EMPTY HOUSES.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19918, 3 May 1930, Page 14

EMPTY HOUSES.

NORTHCOTE settlement.

NEW DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE

Probably in no other part of the Dominion are bo many empty houses to be found in a small area as may bo seen in the Northcote Settlement. A reporter who, in company yesterday with Mr E. W. Hawke, M.P., travelled between the trim rows of dwellings of rough-cast, with their pretty red-tiled roofs, walked through the long, sweet grass growing in the rich soil of the well-drained sections, and inspected the high-pressure water supply, and the improvements in the sewerage system was at a loss to account for the almost complete ban placed on these desirable homos by people in quest of suburban properties. The trouble lay in the prices asked by the Government, one of the residents of the Settlement informed the Pressman, and this opinion was echoed by Mr Hawke. If the Government could bo persuaded, he said, to reduce the price of the houses to £7OO, the prospects of filling all of them would be brightened fixed by the Government was £llOO, and later this was reduced by £2OO. Jiven at the new "figure there has been no ereat increase in the demand, although it is contended that now, lor a trifle over £9OO, the houses may be bought, at the terms offering, for the equivalent of what is required to purchase an ordinary house costing £750 to the buyer from a private owner. In spite of the work of despoilers, the interiors of the houses present an attractive appearance. No complaint may be made about the plastering and joinery, and no signs of dampness were seen yesterday. Certainly the long, dry spell has been all in favour of the Settlement, but it would be difficult to believe that very much cause for complaint on this score now exists, since the excavation of a large drain at least four feet deep along the half-chain road skirting the houses on the northern side.

Across the Settlement, on the . southern extremity, the Christchurch Drainage Board has just completed a large sewer from the septic tank out to the North road, which will carry the sewage formerly allowed to percolate through the soil. Excellent Soil. For the most part the latter is a sandy loam, which has carried in the past, crops of wheat averaging 60 bushels to the acre, and the heavy growth of grass and clover provides eloquent testimony to it« fertility. Of course, an untidy appearance is given to the residences by the grass, especially where garden cultivation has been permitted to relapse into the former untended state. In some cases gates have disappeared, windows have been broken, and mantelpieces ana electric light fittings removed by intruders. . . Most of the people occupying houses In the Settlement are obviously there to stay, and to attract more home-seek-ers the Government is offering to lay down eoncrete paths when a dwelling is taken, and erect new fences. A preference has been shown for houses which firOnt towards the Bto, very few of those with the quarters to the northward' h&vtng iny signs of habitation. Altogether about 40 have no occupants, while. 16 have 'people in possession. At one time or another since the houses were built, every dwelling h&a been occupied* No donbt those who favour a reduction in the price Of the houses, will find it difficult toeonvince the Government of the necessity of such action. It is always difficult • for an owner to accept the inevitability of. a big. losa on a property. The Settlement had a good name at one time, and to the ordinary observer there appears to be no reason why it should not be recoveredIt was pointed out by Mr Hawke yen terday that even the lowest ' part of the Settlement, that set. aside as a children's playground, now bean a welldrained appearance. V