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Progress, Volume XVI, Issue 4, 1 December 1920, Page 77

The End of the Year. This is an opportunity of extending to all readers of " N.Z. Building Progress " the compliments of this festive season. Happily, festive greetings are not out of place to-day, although the world is still upset. Old theories have been tried, some of them have been found wanting, and the process of reconstruction after war is not altogether smooth. New Zealand seems to be fortunate in that our troubles, relatively, are not serious. We are faced with a prospect of mild financial stringency, and this might be for our own good. Apparently the usual income of fifteen millions or so for our wool clip will be very much depreciated, and to that extent we will run under short sail during 1921. One good point about the business is that the lesson will be taken to heart by all classes, and the riot of extravagance curbed. Prices of important articles of commerce seem to be weakening, though the promised slump is not with us. The real reason for the position now causing anxiety to traders seems to be an awakened sense of thrift among the peoples of the world, and a corresponding reduction in their expenditure. For nearly five years the world spent its best energies in destruction, and there is consequently a vast void to be filled with products. A lessened demand will speedily enable this gap to be filled, and normal conditions may arrive without the necessity for that economic blood-letting which is called a slump. Our hope for 192 1 is that this is what will happen, and that the process, so far as this fortunate country is concerned, will not be accompanied by unemployment or distress.

The Soldier's Loan. The last day for voluntary subscriptions to the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Loan is December 16th. We sincerely hope, for the sake of the credit of the Dominion's capitalists, that the full six millions sterling will be subscribed, and that there will be no occasion to put into force the power vested in the Finance Minister to enforce subscriptions in proportion to the taxpayer's land and

income tax payments. Strong criticism has been heard from some quarters in regard to this element of compulsion upon capital, but after the ready acceptance by the whole community of the principle of compelling able-bodied men to leave moneymaking occcupations for military service at five shillings a day, we fail to see why the owners of large sums of money which are still intact—thanks to the voluntary and conscripted soldiers—should not be compelled to find enough to properly settle in civilian life those men who made something infinitely greater than a monetary sacrifice. The country asks the moneyed man not to give his wealth, but to let the Government have quite a small proportion of it for a term at per cent. We know that the general financial position is such that money is a dear commodity, and is going to be scarcer, but no consideration <of £ s. d. should stand in the way of completing the splendid repatriation work which has settled the great majority of our men who were fortunate enough to come back able to work. We must keep faith with the remainder, and it would be vastly to our credit if it turns out on December 16th that the capitalists of New Zealand, disregard.ng the tempting future for their wealth, provide all that is needed to complete our obligations to those who placed at their country’s disposal the greatest asset, health and life.

Railway Housing Enterprise. We reproduce in this issue some plans of the dwellings which are being built in many parts of New Zealand for the employees of the Railway Department. Although our readers will not find in the designs anything startlingly novel, they will at bnce realise that the Department's architect has given a ground plan which makes for a convenient house on one floor, and that the rooms are reasonable in size, and well arranged. The Department's new houses near Wellington were inspected by the Women's Committee of the Town Planning Association, and we understand that their verdict was favourable. The Committee set out in a special report (which will be valuable to any architect as the

viewpoint of those who have to live and work in a dwelling) what they consider to be the essentials of a worker’s home, and, in our opinion, the railway dwellings come up fairly to the standard set by this Committee. There is no possibility of reaching the ideal when a strict monetary limitation has to be placed on these schemes, but the Department is certainly liberal in its rent-fixing policy. The railway employee is expected to pay, as a weekly rent, one day’s wages. If he has a large family, and requires the largest house built by the Department, he is so much the better off in value of nouse accommodation for his day’s pay. Thus the Department is doing in a practical way wuat salesmen talk about—it is assisting the large lau.uiy. Under this system the highest rents would be much less than those charged for privately owned dwellings. The General Manager of Railways, Mr. R. McVilly, who has taken a direct personal interest in the Department’s housing scheme, deserves credit for adopting a liberal policy, which will have a farreaching effect in promoting content among those of his employees who are fortunate enough to secure a railway dwelling for their accommodation.

