Victorian Government's Clearing Of Slums

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30156, 13 June 1963, Page 12

Victorian Government's Clearing Of Slums

The Victorian Government was placing much emphasis on the clearance of slums, and during the last f.ew years 150 acres had been cleared, said the Victorian Minister of Housing (Mr L. Thompson) in Christchurch yesterday. “By building multi-storeyed

blocks of flats, we have been able to put 400 persons in an area which formerly housed only 100,” he said. The Government had just completed its third 20-storeyed block in Melbourne. In some of the slum areas, he said, there were 40 or more houses to the acre, with only 12ft frontages.

Mr Thompson, who is also State Minister of Forests, has been inspecting plantations and studying housing trends during his three weeks’ visit to New Zealand. Sections in New Zealand appeared to be much cheaper than they were in Australia, he said. Average-sized sections 10 miles from Melbourne were costing between £l5OO and £2OOO, he said. One housing site in a select area four miles from Melbourne sold recently for £16,000, but Mr Thompson admitted this was a record price..

During the last few days, Mr Thompson, has inspected Government-owned and pri-vately-owned plantations at Balmoral, Hanmer Springs, and Nelson, and in the North Island.

He has also been studying methods used to combat the menace of sirex wasps. “We have been spending £200,000 a year in an effort to control them,” he said.

Mr Thompson said the need for substantial timber resources in Victoria to meet the growing needs of industry, housing and population expansion was never more urgent than at present.

Victoria was producing only 70 per cent, of the timber it used annually, he said. The rest was imported from other states and overseas, including Canada and New Zealand.

In an effort to overcome shortages, the Government had planted a further 4000 acres of softwood trees, he said.