BUILDING YEAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 9

BUILDING YEAR.

HOUSING IN BRITAIN. All Records Broken in Last Year's Operations. SLUM CLEARANCE PROGRESS. British Official Wireless. (Received 0.30 a.m.) BUGBY, January 1. Returns issued by the Ministry of Health show that more houses were built in. England and Wales in the year ended September 30 last than in any previous year. The total number erected was 339,538, an increase of 10,000 over the previous high record for any yearly period. The returns also disclose that 3,140,940 houses have been built in England and Wales since the Armistice and there has been a steady 'and unbroken progress in the housing activities of local authorities. During the past half-year 30,750 houses were erected by local authorities, compared with the previous high record of 30,737. The total number of houses completed by private enterprise during the period under review was 274,348, compared with the record of 275,009. Within the Greater London area the number of houses constructed far exceeded that recorded in any other part of the country. Sir Harold Bellman, chairman of the Building Societies' Association, in dealing with the housing outlook in the new year, suggests that there may soon be some falling off in building by unassisted private enterprise. Probafily, however, there will be no precipitous decline. On the other hand, the local authorities' output under the slum clearance and i overcrowding legislation is likely to increase. "A new standard of accommodation has been the most significant feature of the houses built during the recent boom," added Sir Harold. "The public conception of and acceptance of housin"standards has, in the past decade, quietly and unostentatiously undergone a genuine revolution. New standards and new surroundings have been demanded and I believe that, given good general economic conditions, this will continue and be a determining factor in the housing outlook."