WORKMEN'S DWELLINGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12588, 24 August 1901, Page 2

WORKMEN'S DWELLINGS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Your paper, I believe, Is the foremost in New Zealand in its advocacy of progressive measures which make for the good cf the people as a 'whole, and the public owe you much thanks for your consistent support of any proposals that have from time to time been made for the better housing of our people. There is no doubt, as Mr Atkinson has pointed out to the Minister of Lands and to our members, that the workmen’s homes as at present providied! by the Government are, in a large majority of cases, miserable structures, entirely unfit for a family to live in. I should like to see an arrangement made between the Government and the particular Council in whose district the dwellings are to be erected, so that all houses might be owned by tbe Council, which should bo responsible to the Government for a supply of sanitarily built houses supplied l with hot and cold water and proper drainage. In return for such provision the occupiers should be required;to keep their houses in good order. Dwelling-houses of this description would be a been to many of our poor people, and their children would have* a ranch better chance of a decent bringing up. Really, a walk through, the poorer parts of the city is enough to give one the heartache. Miserable cottages, with little or no ground attached to them,,with no provision for bathing, and with low, wretched rooms badly lighted, badly ventilated, badly drained—these are the rule and not the exception. Surely we as a people cannot boast that the teethetic sense is awakened within, us as long as we can endure the sorb of tenements which are at present let to cur poorer people. The whole question of proper housing is one which presses on our public bodies for consideration. When society recogmres its duty in this respect we shall have climbed one step higher in our evolution. The Socialist Church will do well if it can rouse public opinion throughout New Zealand on the subject which it has now in hand. —I am, etc., HEALTHY HOMES. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l think . that Mr Atkinson and vourself are entitled to credit for bringing before your readers the necessity cf Improvements in the homes of the working classes. I have been taking stock for some time past of the dwellings in and around Christchurch. Some of the homes are a credit to their owners and the architects who designed them. Beautiful lawns, asphalted paths, best of drainage, fin® lofty rooms, with verandahs facing the sun, outhouses, bathrooms, washhouses, coppers, and every convenience which helps to make homes of comfort. I wish I could say all the houses were alike, but unfortunately, if I write truthfully, I shall have to say that some of the—the—'what shall I call them, houses or hovels —are a disgrace to the owners and to the Corporation which allows them to exist. Low rooms, leaky roofs, damp Avails, bad stoves, broken fireplaces, defective chimneys, doors and AvindoAvs Avhich do mot fit, cracks to let the Avind in, no Avashhouse, no copper, small muddy yards, and surroundings miserable enough to make anyone wish for Avidsky or some other stimulant strong enough, to make the tenants forget that they are AA’retched and Ainhappy. Let the people in big houses beAvare, for if the plague or influenza or any other infectious dis-ease breaks out, who can tell Avhere it Avill atop?—l am, etc., IMMEDIATE REFORM.