TOWN PLANNING.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16435, 31 January 1919, Page 9

TOWN PLANNING.

TO TM EDITOR OP "THB rRESS." Sir, —Enthusiasts in the abore science u n ° t ., scru P 1 e to throw the blame for Tu- fi H' ur I e m tho past to recognise their idoals, on the licensed surveyors, to whose neglect or indifference', or ignorance, such failure is attributed. The practice cf laying out a "'town" in rectangular blocks "like a chessboard,' has, ou occasion, been denounced as almost a crime. Surveyors naturally object to such unfair and undeserved criticism; and 1 now proceed to '■fix the blame." Official survey regulation oo is as follows :—•-The streets of all towns are to be laid off in straight lines, and at right angles to each other as nearly as a due regard to the natural features of the country and drainage oi the land will permit, and allotments are to bo laid off wherever practicable at right angles to the streets which they front." In order to secure that there shall be no departure, from these requirements, regulation 56 provides that plans of all such proposed subdivisions must be approved by the Governor-General prior to sale. t'nder the Laud Act, a "town" has been authoritatively, denned to mean "any parcel of land outside a borough divided into areas for building purposes.-. So that even half a dozen sections or less. have been officially branded.as a 'town." —Yours, etc.. GEO. McINTYEE.