I move:—
Before Section 6 to insert a new section as follows:—
"If it appears to the Minister that the number of houses, the erection or completion of which is begun and completed within the period prescribed by Rule 5 of the First Schedule to the Principal Act as amended by this Act, is such that the aggregate amount of the grants payable under the Principal Act and this Act is less than Eight Hundred Thousand Pounds, the Minister may by Order fix such dates later than the 17th day of October, 1928, and the 18th day of October, 1929, as may appear to him expedient for the purpose of ensuring that the aggregate amount of the said grants will be, as nearly as may be, Eight Hundred Thousand Pounds, and such other corresponding dates as appear to him proper for the purposes of the note at the end of Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act, and upon the making of such Order, Section 5 of this Act shall have effect as if the dates so fixed were substituted for the dates specified therein.
This amendment speaks for itself, and there is no necessity for me to explain it except to say that the purpose of the amendment is to secure that the £200,000 which the House is giving shall be fully spent. On the Second Reading of this Bill I expressed a doubt as to whether the £200,000 would be spent. So far as we understand, the last of the money allocated under this Act was allocated in April or May. Intimation was given to people building houses in, I think, about the month of May that no more money was available, and that it had all been allocated. I am not sure that a sufficient number of houses have been built or were started between that time and the 17th October to absorb the full £200,000. and all the amendment seeks to do is to give the Minister the power to extend the date if he finds that the number of houses that will have qualified for the grant up to the 17th October would not have fully absorbed the £200,000. It gives the Minister power to extend the Bill.