HOMES FOR WORKERS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 87, 7 January 1926, Page 6

HOMES FOR WORKERS

RAILWAY DEPARTMENT’S PROVISION DWELLINGS IN AUCKLAND SUBURBS Bt TBLBGRArH-SPECUii OobbEsPonPENj. Auckland, January 6. With the idea of bringing their employees closer to their work and providing them with comfortable homes, the Railway Department has had erected forty-four new homes, this being but part of a larger scheme for the provision of residences. Iwentythree houses have been erected behind the Newmarket railway workshops in a new road. 'Hie homes have been constructed in a valley, but they all receive the sun, and there is no lack of breathing space. In design they are the same, except that every °thcr residence possess a front veranda done iu trellis work, the others having a plain open verandah. Each house contains five rooms, bathroom, kitchen, porch, and back verandah The rooms are most comfortable, and wln.e not being large provide ample room for necessary furniture. Of the twentythree houses at Newmarket all except about four are occupied. One or two have not yet been ouite completed, but that is only a matter of days. The houses that are built on inclines have been raised well above the .ground and their general appearance is that ot well-constructed and solid homes. The remaining twenty-one houses have been erected at Green Lane and are facing the railway station. These residences are similar to those at Newmarket. The tenants are railway employees, and are allocated houses by the Department., They pay as rent one day s salary and 10d. per week for water rates. Rent is taken according to tlic salary received, so that there is no fixed scale. In all cases, the tenants express themselves as being highly satisfied with their new homes, especially when the large number of old houses at high rents that abound in Auckland are taken into account. It is the intention of the Department to continue with the erection of these houses in various parts of the city.