The Daily News. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1919. THE HOUSING PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1919, Page 1

The Daily News. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1919. THE HOUSING PROBLEM.

The emphatic opinion expressed, by the Parliamentary Industries Committee, that the proper housing of the people of the Dominion is a national necessity which should be promptly dealt with, is one that should receive unanimous endorsement by the community. The grounds on which that opinion is based are: Stoppage of building during the war; the desire for better homes; abolition of slums; need for comfortable homes for workers in country districts; meeting the needs of repatriated soldiers recently married or. desiring to marry; allaying industrial unrest, and providing for im> migrants. The committee point out that a stage has been reached at which the problem is much too acute to be left to the uncertainty of private enterprise, and their recommendations on the subject demonstrate the care and thought devoted to its consideration, re-1 suiting in the propounding of a scheme that appears to be practical, and has several features which make the report an acceptable contribution to the sohir: tion of one of the most pressing problems of the day. The committee's basic recommendation is the appointment of a National Housing Department consisting of a Minister, assisted by two commissioners—men of business experience with a knowledge of the building trade, having very wide powers, without which it would be impossible to provide the urgently needed dwellings, or to do that work economically on a wholesale scale. Vested with the power of acquiring lands and buildings, making roads, securing saw mills and joinery works, purchasing and importing the necessary supplies and plant, the Department would be enabled to effect great savings in the cost of construction, especially if it had power to take over the cement works of the Dominion and have State bush for timber supplies. Necessarily a large amount of money will be required, and the committee recommends for a start that two million sterling be made available for the commissioners at four per cent interest, the State finding the difference between that percentage and the rate the Government pays for the loan. That appears to be sound policy. It must be remembered that if the State embarks on this enterprise it is for the purpose of meeting a national need. At the same time it is an investment that will be revenue producing as well as an as- , set. It will eliminate several proI fits that now go to swelling the cost of building, and will provide an appreciable quantity of work for the laboring class, and act as a direct incentive to thrift. The initial capital is estimated to provide 3000 additional houses capable of accommodating 15,000 people, so that the proposed remedy cannot fail to have a beneficial effect. The committee, rightly we think, took up the position that, wherever possible, the material to be used should be brick, concrete, or other durable material, and that houses should be erected in numbers of ten or more if possible where gardens can be provided as well as quick and cheap means of transport; also that the houses should be for men with incqjnes below £3OO, except those with over three children, an extra allowance being made of £25 per child exceeding that number. The proposals |or entrusting local bodies to act in conjunction with the State in carrying out housing schemes have been well considered, and the provisions suggested appear to be thoroughly satisfactory, and the same may be said of the suggested loans to approved companies, employers and farmers, so as to secure a decent standard of housing for rural workers, a proposal we have had occasion to make on previous occasions. In the case of advances to workers, the maximum of which it is proposed should be raised to £750 in the case of new buildings, it is not clear whether this money is to be considered part of the capital at the disposal of the commissioners, but it would seem advisable that the Advances Department should j still continue this State service, leaving the commissioners to control the general housing scheme. There should be no difficulty in preventing trafficking or profitmaking, as no transfer should be sanctioned until the commissioners are satisfied as to the terms between the parties and ensuring ,that only workers in need of houses are the transferees without any premium passing. The more the scheme is studied the clearer becomes the conviction that if administered by the right stamp of men it will result in a great benefit to the workers, besides being a valuable State asset. As a whole.the scheme has all the ' elements of success.