HOUSING THE PEOPLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26216, 29 July 1946, Page 4

HOUSING THE PEOPLE

NEED FOR PLANNING * ■ MR SEMPLE’S PLEA “We must have planning. It is simply useless groping round like an old fowl looking for its nest,” said the Minister of Works, Mr R. Semple, m the course of an address mainly on Government housing schemes before a crowded and enthusiastic audience which filled the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall to overflowing last night. The speaker’s sallies were well received and at the conclusion of his address, which he regretted had not been of longer duration, “ because this beastly influenza has got me again.” he was accorded three hearty cheers. The chair was occupied by Mr H. Brown, president of the Otago Labour Representation Committee. The Minister of Defence. Mr F. Jones, also occupied a seat on the platform. • Mr Semple’s address was preceded by a coloured film taken by the Works Department dealing with every aspect of housing from the felling of trees in the bush to the installing of a bath in a completed Government house. No Voice from Moscow Before the present Parliament was over, Mr Semple promised that a “ scientific plan ” covering the next 10 years would be developed. “I heard someone say in the House the other night,” he continued, “ that this planning business Was a ‘ voice' from Moscow. Let me tell you that this is no voice from Moscow but a voice from New Zealand. If Moscow wants to make progress then it will have to take heed of what New Zealand is doing.” Mr Semple, quoting the authority of the late President Roosevelt, claimed that nearly half the homes ocupied by people in America were unfit for habitation and possessed no baths. “ Such conditions exist in America.” he said, “ where people worship the almighty dollar and the golden calf is the home of the millionaire and the gangster.” He thought New Zealand was a little better off than America, even if America could boast that it was the greatest capitalistic and mechanised country in the world. The minister expressed the opinion that there would'have been no housing problem in New Zealand if there had been no war. Even with the war the Labour Government had erected 22.000 homes, 9000 of them last year. “ One would think.” he continued, “ that there was no housing problem before the Labour Government came into power. The fact remains that people are not properly housed in any capitalistic country in the world. In 1936 a housing survey made by the Government showed that there were 17.000 homes in the Dominion that were in such a bad state that they were beyond repair.” . . A Museum Piece The Minister said that one of the problems the Labour Government had to face when it took office was that there was a woeful dearth of apprentices because thousands of young men had wasted the best periods of their lives in “ slave camps earning 10s a week.” He explained that shortly after becoming Minister he had paid a visit to the Palmerston North aerodrome, where he saw 26 men drawing a homemade roller. “ I told the foreman to take it to out of the aerodrome,” he said. “I added that perhaps he might put it in a museum so that future generations: could see what stupid people lived in his time.” “In the devastated areas of Russia.” Mr Semple continued, “ it is estimated that there are over 25,000,000 people living in cellars under frightful conditions, and similar conditions exist elsewhere because of that terrible blood-bath. We have shortages of much-needed materials, and these shortages may persist for years, but we are indeed fortunate compared with other people. We have got to be patient and reasonable in the face of bottle necks, and, above all, we should thank God every night that we are living in New Zealand and not in one of the war-devastated countries.” “A Great Job ”

. The Dominion had played an important part in the war; 10,000 of its best' manhood lay .in war graves in various countries of the world, and it had also played a worthy part in helping to keep the Japanese from its shores.

“ We did a great job for the Americans here,” he continued. “The Americans told us that we ‘truly get a move on in *th‘is little old country,’ and when we get the timber and the labour we will be able to head off the world in the construction of homes.” It would be necessary, however, to substitute the haphazard methods of the past with a system of careful planning. “This is one of the matters I intend saying something about in the morning when I discuss the 10-year old plan for Otago.” he added.