MR LOVE REPLIES

Evening Star, Issue 19606, 12 July 1927, Page 2

MR LOVE REPLIES

SAYS SCHEME IS PRACTICABLE Mr J. \ T . Love, of tho Love Construction Co., Ltd., writes re “ Builder’s ” criticism jm last week’s page “.1 read with interest in last week’s notes the remarks of a builder concerning my ideas of cheap houses. I shall be only too willing to supply any information I possess for the benefit of ‘ Builder ’ or anyone interested. In the first place 1 have not .had forty-seven years’ experience (perhaps that is in my favor), nor do I suppose that I am exceptionally clever, but 1 claim an average amount of common sense. The sentiments that have given rise to the statement regarding price are simply these: In dealing with the housing problem it is useless to build houses for people costing eight or nine hundred pounds when they can afford only two hundred or four hundred as the case might be. It is quite obvious to me that we must provide the cheap house for tho largo numbers of our people, even to the extent of omitting all the luxuries of the modern homo (conspicuous by their absence in their present homes), and providing sanitary, wellventilated, and comfortable houses in a better setting. , “Now we come to the question of price. I have no special means of procuring timber, laud, etc., at cheaper rates than other builders, so that if 1 outline tho case ‘Builder’ can prepare his own estimate. The statement regarding cheap houses was made by me at the Compensation Court in answer to a question by the judge. Tho hquse under consideration was one of two rooms each about 12ft x 12ft, with two windows that would wot open and a door that would not close. There was no back door, no washhouse, scullery, or bath. The water supply was a tap outside. There was a w.c. complying with the Drainage Board regulations sheltering behind some bricks. This house was being let at 10s per week, and His Honor wanted to know whether, in the event of this house being pulled down, other houses could be built to let at 10s per week. I answered in the affirmative, stating that houses giving the same facilities or better, with modern windows amd airy rooms, could be built on cheap suburban laud to let at 10s per week. Of course, this is naturally the minimum, and houses with more rooms would bo correspondingly dearer. “ Suppose the land, with all transfer and mortgage fees, costs £IOO, and tho house £2OO, making a total of £3OO. this could be let at 10s per week. This would nob show a handsome return, but if the cottages were built in numbers the costs could be reduced considerably- I propose preparing plans and estimates of various types of cheap houses, and will bo pleased to let. you have them if you are interested. , I would just like' to mention in closing that the housing problem in Dunedin is not a question of tho cost of actual building, for wo have more than 100 capable builders who can build houses while you wait. What we want is a, supply of suitable cheap land and a more liberal system of finance.”