AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Grey River Argus, 20 September 1945, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

700,000 HOUSES PROPOSED CANBERRA, Sept. 19 At least 700,000 dwelling units will be needed to solve the housing problem in the next 10 years, according to the final report of the Commonwealth Housing Commission tabled in Parliament. These units would include single and attached houses, multi-storey dwellings 'and hostels. The total labour requirements for housing, commerical and public buildings, additions, alterations and repairs are likely to be 140,000 by the second post-war year. This compares with 113,000 available in the building industry in 1939 . The report, in giving the chief features of a Government-sponsored house recommends that houses for home purchase should be designed so that additions can be made with the minimum structural alterations as family needs increase. Refrigerators ‘should be installed in every dwelling unit and provision for radio sets is necessary in all homes. Recommending marriage loans the report says that one of the mam large expenditures xvhich has to be met by the average family is that of setting up a home. The provision of small loans at a reasonable cost would help to meet this need. Specific assistance should be granted on easy terms for the purchase of furniture and household equipment of a durable nature. COAL STOPPAGES SYDNEY, Sept. 19 Nine mines were idle in New South Wales yesterday and nearly 6,509 tons of output were lost. Mr. N. Mighell, Commonwealth Coal Commissioner, said: “More than sixty thousand tons of coal will be lost by the miners’ one-d'ay stopwork meeting to discuss the decisions of the recent convention. I am amazed at this action, which is being taken in complete disregard of public interest. It seems utterly opposed to recent statements by the Federation leaders urging greater production, because of the precarious condition of stocks. This loss of coal will hasten unemployment, hardship and inconvenience, now inevitable as the result of past strikes.”