JERRY BUILDING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 79, 1 April 1908, Page 8

JERRY BUILDING.

<To the Editor.} Sir, —I am surprised at the attitude taken, up by our Borough. Councils over the letter from the T. and L. Council, re jerry building. It is a matter that should have been taken up years, ago, and if our Borough Councils do not think the matter worthy of notice, representations should be made to the Government on the subject, as it is most certainly one of the ''wrongs that need resistance." Buildings supervised by reliable architects, or let to a reputable builder and supervised by the owner or a friend, are, as a rule, up to the mark. It is the speculative builder (although, of course, not in all cases) who is the principal offender. He buys a section of land and builds to his own plans and specifications, which are of course submitted for approval to the Council of that particular district. Once this approval is obtained, he has practically a free hand except as far as drainage and plumbing are concerned. The outside timber, as a rule, is pretty fair, but of some of the framing, the rooting, and more especially the rough lining, the less, or rather the more, said, the better. Any old worm-eaten, or dry-rotten, wet-rotten or dosy timber is lapped up, towards which, the scrim, and paint acts a very charitable part. To save a ceiling board, the boards are put anything up to three and five-eighths inches apart, and this space is covered by a three-and-three-quarter batten. In a few months, as the boards shrink, an open space appears on each side of the batten, which serves, perhaps, very well for ventilation, but is otherwise not very artistic looking. With plenty of cheap paint and paper, the house presents quite an imposing appearance; in fact, altogether too much so, as some unfortunate individual finds out later on. I think it is a scandalous shame that honest people should be like this, as these houses are always built to sell, never to let. If, the petty Borough Councils canjnot afford inspectors for buildings, they are providing another argument in favour of the Greater Auckland scheme. Two inspectors -who devoted all their time to tbJ3 matter would etfectively cheek it in both, the city and the suburbs. To finish up, I might say that it' is in the latter tha€ they are most needed.— l I am, etc., X.ILK.