The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 4

4 THE GUARDIAN Friday October 5 1962 Scottish Nationalist will stand in Woodside LABOUR CONFIDENT OF A WIN 'STANDSTILL' IN HOUSING IDEAS Control criticised Council houses tend to be islspick monotonous, unimaginative, back-j ward-looking in design, and not as good value as they ought to be, said Mrs Elizabeth Layton, of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in a paper delivered yesterday to the Scottish National Housing and Town Planning Council at its annual meeting in Perth. I There were honourable exceptions, I and often council houses gave better value for money than speculatively built houses. But the overall achievement of this country in housing oer the past six or seen years was IS SPAN It now seems likely that there will be five candidates in the forthcoming byelection in the Woodside division of Glasgow, with the adoption of Mr Alan Niven, aged 27, as the candidate for the Scottish National Party. His adoption was announced In Glasgow last night. Mr Niven, who was born in Glasgow, is a salesman with the electricity board, and has been a member of the party since 1955 and lis agent in Glasgow municipal elections from 1956 to 1959.

He was the agent in the Bnrigeton parliamentary byelection. Third candidate He said last night that he advocated Scottish control of Scottish affairs. His party considered that Scotland must not be taken into the Common Market on the tail of England and he was against the admission of the United Kingdom on the present basis. He is the third candidate to be adopted. Mr Jack House, a Glasgow journalist and broadcaster, is the The byelection has been caused by the promotion of the sitting Conservative member, Mr William Grant, to Lord Justice Clerk At the general election, Mr Grant had a majority of 2,084 over his Labour opponent.

The third candidate, a Liberal, lost his deposit. The Prime Minister had stalled since May, but the risk of losing a seat must now be faced and at a time when the Government's stock in Scotland is at its lowest since the end of the war. Glasgow has more than 20.000 people out of work and the figures continue to rise. The general economy is had and the seat is marginal. Mr David Miller, chairman of the Woodside Unionist Association, has said they hope to hold the seat with a bit of luck.

It certainly looks as if they will need that as well as a change in the political heart of this part of the country. The Labour Party is confident of success in a division which has strong Socialist traditions. Before the constituency was reconstituted, Mr William Leonard held the seat it was then St Rollox as Labour Co-operative member for 19 years until 1950. He was the only Co-operative candidate in Britain to survive the 1935 general election. unremarkable; it had achieved much less than our school programme, which was internationally famous.

Ideas about housing cither their design or their construction have stood still for .10 or 40 -he continued. The council hou.st' of today is almost exactly what it was when I was trained as a housing manager in the 'thirties, and It was the same in the 'twenties. The private enterprise house has a few extra gimmick but makes no significant break through, except where it caters for the minority of those who can afford really efficient whole-house heating Mrs Lavton said that many of the Liberal candidate. Mr Robert Vallar, How do you see steel? Satiny and stainless, adding lustre and elegance to a well-laid table? Or strong and sinewy, spanning river or road with slender ease and freedom of form? Each is a true facet of the most exciting, most versatile metal in fact the most versatile material available. For steel is strong and growing stronger.

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difficulties stemmed from the methods a uiasgow instrument repairer, has been chosen by the Socialist Party of Great Britain. The Labour and Conservative candidates have not yet been named. of control over house-building by central government. Costs had been too minutely controlled, although there was an improvement now. Pro State-guaranteed mortgages Property chairman's suggestion By our own Reporter grammes had been chopped antl changed with each financial crisis, aad the standards had been drawn in such a way as to inhibit architects from attempting new solutions.

The surest way to reduce the cost of building was to increase the proportion of work done in the factory and to decrease the work on the site. This change was already under way for flat building. Mr Sidney Bloch, chairman of a Qp5 1 IN 10-millions property company, Hallmark Securities, yesterday suggested a plan for young couples CO-OPERATION BUILDING 40 per cent of the total housing stock of the country, are owner-occupied, it seems that the majority of new owners are buying semi-detached houses and terraced houses. This finding emerges from an analysis of 6,735 dwellings bought for owner occupation with help from mortgage loans from the Co-operative Permanent Building Society. The society's survey is the subject of a special bulletin issued yesterday.

