PROGRESS OF SYDNEY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4753, 19 September 1924, Page 2

PROGRESS OF SYDNEY.

BUSINESS-LIKE IMPROVEMENTS. IMPRESSIONS OF PAEROA MAN. Mr W. F. North, of. Paeroa, who returned on Wednesday after having spent six weeks in and around Sydney, New South Wales, was asked yesterday if he. had spent an enjoyable holiday, and what were his impression of that city. “Yes” replied Mr North, “I had a real good trip. Sydney is now recognised as the fourth largest city in the British Empire. The greatest impression that struck me upon arrival was the extremely busy state of affairs about the centre of the city. While Auckland has its one busy street, