THE HOUSING QUESTION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4675, 17 March 1924, Page 2

THE HOUSING QUESTION.

I'he Government Statistician has just published some information, based on the last census figures, m the subject of housing accommodation in New Zealand. The fact that th-’ figures are now three years old should not affect the conclusions drawn by the Statistician, as it, is probable that the relative positions of population and housing have remained fairly constant. Although there is now greatei building activity, the population has been increased very materially by immigration. The position today, in fact, may conceivably be Worse. Basing his calculations upon a statistical assumption that people in one room means overcrowding, tne Statistician estimates that there were, in 1921, 23,055 overcrowded dwellings in New Zealand. "In a word,” says the report, ‘‘the figures just mentioned show that 14.87 pe. • cent, of persons—one in every seven —are living under conditions whica the Board of Health characterised as inimical to the maintenance of a proper standard of health and decency. The case of Wellington i.s especially striking. The position of the smaller towns and of the rural districts is even less favourable —markedly* so—than that of the large urban centres.’’ This N a disturbing statement. During the acute period of the housing shortage in New Zealand the greatest congestion occurred in the cities, and it was then argued that the position would right itself naturally when the rural districts absorbed the houseless. But housing is still a problem in the cities, and since it has now become a pronleb in the rural districts — “ harkedly so,” says the Statistician--th° question to he faced is : “Can the building industry keep pace with the demands for homes ?” The Statistician indicates that this state of things is world-wide at present. This may be true, but populations keep on increasing, while, apparently, housebuilders grow scarcer in proportion