FLAT HUNTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 188, 9 August 1924, Page 12

FLAT HUNTING.

UNSATISFACTORY BUSINESS.

HIGH RENTS AND FEW j CONVENIENCES. iliy a Correspondent.; i I Jo the confusion of foreigners we have I given yet another meaning to the word J "Hal. ,, This term liow applies to one.or inioro rooms and a corner for a cooking ;.stov. Furnished flats cost from twenty ibhillinga to thirty shillings per room, in J nil lnu inferior houses and undesirables localities, and those unfurnished from ten t,, twenty-five shillings each room. " iwnera oiler "all conveniences," but no I assistance or attendance whatever. The ; ii.-west concrete-built flats with private ! bathroom and sanitary fittings (the - iMimliiiicd bathroom and "lavatory"—an 'American horror—is much in evidence i just now) provide four rooms for from three pounds live shillings to five pounds weekly; I lie price ascending together with the lift. Tho nearer the stars (and I the more, stairs, should the lift rel>el) ;the higher the rent. For the same rent, I two very large rooms, beautifully and fully furnished, a real kitchen (seven feet by live) and two ■'sleeping balconies" can be obtained. The owners of ilati vary greatly in their ideas of comfort flllti privacy. One house of twelve rooms contains but one bathroom and two cooking places, and offers four "flats'* of three rooms each. The destruction of refuse from a Hat six floors up, and where there are no fireplaces, suggests unpleasin* problems. In one large house (with one flat vacant) we visited six Iwll-puslies graced the door frame. We [attacked, lirst, tue largest push, judging |it to be that of the tenor bell, and then j addressed ourselves to nil the others in turn. We repeated this until the door i was opened by a lady occupant of a j lower flat. It then appeared that the j bells were only of practical use when j the tenants happened to be there to hear ■ them and a visitor could only obtain adj mission by ringing each bell in turn until some stay-at-home heard and answered. We noted in all flats inspected that those rooms most comfortable, be- i enuse warm in winter and cool in sum-1 mer—those of northern aspect—were occupied by the lessee or owner of the I building, and our attention was drawn Jto such advantages as the quietude, airiI ness, or proximity to bathroom of less desirable apartments. Children, invalids, very old persons, and dogs, or other domestic pets, are alike classed amongst the not wan teds. One-room flats (that is one room and a cooking place) beeomo "apartments" when the cooking is done within the four walls of the single room. In the old country, years ago, it was "good form" to accept a "payin™ guest," but not to receive a boarder; working men lived in "lodgings," and "gentry" i in "apartment." Xcwhere, to-day, it is permissible for anyone to let "flats," but not "flash" to let "apartments." , 'Xanguage is given us to conceal our thoughts"—and occupation. After dark flat hunting is slightly adventurous. Streets are badly lit; many houses have ! neither name nor number exhibited j and economy shuts off permanent light- ■ ing in front hall and rooms. One house- | owner got out of bed (7 p.m.) to tell j us he was a private resident in a house which had never been named nor numbered, and he said this with swelling pride. At another dwelling the door was opened by a morose gentleman who told us he was the ground-floor tenant. Then —looking us up and down—remarked that he supposed we were wishing to inspect the basement! In the latest and most up-to-date flats, built expressly to meet the need of homeless people, the • arrangements are decidedly unhealthy. ' \ The gas cookers are unventiiated, so that , all products of combustion escape into the room. There are no room wall or , ceiling ventilators to make up for the ! absence of fireplaces; and the "safes") for meat and other food are suspended I, above and beside the gas cookers! "Kit- < chenette," not being a dictionary word, , is liberally interpreted. Generally it is a , box, or cupboard, upon a verandah, or , balcony, or in a passage; in fact, in , the sot of place seized upon as photo- ' ■ graphic dark-room in bygone happier , days, when amateur photographers really knew how to take and complete a I photograph. For laundry work it is ' assumed that the sink will suffice, and ', we are left hopelessly in doubt as to ; the manner in which wet clothing of any i kind is to be dried. Electric light and ( telephones, gas and wireless, are a 1! less ; necessary for home comfort than a good i useful drying space outdoors and with- , in. The demand for flats of all sizes is ) pressing. One man told us he had bought j and sublet two large houses in a few ] weeks, and one building with many tons i of water still retained in its concrete structure and not likely to be dry for ; eighteen months is already papered and i occupied! A houseboat would be as dry, and far less dangerous to health. The time is coming when the Health Department will be called upon to license all flat owners, and insjst upon certain structural conditions and such arrange- i ments as to disnosal of refuse, ventilation, heating and lighting, as may-seem ; advisable and justify the high rentals i demanded. | i