HOUSING PLANS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 December 1919, Page 7

HOUSING PLANS.

THE STATE'S ACTIVITIES. CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION. Wellington, Monday. A difficulty in. getting contractors to undertake building is preventing the Workers' Dwellings Board from pursuing the active policy which is necessary to provide a solution for the housing shortage, but arrangements have been completed for construction of over a hundred houses in Wellington, or the vicinity. Concrete is the material, for there is a good supply of sliingje. There is nothing novel about the methods of construction. The old wooden- boxing is to be used for the material, and the present are that, despite the optimistic estimates on the floor of the House when the Housing Bill went through, the cost to the prospective owner will work out at about £6O per annum for a five-roomed dwelling, fitted with a bath and electric light. This charge will include interest, rates and taxes, depreciation and maintenance. One batch of the Wellington houses will be built of concrete blocks, according to a well tested system. There is, however, no indication of any rftdical departure from the accepted methods of building, and while this is the case, the State will hardly be able to show any substantia! advantages from its contract system of dealing with the problem. A housing expert with architectural qualifications was advertised for, but the position has not been filled, and it is evident that more attractive terms will have to be offered. Once this 'expert is available, the Workers' Dwellings Board will carry out building schemes, and it is to ■ be hoped that the Government will also import building materials. The principal work for the moment seems to be in Wellington. There is also an early prospect of ten houses being built in Masterton oil the concrete block system, and a contract has been placed for ten out of the 17 houses authorised in Auckland. These wijl be situated at Ellerslie. The remaining houses may also be built there, as the applicants objected to a site at Otahuhu, because it is jtoo far from the city. Inquiries are being made with a view to increasing the_ Auckland building programme, for 17 is quite inadequate in contrast with the requirements, although the applications from that district were not excessive. Possibly local schemes will be more favored. _ In other centres, negotiations are going on with builders in the hope of coming to some arrangement in regard to price, the original tenders having been t<?o high. A conference of the Labor Department's officers was recently held in Wellington, when the machinery of the Housing Act was discussed, "and plans made for a thorough campaign of publicity in connection \vifh the* new scheme. But the real problem is to build cheaply, and to get the labor, and until the housing expert is and the whole department organised for practical building, it does not seem as if the State's effort will make any appreciable difference in the situation.