THE TENANT GRUMBLERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2813, 3 July 1916, Page 6

THE TENANT GRUMBLERS

, THEIR REMEDY. Sir,—Beading the account of tho Tenants' Association's deputation to the council, one can but smile at tho fatuity of tho whole thing, and wonder.if the members of same would not have been hotter employed hying to do something to help themselves instead of wasting their time beating the air. Poor .Mr. Holland! One can feel sorry for his colossal innocence regarding cost of material, etc. His reference to gardens is also amusing. I have sixteen places let to tenants, and only one has put spade to the ground. Does Mr. Hollanu realty expect us to swallow his assertion that tho council or any other public body can build cheaper than the private individual, especially in regard to cottage construction? As a practical builder, I give that a most emphatic denial. And, Sir, fancy asking the council or any one else to go in for a bis building scheme at the present time, with prices at tthe present level. The fact of the Tenants' Association making the request at the present ti mo shows that they know; not what they ask. Take money for a slurl—6 per cent, instead of 6 per cent., an increase of 20 per cent, in interest charges at one jump. Take corrugated iron, ,£3S per ton, as against .£lB before the war (over 100 per cent, advance); nails, pre-war rates, ]2s. Bd. basis per cwt., now 385.; glflss, white lead, oil, scrim, paper, also timber, all advanced. Why don't these grumblers try and reduce the cost of their own living? Look at the price of potatoes and all root vegetables; yet how many of them take the trouble to plant ft garden? They would rather take tho whole family to see ".Mother Goose" on Saturday afternoon, paying tram fares for all. And so on, ad libitum, wasting money wholesale, and then grumbling at tho Is. per week tacked'on their rent as a (part only) of increased' cost of maintenance, also increased rates owing to increased valuation by hide-bound Government officials. My advice to bhe Tenants' Association is to get houses of their own, which was what yours truly did, on nothing but sheer hard graft early and late, and Saturdays included — I am, etc., < A. LANDLORD WHO HASN'T RAISED HIS "RENTS.