OUR GROWING CITY

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2210, 24 July 1914, Page 9

OUR GROWING CITY

OPENING UP THE EASTERN SUBURBS.. VIA CONSTABLE STREI.T

[Br Sylvius.]

His Worship the Mayor (Mr. J. P. c J las ec ' flret l that the congestion of traffic through the Kilbirnie tunnel i rendered the 'extension of the Constable Street tramline to ICilbiniio a burning necessity, and the City Council is to be asked at a special meeting to be convened for that purpose to consider it as one. While it is not proposed hero to oKpress tho personal views of the writer, it is well that the citizens generally should have clearly in their minds what the position is in regard to transport between Wellington City proper and the suburbs which lie to the eastward of the Mount Victoria range. When Kilbirnie was a country hamlet, and South ICilbiniio and Maranui a waste of sandhills, dotted here, and therewith a patch of phormium tonax (forming the product used very generally in the manufacture of top whips for schoolboys), the only means of access to tho country lying to tho eastward of the basin whioli holds Wellington was a, very rough road, which climbed the hill in a southerly direction from the top of Pirie Street, and which still exists in a more or less grass-grown condition, and. the roundabout way .alono; tho harbour road, via Oriental ana Evans Bays. Tho Boom, and After. In those, days the way east, via what is now Constable Street, was but a cattla track acrosß a very much neglected Town. Belt. Tho traffic acrosß this zone was infinitesimal; Miramar was undiscovered as a place of residence, no it occupied nearly half "a day to walk out there; and Worser Bay was only, remarkable as the' location of tho old pilot station. During the last quarter of. a century. • Wellington has grown : considerably. Twelve years ago the city began to take a big spring forward', and before the boom that was experienced then had : exhausted itself—-as every boom must —nearly all the available land in tho vicinity of Wellington was subdivided for. residential purposes, and in many cases quite extraordinary prices were realised, notably at long-neglected Miramar and Island' Bay. In, 1906-7: a check was felt —a slight collapse follow-: ed; tho price of. land receded' in-niost of tho outlying suburbs, and a. period of quiet readjustment, followed. Though tho boom had .burst, there was no questioning the one great outstanding feature.of that rather exciting time, namely, that Wellington had taken a big lunge forward, and had added many thousands to her stable population. Since then , quiet times have ensued, After a year or two tho aspect of things gradually, very , gradually, brightened. The position now is that Wellington has. slowly but ,surely caught up to itself; that is to say, that when the collapse took ilace many of tho suburbs suddenly became semi-depopu-lated, and empty houses stared with blank misery-haunted eyes from every quarter. That is all past. There are practically few vacant houses in the City at ,tho present time. .The house agents are so- worried off their heads daily by persons wanting five and sixroomed. houses anywhere—and are. unable, to meet the demand. The natural sequence of events '.points, therefore, to a'period of increased prosperity. Not a boom are always hariufuj.to seme—but to a?., brighter; period jf steady l -gfow th.. ;',ln 'wnicKdirectiofi will, Wellington grow:?..

.. . Mr. .Davltiso's Ideas.. , ' 'Recently Wellington was,visited, by. Mr; W. R. , Davidge, the expert, town planner, who, after a couple .of tours round the city, and aconcentrated study of a plan of the, city and suburbs, seemed to get a good grip of the; situation, and was just, as ready with, his suggestions as he was sure of his 'ground! Ho said that people Always build on tho Hat land first, because it is cheapest to build upon and more convenient, and as tho flat land becomes filled up they take to lower slopes, then the foot-hills, and finally to tho heights as they had done in Wellington. ,"In what direction must Wellington grow when nest she takes a leap forward? You have a little flat land left at Island Bay, not a great deal between Evans and Lyall Bays, and a considerable area at Miramar," Mr Davidge said. The population must go to those places. Miramar, one day, would bo a. big arm of the city—notiiSng was surer. ,The peninsula was surrounded by deep water and a cutting here and there through the sheltering hills would give easy access to tho city that would one day occupy every 'square rood of the Miramar flat. , That being so, what was the natural arterial road to the eastern suburbs? "Why. Constable Street! -The topography of the country decided that; it was the natural way out 1 , and forthat reason the council had better safeguard Constable Street all they knew for tho sake of those who were coming after tliem. ill the present members of the council may not'live to see tho when Constable Street would be twice its present width, and be served with a double track tho whole way out, hut that time would come. One only ; had to look at photographs'of Wellington taken fifty years ago to realise what it will be fifty years hence.

Diversion of Traffic from the Tunnel. The Mount Victoria tunnel only provides for a single line of tram-track, v/hjeh is nover likely to bo duplicated by any widening process,' yet to-day it has to take the whole, of the traffic east of the range. As the empty houses have filled up in the inside suburbs, people have been forced to look outside, and thca'o are many who prefer being well away'from "the congested portions of the city. The gradual increase in the numbers of those abiding /oast of the .tunnel has meant heavier traffic over the single line, .until bow there are times when >the traffic cannot be coped with, and cases have been known where people have been unable to catch the "last tram, homo," and have had to seek a temporary lodging in the city. The Slayor .has 11ns all in view in his intention to ask the council to make the extension of the Constable Street line an urgent work, to be proceeded with at once. There is 110 reason why passengers for Miramar, South ICilbirnio, Maronui, and Lyall Bay should uso the tunnel cars when there is an alternative line via Constable Street; seeing that the same distance has to lie traversed no matter which sido of the hill the car - The building of tho Constable Street extension will give immediate relief to the tunnel line, and is expected to be a boon during the approaching summer season to the big population that resides southward of the Basin Reserve.