CONCRETE HOUSES.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1919, Page 10

CONCRETE HOUSES.

A NEW SOUTH WALES EXPERIMENT.

The New South Wales Minister of Housing (Mr. Hall) lias found a builder of cheap concrete houses- Replying to a deputation the other day, he sa'd he realise' 1 , scon after taking charge of the Peptirtmtnt. how difficult it would b; 1 to overtake the shortage of houses !;y buildin ■„' in brick I'or cne thing, thcra were not enough t. ("Mayers. For a ,ong -hile he had Veen .Blurring into he possibilities of concrete. lie had found, however, that many of the concrete enthusiasts were faddists, who couM not "deliver the goods." Whenever a man came to him with a concrete housebuilding proposition, he had given hon a plan, and told him, "Build that one, and if it is satisfactory I'll give vou an order for fifty." He 'was glad to announce that he had now found an acceptor of his offer. This was Mr. Menkin, who was in charge of the construction of the big silo at Glebe Island. Making ample allowances for accident, Mr Menkin had undertaken t.> h«ye bath houses up*within three weeks. "1 don't know whether he can do it," said Mr. Hall. "But I have undertaken that if he does, and if the houses are the kind people want, those who cun construct them will not lack opportunity.'-" He was not quite sure of the cost of the houses. The larger one would probably be purchasable at about £1 Is a week, and the smaller at about 17s. One was to be a monolith—made om. oi one big piece of cement—and the oth»r would be built out of slabs. As to the first, the builders had offered, for every fifty cottages ordered, to deliver one a week. As to cost, for every £IOO the Government spent on a cottage the tenant would, on his principle, have to pay ?s a week in order to make the cottage his igwn in twenty-fee yeari*