BUILDING SUBSIDY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 227, 7 September 1933, Page 8

BUILDING SUBSIDY

SCHEME TO BE WITHDRAWN CLOSING DOWN NEXT TUESDAY NO FURTHER APPLICATIONS. WELLINGTON, Sept. 6. As from Tuesday next no further applications for subsidy under the No. IO building scheme will be considered by the Unemployment Board. In issuing a statement to this effect •o-night the Hon. A. Hamilton observed: “The purpose of the re-introduc-tion of the No. 10 building scheme, which operated as from June 1, was to provide a stimulus to the building industry, which as that date had languished to an extent much greater than was the case when the building scheme wns first introduced lust year. The total value of buildings for which permits wore granted in the areas covered by statistics collected during •he month of April of this year amounted to only £76,000. '‘That the object in view has been achieved by the action of the Unemployment Board in reviving the subsidy sch.Jie will be evident from the fact, that in the three months during which it has operated applications have been received covering a total cost of over £2,500,000. This is at a rate of over £BOO,OOO per month and compares more than favourably with the corresponding three months' figures for 1926, the year when building activity in New Zealand reached its highest peak. It should also bo remembered that these figures do not include large sums that already had been committed for huge public buildings, and it can be safely said that the introduction of the scheme has resulted in a decided acceleration in the building industry. “At this point the board feels it unnecessary to continue offering a subsidy as an inducement for further building. “In the three months the total cost of buildings for which the subsiay has been applied exceeds by over £1,000,000 the total value of applications made la?t year during the six months fot which the scheme was running. Although this will mean an increased liability against tho Unemployment Fund, the benefits which will accrue to the

public and to workers in particular should outweigh the cost of the course. “This decision to close down tho scheme will not affect applications already authorised, and such approva' will bo honoured. Those applications which are at present under action will be considered, as heretofore, on their merits, and this will also apply to such further applications as may bo lodged with the certifying officers up to tho closing time on the 12th instant.”