WHO GETS THEM?

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 September 1946, Page 9

WHO GETS THEM?

ALLOCATING STATE HOUSES AND FLATS PETItION FOft INQUIRY .Infori-riatibn. on-the mbthod of allocating State fiats and, houses is sought: by Paul Obrliss Peters, abcountaht, of AVellihgtbn. ih a petition presented to the Hotise pf. Representatives, by Mix C... M. Bowdeh (National, AVeliihgton West). His petition urges that inquiries be iridde into the alibcatioh -method, what steps are taken to verify the statements made by applibahts, and who has the fjhal debisibn as io whom Hats arid Hbushs arb to be -given. • the petitibhbr states that his application of bvfer three ybars’ standing for a State i'hntal house has not been granted. Other applicants, he says, have been granted flats, althbugh their applications had been subsequent to his and their hardship had not been as great. He urges that a roll be prepared of the presenttenants of State rental flats showing the percentage of tenants who are New Zealand-born, non-New Zea-land-born. and aliens, together with their ages, the number of children of each couple, the number of years they have been married, and the number of couples both of whom work at outside employment. Another request by the petitioner is that the question of. couples who have not had families being entitled to flats ahead of couples who have lived a normal life and had families should be investigated and the figures published. The petitioner states that he was born in AVellirigtoh 69 years ago, that his wife, who was born in Greymouth, is 65 years of age, and that they have rbared a. family of nine children and have 22 grandchildren. He joined the Forces at the beginning of the Boer War, leaving New Zealand in the 2nd Contingent of the Mounted Rifles, and rethfiled io New Zealand after two years’ service. In his view, that service makes hifii as much a returned ‘soldier as any other man who served overseas. He also says that for 11 years he occupied a home in Thompson street, Wellington, but that 12 months ago the house was sold to single women from Dunedin, who obtained a Magistrate’s order for possession of thepremises, the petitioner being given one month to leave. The result was that he was at present living at a private hotel and his wife was jiving with her children. “This,” he adds, “is a tragic ending to 42 years of married life.”