The Star. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1908. MUNICIPAL DWELLINGS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8679, 20 July 1906, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1908. MUNICIPAL DWELLINGS.

The Mayor of Auckland lias opened a new phase of the housing question. Ho is about, to lay before his Council a scheme for the erection of municipal homes for the working claeses. His proposal is to build terraces of briok houses, of four and five rooms, with the necessary offices, at an estimated cost of about £400. He estimates that the annual outlay on each house would be about £22 for the larger ones and £19 5s for the smaller ones, and that if the rental were fixed at IGb and 8s 6d a week respectively, "it would be a paying proposition for the Council." In allowing £350 for building, Mr Myers has possibly underestimated thi cost, bub if tiie houses are to be built on the terrace principle, £50 should fully meet the expenditure on the land. We are inclined to think, also, that he has not made sufficient allowance for interest, sinking fund and depreciation, though, if the houses were substantially built of brick, the depreciation would not be great. But these are jininor details. The main pomt 1 is that the scheme, as a bold departure in municipal enterprise, is certainly worth considering. We see no reason to differ from Mr Myers's contention that : the housing problem comes within the functions of the municipalities. If it is. the duty of a City Council to safeguard the health of the citizens by providing drainage, sanitation^ lighting and other public services, it is certainly a part,' of its duty to see th^t the citizens 'are decently and properly housed. The State j has also a duty in this respect, and I happily the New Zealand GoVerawneiit ! has acknowledged its responsibility ; thr&ugh the m_eduim of the Vtforkere* Dwellings Act. Jlut it is too jnucli to hope that, however energetically it may go to work, the State can all at once provide suitable accommodation for ©very* body of limited means. For many yeara to come it will need assistance, and from no direction would assistance be more welcome than from the municipalities. No corporation which took upon itself the.^ties and responsibiji^ ties of a Jjfcndlord would Wer have cause to repent its action. It would be helping to , supply a need which; has long been felt, | and which, in spite of the intervention of the State, threatens to grow. W« notice that Mr Myers thinks that th« municipality should retain the ownership of its dwellings, and here again' we agree with Mm- The clause in the Workers' Dwellings Act granting the freehold of the tenements under certain, conditions was the one blot on an otherwise satisfactory measure. But th? Auckland City Council, in. common with all municipalities, -need not be deterred by political considerations from following its own inclinations if-.it chooses to render its property inalienable. .