HOUSING SCHEME.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 March 1938, Page 3

HOUSING SCHEME.

4000 MEN ENGAGED. YEAR’S ACTIVITY REVIEWED (By Telegraph—Press Association). WELLINGTON, Last Night. The progress made - with the State housing scheme since its inauguration just over a year ago was reviewed by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary in charge of Housing, Mr. J. A. 'Lee, this evening. He said that after 12 months of building activity the r nbers engaged in the State housing programme were greater than the numbers engaged in the coalmining industry in New Zealand. After recalling that the first contract for. State housing was let on March 3, 1937, Mr. Lee said'that by March 17, 1938, contracts had been let for the erection of 2427 houses and by the end of this month tenders would have been called for 3000 houses. This meant that in the 12 mouths succeeding the letting of the first contract the Department of Housing Construction had advanced to a point at which it was able to let contracts for about 50 per cent, of the housing erected in New Zealand in good years and the activity of the department was still being accelerated. “This week about 4000 men are actually engaged in the. work of house construction for the department,’’ said Mr. Lee, ‘ ‘ and, no doubt, another 4000 are engaged in preparing material. Schemes of housing have been commenced, or are about to commence, in about 46 towns and the 4000 now employed will be added to considerably as time goes on. Mr. Lee said there was an inevitable lag between the date of acceptance of a tender and the date of delivery of the houses. Large number? of houses were now starting to cornt to hand, and it could be readily understood that with 4000 men on the job the output would start to assume considerable proportions at an ea t rly date. The only boundary at present set to the department’s activity is the capacity of the "builders to complete the housing, concluded Mr. Lee.