HOUSE FOR MRS. HARRIS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 223, 17 June 1944, Page 8

HOUSE FOR MRS. HARRIS

Ejection Brings Results STATE-OWNED PLACE FOR 27/6 A WEEK

Mrs. Mary Harris has a house. She is the woman, with a family of eight, whose plight was described in “’rhe Dominion” yesterday and on Maj’ 2'7. The climax was reached on Thursday aiternoon when a bailiff’s agent moved her furniture on to the street and the family spent the night on the veranda. The compulsory shift has been worthwhile, however. Without it Mrs. Harris, and her family, would still have been occupying a condemned house unfit for human habitation. After conferring with the mayor, Mr. Appleton. yesterday, Mr. Rugby Malcolm, representing the Greater Wellington Electors’ Association, contacted the Prime Minister’s Department, the State Advances Department aud the Ministry of Works. Previous efforts on behalf of Mrs. Harris had failed. It was agreed that she be given a State-owned house at Highbury, Wellington, at a rental of 27/6 a week. The rent for the slum she had occupied for several years was once 35/-, reduced to 26/- by the Labour Department. No reut was accepted by the laudlord after the house was condemned. The keys of the Highbury home were available for Mrs. Harris yesterday afternoon, said Mr. Malcolm last night. As soon as “The Dominion” office opened yesterday a subscriber owning a cottage on a west coast beach (with two bedrooms, dining-living room and electric light), rang up to offer this home till Mrs. Harris and her family could get a State house, for which Mrs. Harris has been au applicant for four years. There were manj’ other communications concerning Mrs. Harris, several readers suggesting that she could be temporarily accommodated in service huts now being vacated near Wellington, which had reasonable conveniences.