STEEL HOUSING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 31, 6 February 1925, Page 4

STEEL HOUSING.

England needs two million workers' ' dxvellings within the next txvo years, but it is impossible, so it is said, to build these in brick or concrete at a reasonable price at present cost ot labour and material. The British Government has, therefore, made arrangements to have many houses constructed entirely of steel. English house-seekers object to bouses of wood such ns xvc are well accustomed to, because, to them, they suggest no lasting qualities. A steel house of the "xvorkers' dwelling type costs no more than £200 to erect, it can be rented at. a rate xvell xvithin the means of xvage-earners. it is indestructible, and can be put up quickly. It is very donfbtful. lioxvexer. if houses of this kind offer any solution of our house shortage ditlieulty here. Steel i.s a rapid conductor of heat, acd not only permits quick loss of heat from xvithin (in winter) but converts any space enclosed into an oven when sun heat beats upon it from without. In Queensland iron "shanties'' are uninhabitable in summer, and have produced suffering and sickness of a severe kind. In damp weather moisture condenses upon the inner surface of roof and walls, and trickles down like silent rain. In cold, "sharp" xventher steel Ls no protection from chill, nnd it j is only as a brcakwind that an iron i shelter is of use, or ns a temporary refuge from a doxvnpour. To make "a I house of steel safe and comfortable it i must be roofed and lined with felt or I wood, and an air space, left between I outer and inner skins. The report from England makes no mention of this, and leaves us to imagine Home I xvorkers returning wearily to a son of enlarged safe, and clanking up iron stairs to bed! It is said that the "Con. , scrvativc Government i« pinning its I faith" to steel houses, but. it is obvious that nothing else whatever can bo i pinned to them, and in this building ! scheme no home-loving New Zenlander I xvill see his probable release from flat- • life and high rentals. Of all possible i materials it. seems to us that iron is i the worst—when used alone-for house 1 construction. The success of the English experiment, therefore, will depend -largely upon xvhat is used with steel, 'and, at any rate, the great advantage claimed for steel construction, that it : is cheap and quick, may outweigh | grave disadvantages. Housing conditions in England are so shocking that the building of a large number of ,-toel I houses, even with serious defects, xvill be welcomed. A householder xvho has tn herd his family into one or two I rooms may think he is in Paradise if be lis put into a steel house of four rooms. ! even if the place fries him in the sumj mer and freezes him in tile xxinter. It lis an experiment thai shows some enter. I prise, even if it. recalls to some the old i saying about desperate diseases and jdesjerate remedies, ,

