OFF THE HIGHWAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12245, 18 February 1918, Page 4

OFF THE HIGHWAY.

HOUSE RENTS AND COST OP LIVING.

CHRISTCHURCH AND WELLING- * ton CONTRASTED.

(By D.M.)

“ What this place wants,” said a taxicab driver the other day to a.departing passenger, as he leant against the side of bis car at the railway station kerbing, "what this place wants is the camps shifted here. They’d shake things up.” In an office in the city a little later a typist, alter a few genial and general remarks about the weather—by the by, a. steadily dismal and steadily depressing ram was not pouring down that gave evidence that her thoughts, too, had often dwelt on the transference of the camps, or perhaps only a. sectional part of them, to Christchurch. "You know,” she remarked, "I have nevei- been to Wellington "—she would never want to go again if she spent a. lew days m the Capital when it was m wot and windy mood—"and I think it must he .so nice up there, with the camps near by. Oh. how I no wish they would shift them to Christchuich. Its not lair!” she rounded Oil llOl* opinion emphatically. It is not intended here to enter into a disputation with the young ladv on llio subject, neither is it proposed to enlei into the pros and eons of tho Mon Sir James Allen's attitude on tho matter. Those who know the honourable gentlemans temperament intimately say that a dour determination is one of its chief characteristics, and that once haying made up his mind on a detail, large or small, rmlit or vmmg, be becomes as solid on it “as the Rock of Gibraltar.” A LITTLE ABOUT THE CAMPS.

Howevei, that is just in passing. Also just in passing can it be stated that theie is a section of people in Celling on who would ho only too to "lMv °r ° ach of the centres i “ /'T? o| ' reinforcement •i.li mes located in its vicinity— they W1 haTe r ,ess of a load to earn. wonW ’ T Ctlon of Ein P're City dwellers 'oul.d entc T no great demur if the tio'ivi rv® F° the Xmv Zpal;u,d E xpedi-' tion.u \_ f 01 ce now m training at NarI 0"' L ; k - and Awa, uni np ar. I ahnerston North, were shifted Trenlmn, /’i i 1 * S rcalh ®rston or ord vrv «- i t ,G are the u nwij workaday citizens and householders, wtm imd that the cost of liyocca^imm'ih^d'] int ° commissions occasionally delve, and then fade awav - or them is rendered in some respects two ]aZ rP p aCULp , b -T tile Ibeir memio,; tie hotelkeepers,tuxi° bars a,iT R pW es Pr ° 0 P f riptovs ' Jov tdls gal her 'a eolideSirS Satu dn'v S " 10npy - and hj fl. r r cmngs ti,e i-e may h e an imiix of from two thousand' to four jfesri ii ’ at might he a moderate estimate-info ? r, le g n infc -n- B cosM,-ed that as a. Nile, the soldier is a free (mender nnd an approximation can l )P made as peoplm aSSet h ° 1S t0 those trades.

Certainly they* would wake a place up-at times they do it more effectu- '' i t . han P ublu j opinion has yet hem nb e to accomplish with Sir James (■Hen on the individual provincial crimps.

Porlm" ■ Tie one direction more than auv nib- i i • which (1m adjacent camps have croaied the greatest problem in " cllingtmi is concerned with houses and rents.

THE SITUATION TN CHRISTCHURCH.

