STATE HOUSING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 213, 9 August 1937, Page 7

STATE HOUSING.

PROGRESSIVE SCHEME. MR J. A. LEE DEFENDS RENTS. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Aug. 9. 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 Mr J. A. Lee, Under Secretary in Charge of Housing, who is visiting Auckland. “In the majority of cases, tenders have been let of actual buiiding operations are proceeding,’’ he said. “Schemes ane also rapidly being developed to berve other districts. Building is either under way or operations are about to start at Lower Hutt, Miramar and Johnsonville in Wellington; at Orakei and Otahuhu in Auckland; also in Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Oamaru, Thames, Whakatane, New Plymouth, Masterton, Wanganui, Palmerston North and Westport. Tenders are being called for houses on the Casey Estate, Auckland, and for the schemes at Whangarei, Tauranga, Napier, Hastings, Levin, Paten, Hawera, Tiniaru; there are also additional schemes for Ohristehurqh and Dunedin. Other towns also are receiving attention but owing to the difficulty of negotiating satisfactory purchases of land, these schemes are slower in starting. Altogether, land for housing has been purchased in 40 different towns.” Answering the criticism that the rents are too high lor workers, Mr Lee said: “I should like to know where the toiler can get a home even at a figure .comparable with our rents. The Orakei houses will be 10s or 15s a week cheaper than would be paid for a similar type of house. There is substantial saving on the land as compared with that purchased for housing purposes by the previous Government. In many eases this saving amounts to about 40 or 50 per cent.” Mr Lee added that there were occasional complaints in the matter of contracting that the housing scheme was a one-man show. Actually there weie at least 30 different contractois at work on the various schemes.