The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1946. EX-SERVICEMEN'S NEED FOR HOMES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22196, 5 December 1946, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1946. EX-SERVICEMEN'S NEED FOR HOMES

JN light, of the information supplied by the district rehabilitation officer, Mr. Baker, owners of houses m which there are spare rooms should give careful consideration to the feasibility of letting accommodation to married ex-servicemen. Apparently one of the main stumbling-blocks in the past, has been the widespread idea, horn of experience with the Fair Rents Act, that once a tenant is installed he becomes a permanent institution. Doubtless many people will be more than willing to help these returned men over a difficult period when they realise through Mr. Baker’s statement that provision exists in the housing and rent legislation of New Zealand for special contracts between landlords and tenants whereby arrangements can be made for meeting the present shortage of housing without binding the landlord to a permanent measure.

The relevant clause in the Statutes Amendment Act, as quoted by Mr. Baker, clarifies the short-term plan under which a room or rooms can be let. The effect of the legislation is that a landlord may make an agreement with an ex-serviceman in writing to let part of his house on terms and conditions mutually agreed upon by the parties and approved by the inspector of factories. It can ’be taken for granted that if the arrangement is proving satisfactory to both parties it can be extended under a further agreement. The landlord should be content to know that he is not irrevocably bound to let his rooms over an unspecified period. From recent reports it is all too clear that the position of many young couples is desperate, the situation in some cases involving actual separation. In a young country which badly needs the restoration of the- family life this state of affairs should not be permitted to continue. It can be recalled that in the grim days of the campaign in Greece many families in that sorelystricken country did not hesitate to give shelter to New Zealand soldiers. They did so under the shadow of Nazi oppression and at actual risk of their lives. New Zealand householders are not called upon to face hardship or danger in giving sanctuary to homeless returned men. What inconveniences they may suffer relate only to possible loss of a sense of freedom or privacy in their own homes.

Once they made up their minds to do this good deed, however, they would find, in the great majority of cases, that there were compensations, not the least of which would be a satisfying consciousness that they were taking advantage of the opportunity to do their duty just as the men who served in the forces did theirs. The record of the New Zealand services has been described as superlatively good. The Dominion’s civilians also did well throughout the war years on the production front. It seems now, in these post-war years, that there is at least one more task for the civilians to perform. Those with rooms to spare for letting purposes should give every possible consideration to the needs of the returned men at this time.