STATE HOUSING LOANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20481, 5 February 1930, Page 12

STATE HOUSING LOANS.

CESSATION IN AUCKLAND.

SIR J. WARD'S STATEMENT.

REPLY BY MR. J. S. FLETCHER. LETTER FROM DEPARTMENT. The l'rimo Minister's statement in regard to the intimation from tho State Advances Board, to tlie effect that no further State housing loans are to bo issued in Auckland, has drawn a reply from Mr. J. S. Fletcher, 31. P. for Grey Lynn. Mr. Fletcher said that the departmental docision was conveyed _ quite clearly in a letlor to a firm of solicitors ill Auckland which was acting for two applicants for State housing loans. Ihey wore told quite frankly that owing to the number of unoccupied houses in Auckland at present no further. Government loans would bo issued until the position showed some improvement.

The lottqr, which is in the possession of Mr. Fletcher, is signed by the deputysuperintendent of tho State Advances Office and reads as follows: —" With reference to tho applications submitted by you on behalf of tho abovonamed for loans to erect dwellings, I have to inform you that tho matter has again been placed before tho members of tho board of the office, who have rqsolved to postpone consideration of tho applications for the present. I would like to explain that the housing position in tho city of Auckland is not at present considered satisfactory, inasmuch as there aro a good many empty houses to be found about the city. In tho circumstances the members of the board do not consider it advisable or expedient to grant any further loans for the ■ building of more dwellinghouses just now in Auckland. As soon as tho situation improves, and it is found that thero aro no unoccupied buildings in tho city, and that further dwellinghouses. aro required, your clients may renew their applications, when tho matter will receive further consideration." . No Government Control.

"The position is that the board makes a statement in black and white, undqr its own seal, and signed by a responsible officer," Mr. Fletcher said. "Then Sir Joseph Ward comes back and says that the statement is not true. This shows either that lie has no control over the department of which he is nominally heart, or that he does not know what it is doing. The letter from the deputysuperintendent sets out the board's opinion quitcs clearly and it seems that the department is being run by the board, and not by the Government. As far as State advances are concerned, the board, not the Government, is running the country.',' Sir Joseph's statement that every application for housing loans would be dealt with on its merits was also criticised by Mr. Fletcher. Ho referred to the case of one of his own constituents, a man who was in an assured position with a respectable income, who had bought a section at Point Chevalier for £325 t paying £225 as deposit, He wished to build a house for £7OO. and approached the State Advances Office for a loan of £BOO, offering the house and section, of a total value of £1025, as security. The application was declined and no reason whatsoever was offered. "They are abovo giving reasons in that department," Mr. Fletcher said. "The board appears to do as it plqases and announces its policy without consulting the Government." Not 1400 Houses Vacant. According to Mr. C. F. Bennett, a leading city land agent, the public at present has little confidence in the State Advances Office. "This is not difficult Jio explain," Mr. Bennett said. "Applications have not been treated on their merits, and the conflicting statements by the board and the Prime Minister are bound to create considerable uncertainty. There is no doubt that the State Advances Office should treat every application very carefully, but a sudden stoppage of hollaing loans in Auckland would bo a most unwarranted action." Mr. Bennett criticised the statement mado by the department that there were 1400 vacant houses in Auckland. "This is pure guesswork," he said. "I do not think for a moment that there is half that number of houses unoccupied. Another point is that many of the houses on the market at present—l should say about 50 per cent. —cannot be considered from a letting point of view. They aro either too far from the city or else they are badly situated, old and without modern conveniences. Only tlio better class of houses can be lot at present, and certainly no one has the right to force on people houses in which they do not wish to make their homes'. The pessimists can talk of slackness of trade, but it is a fact that there is no difficulty in letting houses within reasonable distance of the city and with modern equipment. Subject for an Inquiry.

Sir Joseph's statement that the Slate Advances Department was trying to dispose of securities' in tho shape of abandoned houses was also tho subject of comment by Mr. Bennett. Tho public should not bo made to suffer because houses had fallen back oil the department, ho said. In many cases advances had been made far in excess of the margin of security offered. It was time that the whole question of State advances should bo thoroughly investigated. There had been .so, many commissions of late tljat tho public had grown to dislike tho word, but he thought that an independent commission should bo appointed to report fully on tho operations of tho department. At present there were far too many anomalies; many deserving cases woro dismissed, while others, in , which a poor margin of security was offered, were granted. "If tho department, is going to wait, until all houses in tho city are occupied before it makes more loans, it, will have to waif a very long time,'' Mr. Bennett said. "There' will always bo a number of houses for which satisfactory tenants cannot bo found. These houses may not couio* within tho scope of tho Act by which dwellings can bo condemned, but nevertheless their presence on the market is definitely uneconomic." Mr. Dennett added that tho Prime Minister should certainly make ft statement as to what was to be done with applications for housing loans already on the )ist. In many cases peoplo had definitely committed themselves to expenditure and to stop advances in these cases would be manifestly unfair. Unless a dear statement of the entire position was made at an early date, tho atmosphere of uncertainty would bo harmful in tho oxIronic.

STATEMENT BY SUPERINTENDENT.

ONLY AUCKLAND AFFECTED

[jjy TEWtGUAI'ir.—OWN CORRESPONDENT..] WELLINGTON, Tuesday.

Tho superintendent of tho State Advances Office, Mr. W. Waddel, said today that the housing position in Wellington did not justify action by tho department in Wellington similar to that taken in Auckland, where, ho. said, it was estimated about 1400 houses wero vacant. The decision affected Auckland Tlio aniiouncemqnt some days ago that no more loans would bo mado in Christchurch until tho position in regard to empty dwellings had improved was incorrect. There had been a misunderstanding, and tho decision in rqspoct to Auckland did not apply to Christchurch.