THE FEDERAL CAPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1095, 6 April 1911, Page 5

THE FEDERAL CAPITAL.

A CHANCE FOR TOWN PLANNERS.,

By Telegraph-Press Association-Oopyrieht . Melbourne, April 5. The Federal Government is issuing an open invitation to the city designers of the world to compete for the ,£3OOO offered as prizes for a suitable scheme for a Federal capital. Twenty models of the sito will bo prepared, and bs exhibited at convenient centres throughout tho world for the benefit of competitors for the prizes.

truing recently of tho Federal capital competition,. the Sydney "Herald" said--bo much has been said about the competition by the Minister, who proclaimed trom the housetops that it would be open to tho best talent in the whole world, that some largo prize was expected. Much speculation was indulged in among architects, and the popular estimate "for the prize designs was in the vicinity of .£IO,OOO. Evidently the architects do not understand tho Federal Ministry, for their estimate was a long way out, tile Cabinet deciding to allot only .£3OOO in all for the whole competition, dividing tho sum up into three prizes:—j£l7so for tho selected design, ,£750 for the second best, and .£SOO for the next." Tho Minister for Home Affairs (Mr O'Malley) does not seem to think the prize is too little, when he explains what ho hopes to have provided for in tho successful design. Referring to tho matter some time ago he said:—"The adoption of a modern design will enable us lo build a Federal Capital which will bo smokeless, dustless, mudless, smelllcss, shunless, and free from gases produced by manufacturing energy. The streets must be as clean as a royal bedchamber, Smoko will bo completely consumed. : all gases generated in tho process of production will be accumulated and annihilated. Railways in the future will, wo hope, bo electrically operated, and all building construction must bo hermetically sealed to prevent dust. Before many years we may, I flunk, witness the disappearance of animals for draught purposes in commercial life, Out of all these elements of progress surely there will come, not only financial economy and eommereial.efficioncy, but also great bodily joy and'spiritual hope."