H.—llb

2

The street-formation at Petone having been finished, tenders were called for and have been accepted for the erection of twenty-five houses on that site. For all the others the architects have the plans well in hand, and as soon as ready tenders will be called for in each city. A site has also been procured for workers' homes at Palmerston North, and street-formation works are in progress. Eegulations. Eegulations have been drawn up and approved by His Excellency the Governor in connection with the letting of the dwellings by the several Land Boards, and the Inspector has made a beginning in Wellington by holding meetings and explaining their provisions, and also exhibiting plans of the buildings proposed to be erected. He has already had a very large number of applications. The provisions of the Act and Eegulations will be explained in turn in each of the chief centres by Mr. March. Great difficulty is experienced in obtaining suitable land close to the City of Wellington; but, fortunately, the Crown holds an acre fronting on Coromandel Street, off Constable Street, upon which some ten houses can be erected, and sites for another five or six houses may be obtained at the city end of Polhill Gully. Statement required by Act. Also, in accordance with the provisions of section 20 of the Workers' Dwellings Act, the following statement is submitted : — (a.) Moneys expended in acquiring sites, £52,000. (b. and c.) No dwellings yet erected, and no rentals received. In conclusion, it was a saying of De Tocqueville's that " If the great questions at the beginning of this century were mainly political, those which will convulse the world at its close will be social" ; and, looking at the crowded lanes of some of our cities, surely no more burning question can be more fully discussed than that of the better housing of the worker. And certainly worse off, it has been truly said, may be the poor man whom civilisation has made what he is, than was his savage ancestor —far worse his lot who lives in the back lane of a great city, where pure air, and light, and room, and cleanliness are denied, than that of a man of another time who roamed in the forest beneath the sky of heaven. Approximate Cost of Paper.— Preparation, not given ; printing (1,550 copies), £1 2s. 6d.

By Authority: John Mackay, Government Printer, Wellington.—l9o6.

Frit', 3d.]