HOME HUNGER

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 149, 20 December 1929, Page 10

HOME HUNGER

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I came to Wellington with tha savings of my lifetime prepared to purchase a piece of land, build a hoUBe, and settle down here for the rest of my days, and live upon the pension allowed me by the institution to which I have given the best of my life. After scrutinising your newspaper night after night, interviewing land cgents galore, and inspecting numerous sections at ridiculously high prices all round the city and suburbs, I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible for anyone with a small capital who wants a home to live in this city without being tied to a substantial mortgage far beyond his means. In fact, this appears to have become the custom in Wellington. Still, there are numerous sections in the suburbs covered with goree and broom which have been of no use to man since Captain Cools discovered New Zealand, held by people who without a blush are asking three to five hundred pounds and more for an eighth of an acre, and as the city grows these sections will be forced higher in value and genuine home-seekers will have to pay these tremendous prices, or the alternative of paying an exorbitant rent for some comfortless flat. Is it not the wish of the public that this "dog-in-the-manger" speculation should be prevented? Say, for instance, a man holds a section for two or three years in a growing suburb, and does not build or use it in any way, surely he should be compelled to put it up to auction, and the section sold to tho highest bidder on condition that th* purchaser builds a house and occupies it within twelve to eighteen months from time of purchase. This would give the purchaser a chance of obtaining a section at a price he could afford to pay and do away with fictitious values. At present people are hanging on to sections knowing that the land must be obtained before a Government loan is granted, therefore an anxious home-seekec has to allow himself to be squeezed to the limit for a section, so as to obtain the advantage of the Government's tempting offers for buildfng a house. The farm lands boom caused a hard knock to this country. Is it possible that the writing is on the wall for a set* back in the town and suburbs section boom, and, if so, how will the Government Advances get on? . If my sugegstion and conjectures are' wrong, I shall be glad if some more able pen than mine will point it out to me, as I cannot see that a section in area of an eighth of an acre should be worth mora than £250 in any suburb in Wellington. if one considers the average earnings of the people.—l am, etc.,, A BUST.

A correspondent ("Quo Fata Vocant") thinks the Railway Department should issue weekly tourist tickets. He writes:— "Briefly, the person that can aSord % month's holiday can also afford to pay full fare. What of the many thousands that can only get a week and could not afford more—without wages—if offered? The Railway Department has no hope of successfully competing with the motorlorry for day picnics. A weekly tourist ticket, perhaps with a little increase pro rata on the monthly ticket, may possibly turn a deficit into a negotiable balance.'' "Victim" writes:—"ln spite of the explanations which from time to time appear about the change-over, its advantage to the. ordinary household consumer is hard to detect. To him, and especially to her, the only advantages that accrue are incon* venience, household disorganisation, and serious expense. Indeed, a strong case can be made out for compensation. Mr. Ed? tor, what about it?"