STATE HOUSING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 89, 16 April 1942, Page 4

STATE HOUSING

CONTRACTS SUSPENDED

TEMPORARY MEASURE

Because of the need for giving priority to defence construction works, State housing contracts are being suspended temporarily.. The Minister of Housing and Public Works (Mr. Armstrong) stated last night that contractors were being paid in full for the work done, except for a retention of 5 per cent, the object being that they and their men could be readily reinstated in jobs as soon as the defence work was completed or if for any reason there was likely to be any loss of time between the completion of one job and the commencement of the next. Only in special circumstances and at the particular request of a contractor had contracts been terminated. "Whatever the outcome of the present situation," said the Minister, "the people can be assured that next to the war effort, the building of homes is regarded as the next essential by the Government, and the State housing programme will be pursued with all possible vigour as soon as the way is clear* Present indications were that the defence building programme should not take a particularly long time to complete, but this could only be decided by the progress of the war. The Minister said he had nothing but the greatest praise for the way in which, the building industry had risen to the occasion and the helpful attitude of merchants and manufacturers, particularly those whose normal business was upset and in some cases seriously affected by the change-over.