BETTER HOUSING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17688, 28 July 1919, Page 2

BETTER HOUSING

THE KING'S SPEECH. To a gathering at Buckingham Palace of 200 delegates representing country, urban, and rural councils, the King delivered an inspiring address on the housing problem, a subject in which both he anu the Queen are deeply interested. In the course of his speech, his Majesty said:—The housing problem is not a new problem; it is an old problem which has been aggravated by the past five years of war, and which the forced neglect of those five grim years has rendered so acute as to constitute a grave national danger if it is not promptly and energet.cally attacked. I have been reading lately the words which were spoken by my dear father at the opening of the model dwellings in Boundary street, built just 20 years ago, on the site of some notorious slums. "There is no question at present," he said, "of greater social importance than the housing of the working classes. We must all sympathise with those who lament that greater progress has not been made in the- solution of the difficulties which surround this question. But one thing is certain —that the difficulties must be surmounted." On that occasion my, father, who, as somo of you may remember, had served personally as a member of the Royal Commission on Housing in 1884, was speaking to an audience composed chiefly of municipal leaders like yourselves, and he explained that ho was speaking after having seen for himself some of the worst housed and most overcrowded districts of London. Twenty years have passed since those words were spoken, but 1 fear we have yet to lament unsurmounted difficulties of the housing question. I, too, and members of my family, have been trying to learn at close quarters something of ,the problem which the nation, with the help of experts such as you, has now to face. But how much greater is the problem that confronts us now? For it is not with the clearance of slums .that we have to deal—but also with the provision of new houses on an unprecedented scale sufficient to make good both tho shortage of houses that existed before the war and the vast aggravation

of that shortage caused by ,the almost total cessation _ of building during the war. I am informed that tho immediate need o| working-class houses for England and Wales alone is estimated at approximately 500,000. To meet this need the same untiring energy and enthusiasm/ will be required as that which enabled tho country to meet the demand for munitions of war. It is not merely houses that are needed The new houses must also be homes. Caii we not aim at securing to the workin"classes in their homes tho comfort leisure" brightness, and peace which we usually associate with the word home? The sites of tho houses must be carefully chosen and laid out, tho houses themselves properly planned and equipped, and I would ask you not to overlook the supreme importance of the planning and equipment of houses to the women who live in them, and whoso convenience should therefore be a prime consideration. The building of houses at tho present time will necessarily be a costly undertaking, owing to the present high level of prices, but the money will be well spent and we may look for a sore, even- though deferred, return upon the expenditure in a healthier and more contented people. I know that a certain anxiety is felt with re gard to. the supply of the necessary building materials, but I am informed that energetic steps have been taken to stimulate the production of bricks and other building , materials, and I hope that the producers of these materials, both manufacturers and work people, by wholehearted co-operation, and with tho introd'oction of nower methods and better conditions, will be able to in crease their output sufficiently to keep pace with the demand. I need not enlarge upon tho importance of securing suitable land for housing sites, and I am sure that tho owners of such land will be ready and willing to meet .this great public need both in regard to the sites required for new houses and in tho clearance of overcrowded and insanitary areas. While the housing of tho working- classes has always been a question of the o-reatest social importance, never has it been so important as now. It is not too much to say that an adequate solution of the housing problem is the foundation of all social progress. Health and housmg are indissolublv connected.