STATE HOUSES

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 August 1943, Page 8

STATE HOUSES

PREFABRICATED BUILDINGS ! WELLINGTON, August 17. Discussing the vote for housing I construction in the House of Repre- ; sentatives this afternoon, the Minis- ' ter in charge of Housing Construci tion (Mr. Semple) said that an investigation begun about four months ago into the necessity for defence building works had resulted in the • elimination of items valued at ; £1,250,000, and that amount, with the material and manpower involv- ' ed, would be diverted to the build- ' ing of homes. The Minister said that the short- : age of houses was acute, but they could not be built by goodwill alone. • Manpower and materials were nec- ' essary, but the defence of the nation | came" first. In the last year or two I there had been built in New Zealand J for the New Zealand or Allied forces, , accommodation equivalent to that : provided by 17 towns of 7000 people I each. Sheds built for the storage of American goods were so large that I it would take a man six hours to walk through them it they were together. In addition there had been enormous hospital building. That was ; where manpower and materials had I gone. When the present hospital I building programme was completed he hoped that there would be fur- ' ther relief to the benefit of housing. The Minister added that experiments i were now being made with prefabricated houses. He believed that the i plastic house would be the prefabricated house of the future. An investigation was being carried out at present into the use of plastics, and it had been decided that a house should be built at Wellington, and probably 1 one at Auckland. He had been told by a man who had investigated the use of plastics that parts of houses 'would be moulded in factories for assembly on the site. Plastic was practically as strong as steel, and impervious to borer and similar pests, and houses, it was claimed, could be built for £6OO or £7OO, where they were now costing about £l3OO. Replying to a number of members who raised the question of building larger homes for families, Mr. Semple said that the latest plans for State homes provided for the addition of a room or rooms as required. It was needless expense to build a sixroomed house for a family of three, to the exclusion of extra homes, and the buildings were planned so that extra rooms could be added later.

In reply to further questions, Mr. Semple said that there were 25,000 persons waiting to get into State houses. He added that experiments had been made with five prefabricated houses, and the cost had been the same as for an ordinary State house; but this could bo reduced by mass production. New Zealand would benefit by investigations being made into prefabrication in America, where Mr. Henry Kaiser had stated that he would go into housing after the war. He was a genius at mass production, and would turn them out like sausages. The vote was passed.