Town Planning and Housing. The adoption of large schemes of housing by the Labour Department and the Railway Department gives scope for planning on lines superior to the usual checker-board system, and we are glad to notice that the opportunity has been taken, both by Mr. G. A. Troup, the Railway architect, and by Mr. P. H. Graham, the chief architect of the Labour Department's Housing Branch. Mr. Graham's scope is strictly limited by -the exigences of finance, for he has to turn out dwellings which are sold to the tenants. So that in planning a residential area, too liberal attention to the amenities might heavily load the dwellings with their proportion of the value of the land used for public purposes. However, he has done well with a twenty-five acre subdivision on the North Road at Papanui, Christchurch, and we will have the pleasure of publishing in our next issue a perspective view of this settlement. In this issue we reproduce the. plans of the Railway Department's lay-out of two railway settlements, one at Marton Junction and the other at Frankton. In both cases, about one-third of the whole has been set aside for recreation or other public purpose, the reserves being so placed that they will add greatly to the general attractiveness of the residential district. In the Marton lay-out, rows of trees, and the bulk of the recreation areas are placed between the dwellings and the ranway, so as to provide good shelter from the prevailing wind, and keep down the smoke nuisance. As the land is excellent for gardening, the sections are larger than usual, being mostly quarter acres. The Frankton area is eighty acres in extent, but thirty acres are reserved for the proposed house factory, where standard houses will be turned out in quantities by special machinery. The frontage to an existing road has been nicely modelled with a curved roadway fronting two small

plantations. The central recreation reserve is five and a half acres in extent. It will be noticed that on both plans the street corners are rounded so as to improve visibility for traffic. As the Department is happily independent of local by-laws or even the statute in regard to the width of roads, it has provided the statutory 66 feet wide road, but will macadamise only 20 feet in the centre. The curbing and channeling will be provided on the edges of this road, which will be quite wide enough for the traffic likely to use it. Then, on either side, are to be 15 feet grass stretches, planted with trees. On either edge of the lawn strips are paths, eight feet wide. We think that once the local administration see how pleasant are roads planned in this enlightened style they will agitate for power to authorise similar arrangements with private subdivisions. Frankton is fairly dusty in the summer, but we imagine that the Frankton railway settlement will not be troubled much with this nuisance, thanks to the foresight of the planners. It is with great pleasure that we are able to write of these actual designs, which are being carried out, for it means that good planning is at last being practised in New Zealand.

Building Materials. In the course of a very comprehensive survey of the position of the building industry's supplies, published in this issue, the Chairman of the Board of Trade, Mr. Macdonald, gives us some hope that the coming year will see a lessening of the troubles of short supplies which have so retarded work during the past year. Official control has operated beneficially in giving right-of-road to the more important buildings, enabling them to be pushed on with fair expedition. It has not prevented annoying delays, because the factors controlling supplies of cement, bricks, and timber have been outside the possibility of control by regulation. Orders in Council carry great weight in this country, but no Order in Council will secure sufficient tonnage to carry timber where it is wanted, or produce enough coal to keep the cement works going at full capacity. The Board of Trade is going to make a special effort to get enough coal, from inside or outside the country, to keep the cement works going at full capacity during 1921, and it will be seen from the details of production and capacity given by the Board of Trade Chairman, that this policy, if successful, will give us all the cement we require for ordinary purposes. It seems, however, that we are still going to be short of what the Dominion could readily absorb if more cement was available. Cement is coming into more extended use than ever, and if a big national roading policy is adopted it is certain that this material would figure in the requirements. But at present there is no room for great extensions of this kind. Evidently it will take many years before the Dominion fully recovers the full tide of development interrupted in August, 1914, but we are going to get nearer that pleasant prospect during the New Year.