WORKERS DWELLINGS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8070, 22 August 1905, Page 4

WORKERS DWELLINGS.

Tjie Government has :at last made a serious. attempt to grapple with. : the question of the -provision, of cheaper, dwellings for the workers. The annual report of the Labour Department has probably.had something to do with expediting Ministerial action. In his last statement the Secretary for Labour (Mr Tregear) gives an instructive comparison of the amounts j- paid by working men in the larger cities for rent. He shows that; generally speaking, the rents bear the following percentage to the earnings of the workers :—ln Auckland, 28 per cent.; in Wellington, 33 per cent; in Christchurch, 25 i^er cent.; in Dunedin, 25 per cent. ; in Gisborne, 27 per cent.; in Napier, 23 per cent.; in Wanganui, 24 per cent. ; in Nelson, 26 per cent. The percentage for Palmerston is not given. It will be seen from this that in the larger centres from one-quarter to onethird of the wages received goes in rent. The rise in rents is due in a large measure to the increased cost of living and production resulting from the many, restrictions on the employment of labour. Be that as it may, the fact remains that the crying need for the provision of reasonably cheap dwellings must be satisfied. It is gratifying to find that this is fully recognised by both sides of the House. Whether the Government scheme will meet with their approbation is another matter. It is sufficiently encouraging for tlie present to know that all parties concede the principle.