STRIKES AND HOUSING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18635, 29 April 1924, Page 5

STRIKES AND HOUSING.

—It appears to mo that the cau.ss of the present industrial trouble can ha summed up in two words, high rents. A man with £3 15s a week can manage quite well if able to live in a comfortable homo at. a rental not exceeding 10s a. week. Let the Government borrow the necessary money in the flushed Home market at 5£ per cent., and build sufficient cottages to house all its workers, fixing a sliding scale, _ as to number of rooms, according to size cf family, but with an all-round rental, thus encouraginc. rather than penalising, an increase in" the birth-rate. Properly spent., three million pounds would provide 10,000 quite cosy cottages, with modern conveniences, but perhaps without fashionable frills, and the annual cost to the worker need not exceed £25. Apart from settling the present, trouble, the building of thesehouses would tend to relieve the situation all round, as rents generally would drop to a reasonable level owing to the supply more nearly meeting the demand. An extended period of deflation causes hardchip to aIL members of the community ■ neither the railway men nor any other trade unionists are the only sufferers. I Small r.hopkeepers, who work harder and. much longer hours than the railway men, see their income dwindling steadily. Their turnover decreases as prices recede, and they are continually forced to mark down their stocks and offer to sell their goods- at less than cost. Do they go on strike? No! Why .301? Because of keen, healthy competition. And if the railway worker would not be satisfied with £3 15s (plus privileges) under above housing scheme, then a little or the said healthy competition should be introduced, white, if possible, but if not, then—the next best thing. Toileh.