THROUGH THE EYES OF A TOWN-PLANNER

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2203, 16 July 1914, Page 10

THROUGH THE EYES OF A TOWN-PLANNER

A TOUR OF WELLINGTON BY MR, W, R. DAVIDGE Mr.- W. 11. Davidge, tho expert town, planner and London County Council surveyor, mado a motor-car tour of the city and suburbs under the guidance of tho city engineer (Mr. W. M. Morton) yesterday morning. Conversing with a Dominion reporter. after tho trip, Mr. Davidge said ho could only give . impressions, as his time in Wellington-had not been long enough for him to gain an acquaintance with tho physical features of the city. With the city engineer ho had visited Wadestown, and from there had been struck with tho natural beauty of tho Kaiwarra Gully, which ho thought ought to be made a scenic reserve as soon as possible, so as to preserve it and what-remained of its native bush for aU time. From there they . were taken to the . treeplanting function at Mcin Street; whore tho Mayor had made a" happy'.little speech,' and tho school children had done somo planting. "Lst me say," said'_ Mr. Davidge, "thai, seeing how the hills of the Town Belt had been ruthlessly denuded of their natural forest years ago, I think it is a sitep in the right direction to make every otfort to re-establish forest trees on this great reserve. "From Mein Street we wen? to Lyall Bay by way of Constable Street. ! 1 think, that this route is the natural way out to the suburbs beyond—Kilbirnie, Maranui, and Miramar—and the tramway system should be linked up. Tho day is not so very distant when all the flat lands of South Kilbirnie and Miralnar will be built upon/and you will find that Constable Street will then take tho bulk of the traffic. Lyall Bay is fine—quite 0110 of the best bays I havo seen. Iwas very glad to'see that the corporation had made big reservations out there —they will all be needed in time, and any more that can bo secured. "Wellington is going to be a big city one day, but as you see it is all confined to' a small peninsula—comparatively small for a big city. To illustrate this, you only have to glance/ at the plan of the city. Draw aline across here' (and lie drew an imaginary": line from'; the outlet of Happy Valley:to. the south to . Wadestown in the north), and you cutoff the peninsula of Wellington.. When you till up at Island; Bay, the- flat, between Evans and Lyall Bays'aiid Miramar, you are practically at the end of your resources.' .The-peninsula,can only, oake about threo' .times your: present population, and that'' would not be a very big city. For -'.that reason,'l would'urge on the authorities to search out any possible routes for arterial roads that will lead out through the: hills to the west and north to the try beyond, and havo them surveyed,' because' sooner or later they will beneedod. ""■ .'.''-.- ; "I would like to pay a tribute to tho foresight _ot th&_• New. Zealand, Land Company in providing you with.the fine; resorvb Wellington possesses • in- dts Town Belt. It was well thought out. At tho same time, I regrot that such serious inroads havo been made into it —particularly in the Kelburn _ district, where only fragments of tho original reservo remain." ' Mr. Davidge hero showed a plan of Wellington, the original survey made for tho New Zealand Land Company by. Captain Wm. Smith, in 1840,' which showed a fino wido belt right round thocity, almost as wide at Kelburn as clsewhoro. A glance at a plan of Welling- ' ton as it now exists shows only a few scattered blocks-in the locality of Kel bum. ; On the plan is written :— "Tho dotted, lino indicates tho ex- ' i tent of the land round the town reserved for tho use of tho public and not to bo built upon." How this injunction has not been kept a comparison of the two plans shows. Mr. Davidge, in conclusion, urged that it was a little difficult to get tho lay of the country in Wellington owing to there not bsing in existence a contour model lof tWe city, and he was rather surprised to learn that we not only had no contour model, but there was no contour' survey plans of Wellington in existence here. Almost every toivn in Europe has its own contour, survey plan, and-usually a model mado to perfect scale on exhibition, so'that one could take'" in the topography, of the country at a glance. Bj working .out a contour survey of the row Commonwealth capital, Mr. Davidge had shown that tho main approach to tho city was altogether out of place, and this had probably been the means of , 6aving f.loo,nno' in unnecessary, excavation. The valuo of a contour-survey of Wellington could hardly be estimated, but it would certainly be of very great value in such works as road extension jj water, and sewerage.