THE NEW UTOPIA.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 16 April 1901, Page 4

THE NEW UTOPIA.

Where England's Promised Paradise is to be Erected. " Daily Mail." It is not improbable that before the twenticnth century is two years old England will broast a town tho like of which is at present unknown in this of any other country. It will be a town wherein lifo will be lived under conditions as perfect as science can make them. And when tho twenty-first century dawns there may be scores of such towns dotted all over remote districts of rural England.

In these paradisical cities every man will have a handsome, substantial, roomy house to live in, with extensive gardens for the cultivation of flowers and vegetables ; he will work in a model factory, workshop, or oilice ; ho will walk along tree-lined streets broader and cleaner and brighter than any in the West End cf London ; he will take his " constitutional" in a magnificent, well-! aid-out park situated at his doo" ; he will do his shopping when the weather happens to be inclement in streets covered over with glass. Then, if he should feel indisposed, he may retire for a space to. A Free Sanatorium, and when he is too old to work he will receive a cosy pension until the time arrives—presumably not before lie is about 105 years old —for the public crematorium to claim him for its own. This is no Bellamy dream—it is a fact ; at any rate, steps arc being taken to make it a fact. The work of the Garden City Association has now arrived at such an advanced stage as 10 warrant representatives of the association, inspecting possible sites for their first model town and drawing up provisional plans. Estates in Berkshire and Essex have been visited, but no definite selection has been made. Perhaps it will be in Essex. The scheme, as propounded io a representative of the '-.Daily Mail" by _an enthusiastic member oE the association. is as follows : First of all an eslaie.unbuill upon and located in a healthy, uninhabited district, will be purchased. The required acreage about IiOOO. and the estimated price is roughly. £21.0,000. Seven-eights of: this sum would he secured by issuing debentures at :! V per cent interest, and as soon as the major portion of the money is subscribed operations will commence. Numerous promises have been received by the association from influential and moneyed people. Assuming that Garden City be built—and the prompters are most sanguine — what will it be like ! J Briefly, it will have the appearance, and its residents will enjoy the advantages, described at the beginning of this article. The city will be

Circular in Shape,

and for tho sake of cheapness will to built a short distanco from tho main line of a railway, for it is anticipated that when the town has grown the railway company will gladly construct a branch line to it. Moreover, the promoters are great believers in the future of autom obilism and would send most of their goods and agricultural produce to the adjacent towns by means of horseless vans. Garden City would be limited to a population of about 80,000, who for a merely nominal rent would live in houses far superior to any inhabited by the working classes of London.

The first thing that would strike the visitor to Garden City would be the "circle railway" running round the outer rim of the town and connected with the main line by sidings. Then would come a ring of factories, warehouses, dairies, markets, etc. Gradually drawing nearer to the hub of this wheel-shaped city would be a number of three-lined, gar-den-fronted avenues, the main one, called "Grand-avenue," being 420 feet wide and three miles long. Tho pubiic schools would be situated along the middle of this great belt of green field 3 and shady trees. More avenues follow, and then we come to

A Gigantic Arcade. covered over with glass and called the "Crystal Paiace". Here the citizens would resort in wet weather to look at tho shop 3 and listen to the band. Behind tho "Crystal Palace" tho "Central Park" would be situated, 14.;"5 acrtS in extent, and fronting on this would be the Town Hall, tho library, the theatre, and other improvement and amusement. The hub of tho wheel itself is another garden with splashing fountains, sweet-throated birds, and a flower-scented air. That is how the Garden City looks on paper, It should bo added that tho promoters of this scheme are not Socialists, Communists, or co-operatives. They believe they can build a town in which the residents shall live as ideal an existence as is possible for those wlio'have to work for a livelihood, and that in the course of three years from now England may have its first "Garden City."