The Gisborne Times GISBORNE, OCT. 4, 1806.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1876, 4 October 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times GISBORNE, OCT. 4, 1806.

Tile debato on tho Workers’ Dwellings Act Amenumont Bill uhich we published yesterday is instructive reading, and shows how a good scheme may be made useless by departmental muddle-

objeet lesson too as to the difference that usually exists between theory and practice, especially in Socialistic mat' tets. The Workers’ Dwellings Act of

last year is a Socialistic measure that had the support of both sections of the House as far as the principle involved was concerned, for all sections of the House are more or 1e33 Socialistic in

their ideas, and differ only in matters of detail very often, The Act was passed in creditable shape, and it remained only for the Administration to carry out its details to the advantage of these workers who wanted to possess hom.es of their own and whose yearly earnings did not amount to more than £156. Tho positiou was simple enough, there appeared to be every prospect that ihe Act would be largely availed of when the houses to be built under its provisions were erected. However, “ the best laid plans o’ mice and men gang a f t agloy,” and when the scheme assumed definite shape by the purchase of land and the erection of houses at Petono under the guidance of the Department it was found that workmen with £156 a year or less didn’t want the class of

honsoß crootod, and oomploto failure

was the result. Tho real eauso of this failure has not been laid Imro in Iho iliseussion that has juattukoii place u])on tho umondiueut Bill iutroducod by tho Government, for although it was duo in part to tho many causos stated by soveral of tho speakers in tho debate, (such as too much ornamentation aud too littlo aeeominodation, etc ) not one spoakor appears to have hit tho right nail on tho head. Jt nppoars now to bo a forgotten fact that at tho time tho Act was passed, and for somo time afterwards, land at Botono suitable for tho purposes of tho Act could have boon obtaiuod at a reasonable price ;

but no move was mado by tbo Dopar inont to acquiro it beyond making known the fact that land would bo purchased somewhere for the purpose Then tho wide awako speculator got to work, and syndicates wore busy spyiug out suitablo sites for workmen’s homos, wliilo tho Dopartmontremained apparently inort until one day it was found that a syndicate had purchased a block of land at a reasonable price and rosold it to tho Department for workmen’s homes at an enormous advanco. Tho workmen heard of this, and, quite rightly we think, some of them determined to have nothing to do with the business, or to pay. tho extra prico pocketed by the syndicate when it might have been saved to the tenants and tho scliemo cheapened if tho Department had been more, alert aud business-like in its methods in the true interests of the scheme itself. Wo havo novor been able to ascertain who woie the members of that syndicate, or into whose pockets the few thousands of pounds which the speculation yielded has passod ; but we do now now that the Government has made mess of tho business from the public point of viow, and the workman is no better oil in tho matter of houee accommodation than he was before the Act was passed. By and bye we shall probably hear Ministers prating to working men audiences of the beneficence of the legislation passed in the sole interests of the working man him self, and tho working man will probably be misguided enough to believe it all without asking himself the logical question “ how much better off am 1 now than I was before these Acts were passed?’’ When ho does that, and thinks the matter over, he will realise that he is no better off, and that the best legislation that ever graced a Statute Book may operate to his disadvantage rather than to his good under faulty, incompetent, or dishonest administration. He will wake up to the fact that the Socialistic legislation ostensibly designed for his benefit may in reality work to his disadvantage, for, as in the case of these workmen’s homes, the speculator has pocketed his profits, and if the Government cannot recoup itself in rents direct from the workers it must do so from indirect taxation, and the workman has to pay his share all the same. The Act was originally intended to assist only those who did not earn more than per week ; but now it is found necessary, owing to the high price paid to the syndicate for the land, and the extra cost of ornamentation of the structures, to increase that amount to £2OO per annum, so that those who can avail themselves of the advantages of the beneficent legislation are not those for whom it was originally intended and who most needed it. Is it any wonder that. the Minister for Labor admits that he is in a quandary from which he proposes, to escape by the ludicrous plan of setting uo a board of advice to the present Land Purchase Board ? To complete the farce all that he needs to do is to set up his board of advice and appoint thereon a few friends of the right color who are known to sympathise with the hard lot of the poor speculator and syndicator.