MISSING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 49, 21 November 1907, Page 5

MISSING.

THE SMALL MAN'S SMALL HOUSE. The ten shillings a week two or threeroomed houso has almost disappeared in the city of Wellington. What remains of it is almost a negligable quantity; and if one is nice enough to require that it should also be in good repair, sanitary, and not more than thirty years old, .there is loss of it than eve;'. If one rules out of order all converted outhouses, one-time stables, and decrepit warrens that pose in this category, then the ten shillings a week two or three-roomed house has a rare bird indeed.

The reason is not hard to find. There are very few city frontages nowadays that rule under £10 a foot, and a 20ft. frontage at that rate would cost £200. A threeroomed house, co.stiilg £80 a roam —which is' probably below tho mark —would mean an outlay of £240, or a capital value, house and land, of £440. A landlord expects 8 per cent, return' on house and land, and 8 per cent, on £440 is about 13s. 6d. a week. So whore does the 10s. rent come' in? As a matter of fact, a man who has to sink £200 or more of, capital in his land .alone does not build small houses. To got an adequate return on his investment, he builds a • fairly large house, with a larger rent; and tho working-man tenant divides •. tho burden by sub-lotting. Therein lies, the crux of'joint occupation—what we call tlio housing ovil. of : "Wellington. Private ownors no longer build the small house, with the small rent, for the small man, and Father Time is steadily reducing the number'of. decently habitable two or three-roomed cottages,' the supply of which is no longer.mh.de good. .

Thore is, however, at least one ( of these within the city area of Wellington,' and 'the other day it' was advertised to ' lot. The rent (not advertised) is 10s.; the house contains tw.p ropms, neat and well kept. Within forty-eight'hours between thirty and forty applicants had arrived—possibly others are arriving istill". ' The cottage is well 'suited for a bachelor or two, perhaps for a married couple'with a very limited family. Picture, then, the'consternation of the owner when a woman wished to rent it for herself and husband and five children I

. The proposal was promptly repudiated— on the grounds of hygiene, if on no other. This,-however, was not an isolated case. Another family of six—husband, wife, and four children—were keenly anxious to practiso Sandow and swing the cat in tho two little apartments, and could only be persuaded with difficulty that the intention and the opportunity wore hardly in' keeping. Probably a majority of the stream of applicants represented a bigger contingent of humanity than tho littlo tenement was over built to hold. At last, however, something likely seemed to have arrived. A woman and her husband —no family—tired of "living in rooms," thought tho two-roomed cottage was just tlio thing. Tho lady likixl the surroundings; it was so cosy, so home-like I But—just one little thing: Could thoy sublot ono of the rooms? Yet there are p.coplo who say there is no congestion in AVellington I