SEARCH FOR BOARD

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 22659, 12 July 1945, Page 4

SEARCH FOR BOARD

RETURNED MEN’S DIFFICULTIES SHORTAGE IN HAMILTON It is still as difficult as ever to obtain board or flats in Hamilton. The position is also regarded as practically hopeless in regard to obtaining houses to rent and the number of new houses built appears to have done little to relieve the position. The building industry is suffering under a serious handicap because of the cement shortage and work on new houses has been considerably delayed., The? difficulty of obtaining board for returned servicemen was indicated by Mrs J. S. Allan, of Marama Street, today. She stated that she had found it absolutely impossible to. obtain board for a number of returned men who had applied to her for board, There were many householders, she said, who had been quite prepared to provide hospitality and board at their homes for visiting American servicemen but when she had approached these same householders they had told her that it was impossible for them to provide board for the Dominion’s own servicemen. Board at Hotels Returned personnel had the financial means to pay for decent accommodation, said Mrs Allan, but she knew of several who were having to expend their overseas savings by paying comparatively high rates of board at public and private hotels. One man for whom she had been endeavouring to find board was paying £S 5s a Vveek for hotel accommodation. There was a danger of the men adopting a defeatist attitude and of feeling that they were not wanted. If the position was difficult at the moment, it was impossible to say what it would be when the main body of troops returned to the Dominion. The acute position in regard to board is illustrated by the fact that some people have been actually making a house to house canvass, apparently visiting all homes in the borough systematically. An advertisement for a flat to rent recently attracted over sixty applicants.