The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1919. THE KEY TO THE HOUSING PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 8, 4 October 1919, Page 8

The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1919. THE KEY TO THE HOUSING PROBLEM

On the eve of an election it is tlways' necessary, and sometimes iifiicult, to distinguish between iractical- proposals of a construc.ivo character aud electioneering ;alk which is unlikely to lead to angiblc results. Looking from this itandpoint at what has been saud iboufc .housing in recent times in Parliament, at . local body meet- ' ngs, and: elsewhere, it' seems itrangc tiiat little attention has icon given to one of the most vital ispects of the problem, that, namey, of securing the labour lorn; vhich must he obtained if ' houses ire to be built in: such numbers ns rill meet demands. This is not by my means the only difficulty to he ivcrcomc. It will be atbest any•hing but an casv. matter to buy and and build dwellings which can )e sold at prices reasonably, within he means of those who need them. Jut. the question of-obtaining, an wicquatc force of building : tradesnen is certainly-vital. At present :vcvything points to the fact that hesc tradesmen arc not available In tnything like the _ numbers roinired. to meet existing demands. Ul are agreed thatthe current) rate if building must bo greatly cxpelited- if the housing snortage, is to >p. relieved, and it follows that anything that is done in the way of. Ira-wing up a. national housing H'ogramme is and will be labour in ■ain until the question of obtaining in. adequate number of competent vorkmen is faced,and dealt with die position, here ■ in Wellington vas brought out clearly at the- lastnecting of the City Council; The Mayor'opposed'the conversion of ! our dwelling-houses into a factory m the ground that if they could lie itiliscd in. this way_. they could be nade habitable as houses. Mn. Luke ;ave some harrowing details from lis own late experience of the evils )f the housing' shortage. He told if women and children cast out of iheiv homes and with no other lomes to go to. At the same time re pointed out that the situation A'as becoming niore-acute with, the irrival of every 'ship with soldiers ind their-wives. - Finally he stated, chat no tenders, had been received for, the erection of the houses. the Council proposes to build at Maraud, and that the Engineer had reported that he could not get the 'abour to build them. , All the elements of a truly deplorable situation are thus disclosed,- and it is manifest _ that the factor of all jthers which meantime paralyses aciion towards finding a remedy is the ihortage of building labour. In normal buiiden would compete briskl'- for such contracts is are going Waring' at Maramii, ind the total neglect of these enniracts, together with the inability if the Citv Council to obtain labour to build the houses under the supervision of its own officers, is a ■triking addition to the evidence ilready in sight in regard to the icute shortage of, building labour. It is not in doubt that the experience of the Council in this matter fairly reflects conditions which are leneral. over a- great part of the Dominion The Labour Department, it is true, is said to have obtained a considerable number of tenders for the dwellings it is about to erect in various parts of the immtrv, but in some areas it also, according to a recent report, has received no benders from builders. The extreme difficulty of securine: labour locally is familiar to all <vhn are in any way in 'touch with building operations, and if building tradesmen were short of employment in any part'of the Dominion they would, of course, be attracted tn"\Vol'\ngton and other centres where the shortage is apparent and acute It cannot be emphasised too strongly that any housing scheme which does not provide for augmenting considerably the body of building labour now available will leave the problem /or practical purposes untouched. The return of the six rjr seven thousand soldiers who have vet to be repatriated is much more likely to accentuate the existing coneestion than to afford relief hv makir.or additional labour available. Until definite steps are taken to obtain this additional labour in the only way possible—by importing it from abroad—all. talk about a Kreat programme of house construction is mere moonshine. It is expected that the Housing Bill which the Government is about to bring down will authorise loans to local authorities to enable them to erect dwellings and dispose of them on terms- as easy as the prices of land find materials and the cost of building operations will permit. Some local bodies arc already showing enterprise which - in itself is creditnble. For instance, the Wellington City Council, though its building scheme at Maranui is at a standstill for; lack of labour, has followed up its purchase of land at Northland by purchasing another block at Khandallah. This is action on right lines; . it ought to make, -reasonably cheap building sections available. It renin inr, true, however, that until additional labour is obtained .any other measures taken with a view to.relieving the housing shortage will be r>f little effect. If the Government is sincerely intent on finding n remedy its course is plain. It must at once uncertain whether there are building tradesmen in Great Britain who contemplate emigrating, nnd if there are offer reasonable inducements to as many as can be placed to come to New Zealand. The number whirb can be placed, and given a guarantee of employment

for some years at least tc come, is certainly large. It is a material point also that such a scheme of immigration would permit ami facilitate the treatment of the housing problem ■ on systematic lines. As one member of Parliament pointed out yestcnh.y something would be done to reduce tin; cost of building if the Government organised tlu: supply of materials and the standardised production of joinery and other parts and fittings of These methods arc being applied in Great Britain; they have been practised with marked success in other countries, notably in the United States. There is not much nrospeel; of applying (hem in Now Zealand, however, until (he (.Tnvernmont .has secured such a body of building tradesmec as it can obtain on!v hv immigration,