HOUSING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20640, 12 August 1930, Page 12

HOUSING.

Sir, —"Owner" should cheer up; times won't always be bad. He shouldn't concentrate too much on the old houses being of such value to the people. In another whole column in Saturday's Herai.d ho will sec that there are hundreds of empty houses in Auckland, the landlords of which are only too ready to take a low rental for them. Most of our suburban houses are the admiration of visitors from overseas, and arc a credit to us, just as our congested areas are a disgrace. Every day of the week the question of rents comes very prominently before me in connection with Hospital Board relief work. Some of the people living in the ramshackle old tenements have not the chance of even getting a decent bath; and some, too, sleep in their clothes in tho coldest weather, for dirt begets dirt. All this is so apparent that when they como to see mo it is not necessary to ask if such is really the case. The land on which the worst houses are situated is very valuable, and during the past two decades whole streets and dwellings have been swept away so that better houses or warehouses could be erected. This land is not held by poor people, but owned by those who are content to wait til] it becomes more valuable, if they can only get enough in the meantime to pay the rates from the revenue of the old building:? on it. so (hat it won't be a drag on tlicifn. Owners of new houses, as well as owners of old houses, are feeling the pinch just now. The clearance of slum areas cannot be done by blind force, but by enlightened government and administration. There are those who say that unsatisfactory people should bo left in their present environment, as was said when the build ings were cleared away to enable Myers Park to bo made n playground, full of sunshine and happiness for young people. These people, however, beget children, and is it not to the young people we must look for improvement and givo them a chance, for we can expect little, if any, in a congested slum area. "Owner" asks who is going to pay for pulling down the insanitary houses ? Some of them aro falling down now, and will need little shifting. When the tenants aro asked if tho landlords have reduced tho rents of theso places through the general reduction which has taken place they answer, "Not on your life, they take all they can get!" Let mo finally assure your correspondent that pulling down houses in congested, insanitary areas will never kill any goose, not even the "goose" who thinks that modern communities will tolerate the continuation of slum dwellings, from which the- owner reaps a profit, while at. the same time the physical and moral health of those who occupy them are suffering to an extent which makes tho taxpayer pay dearly for ifc all. JV. K. Howitt.