Parade Of Homes Is Opened By Minister

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28531, 10 March 1958, Page 7

Parade Of Homes Is Opened By Minister

Congratulating the committee, the builders, and furnishers on their work, and chiding the Minister of Transport (Mr Mathison) for saying that it was better than the display of houses he had seen it Wainuiomata, the Minister of Housing (Mr Fox) declared the Christchurch Parade of Homes open on Saturday afternoon. There were about 250 visitors ready to inspect the 15 houses when the short opening ceremony began; soon after there were about 500 persons moving through the exhibition at once, and the crowd increased during the afternoon and evening. “The builders have done a splendid job, though the ranges in my opinion go a little high,” said the Minister. “But they do show that building costs in Christchurch have been lower than in other places in New Zealand.’’

The origin of the house parades had been in the National Housing Council’s concern at rising building costs, and the parades were conceived to allow builders to show what they could do in low and moderate cost groups. It would probably be to the benefit of the people and the builders if there were more parades, said Mr Fox.

Group Building The group building programme in 1954 had envisaged 12,000 homes, of which 7500 had now been built and sold. Of these, 2342 had been built and sold in Christchurch, and there were 113 under construction. “And in this area I hope that there will be 739 units,” said Mr Fox, referring to the State development of the district in which the Parade of Homes is built. “In three years, at the outside, I hope that a happy community will be spread over this area.” From the building of homes sprang all the other building in the community, said Mr Fox. The social structure depended on the way in which people were housed. He was pleased to see that New Zealand was going towards a better standard of housing than ever before. The Government was investigating every avenue for getting new sections, new methods, and new materials. “All I ask is for the utmost cooperation of everyone concerned so that we can break the back of the urgent housing need in the next two years,” said Mr Fox. The opening was attended by

Christchurch members of Parliament and members and officers of Christchurch and surrounding local bodies.

The Mayor of Christchurch (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.), who is chairman of the Parade of Homes Committee, said that Christchurch was a rapidly expanding city, and he asked the Minister that the city should get its fair share of housing in relation to the rest of the country. Christchurch was proud of its builders. The city had a high standard of building, workmanship, and furnishing. The committee had been a fine one, and it had been actuated by the ideal of making the houses good ones. Speaking as member of Parliament for Avon, the electorate in which the parade is situated, Mr Mathison said that he had seen the Wellington Parade of Homes and found the houses very good, but the Aranui ones were superior. He said that, with respect to the furnishers, he hoped that people would pay more attention to the houses themselves. “I do hope that the emphasis will be on the homes rather than the furnishings,” said Mr Mathison.