WAR SERVICE HOMES.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16817, 8 June 1926, Page 6

WAR SERVICE HOMES.

AUSTRALIAN ACHIEVEMENT. NEARLY 29,000 PROVIDED. One of the finest decisions made by th(! Federal Government in power soon after the end of the war was that to provide those returned soldiers desirous of purchasing their own homes witli bouses which they could buy on long terms of repayment and at low interest (says a Sydney correspondent). In the first two or three years of the existence of the scheme, some frightful blunders were committed, and the name "war service home" became a joke. Tho administration of the provision of the homes for that period was characterised by shocking waste, mismanagement, rapacity of contractors, much graft and dishonesty, and general official inefficiency. Inquiries and exposures followed, and since the end of 1922 strenuous efforts have been made to clean up the muddle, and to place the enterprise on a sounder basis. How well this effort has succeeded is demonstrated by a recent Ministerial statement. The Minister under whose control the War Service Homes Commission operates recently announced that up to April 30 last 28,851 homes had been provided, and the money spent amounted to £22,287,0-40. he added that complaints were now the exception, instead of, as formerly, the rule. These homes were situated all over the Commonwealth, and the more distant the home the more difficult was the administration. The number of present complaints, in so colossal a scheme, could be regarded as negligible. Practically all referred lo arrears, and a personal inquiry into every case showed that the applicants had been sympathetically dealt with. While the majority of the occupants of the homes recognised their responsibilities, there was a small percentage, who, in their own interests, had lo be dealt with firmly. In cases of unemployment, and sickness, the commission extended svmpathy and assistance. The percentage of payments in arrears was only 1.29, which was regarded as highly satisfactory. The maximum advance allowed is £BOO, and unless the applicant is in a position to supplement this sum, the land has to be secured and the house built for this sum. The fact that homes arc being built within this sum is an indication of the organisation and economic working of the administration. Many of the homes were erected on estates bought and sub-divided by the commission which passed them on to the Diggers at cost price. Many of these allotments have advanced from 100 per cent to 300 per cent in value, and this accrued value now is the occupant's. Thus many of the returned men who would otherwise have had no earthly chance of securing their own homos are now in possession, or arc well advanced to. bo so, of houses which have risen considerably in value since they first took their furniture into them. The term allowed for repayment is 39 years, and the weekly repayments with interest amount to less than £1 in most cases, sometimes as low as 12s. The diligent Digger can pay his home oft at much higher rates, of course, but the repavments, even as rental, are iow.