TRANSIT CAMP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 301, 21 December 1945, Page 4

TRANSIT CAMP

SUGGESTION FOR MARTON . (O.Q) Marton, Dec. 20.! It was agreed at a meeting of the! Marton Borough Council to invest!- j gate the possibility o f a transit camp oeing established in Marton for people waiting to enter State houses The' council had before it a letter from the ! sanitary inspector, Mr. J. V. Flowers, who described a similar camp at Hokowhitu, Palmerston North. . Although the houses are not up to, standard they are a vast improve-' ment on the conditions in which some people are compelled to live owing to shortage of houses. As the scheme is

intended to work, any family going into a transit camp house will be practically certain of securing a Stalo house within six months and that tenants are chosen for the camp. The rent, which has been fixed at £1 2s 6d for an “H” type house, is payable to the council and should make these buildings a payable proposition. It is the intention of the Palmerston North Borough Council to use this camp as an up-to-date motor camp

when the necessity for its present use is past. The “H” type house is made up or two military huts joined by a 2-man hut and these buildings are provided free of cost from military camps which

i are disbanded. Cartage and re-erec- ; tion on the sites are the only expenses ! involved and when it is realised that 1 the huts can be carried in one piece ’land placed directly on piles as taken ! | off The lorry it will be seen that this ‘ i expßise would not be great. The I houses are lined with pinex, which ■ may have been done by the council. I While the opportunity of obtaining i these buildings free is open at present. 1 ■ it may not always be so, and advised that if the council was interested in establishing a camp of this sort, no time should be lost in investigating the ! position.

Communal wash-houses, bathrooms, and conveniences are the usual scheme with only a sink and 1a stove in each house. After a general discussion favourable to the scheme the town clerk was authorised to make further Inquiries and obtain information of the number of prospective permanent tenants who would be prepared to enter a transit camp should such a camp be set up.