HOUSING PROJECT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26473, 29 May 1947, Page 8

HOUSING PROJECT

MANUFACTURERS FAVOUR WINCATUI IDEAL AS INDUSTRIAL CENTRE “ The association believes that the Wingatui project, if properly planned, will assure the. future industrial development of this province,” said Mr J. A. Scouler, president of the OtagoSouthland Manufacturers’ Association, in a press statement yesterday concerning the proposal by the Government Housing Department to open up the area of land in the Mosgiel district for housing purposes. Mr Scouler added that manufacturers on several occasions had emphasised the need for housing to encourage settlement in and around Dunedin. Explaining that the executive council of the association had discussed the matter at its meeting this week, Mr Scouler said that last year the association had made a survey of the expansion programmes of manufacturers, and the amount of construction work envisaged to provide new factories. This showed that substantial extensions to industry were projected. Most manufacturers' stated, however, that extreme difficulty had been experienced in obtaining suitable building sites in the city’s precincts and the limited amount of land available was becoming more and more removed from the populated areas. . “ Dunedin is an industrial city, said Mr Scouler, "and manufacturers are aware that the factory of the future should be segregated from the more densely populated areas, yet must be within easy reach of the workers/* With fast electric trains Mr Scouler continued, Wingatui was nothing more than a suburb of the city proper, and with an adequate water supply, electric power, drainage and all modern community services, together with an intelligent planning of sites f°r light and heavy industrial development, the situation suggested had all the advantages to make it an ideal manufacturing centre. The association, he added, was convinced that progress could not be measured by the urgency of immediate needs, and that plans should now be laid to serve future generations.