HOUSING SCHEMES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 155, 26 March 1920, Page 8

HOUSING SCHEMES

| WHAT GOVERNMENT IS DOING to - 'is ; — a! RAILWAY VENTURES eid STATEMENT BY MR. MASSEY id :e —: —- 19 The Prime Minister made the followin; !r statement yesterday, as to tho progress [ 0 on dwellings in course of erection, oi ,1 being arranged for throughout tho Do. ,g minion under tlio housing scheme:— r_ Welling ton. —Contracts have been 10l lfl for tho ejection of 113 dwellings in' Weij lington and Petone—two dwellings arc lv almost completed. The concrete portion il of one dwelling is completed, whilst t, foundat'bns havo Tjeen put in' for 40 dwellU ings. Concrete blocks are also made foi it 12 dwellings. The work has been de,o laved a little owing to joinery not being -r ready;, joinery is now coming to hand, it and' work will proceed much faster dur(i ing the next few weeks. Auckland.—Contract has been lerfor tho t ercctiop of 17 dwellings at Ellerslie, r the foundations and walls up to tho basa r havo been completed for 12 dwellings, t The contractor is now ready to push s ahead with tho walls, and should make 0 qn'clc progress from now onward, a New Plymouth.—Contract has icen let Ic for tho erection of six dwollings; :1,- the builder commenced upon, the work last .week. Arrangements are now. being - made for the erection, of a further 13 s dwellings in this town! 3; Ilawera.—Contracts have been let 1 for the erection of 11 dwellings; the s builder is to commence on these <lwellinga - during tho next week, Negotiations are . proceeding for tho erection of ft further i number of dwellings in this town. ) . Wnnganui.—Contract has been let for i. the erection of 12 dwellings, The builder will commence the erection shortly; meanE while drainage work in connection-with > these sections is proceeding. A further ■ tender lias boon received for tho erection ; of an additional four dwellings in this ■ town and is under consideration. Pa-lmerston North—Up to the present I wo have been unable to complete ari : rangements to erect dwellings in this ' town. As the rosult of a visit to the ' town by tho Depnty-Housing Superintendent and the architect it is hoped ■ to - receive tendeis for tho erection of 1 a number of dwellings during the next ■ few days. : Masterton.—Satisfactory progress is be--1 ing made with the erection of eight dwellings in this town. All the foundations are in and ■ the walls of four dwellings are completed up to the eaves. Arrangements are being made to proceed with tin erection of <i further number of dwellings in this town. . Christchurch.—Contract has .been let.. for the erection of four dwellings, nnd tenders are being called, for the crect'.on of nn additional 75 dwellings. Oamaru.—Contract, has been let for 'the erection of eight dwellings, and the luilder is now putting in tho foundations. of the same. , Nelson.—Four dwellings are in coureo v 'of erection in this town, two of which arexQlmost completed. ■ The above represents 183 dwellings now in 00111*50 of erection, and 123 for which arrangements ore proceeding; total, 305. It is hoped to make arrangements for the erection of dwellings in Hamilton, i Morrinsville, Tc Awawutn, To Kuiti, Taihape, and Potoma shortly.-' Mr. Moston, Deputy-Housing Superintendent, and'the architect, Mr. Graham, will shortly visit Auckland also for the purpose, if''possible, of arranging for tha erection of a larije number suclr as is beine ' done in Wellington and ChnstchnrMi. House-buildinn Census. A census 1 is being ta.ken house buiiding in operation in New-Zealand at the' present time, but I am strongly, of opinion that more building Is now going on in the Doniinipn than at any time in ''its history'.' RAILWAY DEPARTMENT'S SCHEME 400 -STANDARD HOUSES. The Railway Department has inaugurate! and is engaged on a house .building scheme on.a large scale. ' The. present programme involves/ the erection of 400 houses as a commencement.. The scheme involves the establishment of a factory equipped with modern machinery for cutting timber to standard lengths. 'J'his will enablo rapid progress to bo made witlv the construction of the houses and at the same time materiallv-reduce, their cost. • The houses' will all be built to standard type, and will be provided with modern conveniences. > A commencement has already been mado with the ei-ection of a number of houses at. Kniwarra to relieve the pressure in Wellington, where the housingproblem is at present most ncute. Twenty chains of road has been, formed, ,15 sites excavated, and the erection of ten houses is in hand, some of them being well forward. ' - ~ Tho plans of tho New Zealand railway houSe show a compact arrangement of rooms built on the. plan , of nil English house with the rooms entering olf a passage-way, i and not entering off eiich other, which in American houses is very common. The 'standard type being built at present contain* kitchen three 'bedrooms; -bathroom;,scullery, and wash-; house with copper and tubs set in. In addition an outhouse is provided for wood' and coal. A hot .and cold water ppvyiee will be installed in each house. Electric light wnll lie provided wherever it is available, and each house will have in addition to the lighting, a connection for an electric iron, While the \ilans will, for tho present, 1>? of .standard type, tlio outside elevations will bs varied in design to relieve any monotony. The houses will front on to 00ft. ronds in all cases where, they front new roads laid out by the Department. The 'sections generally will have a frontage of 50ft;. with a depth-of lOOftr Tn no easo will the frontage, bo less than 40ft. .Already; considerable areas of land have been acquired at several centres, nnd p'ans for the laying out of these ar« being prepared. The Department intends t° work on sound town-planning lines. -Where practicable each settlement ,w ; U havens reserves for recreation. Tree planting will be carried out by experts on a 'weli-tliouirht-out plan. . Natural fea'tnres of lntadscnno will lv> taken advantage of. and the general conveniences required in; such a settlement will lw , provided. • j CITY CO WS SCHEME ' DIFFICULTIES r>E OBTAINING ' MATERIAL.: , The .housing superintendent (Mr. R. j M'Kenzie) reported to the City Council ' last nieht' that, since his last report,, lie I had received one truck of inside lining, i about enoueh ,to finish the first two c houses at Northland. Part of this lin- l ing had been put on; but ho was still .in i lined of inside finishings and doors, which < wcro hard to procure. 1 A report wa6 received from the Housinu Committee that they had received an t intimation from the Comptroller of Cus- 1 loins to the effect that, the Minister re- u uretted that remission of duties of goods c imported bv municipal bodies in connec- f tion with their, housing scheme, could r not bo pi-anted. Tho matter had received consideration by Cabinet, but must t now stand over until the revision of the i: Customs tariff was before the I-fouse of Representatives. 8 Councillor J. Glover urged that tho fi housing problem should be tackled more e whole-heartedly. Shortage of labour „ was not the cause of tho difficulty, but t sliortaao of matorial. He alleged that r there were timber "rings" at work which {\ wcro bovcotting the City Council becauso (; it wanted to build houses. Privnte c builders could obtain supplies of ma- j terial. but tho City Council could not. s The slronuest representations should be made to the Government urging the ex- j, trcme necessity of the council obtaining j supplies of material. If Stale joinery j. mirks were established there should be n no difficulty in obtaining doors and win- lv (low sashes. , r Councillor P. Fraser said tho committee should propose somo'definite scheme for getting ahead with the erection and disposal of houses., 43 ' Councillor C. 11. Chapman, supported > what Councillor Glover had alleged re- r '

