WORKMEN'S HOMES IN THE VICINITY OF AUCKLAND (PROPOSED PURCHASES OF LAND FOR).

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1900 Session I, C-13

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1900. NEW ZEALAND.

WORKMEN'S HOMES IN THE VICINITY OF AUCKLAND (PROPOSED PURCHASES OF LAND FOR).

Return to an Order of the House of Representatives dated the 19th September, 1900. Ordered, " That there be laid before this House a return showing all correspondence between Mr. James McKerrow, the Chairman of the Land Purchase Board, and the Government relative to the purchases of land suitable for workmen's homes in the vicinity of the City of Auckland."—(Mr. Bollard.)

Government Buildings, Wellington, 30th June, 1899. Memorandum for the Hon. the Minister of Lands. Workmen's Homes, Auckland. In compliance with your request, I lately, in company with the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Auckland (Mr. Mueller), and Mr. Bollard, M.H.R., inspected various areas of freehold lands along the Kaipara Railway-line, between Avondale and Henderson, with a view to selecting a suitable place for the homes of workmen whose occupations are in the City of Auckland, and who would travel to and from the city daily between their work and their homes. Although the lands in that district are not all first class, still there would be no difficulty in selecting lands that, with cultivation and manuring, would carry a cow, and give room for a homestead and garden on areas of from 3 to 5 acres. The difficulty in establishing workmen's homes a few miles from a city is not so much in connection with the land as with the locomotion. In this case it means running an extra train service early in the morning, which Mr. Hudson, the Assistant General Manager of Railways, sees his way to recommend, provided a guarantee were given that a hundred annual tickets would be taken out, to be used by workmen settled along the line not further from Auckland than New Lynn Station, which is ten miles from the city. Mr. Bollard is quite sure of a hundred steady, reliable married men, in constant employment in Auckland, earning each from £1 10s. to £2 per week, who would gladly leave their town dwellings, for which they are paying rent of Bs. and 10s. per week, to go and live in the country; but, as these men have no spare money, he states that it would be essential to the success of the scheme that Government should advance £100 to each workman towards the building of a cottage, and give a yearly ticket on the railway for £5, to be paid quarterly. This, and the cost of the land and other attendant expenses, could be obtained, he estimates, on the basis of 5 per cent, for the land, and the same rate on the house, with a sinking fund, at a weekly cost to workmen of 6s. per week. Mr. Hudson could not recommend the adoption of so low a rate as £5 for a yearly ticket, and the £100 for the homestead is much greater than the £20 which has hitherto been the maximum amount advanced for workmen's homes, and that on the basis of the workman contributing an equal amount against the amount of the Government advance. Mr. Bollard is of opinion that the £100 advance by the Government without any compulsory contribution by the workmen, and the railway-ticket for £5, is essential to the success of the scheme. The Land Purchase Board is of opinion that the Government should decide as to these two points before any land is acquired. James McKerrow. Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, not given; printing (1,200 copies), 17s.

By Authority: John Mackay, Government Printer, Wellington.—l9oo.

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