Grass-Huts

High Cost Of

N a recent PIM paragraph it was [ stated that the present-day cost of a “little grass shack” was not aown—but it was thought that it ould be plenty.

A contributor to a recent Fiji gricultural Journal (Mr. B. E. V. arham) provides the answer, as ,r as Fiji is concerned, anyhow, pparently the cheapest, reasonably ibitable dwelling now being con ructed for Fijian Government orkers costs between £350-£4O0 — lich, to the village Fijian, might st as well be £4,000.

It is a small (30’ x 16’) thatched ttage (bure) which incorporates ive r a 1 improvements to the aditional Fijian dwelling. Con ructed and bolted on a dwarf wall concrete blocks, the wooden iored building has double walls of aited bamboo and roof of sago 1m thatch. A verandah eight feet

de is provided, ther or half e length of the use. Doors are iced so as to v e access to leping quarters )m outside and >m the kitchen thout the need enter the : r a n d a h. The ter walls have :red paper be een the two rers of bamboo reduce draught, d interior rtitions are of ■aped reeds. All i m b o o and itching material chemically ated to give o d protection linst destruc -5 insects.

Construction of houses of this type 'an after the 1952 Fiji hurricane, en it became urgently necessary Government to provide accom dation for families whose homes 1 been destroyed. The Depart nt of Agriculture produced a tch plan for a house which corn ed the best features of Fijian ise design with strength, ’ability and cheapness, while re eling domestic features demanded custom. The foundation and me were provided from hurricane ergency funds and the whole of bamboo work was done on a nmunity basis.

Vith concrete foundations, iden floors and shutter windows, building produced had small im to the title, “little grass ,ck.” But its stability ensures a isiderably longer life than the oily “indigenous” type of house, 1 should the thatched roof be loved in a hurricane it can be laced fairly quickly from readily

available materials provided the framework is intact.

Mr. Parham makes the interest ing observation that, before the war, £lO plus a few nails and some Yagona would cover the cost of a minimum bure —by minimum, mean ing, of course, little but roof and walls and means of exit. Nonethe less, it can be seen that little grass shacks are not now so easily come by as in yester-year.

Grass-hut —new Fiji style.