A BIG PROBLEM

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3895, 28 April 1937, Page 3

A BIG PROBLEM

BRITAIN’S LOCAL DEBT. “Britains municipal indebtedness has just reached the enormous figure of £1,306,000,000. It grows at the rate of £35,000,000 a year for general purposes, and at the rate of over - £32,000,000 for housing,” says the “Evening Standard.” “Total capital expenditure qn housing since 1919 has now reached the staggering total of £700,000,000. This rate of capital expenditure represents a huge burden to taxpayers, industry, and eventually to the whole nation. It is true that houses are let, and yield rents, but what with subsidies to builders in years past and uneconomic returns by way of net housing rentals, the burden is enormous. Many authorities now believe that future housing expenditure should be restricted to slum clearance. The view is growing that it should not be regarded as a maxim that everyone cleared out of a slum area should do so at the expense of the ratepayer. Building society finance is obtained cheaply enough, and the facilities they provide are ample for enabling many residents of slums tq become owners of their own houses instead of subsidised houses provided by the taxpayer and ratepayer.”