The “injustice” of debarring Rushden men from the right to a Council House because they are not employed in the town was condemned by the Rushden branch, British Legion, on Monday evening.

  A strong resolution was moved against Rushden Urban Council for the system by which it allotted houses.

  Loud applause was also given in support of a further protest from the floor that Council officials and employees who are strangers to the town are being allotted Council houses within a few months of residence here in preference to ex-Service men who have waited for years.

  Mr. Robert Denton (chairman of the branch) raised the point.  He said that at the annual meeting he had stated he was satisfied – up to a point – with the housing position.

  He had now run up against a difficulty, not so much with regard to the allocation, but in dealing with the applications.

Anomaly

  Since the new Housing Committee had been formed they had brought an anomaly into practice which he felt justified in bringing to their notice.

  It had been brought into being that a man who was employed out of Rushden must apply to the local authority where he was working for a house.

  He was debarred from obtaining a house on the Rushden estate, and the Legion considered it an injustice to those who were working away from the town, for it was not always the man’s fault.

  “What would be the position if all the local authorities did the same thing considering all who come into Rushden to work,” said Mr. Denton.

  Mr. Eyre asked for the support of the members of the branch against the system in which the houses were being allotted.

  A cry of “get another housing committee” came from a listener, as he concluded.

  Mr. Denton said they had not only ex-Service men in mind that night but everyone.  They had a concrete case that would affect a lot of people if it continued to be carried out.

  The members unanimously agreed to the protest and a resolution was proposed by Mr. F. Noble and seconded by Mr. W. Makeham.

  An address was given by Miss C. I. Tisdale, B.A., a young Canadian journalist, who is touring Britain collecting material for the “Winnipeg Free Press” and other Canadian publications.

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Councillor Rebukes Legion - House Complaints Answered

  “Idle talk about injustice” was deprecated by Coun. T. W. Cox at Rushden Urban Council’s meeting on Wednesday, when he answered British Legion complaints about the letting of houses.

  A letter received from the Rushden Branch of the Legion protested against the alleged practice of the Housing Committee in refusing to consider applications for Council houses from townspeople who are employed outside the district, and against the letting of houses to Council employees.

  Reporting on this, the committee reaffirmed its confidence in the Letting Sub-Committee and stated that the Legion was under a misapprehension as no rule had been made debarring persons who live outside the district.  The question of where an applicant was employed was only one of the many factors which were taken into consideration.

  No comment was offered regarding the second portion of the Legion’s complaint.

  “I am not speaking in defence of the Letting Sub-Committee, but in praise of it.  It is only fair to say that it is made up of men and women who have proved themselves extraordinarily good Legionaries over a good many hears and they would hold themselves second to none in their endeavours to help ex-Service men on every occasion.  They have proved that over and over again.

  “Whoever may constitute the committee in the future, I sincerely trust they will not be intimidated, coerced or jockeyed into not treating every application on its merits and that we shall not hear any more of this idle talk about injustice.”