STATE HOUSING SCHEME

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21702, 10 July 1940, Page 8

STATE HOUSING SCHEME

Shortage of Men And Materials By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, July 9. “We hope to build four thousand houses during the year, a total which exceeds last year’s,” said the Minister of Housing (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong), in an interview this evening. “The reason why I think we can build more houses this year is that the Government will give preference to housing construction and if there is to be any easing off it will be in other classes of Government building,” Mr Armstrong said that the Housing Department planned to use the services of every builder and every skilled artisan it could get, provided it could obtain the materials with which they could work. Four million pounds was provided in the estimates because the Department did not expect to be able to find labour or materials to involve a greater expenditure than this. “We set out to build 5000 houses a year but we have been unable to get men and materials,” the Minister continued. “The war gave us a serious setback because hundreds of men were needed for defence buildings and now it is additions to hospitals that are taking men from housing. I am asking the Minister of National Service that if men are to be taken away from housing construction they should not be taken from Auckland or Wellington. Auckland has been able to get more builders and artisans than Wellington, perhaps because of climatic conditions, with the result that Auckland has very nearly one third of the houses already completed.”