WORKERS' DWELLINGS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 66, 15 September 1906, Page 5

WORKERS' DWELLINGS.

THE REASON OF THE FIASCO. LABOUR VIEWS. The position which has arisen in regard to workers' homes at Petone is atill engaging, the attention of tho au-* thorities, but from enquiries made today, it does not appear that any way out of the difficulty has yet been discovered. Judging from what was said by Mr. D. ' 'M'Laren, secretary of the Wharf Labourers' Union, the position does nofc come as much of a surprise. His idea is, in the first place, that the deposit of a week's rent required.by the regulations to be sent in with tho application is sufficient to deter a very great many people who are already fairly well circumstanosd in the matter of accommodation. But he goes further. Petone, he argues, wco not by any m-saco a suitable place in which to mak3 tho experiment. There is no congestion out there, there is plenty of land on which to build, and the hardships are practically^ non-existent. Also, things have been said about the sanitary arrangements of the dwellings, which have probably deterred nwny from applying. , Mr. iM'Larsn, however, insists that the proper place to have commenced the experiment was Wellington City, and that it should havo been carried out tn Imes which would havo put the workers' dwellings in active competition with the slum houses which constitute a standing disgrace to the city and tho municipality. Any one can get a more or less decent house at Petone, but in Wellirigton some of the workers are living under conditions which ought not to be tolerated for one moment, and it is in those congested areas, in bis opinion, that' the experiment should have been first made. Consequently, he is not disposed to look upon the fact that only three applications have been sent in for the Petpne dwellings with any degree of surprise. Mr. M'Laren's idea is that the problem of supplying dwellings for workers 6hould be tackled not by the Government, but by the municipalities. It is a local and not a colonial affair, and can best be carried out by the local authorities, more particularly in Wellington. He points out that the colonial municipalities have less power in this dirsction than are possessed by similar bodies in the Old Country, and' appsaTS to think that the problem of providing homes for workers in congested * centres such as Wellington can best- be solved by investing the municipalities with full powers to acquire slum areas, pull down the wretched hovels which in some cases pose as dwelling houses, and erect in their place houses which will be fit to live in and decent to look upon.