LANDS FOR SETTLEMENT ACT AND WORKMEN’S HOMES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12570, 3 August 1901, Page 3

LANDS FOR SETTLEMENT ACT AND WORKMEN’S HOMES.

■ TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—The need for a, progressive policy in connection with..land settlement is be-coming-more apparent- every day. Every interest ’iin.theCcolQny has reaped , advantages as .ai-Sesulb'of the. resumption by the Government-,oh estates and their distribution, amongst, large of settlers. Ther- r earth- hunger is still keenamongst our farming -population. What I; wish to refer to atv’present is the phase of our land settlement policy which professes to deal’ with the provision for workmen’s homes. The last block of land dealt with near - Christchurch in this connection is some 28 acres in, Spreydo®, just off Colombo Street South’;. ' -Out of 37 sections offered only somefipteh sections have been taken, up. It is .urged that the -high price paid, some £9O per acre added, to the cost of; sub-division makes the rent'so high as to debar people' from incurring the liability for its perpetual payment. The annual ground rent demanded by the Government in this instances varies from £3 10s to £7 per acre. ; Anyone* who , can command a hundred pounds'can exercise a wide choice of locality .in selecting a site for a home, and can obtain at a low rate of interest money to ex>ect a modern dwelling upon the land which his hundred pounds will purchase in most suburbs. This class will not be attracted towards the Government’s Village Settlements as at present modelled. They consider that the unimposing structures erected on the average Government section would disfigure and depreciate the value of the modern house they wish to live in.'. ,

Does the existing village settlements system accomplish, what was hoped for by its’friends? I think it largely fails, and’ believing that it ought to be made successful, and that it - can be made so, I venture to suggest the lines upon which it should be reformed. In. Great Britain many of the more important municipal authorities are making , strenuous, efforts to solve the problem, of housing the poor under sanitary and Christian conditions. Much success has been achieved. The magnitude of the need may be judged by the. fact that the House of Commons has the problem on its Order-paper, as ■«, question of first national importance. - Social reformers, everywhere to-day recognise that . the physical and moral wellbeing. of the people is intimately related ! to* the character of the buildings people use as factory or home. Defective homes react directly upon ,the morality and dignity of those who occupy them. In New' Zealand we - have, despite what has been accomplished through factory and labour laws,, vigorous germs of . nearly every evil so aggressively present in more densely populated.centres in the Old World. No municipal bodies in , this colony have, yet done anything to deal, with the growing necessity of bousing the .wage-earning classes in dwellings. of modern design and equipment. . The Government, in connection with their village settlement system, have unintentionally aggravated the evil they set out to remedy. The dwellings, on some of the settlements are as uncomfortable, unsightly and unsanitary as they can well-nigh be. * Large numbers of private landlords who ’ are comparatively, poor, want’ the highest rent they can obtain for , their property,' and avoid all expenditure that is not imperative. Consequently, ■ a minority of dwellings. in Christchurch' and suburbs have adequate bathing conveniences, very ; few are fitted with the conveniences of baths, hot and cold water, wash-tubs, etc. Lacking these things, the comfort and health, of our people is impaired. Although most of the houses erected during the past five years a,re provided with some of the conveniences named, the fact remains that a majority of homes are waiting them. Anyone cornnected with the. estate business in this, city knows what a keen desire there is to secure houses with modern conveniences, and hovr many families are paying rents to secure them altogether higher than their incomes warrant. It may be urged that , the evil complained of will remedy, itself as the older class of dwellings give place to. the modern ones’. But'such arguments cannot apply to the. Government village settlement style of- residence; To advance a lessee £2O towards building is an inducement to put up a lean-id residence,; unsightly and without convenience or comfort. ’ My, contention is that any scheme of suburban homo settlements should provide for the erection of modern dwellings, equipped to serve both the comfort and health of the occupant. The Government’s Advances to Settlors policy has so fur proved an unqualified sue

cess. With money procurable at 3jr p« cent, no possible loss could fall upon tfc* colony if the Government or municipal authorities, acting on behalf of the Government, were to provide suburban workmen’* homes on these lines.' The sites need not cost on an average £50.. A compact and comfortable residence' could be secured for £3OO. Many workmen would , add their savings, and' erect dwellings costing perhaps £4OO or more. With an interest charge of £l2 a year, and a reasonable sinking fund charge, there would be very few lessees who would fail to meet their obligations. During the last Parliament 1 sought to’embody a clause in the Land for Settlements Amendment Bill authorising the Government to advance the bulk of-the cost of modem dwellings on the village'settlement areas, and if those people .most needing such homes are to be assisted,- it will have to be along these lines.—l am, etc. T. E. TA.YLOR; Christchurch, July; 26, 1901.