CITY CONGESTION—A REMEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 196, 17 August 1920, Page 2

CITY CONGESTION—A REMEDY.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —It is astonishing what pruca some people are giving for old houses — for instance, at Kingsland 1 know of a house which was unsaleable at £330 before the war, but during the last three years it has changed, hands four times, each time at an advance, and the last buyer was foolish enough to givu £1200 for it, and this sort of thing is going on all over Auckland. Why do not these people go and live in the outer suburbs where there is a good railway service and plenty of far better houses and larger sections "for less money? Same years ago we were living in Auckland, and could hardly pay our way. Then we bougvht a small place 12 miles out, and were astonished \n tlie difference it made to the cost of our living. Jn Auckland it cost us 11/ a head a week for food but in the outer suburbs we actually got the cost down to 3/0 a head a week". The difference was made up by the sale of our eggs and potatoes to the storekeeper; and by the cheaper milk, vegetables, and firewood we could buy further out.' We did not buy a farm, only a big cialf-acrc section and a four-roomed cottage. Why. in two years I saved over £150 from my wages alone, whereas in town I was encroaching on my small capital. I th'nk in a year or two whea building materials get more plentiful there will be a boom in buttding in those euburbs alongside the railway line , and a great slump In those older ' town houses, and what will poor owners " vv;th great mortgages clung around their ! necks do then? —I am, etc, LIVE rTBTHER OUT.