STATE HOUSES

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9319, 31 December 1938, Page 2

STATE HOUSES

ACTION BY MR. J. THORN, H.P. POSITION IN WAIHI APPEAL MADE TO MINISTER The following copies of two communications dealing with the question of State houses in the Thames electorate have been forwarded by Mr J. Thorn, M.P., to the Hon. 11. T. Armstrong, Minister of HousingNo i—" The Housing Department

has acted in a very generous manner in respect of the construction of State rental houses in Thames and Paeroa. I am certain that nothing will occur that will cause the department to regret this policy. In Thames, particularly, the department's houses are a credit to all concerned, and there is no doubt that the tenants have already greatly improved the properties. These properties arc now, indeed, one of the beauty spots of the town.

"I cannot understand, though, why nothing has yet been done to construct some of these houses in Waihi. There is a crying need for houses in this centre, and nothing has been left undone so far as I am concerned iii the way of representations. Months ago I was assured that construction was on the verge of taking place, yet to all appearances this is as far away as ever..

"There is, 1 know, some difficulty about the miners' right system of holding land in the town, but surely this is not insurmountable. I hope you can give this your personal attention in order to overcome it. "I am afraid there is a feeling that once the Martha mine closes Waihi will have no future, but this is a quite mistaken assumption. There may have been something in this assumption when Waihi lived solely on the gold mining, but Waihi is now a prosperous farming centre, and will draw stability from the farming industries when the mine finishes. For your information, 45 0 farmers are now making a living in the vicinity of Waihi, and this from land that

twenty years ago was regarded as hopeless. You can gather from this that Waihi will not collapse, and that therefore there will always b» tenants of a desirable character for whatever houses the department decides to erect.

"I will be thankful to you if you will go into this at once. The need is urgent, and I would like to see yon deal with it." No. 2—-" Since the elections I have written to Mr J. A. Lee, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, urging that sympathetic consideration be given to the question of the construction of Stale rental houses for pensioners in Coromandel and Thames. I had noted tlint it was intended to build such houses in Auckland and Christchucrh, and 1 felt that if there was any area in New Zealand in which such a policy was urgent it was this electorate.

"I stated to Mr Lee that in Thames Borough GSO pensioners of one sort and mother drew their pensions, and that Oororaandel headed the list of towns in New Zealand in respect of the proportion of pensioners to the population. I understand that Thames comes second. In both places many pensioners live in houses that are thoroughly unsatisfactory from every point of view. The fact there are so many pensioners is evidence of the need.

"In Waihi recently I was approached by some pensioners who complained of (heir housing conditions, and asked me whether it was possible to I have some pensioners' houses built. ' In Waihi the position as to the number of pensioners is as under: War. 42; sundry, 1; miners', 139; family allowance, 21; invalidity, 52; widows', 21; old age pension, 181; war veterans (all), S. Total, 4G5. "You know Waihi from personal experience, and you can confirm this, that housing conditions are in a large number of cases as bad as they can be. If the Government is of opinion that pensioners' houses should be built, then here surely is the place where action should be taken immediately, i

"I trust that you will give this your attention. You will earn the gratitude of many necessitous people if you can solve this problem."