TENANTS TAKE OVER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 70, 20 September 1937, Page 10

TENANTS TAKE OVER

■ MINISTERIAL HELPERS

HOUSING SCHEME

With his coat and hat off, and a large divan chair perched neatly on his right shoulder, the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) marched up the front steps, swung round the door without hitting anything, deposited the chair in the front room, and declared open for occupation the first of the State houses at Miramar on Saturday afternoon. It was no trouble at all. Indeed, just to show how little there was to it, he returned to the van, and, with a coatless Minister of Public Works at one end, helped to carry in a solid-looking table. He thoroughly earned the three cheers that the large crowd gave when he had finished with the chair. Any amateur removalist knows how exasperating it is to carry a chair that is liable to become unmanageable at any minute, but to do it without a hitch in front of some hundreds, calls for more poise and strength of purpose than the average person can muster. The Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash) shed his coat and lent a willing hand, and the Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones), with his sleeves rolled up in businesslike fashion, «howed the crowd how to handle a chair The Under-Secretary Responsible lor All This (Mr. ,J. A. Lee) devoted himself to a little light fatigue duty, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the throng enjoy this novel interlude immensely. \ The keys of the house were handed over to the tenants, Mr. and Mrs. D. McGregor and their two children, by the Prime Minister after members of Cabinet had addressed the gathering. They were introduced by Mr. Lee, who is in charge of the housing scheme. The Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R.SemPje) said it was his very great privilege to welcome the Pnme\ Minister: to Wellington East, the speaker's electorate.. This day was a red-letter' day in Miramar's history. "We are endeavouring to develop, the saying that an-Englishman's, home is his castle into a living reality," said Mr Semple, "and this is the beginning of 'a great national job. There are thousands of citizens who are homeless in the true sense of the word, and the Government has set out on the task of building homes in every town and village in the Dominion. Some people may say that the progress we have made is not rapid enough, but when the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and Mr. Lee tell you the difficulties that have to be overcome in the way of materials.and other things, you will-be surprised that we have made the progress we have made.

TENANTS CONGRATULATED. After having congratulated Mr. and Mrs. McGregor, the Prime Minister said.that this occasion was only a beginning. He recalled that he had had to build a home, and the only tools he had were a crosscut saw and an axe They were living in a state of affairs today that enabled them, provided they were reasonably intelligent to provide uprto-date means of Hying lor the people. He congralu-| jated Mr. Lee and Mr. A. Tyndal) (Director of Housing) and the other ; officers, and the builders of the homes on tie job they had made. The only thing that stood between the Govern-; men! and the achievement of its piuv pose were labour and materials. it; is hardly necessary for me to assure those who are inclined-to spend .their! lays ilthe building industry that any efforts. that-they, put forward to carry on the building programme will not be responsible for reducing wages or conSof labour" said Mr. Savage. "Wehave'to provide houses under reasonable conditions, and it is only common.senseto say that those concerned need not be afraid that conations are-going to be made worse because they are Putting on some speed ?n the construction of these houses. I? the men and women interested ra the housing of our people do theu share,X7can rely on it that we will d°The r Prime Minister said that they had a big job ahead of them, because they were twenty years behind the times "I am assured that we are^at leart £16,500,000 to £17,000,000 behind today's needs," he continued. "That will give you some idea of. the problem we are facing today. We are not running away from that problem, and we are more confident than ever that* we can do the job. We have the timber in New Zealand, and we have the labour, and I think we can set more. The.time has arrived when we will not only have to use our artisans but train more. We want to train New Zealanders to build a country in the Pacific that will give them no reason to'be ashamed of their citizenship Of what I consider to be the finest country on earth." Mr Savage added that it was no use shutting'their eyes to the fact that housing conditions would be reflected in the race that was to be, and he emphasised the need for housing the children in decent conditions. Mr Nash said there was no problem associated with life in general in New Zealand of greater importance from the Government's point of view than the problem of finding houses for the children' to be brought up in. When the Government took office they waited for six months to see what would happen. In six months the demand became so great that construction prices went up by £150. That meant that a house that could be constructed for £700 in 1935 was costing £850 to £900 in less than six months. The Government took the matter in hand, and without interfering with any builder that could erect a house according to Government standards, it came into it and supplemented what was being done by the private builders. "If it is a case of borrowing money," said Mr. Nash, "we will do something with the State Advances to get money to build the houses. If the private builder is willing to help the Government provide houses, the Government will see that he has a share'in the building of houses."

SUPPLY NOT ADEQUATE.

Mr. Nash said that the first contracts were let at Miramar and Lower Hutt. There were now 280 being built at the Hutt, and they did not meet half the demand, because of the fact that the rearranged policy of the Government in,lifting wages and salaries and improving pensions gave people a chance, far better than they had had for ten years, of getting married. ."There are thousands of young people married today," he said, "because they have incomes that they would not have had if the present Government had.not come into office. (Hear,-hear.) There were tens of thousands of people who were living in two rooms. Changed circumstances have given them a chance to get out of rooms, and they are clamouring for houses because they can now pay the rent for them. People who could not pay 10s rent before come to me and ask me to get them a house, and they are offering 305." Mr. Nash went on to say that the Government had 1485 houses in course of construction—2s per cent, of the largest number that were ever erected

in any year in this Dominion. The Government's job was to provide houses —not the circumstances to enable people to make a profit. There were fifty contracting firms concerned in the scheme, contracts had been let in 27 places; and nearly 500 houses had been finished. "The Government will not stop," said Mr. Nash; "it is going on as far as it possibly can until everybody in this Dominion shall have the right, if they are married, to go into a house and call it home. You cannot have two homes in one house. We do believe that everybody is entitled to a home. We are helping all the private builders to put up all the houses that can be constructed. If those behind the work will only respond to the spirit that is actuating the Government in its housing policy, we will make this country the country that your Prime Minister and the rest of his colleagues have longed for."

Mr. Lee concluded the speeches by paying a public tribute to the loyal and efficient manner in which his staff had worked, and the task of moving in started. After Mr. Savage had done his share of the i-emoving, the crowd sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," and the Ministerial party departed.

SEVERAL HOUSES IN USE.

Eight of the houses at Miramar have been completed, and six were occupied on Saturday. Not being tied to an official time-table, some of the tenants were actually ahead of the ceremony, and moved in in. the morning.