BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1949 HOUSING ALLOCATIONS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 54, 21 October 1949, Page 4

BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1949 HOUSING ALLOCATIONS

Since the Beacon first pointed out the need for a State housing allocation committee at Whakatane, the cry has been taken up by some local organisations and passed along, more or less hopefully, through Mr W. Sullivan M.P. to the Minister of Housing, Mr Hackett, who has on each occasion promised to consider the proposition. He is still doing so, and evidently taking plenty of time over it, which may or may not be a hopeful sign. At the expense of a bad pun, we cannot help suggesting, so far as the time he is taking is concerned, that he might Hackett down a bit. Latest information to hand is in a letter to the Eastern Bay of Plenty Branch of the Home Services Association which, with the Local branch of the Labour Party and the Chamber of Commerce, shared the honour of taking the issue to Wellington in the first place. In this communication, Mr Hackett says the proposal has not been lost sight of. Investigations are still being carried out. He hopes to be able to give a definite decision soon.

That is all typically Ministerial. But just where does it get us?

We still do not have an allocation committee. The homeless of this town are still at the mercy of State Advances officials in -Tauranga who, no matter how competent they might be, simply cannot have the same understanding of local conditions and local needs that a local committee would have. It can be recorded that, since the Beacon first drew attention to the fact that there was dissatisfaction with the allocations here, at least two urgent cases of long standing have been granted tenancies. One other of whom we know has been able to make private arrangements, but there are still cases of pressing urgency whose circumstances warrant the fullest investigation by a local committee. To the leisurely mind of com-fortably-housed officialdom the cry for instant action might seem a little over-strident. But to the house-hunter who has battled on through disappointment after disappointment in conditions barely tolerable, with no local authority to whom he can state his case, no- one with whom he can discuss his problem face to face,' this matter is one of paramount importance. We therefore respectfully suggest that any organisations that have the interests of such unfortunates at heart should persist in and strengthen their representations in favour of what we firmly believe will bring some measure of relief.