WORKERS' DWELLINGS AT BLENHEIM

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2524, 27 July 1915, Page 2

WORKERS' DWELLINGS AT BLENHEIM

— i ■ A Marlborough correspondent writes:™ Whatever may be said of the Massey Government in relation to the working man, there are' at least five real workers in Blenheim who are grateful for tho alteration in the law which permitted them obtaining a moderately-sized area under tho Workers' Dwelling Act. A block of eighteen acres 011 the northern side of the Opawa River, and about 0110 and a half miles fiom Blenheim, was some time ago acquired by the Government and offered for selection. At first applications wore very slow, and when only three had been put in tho Department decided to proceed. The land was surveyed and subdivided, but before allocation was mads two more applications were received, the result being that each applicant received an area of 33 acres. Each selector docided 011 a ilve-roomed house, and at tlio end of last year a contract was let' to. j[f. G. Gibson for the five dwellings, the price for the whole lot tains approximately .£2OOO. All the houses have now been built and occupied, but while building operations were in progress the now landowners have been hard at work getting their holdings under cultivation,'with the" result that theso eighteen acres will for the future yield much more than hitherto. Each is now provided with a plot of lucerne and an orchard of young trees, while vegetable gardening is proceeding apace. The soil is all river silt, and varies in. depth from five to niue feet, so there is plenty of subsoil to ensure fertility for many years to come. . As already mentioned, the houses ere of five liviiig rooms, with bathroom aud combined washhouse and scullery, and tho spaco afforded in the interiors bears testimony to the efficient preparation of tho plans. All the work -was carried out by local tradesmen, under the supervision of Mr. J. S. Sanderson, overseer for the Department, who had at tho same time to look after another block of fivo dwellings, afc Picton. All tho hous<« are built on concrete piles and foundations, and aro supplied with a hot and cold-water service. As a compliment to the superintendent of the AVorkers' Dwellings Department, the locality hus been named "Rowley," and tho road on which the sections abut,