TOWN PLANNING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 273, 19 February 1941, Page 4

TOWN PLANNING

Sir—The letter signed Stanley Evans, builder, is timely and to the point. What this town requires is houses—still more houses and cheapo er rents. Let the well-to-do person buikl a costly, house on a high priced section, but allow the-poorer man to build an inexpensive bouse on a cheap section, and to those so in-* clined let anyone build a big house with a big mortgage. Whakatane outstrips all other towns of the same size for the number and extent of its mortgages. The Government is certainly building houses, but not for the working man. Few working men can afford to pay more than £1 per week rent for a house; but a Government house runs to about 30s per week and more. Owing to the unnecessary costly style of construction these houses cannot be let for less, if they are to show interest on cost price. : It seems unreasonable for the Borough Council lo restrict the growth of the town. It'sjjkge that when some persons get on a . local body clothed with a little brief authority, they should try to eonulate Hitler.So many of them seem- to think they are little tin pot Hitlers and diately try to take away other people's liberty / Many will remember that 2 or 3 years ago a Whakatane citizen with a large section, to meet the demand for dwellings, arranged to convert his house inio a double unit, by building five additional rooms on to the original house Tha Borough Council got up in arms and tried to prevent liis doing so. The council prosecuted the house builder in the court with the utmost rigour of the Borough by-laws. However the by-laws were found to be unreasonable, and the Borough, to (Continued «i foot previous column)