Semi-detached and terraced houses accounted for more than 60 per cent of the dwellings covered by the survey. Bungalows were more numerous than detached houses, flats, and maisonettes combined. The distribution of terraced houses and bungalows varied significantly between new and existing property. There were few new terraced houses but a hieh to Duy meir own nomes on a deposit of 5 per cent and a Government-guaranteed mortgage. "If the Government is serious in its desire to create a truly home-owning democracy it must realise that young people must be helped," he said.

Interest urates on mortages were not the real problem although he believed building societies could now bring the rate down. What was needed was a mortgage requiring a minimum down- aaaw- New council welcomed Mr E. N. Underwood, the newly-elected president of the Institution of Structural Engineers, said yesterday that co-operation between structural engineers and their colleagues in allied engineering fields was essential to ensure that each new structure was aesthetically and economically worthy of the team as a whole." In his presidential address to members of the institution in London Mr Underwood said recognition of interdependence of professions and the teamwork it demanded by the impending establishment of the Engineering Institutions Joint Council was timelv. proportion of new bungalows.

The distribution of semi-detached houses Great advances had been made in payment ana a long period for the loan. Building societies and other lenders should be guaranteed repayment by the Government of the sum by which the loan exceeded the normal. He added By extending the term for repayments to. say, 30 to 35 years the monthly out-goings would be reduced to manageable size. If a young couple in their early twenties could pay for their home over such a period and had to find by way of down-payment a sum to include fees and stamp duties of no more than 5 per cent of the cost, the way to house ownership would be opened to many who at present feel that the burden is too great" In an age in which about six and a half million homes, representing about the materials, tools and methods available to structural engineers, he said.

"Plant and equipment are tailor- maHn fnf nlmnfl ant, finm-atitn nrttllct and bungalows constituted 72 per cent of all new dwellings; semi-detached and terraced houses represented 70 per cent of all existing dwellings. In spite of the substantial rise in house prices during the past three years, 46 per cent of the houses covered by the investigation were priced under 2.500 and 65 per cent under 3.000. Existing dwellings fell within the lower price ranges, 36 per cent of them ofTered at less than 2,000 against only 11 per cent for new thanks to the electronics expert and the electrical engineer, we appear to have already reached the stage when our problems in structural analysis, and the selection of sections for frame members, will be done in seconds by uweiungs. eiectric computers. DRIVER OF THE YEAR Making houses in the factory Minister's remedy for shortages By a Special Correspondent Britain the need for expansion of the output of the building industry, especi ally housing, in the face of a static or declining skilled labour force, was Sir Keith Joseph, Minister of Housing and Local Government, said when opening a conference in London yesterday on "Housing from the Factory," that "we must bypass shortages by doing over 12 months in the dry factory what at the moment too often has to be done in seasonal conditions on the site." likely to favour large-panel systems of construction because of the saving offered of 20 to 25 per cent of the labour content.

He said factory-built homes were being used in London, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow and other centres. In some cases provision for electric floor heating, eas flues and air dis tribution ducting could be precast into the structure, and refuse chutes "built in." Highly skilled workmen were not needed to assemble this type of building. Mr K. R. Lack, who spoke on sound and heat insulation, said the Ministries had not yet really determined an Gralwn Hill ha been voted "driver of the year by the Guild of Motoring Writers he is shown after winning the Dutch Grand Prix in hit BRM in May.

Hill now hat near-commanding lead in thit year's world championship optimum standard, mit simply mini He emphasised, however, to architects and members of local authorities attending the conference: "This does not in any way threaten employment of the traditional crafts in the building industry, as far as I can see." Sir Keith said he hoped that a proper integration of houses and blocks of flats, which was most essential for a balanced environment, could result from the aims of the conference. The Minister said housing from the factory would be helped by more standardisation, adding: "My department is proposing to give some guidance In this field pretty soon, with some Indication of preferred illmancinnc mums of comfort based on the "average Briton." In this very important field it was lamentable that aged model bylaws formed the design framcworK of a new and radical method of building. Omissions England outplay Spain in chess Valuable though the conference is proving to be, the questions of human scale, comfort, and the satisfactory and economical use of land for the new factory-built housing, will not be dis cussed, and many delegates showed their disappointment in the agenda Here, they felt, was an opportunity to form a core of moral, political, economical and architectural codes which could prevent the new industry from creating precedents the public mignt learn to regret. Delegates found difficulty in following some French and Scandinavian speakers, their accents severely distorted by the loud-speaker system. The conference is organised by the Cement and Concrete Association, and these accents gave a clue to the state of the concrete industry, which practically relies upon either French or Scandinavian systems for its eventual success in this country.

