RUINED BUILDING DANGER

Hawera Star, Volume L, 26 March 1931, Page 4

RUINED BUILDING DANGER

PROBLEM AT NAPIER. LEGISLATION BOUGHT. (By Telegraph—Prees Association.) NAPIER., March 25. The matter of ruined buildings* which are a danger to adjoining buildings was mentioned by Mr J. S. Barton, chairman of the Napier Commission, to-day. He said that in a case where a building was in such a condition that it was dangerous to passersby the authorities had power to demolish it and had the right of recovery from the owner of the cost of the work. 'There was, however, no similar power when an adjoining building was threatened, and as about a dozen such cases had been reported to the commission power was going to be asked for in the forthcoming legislation. The commission, said Mr Barton, was even thinking of doing pressing work now and trusting to Parliament to ratify its actions.

Although the registered population of Napier is 7365, it is considered by Mr Barton that the number is probably about 9006, due to the failure of people returning to register owing to ignorance of the requirement. About 126 of the men on the Napier unemployment register are unemployable owing to their being too young to benefit under the Act or because they are suffering from physical disability. The committee feels that it is not justified in issuing ration tickets to these men and has decided to communicate with the Minister of Labour asking if it is possible to give them work under a modified No. 5 scheme-