Inquiries made among land and estate agents in Christchurch show that tinnes are by no means slack here in dealings in house property. It, is re. ported that for good houses to let there is a very good demand indeed, and that most of the sales effected are cash transactions. An impetus at present in ’.lie lotting business, stated one agent, is accounted for by the reason that some men, who are reservists, are selling their own properties, and going into rented places, so as to he “ ~l} clear’’ when the call comes. For five and six-roomed houses, moderji built, ivith all conveniences, and good sections. close to or in the city, rents range from about 18s to 205., A similar type of house is not procurable in Wellington pity at present for the simple reason that imuie in.ro being hnilt--it would perhaps he hard to find room lor them in any of flip rosidonlial areas. And the '’good section!” The Rev J. .1. North's “ blanket backyard ” is the eity-dwoller’s lot, and doubtless will he as long as Wellington is Wellington- The National Government is not yet. considering the sotting up of a Royal Commission to alter the configuration of the home of Parliament. MODER NITY! The house-seeker’s lot in Wellington is like that of the policeman— not a happy one. Ho who is renting a house there, to-day, even if it ho perched on the side of a. hill, with a precipice for a, backyard talks seldom of shifting—th ero is no other suitable place to be got, and so ho submits to many inconveniences. The usual run of Wellington houses may have, been modern'some time, in the Victorian era ; parts" of others in some of the suburbs were, one time doing duty in the composition of grain and produce stores .or office buildings. THE “CRO'OKJES.” 1 here is little, application for what one agent called “crookies” in Christchurch, and he regretfully sighed that ho could not ship those 'on his books to Wellington. “I’d soon get rid of them there,” he remarked. And lie would, because people must have somewhere to live, and to meet Woilimrton’s difficulties the installation of the system of flats has been discussed. Flats there are in Wellington to-day' with their two and three families. Other one-storey houses have their aggregation of the tenant and his family find a married couple or so. Indeed someone has remarked that one-half of the rontpayors there live by taking in hoarders. ” WELT/ RACKET). There is one instance where an elderly lady, who rents a. house, of about six rooms, has. all available accommodation let to .business girls, and she herself seeps in a linen cupboard, let in under the stairway! And porhans there are oU.er such eases. Another ease noted n a similar class of house is whore he single rooms have had a. slight partition erected in the centre-double bedrooms while you wait! Surely a sign of the times. THE REASON 1 WHY. A very great contributing cause to this congestion i s the gradual drifting to Wellington of officials with Defence Ofhen appointments; and the (lockimr m of girls socking clerical positions in Rase Records. Pay Office, etc.-™ they arc deserters from all sorts of

occupations—millinery, drapery, confectionery, and even bar-tending. Gaze into any of these departments and the sight that meets the eye—rows upon rows of women, from the “ flapper " to the mature dame—going through files or card-indexing, amid a clicking of typewriters w,hich are causing a din like a machine-gun battery in action. They, too, have to have somewhere to live, hence the, search for rooms, probably with breakfast only at the house: most likely with all meals “out. In fact the “meals out” system is becoming the vogue, with many men and women boarders alike. TRIBULATIONS OF THE HO.MESEEKER. There is one tenant who is ever meeting trouble in Wellington—it is he whose landlord has sold out. In one reefnt case a business man whose residence Was “ sold over his head ” had verily to seek fresh woods and pastures for a home which met the requirements of his family. H n at last found ? a “ roof ” of the necessary proportions |at Upper Hntt—a nice little train ride of over twenty miles each day. I, ess fortunate was another man who Tiad been similarly evicted- His work and income did not permit him to go so far afield. For three months he chased every prospect, hut-' luck was against him. In the meantime he was advised that the buyer wanted to come in. Naturally he replied that the other fellow could come in when he got SfflJieiVll&G to UO. lie: did not feel ill. elined to live in a tent. Scanning the paper one evening he saw just the place. He set out forthwith, hut to his dismay he arrived about fiftieth. “ Pressed close up to the door, they were,” he said, “ like a queue at the theatre. I passed on.” One house ho could have got—ho was prepared to d've a bonus of £3. The lady who was thinking of going out wonted a £o bonus—the rise was too high. At last he got a place—and he offered a bonus, so as in got the early tip as to when it was likely to he available. There is a wisdom also in an nut-go-ing tenant keeping silence ns to his moving out—if he does not he is subject to a stream of inquiring callers, ami his dnnr-hell is rinan'nrr all day Imm. Another unit in 'Wellington's steadily growing population is composed of those soldiers’ wives who rlepirle to stay there till their husbands come haek. A ser-geant-major’s wife, who made this decision. was asked 18s a week for a furnished room—no meals. When the landlady heard there was a ha by also, there, was nothing doing, babies were not wanted in that house. The soldier’s wife subsequently loft to reside in Auckland.

Christchurch has its steady, quiet-wo-ing prosperity. There may he missing thsi waking up " that is aver on (ho; surface.—avid deep down below it (he cost of living factor—in Wellington, hut surelv the “waking nn " has an on(Wirahle concomitant if it means the shattering of the general comfort of the communitv.