HOUSES FOR WORKERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15610, 15 May 1914, Page 3

HOUSES FOR WORKERS.

PROBLEM IN THE TOWNS. ' LAND COMMITTEE'S REPORT. v[FROM oto OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, April 3- • ■ Ttte second report of Mr. Lloyd George's . * committee of inquiry into land tenure in England deals with the urban side of the question, and resolve;; itself into a thesis on the housing of the working classes in English towns. About 250 English and Welsh towns are considered in the report, which paints a not too pleasant picture of the necessity for reform that there still is. , The majority of urban workmen, the report says, hare to live in houses which are) .' overcrowded to the acre, built in Jong nninteresting rows, without sufficient spacearound them, and frequently without free access for sun and air. From five to ten per cent, of urban workmen live in actual slums, where the dwellings are unfit for habitation. There is a shortage of dwellings in half th 6 towns of England and Wales, and this shortage is especially felt at the present moment. Causes and Effects. The committee is of opinion that the high price of land is not often a direct cause of the inadequate supply of houses but it is a direct cause of tho overcrowding of houses on the land. Thera have not been many cases of owners of land recusing to sell on any terms for the erection of working class dwellings, but th« prices asked could be materially reduced ; if by any means a greater area of latad could be made available for the purpose, which is, of course, a mere economic truism. The committee wants Parliament to throw definitely upon local authorities th* burden of seeing that there is adequate housing accommodation for the working people in the area, and to require them to set to work at once on a scheme of plan- ; ning for tho future. There is to bo a minimum standard of housing to which the local authorities must work up within a specified time. Needless to sav, they contemplate giving the local" authorities powers of compulsory acquisition which * re , to , to vei 7 complete, so that private Acts shall only be necessarv in case of - large or novel proposals. The compensation tribunal shall be the Judicial Land Commissioners, who are already provided for in the report on the rural side of the problem. The additional percentage ' usually added in compulsory acquisition is to be abolished, and no allowance is to be made for betterment. -

How to Pay Rent. But how is the city workman to be enabled to pay a commercial rent for his improved house? The committee provides for this with characteristic optimism. The Government is to take means to fix a minimum wage in all low-paid occupations, which wage "shall, in the case of men of normal ability, not be less than the sum required to keep a family of normal size in a state of physical efficiency, and to enable them to pay a commercial rent for a sanitary dwelling." Moreover the Government is to take steps to regulate the labour market with a view to doing away with a great deal of the mass of casual labour now existing. In the matter of lessees' tenure the committee suggests that in all future leases for more than 21 years the right to security must be conferred except where the property is required for a "higher" purpose or for a public improvement, in which case the tenant shall be entitled to payment for the unexhausted value of hi? improvements.

The Value of Sites. The vexed question of rating on unimproved value is dealt with somewhat boldly. All future increases in local expenditure, the committee -recommends, that are chargeable on the rates should be met by a rate on site values. The 6iie value rate, it is suggested, should ultimately be levied on owners, but all existing contracts should bo respected. The committee suggested that further relief, amounting to about £5,000,000 a year, should be granted to local rates out of Imperial taxation— striking approxi- • mation to the £4,700,000 suggested less than a week ago by the. Departmental committee on local taxation. There is a further suggestion that the law should require every property to be valued at least once in five fears, and preferably every year.