The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12. 1911.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3193, 12 April 1911, Page 4

The Gisborne Times . PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12. 1911.

Housing the Workers.

There are few countries in which the housing of the workers is not a burning question. Here, in New Zealand/ as elsewhere, too many wage-earners seem to prefer to sacrifice much comfort for the privilege of living, in or as close as possible to thickly populated areas. When one investigates tl,ie matter it is impossible to understand why such should be the case. No doubt there is some advantage, especially to casual workers, in residing in proximity to those localities where work is to be obtained. But this 'advantage is quite outweighed by the disadvantage in the shape of high cost of living, oftentimes under unpleasant conditions which residence in cities and towns imposes where the spending power of the workers i,s restricted. 1 It is, we feel, to be regretted that year after year there continues to be ail increase in the number of workers who are content to occupy or share mean habitations in or

adjacent to the larger centres of popu-1 lation in this young and prosperous country. By this time it would have been thought the wage-earners, and particularly those who are able to secure only intermittent employment, would have appreciated the many advantages which may be derived from residence under healthier and freer conditions outside towns. There are, we venture to think, many workers who could vastly improve their lot by taking up, say, a few acres, not too far from the manufactory or undertaking which provides them with employment. In this regard it will have been noticed that the Labor candidates for the pending civic elections are making a strong plea for the prevention of slums, which, of course, are generally recognised to be an eyesore wherever they have been allowed to come into existence. For our own part we feel that the prevention of “slums” lies, as we have already suggested, chiefly in the hands of the workers themselves. Not only is there this preference to residence in the towns at all costs, but there is also an insistence upon the adoption irrespective of the question of urgency of enterprises which can only lead directly or indirectly to a further increase in the cost of living. As regards the housing of the workers, the Government, it is true, has attempted to deal with the problem, and much in this direction is expected as the result of the further legislation passed last session. Of recent years, too, several municipal bodies have given the matter their attention. The latest is the Auckland City Council, which has deferred for three months consideration of two important recommendations by its Housing Committee. The first was to the effect that the recent legislation offers greater inducements to workers to erect dwellings than would be in the power of the council. Briefly, the point in regard to the other resolution is that the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board should be empowered by legislation to expend a portion of its funds in erecting suitable homes for the deserving poor. In their programme, the local Labor candidates, it should he mentioned, do not touch upon the question of the erection of workers’ homes. We are, however, still awaiting the details of the proposal in their manifesto which reads: “Minimum building area, stringent building by-laws, removal of insanitary dwellings and houses reported as unfit for habitation.” It was pointed out on a i previous occasion that under the law the provision prescribing the minimum area on which a dwelling-house may be erected is not of a great deal of value, as it cannot apply to any allotment of land shown on a plan of subdivision deposited at any Lands or Deeds Registration Office or approved by the local authority prior to the passing of the Act. As to the remaining portion of the “plank,” it would be interesting to know exactly what is proposed, as the matter is of considerable importance. It would now appear that the Government may next session do something more to prevent the growth of slums by provisions in the ton 11 planning measure which it has in contemplation. Many of the large towns at Home have made the building of workers’ homes part of their municipal development scheme. In order to provide cheap houses, Liverpool, for instance, has gone in for building cement houses. Then, again, Mr. Edison has offered "Milwaukee the free use of his plan for building cement houses, which offer carries with it the employment of his process for making Portland cement on a large scale at a minimum cost. For £360 he proposes to build homes with all modern improvements, which under present conditions cost. £IOOO. The house invented hv Mr. Edison is practically run into a mould and left to dry. With reference to this subject, as we have indicated, it is most important that the tendency of the workors to settle in the cities and towns . should be checked If suitable areas close to towns could be placed at their disposal it would do much to solve the problem.