Low Wages, High Prices, High Rents: New Zealand Seen Through English Eyes

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 1, 25 November 1947, Page 4

Low Wages, High Prices, High Rents: New Zealand Seen Through English Eyes

Any English immigrants coming to New Zealand found it very difficult to live contentedly because of low wages, high prices and the shortage of accommodation, an Englishman recently told the Bay of Plenty Times. Because of those facts it was unfair to criticise those who were returning to Great Britain. Before they came they realised that the housing position in New Zealand was difficult but they did not know that it was acute —more so than in Britain. Rents in the Dominion, too, were out of all proportion, he alleged.

When commenting on the housing situation in New Zealand, he said that he could not understand why a country as large as this in proportion to the population, should have such an acute shortage. A few thousand houses would put the matter right, he said. “If there is a timber shortage, then build in brick,” he added. “If there is a shortage of roofing iron, build with tiles.”

Those responsible for the delay in building the necessary houses were doing a great dis-service to New Zealand, he asserted. In com-

parison, Britain was going ahead with her building plans, and was tackling the shortage industriously. To overcome shortages in materials, houses were built in aluminium, in steel, and in brick. . Prefabricated homes were also being erected.

The position, he said, would be further eased if people in the Dominion who had large houses and spare accommodation, would provide homes for needy people, who were withouf them, especially those with children. Many householders objected to letting flats to couples with children. “It would be well for those people to remember that they were children themselves once,” he pointed out. “Such a spirit can only result in a serious decline in population.”

The cost of living in New Zealand was at least double that of Britain, he 'claimed. Such things as meat, bread, butter and milk were reasonable, but the cost of other foodstuffs, clothing and machinery were out of proportion to their value. Wages in England were on the same level as those in the Dominion, he said, therefore British workers were far better off financially than workmen in New Zealand.