The total value of the licences does add up to a very great deal; but that is not the point. The point is in the proportion. The fact is that of the licences which were applied for for repair and decoration to local authorities in London, only 5 per cent. were refused. There is not an enormous unsatisfied demand for repairs, painting and decorating, at any rate in London, in the houses of ordinary persons. I concede at once that this is to me a rather curious fact, but these are inescapable figures.

The last thing I want to say is that I have examined all the cases of which my hon. Friend gave me notice, and that I am satisfied that in two cases, further explanations are necessary. In one case to which he referred, I think there was undoubtedly an immense inflation of the value of the work done upon the original licence. I looked into this case myself when I was in Manchester and I gave instructions that such inflation upon an original licence shall not be permitted and shall be prevented by a closer co-ordination among the local authorities and the inspectors of my Ministry. Finally, on one of the particular cases which my hon. Friend has mentioned, I must call attention to the fact that shops which were reconstructed and redecorated had been used as an air-raid shelter. I agree that the figures shocked me when I looked at them, but the matter is open to the argument that a particular moral obligation rested upon us to make restitution in this particular case.

In general, no one can contend that when thousands of licences are being issued here and there a mistake will not be made. I should be the last person to say so, and nobody in his senses could make any such contention. I will only say that upon examination of the list of cases that were submitted to me by my hon. Friend, when we have excluded the cases of dangerous structures, and the hotels that are necessary for "dollar-spending" foreign travellers in the centre of the city—they will not go to hotels that are not furnished and decorated according to the standards that they expect—a residue remains, I will not deny and I will not dispute—