LESSONS FOR MUNICIPALITIES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7301, 3 December 1910, Page 1

LESSONS FOR MUNICIPALITIES

THE HOUSING PROBLEM.-'- ■ A GREAT THINKER’S SCHEME. ■ HOMES FOR WORKERS. i Wellington, with its acute Rousing problem, high refits; and'jerry-built houses; -will be more than ordinarily interested in a now: phase of municipal progress, as disclosed iu a letter wo are enabled to puolish to-day. Recently Dr Walter Thomas Mills was made a special commissioner for the city of Milwaukee, TJ.S.A. That city 'had - purchased -four thousand acres of (land, and expects to purchase more. It’ is planning working-) .lueu’s’homes.on a larger, scale and, under more.i.rational and: practicable : plans Anau have .ever before been undertaken, j’i'ne land .will be laid out with wide boulevards, ’with - grass and trees and _flowers ..and mountains of - water , every! where.. T'ne houses will be real houses, and; they, are' to toe provided: to the work-. ;ois, at .trie*, cost rof production, arid- that; when the.pioauction shall: be large scale production as well. . ,; i- i i EDISON’S GREAT SCHEME. '■

It seemed to Dr Mills that Milwaukee |afid Edison” could Work Together, and so’ the' interviewed the great inventor) ’Writm-g to’ jjs from Hyde,’ England, un; ,der date October 2nd last. Dr Mills says: I stated to Edison , tne nature .of (my errand. I He,: listened with l the greatest 'Attention' and wituqut interruption' un) itilili liad told my. story of our city’s ’.plans. Then 1 said;’.“l am hero’especially' to learn about’ tho. progress or, your -plans for cement houses, and if it,: he .found' that our, city, could make.; use of iyonr plans, whether ,we' could-deal.'vvith you direct as a municipality.” ■ |. He was’ on, his feet, instantly. “Lot ‘me show you what X aiu doing,” he |said.) and, at once turned to a near-by itabie with a model,of tho cement house completed m, iuli. Every room with double : lights and cross ventilation, . all high', light, beautiful—the porch a model of -comfort.'.--The- roof tof. red, tile,; the cement work,-; including walls, . floors, ’stairways, . and .’roofs, all completely , reinforced, the joints in tho housevpipes -of. every,-kind effected by electric- welding, toll .modern comforts and” conveniences in to - working man’s home. ■■ ; r y■.': .THE DESIGNS. He showed me samples of the stone as - it : will show in tho completed wall—called attention to the extensive art , work ■in design for both exterior and interior decoration; He, showed me,. thd;: men working in clay, whose designs are after- . wards made into plaster and finally cast into solid; iron. Doorways, ceilings, windows, the cornices, all portions of the house’ where ornamentation would, be un order —none arc being neglected. • . AVhen it is femembei*ed: that the men still engaged on this work had been two years’ busily producing these designs, it can bo understoood how varied are these models. He showed mo where the casting into iron was taking place, and, finally, on a great machine of his own invention, the castiron forms are so ; carefully milled that the parts are made 'to fit together with such accuracy that not a cross lino will be visible in the finished work. He showed me the halffinished struoturq rising as ' rapidly as the forms arc ready. v ; THE COST. ■ He explained how the cement would be machine ■ mixed, machine carried to the moulds, how icompieteiy the cement was protected from-bublcsr and, finally, how- in process- of use the ‘forms would not be completely unbolted- in going from one building, to another, but whole sections of the forms could bo unbolted and carried on-steel cranes' directly from 1 ;oae structure to 1 another, and so bofn

taken down and lifted up. with the least possible, expenditure of time or toil. . He. gave -me estimates showing ■ that' thirty-seven .men with a joint equipment costing about ;5900,d0l- (£lOO9l per man .could build 220 bouses in a year at an expense, of SOOdol '(£160) • a house, . including'".their wages k ,';toud 1 that; .'these houses''eould).'not : bo produced with; the, tame' comforts under present methods forfTess", than SOOOdol (£1000) - each. ’ “And then,” said he, “they would be no such houses as miuo will be." . These cement ‘houses will be beautiful, sanitary; will have groat variety in architecture; cannot possibly burn up, and will last for, ever. They will be sound-proof, dustproof, damp-proof, and vermin-proof, easily heated, and cool and comfortable iu the warmest weather.” ; . A GREAT OPPORTUNITY. ”

His final words to mo were, “My message: to Milwaukee is that here is a great opportunity. , She ; can, entirely .rebuild tiie homes of her city, and. it will never oost‘the city nor the people in; tho city' anything to do it. In the first place, 1 do. not want-a dollar'of -profit’, out-of-my invention." . .. Then he went on: arguing to, show.that the city could issue its bonds,, build the houses, sell them to the. people,'with the instalment pajments of-tno buyers pay off •the Ixmds, that the buyers would not bo paying in payments more than one-fourth - of;what they .are now , paying. in rents, toud that; therivliole transaction need not exceed ten years while -.in. process. - THE CONCLUSION. . The conclusion was clear. . Neither the city, nor the people in tho city Would have expended a dollar of other funds. The city’s credit only would have been used—no ' city ; funds :of any sort. - The purchasers would havo been saving three-fourth’s ■ their rent' while: making the, .purchases. Surely,-' here is an .opportunity. ’ t-;:,,--. : Many thinkers‘hold; that - the whole world is- soon; to- be (rebuilt.- Ttoero are reasons;for,-thinking;that it may come sooner;than ’the thinkers think.' . ,