asked the Minister of Health if he can state how many cases have been brought to his notice where a local authority has sent workmen to demolish a private house without notice and without compensation, and to sell the rubble on the site to pay for the expenses of demolition?

Sir H. YOUNG:

Before ordering the demolition of a house the local authority are required to notify the owner. No case has been brought to my notice in which an authority has disregarded this requirement. Where the owner fails to carry out his statutory duty to demolish a house on which a demolition order has become operative, it is, and has been since 1890, the duty of the local authority to demolish it and sell the materials. The legislation makes no provision for compensation being paid in the case of a demolition of a house which is unfit for human habitation.