HOUSING

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1924, Page 9

HOUSING

AUCKLAND CITY SCHEME. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Recently I was asked to inspect the housing scheme carried on by the Auckland uty Council and to pass my opinion on it. It is one of the finest and soundest propositions towards solving the problem of housing the .people in', that city. The main object is to give the worker a dwelling cheaply and one that during the 36 years taken to pay. it off will cost practically nothing for maintenance, and will have low insurance charges, besides being vermin and fireproof, roomy, and convenient. The arrangement of rooms and conveniences in the houses shows that the whole scheme was well thought out before being launched. The hall is 4ft 6in wide, running through the centre of the building, and all the rooms open on to it, with the bathroom at the end of the hall. The kitchen is large with a recess for a sink, a range, and large roomy cupboards. There are ventilators in the ceiling, and the back door opens into an open porch, with.a washhonse opening on to the porch on one side, a w.c. on the other side, so that steam or foul air does not penetrate into the living rooms. In the first place the council secured a large block of land convenient to the city and beside the tram line. The sections are practically level, and on the ridge of a hill with a good view for miles around. s The land has been cut up into sections 120 ft deep with 40ft frontage, properly loaded, and a complete drainage system installed. There is ample ground to each house for gardening purposes. On this block fifty dwellings have been completed and fenced in. . . • j _ For. economical reasons standardisation and permanent materials have been adopted. One great benefit of standardisation is' that the contractors have a machine with one man working it ■ witli templets for one house, and he cuts all rafters, joists, door frames, etc., so that the carpenters have only to place them I into position and. nail them, savin" la- I .bour and material. The workmanship in all trades is a credit to the contractors and the. overseer. The frontages are built with four different designs, and all interiors are of the .same-design. The dwellings are of five rooms of the folI lowing dimensions :—Front bedroom lift x. lift 6in, second bedroom lift x 10ft 6in, third . bedroom lift x Bft 6in, kitchen 12ft 6in x lift 7in, living-room with fireplace 14ft x llft.Gin, hall 4ft 6in wide, bathroom 6ft x 7ft sin, washhouse fl \l h %?' he!ghfc to ceilin S from floor Oft. The construction is as follows : Uuter walls of bricks on ed<*e, with Uin cavity;- partitions 3in thick of bricks on edge; interior walls and ceilings plastered and finished white; exterior of walls rough-cast and coloured white; electric light throughout;. porcelain bath and basin in--bathroom; all sashes and frames of steel, with opening casements; front doors recessed to form porch; lar^e linen press opening on to hall; rooV covered with.corrugated iron. Thn-,^ ntract price for eacfi dwelling was £740, roading and drainage cost £70 and the sections £180 each, making a total of £990, or-£IOOO. after allowing for title and so on. The houses are ballotted for and sold for £1000 each. The purchasers weekly charges>average 25s to 275, and there is a small deposit, winch it should, be easy for any worker to find. Payment is spread over 56 years. I understand that if, in the near future, wages should.fall the 36 years period will be lengthened .so that the weekly payments can be lowered. This would, be quite safe, as the life of the building i s longer, owing to the permanent materials. The depreciation in 36 years should be very little. The above figures will surprise some of jour readers when they compare them with, what they have paid for a similar sized residence in Wellington, built of timber, and costing for. building alone anything from £1000 to £1500. In the timber house, also, there is costly upKeep, and, with the ravages of borer and the timber coming out of young trees that some of the present buildings are built of, the house may have to be rebuilt at the end of 25' years. The worker who secures one of the Auckland houses is fortunate. The Auckland City Council intends continuing the scheme, which reflects great credit upon the Mayor, the • councillors, and the engineer. Wellington could do just the same as Auckland and better if it would only wake up to the fact that millions of yards of shingle and sand for doing the walls, foundations, chimneys, and plastering could be got out of the Hutt River for building in solid concrete in monolithic forms which is admitted by the Government to be the best class of concrete construction. This would do away with timber construction, besides giving the borer a bit of a setback.—l am, etc., 11. E. MANNING. 16th June.