I cannot help feeling myself that if you are giving men employment for employment sake, it is better to give them the unemployment dole. [HON. MEMBERS: "No, no."] Wait until I have finished my sentence. Let us know what we are to pay. If you are giving men employment for employment sake, surely they are using up raw material and all sorts of machinery which would be better employed elsewhere? I want to know what we are spending for the purpose of giving men employment for employment sake. Let us know what the facts are. I am sorry to have to say it, but I distrust the vision or the courage of the present Board of Admiralty. We have had a revolution in naval warfare. Aircraft have come in, and yet, for all that, the Board of Admiralty at the present moment has allowed the aircraft to be under the Secretary for War. To my mind that is a very humiliating position, from an Admiralty point of view. I am going to ask, and I hope I may get a reply, what is the policy of the Government with regard to the future of naval expenditure? Is it their policy to build against America? To my mind it would be unthinkable. Despite the views of some people in this country, we, I think, owe a great debt of gratitude to the Americans for coming into the War. Apart from that, does it enter the mind of any responsible man that America is going to attack us? For one thing, we owe America about a thousand millions of money, and I presume, therefore, it would not be in the interests of America to attack a debtor nation. Let us have a definition of the Government's policy. Do they propose to build ships against America?

Let me say a word about the War Office. I have maintained all through the War that the Secretary for War is the right man in the wrong place. He is active, imaginary, and adventurous. As an Admiralty clerk said to me when I was serving at the Admiralty, "It is never dull when Winston is about." I really want the War Office to-day not to be humming, but rather to hide itself. £146,000,000 was the Estimate for the army and the Air Service. There are Supplementary Estimates. I say we cannot afford this great expenditure. It is very painful to talk about these matters. We had great hopes of the League of Nations. I trust the League of Nations may be able to take such steps as to give Europe an illuminating ray and hope of peace. I ask the Government to make the League of Nations not a scrap of paper, but a solemn pact between nations.

I must say a few words about the domestic policy of the Government. I think they misread the situation last year. There was a feverish rush of Bills through this House which all cost money. They were trying to burn the candle at both ends. That was not a favourable time for passing Bills through this House, and it would have been far better if the Government at that time had really taken count of the situation created by the War, and had endeavoured to garner the rewards of the sacrifices made by our troops. To-day we have men all over the Turkish Empire. We have large numbers of troops in the East. I have a list of them here. There are no fewer than 170,000 of them. There are 101,000 in Mesopotamia, costing us £2,500,000 per month. We have troops in Constantinople, Egypt, and Palestine; in all there are 170,000 men costing £4,410,000 per month, or £53,000,000 annually, excluding capital expenditure. I think it would have been far better if the Minister of Health and the Minister of Transport had been sent to Mesopotamia to settle matters there, instead of passing their Bills through this House. They would have been a very interesting pair. Let me ask the Government, do they propose to withdraw their troops from Mesopotamia, Palestine, Egypt, and Constantinople, or do they propose to go on keeping there these large numbers of men at this huge expense to the British tax- payer? If they do, I say the British taxpayer cannot afford it.

I want also to ask what is the policy of the Government in regard to industry in this country. Are we to have freedom from bureaucratic control? If we are, why do not the Government dismiss their officials from Whitehall? It is not merely a question of saving a few millions. The activities of these officials are in most cases mischievous. It is their activities that I fear. Their activities cost money; it is not only their salaries, it is what they are responsible for expending. I am one of those who believe that Britons can carry on their own business far better than Government officials or bureaucrats in Whitehall. We have had too much in the last year of this kind of sloppy socialism. The Government Departments are digging themselves in. The other day, the First Commissioner of Works—I do not see him in his place—presented some Estimates. He has a huge staff swollen by the War. He covered the parks with buildings. He commandeered hotels, and then finding there was nothing for the staff to do, he suddenly, without a word to Parliament, launched out into a great house-building scheme. I cannot understand why the Chancellor of the exchequer consented to it. I see the Minister of Food is in his place. I understand his Ministry is being wound up. If that is not the case, may I say at any rate it has outlived its usefulness. As regards the Transport Ministry, transport in this country has never been so bad, and never so inefficient. [An HON. MEMBER: "It ought to be scrapped, and the Minister as well!"] Then there is the Ministry of Labour. That is another War creation. I say with the utmost deference to my hon. Friends on the Labour Benches, there has been too much meddling by the Government with labour. In the old days we had far fewer strikes; the Government appointed an arbitrator when asked to do so. Now questions art; asked here. Labour Members are continually running in and out of Downing Street at a time when, in my judgment, the Prime Minister and the Government have other and more important matters to attend to. The latest development of Government activity is a Mines Department. I have a strong complaint against the Mines Department inasmuch as it seduced from these Benches the most picturesque figure that adorned them.

I do not like these Government Departments. The greatest social reform that can be undertaken in this country is to reduce the cost of living, to reduce the taxes, and to reduce the rates. The housing policy of the Government is founded upon an entirely false basis. It has killed private enterprise. You cannot kill a thing twice. It has prevented private enterprise from again raising its head. Houses are built regardless of expense. Before the War a house cost from £200 to £250; to-day the cost is five times as much. These houses are costing £1,000, or £1,250. They cannot be let at economic rents. No workman can pay the rent. Where is the balance to come from? It is to come from the taxpayer. When you have burdened the taxpayers, as they have been burdened during the last five years, it is no wonder that a collapse has come in regard to Housing Bonds. A day or two ago seven towns asked for £4,000,000. The public subscribed £371,000. The public have not the money. You are taxing them too high. You are rating them too high. What to me is a grave matter, industry has to compete with municipalities in paying high rates of interest before they can get money to carry on their work. It is a very serious thing for industry that they have to offer such high interest for accommodation at the present time. What can you expect if the Government is on all hands offering new security. The Health Minister is undismayed. He goes on. He brings in another Bill. He brings in the Ministry of Health Bill, which we are to discuss in a few days, and against which I shall vote. [HON. MEMBERS: "You are too late."] Well, I do not think the Bill was worth sitting up all night for.