The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1920. TWO BIG PROBLEMS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10544, 22 March 1920, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1920. TWO BIG PROBLEMS

Next to the immigrants themselves, the prime needs for a sound and successful immigration policy are, undoubtedly, land and houses. Indeed, we are by no means sure that we ought not to put the land and the houses first and the immigrants second; for, given the solution of the land problem and of the housing problem, so great are the natural attractions of New Zealand in the way of an equable climate, beauty of surroundings, and abundance ■ and variety of resources, that immigrants of the very best would undoubtedly flock in thousands 7-yea, in tens of thousands —to our chores. But, to invite immigrants to come here without first so loosening the fell grip of the land-aggregator and land monopolist as to provide ample land, at economic prices instead of the prevailing monopoly prices, foi our returned soldiers and for all other would-be settlers, would simply bo asking for trouble; and very serious trouble would be bound to follow. Again, as Mr Leigh Hunt forcibly pointed out at the recent conference at Wellington of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, to bring out from Home a large number of immigrants, used to the comparatively low rentals there, and confront them with the exorbitant rentals now prevailing throughout the Dominion, would result in nothing more nor less than establishing a race of Bolsheviks in the country. Mr Leigh Hunt seemed to imply that it was the British immigrants who would become the Bolsheviks. But, if high house rents are productive of Bolshevism, nothing can well be more certain than that the greatly-enhanced house rents that must result'from a big inflow of immigrants without any special effort to provide homos for them, could not but make many New Zealanders also turn Bolshevik.

While, therefore, a vigorous immigration policy is imperatively needed to provide labour for carrying out the urgent development work of the reconstruction period, it behoves the Government to look well to it that the dangers above indicated are avoided. It is, indeed, not without reason that the Central Progress League, in advocating “an immigration policy, of suitable British emigrants,’’ urges our Government to “first concentrate on the immigration of men skilled in the' building and allied trades, so that bouses may he built for our own people, now without homes, and for the flow of British emigrants we may expect in the country when the hou»ing problem was solved.’’ Many, if not most people, will also agree with the Progress League when it expresses the opinion that the Government should stop all non-essential buildings until the house shortage has been overcome. Certainly tKis matter ought to be inquired into forthwith, if the estimate of a well-known builder, quoted by Colonel Mitchell, M.P. —“that half the men skilled in the building trades were employed on buildings which roc cbuld do without in the meantime”—•

is at all near the mark; as, we must say, wo see uo reason to doubt. To those who are feeling the pinch of the existing exorbitant rents—to say nothing of those who arc practically homeless and arc looking in vain for decent accommodation at reasonable rents, or at any rent at all, for themselves and their families—tho present rate of progress, whether with the Railway Department’s houses at Kaiwarra, the City Council’s housing scheme at Northland, or any of the Government’s workers’ dwellings schemes, must seem gallingly slow. It is very obvious that at such a rate we can never overtake, the housing problem bo far -as our own people are concerned, much less cope with the housing requirements of a great and growing tide of immigrants such as the Doriiinion needs and should be well able to make ample provision for. Tho view of tho Progress League, that “tho position promises to ho just as acute in ten years as it is to-day, unless much more rapid progress is made,’’ will be endorsed by not a few. Wo should, indeed, like to be assured that tho position would' not be even more acute.

Only a comprehensive survey of the situation can ascertain the facts with sufficient accuracy to guide the Government in regard to this vita! matter —one very seriously affecting the health, well-being, and contentment of the people. We would urge, therefore, that a thorough investigation should at once be undertaken by the Board of Trade; or if, as is quite possible, that body cannot spare tho necessary time for the purpose, by a special board of inquiry. On© of tho very first matters to bo inquired into is the proportion of carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, and other men skilled in the building trades now engaged on non-essential work. There is undoubtedly a- very strong feeling throughout the community that all really nonessential buildings should be stopped, and that all tho available labour should be concentrated on building homes for the people in need of them. Colonel Mitchell classes as “unnecessary buildings .. . which cannot, under any stretch of the imagination, be claimed as urgent’’—grandstands, motor garages, picture shows and shops;'but, on investigating the mat. ter, the Board of Trade, or other board of inquiry, might see reason cither for restricting or for extending this classification. Colonel Mitchell suggests also “that the Government direct timber mills to concentrate on the production of house-building 'timber' only, and the Got-ernmeht tako over the whole of their output, also the output from brick and cement works and roofing material, and distribute where most urgently required at cost prices (plus expenses, of course).” These matters, also, should be' inquired into, and attention should at the same time be given to tho question'of standardisation of timber and of other supplies for building purposes, and to the problem of utilising to the greatest advantage our railways and' other means of transportation for conveying the materials 'as speedily and cheaply* as possible to the districts where they are most urgently re. quired. It has been pointed but that our railways enjoy great advantages in regard to the housing of their employees, because they are able to standardise the dwellings themselves, standardise tho timber, etc., for the houses, and convey the materials cheaply to the sites selected; and there is no reason whatever why these advantages should not be shared as far as is at all possible by the community as a whole. The Board of Trade, or other board, should make thorough inquiry, therefore, as to how this object can be best achieved. Anot-hei matter that might well be investigated is whether—and, if so, to what extent

—the Customs tax of £2 per ton on corrugated iron, the import duty, of Bs' per barrel on cement, the taxes on timber, the taxes on builders’ ironmongery, and the taxes on paints, oils, varnishes, and so forth, tend to restrict the supplies and force up tho prices of these essential building materials. If not repealed, these duties, if found to be to any appreciable extent a contributing cause to tho present very serious shortage of houses, should at least be suspended, pending the solution of the housing problem. Any shortage of revenue due to their suspension or repeal could readily be made good by increasing the present utterly inadequate land tax. Such an increase of the land tax would, indeed, in itself do something towards the solution of the housing problem; for, incidentally, it would tend to check land monopoly and land speculation, thus making the land, the very necessary “underside of tho house,” cheaper.