CHEAP AND EFFICIENT HOUSES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 126, 15 October 1912, Page 4

CHEAP AND EFFICIENT HOUSES.

We printed yesterday a report of an address by Professor Mills at Wellington on Edison and his • works, in which he stated the great inventor was able to build a house by his new process for £175 that cost £I3OO under the present system of building. A correspondent to the Wellington Times on Saturday expresses scepticism regarding the statement, which, he said, sounded' like an American yarn, and pointed out that the plumbing, painting, lighting, ironmongery, etc., would run to more than £175. To his enquiry for further details, Professor Mills says he is iij possession of the statement, in which this claim is made, signed and handed to him by Edison himself. The professor goes on to say: —"It is quite possible that Mr. Edison is a dreamer, and that the invention which lie has been working at for more than 'six years' may never prove a practical solution of the housing problem. But Mr. Edison claims , that he has already solved every essential problem of the process, and what remains to be done is the mere mechanical work of .building the more than 28,000 pieces of Sectional maulds with the use of whicft the buildings are to be constructed. As to the character of the buildings, they are to be cast complete, and when finished will include foundation, walls, flpors, stairways, door and window casings, flues, chimneys, all necessary piping, roof, cornice, porches ;ind all complete, in a single stone of specially devisod steel reinforced cement. It will be provided with boiler and radiators for hot water heating, with plumbing and ventilation. All pipes will be put together by electric weldings; not a single' joint, with the possibility of breaking or of imperfect connection, will be possible within the structure. The stono will be harder, will last longer, and will be as beautiful as is the granite of Aberdeen. The building will be waterproof, damp proof,' sound proof, vermin proof, warm in winter, cool in .summer, and will last, so Mr. Edison contends, when once complete, and without serious repairs, for a thousand years. It is quite possible that Mr. Edison is poorly informed as to the cost of the plumbing, painting, ,etc., but in round numbers his detailed figures for a year's work of 37 men during which time they would build 2-25 houses corresponding to •the houses now costing in New York £ISOO are as follows:—Total cost of 225 houses, £43,200. Of this, amount one-eighth of the total, £-54*00, is allowed for labor. On the original cost of the moulds he figures six per cent, interest on the investment and 4 per cent, for breakage. On the • steam shovel, hoisting machinery, and so forth, he figures 6 per cent, interest and 15 per teat, depreciation, these together amounting annually to one-seventh of the total cost of the houses ( £6171). For cement at 6s a barrel he figures onethird of the total cost ( £14.400). For steel rods one-eighth of the total cost '( £5400). For heating system, plumbing and bath, one-sixth the total cost (£7200), and the balance of the amount ■( £5629) he allots to the cost of doors, windows, painting, general finishing and other miscellaneous expenses. Dividing the whole sum of the year's expenditure ■( £43,200) by 225, the number of houses constructed, and the cost of each house is found to he £187." The professor explains that in quoting the figures at £175 at his meeting he made a mistake of £l2, due to changing dollars into pounds. Even if the houses cost in New Zealand £250, the process would be a God-send to this country and do more than anything else to bring down the cost of living.