HOUSING THE PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 205, 24 May 1919, Page 6

HOUSING THE PEOPLE

RECOMMENDATIONS OF TOWN • PLANNERS SUBSIDY OF £1,000,000 REQUIRED j The Hon. J. T..Paul presented to till Town-planning Conference yesterday the report of a committee set up to consider . housing. Tho committee made tho following recommendations:—'"That the Government recognise the housing shortage as one of pressing national necessity and that the Government co-operate with the local authorities in carrying _ out housing schemes on town-planning lines, that, tho State .undertake to iinancp (ha schemes,- while leaving a -reasonable degree of. initiative and subsequent fuil control "in tho hands' of the municipalities; that the. Government subsidise locai bodies 'up to due-third of' tho cost of approved building schemes; that the Gov. eminent lie recommended to at ones set aside the sum of ,£1,000,000 as a 6ub-< sidy to carry out the above resolution; that t!ie Government be earnestly requested to undertake the building of a. garden city on the lines laid down by Mr. S. Hurst Seager.in his paper; that tho Government should restore- the prewar railway service as early as possible.'*Speaking'upon the report, Mr.. R. Scnn pie, M.l'., expressed the opinion that landlordism was the root cause of tho hovel.

Sfr. P. Eraser, M.P., said that he wished to warn tho conference against tho Utopianism of .believing that once an attempt had been mado to solve the liou£j ing problem all other social problems would immediately vanish. The physical welfare of, the people, he admitted, must be attended to first, but people were not mere animals, and thoir wants would not end with tho satisfaction of then? desire for homes. Speaking not as a Minister of tha Crown, but. as a privato citizen, the Hon. G. \\. Russell expressed the opinion that if the provision of adequata housing for the people was to cost .£5,000,000, he could show the Treasurer in five minutes how to obtain the luonejw He warned the conference that if too ■'high a standard were set for the-design-ing of workers' dwellings it would not be possible to provide so many dwellings. All the building should be dono with a view to comfort and efficiency, but not to luxurv. The Hon. J. T. Paul contended that the provision made under the Workers Dwellings Act had not been sufficient to meet the requirements of the country. The State had failed. Collective action i was what was needed now, and he. \nuued to see the local bodies and the Gov ernment working together to cure what bad rieWly be called "The Empires Heart Disease." The report was adopted.