SIXTY THOUSAND HOUSES

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 7, 10 April 1944, Page 11

SIXTY THOUSAND HOUSES

When our group took the “ Sixty Thousand Houses ” bulletin a lot of argument arose over the illustration on page 5 of a State House with a gabled roof. “ Why a gabled roof ? ” some members of the group asked. “ Look at the wasted space, labour, and materials involved. Substitute a flat roof on a lot of houses of this type and use the material and hours of labour saved to add another bedroom to some of the houses. What we want, and want quickly, is more houses and we do not care how plain they are.” Could you get from the Housing Department information as to — (1) What would be the saving if a flat roof were substituted for the roof in the illustration mentioned ? (2) Are there in New Zealand now materials suitable for flat roofing? A third question arises, too : consumer education. Most people in the forces are householders or hope to reach that state within the next few years. Are we to accept genteel-looking houses designed for families of not more than two children, both of whom must be of the same sex, houses with small windows divided into smaller panes and a general appearance of belonging to a community too timid to move out of the 1920’s ? Or could we get public discussion going now on what

we want, in what order of priority, what are we prepared to pay, and what to go without ?