TOWN-PLANNING.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2005, 12 March 1914, Page 2

TOWN-PLANNING.

EARL GREY ADVISES QUICK ACTION,

In Urn course of an interview yesterday, JSfttrl Grey' touched upon the subject of t : oiv-ii.-pls-nttiiig. >s "You have ,'ftot ft moiuonfc to lose," he. said, "-Yon are a_ yoniig country I with. A groat future.- Yuu have, thevex--■pefieneo of the- United .StHtes iindtho United Kingdom-,, 'also of Aastolto, to show yon what -dangers yon -sbati.ld avoid. Yrtii li-aye-.also the demonstration .fif-ivhat tyia new garden city rirovemeirt '■'lias been *abl«S to ,ac,coirtpiish:.in Jhighmd... If with this warningi'.oh the one' .haiitfc of the iisvfeil, evils ■ that Jesuit to a -.iVa-.. tiona-1 life- .thrpti-gh ■cpiigestdd. life. in :e|t.V. "lihihft,' and,,.tho donfojistratio-ii.Jbf th?".' ,fi-fty.in which-'they 'Cflii hs flvoidfed, j'ojr 'will only , b.lft.m& if, ymi .allow 'the v Au«i .qucso to show its Wttisewio and -poisonous head' tii .your Boiiiifcry."-' ' ''Thfl Brit-i'sii for ■Science . holds its annual meeting in Australia; next Ai.igtts.t-, Jir. Daviflge, of the ■Wndon .Count;? Cqini-c-il., has, 1 understand, 'agreed to addl'ess the assaoiation on ; 'Towii-plai-ii-img' at. Sydney and IW-; hoiinie;" aud I biilbve a series _of free 1-aßterii lectures o-Vi- fof n-phiriiillig and garden, city methods and the eo*partnelsliip system hi hous-iiig is bohig arrapsjed for in WeUingfoii and other New* b,ud tswps! ■ Yoiß' people will havo an opportunity of educating themselves UpO* this s-.U4Hiisarta.iit subject, provide ing the I'i-ess git-c$ theui, as I feal sureit w-illj a good opp'Oi'timity of - trailig sft-. "If it- wew jwssibie- for the towai- of Wellington, or the N'fiw :Zeahuidtaii, to send itheir ew'n fcxpert invesfj* gn-tors fo sxiim.ii've and report, upon, the methods' which are ijow being ii.do.p'Wd in Canada and the United Kingdom for providing new houses under as nearly as 'possible- 'ideal -wi'iditfons, I tli-ihk you Would fee acting-wisely. "I regard the'ivtiO'lte s-ujije'efc of towiipiannjiig -as probably the tiMjst impo-rfc-ant of all the pressing facial <i-uest.Joiis ive liaya to cous-idci', _ We isaji satisfy y-smr investigators tkit in those com* miinitifis wlnsre the cottages do wot najtiher ftrare than twelve to the acre -the physique of-the ehihlveu is wry much ! better than it is hi coßi.nninities Whero wwlsing.'clftss dwellings iiumber j times thirty, forty, arid, in cases, fifty fo the acre. ■

"the ordinary death-rate per tlum(iaml is only six far the garden city of Listohworth, frliich -is ft busy lnaimfoekirhig toft'iij with'many tti(histr:ies.,_an<i a poptiltttioH of orar SOOO, drawn from tha crowded industrial centres. The infant mortality there is less than half of that inVmany other parts<jf Eiigland. The ordinary 4<?ath : rat<! is only oisethird what' it is i:n Livet.paol, or G,l per thotisaud, as against l,S.t per thousand, It has lisLMi demonstrated «ycr and orer again that there is a definite, ratio :l.;etweeu the physique, nai.He}y, the height and weight, of children wlto ate in reoiHj tffo-i'coni, tbvee-rcram, and four* ■room tofcemsiits, Those tottns whew populntion is best housed bavo tho lowest death-rate aud, the greatest pirv' sical.cfficioiiey. .

"Yeu appear to tare a very difficult proposition in Wellington," l&ifl Grey fL-nt-ltiUEd, "I ttiidfti'stawl tbiit flic effect «f taxing unimproved values, nitaecompanied by ,ati'y wjsUdetlan as to tho M-iinbor of Wi-se-s ' y.Mt iiiay have per acre, is causing your open .spaces to be hvii.lt upon, with tiio result, that ymx mav, before' you know where yail siro, nm) that you-"have, own in tins young country, littte patches of cengGistjon, and the conditions rMawlucetl hcf» nvWch haw led in tljo "older oomvtrire- to ill* health, driiukoTmess, immorality, insanity,, pauperism, aild erinic." .