HOMES FOR THE PEOPLE

Waikato Independent, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3550, 6 May 1939, Page 7

HOMES FOR THE PEOPLE

AN AUSTRALIAN EXAMPLE ACRE OF LAND AND A COTTAGE There is an urgent need for cheap homes for people who cannot afford to pay high rents and have not enough savings to buy homes. This problem was tackled in a practical manner by the Rev. Canon R. E. S. Hammond, 0.8. E., rector of Saint Barnabas' Church of England, Sydney. What he did in successfully establishing the settlement of Hammondville, should be of interest to. New Zealanders, in view of the housing shortage everywhere apparent. One criticism of the New Zealand Government's State housing scheme is that it provides homes only for those in comparatively comfortable circumstances, and leaves the unemployed man or the families with very low incomes to search for cheaper accommodation. In 1932, at a time when hundreds of families were being evicted from their homes in Sydney by court orders, the Pioneer Home Scheme was born in the mind of Canon Hammond, who is known to many New Zealanders jthrough his lecturing tours many years ago.

As a consequence of his efforts 150 acres of land was purchased two miles from the suburb of Liverpool at a cost of £3750. Today the settlement of Hammondville supports a population of 075 people —a population that is happy and contented ira contrast to the days when the grim spectres of hunger and unemployment were ever before them. The settlement celebrated its seventh anniversary on November 25, 1938. The conditions of entrance to Hammondville are: (1) There must be in the family at least three young children; (2) the parents must be unemployed and must have been evicted or under notice of eviction. The Hammondville mo-tor-truck picks up the selected family's belongings and transports them to the village. No rent or repayment money of any kind is required from the settler for three months. At the expiry of that period he commences to pay 5/- per week for the first three years of his occupancy. For the following four years he pays 7/6 per week. At the end of the seventh year the cottage and the acre of land, together with all improvements that the settler himself has made on the holding in the meantime, become his property absolutely. The type of cottage built in the

early stages when money was scarce was a three-roomed standard cottage with a 30ft verandah convertible into a sleep-out. The holding, including the acre of land cost, all told, £IOO. The land cost £25 an acre.

There is no debt on the settlement. It was financed out of money received in voluntary contribution, usually in amounts of £IOO.

Many men who came to the settlement paid off the cost of their cottages in the fourth year, having

found that they could afford to pay more thai* the minimum set down. .The Hammondville settlement is self-contained, having a memorial hall, post office, public school, fire brigade station, general store, bakery, butchery, and so on. At the school there are eight teachers and 2GI pupils. There are 467 children in the settlement out of a total of 075 people.

One -settler has established a wonderful mushroom culture farm, complete with extensive under-

ground culture pits. Two settlers have embarked on the Angora rabbit fur industry. Vegetable-grow-ing, flower-growing, chicken and duck farming are also nourishing industries in the settlement. Hammondville is an idealist experiment which has proved a sound business proposition, and is living up to its motto: "Not a charity; but an opportunity."