GOVERNMENT HOUSING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 180, 1 August 1925, Page 9

GOVERNMENT HOUSING.

LOSS OF £55,912

AtJDIT DEPARTMENT EXPLAINS*

Reasons for the loss sustained by the Government Housing Department aro advanced by the Auditor-General in his annual report.

At the date of transfer of the revenue account of the Department to the State Advances Office the account Avas in debit to the extent of £r>5,912. This loss accrued during the time the Department was engaged extensively in building operations. At the 31st March, 1920. the accrued loss was £1847. so that in the space of two years and a half the Department lost as the result of the venture the sum of £54,06."). This loss is. in tlie opinion of the. Auditor-General, due to a variety, of causes, amongst which are the following: (1) The lixing by statute of tlie prices at which tlie houses when erected were to be sold, tlie cost of erection generally greatly exceeding the prices fixed by statute: (2) thebuymgof large stocks of material at "peak" prices; (3) inexperience of the Departs ment in handling this, class of business; (4) the loose syste-ni in vogue in connection with the receipt, issue, and guarding of the timber and other stores; (o). faulty- construction of some of the houses, tlie receipts from which are being largely absorbed by repairs.

Tlie Audit Office expresses the opinion that a considerable portion of these losses could (as in the. case of soldier settlement) have been avoided if the expert machinery already in existence in the State Advances aiid Valuation Departments for granting loans and supervising operations and collecting instaU nients had been utilised from the iueep-r tion of tlie scheme.