HOUSING PROBLEMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 18, 1 November 1938, Page 4

HOUSING PROBLEMS.

The Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch, London, in his annual report, quotes the complaints of households transferred to the suburbs that their living expenses are increased by three things—higher rents, transport f- res, and the dearer food of the suburbs, says “The Times.” Some of the former inhabitants of Shoreditch who were transferred for personal reasons of health are asking to be allowed to return because they find the expense of living in a suburb too much for their resources. Others have returned without seeking a permission which in any case was not essential. But now the tuberculosis care committee of the borough is putting"to those who would remove elsewhere if health were the single consideration the question whether they can bear the cost while maintaining a sufficient standard of food. In a northern town the death; rate among a rehoused section of the community was found to be greater than the death-rate in the slum districts, and the medical officer suspected the reason to be that higher rents left too little money for necessary food. Wage-earners are not alone in feeling the pinch of travelling expenses and rents. The cost of a pleasant suburban house and fares into town put a. strain on the resources of many a “black-coated” worker. In the background of these personal problems is the larger question of the location of industry upon which in due course a Koyal Commission will make an eagerly-awaited pronouncement.