The Dominion. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1019. THE ONLY REMEDY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 18, 16 October 1919, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1019. THE ONLY REMEDY

The Housing Bill before Parliament is a good measure of its kind, but it would be blind optimism to say that it oilers any early remedy Cor the housing shortage. The Bill appropriates a very large sum of monej for the .erection ot dwellings under one or other of the schemes it sanctions —a much larger amount of money in fact than there is any immediate prospect of spending. If the dearth of houses were due only to financipl stringency and to the difficulty of securing loans on reasonable tenr;, the Bill would leave little to be desired.' As :i financial measure, it is broad in scope and liberal in its provisions. Its only rerious defect, from this point of view is that it makes no sufficient provision for those who without being eligible to obtain a home under the Workers' Dwellings Act, are ill-placed to acquire one unaided. . That is to say, it make.s no provision for what arc known as middle-class pfiojile—those with incomes of, say, from j>2oo to £-100 a year. We have on previous occasions ' pointed out that the line should not so low as to mclude these people from the benefits of the Act, and it may still be hoped that ere thei present measure passes into law provision will be made for them. The' Bill could easily be made to meet all reasonable demands so far as State, financial assistance under a housing stWme is concerned. 'This, however, is far from covering all the ground. • In its total scope the Bill falls short of providing a practical remedy for the deplorable dearth of houses because it leaves untouched the greatest difficulty of all—that arising from the shortage of labour. In Wellington the position is clearly indicated in the fact that the City Council is unable to obtain the labour it needs to proceed with the erection of a score of dwellings at Maranui. Sneaking, no doubt, with full- knowledge, the Mayor said on Tuesday that the City Council -was practically in the same position as the private builder at the present time in regard to shortage- of labour. As information stands conditions in this respect arc only a degree better in many other parts of the Dominion than they are in Wellington. The HmitatiorTof rents by the State, labour, higft wages, and the high prices of lancl and building materials have all contributed to the house famine, but it is above'all because there is a hopeless shortage of building labour that conditions arc now going rapidly from bad to worse. Since the erection of dwellings is already limited by lack of labour it, is evident that even if the Housing Bill appropriated ten times as much money as it does, that in itself would not relieve the housing shortage. Unless they are content to see the present intolerable state ol affairs accentuated, the Government, local bodies, and the people must face the patent fact that the only way to get houses in such numbers as are needed is to reinforce Hhe body of building labour at present available.

For some reason, Parliament has been strangely slow to recognise and meet this position, and local bodies and the people a:ro as strangely backward in urging the Government to take the action that is needed. Perhaps too much thought and attention has boon given to the details of building schemes and the possibilities of this or that form of construction. Important as they are, such detail questions ought not to bo allowed to oloud the cardinal fact that the demand for homes must at all events be met because the welfare of the people , is vitally involved. Quickly-demised measures even if they fall in .some respects short of perfect organisation are nevertheless infinitely preferable to the continued toleration of a state of affairs which is destructive of the biist leatures oi family Ine and absolutely inconsistent with sound social conditions. 'JL'hc strength of any nation is in 'the homes oi its people, and where, as is ttie case at present locally and in some other parts of tho Dominion, large numbers of mari'ied people with children arc compelled to content themselves with some sort of shared lodging, or occupy a house pn the most precarious tenure and in imminent expectation of being turned out, the foundations of national life are being- sapped. In the whole range of public affairs nothing is more vital Ihan to make the secure occupation of a worthy home available tu any reputable mid industrious citizen and his family. It is 'from this standpoint that the housing problem must be faced and dealt with unless the country is to drift into an even racire deplorable state o£ affairs, as regards housing

in centres of population, than it has already reached. Neither the local bodies nor tlm Government is entitled .to plead that the labour problem is unsolvable. All suggestions in regard to the immigration o:t the labour that undoubtedly will be needed before long not only for housing, but for public v;orks and industries, have been met thug far with somewhat vague excuses and pleas that immediate action is impracticable. So far as immigration on a big scale is concerned, action meantime can only be preliminary, but there is not a single good reason why immediate action should not he taken to add to the number of buildinrr tradesmen in the_ Dominion. What is there, for instance, l:o prevent the Government arrane , - insr, as a mo'lpst first step, to bring nut a hundred carpenters from frrent Britain? It is hardlv in doubt tint those trackmen could bo obtained i f wonaMv attractive ti-rms wr>v>« offovod, "nd Hie Gn<vvnm°nt rould tender them a gunrr-ntee of employment for years without fear of doing injustice In any tradesman already working in the Dominion. Many hundreds of carpenters and other tradesmen will nave- to be brought in before the housing needs of the people can be met, but the introduction of e.ven one hundred carpenters would be a valuable contribution at this stage to the solution of the problem; and it could be followed up to whatever extent seemed advisable. There are difficulties in the way, no doubt, such as the shcrtape of passenger acommodfit'on on the vessels now trading to New Zealand, but these difficulties are not insuperable. The least the Government can do is to make an effort to overcome them. Unless it takes some such step as here recommended,, or finds pome other means of relieving the shortage of building .labour, the admirable provision? of the. Housing Bill will be of little value for a lone time tn corn<\ What is the u*sr> of providing '■■be money to meetthe cost of erecting houses if tiMvision is not also nWe for securing the labour lo enable the hmipes to be built?