MR GILEERT AND HOUSING.

Waikato Times, Volume 91, Issue 14133, 9 August 1919, Page 2

MR GILEERT AND HOUSING.

(To the Editor.) Sir, i cannot allow Mr W. Brocklobank’ cunning and malicious Idler, in your issue of the 4th ins 1 ., to unchallenged. Mr Brocklobank has deliberately endeavoured to bring me into conflict with my directors, to damage my business reputation and • lower me in the estimation ol m> follow citizens, which is characteristic o jerry-builders in all ages, who car. nothing for the reputation, hca Ith and lives of the working people, 50 l° n ° 1 . they can erect buildings at a low c and sell them at the price of s H’™ 1 ' 1 structures. Properly is generally held to bo more sacred than human 1 - • mercenaries of all times, wine • vividlv pourtrayed by Tipton Sinclair n ‘.The ‘.l angle,” and, therefore becau..c i attacked nroperty, property viciousu ami retaliates by the old serf method of discrediting he cmplovee before his employer and thereoy inflicting harsh and cruel punishment by striking at the employees chief asset in a position of trust, character, and bis means of subsistence and th' welfare of bis family. However setting aside this mean andmsriious ‘ pect. I will cover the pom s i an (Mi the letter under review, rhert, • l' analogy between farm and town P P ties. If a seller, through illness, age, or other reason, wishes to quic 5 ■ pose of 11 v-Pipi “f ”|l c ngen¥s duly S ““pcSte S M vemlorl.! teinpSb tho P ffltferenoe hehveen llie pr »e to the advantage of both seller and buyer or if the prices of natural proSts arc sure to rise then there is a sure prospective rise in the price of land the value of which must be assessed by what it will produce in commodity value. For instance, there are mnnv farms that, five years ago, were dear at £3O an acre which are cheap to-day at £SO. The buyer does not paj this advanced price. The consumers in many lands pay it to the Ma’kato farmer in the higher prices paid for the produce from these farms, in fact, nav for the farmer’s motor-car, too, which he could not afford to buy when both land and produce were lower m price. The keynote of advertising is to create a desire for the’ thing advertised and to always support the claims se.t * out in the advertisement by giving full value and satisfaction at the price named This I have always done. But if a worker is charged an unfair price for a house he and his family are directly penabsed for many years to come through inflated interest, which has to be paid out of a fixed wage. In other words, he has to deny himself and family, not only comforts, but even necessaries, to meet the regular interest charges. Coming to the houses in question. They are the meanest type of house in the locality, and although they conform with the Borough by-laws, they will ever stand as a monument of the mean mind that conceived and financed them. Webster defines a jerrybuilding as a house built in haste out of bad materials. The sappy laths, the rough lining and the wide interstices between the boards will enable the inmates to converse with each other , through the walls of different rooms in conversational tones. The design is the ugly feature, however, of these places, from the outsiders’ point of view. Cr. Burrow reported that he had inspected them, and that “Mr Gilbert was quite justified in the act'nn that he had taken that there were nice houses on one side of the street, and ‘shacks' on the other.” Cr. McKinnon srrd the bylaws were -ten years behind the times, and that so long as a house was not built of kahikatea the Gounod could do nothing and people could build any size or sort of house they liked, and on his motion the matter was referred to the By-law Committee for the purpose of drafting amending clauses to deal with such houses. The Supervisor had not passed the houses, as Mr Brockiebank alleged, but reports that, whereas the application for a building penult specified four rooms, he now found that there were five rooms in two of the houses and that the fifth room bad only 510 cubic feet of air space, but the byhw did not provide for a minimum air space for private houses', although it provided for 700 cubic feet for hotels and boarding-houses. I measured the fifth room and found the dimensions to he Bft by 7ft Gin, and the height of studs Oft Sin down to 7ft Gin. Gr. Tristram made the amazing remark that he did not care what sort of houses peonie built. This by the way. it was apparently due te my complaint about Ibo first iiouse that the other two houses had the extra lean-to room and back and front porches added, but without a budding permit, in consequence of which the matter lias been referred In the Legal and Finance Committee of the Council to ascertain what action can he taken. In any case, it looks as if the Council has been beaten for short payment of building fees. Mr Brocklehank’s description of these dwellings “beats the band.” A passage becomes a “hall.” A little wash-house becomes a “hund"v." The ceilings are so low that my head and the gas globes would be *n constant collision. He calls them “delightful homes,” an;] asks, “Why doesn’t the .borough built 100 such houses?” Gr. Burrow calls them “shacks.” My neighbours’ opinions are not printable. I have, never actually sold a house property in my life, and if ever T do my descriptions will never equal Mr Brocklebank’s gilded phrases and I shill always submit sound values, with correct information, as I do in farms, and make friends of my housebuyers °s I do of my farm-buyers, and enjoy the confidence and goodwill of vendor and purchaser alike. In scanning Mr Brocklebank’s medley, there is so much of “Mr Gilbert,” so nnnv catch phrases, so few simple direct statements and so liiile in rebuttal of my allegabons that I must come hack to the personal element. None of those quotations of la’s, having reference to the class of people who would probably occupy these houses re - to workers’ homes being erected outside (he borough, was contained or implied in my letter to the Council. They were pure inventions. I have no objection to workers’ homes adjoining mine. There are some near by which, although small and not costly, are a credit to the owners anil worthy of any street. I was bred and horn among the miners of Australia, have passed through nil the chairs of a Friendly Society, and have- served on Trades and Labour Councils, as well as local bodies, and have always found itie democracy more delightful tfian die snohacracy. By the way, 1 must ask Mr Brockiebank who he is. 1 can't, find h'm in ll'e Directory, or the burgesses’ roll. He seems to he a myth. He is nof on the man. Whit interest has lie in these collages? Does ho know Ilia' the price attar l,n d to the anplieat’on for a builders’ permit, fo” on<' n*’ dies, fveroomeu houses, was c.°so. and that I his. phis a section wordi about £j"00. was advertised for sale r.t £050! Ho says that “die good people who. are occupying die houses as fas! as lin"' can be completed are not complaining.” Are they nol ? Poor people have a limited choice. that’s why. air Brockiebank says of the common people “of

such is ihe. Kingdom of Heaven." Undoubtedly. But, if there are any jerrybuilders there I shall go where Artemus Ward found Ids ancestor "roasting peanuts," and if there is nothing doing in that line or business J snail lend a hand to keep the home fires burning in that region, and it* any jerry-builders arrive I shall work overtime on halfpay. At this particular point I hike my final leave of "Mr Brocklebank," and enjoy lite assurance lh.it my lettei will accomplish much good, as it is doing, for the comfort and welfare nf the people and the advancement nf lite oest interests of the borough.-—! am, sic, J, GILBERT.