ARCHITECTS' DINNER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 983, 25 November 1910, Page 8

ARCHITECTS' DINNER.

THE CITY'S LOST CHANCE; ' CITY ENGINEER ON TOWNPLANNING. As a pleasant finalo to the sixth annual conference of the New Zealand Institute, of Architects, the-delegates met ■ round the dining-tables at the Grand Hotel last night, at the invitation of the Wellington branch. Mr. J. Charlesworth presided over an attendance including architects from Auckland, Canterbury, : Otago, and other parts of the Dominion. A thoroughly social evening was spent, and guests and hosts evidently enjoyed themselves. . The toast of the delegates was proposed by Mr.-W. Crichton. -Messrs, F. Petre (Otago), T. Mahoney (Auckland), C. J. Mou'ntfort (Canterbury)i'.H. Wade' (Auckland), Goldsbro* (Auckland), and Walden (Otago), in responding, spoke very appreciatively of the hospitality shown them. The Hon. C. jr. Luke, M.L.C., responding; to the, toast of "Our Guests," which had been proposed by Mr. G. C. Schwartz, compared the Wellington of 37 years ago, when he first knew the "village," with . the city of to-day. Nono of the evidences of; progress were so striking and convincing as those connected with the. profession of . the architect. . Few, if any, of the professions bad done more for the \ well-being-of the community. As the only member of the Legislature present, he expressed tho hope that the services of somo of his hearers would be called in to design a new home for tho Parliament of this country. (Applause.) Mr. Nicholson, president of tho Wellington Builders' Association, also responded. v. Mr. A.-, Atkins, in proposing "Our Civic Rulers," emphasised tho close' conneetion between municipal government and the objects of the. institute, which included the advancement of civic architecture, ,the promotion of. ths domestic convenience and comfort of the citizens, and tho improvement and embellishment of- our towns.' The architects of the Dominion had great confidence in the 'different civic administrations, and deprecated any, curtailment of their powers. They would much rather sec those powers increased, so that even better ..results could be produced. He looked, forward to tho time when the institute—which, though young, was a sturdy and growing body—would be consulted on many' matters in which they were specially -interested. - ■ They, had already been complimented "by • having their advice■ asked as. to tho-by-laws,, in Wellington at anyrate. The subject of town-planning," which had' of lato como into such prominence, was, being dealt with bv the institute at Home, and .some valuable papers on tho snbjoct should bo out here shortly. He thought. there was* no place . more capable of being beautified than Wellington, if "properly taken in hand. Fortunately, thero were no slums here; 'but thero . was jerrybuilding, a matter which had been ably dealt with at the last Builders' Conference. That was a matter in which the architects wero also capable- of giving assistance. He coupled the toast with.the-, name of 'Mr', ,W: H. Morton, CityEngineer. Mr. Morton said it seemed like sarcasm to couple his iiamo with "Civic Rulers," 'f6r ho-thought there was no man who had moro bosses than he had. .'-"(Laughter.) He. wished he, could describe tho various gentlemen who came to him about the matters they .'were interested in.. Some of them pranced in as if to frighten him; others were meek and mild, and others used a certain amount of cajolery. He had, however,- always got on very well indeed, with the architects. .In regard to' town-planning, ho would like to see" tho man who; could accomplish, under our present laws, anything like what was done oh tho Continent-of Europe. Anyone who tried-it_would-bo. hung, drawn, and' quartered. (Laughter.)"' He would like to'tell them of the', trouble lie. often hacL'in'.regard to the plans of new roads. When ho tried to get a'better gra'de than was proposed, he, was told that it would bo ruining the poor landowner. It . was always'the poor landowner—never the poor'public. Wellington was a place that could havo been made much more attractive than it,was at present, if there had' been a system on which town-plan-ning could havo beeu carried out. Unfortunately all the. land passed quickly into private hands, and was cut up piecemeal. with no object but. the best ■results for tho private owner. The future of the city, had not {been, .considered at all. When he looked at the hills behind Wellington Terrace, and thought how beautiful they- could have been made, he thought it was simply shameful; With proper powers, and a competent authority to exercise them, Wellington could have been made one of the most. beautiful cities in the world, but to do • anything now would involve such' a large sum of money that a timid man liko himself dare not think of it. (Laughter and applause.) 1 Mr. W. S; La T'robe, M.A.,' proposed "The New Zealand Institute of Architects." Mr. .C. J. Brodrick (president), who responded, said that many of tho mem- J bers had done much valuable gratuitous work in judging and criticising tho designs of the younger members. The institute had dime good work in bringing the members of the profession in! different centres together. When they.. n\efc - they found that they wero all actuated by high professional ideals. (Applause.) Songs, etc., were contributed during the evening by Messrs. E. J. llill, R. T. Robertson, Johnston, D. Kenny, Doherty, and A. Newton, with Mr. D. Ivenny as pianist. ' ■