NEGLECTED HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 7, 4 October 1943, Page 3

NEGLECTED HOUSE

“Shocking- Example” In Christchurch Dominion Special Service. CHRISTCHURCH, October 3. Described by the chairman of the housing and town planning committee of the Christchurch City Council as one of the worst examples of living conditions he had seen, an old house in a large block purchased as a factory site in the city was inspected by council officials. The house had been owned and occupied till recently by an elderly woman, who lived alone.

“Many cases of bad'housing conditions are blamed on landlords, but in this case the occupier was the owner,” said the chairman. “It' is a shrieking example' of the conditions in which some people are apparently content to live. This house has obviously been neglected for a long time.” The house, of fire rooms, lacked any indoor water service and bad no bathroom or facilities for washing dishes. A tap in the neglected garden at the back of the house appeared to be the only water supply, but there was a water closet in a detached outhouse and the dwelling itself was electrically lit and equipped with an old gas range. In nearly every room there were large water stains on the ceilings and walls, and in the living room, wall aud ceiling paper hung down in long strips. In one of the back rooms the scrim which originally covered part of the walls had fallen away, and most of the plaster elsewhere had fallen out and exposed the laths. Rain had driven into this room through gaps in the weather boards and half the floor was wet and sodden. Huge black cobwebs festooned the drier parts of the ceilings. This house and several others in the area, which is regarded as being one of the worst, from the housing point of view, in tbe city, are being purchased for big factory extensions. ‘