STATE RENTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 154, 1 June 1937, Page 6

STATE RENTS.

AND THE PUBLIC COMMENT. POINTS DISCUSSED. (By Telegraph. —Special to Standard.) VVELLINGTON, June 1. The recent announcement of the average rents to bo charged lor the new fcitate houses throughout the Dominion has naturally produced a considerable amount of discussion,' many interesting points being raised in coirespondence to the newspapers. Several of the most outstanding features were discussed by Mr J. A. Lee (Under-Secretary of the Housing branch) in an interview with the “Standard’s” correspondent. “A stream of fresh applications for houses has poured into the Ministry of Housing in Wellington since the rentals were announced,” remarked Mr Lee- “The reason for that stream is that, far from higher-class accommodation being available at our figure, it is impossible to get the same amount of space at anything approaching the same money, to say nothing of the better type of house we are offering to the workers of tlie country.” . “One important feature which has been lost sight of,” suggested Mr Lee, “is that the rents announced are average figures, which presupposes that where the site value is exceptional ail additional 2s 6d or even 5s may be added. But, of course, each 2s 6d or 5s added will enable 2s 6d or 5s to be. deducted from the rental of a house in a less favoured locality. Houses will be available for all standards of income.” The criticism that the Government had not endeavoured to live up to the ideal of a day’s pay as the weekly rental was mentioned, and Mr Lee said this was a very good point for discussion. It would be easy to decently house the coniriiunity for onefifth of the income if that proportion of incomes could be collected from everybody, he remarked. “But there are great difficulties about establishing a differential rental,” ( he continued. “Eor instance, a man with a family- of seven could get a house for one-fifth of the family income when it reached the earning point which recouped the fund to the extent of one-fifth of the incomes coming into the house. But a scheme of this kind could not operate without criticism from those paying the differential rents until the State has a larger proportion of houses. “The commonsense way to make up a differential rent,” concluded Mr Lee, “is through the establishment of a motherhood endowment scheme.” It was ascertained that the system of finally selecting candidates for the State houses is not yet determined, though it is possible that to reduce the numbers of well-qualified applicants to the number of houses available will necessitate a final recourse to a ballot.