WANTED—A POLICY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10632, 3 July 1920, Page 7

WANTED—A POLICY

THE HOUSING PROBLEM “GOVERNMENT TRIFLING WITH THE QUESTION. “It is to be hoped that Parliament will find time before tho session is many weeks older to give attention to the serious housing problem,” said a member of the. Town-Planning Association bo the “limes ’ yesterday. “Hitherto,” bo added, “the Government has simply trilled with tho qncstion, and has no organisation to deal with this urgent national work. The Mousing Act of last session was all very well as "far a» it went, but it didn’t go far enough. Local bodies were promised State financial assistance in connection with housing, and, encouraged i.j this promise, certain authorities planned ambitious schemes to supply homes for their people. However, when it came to borrowing tho money they were calmly told that tho largest amount any local body could borrow was £IO,OO0 —enough to provide about ten modest cottages. Meanwhile, the position is growing more acute. The Government has certainly done a little house-building, but nothing to pride itself upon. MIRAMAR, AND KAIWARRA.

“The fiasco at Miramar, and the ‘packing oases’ at Kaiwarra are fair samples of what the Government is pleased to call practical housing. Had the Labour Department’s housing architect ' been appointed sooner the Miramar trouble might have been averted—tho houses and general lay-out could certainly have been infinitely bettor, for iMr Graham has sound' town-plan-ning ideas, which, if ho were permitted to put into practice, would make his department’s housing schemes models for the rest of tho country to follow. But red tape and conservatism are forces to bo dealt with Still, oven in these progressive times. Instead of each department carrying out its own housing schemes, there should ho a separate department to attend to all Government housing. The lack of coordination between tho various departments must cost the country thousands of pounds annually. ■ THE REMEDY. “What is needed badly is a Housing and Town-planning Act on the lines of the Act operating in England, which is doing so much to ensure an allround improvement in housing conditions and town development in the Old Country. With such an Act in existence no Government department would' be allowed to put up houses such as have been erected by tho Railway Department alongside tho highlevel railway on the. Hurt road just beyond Thorndon; these houses have been described as “packing-cases with lids,” and to the casual observer they seem to have been planned and erected without any consideration for the prospective tenants. A fine view of the harbour can fio obtained from the sit© on which these houses are built, but the ruling power decreed that the front of each house should face the back of its neighbour, leaving the grand view to be enjoyed from what is probably a bedroom or kitchen window instead of from the living-room and verandah,' as any reasonable person would have done. Possibly this might have meant altering tho venerable “packing-case” plan, which would have been a pity. , “Seriously, however, the _ Government must tackle tho housing question sooner or later, and it is up to the Prime Minister to bring forward a thoroughly practical and up-to-date policy with regard to the housing of our people and tho developing of our towns, cities and natural resources.”