SLUM AREAS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 13, 15 July 1936, Page 13

SLUM AREAS

LEGAL SHOT MISSES

DEMOLITION ORDER REFUSED

IMPORTANT DECISION

"The sooner the responsible authorities are able to formulate and carry out a concerted plan to eradicate slum conditions the bettor it will be for the 'whole community," said Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., when delivering a reserved

judgment, dismissing an application for

a demolition order, in the Magistrate's .': Court today. Mr. Luxford said that counsel for the Wellington City Council (Mr. A. R. Cooper) during the hear- • ing of the application, had laid stress on the necessity of eradicating slum conditions. Slums would never, however, be eradicated by spasmodic applications for demolition orders. Section 306 of the Municipal Corporations Act,-which said that there must be a minimum air space around dwellinghouses, was intended to prevent the creation of new slum areas, and gave no power to demolish old, dwellinghouses without the necessary air space built before the Act came into force. Mr. Luxford said that the contention of the Wellington City Council, that the. section covered all houses whenever, built, raised an important question which if decided in the Corporation's/favour would have far-reaching . consequences. In short, the owner of , every dwelling-house in a borough that .- did not comply with section 308 re- . garding minimum air space, might be ... faced with the necessity to pull it down whenever required by the Corporation to do so. An application was made by the Wellington City Council for a demolition .order in respect of a building Bft by 12ft, let as a furnished bedroom, and ... situated at the rear of a building at . ,No. 71 Ghuznee Street. The small building had no air space on two sides, and on a third was partly obscured by .. a woodshed. The Corporation contended that the building was very old, badly constructed, and in a general state of disrepair and decay. Mr. Luxford ; held that all the defects disclosed were , capable of remedy/justifying the use of closing-order procedure to secure re- . pairs being effected. Demolition of the building could not be ordered on the ground of lack of air space, because the building had been built before 1907. Mr. A. R; Cooper appeared for the Wellington City Council and Mr. A. B. Sievwright for the owner of the building. -