The Daily News. MONDAY, APRIL 3. WORKERS' DWELLINGS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 268, 3 April 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, APRIL 3. WORKERS' DWELLINGS.

The biggest stumbling block to the progress of the worker is the price he pays for the privilege of living in somebody else's house. In two-thirds of the cases of whole or partial destitution coming before charitable aid bodies in New Zealand applicants first name "rent" as the cause of poverty. It is agreed generally and without dissention that the whole rent-paying community hands over a larger proportion of its earnings for housing than for any other necessity. The speculative tendency of the community reacts on the rent-paver. The Minister of Labor has brought into exist- ' ence a scheme whereby some workers may obtain homes independent o? private landlords, may have security of tenure, and the ultimate fee-simple by easy stages. The applicant for the benefits under the new scheme must not bo earning more than £175 per annum, and must be landless. Land lias been and will be set apart for the purpose, and the Minister of Labor has already said, speaking of Wellington land, that he will not pay more than £SO or £6O for a section. It is obvious, at the present selling rate of land, that sections would be particularly small, that they would be far removed from the centres of population, and that successful applicants will be bound to consent to live in the .locality where Government sections happened to be. For purposes of administration this is perhaps necessary, although it absolutely excludes all but a small minority of workers from taking advantage of a measure designed for everybody who answers to the requirements of the regulations. In the event of a dwelling being erected the capital value of which, including land, etc., is, say, £SOO, the amount owing as at the commencement of the agreement (after the payment of the deposit of £10) would be £'sso. The half-yearly instalment payable would be £l9 ss; and for the first half-year this payment would consist of £l3 15s for interest and £5 10s off principal, leaving a balance owing of £544 10s, and so on, multiplying the different amounts in the schedule by S l /?. In addition to these instalments the purchaser will be required to pay to the Board the estimated amount of rates, taxes and fire insurance, such amount to be added to the instalments. As we have said before, the scheme is a very fine one for those who are in a vicinity where they may take advantage of it. The success of the scheme will, in the opinion of the Minister, force private landlords, in the course of time, to reduce rentals. To have this effect the scheme would have to be much wider in its operation than is at present contemplated, and would have to include persons outside the areas in which the selected land happened to be. In the matter of housing, supposing the Government is acting in the interest of all workers earning not more than £175 per annum, the resident in a small town or its vicinity is obviously just as much entitled to benefit as the worker who happens to be resident in one of the centres. In at least one of the centres, rents are no dearer than they are in a dozen of the lesser towns of the Dominion, and daily necessities are cheaper, so that it seems anomalous to confine the benefits of a very excellent scheme to any section of the community. The Government, in its creditable desire to financially assist settlers, does not lay down a hard and fast rule as to the locality of the land. It might be easier for administrative work if those who benefited under the Advances to .Settlers Act were rigidly grouped and no settler outside restricted areas could come~\with- ' in its provisions. But it would bp ob- j viously unjust. It is foreseen thatjeven j

within the limited range covered by the new workers' dwelling regulations, the applicants will vastly outnumber the available sections. To make the benefit applicable generally, therefore, the Government must in time extend the system outside selected areas and eliminate the element of chance that is the chief one in land selection for settlement, and which will be the chief element in application for a worker's dwelling section. Apart from obvious handicaps to a very large proportion of workers in many parts of New Zealand, the new scheme I offers the best solution of the rent problem to a limited number of people. The Government admits that small wages are penalised by private landlords, that prevailing prices for residential land are much too high, and that the best method of bringing down these prices is to enter into competition. TJie Government, in its financial undertakings for the benefit J of the people, expects these operations to pay the State. If it can make workers' dwellings pay under the new sj'stem, it holds that private landlords could make a fair margin of profit if their charges were proportionately reduced. A determined and successful effort to reduce rentals would result only' after successful efforts to reduce the price of land to the level of its real worth. The appalling prices asked—and given—for "pocket-handkerchief" sections in urban and suburban areas in New Zealand are not so much an indication of the ability of people to pay heavy prices as the ability of the owners to' extort big rents. One is so well acquainted with the speculator who is able to obtain possession of land paying a small proportion of its cost, trusting to the subsequent tenant to purchase it for him, that one always hopes for a time when saner and ja&ter methods shall prevail. Tn the various town land booms in New Zealand this method of purchasing by the help of the tenant was one of the many reasons for increases in what is erroneously called "value." If the Government can buy cheaper than the private person it will make a success of its scheme, and it will set the real "value" for the. land in the vicinity. When the State, however, is on a land-buying expedition, the private holder, animated by a chance to "make a rise," "sees it coming," to use a colloquialism. Tf the Government cannot purchase land at a less price than private persons can buy it, the scheme fails. If it does not fail in the centres or in those defined areas mentioned, it could be extended so that the worker, isolated or otherwise, in city, town or country, could "come in."