Editorial Comment

Progress, Volume XV, Issue 3, 1 November 1919, Page 637

Editorial Comment

State Housing Efforts.

The Labour department is not able at present to show that anything practical has been done in the way of building to meet the shortage of houses throughout

the Dominion, but arrangements seem to be well-advanced for building about a hundred bouses of concrete in Wellington and the vicinity. About forty are to be built of concrete blocks, on a system which the Department states is well tested. The remaining houses will be erected on the old monolithic system with wooden boxing. We are not surprised to hear, in spite of rosy estimates made by politicians when the housing question was under discussion in Parliament, that the cost to the tenant-owner will amount to about £6O per annum for a five-roomed place. This is after allowing for cheap Government money. It shows that although there has been profiteering in other quarters, it has been prevented to a large extent among property holders. The Government recently advertised for a housing expert at £750 per annum to take charge of the Workers’ Dwellings operations, but no appointment has been made. A good man with architectural qualifications was desired, and the chances are that the Government failed to get the expert at the price. Some day the Workers’ Dwellings Board hopes to conduct building operations on its own account, but if it expects the whole of the practical work to be under the control of an officer at £750 per annum, it is likely to be disappointed, especially as the country will look for something exceptional in the way of cheap building when the State gets to work. There is now a wider limit to the total cost of the State-provided house, but the Labour Department has apparently failed in the majority of centres to get any contractor to tender within the margin. It is carrying out negotiations, and hopes to get some more buildings arranged for in centres outside the capital. The initial difficulties of the State undertaking, favoured as it was by the most enthusiastic parliamentary backing, will show the public how badly the building trade is handicapped at the present time.

We are glad to be able to record that during the end-of-the-session rush,' Parliament did not neglect to do justice to a number of architectural students who had prejudiced their prospects of becoming members of the Institute of Architects through their patriotic determination-to serve their country in the Expedetionary Force. When the Architect’s Act was passed in 1913, it was provided that articled students of architects of hot less than three years’ experience might register as architects within five years of the passing of the act. This time limit expired in 1918, when at least thirty-five students who could have taken advantage of the clause were absent on active service. They returned to find that their right had lapsed, but the attention of the Government was called to the position, and a short act was passed without objection from any quarter, extending the time for making application for registration till December 31st., 1920. This little statute can be classed with the repatriation measures which have gone so smoothly through Parliament, as it enables these young men to 'pursue their career from the point at which they suspended it for higher service. They asked for no monetary assistance from the State, and are entitled to great credit for simply limiting their request to the removal of a hardship. They shauld make very valuable members of the profession, for an important part of .their qualification will be the wider outlook and knowledge they must have gained from service in the Empire’s cause.

Town Planning Conference.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, the |lon. J. B. Hine, rendered good service to the Town Planning movement by completing the plans of his predecessor, the Hon. G. W. Russell, in publishing

the full report of the Town Planning conference held in Wellington last May. At this important gathering the papers and discussions focussed up all the useful knowledge which has been gleaned regarding the application of town planning principles to New Zealand conditions. It has been presented for handy reference in a volurne of three hundred pages, fairly well illustrated. The last report of the Australian Town Planning Conference has also come to hand. This is equally comprehensive, and has the additional attraction of appearing in a beautifully designed cover in colours. The difference in the appearance of the two reports is illustrative of the status of the movement in the two countries. Here we are lucky to get an official report at allin Australia the subject'is deemed worthy of something special in the printer’s art, so as to commend it to the general public. However, we find no fault with the New Zealand publication, for we are too pleased to get such a splendid record of a very valuable exchange of opinions. The papers receive a good deal of space, and much of the discussion is well reported. In an appendix are several papers which were received too late for presentation at tho Conference. These include one on municipal townplanning schemes by Mr. Charles C. Eeade ; an illuminating summary of the present position of the housing and town planning movement in England, by Mr., A. G. Waller; a well-reasoned and enthusiastic advocacy of “fresh air schools,” by Dr. Colquhoun (who writes from

practical experience of a Tiinaru experiment); and an interesting paper by Mr. W. H. McKenzie, chairman of the Buller County Council, who contrributes some important facts showing how one part of New Zealand is put to perpetual expense and inconvenience through the failure to apply sound town planning principles in the early stages of its development. Mr. McKenzie’s opinions were borne out during the discussions at the Conference, the most valuable feature of the gathering being the readiness with which practical administrators of local affairs admitted the real utility of the town planning movement. Though the recent session of Parliament was disturbed, and the conditions quite unfavourable to getting a Town Planning Act through the legislature, an effort was made to secure some modifications of the Municipal Corporations Act in relation to municipalities’ power over sub-divisions. The Government could not see its way to deal with the matter, and under the circumstances can • hardly be blamed, but the hacking received by the town planning enthusiasts shows that the movement is well established, and that perseverance will shortly bring its due reward.

State Forestry

As was anticipated, the State Forestry Department is about to blossom out as a separate organisation, without attachment to the Lands Department. A

growing staff is the first indication of this development. In addition to the Secretary,'the annual report shows that a Research Officer is to be appointed, one of his first duties being to make a comprehensive investigation of the height, diameter, and volume increment of our chief trees throughout the Dominion, thus ’ following up useful work which has been done in connection with the kauri by T. L. Lancaster, M.Sc., of Auckland University College. As the Department seems to be aiming at profit-making, in addition to its role of investigation and fostering of our forestry resources, it will need a big extension of personnel, hut leaving out this early prospect, the report shows that a Director of Forests is to be appointed; also a Research Officer, six Forest Inspectors, a Chief Clerk, with junior clerical Assistants and draughtsman. This staff, however, will be quite inadequate to do all the work that will be required in order to obtain a proper management of the forests, and it may be taken as certain that with the extension of operations additional officers'will have to be employed in the near future. State sawmilling, hitherto confined to the Railway Department is to be extended. The report mentions that but for the conditions resulting from the war, sawmilling by the Department would have been started in one of the forests of the North. The Railway Department has agreed to transfer, to this Department its interest in the Puketi Forest, between the Bay of Islands and Hokianga Harbour. This forest contains a large amount of kauri, and it is proposed to start milling in either this or the Warawara Kauri Forest during the coming year. ' As the area of the whole Dominion is 65,864,550 acres, it will be seen that the total "area of forest still owned by the State is only 15.9 per cent on the total, whilst the area of milling-forest owned by the State is only 2.08 per cent. France and Germany have 17 and 26 per cent respectively of their total forest area reserved for commercial purposes,, '