The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1444, 2 October 1878, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1878.

At the last meeting of the Borough Council of Sydenham a subject of very great importance to all rising boroughs came up for discussion. During the present—or perhaps, to speak more correctly, the late—sharp attack of land hunger from which Christchurch suffered largo numbers of sections were surveyed and put into the market for sale. In the majority of cases whore the proprietors had given roads thoy were of the smallest possible width, so as not to encroach too much upou the valuable building sections. Some of these are within the boundaries of the Sydenham municipality, and the difficulty appears to bo how to deal with them. By tho Municipal Corporations Act alleys may bo mado not being loss than twenty feet wide, and having tho ends closed against traffic by vehicles, &c. Such a provision, to our niiud, is calculated to do a great deal of harm, and should be ex punged from the Act entirely. J*

is true that the general powers conferred upon Borough Councils enable them to refuse to grant ermission for an alley to be constructed unless of a width which they may fix by a bye-law. The clause in the Act provides the minimum width, and it remains for the Council of the Borough, as we take it, under the general powers of supervision of the streets, to see that no thoroughfare is opened but of a width which will be conducive to the public health. The application to the Sydenham Borough Council is to allow an alley, presumably of the minimum width, to bo constructed, running through sections which are to be cut up for building purposes, and which will presumably, therefore, bo largely built upon. The evil of narrow streets, which has been experienced in Christchurch, and from which, even now we are suffering, is therefore sought to be perpetuated in Sydenham. With the lesson before them of the perfect hot-beds of disease which these narrow alleys become when buildings rise thickly, we trust the Sydenham Council will resolutely set their faces against the abomination of these lanes being introduced into their Borough. They have now the opportunity of starting fair, and upon their decision rests the future health or prosperity of Sydenham. We feel sure of one thing, that the City Council, had they the power, would only be too glad to abolish the narrow streets now opened. They have been in the past and will be in the future prolific disseminators of disease, a power for evil which is bound to increase as the population of the city becomes denser. We need only look at other cities to see the results of a short-sighted policy of narrow lanes. In Melbourne they have, in the majority of cases, become the haunts of criminals and bad characters of every, type. It is true that these are exceptional cases where these streets have served a good purpose by affording facilities for carrying on mercantile business. But this is more than counterbalanced by the evil arising from the causes to which we have referred. On a small scale, we find the same result in Christchurch. The bad characters of our city congregate in these narrow lanes, and more of thorn enjoy an unenviable notoriety, almost equal in flavor to that; of tho classic shades of Romeo Lano and Juliet Terrace. And as it has been here, so will it be in Sydenham, unless the Council take steps to prevent it by refusing to allow alleys to be constructed which are not of a width sufficient in their idea, to obviate the chance of any bad effect on the public health. That this will be the result if only the minimum width of twenty feet is required in a closely-built neighborhood, seems to us self-evident, we trust that the Council will once and for all decide that such a system shall not obtain within their jurisdiction.