Moresby’s

Solving Some of Moresby’s Housing Troubles

From Our Own Correspondent

Port Moresby. Nov. 5.

THE Administration at Port Morseby is now well established in the building business.

Its first venture, the reconstruction of Hanuabada is just a year old, and there now is a line of 60 new timber homes along the waterfront. Another 75 will go up each year until 335 houses have been completed.

These make an impressive appearance, especially now that the Administration has given each native enough paint to paint the roofs. This is another £lO gift, in addition to a £3OO house.

Tenants of Administration shanties, misnamed European houses, are now won dering why paint can be produced for native houses when Europeans are still living in grim, unpainted, brown-paper homes.

The second Administration building venture, started late in September, is the construction of small bungalows for single men of the Territory Public Service. This was the outcome of a rumpus which de veloped when the Papua and New Guinea Volunteer Rifles took over a RAAF building occupied by Administration single men. At a few days’ notice the occupants were informed that they were to move out and share rooms with other single officers.

Apparently, the Public Service Com missioner could see nothing wrong with his arrangement, but things moved fast when the dispute was taken over his head

to the Administrator. After an inspection of the proposed “share” rooms, a hurry up building programme was initiated In what must be almost a record high-speed land decision, a site was made available in Konedobu and Mr. G. Newton was switched from CRTS duties to officer-in charge of the new project. Within a few days the first pegs were in place, and by November the piers had been installed for nine buildings.

Eighty lucky officers will occupy these quarters which are being built bungalow style in one-man, two-men and four men units.

Then came a move to clear out the tin shacks in the native slum area be hind Koki. This job is being handled by the District Services Department and provides for the erection of 25 Hanua bada-type timber homes on the salt pan at Gabutu, just beyond Banditi. Like Hanuabada this job gets its impetus from a Ministerial order but there is a sharp contrast in the two undertakings.

The Eddie Ward-inspired Hanuabada project is a free gift to the natives, pre sumably for their magnificent war ser vice in making big money out of Australian and American troops passing

through Port Moresby. Obviously, how ever, the views of the present govern ment, as represented by Mr. Spender, do not include free houses for natives while Australian ex-servicemen are required to buy or rent war service homes.

When the Koki natives move into their new homes they will pay a rental of from 5/- to 7/6 a week, and further, their tenancy will be conditional on keeping the new village in proper order and main taining satisfactory hygienic standards.

No such requirement exists at Hanua bada where the filth around the new houses is as bad as in the old slum area.

Contract surveyors are now marking out the home sites on the Boroka Extension area at the Four Mile in the Port Moresby district. There will be about 200 building blocks of which the Administration and Commonwealth Departments will take over approximately half. This move is long overdue, for at the moment the Administration has not got a single build ing block for lease in jthe township.

Private builders, however, still have sev eral more months to wait until Boroka sites are thrown open, and meanwhile building costs are rising every month.

THE first prefabricated houses to be imported into the Territory are due from Britain early in the New Year.

These are aluminium buildings and there is much speculation as to their suitability for the tropics. This particular type has no ventilation at either end of the build ing, unless the tenants take (to the walls with a pair of tinsnips. To over come the ventilation problem the survey

ors are selecting special sites at the Boroka estate for these homes. About seventy are to be erected in Port Moresby and the balance at Lae, Madang and Finschhafen for the Civil Aviation De partment.

Apparently the overseas manufacturers have just heard of the Territory’s home shortage and an influx of agents started this month. A representative of the Scan

dinavian Trading Company arrived early in November with a neat set of plans for prefabricated homes built in Sweden of Baltic pine. These, he said, were already treated for protection against termites, but any other treatment desired by the Territory could be undertaken before the timber units left Stockholm. By direct shipment in a specially chartered cargo vessel, the houses could be landed at Territory ports for £1,200 to £1,400 on the two-bedroom plan, and from £1,400 to £1 600 with three bedrooms. The price included all fittings, cupboards, windows, doors and interior fixtures. Furthermore, they could be erected by native labour under the direction of a skilled tradesman.

With just ordinary timber homes sell ing at around £3 000 in Port Moresby, the Swedish offer is arousing a lot of inter est among prospective home-builders.

The main difficulty will be to make up shipload orders, but with the possibility of government and business firm purch ases, a few private individuals might be able to get in on a shipload deal.

The next arrivals in the prefabrication parade were executives of the Bristol Aeroplane Company Housing Limited whose former airplane factory in the West of England is now specializing in the output of aluminium schools and hospitals. Doubtless the bait which drew these representatives to the Territory was the £7,000,000 hospital building programme announced some time ago by the Minister for External Territories.

When a private resident queried the suitability of aluminium buildings for tropical areas, the experts hastened to explain that the outer walls of the Bristol Company structures have a 4i in. cavity space insulated with glass silk, and that this was equal to an 11 in. brick wall cavity. This firm, too, is ready to send technical supervisors to direct the con

' struction of any buildings purchased, and further, is convinced that native labour can handle the job under supervision.

Moreover, the firm says it can land the buildings in the Territory five months after the orders are received, and their object after delivery is quick erection. if something develops out of these pre liminary visits, Europeans in the Territory may possibly be able to get back to a self-respecting standard of housing. At the moment many white residents are living in shanties which would be con demned by any Western health authority.