THE OFFICIAL BLOCK

NEWPORT AND HOUSING

COMMITTEE’S NEXT MOVE

THERE will be great disappointment in Newport at the present unsatisfactory position of the Housing Problem, and although there may have been dilatoriness on the part of the local authorities in the past, this charge cannot now be made against them.

As stated in the Argus on Wednesday, the Local Government Board have refused to sanction the Somerton housing scheme on the ground of its being too expensive.

The suggestion is that arbitration would be instrumental in obtaining land at a lower figure.

Nor have the other two housing schemes, either, been approved by the Local Government Board.

This decision has come as a bombshell to the Housing Committee, who certainly hoped for better things from a Government Department which professes to be so concerned with this vital question.

The Committee, however, intend taking definite action, as the conditions are daily be coming increasingly acute.

Their next move is a deputation to Sir Thomas Watson, Bart, which has been arranged for Saturday next, in regard to the Somerton Park Estate land.

After this interview it is the intention of the Committee to place the whole facts of the situation before the public.

It may be that only the strong pressure of public opinion will force the Government to realise the importance of the problem locally.

CHEPSTOW HOUSING

THE RENT PROBLEM

MR C Edwards, in the House of Commons, asked the Commissioner of Works whether he had received a protest from a conference of Trade Unionists of Monmouthshire against the rents charged for the houses recently built by the Government at Chepstow; whether 14s 6d per week was being charged there for five-roomed cottages, and whether he could take action so that the rents of these cottages could be brought down to a figure that would not exceed the rents charged for similar accommodation in other industrial parts of the county of Monmouth.

Colonel Leslie Wilson (Ministry of Shipping), who replied, said: “The answer to the first part is to the affirmative. the rents charged at present are: ‘A’ type house, six rooms, 8s 6d per week; ‘B’ type house (small), six rooms, 13s 6d per week’ ‘B’ type house (large), six rooms, 14s 6d per week.

“The question whether such rents are reasonable under present circumstances is a matter of opinion, but the whole question is now being looked into.”