WORKERS' DWELLINGS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2274, 7 October 1914, Page 8

WORKERS' DWELLINGS

AMENDING LEGISLATION. The Workers' Dwellings Amendment Bill, introduced into the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, is intended to promote the better operation of the workers' dwellings schome. The Bill proposes that there shall ba set up for the Dominion a . Workers' Dwellings .Board, Mn lieu of separate boards for every land district. The new board is to consist of the. superintendent and two other members to be appointed from time to time by the Governor. Workers' dwellings districts are also to be constituted arid' district boards appointed by the Minister. The maximum capital value of a workers' dwelling and site is to be increased from £600 to £750, and all limitations of area of sections are to be abolished. Instead of this limitation it is proposed that ,the sito shall in no case exceed in unimproved value £250. ' Modifications in the rules for purchase of dwellings by instalments are proposed. Instead of an applicant' for a workers' home being required to deposit £10, he will bo required to pay a foe of £1, and if the appljcation is subsequently approved he will then pay the other £9. If the application is not approved, the board may, in its discretion, return the £1 fee to'the applicant,, In the case of a concrete or a brick lniildjng, the board may extend the time during which instalments shall be payable to any period not exceeding 364 years. It is proposed that a deputy superintendent may be appointed by the Public Service Commissioner.

The board is to be given power to impose a fine for the non-payment of moneys due in respect of a dwelling by a purchaser or tenant, the penalty not to exceed 5 per cent, per month of the amount so due. But no penalty is to be imposed if the default is duo to tlio sickness or unemployment of the purchaser, and the amount in arrear is less than one-half of the amount that has been paid in respect of the- purchase money of the dwelling.. The Minister is empowered to 'sell to workers on easy terms land reserved for workers' dwellings in any district on which it is not the intention of the Minister to erect dwellings./