RURAL HOUSING

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6105, 24 September 1947, Page 6

RURAL HOUSING

MATTER ONE OF GREATER URGENCY MORE PRODUCTION MEANS MORE HOUSES In early July a deputation brought before the Dominion Commissioner of Works and the Dominion Building Controller well reasoned proposals for increasing the housing on our farms. With deep regret has it to be commented that after a lapse of almost two months there had been no adequate reply to these requests. The only criticism that could be made of these requests was' that they were unduly modest. There was asked a number one priority allocation of 1000 houses for the coming 12 months, to be erected in rural areas. Be it recalled that the Government has planned for 12,000 houses to be erected iin the Dominion during this 12 ! months. On a pro rata basis, the I countryside would be entitled to a full | 4OOO houses. | The matter now is of increased urgency, in the light of the Aid for i Britain campaign. More production ! demands more manpower, and that in jturn requires more housing—for the only reservoir of manpower available to farming is from the ranks of married men, to whom a home is all-im-portant. In many cases increased manpower could be made available on farms quite early under conditions of temporary accommodation, were housing a certain prospect at a reasonably early date. In any case,, Britain’s need will be a continuing one. for quite three years ahead. Do the authorities realise that a man working on a New Zealand farm produces more foodstuffs than anywhere else on earth, and, furthermore, that those produced are in a the very highest category of urgency? Very definitely there is a strongest tie between aid for Britain and a rural housing policy in this Dominion.