WHAKATANE HOUSE HUNTERS LIVING IN APALLINGLY DR A UGHTY SHACKS, RAT-INFESTED AND DECAYING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 37, 24 December 1948, Page 5

WHAKATANE HOUSE HUNTERS LIVING IN APALLINGLY DR A UGHTY SHACKS, RAT-INFESTED AND DECAYING

Atrocious Conditions

To find what can almost ‘be described as slums, where people live under what can only be termed the most atrocious conditions—in tents, caravans and broken down draughty shacks, over-run with rats—one does not have to go to the cities. In fact, one need not go any farther than Whakatane.

In a town the size of Whakatane pool' living conditions such as those which exist are not expected and to the visitor they come as a shock. It should not be difficult to house properly a population of only 3000, but the truth of the matter is that the problem of accommodation is very much worse here than in towns with populations six or seven times as large. The number of houses being built is not enough to satisfy the demand. Further, Whakatane’s allocation of state houses is pitifully small. At the present rate of construction it will probably take 10 years to house all those on the present waiting list, provided, of course, no more names are added. Our Reporter Saw This When a Beacon reporter told this, to one man he said that by the end of 10 years the rats, which infest his ■“home,” would have eaten it away. He had other complaints to make, so to find how genuine they were the reporter went home with him. This is what he found. A small house measuring 30ft by 12ft divided into three rooms. One bedroom, 12ft x 12ft, contained th'ree beds and a cot. Here the whole family slept, three children and two adults. Another child is expected. Rats Take Food Then there is a small living-cum-sitting-cum-dining room and then a final room—a kitchenette. This is lined with many cupboards to keep food and other kitchen utensils in. All very nice—except that food cannot be kept in the cupboards because of rats. " Cooking -is 'done on a small electric stove and\ an old coal range. This is built out from the side of the house to save taking up room inside. A good idea, only there is nothing between the wall and the stove. If the housewife wants to do any cooking in it she waits until the wind is blowing from a favourable direction, and then it will cook a roast of meat in about four hours. The top of the stove is cracked so that if it.rains a bath is used to keep the water out. There are 1-2 windows in the house, of which only five open. Seven on one wall do not open because they were never completed. •One window is two feet wide, but whoever was building the house had only a pane 18 inches in wMth. He put it in and blocked up the* remaining space with threeply. Furniture Ruined That is a brief description of the house. Now for the rats. The place is overrun with ,them. Huge animals thatsteal all the food, flowers and clothing. They have completely ruined a chesterfield suite and gnawed at the remainder of the furniture. There are holes in the floor, the walls and they have now started on the bedroom door. This is the only room in the house they have not yet been able to enter. The tenant has tried everything in an effort to catch the beasts. He has been successful but now they don’t even take any notice of bait. 'They have tunnelled all round the house so that in parts the earth is giving way. The house is constructed on the lowest part of the section and during the winter water just pours in. Tenant Desperate The tenant has tried for over two years to get a State house, but without success.' He has even written to the Minister of Health as a last but vain hope. He has now reached the stage where he is desperate, as one of his daughters has had a ner--vous breakdown brought on by the •presence of rats round the house. To find if this was just an isolated case or not, the Beacon made further inquiries and found there were other people in Whakatane living under the same, and in some cases, worse conditions. ■Overrun With Rats One young married man with two -children lives in a small bach measuring lift by Bft The only ventilation, apart from the rat holes, is a small window 18 inches x 12 inches. It is over-run with rats. They have ruined all his furniture and some of his famlies clothing, while his young -children are in constant danger of

being, bitten. He is a young ex-serviceman who was in training for service when the war ended. He has had an application in for a State house, so far without success. He and his wife cannot buy any new furniture as they have nowhere to put it'. Today they are just living in the hope that they may be allotted a State house in the not too distant future. A private purchase of a home at present is quite beyond their means. “Something Wrong Somewhere” This man has been waiting so long that he has now come to the conclusion that his application for a house has been filed away and forgotten. In his own words: “I haven’t any idea how they allocate the houses. When strangers come to Whakatane they seem to have very little difficulty in obtaining one while I, who have lived here all my life cannot get anything better than a shack. There must be something wrong somewhere.”