THE HOUSING PROBLEM.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 June 1919, Page 7

THE HOUSING PROBLEM.

POSITION IN UNITED -STATES. I It will be seen from the followingl excerpt ‘-out of :1 trade review forward—l ed by Messrs Brown and Dureau, Australasia agents for John .Dunn, Son, and I Co., of New York, that conditions in the United States are much the same -as l in Taih-ape, in so far as values of rail estate increasing and rents advancing in consequence of higher prices paid for property: “The trend -of prices is no longer downward, and in all branches of business relating to personal re-I quirements such as food, clothing, etc., values are fully maintained, and have on the whole shown a tendency of late I to advance. Rents, too, have increased considerably over war-time prices, as the subnormal amount of building during the past three years is having its | eft'ect, and in many localities the~prob- i ICIII of adequate housing acconlm.oda—i tion is a grave one. Because of this,! values of real estate are also advane-J ing, a. Very decided increase being noted since the first of the year. For—tunately there is now evidence of 3m‘ creasing activity in the building trades, , the Value of contracts arranged during} March being some 50 per cent. larger, than those in the same month of lasti year, though still 28 per cent below the average of pre-war years. Costs for both labour and materials renmin high, and prospective builders seem to have about reconciled theniselves to the idea that no radical clie.n_ge is likely in the near future.” That there is also l»a.bour unrest is’ also shown by the following paragraph: “The strike of the harbour workers at New York is at last adjusted, the final terms being a substantial increase in wages and a working day of ten hours. The freight handl lors, or stevedores, have now presented demands of the same sort, and it is rumoured that some 15,000 men are preparing to stop work. The telephone service over the greater part of New England and sa.Eec.t.iilg 650,000 =su':)scribers, was for a time wholly disorganised owing to a strike of ‘operators, most 'of whom are women. The demands were for higher wages, which have been granted by the Government, ,and the settlement seems sa.tlsfact.ory to the operators fior the present at least. Generally speaking, the labour situation is improving, though wage increases, rather than thevreverse, continue the rule.”