Government Built 3642 Houses In 1953-54 Year

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27415, 30 July 1954, Page 14

Government Built 3642 Houses In 1953-54 Year

(From Our Parliamentary Reporter)

WELLINGTON, July 29. Houses built by the Housing Division of the Ministry of Works in the year ended March 31, 1954, totalled 3361. A further 281 built by other Government departments brought the total of Government-built houses (apart from 511 built by the Maori Affairs Department to 3642. These figures are given in the report on housing for 1954 presented to the House of Representatives today by the Minister of Housing (Mr W. Sullivan). The annual number of houses built by the Government, according to a table in,the report, has varied between 2950 and 4500 in the last five years. The total of Government-built and privately built houses completed by March 31 in each of the last five years is as follows: 1950, 15,800; 1951, 16,400; 1952, 16,300; 1953, 16,100; 1954, 16,600.

“Although the number of new houses built during the year was a record for this country, the figure of 16,600 reflects only the initial effects of the housing drive, and does not show the acceleration of the building rate during the latter months of the period,” says* the report. “The record total is particularly satisfactory, therefore, in that it was achieved in spite of a slow rate of building, both State and private, in the early stages of the year, and in the face of a substantial wage increase which could have been expected to have a hampering effect.” State Rental Homes State rental houses comprised the bulk of all Government-built houses in the year under review. They totalled 2779, including 137 pre-cut houses and 82 houses at Murupara. Of 177 houses planned for construction under the Government’s scheme of building for sale to persons receiving less than £9OO a year, 59 were completed by the end of the year. Fifteen of these were in Christchurch, 20 in Wellington and 24 in Auckland. The group building of houses for sale by building contractors is also reviewed in the report. Under this scheme, 176 houses are planned in Christchurch, compared with 582 in Wellington and surrounding districts, and 790 in metropolitan Auckland. “Although Government expenditure on direct building was the second highest on record, it was intended to be even higher,” says the report. “The actual expenditure on pre-cut houses was £450.000 less than the amount set aside. Weather conditions caused some delays at important stages of

work, but the lag was due mainly to the failure of the contractors, in spite >of assurances, to build up assembly and erection organisations quickly enough. “The expenditure on State rental and departmental houses was £1,890,000 less than the sum provided. At the beginning of the 1953-54 year, there were 3548 houses in contracts let, but not completed, and the danger seemed to be one of over-expenditure. The letting programme, therefore, was slowed down as a safeguard against this eventuality, with a consequent diversion of builders to other work. When the contract-letting programme was restored to the normal rate, difficulty was found in securing enough tenders to complete the scheduled programme. “Letting of tenders is now up to date, and while it has been disappointing that the vote was not completely spent, the slowing down checked rising costs in State housing, and the year ended with a very satisfactory total of units built.”

The Director of Housing Construction (Mr R. B. Hammond) says in his report that the availability of contractors for State housing work in most urban areas has been reasonably satisfactory, but • considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining tenders for contracts in rural areas. “Many of the tenders received were too high for acceptance,” he says. Direct Government expenditure on housing from the housing construction vote in the 1953-54 year was £10.608,000, compared with £10,709,000 in the record year of 1949-50, and £9,754,000 in 1952-53. Fewer Workers, Higher Output In a review of the labour position in the building trades, the housing report includes a table showing the number of workers in the industry—in October each year—and the number of houses built in the year ending in the next March. This shows that although the labour force fell from 13.466 in October, 1949, to 11,579 in 1953, the number of houses built. rose from 15,800 in the year ended March 31, 1950, to 16,600 this year. The number of houses a worker rose from 1.17 to 1.43 a vear over the period. Immigration is the speediest means of increasing the labour force, and it is hoped to offer employees a .scheme that will encourage them to provide housing for immigrants, the report says.