Dazzling claims Some claims of productivity made by other speakers were dazzling: a new house readv for occupation in three days, a block of flats in 70 days, and so on, but Mr M. D. Bishop, of the Building Research Station, showed that true savings could be expected only from huge housing contracts. Mr Bishop said that in Prefabrication, in housing, is still not widely accented. Mechanised building is prefabrication, and to be championship From our Chest Correspondent Varna, Bulgaria, October 4 The English chess team had an excellent 3 to i win against Spain, their closest rivals in the tournament, in round of the Final Group of the World Championships.

Penrose bad an interesting out-and-thrust King's Indian against Grandmaster Pomar in which Penrose had at least an unusual game when the draw was agreed. Golombek won in powerful style against Puig, quite outplaying his opponent in middle game tactics and winding up with a sacrificial attack. Littlewood's game with Franco was level until the Spaniard impatiently and unsoundly sacrificed a piece for two pawns. Ridameya played the Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez against Barden and got the advantage. After Barden made an oversight then the Spaniard, in turn, missed a tactical threat and Barden regained the initiative to force the win of a piece and accepted by the majority as the only means of producing the much needed cheap housing emphasis must be placed upon emotional requirements, as wen as tne commercial gam.

STUDY OF CHURCH UNITY 'Working parties' move A standing committee on Church unity, set up by a joint conference of Anglicans and Presbyterians in Durham in July, held its first meeting in London yesterday. I The object of the committee, which Council pleads for train service Great Longstone (Derbyshire) parish council is to join the fight to reopen Great Longstone railway station, where two trains a day stop to pick up one passenger. The council has asked the British Transport Commission and the Transport Users' Consultative Committee to turn the station into an unstaffed halt with two or three trains stopping daily. When the station closed last month British Railways gave the keys to Mrs Alice Boardman (45), a hospital sister, and decided that two trains a day could stop there to take her to work at a Buxton hospital. You know where you are with the game.

The Soviet Union, leaders of the championship finals, were unexpectedly held to a 2-2 draw by Rumania. Geller, who up to today had won every game, was brilliantly defeated in 23 moves by a former soccer international, Bela Soos. Bobby Fischer lost his adjourned game to Donner, but in the evening session, scored a fine win against I Unzicker of West Germany to help the United States to a 2 to 1 match i lead. The top countries in the championship finals are Soviet Union 19. Yugoslavia 17 and one adjourned.

United States 1" and one adjourned. West Germany 16 and one adjourned. Final leaders are England 18). Israel 15 and one adjourned, Spain I 15, Cuba and Poland 14 and one adjourned. CALL FOR ROAD A meeting of representatives from Cheshire and Flintshire said at Chester vesterday that the Minister of Transport should speed up completion of the final seven-mile stretch i of the Cheshire to Flintshire ring I road.

comprises four each from the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, and two each from the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church of England, is to plan in detail the carrying out of proposals generally agreed at Durham. The proposals include making arrangements for joint study of Church doctnne and meaning by regional groups. Special attention will be paid to the question of the link between the established Church and the State. The committee is also to consider practical joint work, such as teacher and student exchanges, and joint schools of teaching." A statement after yesterday's meeting said that the standing committee had arranged that the work should now be carried out in a series of working parties in preparation for a further conference of the full delegates of the four Churches. Steel FIRST CHANCELLOR OF ESSEX UNIVERSITY Mr R.

A. Butler, Deputy Prime Minister, has accepted an invitation to be the first chancellor of the new Vniversitv of Essex. An appeal for 1 million for the university is expected to be launched early next year. BRITISH IRON AND STEEL FEDERATION.