STATE DWELLINGS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22135, 3 July 1937, Page 10

STATE DWELLINGS

BIG DEMAND MADE AT WELLINGTON

APPLICATIONS TOTAL 2300

ri'HE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, July 2. The demand from prospective tenants for the 375 houses at present being built at Miramar and Lower Hutt under the Government's housing scheme is far in excess of the number of houses. Applications for these dwellings received up to the closing date on June 8 totalled 2300 and of this number nearly,lsoo showed a preference for the 90 houses under construction at Mira m Thc Parliamentary Under-Secre-tary in Charge of Housing, Mr J. A. Lee. said in an interview that the demand for Government houses had intensified rather than diminished since the announcement of the rentals that were to be charged. Although applications for the Present houses at Miramar and Lower Hutt had closed early last month,' applications were still pouring in from those anxious to be included in the list for the next group of Wellington houses.

Reference to the difficulties experienced by the Department of Housing Construction in obtaining metal materials was referred to by Mr Lee. He said that the reading scheme on a property at Johnsonville had been delayed because the rearmament programme in Great Britain had held up supplies of reinforcing wire for concrete pipes. * The co-operative organisation formed by the carpenters' union, said Mr Lee, appeared likely to enter into the obligations undertaken by other contractors and to receive its first contract in the course of a few days. This was a development that the Labour Government was anxious to encourage.

TIMBER PRICES IN GISBORNE

FAVOURABLE COMPARISON WITH CITIES

(PEESS 4.SSOCIATIOK TELEGRAU.) WELLINGTON. July 2. Figures comparing the cost of timber in Gisborne with the cost in Wellington and Auckland were given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary in charge of Housing, Mr J. A. Lee, in a statement to-day. Referring to the apparent high cost of building in Gisborne as indicated by the recent tenders for State houses, Mr Lee set out a table of prices showing the cost of timber in Gisborne to be practically the same as in both Wellington and Auckland, and in some cases substantially lower. He said that Gisborne appeared, in this respect, to be in equally as favourable a position as Auckland or Wellington.