BACHELOR FLATS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 228, 26 September 1929, Page 6

BACHELOR FLATS.

In reply to anonymous "Landlady" I wish to say I was not referring to the flats under discussion by the City Council but the wholesale condemnation of bachelor flats and the insinuations made by Miss Basten that lowerpaid workers would be more likely to over* step the rules that are necessary for moral conduct in flats. I have always advocated cheap flats in this city. A limited number are necessary for workers who have to live near their work, for those who would like to be able to provide for themselves. Bachelor flats should have a rental of no more than ten shillings to. fifteen shillings per week. Ia the centre of London provision is made for j of this description to be let at from ten shillings to fifteen shillings. At Tooting, near London, there are flats with three bedrooms at eighteen shillings per week, four bedrooms at £1 12:/. In Italy, Denmark and Germany great provision is made for small flats for workers in the cities, and the people of these countries have found that cheap housing is enabling them to turn out cheaper goods, as high wages are given to cover high cost of living. The rental of our houses without any conveniences must necessarily mean high wages. I understand that workers are paying fifteen shillings and one pound for a single room. In Italy, perhaps the healthiest country in the world, flats are the rule. This is cheap and not immoral in any sense of the word. Why such a senseless accusation? Morality is greater in fiats than in cottages because there is a responsible concierge in chargc. So "Landlady" thinks that one-roomed flats would be used for jazz parties? Bather a stretch of distorted imagination. R. E. WATSON,