THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1919. THE HOUSING QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17330, 29 November 1919, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1919. THE HOUSING QUESTION.

The Leader of the Opposition has talked so much, albeit so vaguely, about providing cheap houses for workers that the public may be excused if it has fallen into the error of supposing that housing is the special prerogative of the Liberals. It is well that party claims should be examined in the light of facts, and the official statistics show that Mr. Massey more than any other man has been responsible for providing cheap dwellings for the workers of New Zealand. Just over 200 houses were erected by Liberal Administrations, 272 by the Massey Government, and under 200 during the period of the Coalition, with Mr. Massey in charge of this Department. The figures are of sufficient importance to be set out in further detail. The Workers' Dwellings Act came into force in 1906. In six and a quarter years the Liberals erected 209 houses, and then Mr. Massey came into power. The subsequent contribution, year by year, is shown in the following table : — Liberal Governments, No. 190&-12 209 Reform Government. 1912-13 19 1913-14 81 1914-15 172 Coalition.

1915-16 82 1916-17 65 1917-18 21 1918-19 . . 14 These figures show that in less than three years the Reform Government built more houses than the Liberals in six and a quarter years. To Mr. Massey's administration of the Department during the Coalition must, on these facts, be attributed the creditable rate at which construction was maintained under war conditions until scarcity of labour compelled a halt. The Reform Government extended the operation of the Act from the four cities in which is was originally confined to 26 other centres, increased the maximum capital value of the buildings, and extended the period for repayment of the purchase money in the case of brick or concrete houses. All these attempts to liberalise the Act preceded the introduction of the national building scheme which is the crowning triumph of New Zealand's housing legislation. The speed with which the Government is seeking to bring this scheme into operation shows that it is fully alive to the urgency of the housing problem. This liberal and practical piece of legislation, wholly the product of the Reform Government, reduces the rate of interest to the tenant purchaser from the 6 per cent, he would pay on the open market to 4J per cent., and guarantees him the most economical construction. How important a consideration this may prove to be is indicated by the fact that at the most difficult period of the war the Labour Department, was able to build houses for £150 less than the ruling price. By operating on a larger scale the Government should be able to effect even greater economies in future.

The Legislature has provided additional machinery in the Advances to Settlers and Workers Acts for State co-operation in housing, and in the initiation of this machinery Mr. Massey may fairly claim to have taken an important part. When the Ward Government introduced the Advances to Settlers Bill in 1906 Mr. Massey moved to insert the following new clause: "When a loan is required for the. erection of buildings on urban or suburban land which is not subject to any other encumbrance, the

cost of erection (not exceeding £400 on the whole and \ not exceeding four times the value *of the land) may, at the discretion of the board, be advanced by instalments as the erection of the building proceeds." Up to this time there had been no intimation on the part of the Ward Government of any intention to extend the advances system to workers and it • apparently resented- such a democratic proposal coming from Mr. Massey's side of the House. Whatever Sir Joseph Ward's motive may have been he refused to accept the amendment, which was defeated by 35 votes to 13, among those voting against it being Messrs. Fowlds, Jennings, Poland, Poole, and Sir Joseph Ward. Thus the Liberal Party used its majority to prevent workers receiving the benefits it was extending to settlers.

Repentance came quickly. The country had given some indication of its opinion of this sort of " Liberalism," and the following month the Government Advances to Workers Bill was introduced. It embodied the principle of Mr. Massey's motion but limited the advance to £350 instead of £400. So faithful had been the plagiarism that the Bill incorporated the words " urban or suburban," which Mr. Massey had used inadvertently in his motion, thereby excluding country workers feom the scope of the advance. Mr. Massey promptly pointed out the limiting effect of this phrase and moved to delete it. Sir Joseph Ward refused to accept the amendment, ■ which was lost by 48 votes to 23. Again he repented of his petulance, and the following year in another measure extended the scheme to country as well as town and suburban workers. Hansard embalms no more remarkable example of party tactics than this. In view of the fact that Mr. Massey advocated advances to city and country workers before the Liberals and was snubbed for his pains there will be little surprise that his administration of the Workers' Dwellings Act has proved more liberal and energetic than that of his opponents.