HOUSING PROBLEM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12646, 2 June 1919, Page 6

HOUSING PROBLEM.

GOVERNMENT CALLED ON TO ACT. At yesterday’s conference of the K.S.A. Mr A. Curfcayue moved —“ That having regard to the present great scarcity oi' houses in New Zealand, the conference urges on the Government the immediate and pressing necessity for State action towards building homes suitable for occupation by returned men and their dependents, and that no attempt be made to erect blocks of houses on special Government areas, but to distribute houses in as many quarters of the town as possible.” Mr Curtayne said that the matter had been dealt with by the Town Planning Conference. Building had ceased because of the high price of material, and standardised houses alone could be built at a price which would make them available cheaply, and houses in brick or concrete would have a lower rate of depreciation. Mr T. Miller said that the motion was unnecessary, for the Workers’ Dwellings Act was in force and local bodies could get advances to erect dwellings. It would be folly to go on with the matter, because prices were likely to drop, and the Government would bo stranded with high-priced houses on its hands. Mr J. E. M’Manus strongly supported the Government standardisation of houses to permit of low rents. He said that in some parts of Australia the Government had gone into the milling business, and had not only produced houses at pre-war rates, but had given them to soldiers at 10 per cent lower. Mr C. W. Batten agreed to move an addition to the committee’s recommendation that the Government’s actiyities should not be confined to blocks of houses on Government areas. In this form the motion was adopted.