Real Estate and Bombs

Last week in the House of Commons socially-conscious M.P.s sharply attacked speculators for buying up great blocks of Blitzed real estate with intent to resell after the war at extortionate profits.

"A real-estate agent told me," broadcast CBS's Larry Lesueur from London, "that the reason for London's failure to beautify itself after its first cleansing fire 300 years ago was that businessmen then were so eager to get back to work that they threw up any sort of building, just so that they would be in a position to do business. It's feared there will be a similar rush to get any kind of office going after this war is over."

To apply the brakes to this type of rush by British businessmen, Winston Churchill has named Laborite Arthur Greenwood, his Minister Without Portfolio, as Chief of the Executive for Reconstruction, to work up broad schemes for a more beautiful post-war Britain. Today 99% of all new building operations is under direct Government control and private building can be done only under a special license. This does not apply to repairs and patching up of Blitzed houses, which is fast be coming a nationwide non-union job in which everybody has a hand.

A significant report was made by the mayor of Poplar. This Blitzed London borough had 23,000 buildings at break of war. Thus far 14,000 of them have been damaged, but 10,000 battered houses have again been made habitable. Two thousand have been officially condemned as unlivable and another two thousand already have been cleared away by the demolition squads.

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