CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28869, 14 April 1959, Page 7

CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES

Decline l ln Use Of Wood

The proportion of houses in New Zealand with their outer walls constructed of wood continues to decline. In 1951, 79 out of every 100 houses were predominantly wooden, but in 1956. the figure was 75 out of every 100.

Materials little used 30 years ago have increasingly come into use. For instance, where 800 houses were returned in 1926 as having outer walls of proprietary wall board of asbestos type, the number had increased to 26,000 in 1956.

Rough-cast houses, some 2000 in 1926, were numbered at 28,000 in 1956. This information is contained in the volume on Dwellings and Households, of the 1956 Census ot Population series, which has been published by the Government Printer, according to advice from the Government Statistician (Mr J. V. T. Baker). The number of inhabited permanent private dwellings increased by 13.98 per cent, between the 1951 and 1956 censuses while the population increased by 12.10 per cent. Of the 563,052 private houses, 41,669 or 7 per cent, were classed as flats, and 94 per cent, of these flats were situated in cities and boroughs. Number of Rooms Almost three-quarters of New Zealand houses have fewer than six rooms; 37 out of every 1000 houses are five-roomed, and 17 out of every 100 are six-roomed. Compared with the latest available overseas figures, the year being indicated in parenthesis after the country. New Zealand has a high proportion of fiveroomed and six-roomed houses—--54 out of every 100, compared with seven out of every 100 in Finland (1950), 17 in France (1954) and Norway (1950), 39 in Canada (1951), and 38 in the United States (1950). New Zealand, on the other hand, has a low proportion of one-roomed and two-roomed houses, five out of every 100, compared with 5) out of every 100 in Finland. 29 in France and 28 in Norway. New Zealand has also a low proportion of houses with seven or more rooms—nine out of every 100, compared with 24 in Canada. 16 in the Netherlands (1947), and 15 in the United States. Where New Zealand has 32 houses out of every 100 with three and four rooms, the United States has 37, Britain 41 (1951), Norway 49, and France 50. The size structure of New Zealand houses is nearest to that of Australia (1954), which has however, relatively more houses of seven rooms and over and fewei three and four-roomed houses. The average number of persons a house in New Zealand decreased from 3.61 in 1951 to 3.58 in 1956, so continuing the gradual decline in average ovex the last 30 years. Taking dwellings of the Maori population only, the average number of persons a house was 5.52 in 1951 and 5.57 in 1956.