A Problem of Re-building.

Progress, Volume III, Issue 4, 1 February 1908, Page 141

A Problem of Re-building.

Foe the fiist time in our history a proposal has been made for the construction of publi<works without permanent addition to the public debt. A large proportion of the latter is reproductive, it is true, the railways paying the larger proportion of the interest on their construction cost, the settlers who borrow from the " Advances " office, repaying principal and interest b3 7 a given time, and the Crown tenants under the Land for Settlement policy doing the same thing for the moneys borrowed for the purchase of their holdings from the original proprietors. But every pound spent on puolic buildings was, after the practice of providing for a sinking fund was stopped, a permanent addition to tbe aggregate indebtedness of the^Dominion. The proposal of the Prime Ministe r is to provide a fund for the construction of all the new buildings required to bring the public convenience up to the requirements of a more extended period than we have yet gone through. He claims that if the site on Lambton quay, on which the big wooden departmental offices now stand, were cleared of those buildings and let on lease, the rents would in sixty years repay the principal moneys and meet all the interest and incidental charges. Thus, we should hrve a new Government House, a new Parliament House, and new Departmental Offices costing together between £150,000 and £200,000, without permanent addition to the Dominion debt. This represents a salutary principle which is alone good enough to entitle the Prime Minister's proposal to the most serious consideration. If the finance of this scheme is sound, there can be no objection to its immediate acceptance, not only for the present case, but for all analogous cases. The soundness being demonstrated, the year's surplus of the Consolidated Revenue could start the work, tre cost of which would be repaid in due course of development by the Lamoton Quay rents. It is a question for business advice and actuarial calculation. If the Prime Minister's proposal eventually gives us these great buildings, and an unbroken building fund as well, the result a* ill be a good tradition of self-reliance.

From the ratepayers' point of view it cannot be said that the housing [policy of the London County Council has been unsatisfactory. Taking dwellings alone, the income has exceeded expenditure, including repayment of loans and interest, by £2,466. After paying for all repairs up to date, there is a sum of £35,576 credited to the repairs and renewals account, and the amounts paid fot sinking-fund interest have been £95,172. But there are many who will think that, in view of the vital importance of providing decent houses for the poorer classes, the housing operations of the Council would still have justified themselves had the financial result been far less satisfactory.

PURCHASERS of Real Estate, either Houses, ■*- Sections or Paims, should apply to H. Ernest Leighton, 7 Featherston Street, or Hutt, who has the finest selection on the market.