LOSS ON STATE HOSTELS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 126, 13 March 1950, Page 2

LOSS ON STATE HOSTELS

MORE THAN £47,000 A YEAR MR HOLLAND ISSUES STATEMENT (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 12. A loss of more than £47,000 in the annual operating expenses of 3S State hostels established by the Labour Government was revealed by the Prime Minister (Mr S. G. Holland). He said the cost of acquiring, altering or building the hostels had amounted to £1,029,508, and when capital charges were added the yearly deficit rose to £125,095. The establishments provided hoard and lodging for 2700 persons.

Mr Holland said that the operation of the hostels at a loss meant that the residents had been receiving their board and lodging partly at the \ pense of the general taxpayer. They would presumably receive accommodation on more advantageous terms than that offered by private individuals or organisations catering for boarders.. The hostels were mainly in Auckland and Wellington, although coalminers were provided for in various mining towns. Seven were controlled by the Railways Department, six by the Post and Telegraph Department, two by the Health Department, one by the Maori Affairs Department, and 22 by the Labour arid Employment Department. There were several other hostels for which the accounts had not yet been .prepared, and some which were not yet complete. Discussing the activities of individual hostels, Mr Holland said the Mansions, Auckland, was bought in March, 1949, for £21,854, and cost an. additional £2400 to convert for the accommodation of an average of 66 railway workers. They paid £2 each. There was a surplus of £5 16s 6d a week on operating charges, but if capital charges were added the deficit would be £3l 12s a week. The overall deficit on the Post jmd Telegraph hostel at Mechanics’ Bay, where 58 employees were housed, was £49 IS£ 6d a week. Boarders paid 33s 6d or 36s a week.

Home aids’ hostels had been established in Auckland and Wellington in 1946 and 1947 respectively. Auckland averaged six persons a week' arid Wellington seven. The charge was 30s a week in Auckland and 32s "6d in Wellington. The total deficit was £36 Is 8d a week.

An average of 247 boarders were accommodated in immigrant hostels throughout the country, but the total capacity of the establishments was 976. Rates were 37s 6d and £2 a week, and the loss each week on the hostels was £555.

The deficit on eight miners’ hostels, where boaTders paid £2 15s a week, totalled £273 a week.