THE BUILDING SOCIETY OF THE FUTURE.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2609, 1 August 1881, Page 2

THE BUILDING SOCIETY OF THE FUTURE.

A writer in the “ Co-operative Hews ” says:—“l am in favor of a society building and owning houses for its members, and letting them on real cooperative terms. Why should not the alternative be given to a member of renting his house and paying just the same monthly instalments as if he were purchasing it in a building society, with

this difference—that at the end of ten or twelve or fourteen years he should find himself the possessor of shares in the society equal to the value of a house, instead of being saddled with what may become a Siam white elephant on his hands? Tnus, all the members would own all the houses, and ' fixity of tenure' could be granted to a member so long as he left his accumulated shares unknown. If you want to see the advantages arising from the houses being built and held by the society instead of by individuals, take a trip up to London next summer, and I will take you round to see the pretty villiages of the Artisans Dwellings Company, where the cottages are clothed with creepers and embellished with charming front gardens full of flowers, and the streets are lined with trees. You have nothing like it in Lancashire or Yorkshire that I know of, in spite of the working for long years past of your admirable building societies which only lend money on mortgage."