The Daily News. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16. TOO NEW FOR SLUMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 324, 16 January 1909, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16. TOO NEW FOR SLUMS.

Occasionally one ivillU, tllilt till' cities .if Xew Zealand nuil the lesser (own* me concerned with the; slum jn-iilili'iii. 'Till! outsider is always led to lii'lii'vc 'tllilt Wc llllVl' 110 Sllcll problems ill XcW 'Zealand. Tlii'ii I'linii' nlonj; tin' reports of inspectors in tin- cities, tin' circum'slanlial stories of several families living in four or livi'-room matchbox 'houses, till' wretched conditions under 'which they exist, mill tin' apparcat ineptitude of tin' local aulhuiilics to i|n anything to relieve tlii' situation. It - „ etKiectled Hint in ili'iis!'!;.- - populated (•(IHUL'it'S til I'IV i- 11 IK'l'Cllllinl lllllisi.lg IU-llllll'lll. 11111 l gcnelU'.illU- of |ll'ivill» ownership have made housing• ,|iHU-iiltK-, iivmi'iiiliiiis. ami tlii' aggregation ol 'speeilic classes in certain neighborhood•put forward a problem that' makes tht 'trouble insurmountable unless publit 'bodies interested hiive lii'i'ii iircpnivil t'. go to enormous expense. •' It is extraordinary that in a counln 'which is undeveloped, ami where then 'is room enough for many times lie population, there arc area,'in the eitiVherr. people arc i|iiite a.s crowded o In Mamchcster, Livi rpool, or Loudon vilasgow, llerlin, or Paris, ami where i 'is impossible for the average worker 'however careful, to obtain siillieien ground to buihl his own home at a rea soiiable rale. .(suburban lnml near th 'world's centre is a lower price Mian sill 'urban land in any of the New Zcala.ni 'big centres. The Slate yets into an e\ 'cited condition about the birth-rate, mi 'is very keen on inspecting cverythiii 'from a barndoor rooster to a brim Ibustl. It has touched the fringe of Hi 'hous-img problem liv building worker'homes, but this has not allcctrd in an 'way the mamy slum areas iii the cilii 'and larger towns. Private greed ha Ibceu too .strong for municipalities. 1 'tin; linger cities in Xew Zealand Hi liuililing In-laws mav lie easily brokei 'lt is the 'fashion for the owner of 'piece of land that should justly coutai lull one house to put two or three o It, and, as has been so often said, Ui liouses of New Zealand are union;; 111 'worst in the civilised world. Jltiddliii 'together is the worst thing that ca Ihappcn to human beings, aJid it is in 'possible that they can do anything eh 'in Xew Zealand towns while rents lalt U third of the wages of the worker. ' In British cities where the conditiol !iave been biid for generations attciupl 'are really made to relieve the dreadfi 'congestion. For instance, it has bee the policy of the London County Com j til for many years past to buy oi 'pestilent neighborhoods, to sweep awa shuns to let in air, light, and sunshin 'and to build residences that confovi 'to decent and more, healthy condition 'i'rivaU' philanthropy is not dead i USritain, and this also has had a gre > 'deal to do wich improved condition ; 'When one considers that the whole I ; 'the population of New Zealand, urbai • 'suburban, and pagan, is jiot so lar. f 'as the population of a single divisic : iif the City of London, it seems e.xtn ■ 'nriliimry that conditions as bad as tli j 'rcinaining slum conditions in some pari i kit that, great cilv really exist in Xc i 'Zealand cities. 'The reasons are, i ' tiairsc. the extraordinarilv false cm i t-eptiou people, haw of life' ill -New Ze, < land, their alleged needs, the greed i > 'many of the Iwnillnrils, (he borruwin ! 'proclivities of everybody, the high prit i 'of labor, linuVr, and house material ' 'lf we have progressed in some matte] '■ 'in a short, time, we have also retr< ! V'csseil in many others. We have no ; 'lienelilcd by the experiences and nib J 'takes of older communities. | Must of the riches that are containe j 'in Xciv Zealand have not been earne $ 'in any .sense by Hie holders of it. I''u £ 'instance, a person who has no specia } *|iialilications of any kind bought a pice i 111' land—half an acri—in a certai' S lent re in Xew Zealand in ISSS for on 1 'hundred pounds, lie had no kuowledg. f 'that the village would become a city ' 'As a matter of fact, he was uilenilii'i; ; '.o run fowls ,m that land. The <•!:.; ' '.'aim', the trams came, the |ieople came | 'die -'values" mine. There are at tlii ; 'monieiit sixti hvcllin.es on that lan.l ; 'the fair rental of em-h being about 8 , 'a week. As a matter of fact, the week , 'iy rentals range from .'llls for a seven , •rimmed house to 17s lid for a foui , 'rimmed liiiu.-e. Kvervhtiilv's back vanl i i !up af-'uiiist evervboilv's back vanl', a fa I i 'man could bartliv sipieeze down the pas < tages to t:l„. tloorwavs. ami some tla\ ' i.vhen reals inevitably drop, that liuii : UiW ]ioiiiitls' worth of land will contaiv 1 'only slums. The only really splendid 'thing that happens in the areas is fires, find as the insurance companies of New 'Zealand hardly ever take llm trouble 'of going along to see, insured property, 'tins landlords anil owners of chattels 'still score. At the present moment a 'great deal is living said about city mums. These sayings are like measles. 'They come along in a little cvde. Then 'lhey die, but the slums do;i : l. In th;! imcanlinie the municipalities borrow 'more money for extended tram services 'in order to teach people to forget thev 'have legs and to undermine the health 'of citizens. The city in New Zealand 'ilnil refuses to rest until it has all the 'people: healthily houses at normal rents 'ami lights the private boodler lo Heath i.s Hit. cilv that will wear the 'wreath of laurels, lint there is no cil. tit present reaching for that wreath.