WILL CALWELL'S PLAN HALT OVER HOUSING

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25796, 6 May 1949, Page 6

WILL CALWELL'S PLAN HALT OVER HOUSING

AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION.

[By

C. R. MENTIPLAY,

Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.)

Sydney, May 3 -When the Minister fore the end I of next year, many Australians added a rider of their own•‘lf we can find somewhere to put them.” In a speech to^ caucus in 1945 Mr ■Calwell guaranteed that ineit would be no large-scale immigration until the problems of demobilisation, Epping and housing had been overdo! Further difficulties: but the third grows in importance as the stream of mi grants thickens. Political Division On May Day Mr E. J. Wa !A ® powerful caucus personality, tol0 _ a Sydney audience that housing had Jieen provided of migrants must be eased. The qual ity or desirability of the migrants was not brought into consideration nt this or a number of speeches by prominent men off the same question They have stated simply, and w.th the backing of an increasing number of Australian citizens, that housing must come before immigration. Mr J. T. Lang, staunch and bitter opponent of the Australian Labour Party, has been hammeripg away at this point of view ever since; themass migration schemes began. With his gift rtf oratory he has let no occasion pass when- he might reveal the gruity of hostels being built for Baltic migrants while Australian couples wait for years in Housing Commission settlements, which are nothing more than temporal v camps designed to last for the duration of the war. The Communist Party and its militant trade unions have added their voices to the outcry, but for once have not increased it appreciably. Their main lines of attack have been the usual ones of branding the newcomers as “Fascists, strike-breakers, and profiteers.” Sortie unions have banned the foreign migrants; but even this type of action is dying out. Australians admit their need for more manpower; but they cannot see how this can be provided in face of the desperate housing shortage. Government’s Case The Federal Government has its answers. First of all, the manpower situation in Australia has never been more serious. The Commonwealth Employment Service books at the end of March showed 114.600 vacant situations, an increase of 500 over the figures for the previous month. Up to that time 13.060 displaced persons had been employed by the service, but still the deflci c grows. . Second, the Government says that there has oecn no real lowering of standards because of the influx of migrants, and that the country can absorb many more before saturation point is reached. It believes that as the great majority of migrants are young people and workers this will ultimately overcome all difficulties as well as* providing a powerful Reinforcement. for industry. Government spokesmen point out that hostel and camp accommodation provided for unmft'riea migrants is not of a standard or in a locality likely to be appreciated by Australian house-hunters. Despite shortages of manpower and materials, the utmost efforts have been rfiade to with the housing situation. but a short-term solution has been demonstrated .to be impossible. The main reason for this is that during the war years virtually all home-

building ceased. When war endM Australia found herself under necessity of overhauling this tremendous lag as well as carrying on with post-war building. in three and a quarter years endins September 30, 1948, 103,607 houses valued at £119,755.000 were completed in Australia. In the last quarter ot that period 12.167 houses were finished. and the rate of construction was higher than at any time since 1927. Even so, many grandiose schemes proved impossible to fulfil. The New South Wales Government promised 70,000 new homes in three years, but despite keen direction and a comprehensive policy will be lucky to complete two-thirds of that number. New South Wales alone required 12.000 new homes every year, and there is, a war-time lag of 50,000 to be made good. Material Shortages Indications are that home building will become more difficult this year than ever before. In New South Wales brick supplies are expected to be about 140.000,000 sort of demand, a world shortage of asbestos has reduced the supply of asbestos sheeting. and structural steel is almost ui> procurable by the home builder. Irf. dustrial expansion is claiming a large proportion of what materials become available. Even so, it is believed that the ent of this year will see more homes completed in Australia than ever before. Whether they can all be provided with water, light, gas, sewerage services, and plumbing is another matter. Steel and iron production continues to lag, without much hope of improvement. This means continued shortages of steel for household equipment, galvanised iron for plumbing' and roofing, and iron and steel piping for urgently needed extensions of water, light, power, gas. and sewerage services. New South Wales, which produces the great bulk of Australia’s iron and , steel, requires 32.000 tons this year and will receive only 12,500 tons. The cost of importing such items is often more than three times that of locally-made products. Housing Camps * Government agencies such as the New South Wales Housing Commission are doing their best to help deserving cases. Still, thousands of Australian couples are housed in such notorious camps as Hargrave Park, near Liverpool. A converted army camp comprising mostly iron sheds, it has been divided into 900 “flats” (obtained by partitioning each hut into three 40-foot sections) in which live 4200 persons, of whom more than half are children. Only the most urgent cases go to Hargrave Park, where they wait an average of 18 months before their Housing Commission home is completed. Six months ago a Liverpool magistrate, Mr A. E. Debenham. said that the camp was "a den of iniquity and a centre of vice and crime.” Th# court record of the settlement shows 892 cases in 1945, 1411 in 1946, 1991 in 1947, and 2534 in 1948, and crimes include murder and the most revolting of other offences. The Commonwealth plans to spend £11.000.000 on temporary housing for migrants in areas where industry is short of manpower. Manv believe that this sum would be better used in abolishing such settlements as Hargrave Park by providing homes for its residents.