HOUSING ESSENTIAL FACTOR IN LAND-SETTLEMENT SUCCESS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22586, 15 March 1948, Page 6

HOUSING ESSENTIAL FACTOR IN LAND-SETTLEMENT SUCCESS

JF progress could be made with the building of houses on settlement blocks, many of the difficulties which have developed in land settlement for Kiwis in the Gisborne-East Coast district would disappear. Lack of housing, and the poor present prospect of securing permanent accommodation, is one of the principal bugbears of the land-hungry Kiwis.

This view was expressed and unanimously supported at Saturday’s district conference called by the executive of the Gisborne Returned Services’ Association, at which representatives of settlement groups were in attendance by invitation and took part in a discussion of housing difficulties in rural areas. The only housing at present going forward in this district for the benefit of servicemen settler's comprised four at the Manutuke berry-farming area, two at Makarika, near Ruatoria, three at Hiwinui (formerly Taumata station), and one at Reeves’ block, Tolaga Bay, said Mr. J. Leggat, president of the association. As final disposition of settlement lands was dependant on the completion of modern housing units, the prospect was rather poor. No Alternative To Tendering Acceptable The president referred to the diffi*culty of securing tenders for rural housing jobs, and mentioned that the only alternative to tendering was the cost-plus principle, which the association had been informed was not acceptable to the Government. The association had hopes that something might be arranged by way of employing carpentry trainees on rural housing, but that was still to be completed. “All our efforts on behalf of settlement in this district have been hamstrung by the housing difficulty. There are other serious handicaps, such as fencing, but they probably will not take as long to solve as the housing difficulty,” added Mr. Leggat. ■Mr. P. Murphy stated that the sites for three houses on the Hiwinui block had been chosen nine months ago, and two houses were now fairly well forward. They had been told that the trouble with rural housing was the shortage of builders, but he understood there were three or four men ready to go ahead if materials were made available to them. “A Bit of a Push Along!” The ballotees wanted the R.S.A. to give the housing division a bit of a push along, he added in reply to the president. Mr. Leggat asked whether the men mentioned by Mr. Murphy had tendered for rural housing jobs. Mr. Murphy replied that he did not know whether they had had the opportunity. The president said that master-build-ers maintained that they could not get skilled tradesmen to go to country jobs, and that the Kiwi trainees were not fast enough to make their employment on these jobs economical. The men mentioned by Mr. Murphy would probably wish to go on on wages, he thought. Mr. P. T. Weeks; If the Housing Division or the Rehabilitation Department would finance them, they could get the building done all right! j

Mr. E. Lane pointed out that finance was one difficulty in the way of young men working on a co-operative basis, but there were other troubles, too. One was that they had not developed the connections with merchants to get their materials. ‘‘We have been told that there is a priority for rural housing, but we are not getting the houses," he added. "Yet we see houses going up in town.” Priority For Maori Housing

Mr. P. Balfour stated that the fourunit job at the Manutuke berry-farm-ing block had been in hand 19 months to date. Those interested had been told that materials were short, but they saw other houses going up. When they asked about priorities they found that Maori housing had the absolute priority. Other speakers agreed with this statement, and instances were quoted in which contractors for Maori housing were provided with all materials before they made a start with their jobs. “There must be something wrong if Maori housing can be so much better organised than European rural housing,” remarked an executive member. “If it is true that all materials can be assembled for Maori units before the job is started, it should also be possible in the case of European jobs. We can’t blame the Maori organisation—good luck to it. But it does not say much for the organisation handling European needs.” Trainees on Co-operative Contracts Discussing the possibility of finding financial backing for carpentry trainees to undertake co-operative contracts on rural housing, Mr. A. H. Barwick expressed the opinion that if State resources would not help these men the East Coast Provincial Patriotic Council might be asked to do something with funds at its disposal. It would be a necessary condition that the contract group should work under the supervision of an experienced builder. Mr. Leggat held that finance for such purposes was obviously a Rehabilitation Department job. but Mr. I. J. Quigley pointed out that no definite policy had been evolved as yet for using the money in the provincial patriotic fund. He thought there could be no harm in putting up a proposal to the council.

“We must face that fact that the twoyears’ training course in carpentry does not necessarily turn out first-class carpenters,” commented Mr. H. D. Chrisp, who held that the trainees needed time in normal employment to pick up speed and confidence. Men in groups for cooperative work should have full qualifications, he thought, and it was vital that they should be under the supervision of a good master-builder. The discussion wound up with a suggestion from the president that Mr. Murphy put the prospective members of the co-operative building group in touch with the Gisborne R.S.A. executive.