WORKERS' HOMES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10245, 23 May 1911, Page 6

WORKERS' HOMES.

[To The Editor.] Sir, — I'our remarks re workers' dwellings, in your issue of present date, iseem to'me most extraordinary. You state that, so far as Mast&i'iton is concerned, there is not such congestion as would warrant the erection of such homes. Surely, Sir, you have not given mack attention to tire benefits that accrue to the workers who enter upon sudh homes. You briefly .state pant of the conditions upon which a worker can qualify himself, to occupy such a home, ito wit, a deposit of ten pounds and five per cent, interest on remaining capital value. You further istate that rents, generally speaking, are not ahnormally high. Now, 'Sir, do you think it the proper thing for the 'workers of Masterton to wait till Masterton (lias its quota of thos,e admirable sluims tliat we hear and read so much of? I hope that is not your meaning. Just one islhort istatement re the difference of the tenants who occupy the workers' homes, and those who occupy the homes of the speculative private landlord. In the former case the tenant pays, I think, ■a rental of 6 per cent, on th© capital value, and the home becomes Jfis own iii due 'course. How different is his position under a private landlord. The latter looks, as a general rule, for from 12 to 15 per cent. rent on the capital value, and the tenant, .perhaps after a tenancy of 30 years, will have paid away in rent far more than, the value of the house. Yet he will'have' no more claim to the home 'ha occupied so 'long than the first day he entered upon it. How different are the conditions in regard to tlie occupiers of workers' I homes? Further comment is not, I think, necessary.— 1 am, etc., JOHN MACKAY.