HOUSING SCHEME

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 14

HOUSING SCHEME

QUESTION OF SURVEY

PRIME MINISTER'S EXPLANATION

"It has never been intended that the complete ard'a of every city should be subjected to a housing survey," said the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) on Saturday, when referring to the attitude of the Wellington City Council towards the project. "The Ministry of Housing will readily agree to substantial exemptions,"' he added.

A good deal of misapprehension seemed to exist about the matter, Mr. Savage continued. Up to a point he agreed with the Wellington City Council when it declared that the need for housing was so obvious that a housing survey was scarcely necessary-' The Government had been, well aware of the shortage of housing, but a clamour had gone up from the Press of New Zealand and from many local bodies, stressing the necessity of securing a survey as a preliminary to construction. While the Government had not retarded the preparation of its schemes in any way, it had been considered desirable to give local bodies the machinery and the power to undertake the survey at the earliest possible moment. It had never been intended that the complete area of every city should ba surveyed, and the Ministry of Housing would readily agree to substantial exemptions.

The housing shortage throughout New Zealand was not only apparent, but it had become acute in almost every town; but a housing survey taken in the areas where notoriously bad housing conditions existed would ascertain the number of houses it was necessary to replace, in addition to the-new construction required. There were certain areas in all the large towns that should be surveyed, but anyone could readily see that there was no advantage to be gained by counting the number of rooms in houses where the excess accommodation was pot available. The real purpose of the details required in the housing survey was to ascertain whether there was an overcrowding due to shortage of housing or an overcrowding due to other factors.

In the past, Governments had done little more than provide for new construction, but it was the purpose of the present Government not only to provide for new construction but to plan remedial measures in regard to the deteriorated areas. A- survey of these areas would produce invaluable material, and if the survey was limited to these areas the cost to a local authority would not be excessive. That did not mean that there was any necessity to wait for the survey to engage in a programme of construction on the part of any local body.

"A steady stream. of preliminary inquiries is coming in from local bodies from all over New Zealand, and it seems likely, that, very early in the New Year a large number of small schemes will be undertaken," Mr. Savage said.. "Two local bodies—one at Green Island arid one at Alexandra —have already carried resolutions under the Housing Act, and others are preparing to Carry resolutions. Many inquiries are coming in from dairy factories regarding the offer of 3 per cent, money for the housing of employees and one loan has already been granted."