THE HOUSING PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 18717, 20 August 1924, Page 4

THE HOUSING PROBLEM

ILLUSTRATED LECTURES. ' Tho Modern House ’ was the subject of two illustrated - lectures given under tho auspices of tho Workcrs’_ Educational Association in the Homo Science department, Otago University, last night, tho speakers being Professor Strong, B.Sc., and Miss A. Wilson, B.C.E. (U.S.A.). Mr A. Munro presided over a large attendance. At the outset Professor Strong said that all tho world over the housing problem was very keenly felt at the present time. She intended to epoak in a purely impersonal way, and to take a world view of the subject. She then proceeded to discuss the connection between health and housing. People could not live healthy lives in insanitary houses, but how the problem was to be met sho did not know. Tho housing problem had not yet been solved anywhere. It existed wherever any portion of the population lived under conditions dangerous to health. The health of a community was not determined by tho average mode of living, but by tho poorest. Overcrowding forced several families into houses designed for one family, which became the. worst kind of “ slum.” Measures for prevention were bettor than hospitals. Efficiency in home management led to efficiency in city management. Municipal administration was housekeeping on a larger scale. The modern house tended towards simplification and elimination of the useless and unnecessary, and on account of its elaborate equipment was more costly and was harder to plan. Intensive housekeeping and intensive house-planning were signs of the times. If we demanded greater comfort the cost was bound to bo greater, and that tended to make the houses smaller. The house was primarily for protection from the elements and from enemies. The enemies to-day were germs. Wo needed a house, also, as a place from which wo could make our contacts with the world in a social way. In choosing a house we had to take into consideration structure, sanitation, arrangement, location, and adaptability to our physical and social needs. The rooms of a house were divided into (1) public rooms, where visitors are received and tho family gathers; (2) private rooms, sleeping, dressing, study, or thinking; (3) work rooms, where work required for physical needs of the family are carried out; (4) grouped together by halls and stairways or passageways, all under one roof. She was going to speak of what the modern house to-day usually was, but that did not necessarily mean that she was advocating that. Several slides were then shown depicting a modern slum alley and a number of typical house plans. Tho lecturer said that making a homo beautiful and attractive was not so much a matter of money as of taste and arrangement. One of the modern tendencies was to have the furniture built in, and even the beds were being built in. Tho secret of the modern house was to make the work easy by having the tools just where they were wanted. The women of to-day wanted to save steps and energy. The modern house was using color somewhat daringly. A room to lie efficient should be planned for the purpose for which it was used. Simplicity and harmony in interior management and furnishing turned a house into a home.

Miss Wilson dealt with the housing problem as solved in England and America by co-partnership ownership. She said that the solution of the housing problem was at the foundation of all social progress. She drew attention to the low death rate in Messrs Cadbury’s model village in Manchester, which rate was only about a third of that of Manchester City. She explained the idea of co-partnership and how it was carried out. In a- copartnership society the capital was raised by soiling shares "or stock. The selected area was built on on certain fixed conditions. Financial arrangements were made enabling the tenants to proceed eventually to ownership, and, indeed, before they paid for their houses they enjoyed all the privileges of ownership. A recreational and educational centre for all acres was provided with indoor and outdoor units. The individual houses should be limited to a few types for economy, but these plans could bo varied in various ways so as to avoid the effect of uniformity. Several English and American experiments in co-partnership housing were -described and illustrated by slides. Professor Strong stated that Miss Wilson had boon one of the architects of a model village she had described. Both lecturers were accorded a hearty vote of thanks, and the Chairman said it had been most gratifying to find that thinking people throughout the world wore waking up to the vital importance of housing and town planning.