A LULL—AND THEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 145, 22 June 1931, Page 10

A LULL—AND THEN

NAPIER’S FUTURE r I FROM RELIEF TO RELIANCE. A lull between the “temporary” building activity', and the approaching ‘•permanent” building activity', is noticed in Napier by a contributor to the New Zealand Herald. The day is not far distant when “a start will be made on the construction of permanent buildings upon the devastated sites. In two or three months the movements will be in swing, and .t will gather momentum in a surprisingly | short time if one can read the signs » aright . . . One can only* hazard a guess [as to the average resources of the people. There is some unemployment, and the No. 5 scheme is as necessary here as anywhere. For a time skilled labour—carpenters, plumbers, etc. — were in keen demand for the erection of temporary premises and restoration work, but now these needs have been met in sg many cases that among these tradesmen there is some unemployment I also. But, as mentioned, the new building boom is nearly due.” Bread and Butter Relief. ■The Belief Committee is not a committee of relief in the sens 3 of providing maintenance for those in actual want. “That is the function of the Hospital Board. Of course, the finances of that body are in a state of chaos, but from some kind of widow's cruse, food and shelter is available for those who require it. “Auxiliary help in this direction is coming from the Bishop of Waiapu, who hag a fund of £lOOO particularly for widows and orphaned children, from the Red Cross and Salvation Army, which provide bedding and clothing, from the Napier Workers’ Special Relief Committee, which has don. excellent work in. making small grants to necessitous people, particularly to those whose homes were burned, and to widows and dependants, and from a committee at Port Ahuriri, which received £lOOO from the King George fund in Britain for the aid particularly of distressed seamen. Thus there is no want of the kind that means hunger and physical suffering. • ‘ The immediate human need being satisfactorily handled the business men and city property owners may turn their attention with a good heart and conscience to the question of rebuilding.” House-Rehabilitation Relief. Apart from Hospital Board relief for the needy', and apart from the erection of new buildings (temporary or permanent), is the task of making houses habitable. This is a responsibility of the Relief Committee, which considers applications and makes recommendations for the restoration of chimneys, drainage, plumbing, and the like.' The maximum sum available for one dwelling is £lOO.

“This is nominally a loan free of interest for twelve months. One reason why it is called a loan is to bring about in the end a uniform degree of assistance to all, an'- 1 another is to discourage extravagant claims. Actually the average cost of making a house habitable is £5O. “The ultimate effect will bo a distribution of the available money on what is known in legal circles as the hotch-potch system, which will mean tha those who have carried out repair work from their own pockets will share equally with those who have awaited this aid. There is an adequate inspectio • and checking system by officers of the Public Works Department, and subscribers to the fund may rest assured that the money is being expended to give the maximum aid to the maximum number.

Housing Position— A Shortage. “The restoration of homes is so well advpneed that the present population is estimated to be within 2000 or 3000 of the normal of 16,000. Some authorities believe that the disparity is less, for the same amounts of power and water are being consumed as before the earthquake. However, the school roll is 180 C against 2100, but probably the proportion of children absent is larger than that of adults.” The work of making houses habitable has not got ahead of the demand, for the correspondent reports a shortage of houses. “Few habitable houses appear to be unoccupied. Of course there are houses completely ruined and others on the hill which are now s< near a cliff top that they must inevitably be shifted, from land agents’ notices there would appear to be a shortage of houses. The average rent is 30s to -10 s and more for a furnished house.” The very important work of the Rehabilitation Committee has become a subject of criticism: “At the moment there is considerable heartburning over the policy statement of the Rehabilitation committee, which has indicated that sell-help will be expected from those who are capable. There is some fierce criticism, but the observer, occupying a detached position and not having suffered nervous ami other reactions, is inclined to feel that outcry ■ is being made too soon. “The Rehabilitation Committee has not yet begun its task of allocating the ►State loan of £1,250,000. Critics quote the Act, which provides that the money may be allocated as grants or loans, or partly as grants and partly as loans, and they quote also the promises of the Prime Minister that more money would be available if required. A Sense of Proportion. “They say the only grant so far made by the Government was £lO,OOO to erect the market in Clive square, and they contend that what has been expressed about future policy indicates that the Cabinet has allowed its sympathetic impulses to cool. On the other hand, one has heard it affirmed that the unemployment of 40,000 throughout the country is as great a calamity and will cost ac much as the earthquake, and that therefore some of the local people are losing their sense of proportion.

‘ 1 With the country’s finances in their present parlous state there naturally must be a limit to the amount of •State aid to the sufferers, but one feels that actual decisions of the committee should be awaited before its methods are condemned. In the meantime, one may state authoritatively that the first aim of the committee w'ill be to assist in the re-establishment of concerns which will provide the most employment. Numbers of owners, however, have no intention of delaying their building plans on account of any possible aid that may be available. Several arc ready to build now.” The correspondent is informed that there is a tendency for residents of the hill to shift to the flat. “But Mr W. E. Barnard, M.P., whose heart and soul is in the restoration of the town, says that the hill, particularly the Bluff, has had little disturbance. There are no fissures at the Bluff end and only oue line of fault through the Hospital Hill. ‘lt is a limestone formation,’ he said, ‘and as safe as any place except where a house is immediately above a slip.’ ”