TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays WEDNESDAY, 18th SEPTEMBER, 1946. BUILDING TO MATCH PROGRESS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 73, Issue 6284, 18 September 1946, Page 6

TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays WEDNESDAY, 18th SEPTEMBER, 1946. BUILDING TO MATCH PROGRESS

WITH a housing programme in excess of one hundred houses scheduled for immediate erection, and a deferred commercial building schedule exceeding an estimated value of £150,000, Te Awamutu faces the immediate problem of supply, both of materials and labour—-and permits. The housing priority is well recognised, and there is the assurance that there will be a speeding of the work; but, despite all that is being done, the indications point to the demand outpacing the supply. But it is in the sphere of commercial buildings that the, real difficulty is arising. With numbers of ex-servicemen awaiting the opportunity to establish themselves in business enterprises, and with other establishments seeking to de-centralise their activities upon Te Awamutu,*the permit restrictions must soon be eased or a serious injustice will be done both to the individuals affected and the community concerned. Of public buildings the. conditions at the railway station cannot continue very much longer, and if departmental service is to concentrate on the post office vastly additional floor space must be provided. In fact, the increasing volume of public transaction makes highly necessary the provision of adequate office space for departmental business. In the more localised sphere the question of a women’s rest room must be seriously faced, and failing the availability of service buildings capable of conversion to public purposes, new materials will be demanded for this much-needed civic amenity. Also deferred is the provision of a district hospital, for which sanction has been approved and a site stands in idleness. There is also in contemplation the civic centre as matching the progress of town and district, and a community centre as serving the social and cultural side which must have attention. In all a considerable building programme which makes necessary the speediest possible acceptance of new’ responsibilities and all the constructive ingenuity that the district can command.