STATE HOUSING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 173, 9 August 1937, Page 5

STATE HOUSING

—Press Association.)

"Rents Are Not High/' Says Mr Lee PR0GRESS OF WORK 1

(By Telegraph-

AUCKLAND, THxs Day. ) Since the inception of the Government housing scheme last year tenders have been called for the erection of more than 1400 houses, according to a " statement by the Under-Secretary for j Housing, Mr J. A. Lee, who is visiting Auckland. "In the majority of cases ' tenders have been let or actual . building operations are proceeding. Schemes are also being developed xapidly to . serve other districts. Building iis either under way or opex'atioUB aro about to ' start at Lower Hutt, Miramar and 1 Johnsonville in Wellington, at Orakei r and Otahuhu in Auckland; also- in ' Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, 3 Oamaru, Thames, Whakatane, New Ply- . mouth, Masterton, Wanganui, Palmerston North aud Westport. Tenders are being called for houses ' on the Casey Estate, Auckland, and for schemes at Whangarei, Tauranga, Napier, Hastings, Levin, Patea, Ha- . wera, Timaru and also additional ! schemes fOr Christchurch and Dunedin, "Other towns ._are also xeceiving , attention but owing to the diflieulty of 1 negotiating satisfactoxy purchases of land, the schemes are slowef in start- • xng. "Altogether land for housing has been purchased in 40 different towns." Answering the critieism, that rents were too high for the workers, Mr Lee said: "I should like to know where the toiler can get even at a figure comparabla to our rents. Orakei houses will be 10/- or 15/- a week eheaper tban would be paid for a similar type of house built with a substantial saving on land purchased for housing purposes by the previous Government. In many cases this saving amounts to about 40 or 50 per cent." Mr Lee added that there had been occasional complaints that in the matter of contracting the housing scheme was a "one-man show." Actually there wero at least 30 different contractors at work on various schemes.