THE PETONE WORKMEN'S HOMES.

NZ Truth, Issue 68, 6 October 1906, Page 8

THE PETONE WORKMEN'S HOMES.

Another Government Departmental Blunder.

Ralph Tinderwood writes :— The recent frost m regard to the Workmen's Homes -m. "the. Heretaunga : Settlement has occasioned __ deal of surprise and hostile comment from one section' of the pinch-penny Press, mainly '"because.; the class : it was to benefit. did not' fall over pile another m their feverish anxiety to grab 'a considering, as per Press the small amount per week ttbtrndof' -class of worker would pay .if he was fortunate to .secure a/sectionyl Before, reiyerting't'6'_ jthe rent .question, let lis nonsider^hp site on w,hich the buildings are placed. put, the dwellings 'are erected^ m a bleak, howling waste, wind swept; by every southerly or northerly; on' ground that was formerly a chain of sand dunes,;- the '.distance ijrqm- the Petone railway station being about amile and a quarter, and: nearly eq-uadistant-from Lower Hutt station. This is a serious drawback, not only for-Wel-lington workers; as the distance from the railway station put, the matter out of court at once for the toilers of Petone or Wellington. The Seddon Government could have secured a better site at less cost, if it had taken the Maori Block, bounded by ;th'e Hutt Road bh the station" side and the -Esplanade on the ! beachside, the centre of which ; would be . Ryan-street. If the homes had been built m this 'locality ihe Lands Department would Biave- been rushed with applications by the £3 a week section of workers, even at the present rents, rates and insurances ', but the poorer casual worker would have to' stand aloof and pass, partly because if ho lias a wife and family to keep, he has _,not the needful to part up m the faiiiigfrv: /the; Department ..wants. -.. There! .are lots of workers who wouid; take on the home if they could see their way. clear to do so ; tliat is to say, if the Government modified the regulations on the lines indicated by the daily press, i.e., £1 Is. for lease/ and registration, and £1 for the first fortnight's rent, the insurance to be p id_in monthly instalments (with- the rent. The object, of the [Workers'* Dwellings Act is to relieve t-hs rack-rented Wellington workers, Puut-it has < signally failed m its oh-foct-because conditions attached to the lease are, to say the least, beyond tbe reach of those whose poverty doe 3 mot " allow them to become affluent enough to pay even the small amount the Department requires. As one of your contemporaries put it : "'The highest rent is only ten shillings per week , " but it omitted to add sundries. For instance, we will assume an applicant secures one section, design G ; his monthly rent being £2 4s 7d, which is about 11 shillings and a penny three farthings per week; or per annum £2£ 10s, to which add £2 5s 7d for, fire insurance, municipal rates, say, £2 12s ; and the grand total per annum, with registration, comes to £34- 13s 7d. This would be for a lease for fifty years with the right of renewal,

This of -course would benefit the worker immensely if he could, only see the' inesiiima_le .advantage- he would derive from being a Crown tenant ! Under the private landlord, iri Petone, unless the workman wants to live m a first-class establishment, he would pay, say, , 11 shillings per week; 0 r £28 12s per annum, .and no red-iitpe or registratiqn fee or insurance premium. This contrast is one of the reasons for the failure of applicants from this locality ;. the other conditions that the successful applicant 'has to contend with . are, that he mugt, during his tenure, paper and paint ' the house, every five years. Another ten pounds can be written off for this. The worker knows a. good thing; when he sees.it, and to tackle the other modes of acquiring the freehold he, would require at ; least £_ per week instead of £2 Bs. to carry /out the conditions ,Qf contract laid ' down m the mbdek 'ft; 8. . .and C. The designs;, of .some/ of tlie' buildings are unique ; others are lilfe some fiend, who, m -a moment of grfim' humor, thrust his hand into a bag of. mysterious designs, and with a : 7" heigh presto!" created a' lot of dwellings that were glaring at one another with a fierce hideousness tttat seemed . to w-arp the souls of those who view-ed the scene. Verily they are a blot on the landscape. Tlie houses are built of the best of th "nber, are erected m a superior w.'iy, and fitted up with the latest modern conveniences, which are a credifc to the Public Works Department ; butt the average worker wants cheaper ' rent, and the department of workmi ;n's homes will have to build cheaper houses, with the red tape el'jtminated,.and a lease that is not heldged round with restrictions which mikkes the average 'private landlord w»tlt with envy. The idea of provklin.j_; worker's homes is no doubt a commendable experiment if carried ouit on lines that would enable the 'worker ' to take a house from the Government the same way as one would acquire it from a private landlord ; but hedging them round with registration fees, insurance premiums, ra\tes, etc., is just a trifle too much. The Government will not ta-Jce any risk like the private landlord, but wants everything i-n its own fashion, and the sooner the Grown realises >, that tlie best way it can benefit the worker is by going on the lines indicated the sooner will it make a success of its workers' homes. The casual toiler who has to follow work round the localities m which he can obtain it might be induced to take a dwelling for the time he required while work was plentiful m the district i\nd as the population increases here m frozen meat season- and leaves m the slack season, workers' homes on lines laid down by the Government how arfe of no use to the casual laborer.