Captain BENNasked the Minister of Health if any estimates have been made of the number of men in each of the building trades required to erect any or each type of houses erected under the housing schemes; and, if so, what they are in respect of each trade, giving labourers separately?
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN:Assuming that a non-parlour house will be erected with 2,000 hours labour—which is the present estimate—it is estimated that the provision of 10,000 of such houses in one year would require the following number of building operatives:
Bricklayers 1,688 Carpenters and joiners 1,660 Slaters 145 Plasterers 621 Plumbers and glaziers 322 Painters 606 Unskilled 3,611 Deductions from estimates of this kind must clearly be made with great caution.