A HIGHER STANDARD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16530, 14 September 1921, Page 4

A HIGHER STANDARD.

IN WORKERS’ HOMES. A plea for a higher standard in regard to workers’ dwellings was made by Air E. J. Howard, AI.P., during the course of a lecture on “ Housing,” which he delivered in the Selwyn Street Hall last evening. The speaker illustrated his remarks with a fine collection of lantern slides showing the contrast between the workers’ dwellings in tho garden suburbs in England and sorno which have been erected in New Zealand cities. There was a fair attendance at the lecture and Air W. Newman occupied the chair. The City Council housing scheme ahd particularly the plans of some of the dwellings proposed to bo erected under that scheme were strongly condemned by Air Howard as tending to create slums, but he also congratulated the council on what it had achieved in the Huxley Street settlement, where the houses, although they appeared to b© a little high in rent, were decent and comfortable. Referring to the City Council’s application to the Government for permission to borrow' money nt 6£ per cent, the speaker said it seemed extraordinary that the council should want to do this when Sir Francis Bell had stated that th© council still had £7OOO available for housing from the Government at 4$ per cent. The tendency of the City Council scheme was to build “ shacks,” and he hoped none of these “shacks” would ever be erected. Ho believed that housing was a national question and that it should be dealt with on national lines, by the Government. The speaker also referred to the Workers Dwellings Act, which, he said, was a good Act, but the extraordinary thing was that the woi J kers c, flid not take advantage of it to the extent they should. Up to the end of 1919 only 709 dwellings had been erected in New Zealand under the provisions of this Act, and he believed that if the workers realised its advantages more of them would apply for houses under tho provisions of the Act. Another very fine piece of legislation was the State Advances Act, under which it was possible to borrow up to thx*ee-quarters of the cost of a dwelling. Amongst the slides shown by Air Howard were view's of workers’ dwellings in Wellington, which had been erected in monotonous uniformity on twenty-two and thirty feet frontages. In contrast with these views, which were entitled “ Slums being created in Wellington,” were shown pictures of garden cities containing elaborate workers’ dwellings which Mr Howard stated were let for low rentals. He advocated concrete houses in preference to wooden buildings, and expressed the opinion that if the matter was taken up in a business-like manner, as was the rase in England and America, the workers should be able to obtain comfortable dwellings with all conveniences at rentals within their means. He would always insist that the workers themselves should demand a high standard for their homes, for as long as they were content with hovels they would never ris© in their ideals. At the conclusion of the lecture Air Howard answered a number of ques--1 ions in reference to the Workers Dwellings Act, and he was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for addressing the meeting.