Persons standing in motnr omnibuses ere limited last night by the Auckland ity (oumil to 2o per cent of the seatig" accommodation. The. Finance Comlittee had recommended 20 por cent as !c maximum, hut. the Council thought bis too low, and increased it to -o per ?nt. It liiis now I ii decided to cxfpnd in awiihibility of railway excursion eke!-; tD include children and parents r guardians accompanying children trafiling on return tickets who have boon etninert ill reaching tlieir destination lirough the epidemic of infantile para,sis. Such tickets will now be availble up to one week after the date of he re opening of the schools. The concision iipplirs to school teachers who lay desire an extension of their tickets uing to Ihe. schools remaining closed. 11l order to bring Wellington bueinees .ml professional men into closer contact villi the affairs of New Zeainnd, a Migrestion was recently made hy 'he 'hainbcr uf Commerce for a "business lion's tonr"* this month to Napier. His.ionic, Bay of Plenty, Rotonm, Taupo, Vwapuiii, Hamilton, Waitomo, and back 0 Wellington. The responso to this ilipgestion, stated Mr. 11. I). Bennett chairman), ut the last meeting of the 'ha ruber, was very disappointing. A iarty of thirty men was hoped for, hut Hit of a membership of over o0(J there vere not enough applications «to justify he trip. There were only eight certain,ies. The trip was postponed until May iext. and if it is not possible 10 carry t into effect then, there is the possibility if arranging a trip to Marlborotigh. At (lie I imp when the Wellington ■olid- station wuh iiil'ormeil on Tuesday ■veiling, that two bulla had made pood licir escape from the Kings wharf, there ana , a ring on the watchhouse "phone, a ■ather distressed voice announcing that ive young men who were in a prominent itlblie building had been locked in a met ing room. A police officer, armed .villi an axe and an innumerable number )! keys, set out to liberate the entrapped jeutlemen. and, followed along the road iy an expectant hand %\ ho could not (tiite associate axes and policemen with inything else hut murder, arrived at the milding to tinri that the prisoners had leen liberated by the caretaker. This after had turned the key in the door by nistake. and judging by "the fact that no loise was heard by him inside, it seems hat the meeting was not a conference letween Radicals and Tories. "We don't want a lot of red flags ibout the town." said M r . f. Blood.vortli with a meaning smile when Mr. \. J. Kntrioan was talking last night U the ( ity Cuun.il meeting about the langer of long ov.-rhaicing loads, such is polos and iron rod.-, on lorries. Some 'uggpstion had been made that the end* ■f such loads should be flagged. Mr. l-ntrician professed surprise, and said ie always thought Mr. Bloodworth and In- friends were only too anxious for ihe red lla X to },? flown. This allusion to Mr. Wood worth's Labour connection drew from him a suggestion that perhaps green flags would appeal more to Mr. Kntriean. Hut Mr. Entrican's North of Ireland pertiirhahility declined t" rise to the challenge. The Finance committee, recommended that the overhang of hinds lie fixed at lift, except in -ases where a permit was obtained, but as Mr. Bloodworth pointed out, this would prohibit the transport, of scaffolding poles, for instance. .Mr. J. Robertson, chairman of committee, explained tiiat all that was wanted was the rijht to issue permits, and then such traflic could he relegated to the back streets. It was. however, pointed out by a councillor that some of these long loads would naturally !*> required in. say. Queen Street, and the matter was -ent back to the committee for further wnaiiloration. Mr. 1W Moikle was rather severely Jurnt about, the lower portion of his :eoe and on his right hand on Sunday, ■ays the 'Bay of Plenty Times." He vas looking at a motor car in the Gas ompany's yard, and struck a match .■> ight a cigarette. An explosion immediitelv followed in the benzine tank of the •ar, and the llame shooting out through the tank inlet caught him on the face nid hand. The end of the tank also blew out. The accident very forcibly lemonstrates the danger of benzine. The "ar had been burnt, the benzine tank liad a hole in the bottom and had pre jumably been empty some time, and yet a. match lit a few feet away resulted* in an explosion in the tank. 'Mr. Meikle's clog also got well singed, apparently through the enii of the tank blowing out. "New Zealand has a. perfect right tci feel proud of her journalism. I was. ill my younger days, a member of the Daily News' staff in London, and follow journalism in whatever country I hap pen to be with perhaps greater enthu-i asm than most men. and I do not know of any other country that can boast ol such good, clean, high-class journalism Travelling lately across America. 1 bought the American papers en route but they seemeil to be chiefly advertising sheets with a few splashes oi' sensational and often inaccurate information. Therf was no order, no proper classification ot news or advertisements, and the whole bore the ugly trail of yellow journalism It is so different here. Xew Zealand upholds splendidly the best traditions of the best British journalism." Thu< said Mr. F. (.'. ("lias?, the author am. explorer, in a conversation with t "Southland News" reporter. There was an attendance of ahon 200 people at a meeting in St. Andrew' Hall last night, at which the aims ani objects of the Food Reform and Ami Cancer League were explained, and i statement was made of the work oi which the Auckland branch of the leagm intended to embark to beni'tit. the healtl of members, and of t lie community gen erally. In the course of a talk OI the special need in the world to-da; for n proper understanding of diet Xurse Shearer remarked that most o the ill> of to-day aro~-> from the do natiiring and de-mineralising of natura food- through our oommeromlUni. iim from the careless habit of eating un-uil able foods. Mr.. Mutt how Walker s,.ok similarly on the dangers of iinsuiiiibl. eating, nml the pof.sil.ilities of climina ling and combating disease hy chant; tni: our habits of eating, and our gene ral habits, in a commonaense manner. I'ro-oncc of mind averted a bad -masl at the ominously.named Cemetery Roec railway crossing near Swnnson vest or day afternoon. Due of the motor lor ries in which Mr. Smale, tlie contractoi for nu-tal carting on the Swam>on roads is carrying out the job was almost oi the crowing before the driver noticet that a train was passing On one sidi there is n hiph bank which ijtiite shut: out a view of I lie line, which i|iiit< explain, the situation. Instead oj try ing to pull up tne driver of the Wp with promptitude (11m no doubt save! his life, -wfr\c-,\ in the nick of time the iorrv. Thi- cros«ing !> one of th nv.-t rlantr.rou- in the Au.-klsnd Dl = triet. and settlers have frequently urpei that it should at least be equipped wit l p warning bell.