THE HOUSE HUNT Truth

NZ Truth, Issue 749, 25 October 1919, Page 4

THE HOUSE HUNT

Truth

THE PEOPLE'S PAPER SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1919.

The Premier's Pic-crust Promises

"When Sir Joseph Ward published his party manifesto m which he declared his intention, if returned to power at the next general election, to erect workmen's dwellings which could be rented at not more than ten shillings and sixpence per week, the doubting Didymuses laug-hed derisively. The merriment of the Masseyites at the suggestion showed that they, considered the proposal utterly • impossible of accomplishment. The Labor men sat up and took notice, and wondered it after all Sir Joseph was going to' make good the Intuition of those who had dubbed him the "Wizard of Finance." The housing problem was too acute to be left untouched till after December. Not to tackle the problem would have been not only a confession of failure on the part of the Massey Government, but an admission of Inability to face the situation as it ought to be faced. The Government had to do something, so it brought m a Bill. True, that- is not much, but it serves to show what the party behind Mr. Massey can be kicked into doing when the democratic boot is supplied with sufficient force to the proper part of their political anatomy. It is painfully evident that the old Tory gang tried hard to get down to the rent figure fixed by Sir Joseph, but failed. The best they could do was to get within half- a- crown or three shillings off it, and even then the terms were hot so 6asy as those which the, leader of the Liberal Party has formulated. When the Government Bill was introduced, the ex-Minister for [Finance showed how he yould put his scheme into operation, but the Tories, with the interests Of. their private enterprise friends ever before them, refused to fall to his suggestion, and the Government Bill, practically unaltered, was gone on with. It is to be hoped that before anything further »is done, the electors wtfl have put the kybosh upon It by turning down the Masseyites with a resounding thud at the elections m December, and that the Liberal leader will then have a chance of putting his ideas into immediate operation. The need of house accommodation is growing more acute daily. People are being forced to pay excessive prices for house property to obtain shelter for their wives and families, and m order to consummate the bargain they have to render other families homeless. With all the talk of profiteering m the necessaries of life, it is a peculiar fact that all the politicians m dealing with this subject think and talk only of the increased cost of food, clothes and footwear. Not one of them include housing, and the cost of homes to-day, whether one buys or rents, provides more emphatic evidence pf profiteering than can be proven m connection with any other necessity of the people. The fair rent bill is a dead letter, because it has been so easy to evade. Values have b§,en inflated to such a height that the rent of a home is out of all proportion to the service rendered! In acquiring homes heads of many families have taken upon themselves financial burdens that they will have to carry all through their lives, penalising themselves and their families m order to meet the rapacious demands of the money sharks.

If the policy followed was easing, matters, one might view the present difficulty with some little patience. But it does not. The buyer of a house puts a tenant out to get m, and, so far as the community is concerned, it is a case of "as you were." It reminds one of the childhood game, "Here we go round the mulberry bush." What, then, is to be done,, seeing houses cannot be built m a day, and labor is scarce. Mr. Holland came within an ace of discovering- something that might be done, at least to check the inflation of values and rents. On Monday night he asked Mr. Massey if it was possible to take any steps to prevent people from being turned out of their homes prior to the erection of houses by. the Government. Mr. Massey promised to see what the law officer of the Crown could suggest. Barren of ideas himself, ht could not even see the germ of an idea m the query put by the member for Grey. Yet it was there. What about the Government bringing down a Tenants' Rights Bill? Such a Bill could be drafted m two or three clauses, giving the tenant the right to continuous tenancy so long as he fulfilled the covenants of the lease, whether the lease was by the week, the month, or the year. There is nothing new m the idea of tenant right. It has been granted by the British Parliament, even to the Irish farmers. It does not matter who buys the house and farm, the tenant farmer, has a tenant's right to remain so long as he meets his obligations;, and his rent, be it remembered is fixed, not by the owner, but by the Fair Rent Court. Such a Bill would cut deeper than at •first sight appears to the uninitiated. The fact that a person could not get occupation of a house by buying it and evicting the tenant, would bring down the demand for house property to the normal, and prices would fall m sympathy. This fall In prices would again be reflected m the rents to the advantage of tenants. But apart altogether from such considerations, great as .they are, the tenant' right of the occupier is worth an effort, and if Mr. Massey, or the Crown Law Office, does not suggest its adoption, then some Labor member or Radical ought to bestir himself.

The suggestion of the Corporation of Wellington to house homeless families m old warehouses, many of them rat infested, is one that under any circumstanqes must be deplored. Surely something better than that can b.e done m the Empire City? There are many oarpenters and other building tradesmen at present following other than their original callings. If proper wages are given, these men would prefer to work at their respective trades. Let application be made to the various unions for the necessary tradesmen to start right m at wages suitable to the necessity of the situation, and Very soon a full supply of the, necessary labor will be available. Co-operative building gangs could be organised, each set to build on a basis which would cut out the middleman exploiter of labor, and while securing 1 the full return on their work to the men employed, would give better value to the Corporation running the scheme. The housing of people m old warehouses is detrimental to the health of the community, and if it is persisted m, ought to be interdicted by the Public Health Department. The demand made by Mr. Wilford, Mr. Fraser and Mr. Wright that the local authority ought to have full power to" condemn and pull down iniannltary buildings, la also worthy of consideration. The powers In the Glasgow Housing Act ought to bo adopted m New Zealand. This provides that where the City Health Officer condemns a building- as insanitary, the owner must demolish and rebuild within a given period. If he falls or refuses to do so, the City Corporation enters into possession and the municipal workmen demolish the building and clear the site, the owner receivingonly the -value of the site plus ten per cent, for disturbance. These and other improvements are wanted urgently m connection with property ownership m cots » ow aa aad cities.