The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1935. HOUSING SCHEME FOR N.Z.

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 7 March 1935, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1935. HOUSING SCHEME FOR N.Z.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Kaupokonui, Otakeho. Oeo, Pihama, Opunake, Eltham, Ngaere, Mangratoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Mahoe, Eowgarth, Manutahi, Kakaramea, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Wbenuakura, Waverley, Mokoia, ffhakamara, Obangai, Meremere, Eraser Hoad and Ararat*.

In the course of the debate on the Mortgage Corporation Bill, the Minister of Finance let it he known that the Government was examining housing schemes which had been tried ont in other countries. This information was elicited by questions which sought to ascertain whether workermortgagors in urban areas would receive any consideration under the Mortgage Corporation Act. Labour members showed a very evident fear that, in the event of workers’ dwelling mortgages being handed over from the State Advances Department to the Corporation, the mortgagors might receive less consideration than they receive now. Without committing the proposed Corporation to anything in that respect, Mr Coates said that he was convinced that urban mortgagors would have nothing to fear. / The State did not expect a man to do impossibilities and had not been

harsh, he added ; at the same time,' a mortgagor could not he allowed to assume that if his mortgage was held by the State he need not exert himself to pay interest. In reply to Mr W. Nash, Mr Coates said that it eonld be taken that as long as State mortgagors were doing their best they would he alright. That attitude is alright from the humanitarian point of view, but it must leave a doubt, in the minds of those who are questioning how far the new Corporation can go in mixing sound financial administration with State paternalism. Apart from this question, however, it is of distinct interest to learn that the G overnment is interesting itself in housing schemes. There is need for a housing policy in New Zealand, though that may—or may not—lie difficult to appreciate in Ha we r a and other Taranaki towns. Figures produced by the New Zealand Legion some time ago showed that, over the whole Dominion, on a basis of rooms-per-head-of-population, this young country is not so free from over-crowding as it would like to believe it is. But though the need for encouragement and assistance in housebuilding exists, there is also a distinct need for care in administration. We do not want a repetition of the house-building and buying speculative boom that New Zealand experienced in the early postwar years. Under the Advances to Settlers and Workers Act there - were many abuses perpetrated by borrowers and there was much >• laxity in departmental methods, with the result that many people got well out of their financial depth while others reaped rich - profits—and the State footed the -bill and is still doing so.