HOMES FOR WORKERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 313, 29 May 1911, Page 7

HOMES FOR WORKERS.

GOVERNMENT'S NEW SCHEME. GREAT DEMAND .FOR ADVANCES. Eighteen different,designs of workers' homes under the State Guaranteed Advances scheme, have been prepared by Mr. Temple, architect of the Labor Department, to be placed, at the disposal of those taking advantage of the Government's scheme to assist the working classes. The designs represent houses ranging in cost from £I2Q for two rooms up to £620 for eight rooms. Those for four to five rooms have been designed to cost from £255 to £325, with conveniences, though, of course, in each case the estimate is exclusive of drainage, fencing, and artificial lighting. Copies of the plans and specifications, which are supplied to applicants free of charge, have been sent out by the Advances Department to all the principal post offices, where they may be inspected. A worker may apply for any plan that suits has requirements, and this, with the specifications, he gets without cost. The maximum amount which the office can grant him to build his house is £450, but in no case must the amount granted exceed the value of the building. Thus a man may have land valued at ,£3OO or £4OO, but the Department cannot advance him more than the capital value of the building. Intending applicants should not confuse the workers' dwellings scheme controlled by the Advances Cilice with the older scheme of the Advances to Workers under the management of the Labor Department, as tinder the latter the applicant has not the opportunity of selecting the site of his home, which he can do under the new arrangements. Under the State Guaranteed Advances Act he gets his section in what ever locality he chooses, making application for ail advance, and if lie has an eligible security he receives the monev with which to build his house.

There litis been great eagerness on the part of workers to avail themselves of the easy opportunity thus presented of building a home. Up to March 31st last nearly ;C 1,500,000 lmd been advanced from the Advances to Workers branch of the State Guarantee Department. Of the average of 200 applications dealt with weekly hv the oliiee from settlers anil workers, at least an average of forty-live applications are from those desirous of building homes, and who for the most part are interested in a small property on which they wish to build. It siiould lis explained for generaf in-

formation that the department cannot lend money for the purpose of repaying existing mortgages, but only to enable people owning sections to build thereon. The largest number of applications so far have come from districts in the Wellington province, though from the other provinces in the Dominion there is a steady stream of requests for advances as well. Each application is carefully scrutinised before a valuation is ordered, and if it appears from the papers that there is no possibility of an applicant

being able to obtain the assistance required, he is informed accordingly, with a view to saving the expenditure of his valuation fee.