TOWN PLANNING

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2165, 2 June 1914, Page 6

TOWN PLANNING

A GENERAL REVIEW MUNICIPAL ELECTORS' ASSOCIATION. Several addresses on tho subject of town-planuiug were delivered at a meeting hold last evening,iu a committee loom at th Town Hall, under the auspices of t'lte Greater Wellington. Municipal Electors' Association. Mr. A. Leigh Hunt presided over a fair attendance. The meeting was held partjy with a view to stirring up interest in tho approaching visit of two townplanning exports, and tho subject was dealt with by tho speakers in a comprehensive way. It is proposed to hold further meetings from time to time, at which detail aspocts will be discussed. Mr. Hunt, who was the first speaker, said that personally ho defined townplanning as an effort to prevent tho haphazard growth of a town. In the Old Country town-planners were mainly engaged in the effort to clear away slums, but in this country the principal object must be to prevent the growth of slums. It was necessary to tho successful prosecution of town-planning that there should be efficient co-opera-tion between local bodies and the State. It should be compulsory upon local bodies to work together where this could be done for tho general good. As an instance of tho absence of townplanning, Mr. Hunt cited tho policy of tho Wellington Harbour Board. To him it seemed that tho board was intent upon extending its wharves in the direction of Petone, and as one who took an interest in the To Aro railway question, he wanted to know how the Harbour Board was going to conserve tho interests of those parts of tho city whero the bulk of tho population lay. Again, if tlio Government intended some day to extend tho To Aro railway to Miramar, the local bodies should bo aware of it, in order that they might lay their plans accordingly. Such blunders as the Hataitai tunnel could easily havo been avoided had a townplanning board been in 'existence. Wise town-planners would also havo avoided the policy of leasing any part of the Town Belt, lest the progress of improvement should be impeded. Other matters that should' also bo referable to a town-planning board were the slcction of a dock-sito, tho improyomciit of city street linos, as, for instance, by the extension of Victoria Street through to Dixon Street, and the construction of city lifts. Looking forward, it might even be desirable at ! the present day to reserve areas which would servo in future as sites for oilfuel reservoirs and aviation parks. It seemed to him quite wrong that they had at present no general classification of the city into business and residential areas. As things stood, a factory devoted to almost any purpose (excluding a few obnoxious trades) might "be established at any time in one of tlio' best suburbs. Proper attention to townplanning in tho future would save an enormous amount of money and assist to build up tho health and happiness of tho people. A Proposed Bill,

. Mr. Hunt- dotailcd at some length the provisions of a proposed Town-Planning Bill which he had drawn up. He stated that ho entirely disagreed with tho proposals of the Bill introduced in tho House of Representatives by Mr. Fowlds in 1911. He dissented also from the view recently expressed by the Hon. H. D. Bell that local bodies already had all tho powers necessary to enable them to deal with town-planning., For one thing there was nothing to compel them to act together.' One objection that ho. had to Mr. Fowlds's Bill was that under its. provisions too much authority was vested in the Governor-in-Council, which meant, in practice, the Minister' of tho day. Mr. Fowlds proposed in his Bill a Town-Planning Board, consisting of tho SurveyorGeneral, as chairman, and four members appointed by the Government. In his Bill lie proposed that tho board should-consist of the Surveyor-General, three Borough Council members, one Harbour Board member, two persons elected by tho citizens/ and two appflintcd by the Governor-in-Council to represent the Public Works and Railways Departments. He proposed that Ihe Bill should apply only to. such boroughs as sought, by way of petition, to come .under its provisions. Tho board's approval of a scheme sent up by a local body should bo final, and. its disapproval of a scheme should be subject to review, riot by the Governor-in-Council, but at a public meeting, or if necessary at a poll of citizens. Proposals by a State Department on being approved by the board should at once become operative. A New Fashion. Dr. Newman said\ that it was only during. the last few' years that townplanning had come' into fashion. It did not necessarily mean anything very ambitious. Tho main object was to make the homes of the peoplo moro pleasant, and the parts of the city in which they lived moro habitablo. They meant by town-pianning anything in any shape or form that would improve tho city. John Bums had said that: "Mean streets make mean people." Dr. Newman dissented strongly from the view that town-planning need not concern suburban residents. His opinion was that they would have to have a town-planning, board of somo kind, and proceed on more orderly lines than had been followed in the past. All over the world people were clustering in big cities. In New Zealand more than half tho people lived in., towns, and they bad to face the position. A great part of town-planning in Wellington should bo to beautify its surroundings. Much could be done, at comparatively small cost, to restore the beauty of the bays and hills around tho harbour. One of the things which always made him furious was that people would insist upon building ugly high fences in front of their houses. As a result streets were, now hideous that would be beautiful if the fences were removed, and the gardens thrown open to the street. Streets that meandered a little looked over so much better than tlioso which joined at right angles'. There were many little ways in which people, particularly those who lived in tho suburbs, could do a great deal of town-planning.

Codification of Ideas. Mr. J. S. Barton expressed tho opinion that local people interested in town-planning should leave details alone until thev had heard tho lectures about to bo delivered by visiting experts, and then lend their offorts upon applying tlio information supplied by those experts to local conditions. As to the opinion recently expressed by tho Son. II; D. Bell that sufficient town-plan-ning powers were conferred upon local bodies by the existing laws, Mr. Barton said that lie had at first been inclined to accept that view. Most of tho powers that town-planners ivonld ask for wero contained in the Municipal Corporations Act, but they formed no part of a general plan, and were lost sight of in n mass of surrounding provisions. The present enactments and by-laws were necessarily rigid, whereas a special town-planning Act would bo more elastic. In addition to that, such an Act would entail a codification of ideas and a clearer and more general appreciation of their importance. After the principal sneeclies had been delivered there, was a brief general discussion. Before Ihe gathering dispersod it was agreed that the name of tbo association should he altered to "Cirealer Wellington Tmvn Planning and Municipal Electors' Association."-