A LANDLORD'S LURK.

NZ Truth, Issue 725, 10 May 1919, Page 4

A LANDLORD'S LURK.

<&<& is really surprising bow- some -landlords squeeze the last shilling out •or their tenants. /In n * tr f 1 ° 1 Writes a correspondent) famous foi its frail flossies, a well-known churchtaah the owner of some houses m the slum area, acts as his own agent and collector and also painter and paperhanger. One of his properties was "(much sought after by women of a cartain class, so the owner decided to get rid of the tenant on the score that tha premises needed renovating. No' £\ooi»---er was 'the tenant out than' a" few sheets of cheap paper were pasted on the walls of the front room, and the >-. hodse was advertised to let at ail increase of 2s 6d per week on the ofd rent. The place was rushed by lyfllei ■ib£-ea.sy virtue, who were only too \WI» ling to pay double the rent demanded, :A- big rent for such a miserable dwell-" ing would not do for the churchman, To demand a, very large rental for v, chouse used for immoral purposes might mean social and religious ruin to him. 'EDe got over that difficulty by putting up- the lcey to the highest bidder. That lurk succeeded beyond the limits oi his most sanguine anticipations, and the price paid for that key was not to be scoffed at by a pious profiteer.