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NATIONAL HOUSING CONGRESS

i. •-- - ; IN LONDON DURING JUNE t 1 MAYOR INVITED TO APPOINT " REPRESENTATIVES ■His Worship the Mayor (Sir. i. I\ Luke) has received the following letter. • f rota the National Housing and Town- '.■ Planning Council of England-, relative to s a big conference it is convening of ropiv.- '• sentativos from, all parts of the world 1 to discuss housing and town-planning r problems;— • - "On behalf of the National Housing and Town-Planning Council of Great. Britain, I.have the, honour to extend to the Municipal-Council over _ which you' preside us Mayor, an invitation to ap- < point representatives to attend th<i congress which will bo held in London in June next. lam desired to inform you that the Prime Minister of this" 1 country will act as president d'honneur • of - the congress, and. that many of our ' leading statesmen, including the Rt. ' Hon, A. "J. Balfour, M.P., past Minisl ter of State for Foreign Affairs, and • the Et. Hon: H. H. Asquith, M.P., past Prime Minister, will act as vice-presi-dents d'honneur. "The 6ubiects to be discussed at the congress are 60 clearly set forth,in the accompanying programme that it is not necessary to recapitulate them hero. I , venture, however,; to call the special attention of your council to the arrangements which we : propose to make with regard to the study of housing schemes now being carried into effect by our Gov. ernment and local authorities—acting in partnership—under the Housing and ', Town Planning Act of July, 191?. Under the provisions of this-Actj upwards of 500,000 houses are to be built during the next few years on land planned with not more than twelve houses to the acre, and tie schemes to bo visited at Bristol. Birmingham,' and elsewhere will, we anticipate, be studied with keen inter* est, as examples of action under the now policy. . . . We 6hall do all in- our power ; to render tho congress one of real service, to the representatives appointed to attend. We earnestly hope that the proceedings will prove .to be of vital importance in stimulating a great offensive against bad housing conditions'' on tho linos referred to in the eloquent appeal made by our King in the speech a copy of which I have the honour to enclose. I beg- to remain, etc., (Sgd.) Henry R. Aldridge, secretary." .. The programme sets out tho subjects for consideration by the congress as follows:— (1) National post-war housing and townplanning policies. ■-.:■.- (2) Tho preparation and carrying into cijfect of national programmes to secure proper housing conditions for every family, i however poor. (8) The minimum-of housing accommodation necessary to provide for the full development of a happy family life. , • (4) Standards of building construction and the development' of new methods; the use of now materials, (5) National nnd regional town-plan-ning developments. It is proposed that the congress shall visit housing schemes in progress at Bristol, Birmingham, and Manchester, and rural schemes en route to those cities. In view of the difficulty of. secur- ' ing hotel accommodation in those towns 'a curious commentary on prevailing conditions!, arrangements were being made for delegates to travel by special trains to and from London on three separate days. The congress i 6 .also to visit'the garden towns of Boumoville, Hamp6tead Heath, and Letcliworth. A LABOUR DEMONSTRATION TIMBER, DECORATIONS, AND THE' 'PRINCE. v The urgency of dealing at once with tho shortage of houses throughout the Dominion'was emphasised at a, Labour demonstration held in Post Office Square yesterday. The first speaker, Mr. J. Read, after contending that the timber resources of the Dominion should be nationalised by the Government, proceeded to criticise the 6treet decorations that are being set up in connection with the visit of the Prince of Wales. While the people were being told that there was a shortage of building materials, he remarked, hundreds of feet of tho best class of timber were being used up in erecting poles in the streets. Tho matter of having sufficient houses for the people was of far more importance to the inhabitants ot New Zealand than the visit of the Prince of Wales.: "The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head," said Mr. P. Eraser, M.P. "Those words are tru» of the people of Wellington at this day. The people are worse off than the animals in the field. Whole families arw ■under orders of eviction. Could thero be any greater barbarism or any grealmr atrocities than these?" Mr. Eraser said' he knew of a case in tho city where a widow and her six children were living in one room. In Vivian and College Streets nine families were threatened with eviction because the Ihouses wero to bo pulled down to make room for factories, which would bring in better rents., "People are evicting other people. until right round whole families are being threatened. It is time the workingclass said to the Government direct; 'Wo are no longer going to 6iibmit to this 6tate of affairs. Wo are going to lodge on effectivo prbtest and we are going to demand as a minimum flint every family in Now Zealand shall bo effectively housed.'-" In the sanitary inspector's office in the Town Hall there wero nearly 200 notices to owners requiring them to carry out repairs. '.Because tho City Council did not have the necessary power before last session, and because since then there had been dilaforiness both on the part of the civic authorities anrl the public health authorities, repairs had not been carried out. To-d>" one could go info hundreds of houses in Wellington in which, when it rained, t!is water streamed, down, causintr the wall- : paper to hang in .festoons. There w?re i cases' where rugs had to ho hung over I ■beds -to .protect- the people from getting ] wet while they were sleeping. Tho Gov- ' ernment should organise a proper sohomi> ' for providing- houses, and not a sinulo 1 family should bo evicted from «ny house < until there was a sufficient mrmber of ' houses for all to live in. > , There are at present 00 patients in the ' Mnsforton Public Hospital. Thcso in- ( elude 5 diphtheria cases and 2' in- ] (liienzn eases. J Suffeiws from Hay Fever-will <enjoy;Li speedy relief by breathing in "NAZQL 11 A umqii". ncver-fniling remedy. 00 doses , i 1 Is. Cd, Use the Nazol Inhaler.—Advt. i When yo'n ask for SIIAJILAND'S i FLUID MAGNESIA don't take anything ( "just aa good," but get SHARLAND'S, c Beat that money, oan buy.—Advt. " p

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200423.2.60

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 178, 23 April 1920, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,086

NATIONAL HOUSING CONGRESS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 178, 23 April 1920, Page 7

NATIONAL HOUSING CONGRESS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 178, 23 April 1920, Page 7

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