POST WAR HOUSING

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 July 1944, Page 2

POST WAR HOUSING

THE STAINLESS TABLE-TOP The vista of post-war home life is growing brighter as a result of the' many recent descriptions of British | and American id'eas for shortening the housewife’s working days, writes a special correspondent of the London Times. Reports of robot kitchens and j homes that need no servants have i aroused women’s interest, and there I will be much disappointment if the} improvements fail to materialise l within a reasonable period. It is, perhaps, worth while to separate theory from practice and see what is likely

to be provided for the betterment of the average home within a few years of the end of the war. Plastics will play a big part. Although the industry is heavily engagled in the war effort, great strides are 1 already being made in the application of plastics to the post-war house. I ‘have just seen a table-top, for instance, which will show no trace of .burning cigarette’ends, hot plates or spilled liquids. ! Another development is the production of plastic “wallpaper.” This |is a bakelite laminated wall-covering which is not readily defaced and is easily cleaned. Surfaces will be as decorative as any wallpaper or rare

wood panels. In addition, this wallcovering can have an interwoven wire mesh as a heating element to diffuse warmth evenly over a whole room. This heating revolution will be combined with a lighting revolution, for the new fluorescent syste.m, at present restricted to certain important buildings is sure to be adopted in the homes of the future. It gives approximately two and a-half times the light of filament lamps for the same consumption of current, and it will be available in a variety of tints. One of its present-day uses is to provide “daylight”' in underground establishments.