The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1019, THE HOUSING PROBLEM.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 471, 6 May 1919, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1019, THE HOUSING PROBLEM.

The gravest economic problem before New Zealand to-day is the housing question. In every city, town, and village in New Zealand where progress is being made the cry for houses grows ever louder and more insistent, Because of the high value of property and the heavy—but necessary—rates to be paid, there are a large number of houses for sale. The owners know that prices of timber and iron must come down sooner or later, and that their property will correspondingly be reduced in value, to say nothing of the constant factor of deterioration. These conditions have brought about a peculiar state of affairs : it pays better to buy a house, putting down a small deposit and the greater part of the cost by instalments than to rent one, otherwise there is no security, from week to week, against being evicted, whether or not one has another place to move into. At one time it was considered something of a shady trick if a landlord sold a house which had been occupied by a suitable, promptpaying tenant for several years, but this kind of thing is happening every day now, and nobody, except thp unfortunate tenant and his family, thinks anything of it. So much for the existing position, but, what about remedies ? It seems to us that, in the first place, there can be very little reduction in the cost of construction until the prices of the raw material are lowered, and this is not likely to come about in the near future without Government action. Every year millions of feet of building timber are exported annually, and the export duty is ouly hall the amount against the imported article. With such a dearth of houses in the Dominion, it is reasonable to demand that no timber be exported until our own wants are satisfied, and we hope to see a concerted movement initiated, on a Dominion scale, to brlug pressure to bear on the Government in the direction of forbidding the export of building timber, or at least to take off the import duty altogether. The Dominion wants all the timber that is likely to be imported, the bulk of which, in any case, is timber of a kind not grown in New Zealand. Such timber is wanted for fencing posts and other farm structures, as well as for dwelling-houses. In regard to butter boxes, it is highly probable that before many years are over a substitute for wood will have to be found, for our kihikated timber cannot last indefinitely, supplying home and outside demands. r.nl. even it" there was not a foot oi I'iiildiii!; timber exported, the problem would merely be partly reduced, md not solved, for the reason that re afforestation r. not by any meair keeping pace with the rale of destruction, and there i little or i)i i hope of <.;ro\vinr/ new limbei ;i f.r.l ,r the old iI'cinu telle-'!. Ii k ,iii Iv I.iLcii loi granted Iherelnrr, thai we dull ha\e In e\pci iiuciii In ;;vl\ n substitute building nuterhl ■;, ,ts is being done in England at the pre-

sent time. For two or three months past, great interest has been aroused all over the United Kingdom by a series of remarkably interesting articles published in the "Sunday Express" (London), from the pen of Mr Pemberton Billing, M.P,, on homes for the poor and middle-class people. Sketches accompany the articles, describing model homes, to be erected at prices ranging from £SO to £3OO. A special feature ol Mr Billing's designs is a central stove, burning slow-combustion fuel, which will, at very cheap rates, keep heat for four rooms at once, night and daw if required, An exhibition i-, being held, arranged bj the "Sunday Express." in which full size houses (and many model ones) are on view, for the purpose of demonstrating the realization of new ideas on the reduction of costs and the provision of comfort and convenience. Mr Billing and his colleagues adopt and adapt any practicable suggestion that comes along, and give it a trial. He, and the housewives (from whom 'the majority of good suggestions come) have left the architects—a conservative people, as a class —far behind in regard 10 economy, comfort, and convenience. Through the town-planning organizations, and every other available channel, pressure should be brought to beaton the Government to iackle the housing problem with a will, on broad, scientific lines, Poor housing and insanitary conditions, a stunted race, and social unrest—fit breeding-ground tor Bolshevism ! The cost of living, the greatest burden of which is that of housing, must be reduced, otherwise the people's indignation will find vent next November, in the returning to power of more, of such extremists and visionaries as have been put into Parliament at comparatively recent by-elections. Promises and palliatives will not do: a wholehearted, intense effort must be made to mitigate the conditions of the struggle for existence. The housing question easily comes first, and it is one which bears extremely hard on people with large families: in the main, the larger the family the poorer the parents are likely to be. They need a bigger house than those with small, or no families at all, and are less able to buy or rent them. There are other aspects of this vital matter which we hope to deal with later on,