WORSE THAN CAVES.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12618, 10 April 1934, Page 7

WORSE THAN CAVES.

SOME SLUM DWELLINGS. ‘'Our ancestors dwelt in caves under better conditions than some slum-dwellers,” said the British Minister of Health, Sir Hilton Young, explaining his Jioiising policy at the Municipalities Conference. If his slum clearance campaign were fulfilled, no man, woman or child would be living in a. house unfit for human dwelling, he said. Nevertheless, there was a second stage of the crusade demanding attention, namely, the preventing of evil overcrowding, which the Government was determined to attack after the slum campaign. He added that the Government was at present spending over £13,0(X),000 a year oil housing, but the outlay was largely ineffective because the use of the subsidy was not properly controlled. The Government’s policy was that re-housing must be carried out in, the neighbourhood of the original homes, usually the. inner areas of cities where land was dear and rare. Accordingly they must build in flats which were more expensive than small houses.

Although the subsidies imposed a burden on the Exchequer, every penny would earn a direct return in the removal of slums and overcrowding.