THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1922. THE HOUSING DIFFICULTY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4431, 23 June 1922, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1922. THE HOUSING DIFFICULTY.

The housing difficulty in Paeroa still continues to be a neverending problem for the large number of people who would like to settle in this progressive centre. Just how many houses could be let it is hard to say,, but while speaking to a. house agent to-day the opinion was expressed that fully 30 could be filled quite easily. That being so, it seems to us to be a great pity that some honest endeavour is not made by the townspeople to see to it that more building is not done in our midst. Not alone are new buildings required, but a large number of the present structures require remodelling,, and some even levelling to the ground, and no doubt the latter would speedily happen if tenants had some place wherein to shelter themselves. This housing shortage is well known to be a bad thing for the town, and we have only to point to the fact of the large number of married men living in the town whose, earnings for the most part, and rightly so, are sent to their families living in othei' centres. The town will never enjoy the fullest sense of prosperity while this continues. The shortage affects tradespeople, schools, entertainments, and every institution in the town. That the home is the very foundation of the Empire leaders of thought have long since noted, and anything which conduces to the provision of home ties is building up the moral fibre and enhancing the maternal well being of the nation and Empire. It is as well to note, too, that the man who has a stake, in the town is a preferable citizen to the rover. We believe that one way out of our difficulty will be the establishment of a building society based on the lines of those whose affairs are a credit to the promoters. It is contended by some, who profess to know, that it cannot be made to pay, but others feel the reverse about it. The fact that some towns have not been able to run a. Building Society successfully is no criterion that others cannot, for in many of the small towns in New Zealand to-day building societies are flourishing institutions. It is the will of the people and the spirit of the citizens that it rests with, and in this progressive area the establishment of a building society will not only confer a boon on the town, but be a financial and lasting institution. A lot of spade or philanthropic work has to be done, and the same unselfish spirit has got to be shown that prevailed amongst our dear old pioneers of the early days. Intelligent interest and constructive criticism make for progress in all walks of life, and are particularly desirable in connection with such matters as we have before us in Paeroa, in which the decisions of to-day will in years to come affect the pro,gress and importance of the town. It therefore behoves those who have the building of our town, if only in part, to see that, as far as is humanly possible, the best collective judgment of the community should be conscientiously devoted to arriving at decisions, the results of which will, to a greater or less degree, react upon future generations.