DENSITY OF HOUSING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18703, 8 May 1924, Page 13

DENSITY OF HOUSING.

FORTY TO THE ACRE. 'K : • i: : 1 PROTEST; IN THE: COMMONS. I WM'^ 1 •••' ' ■ LABOUR AND FUTURE 6LUMS : ■; . V'- 1 1 • ■ ' ■ v'- -'i Av, protest was : raised recently in ? the Houba of Commons by the : Liberal member for Middlesborough, Mr.' Trevelyan Thomson, against the action of the Minisi try of Health in sanctioning erection ;■ Of : houses by ; the West Hartlepool Cor- ■ poration at » density of 35 ..to •40 to .the acre.. .. It was understood, explained the j member, -: that | the corporation's ; proposals \ were limited i 'to vacant \ sites which * did ■; not permit 'a: reduction m -density. In • ,M*. opinion, however, ; no circumstances at all ; should permit such crowding, and ; no subsidy should bo : paid. ; If; local I authorities wanted 'to erect these ihouses, i which would be future slums, they should soot do "i at the cost of the State. : - .' "- The; protest was supported by Mr. E. D. . Simon, Liberal member for Withington,; One thing that had been done j since the war,.lie said, by both the 1 Addison and the Chamberlain schemes, ■•= had been to set a new standard of work-ing-class . houses, and that had been done with the consent of - every party in ths House ;' The ; most " important -thing in that standard had been " building those houses about 10 or 12 to the acre instead of anything up to 15 to 50 or even 40 ;>r more to . the acre. If we were going to let down that standard now it would •be a most disastrous -thing, because after all it was not worth while, even from the financial point of view, to do so. The only argument for it was that finan- ■ cially " you could build , houses a bit cheaper if you crowded them together. Effect on Rents. M ..Calculations showed, continued 1 ' Mr. . Simon, that ," taking land at £400 ■ per acre, ;as in Manchester, «md building houses 20 to the' acre was equivalent 'to i 6d a week in rent. : . * Even with " the • most expensive land the saving on building 40 houses to ' the ; acre was only Ad a week in rent. ; It was not worth while doing : anything of : the sort; and he hoped nothing of the sort would be done. : " These were the days of town-planning, one .of the few big movements in the last 15 •; years ; which ware really improving the country. '» Most .of our" great cities ; had town. plans now. and'they had generally, taken .12 or 16 houses to the acre as the absolute jj maximum. The maximum allowed anywhere in Manchester ;■ was 16 ; houses to the acre. He . was all in , favour of the minimum being left co : the -. discretion, of I the / local authorities. . It was, however, the duty of the Government to lay. down a maximum standard, 5. and to . allow the local authorities :to ;; adopt :it or to go / and do better ,if they could, but 16 houses ;to the acre should -■i be taken under all normal conditions as ; the maximum number of houses that ;. oould be built. He trusted the Ministry would withdraw the; circular and substii tute the ? maximum of 16 houses to the aero. , ; / /;:- ; ■a Labour Ministry's Policy. J Replying to the debate that followed, Mr. Wheatley said, in reference to the density of/' houses, that there had been a good deal of . misunderstanding on the Joint. Neither the present nor the late ■ Ministry of Health would approve' of the laying, down of 40, houses to the acre in a building scheme.' A The question there, , however, was in regard to single ; vacant sites. The question; was would they ; compel r the local authority /.to. J keep that v sifcs .vacant 'or, exercise the discretions of allowing / them /to ' lay down additional / houses. . On the general^" question he would never; dream, of approving : a scheme giving a density of 40 or Vven,3o.td /the* . acre. » Answering the hen. members who . urged a , standard;? of 16 ; houses to , the | acre, Mr. Wheatlev said he would- not : pledge himselij. ■ He ; had * his eye on" Mr. 1 '■ filimbn as who was likely to give his assistance in the /great task before the country, and ; ho; ; promised jhe would 1 be / most / sympathetic" in regard to the limitation of density in housing , schemes during ; the ; time he was Minister of .Health:- "; '' 4v..-, { " : ] . . . ' 2 Issue of 98,340 ;• Certificates. * So; far, added _tho Minister, them had | been j. issued certificates /for" the building I i of 98,340 i houses. „ rOf these,': 63,870 had been granted 'to /private / enterprise, and 34,479 -to local authorities. : : But the issuing of these certificates did / not mean \ that \ that number of J houses would be built. It ; was 1 like giving out tickets ; for a charity concert to the number/ of : 100, r -, and , counting as -'actual' sales the ; number , given *, to ~ a member , in, this hope that he would dispose of r them. :, Of the 63,870 certificate!', granted i»n respect of private builders, 1 only 33,044 houses had . wen■ actually J- built, so :/ that, : roughly j speaking, v-half. of the .number of certificates: taken out by local authorities -had | iiT/t' found i their way into the f hands of the private % builders. The number of plans approved; by j local authorities was again -: just V about: half 'of., th® i certificates. issued. . ' •He was limited in .his resources, . and intended , rather to help the man earning less than £3 a wSek to get healthy./ ae-. ► commodatiori than ■; to / help another man who could afford fco - invest, say; £2*30 in a house. / The : housing problem: to-day was .the provision of V houses not. for ss'e, • but for letting. !/ The provision of houses for >! the middle • classes ' was - something which : might well be left to : private, enterprise unsubsidised. Y Private enterprise should .be ashamed to > ask / for a subsidy, because such sudsidies were/a confession ; of the failure. of private enterprise.