The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1910. HOUSING THE WORKERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2711, 15 January 1910, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1910. HOUSING THE WORKERS.

The matter of the relations between a certain local landlord and his tenants is a matter that concerns neither ourselves nor the public, but there is an aspect arising out of the dispute which has arisen that should properly become the concern of the local Borough Council. It is alleged that a number of the tenants who convened the recent meeting were living in houses that wore neither convenient nor sanitary. This is a matter upon which we have commented on different occasions, and the subject should be investigated by those whose business it is to guard the (public welfare. The State has recognised the duty of municipalities to see that workerscan obtain convenient and healthy homes at reasonable rents. This is a duty that has been entirely neglected by the local Council. In other centres the Government has erected numbers of workmen’s dwellings, with resultant benefit to the tenants, and an application from Gisborne for similar attention might result in relieving the present dearth of suitable accommodation. Failing State action, the municipality might deem it wise to take the matter up and itself erect a series of workers’ dwellings.