HOUSES AND POPULATION INCREASE

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 18, 21 July 1934, Page 8

HOUSES AND POPULATION INCREASE

(To the Editor.) Sir,—ln the matter of a controversy in your columns lately as to whether a shortage of dwellings existed, perhaps the following figures taken from authentic statistics-may put the matter more clearly:—ln 1930-31, the population of Wellington was 127,300, and in 1932-33 145,000, the increase of population amounting to 22,600. The Government Statistician's^figures of building permits covering the cities, boroughs, and town districts of the Dominion are: ■ .. ■' Number of ■,„',„ ~ ■■': ■ '■• ■permits. - 1932-33 .........■..:;;: v ie ■ Decroasa '.............. 193^ Taking the increase of population as given at 22,600, and allowing a dwelling for every-five persons added population dining the three years under review, a programme of 4540 should have been built for Wellington, and the total for the Dominion is only 6514. Dwelling construction in Wellington during the period under review and the falling off in building homes for the people can be realised by the' following figures:—Homes built in 1931, 128; in 1932, 85; in 1933, 96; a total in three [years of 209. Tho Unemployment Board subsidy of 1933 did not materilally affect homo building as much as business premises. This .failure to maintain building of homes equal to the increase of population amounting to a deficiency of 4331 in threo years must find its counterpart in overcrowding and ultimate dire slumdom. This is a field where unemployed men can be usefully employed in building homes for themselves at a rental within their paltry income. _The cost of building is reflected in nigh rents, and is a matter deserving "inquiry. The price of land for home building purposes should also be reduced to a minimum. The cost per I room, flats included, is as" follows.— . - 1982.. 1933. Decrease. Rooms. •".'£" £ £ 1 . .7, 104 S3 19 2 ...;.... 101 85 16 - 3 130 110 20 4 170 \US 35 r> ITO 156 14 C • , ISS 165 .23 The highest cost for building is recorded against Wellington. and Otago provincial districts. The cost of building per room of dwellings in tho cities, boroughs, and towns of the Dominion is interesting. Wellington and Otago have a cost per room for the six rooms of £170 and the five rooms of. £165 (sculleries and bathrooms are not included in the term room). Canterbury Has an average cost of £163 per room, Nelson £145, Southland £U9, Taranaki £137, Westland !,£ 134, Hawke 's Bay £ 131, and Auckland £130. There is no classification of costs of materials for building provided, and therefore no comparisons can be made between costs at various times or places. Tho Statistician's method of grouping cost of materials and sub-contractors' cost makes it impossible to arrive at a definite cost of material.. The only difference that can be easily found is tho total cost per room in each district. Whilst rents are kept at a charge of about one-third of the weekly earnings of the worker, how can internal costs be reduced without stagnating the whole of .the industry as applied to useful commodities.

England's way- out. of the depression is the building of 1,000,000 hohies for her workers, p,t a weekly rent that will preserve tho sanctity of family life, and. provide a measure of cleanliness and happiness for the advent of the innocents into this world of sorrow. The ■unemployed worker, no longer: consid-

ered a profitable unit of our modern society, has been forced by failure to pay rent at a. stated economic rate, to live in partnership with others in the same predicament, and four and five families are found living together. This is a matter the State should immediately take up. It will provide employment for thousands at trade rates, and remove from the unemployed worker's'mind tho fear of being homeless.—l am, etc., JOHN TUCKER,' Secretary Storemen and Packers-' Union.