LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25210, 24 May 1945, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Army Releases Sir, —"Fair Play" has hit the nail on the head. My son is one of those of whom he asks, "What chance have tlie.v to fit themselves for civil life?" He was called at 18 into a Territorial camp and was sent overseas at 21. Ho is now 22i and has no position to come back to. His father died before lie went into camp, making it more imperative for him to be getting somewhere in life. The boy is worried. He is taking an A.E.W.S. course. Will somebody employ him when he returns? Wondering Post Office Housing Sir, —Since we changed postmasters in our suburb two or three months ago, the living quarters at the post office have been vacant, with the blinds down. The new postmaster, no doubt for perfectly good reasons of his own. has not occupied them, and apparently red tape decrees that no one else may. There must be score* of postal officers in Auckland who would give anything for such spacious, modern accommodation, equivalent to a six-roomed house. It looks like a good example of the way the official mind works. Customer Mr Nordmeyer on Wages

Sir, —Replying to a question at Hamilton as to who would meet the Sid an hour increase in wages. Mr Nordmeyer is reported to have said "that if an examination of an employer's books showed that it could not be paid out of profits without increasing the price of goods produced, a subsidy might be paid to him." Does Mr Nordmeyer now expect employers to undergo a "means" test before they can recover an increased wage bill thrust upon them by the Government? In December, 1942, the workers were promised that any increase in the cost of living would be met by a cost of living bonus. According to the Government Statistician's figures, such increase did not eventuate, and yet the workers received or will receive as from April 1 a "bonus" of something like 10 per cent —and without any "means" test. Nobody begrudges the workers higher wages, provided they are the burden of the community as a whole and not a "baby" to be carried by the employers only.

In view of Air Nordmeyer's statement at Hamilton, it is a wonder that lie did not suggest a "means" test for politicians before they received their increases last year. Reg. M. Bark eh.

Land Sales Delays Sir, —Much unnecessary and avoidable hardship is being occasioned people who have bought houses through long-drawn-out delays in gaining the agreement of the Land Sales Court to a fixation of basic values —or, in other words, the price the Court will agree to a sale being made at. In the first case (evidently through a great shortage of Land Sales Court valuers) it often takes more than a month to even get a Court valuation of a house for sale; then, after that first delay, it may take another month (and sometimes much longer) for the Court to decide the price : t which a sale may be effected.

This means that a would-be purchaser of a home today has to wait for two months or even longer before he can find out if he can get possession of a house. Even then, if the Court's valuation is lower than the price he has agreed to pay, and the vendor refuses to sell at the Court's valuation, the whole deal will be off. The purchaser cannot become a party to an illegal act by secretly paying the vendor part or the whole of the difference between the sale price and the price fixed by the Land Sales Court. In the event of the vendor (as he is fully entitled) refusing to accept the Court valuation, the law-respecting citizen finds himself in the unfortunate position of having to commence the whole dreary house-hunting business all over again—a process which may go on r\d infinitum.. The man in search of a house who comes to Auckland from some other district (or the returned serviceman on a similar quest) must add to his_ troubles by having to live with his family at an hotel and pay crippling charges for temporary and often quite unsuitable accommodation. With so many of our servicemen returning and seeking homes this bids fair to become an everincreasing evil and will provide a poor home-coming for our lads who have already "had it" overseas. Surely the occasion calls for a drastic overhaul of the whole Land Sales Court procedure and the setting up of an adequate staff of valuers and Courts so as to at least mitigate the delays, crippling expenses and heartburnings at present awaiting| the would-be home-seeker. Victim,