STATE ADVANCES AND HOUSING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19039, 8 December 1923, Page 8

STATE ADVANCES AND HOUSING.

The figures quoted by the Acting Minis* ter of Finance with reference to the operations of the State Advances Department in the matter of loans fop housing and other purposes may certainly be regarded, as he suggests, aa eloquent testimony to the vigour with which the policy laid down in the State Advances Act is being carried out. In. this evidence of activity is to be discerned the effect of the legislation enacted last session liberalising the terms upon which financial assistance is made available to workers and settlers. The measure of this liberalisation has been such that the Government has been reasonably criticised on the score of going beyond the bounds of prudence ,in its desire to make the advantages offered by the State Advances Depart-, ment more widely accessible. For the State to advance as much as 95 per cent, of the cost of house and section to the worker who proposes to build a home for himself is to leave , a margin of security that is plainly precarious. It is not surprising in these circumstances, and as a consequence also of the enlarged facilities for borrowing tHat have been extended to settlers on the land, that the Advances Department has been kept busy of recent months, and that the number of its clients is rapidly in-' creasing. Since April last the Department has been paying out money at the rate of over half a million a month, and, it is expected that the total amount advanced during the current year will bo more than double,: the total for the preceding twelve months. Since the Act was amended four mouths ago advances exceeding half a million have been authorised for the erection of homes for workers, and though the sum actually paid out so far is considerably less, as would be expected, it is an easy calculation which shows the result of such expenditure in homes, the average loan upon which amounts to £769. It certainly appears a good sign, as Mr Downie Stewart claims, that this average is being kept down. The maximum amount which the worker is permitted to borrow upon house and section is now £1250. The Minister draws attention to the disparity noticeable from month to month between the amount advanced for the erection of homes and that advanced for their purchase. This indication of a desire to build on the part of those who are workers within the definition of the Act must be viewed with satisfaction. The housing problem is a serious one, of course, even in New Zealand. In the cities there is overcrowding, with the result that numbers of people are living under unhygienic conditions. This is bad for the nation.

both physically and morally. It is in the public interest that people should be housed decently and comfortably, preferably in their own homes. The policy of the Government in respect to the operations of the State Advances Department, though not commercially prudent, promises to contribute very usefully towards an easing of the housing situation. In that sense the liberalising legislation seems likely to quite fulfil expectations. No keen observation is required for the detection of present activity in the erection of private dwellings, either locally or in other centres of population. The official statistics respecting building operations show that during the year 1921-22 private dwellings to the number of 4330 were erected in the dominion, while for the year 1922-23 the number was 5025. These are somewhat impressive figures and it is encouraging to believe that this measure of activity is being maintained.