STATE HOUSES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 246, 25 July 1940, Page 3

STATE HOUSES

TOTAL OF 6459 TO MARCH 31.

NET EXPENDITURE £10,647,201. (Special to the “ Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, July 24. The construction of 3395 houses for the year, bringing the total in the State housing scheme to 6459, is recorded in the annual report on State housing, which 'was presented in the House of Representatives to-day. The report, which covers the year ended March 31 last, states that the total net expenditure on the scheme up to that date was £10,647,201, liabilities and commitments totalled £3,200,565, while net expenditure for the year was £5,136,699. “Land for housing purposes has now been purchased in 127 towns, and altogether about 18,000 building sites have been bought,” the report says. “No important changes have been made in the various types of construction originally adopted, but the standard designs are continually being revised, altered, and in many cases cancelled, with new designs replacing them. Drawings are being prepared for the building of 116 two-roomed flats, with all conveniences, in Dixon Street, Wellington, as well as for a group of flat buildings in Petone that will contain 100 units. For Auckland, the department has submitted to the City Council a large scheme of 124 flats, with frontage to Symonds and Wynyard Streets.

“The total administration cost of the department from its inauguration up to March 31 last, exclusive of interest charges on capital invested, is £271,512, of which sum £132,628 represents expenditure for the last year.” The report states that main contractors whose services were used up to March 31 numbered 291, while at that date the number of persons engaged on housing construction and subsidiary works was 5594, including 370 members of the department’s staff. THE REVENUE ACCOUNT. WELLINGTON, July 24. A loss of £2569 15s 6d for the year ended (March 31, 1940, on new rented properties erected under the new housing scheme is recorded in the housing account accompanying the report of the State' Advances Corporation of New Zealand, which was tabled in the House of Representatives to-day. “The revenue account Jor new State rental houses,” the report says, “shows a loss of £2569 15s 6d for the year, after making provision for maintenance, depreciation, and other items of expense, including a charge for interest, which for the year averaged 1.9216 per cent.” The tabulated revenue account under this heading shows rents totalling £325,317 5s 4d, and an expenditure of £327,887 0s lOd, the excess of expenditure over receipts transferred _to the profit and loss account being £2569 15s 6d. The expenditure is itemised as follows :—lnterest, £121,699 18s 9d ; management expenses £26,650 5s lOd; depreciation, £48,377 Os lOd; insurance, £13,793 15s 3d; rates, £59,000; maintenance, £55,175 0s lOd; losses and vacant tenancies, £3190 19s Id.