Untitled

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 731, 17 July 1953, Page 5

Sir-yYou say in your leader (July 3), "Can we afford to build houses on first-class land which should be used for market gardens; should our cities be allowed to spread deeply into the farm lands?" It is strange how facts which should strike people in the face go unnoticed. The answer to your question is "No"; not until all vacant building sections and slum areas are fully built on. In all our cities and towns there are, in the aggregate, countless such areas. In the Auckland city rating area alone, 5000, according to the Mayor. In Wellington not so many, but plenty of slums which should be cleared and replaced with modern flat buildings. The Government should buy up all these vacant lots and slums at an arbitrated price, and hand them to homeseekers, subject to a ground-rent with periodical revision of rentals, This would solve the financial problems of people seeking a roof over their heads and who would not be faced with a capital cost for sites. The scheme would pay handsomely, directly, and the indirect benefits would be almost incalculable. Epidemics would be wiped out and many thousands of man-hours saved for industry. Medical services would be greatly reduced and our hospitals half emptied. All this would take time, but it need not be so very long. Slums could be cleared in batches and the relatively few occupants temporarily housed and returned to the new flats. After the first batch no further temporary housing would be needed, as flats on a given area would re-house far more than the original occupants.

C.H.

N.

(Wellington).