£12,500,009 FOR HOUSING

Chronicle (Levin), 23 April 1946, Page 8

£12,500,009 FOR HOUSING

-Press Association

♦ i— STATE BtJIIDING PROGRAMME FOR YEAR

By Telegrapft-

> VV iii.LLiivVTU'UiN , April 22. Commenting' further on his reeent statement concerning the building pro--. jraninie for the CQiiung finsncial year, che 'Mmister of WorKs, Hon. R. Seinple, stated today that for obvious reasons all aspects of these proposals could not be set. out in oue brief statement. As had been antieipated, the statement had raised comment in many eircles. To allay the erroneous impression, which apparently many people had assumed, namely that the building programme for the ensuing year was being drastically eurtailed, Mr. Seinple stated that the programme had not been arbitrarily flxed by reference to considerations of flnance. "The nation is e'ompell.ed to equate its building aetivitiles to the building industry's ability to cope with the job. The Government 's poMcy in this matter is to build to the. maximum of materials and labour available. This is the target set.U "For the year ended Mareh 31, 1946," said Mr. Semple, "building perm its to the value of approximately £19,000,000 and including over 11,000 dwellings to the value of approximately £13,000,000 have been approved. During the year April I, 1945, to Mareh 31, 1946.,' full advantage has been taken of the material and mhnpower resources of the country to proseeute a record building programme. "The programme planned for the ensuing year totals £19,110,000 and includes £12,500,000 for housing. "Although the 1946/47 programme allows no great increase on the value of permits issued during 1945/46, it is important to note that owing to material shortages many of the dwellings and other buildings for which permits have been issued have not commenced. "It is estimated that a .maximum of 9000 houses will be completed diu'ing the year ended Mareh 1, 1946. Dwellings which were approved last flnaneial..ye.ar but not commenced of jcomplele will become a eharge against the material resources of the country during the ensuing year. Because _ of the eritical material supply situation there is an abnormal time-lag in the eompletioTi of building works resulting in an excessive carry-over of work into the new financial year. "The £19,110,000 allocated to the programme is an optimistic estimatc of tlie amount of work which can aetually be built from the known available manpowcr and material resources. Tn actual practice, however building permits will be issued as necessary to take _up any additional capaGity which the building industrv may develop during the ensuing year." The Minister eontinued by emphasising that the governing factor today was -supply of materials. When asked what specific .action was being taken to incrcuse. materials supplies, he stated that from Ihe >date the Government established the Department of Housing Con•struction, special offleers had been engaged for . the:- express purpose of ensuring that materials supplies would be inereased to satisfy the antieipated growing demands of the building industry. As earlyi'as 1941, offleers assoeiated wij-h the Building Contrpller we,rn engaged in the preparation of plans for tlie increase in production of building materials i for the postwar period and in that year information was made available to all injterested parties in the Dominiqn iindicatingi the antieipated inereased demands .for building materials required to satisfy, a substantially inereased building programme which was planned fqr postwar ypars. As a result of ■ this preliminary work four years ago and- of subsequent. planning, substantial increases had been made in the productive capacity Of New Zealand industries erigaged in the manufactnre of building materials. "There is, with few exceptions, sufficient plant and factory capacity available in the Dominion today to satisfy the material demands for the ensuing two to three years provided adequate raw materials, manpower and transport are available, ' ' said Mr. Semple. ' ' Gonstant attention is being paid by my offleers to the material supply position and to the question of, inereased production of materials such as tiniber, eement, roofing materials, baths, haidware. ;and, indeed, ' all material^ a^llied with building. "Furthermore, import licences have iieen issued to the full extent necessary to take advantage of essential building materials from overseas and this important. aspect o.f materials supply is also undcr constant review. Any. shortiages of imported materials wliich exist tpdav are not due to a lack of import iicences but to the inability of overseas eountries to supply." The Minister coneluded by stating that all things considered, and, admitting the difflculties being experienced in the Dominion, it was a fact, however, thnt by comparison with overseas eountries generally, these 'difflculties were relatively small. The most persistent were tho.se involving the pTOcurement of key materials from overseas and while tlie present circumstances apply, the remedy was beyond the direet control of the New Zealand Government.