CHIMNEY REPAIRS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 July 1942, Page 4

CHIMNEY REPAIRS

NEGLECT OF URGENT CASES ALLEGED BY CHIEF WARDEN. REPLY FOR CONTROLLING COMMITTEE. ■! In a statement this morning, Mr W. Kemp, Masterton Chief Warden, explained that there had been a failure by those responsible to have chimneys repaired in urgent cases. That morning, Mr Kemp said, he had received three rings from urgent cases which he had himself reported some time ago as urgent. In these houses there were sick children and elderly women and no means of heating. Yet in other instances as many as three chimneys had been repaired in a single house. The landlords were responsible for repairing the chimneys and until the houses were put in a proper state of repair the tenants were paying rent for something they were not receiving —a house provided with the necessary conveniences. It was a question, Mr Kemp said, whether the tenants would be justified in not paying their rent in such circumstances. Who was to blame for the present state of affairs? Mr Kemp asked. The wardens, he said, had been most energetic in attending to their duties and what he wanted to know was why urgent cases reported to the committee having control of the matter had not been attended to. DIFFICULT TASK. LIMITED LABOUR FORCE AVAILABLE. In reply to the above complaint, the following statement was made by Mr J. C. D. Mackley, on 'behalf of the committee appointed to deal with the restoration of chimneys:—“The task of restoring 2345 first line chimneys, 1040 in houses which had no cooking or heating facilities whatsoever, over the district comprising the boroughs of Masterton and the counties of Masterton, Mauriceville, and' Castlepoint, with a limited number of 32 bricklayers, has not been an easy one. During the past 10 days the committee’s difficulties have been added to by many of the workmen having been absent from work through sickness. A complete gang in the Chief Warden's locality has been affected in this way. Time has also been lost owing to wet weather, and a certain number of men from Masterton’s allocation have been released for earthquake restoration work at dairy factories at the instruction of the Government. All these factors have had the effect of slowing down the work. Having regard to all the circumstances a real attempt has been made so to organise the gangs that the work, in accordance with its urgency, should be carried out in the several districts as efficiently and as economically as possible.”