CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 10, 12 July 1944, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE

HOUSING AND HEALTH

SMALL BUILDER'S PART

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Much has recently appeared in the Press regarding housing, and I am writing after reading a couple of items which appeared recently—a letter from the secretary of the Wellington Carpenters' Union, and a reference to the disinclination of youth to enter the building trade. I returned from the war after escaping from Crete, and I managed to secure a Government house some time afterwards. But I do not want to live in a Government house if I can avoid it. Where I live reminds me far too much of a great official barrack town and I went to war to fight regimentation. Secondly we have had a new arrival since my return and shortly he will have to sleep in the living-room, as our other child is a girl, a state of affairs the State never planned for. Anyway, I do not want to be hanging about Government offices every time there is an increase in the family. I want a home of my very own in which to rear my children.

Before going overseas I was a carpenter, and I studied and learned so that some day I might become a builder on my own account. Yet if I was fit what would I face? The life of the foreman who taught me the trade. He told me recently that for the past year he had done nothing but drive four-inch nails, knocking frames together. And this is what mass production offers to most men, no matter how skilled—one dull, endless job requiring neither initiative nor skill but the brain and arm of an automaton. And whilst we become the victims of collectivism the costs of housing soar to such heights that the State simply refuses to divulge them. It begins to keep secret matters of a purely domestic nature. At the same time men are impressed for house building by the application of emergency war regulations. Many of the impressed men are members of the Carpenters' Union who foolishly do not attend the meetings but allow the 10 per cent, or less who do attend to quietly take from them their democratic rights. With all of this the housing position constantly deteriorates, as it has since the Government first disregarded and hit the private small builders, mainly because they were so numerous and not union members. However, every ibuilder knows that the small builder was and is the most efficient building unit in the land, and that if he was given the opportunity he would retrieve the housing disaster without regimenting the trade or the people. He would build for a social purpose without "presiding over the inauguration of National Socialism." A small builder with a couple of men and an apprentice work efficiently and in concert, and as they all carry out every phase of the work, it is not mentally destructive and deadening. As regards "luxury building" every man knows that the Government is the greatest culprit.—l am, etc., CITIZEN SOLDIER.

Sir, —If anything 'is calculated to shock the sensibilities of citizens, it is the report of the members of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Trained Nurses' Association. The factual statements therein disclose a disgraceful state of affairs. What is the Health Department doing to bring the question of these people's predicament to the attention of the Government? A drastic jolt to the complacency of members of Parliament is badly needed to make them alive to the miseries and necessities of some of those among us. Insanitary and inadequate housing are a blot on our professed civilisation.—l am, etc.,

Sir, —I have read from time to time comments on the housing position, and while these are sincere they do not cover all considerations; Many people will cling to the city, with no tram fares and the pictures, and their friends around. Some are on "depression" rents and expect the "villain of a landlord" to paint and do - every thing for the small rent he gets. If there are rats why not set a few traps? There must be hundreds of dustbins with no bottoms on where the rats are getting their stores in for the winter. lam 168 years old, but I sweep all crumbs from the floors at night, and have no vermin. This is some of the spirit which ought to be inculcated into people—self-dependence and selfreliance.

Many are earning big wages. Why have they not looked round for a section to have a house built? The old pioneers, did this, and they were strong and healthy. They did not sit down and wait for a State house. As far as the allocation of the State houses is concerned, it would be interesting to get a list of those who have been granted one. I know some applicants have been waiting for years, but the Government picked the ones who could pay.

There are plenty of people who would let rooms, but they will not put up with the mental worry again of Government taxation and repairs at peak prices, even if one can get a job done.

As far as health is concerned we should educate people to think intelligently, eat the right food, 'and inculcate the spirit of doing unto others that which you wish others to do unto you. If we do this and put into practice the principles of friendship, love, and truth, the sooner we will have a healthy population.—l am, etc...

OPTIMIST.

FORESTS AND EROSION

Sir, —I would like to draw attention to the preparations now being made to mill the native bush in the Te Mara Creek basin. This creek is a tributary of the Waipoua River, about 14 miles north of Masterton. The area ranks with Mount Holdsworth as one of the only remaining samples of unspoiled native forest on the Eastern Tararuas. It has long been considered inviolate, but it is understood that negotiations have been on foot to mill it. Public opinion in this district is decidedly hostile to the proposal, but that it is being overridden is shown by the fact that work on the access road is in full swing, and the bush, is being cruised and the trees marked for removal. The usual statements are being made about only removing mature trees, careful milling, and forest management, etc., but I can assure the public after a personal inspection that all millable trees, including mere saplings of 14 inches diameter, are marked for removal. These include rimu, matai, miro, kahikatea, rewa rewa, red beech, and, I believe, any maire that can be got. I understand that the State "Forest Service is endeavouring to escape responsibility by ostensibly leaving the final decision to the Wairarapa Catchment Board. It would be a masterpiece of irony if a board for the conservation of soil and rivers control, along with a conservator of State forests, were to be responsible for the destruction of such a beautiful and vitally essential area as the Te Mara Creek bush. High hopes were held of the new catchment boards, and I think that the public will be staggered that such an act as this should be the first official act of the Wairarapa board when it holds its first meeting on July 18. It was stated at the last meeting of the Masterton Borough Council that it was costing the council £1000 a year to combat erosion in the Waipawa and Wainga.wa Rivers, with which it is concerned. This is undoubtedly due to bush destruction. Also the council recently spent several hundred pounds in a fruitless endeavour to supplement its water supply from a diminishing Waingawa River. Surely it is time that the State Forest Service is relieved of the necessity of having to show a favourable financial balance each year by sacrificing its assets, and starving maintenance and replacements? I think our future timber supply position is worthy of a better appreciation than that. Under the present position the service is obliged to do what I am quite sure it heartily disapproves of, and in addition has to concoct soothing syrup for the public.

The Wairarapa can show no attempt at commercial afforestation; on the contrary almost all the pinus insignis and bluegums have gone through the mill, as well as most of the little longcherished clumps of natives around homesteads. The facing of this serious problem is evidently to be still further shelved as long as a few tempting remnants such as Te Mara Creek remain. I could enlarge to much length on erosion aspects, the regenerations of indigenous milled areas, replanting of exotics, etc., but have trespassed on much, space already.—l am> etc- mwo&