TO IMPROVE SYDNEY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 545, 28 June 1909, Page 5

TO IMPROVE SYDNEY.

[■,-•. ;'■ MORE STREET ROOM.' /';\ UNDERQROmro ELECTRIC RAILWAYS, (By Telegraph.—l'ress' Association.—Copyright.) : '■'. ■;.■■';'. : '' . j:' : V. Sydney, June 26.,/ . ,The final report of tlie City Improvement Commission, : which has.. been sitting - sinoe 'May of last year, has been published.. ; •";.; /.Tho comniittee recommends a comprehend scheme for tho/remodolling'of Sydney,' including the. immediate introduction-of .underground, electric ; 'railways in the city-and; suburbs, the. widening of Elizabeth Street throughout its, oritire. length': to not less .than'100- feet, and tho creating, or widening,'or improving of: some other .streets.'' ','V.',',.'..'..'. .'.Other: .'.recommendations ■ for,"■generally beautifying and developing- the city include tho removal of the Pyrinoint Bridge, tho: providing of new traffic : routesto the .wharves,' dealing with slum areas', andhousing reforms;

.'. '.It.is '•considered that the scheme will meet : 'tho .needs of Sydney traffic for, the'.';.'■ next twenty-five years, at the end of which,.at the .present rate of'increase, it. is estimated'that the population of the city., and '.suburbs will be a million and o.quarter. . -V " ;- ACCESS TO THE ■ The .Commission had '.previously, in ah interim report, explained-a-good deal of its intentions regard, to street'. improvement. ; "In tho course of the report if was stated:-.'; V ■'"Practically all 'witnesses-possessing adequate knowledge of the harbour ffontages'of the oityy and .of, the: conditions governing the'-goods traf- . fio at the wharves, : aro in" agreement, that who-' i£! ".'.''"•w.' ioM]ia<s : around > the' 'wharves' ■of 'Darling iHarbour and Circular Quay becon.struoted immediately,or not, there is,an urgent 1 and, pressing necessity,for the, opening of a broad roadway for the'haulage of goods' to : arid • from,these wharves. ,Tho reason .which chiefly, • influenced the-witnesses in giving this evidenco. was that owing, to the fact that; Sydney is'the distributing centre for the. whole, of the State,' .about; 90. per, centum of.,the'goods received from: oversea vessels'is carted from the ship's .side to the.Sydney warehouses, and then distributed, over-the..State, according to .commercial tc'quirements,' Similarly, .a large proportion i' of the products 6f the State intended for export is: delivered into .Sydney warehouses,, and sold to ,tho_exporter for shipment: abroad. ;■■: --This' state of ithingsis leading daily, to greater con■gestion of traffic in our harrow streets, and if is apparent to your Commissioners,: that unless prompt measures are taken to cope with.the difficulty,' it. will, in the near future, become, almost intolerable.,''; , ; ;• ■" - •■ : 'T?or. these,reasons:we are:convinced that it is imperative there should be a broad roadway, constructed at the earliest possible moment the -■ end of' Sussex ;'• Street, via Miller's Point. and Dawes • Point, . towards :•': Ciroular Cjnay; and in considering plans of such a roadway .we. have been confronted with.-the necessity for acquiring .the : Australian' Gaslight Company s property at Darling Harbour, which' was excepted from the resumption of the'Darlforeshores.in 1900. This step wo .regard as absolutely: necessary, in order-to provido better access to the city from the wharves near ■ Miller s Point. and Dawes Point how under construction by the Sydney Harbour Trnst,' as well as to, provide-better-,road and railway approaches to. tho shipping, that will berth in tno m nsar future alongside these wharves. ■:-'V T °f. Harbour Trust 'Commissioners have' submitted a.plan' showing a roadway 90ft: in' ■ width between these points, and' from .'Sussex 5t -J lo?!*- "?7 U an improved:. Napoleon ' Street, 66ft. wide,.with an easy grade to Kent btreet, and so,on to the heart of the-city." ■