COST AND RENTS OF STATE HOUSES

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22196, 13 September 1937, Page 4

COST AND RENTS OF STATE HOUSES

MR LEE REPEATS CHALLENGE ITHE PRESS Special Service.! WELLINGTON, September 11. Replying to criticism about the cost and rents of houses being erected under the State scheme, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary in charge of Housing (Mr J. A. Lee) said this morning that the Government had announced the moment the scheme was launched that if anybody could build better houses than, or houses as good as, the Government was putting up, and let them at A cheaper rent, they were invited to send'in their plans, specifications, and prices, and the Government would sign them up for a job. "It is one thing to write letters to the press, but it is another thing to deliver the goods at the cheaper prices," said Mr Lee. "The challenge made at the outset of operations and repeated since still stands. Anybody who can build a durable house of good quality at a lower price than the Government is paying can have years of work. This is the only test." MANY APPLICATIONS FOR LEASES (FSZSS ASSOCIATION ■nSIXOBAH.) AUCKLAND, September 11. | It is announced that the closing date for the receipt of applications for tenancies of the 212 State houses being built at Orakei, has been extended until further notice. Applications closed last month, and it is explained that the rea.ion for the extension is the delay caused by the weather and the recent carpenters' strike, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary in charge of Housing (Mr J. A. Lee) wishes to give everyone the fullest opportunity of applying. Mr G. S. Ellis, branch manager of the State Advances Corporation, said to-day that more than 1500 persons were seeking houses either at Orakei or on the Cadman and Casey estates.