HOUSING SCHEME

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20586, 27 November 1936, Page 8

HOUSING SCHEME

SOON IN FULL SWING PLANS PRACTICALLY COMPLETED By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, November 26. Plans were practically completed for building homes in the main centres, said the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) in a statement on the housing scheme to-day. By February contractors would probably begin in Wellington, where 400 houses will be erected. Land would be available at Orakei, Auckland, for about 316 houses. Other areas were being made available for use at the same time. By the end of January or the beginning of February, a contract would be let for anything from 200 to 400 houses in Auckland. Some weeks after this they would be able to let contracts in Christchurch and in Dunedin. The Lands Department, said Mr Savage, had been asked to recommend suitable sites for housing purposes in practically every secondary town in New Zealand, and in every important town the Government hoped to have the scheme going as soon as possible. They were already taking steps to acquire two educational areas in Palmerston North. Local bodies had started to interest themselves in the Government’s offer of money at 3 per cent, and Mr Savage predicted that before the year was far gone there would be a very large number of building schemes conducted by local bodies. By the end of March, he said, the available building labour incidental to the general labour necessary and manufacturers of material for housing would be moving as never before in New Zealand.