PROBLEM OF HOUSING LARGE FAMILIES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 203, 25 May 1944, Page 4

PROBLEM OF HOUSING LARGE FAMILIES

Chief Reliance On Two Methods

PARTICULAR DIFFICULTY IN WELLINGTON

The difficulty of housing large families was discussed yesterday by Mr. J. Thorn, Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Prime Minister. He said that, the great bulk of the houses being built by the Housing Department were calculated to meet the needs of the majority of the applicants, who were people with small families. Some attention had been given to the problem of building a larger type of house to meet the needs of large families and such buildings would be erected as part of the department’s programme in the future. “Up to the present, however, said Mr. Thorn, “the State Advances Corporation has relied mainly on two methods ot meeting the needs of large families. One is to make available to such families reverted properties, which in some eases have the number of rooms required to meet the need. The other is to purchase old houses and recondition them for occupation by large families. This latter policy is easier to carry out in some towns than in others, and in Wellington particularly there are very great difficulties in tbe way of much being done in this particular connexion. “The needs of about oue-half of the large families who have contacted with -the State Advances Corporation have been met by one or other of these procedures, and every possible avenue is being explored by the corporation to obtain houses by these methods for large families.”

The possibility of military camps not at present in occupation being used temporarily to give relief in the worst cases was referred to Mr. Thorn. He said that this matter had received very close consideration, but the official view was that in attempting to solve the housing problem by using encampments other and possibly worse problems would be created. Mr. Thorn added that in view of the acute bousing problem in Wellington it was inadvisable for men with a wife and a large family to come to the eity, because if they did they would - find themselves in a tragic situation so far as housing accommodation was concerned. *

THE McAULEY CASE

Move From Auckland.To Wellington The remarks he bad made the previous evening when invited to comment on the statement of Mrs. McAuley, whose inability to obtain a State rental house was reported in “The Dominion” yesterday, were amplified last evening by Mr. J. Thorn, Parliamentary Under-Secre-tary to the Prime Minister. He said he was surprised to read that Mr. Petrie, M.P., was alleged to have advised Mrs. McAuley to come to Wellington “as the housing situation was easier, seeing that more building was going on.” Mr. Thorn said that he had, by telephone, drawn Mr. Petrie’s attention to this statement, and that he had. flatly denied it. Mr. Petrie, said Mr. Thorn, had explained that Mr. McAuley had been directed by the manpower authorities to employment in Auckland at which he had refused to work, and had left for Wellington. Subsequently his wife, with the children, wished to join him, but were unable to obtain a permit to travel. At this point Mrs. McAuley had approached Mr. Petrie, told him that het mother and sister lived in Upper Hutt, and asked him to enable her to get a permit to travel, and this he*did. At’ no time did he suggest to her that the housing situation in Wellington was easier. Mr. Thorn stated that when Mr. McAuley declined to work at the direction of the manpower authorities, an action was taken against him in the Magistrates’ Court in Auckland. He failed to appear, and the magistrate issued a warrant for his arrest. He was arrested in Wellington, and on March 27 was fined £5 for breach of the manpower regulations. By this time he was in the Railways Department’s employ as a bus driver, and as bis wife and children were here the manpower authorities decided not to direct him back to Auckland, but to direct him to continue work with the Railways Department. Mr. Thorn said it was not fair to expect the State Advances Corporation to give Mr. McAuley, who had, come to Wellington only a few weeks ago in the above circumstances, a preference in the allocation of a State rental house oyer people living in Wellington, including ex-servicemen, many of whom were in a desperate plight, and whose applications had been lodged for three and four years and sometimes longer.