HOUSES FOR £300

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 30, 4 August 1926, Page 10

HOUSES FOR £300

CHRISTCHURCH BUILDERS' OFFER

TO GET RID OF HOVELS

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to ''The Evoning Post.")

CHEISTCHUECH, This Day.

Possibly an immediate result of a discussion at a mooting of the Canterbury Builders' Association last oven- I ing will bo an impetus to house construction. The Town Clerk wrote stating that tho City Council would be ,'*lad to receive all information available in connection with tho erection of cheap homes. It had been suggested that the council would erect houses costing in tho vicinity of £300' or £400, which Would be quito comfortable and suitable. The Housing Committee would appreciate information, together with plans and specifications. Mr. W. H. Winsor (secretary) road a report which stated that five years .previously Mr. AViusor had brought before tho City Council, and later before the association, a scheme for tho erection of low-priced dwellings. Many of the dwellings at that time were insanitary and overcrowded, and it was hoped to create a number of small new houses, so that an equal number of dilapidated houses could be destroyed. Tho scheme did not eventuate, not from want of assistance from builders, who Were willing to undertake tho orection of fifty houses without profit to thomsolvcs, but because the handling the idea received from councillors .and other critics tended to load the original idea with a multitude of improvements which wero financially impossible. Another reason was that With the exception of ten or twelve houses which members of the Builders' Association /promised to erect as part of the scheme, if adopted, not one outsider came to light with practical support. Tho hovels of ID2I wore still in existence, showing the necessity for small residences at low rentals. The financial side of the question might be overcome by the Government or municipal authorities agreeing to supply the whole cost of a house, the total value of which, including land, should be, say, £400, tho rout for such a house being guaranteed not to exceed, say, 18s a week. If tho occupant desired to purchase his homo, the owner should bo enabled to sell it to him at a price to be arranged. One point not made clear was what demand there was at present for this class of house. It was agreed to advise the City Council and other inquirers that the members of the association wero prepared to buiTfl houses for £300. A plan of a house which a local builder has offered to erect for £300 has been handed to the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr. J. K. Archer), states the "Lytteltou Timos." The building inspector hus perused the specification, and is of opinion that it provides for a substantial four-roomed cottage, with scullery and washhouso combined, also a bath which would be supplied with hot water from tho copper. There was no provision for washtubs, nor for connecting tho promises with the main sewor, but an additional £50 would probably cover these items. Tho Mayor stated at a meeting of tho Christchurch City Council that a firm of builders had offered to orect two such cottages within three miles of the chief post office for £900, including purchase of tho two sections, but as the sections were outside the city boundary the council's housing scheme could not be availed of, as money was advanced only for houses to be built within the city.