ering unique in the history of the 1 royal palace, and is certain to have inn portant results. It was the King S wish that the local authorities who have in their hands the administration of hous- ing schemes should know exactly what he and Queen Mary feel regarding this
 problem, and he made his views clear
 to the loo or more delegates in a feel
 ing impressive speech.
 Tn the course of it he said
 l IT am informed that the immediate need of working class houses for Eng
 land and Wales alone is estimated at
 approximately 500,000 To meet this need
 the same untiring energy and enthusl-
 | asm will be required as that which en-
 l abled the country to meet the demand
 for munitions of war. And it is not
 merely houses that are needed The new houses must be also homes.
 'aThe sites of the houses must be care
 fully chosen and laid out, the houses , themselves properly planned and equip | ped; and I would ask you not to over look the supreme importance of the , manning and equipment of houses t' , inc women who will live in them, ano whose convenience should therefore b' prime consideration.
 "If a healthy race is to be reared i 3 can be reared only in healthy homes 3 | if infant mortality is to be reduced anc , l tuberculosis to be stamped out the ITS