Foreign News: Nelsonian Santa Claus

In mellow Prime Minister James Ramsay MacDonald's mild but able National Government the Minister of Health is that crustiest of rock-ribbed Conservatives, high-hatted, icy-monocled Sir E. (for Ed- ward) Hilton Young. Even the flint-hard Admiralty has been dented by Sir E. They tried to retire him as unfit for active service after he lost his right arm with conspicuous bravery at Zeebrugge Mole. "On my way here through Trafalgar Square," he observed, fixing the Board of Admiralty with the eye of a basilisk, "I passed the statue of a man who had also lost an arm. Moreover, he had only one eye. And yet he won the battle of Trafalgar."

This piece of crust got Edward Hilton Young command of a British armored train on the Archangel front, a command from which he emerged with the D. S. O. In the arrogant tradition of arrogant Lord Nelson, Sir E. wears his empty sleeve pinned forward on the right side of his chest, the other side being for medals. Two years ago, when Reds and Pinks sent platoons of hunger marchers converging upon London (TIME, Nov. 7, 1932), Sir E. was asked by Labor M. P.'s what he proposed to do as Minister of Health for the health and shelter of the hunger marchers. "These people have been induced by a Communist organization to leave their homes," retorted Sir E. "Very well. It is up to the Communists to take care of them." Last week by a pleasant British paradox it became the job of crusty Sir E. to get through Parliament one of the most drastic measures ever drafted to bring "Socialism in our time."

When it is not a case of Communists but of Englishmen, Scotsmen and Welshmen, die-hard Sir E. is all for getting action in the realm of health & happiness. He released last week the text of two momentous housing bills—one for England and Wales, the other for Scotland— which the House of Commons must consider when it reconvenes January 28. Attacked first is overcrowding.

No Three-in-Ones. Under Sir E.'s bills, considered sure to pass, the Briton's house ceases to be his castle, and Government tells him for the first time how many people can live in how many rooms. Over-crowding becomes a crime, punishable by $25 fine for the first day, $10 fine for every day after conviction.

Not more than two persons shall live in one room; not more than three in two rooms; not more than five in three rooms. Babies under one year old not to count. Boys and girls may sleep in the same room until the eldest crosses the deadline of adolescence, set by Sir E. at 10 years for both sexes. Finally it shall be illegal for any Briton to sleep in quarters of less than 50 square feet, that being Sir E.'s absolute minimum "room." In case of violations police will pounce first upon tenants, then upon landlords who become ultimately responsible for all fines.

Five Shilling Houses. Since the Housing Act of 1919 England has built more than 2,200,000 houses, of which nearly 50 percent have been subsidized by local or national public funds. Today the velocity of new building is a vital index of the Kingdom's current Recovery Boom and 420,000 homes have been built in the past 19 months, largely with private capital.