TIMBER SUPPLIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26216, 29 July 1946, Page 9

TIMBER SUPPLIES

A PRIORITY SYSTEM ' ALLOCATION TO SERVICEMEN An announcement that Cabinet has agreed to grant ex-servicemen a priority of timber supplies of up to half the total amount available for private building, for the purpose of building their own homes, has been made by the Minister of Rehabilitation, Mr C. F. Skinner. The new scheme would not mean that building permits in such cases were no longer necessary, he said, but that under planned distribution ex-ser-vicemen builders of homes would be assured of a fair share of the supplies available. He hoped that the plan would assist ex-servicemen who were actually waiting for timber to build their own homes and also those who intended to do so in the future. The Minister said that the Rehabilitation Board had arranged for full-time officers to work in close collaboration with the officers who controlled the distribution of timber in the various zones. A register of ex-servicemen would be kept on the basis of the monthly estimates of timber coming into each zone as advised by the timber controller, the supplies needed to keep jobs already started under way, and the relative needs of ex-servicemen. The Minister said that, broadly speaking, eligibility for inclusion in the register would be the same as for rehabilitation assistance, and the precedence' among the men eligible would be based on the same factors as the board took into consideration when making recommendations for urgent housing assistance. The men would be divided into three groups: (a) Those who had already obtained permits and were, building either .with the assistance of rehabilitation loans or their own finance, (b) those who would be building in future with rehabilitation loans, and (c) those who would be building with their own finance. In order to reduce the number of men who had been waiting for some time to build, those in the first grpup would be dealt with first. Priority within the group would be based generally on the date of a rehabilitation loan application, or, if one was not lodged, on the date of issue of a building permit. At present, he added, there were about 1600 ex-servicemen who, although they had loans approved, had not started to build, mainly owing to an inability to seefire supplies of labour. It had been estimated that it would take about six months to dispose of these. In the case of the other two groups, the order of application would generally apply. . “A high priority will be given to apy eligible ex-service home-builder no matter what group he is in, if his housing position is one of grave emergency,” the Minister said. Registers of men in each zone were now being compiled, and the men in the first group were being listed by rehabilitation officers. Men using their own finances must apply to be included. Applicants in the second group would be handled by the State Advances Corporation, and those in the third group by rehabilitation ofiices, on application.