G garding the boycotting of the City Coun ci! in respect to supplies of material. Councillor M. l'\ Luckie contended tlia the allegation of boycotting was -absurd Many small builders were in the hand of tho bisr sash and door companies, win had to supply them with doors and win dows in order to 'keep their businesse uoini. * Councillor W. H. Bennett said tlia tho demand for windows and • doors ii New Zffiiland was so great that tho sup plv of seasoned timber had been exhaust ed. and it was impossible to obtain ma terial ftom America because tho wliol of the supplies in that country wen beinz utilised locally. ° ■ Councillor J. 0. Shorland stated tha * four hundred houses were being ereetei ' in various localities around Jolinsonville and for these dwellings some 3000 door: l woro required. That would givo sonii indication 'of tho difficulty in obtaining material. ° The report was adopted. j' The Citv Council's schemes have been 1_ delayed owine to difficulty 111 securing ir lalxnir and shortage of cement, also ditli. ®" cn'.ty-in securing timber. j» Six houses have been' advanced to a '> certain stase at Northland. It had r * lieen almost impossible to obtain lining timber, and so progress was suspended, f If the necessary, timber was on hand the houses could be completed rapidly . and offered immediately to prospective jj purchasers. 0 Purchase of Land, t A proclamation, authorising, tho pur- . chase of certain land bv the Wellington Cily Council under the Public Works Act „ for housing purposes was issued in tho | Gazette last night. Two blocks of land are affected,' US acres "known as Tina- (. kori North" mid 58 acres ■ forming ior--0 tion. of section 30, Ifarori. 1 I"tIMIGRATIONTAND HOMES NON-ESSENTIAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. . "The sub-leader in The Dominion of March 20" (writes Colonel Mitchell, secretary pi the Progress League) "was brought toVy notice 011 my return from Marlborough, thus my delay in 3 furnishing the information asked for. It , is somewhat difficult to get {he exact ' numbers employed on- buildings other ■ than homes, as tho numbers ' fije constantly changing, and, moreover, those 3 concerned are not always ready to furnish [ tlio information asked for. I enclose, ' however, a list of 13 buildings, under ; course of construction in the c-ity itself, * showing that 191 men are employed on them. Some of the 'buildings under re- ' view hq,vo only just been started, and 1 will employ many moro men in tho ' conreo of a week or two! Besides these 1 191 men employed on work at present, it i? estimated that, another third of ! that number is employed in the factory making doors, sashes;, etc., for these buildings. Wo have, therefore, approximately 290 men engaged in building 13 places other than tho houses in Wellington 1 itself to-day. This number does iiot include painters and plumbers. There | are, of course, other buildings slid many 1 email alterations to shops, etc., proceeding, but I suggest that the figures cjuoted will quite justify our demand for mime--1 diate action. It is estimated 'hat five men will build; a five-roomed house in ' threo months; 290 men will' therefore build 232 houses in a,-year, or from four to five, per week, thus providing housing accommodation for over two 'Hundred families per year. • "Some of the buildings quoted maj; be of an urgent nature; others are certainly not. But none arc so urgent ns are homes for the people, which is the pressing problem facing this and other countries, pnd one of the great causes of unrest and unhappiuess. Wo - hold that while the workers nre forced to live in some of tho dirty Aiovels called homes in Wellington to-day have a .deep cause of social distress that should not exist. (>llO cannot, with the present of tho Ministry, hops for any radical improvement. TIIO situation demands tho appointment of a spec:ol Minister; ono with courago and energy to carry out a comprehensive national building policy. «.Every' part of tho country calls aloud for a live national effort to provide our people' with homes—an, effort to supersede the semiparalysis and disorganisation of tho Government id this .vital matter." •