The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, April 26, 1949. STATE HOUSING—MORE OR LESS?

Grey River Argus, 26 February 1949, Page 4

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, April 26, 1949. STATE HOUSING—MORE OR LESS?

IN a faraway country on one historic occasion there was no room at the inns. In this countiy it is said that at the capital there is not enough room for State employees. But at Greymouth it is notv complained that, while there is the prospect of more accommodation for such employees, cither the manner or the location of such housing is discreditable. In an area not regarded as residential, hutments for railway em ployees might meantime be Quite alright, but evidently not so by any means if they should be in the vicinity of more commodious and elegant residences. The State housing policy has had to contend with no little criticism, on the score, for instance, that private enterprise could have done better, although it has been conceded that there might be a reasonable case for the enterprise of the Government in at least housing a larger proportion of its own employees. Now, however, the fact that single State employees have locally found a, lack of accommodation raises the question of whether the Government has in fact made adequate provision in this respect. It cannot be denied indeed that it has an obligation, and local workers’ organisations before now have advocated that it should recognise it. Vet to the extent that it may do so for single railwaymen, it is being asked 1o provide something better than hutments, especially in localities where these would unfavourably contrast with other structures. The contention is that the housing programme generally is quite inadequate, and that the JState should locally engage in construction upon a far larger scale. There may be something in this contention, although it is frequently argued that where the State is doing much more ’building, in the metropolitan areas, the need is artificially created by a multiplication of State employees. It is not, indeed, urged that any incr ise of .such workers here is excessive, but rather that tlie State should erect buildings to accommodate them in their working hours, instead of buying or renting buildings for that purpose. The same objection has been raised to its purchasing residences, and now is offered to tlie erection of hutments.

It is hard to square up the arguments in favour of such an enlarged Slate building pro gramme, however, in this locality with those against the enlargement of the Public Service. It has been prudent to decentralise State departments to the extent, at least, that they have been, but it could scarcely have been possible if it had been an essential prerequisite to build new offices and houses for all and sundry. The Government is reckoned to have encroached already too greatly on the space necessary for others, and now is feared to be taking up in hutments still more of such space. What Greymouth requires, it appears, is a more durable type of house, even if huts be more satisfactory for those accommodated than the alternative of no housing. By way of contrast, private employers, it is thought, would be liable to criticism if they offered the like to workers. That must be the reason why they generally refrain from offering any at all I It were fairer, on the whole, to recognise that as the district develops it requires more railwaymen, and that they need accommodation, which in the existing circumstances, it is more difficult to provide than when demands for housing are not so great. The present position here of the governmental departments, following decentralisation, is not static, and temporary expedients are to be accepted with as good a grace as possible, in view of the fact that the district

is better served than if the public services had to be curtailed. Those who would say that the Government ought allow Greymouth to do without the present amount of railway service or any other public, service until such, time as it could lay out a million pounds upon building would be asking the Government to hold back the district.