Evening Post. TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1920. FIVE HUNDRED HOUSES

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 23, 27 July 1920, Page 6

Evening Post. TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1920. FIVE HUNDRED HOUSES

The history of the co-operative housebuilding movement, so far as it has recorded itself in correspondence, encourages high hope for the future of indutstrial co-operation. Four big building contractors approached the organised unions of the industry, the Wellington Building Trades Federation, with a proposal to .build 500 dwellings in "such, permar nent materials as brick and concrete," the money to be found by the Government; the employers to supply expert supervision, plans, heavy plant (concrete mixers, elevators, etc.); the employers to secure and to assemble necessary materials, purchased at the Government's expense; the unions to supply all labour necessary for expeditious -work j the control of the work to be vested in a Board of three members, consisting of one representative of the employers, one representative of the workers, and one representative of the Government, but "the actual policy to be adopted in the purchase of materials, in the method of construction, and in the placing of man" t.> be under the sole control of the two first-mentioned representatives. In the matter of finance and remuneration the negotiations between the, employers and the federation shaped in the direction of the Government bearing " the whole cost of the buildings^ land, supervision, plant, «tc. ... together with a further charge of 5 per cent, divided equally between the employers and workers," That is to Bay, each of the working parties in this tripartite arrangement was to receive 2£ peij cent, on coat, But the federation declined the 2£ per cent., and, at time of writing it seems likely that tho federation's dividend under this head will take the form of ten out of the 600 dwellings, such ten dwellings to be used by the federation for its members' benefit. As to the employers' 2£ per cent., and whether a system of payment upon costr—however low the percentage—is satisfactory, it ahould not bo beyond the resources of negotiation to find in the present case some financial check that would be a safeguard to the Government. . . \ As to delay, some provision against that form of waste is found in the stipulation that the whole of the 500 buildings are to be completed within twelve nonths. Surely such'a transformation, so unlike the present snail's progress in housing, is worth striving for. Another aid to expedition is found in a clause of the draft agreement providing that these 600 dwellings are to have " first call on all materials, so that there will be no hitch or delay in the progress of the work," and so that there will be "full time to the workers." There is one vital distinction between this proposed co-operative house-building agreement and the proposed tunnel contract between the City Council and Mr. Semple's cooperative miners. The miners will work on a piece rate (so much per foot driven) and the builders on a time-rate; the latter expressly veto " sub-letting and piece-work." Notwithstanding any possible weaknesses in the scheme—weaknesses that perhaps can be better dealt with administratively than by any written formula—jnost people will f eel Jiopeful for an enterprise founded upon a principle that th» employers, in one of their letters to the federation, thus eloquently express:

We are in common agreement with you that a housing scheme on a scale hitherto not attempted in this district must be organised to meet the needs of thepopulation. We are also convinced that the only scheme that carries with it the elements essential to success is one which can depend on the whole-hearted co-operation of the employers on the one hand and the employees on the other.

In another letter one of the participating employers hopes for a " real co-partner-ship," and expresses the sociological opinion that " the time has arrived when all of us must endeavour to do something to carry our professions into practice." Certainly thp co-operative principle, like every other principle, can be recognised only by its fruits, and the time has arrived when the industrial fruits should become tangible. And in no sphere could they show to better advantage than in the housing" of the people.