HOUSING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20650, 23 August 1930, Page 14

HOUSING.

Sir, —Tabulated here are facts in collection with this important subject. (1) There is a line below which housing conditions should not be allowed to exist. (2) That bad housing is known to all social workers as a mpnace to the moral and physical welfare of the community. (3) That the least fortunate, the down and outs, are those who through circumstances crowd the slum areas. (4) The inmates of most of our public institutions, speaking broadly, are recruited from our congested areas. (5) Our public dispensary is largely occupied, in attending to the health of those who live in old and insanitary dwellings. (6>) Some owners refuse to recognise any effort to improve housing conditions, even in cases where they are known to be in a bad, and in some cases, shocking condition. (7) That the feelings which exist between owner and occupier of slum areas are not usually those which should exist between landlord and tenant in an enlightened community. (8) There is no evil which cannot be minimised by a healthy public opinion. (9) In Auckland whole streets of houses, even university and Admiralty House buildings, have been pulled down when public interests were at Btake. (10) Public interest is paramount in all British communities, and no one suffers unduly because of the wisdom and fairness of our laws. (11) The time when the interests of all classes should be co-equal is when we recognise that each of us is interdependent the one on the other. (12) Evidence of the above is shown in every large city to a greater or less extent. Auckland opportunity is while the evil is comparatively small compared with cities in older countries. W. K. Howitt.