THE HOUSING PROBLEM

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XVII, Issue 5647, 20 June 1919, Page 2

THE HOUSING PROBLEM

HIGH COST OF TIMBER

CONCRETE AS SUBSTITUTE,

Tile erection of concrete houses, has been suggested as a means of relieving the housing problem. Tho statetnmt made by the Secretary of the Labour Department before the Pa ilia men win Industries Committee, that cone .'etc houses cost about 10 per cent, more than wooden houses, ha.s been con'-.ra-dicted in Auckland, where it is st-ited by an architect that the Government could build concrete houses 30 to 50 per cent, than wooden houses. There is a considerable diversity of opinion over this point. A Wellington builder has given the opinion that the crux of the whole question is the cost of material, and he suggests that tin Government could cut down the cost of building, say, 50 to 100 houses by making its own arrangements for sand rnd shingle. Concrete was highly expensive. A gentleman interested in _tlv gravel trade stated to a New Zea'and Times reporter recently that the price oi? material was not responsible for the high cost of building concrete houses. Labour was the lrg factor in the mattcyr. It had been suggested that a wiving could be made by the Government making its own arrangements for sand and shingle, but this saving would be so small that it would not be worth while. The amount of gravel used in building;, say, a six-roomed house, was not more than (50 or 70 yards. The price of gravel now was 12s per yard, so that even if the cost wcro reduced by SO per cent the saving on the whole would be quite small.