HAPPY TENANTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24971, 14 August 1944, Page 2

HAPPY TENANTS

THE TRANSIT CAMP HOME GAINED AT LAST TROUBLES NOW AT AN END Free of the desperato conditions under which they have existed during recent years, and with tho early prospect of a State rental house, tenants of the City Council's new transit camp at Western Springs are probably the happiest people in Auckland today. After suffering a thousand inconveniences and irritations, they feel that a weight lia.s suddenly been taken from their slfoulders, and that they can begin to enjoy life again. All are optimistic and light-hearted. None is happier in each family than the mother, for to none lias the change been more welcome. A Hat ol her own at the transit camp has released her from innumerable worries that lor months past have tortured her mind and sickened her body. She can now regain her health, and at the same time create about her a home in which sho can take pride. A Feeling of Relief

Excitedly, some of these women told their story yesterday as they sat on sunny doorsteps or in pleasant living rooms. Their dominant, feeling was relief; relief from the necessity of living six in a room; relief from the task of housekeeping without water, heating, adequate laundry and toilet facilities, and sufficient lighting; relief from the risks of sickness and disease through leaking roofs and broken piping; relief from absurdly high rents; relief at the knowledge that children will now have ample room in which to play. One woman described how she had battled for three years to look alter her family in a two-roomed bach. In that bach were not only her furniture, but also that of the owner. She and her husband and their five children ranging up to nine years had lived in what small space remained. The roof leaked, the lire smoked, and rats infested the floor. The Health Department condemned the place, yet they still had to remain. There was nowhere else to go. They got cold comfort. from a State Advances Corporation official, who had told them they were lucky to have a roof over their heads. Living In One Room Tho mother of a child aged three and an infant aged ono said that she and her husband and family had all lived in a single room in Ponsonby. There was no water supply, and only primitive cooking arrangements. 1 hey had been seeking a house for two years. A family of six, including children aged from 9 to 17, all slept in onv bedroom ot a Newton house, and shared the living room and facilities with another family. In a similar predicament had been another family with four younger children who, in a shared house, had all lived and slept together in a single room. A voting couple with a baby said they had paid £1 10s a week for the use of a room provided with nothing else but a gas stove. For baths, they had to go to t.iie homo of the husband's parents. How she had to put a basin on the floor to catch the drips every time it rained was described by the mother of six-month twins who, with her husband. had occupied a room 10ft by Bft in the citv. Because of tho lack of space, they had had to board their other two children elsewhere. Now these children were returning, there was plenty of room for all the family, and they were delighted. Praise for Mayor and Council

Most of those approached said they had been searching for a house over a period of years. All had been to the State sometimes two and times a week, while others had sought assistance from members of Parliament. A number were extremely critical of the attitude adopted to them by officials of the State Advances Corporation, alleging rudeness and lack of sympathy, but others said their experience had been happier, and that they believed the Corporation officers had done their best. There was n fairlv widespread opinion, however. that allocations of State houses had not always been made to the most necessitous cases. Praise for the Mayor, Mr J. A. C. Allum, and the City Council for their efforts was general.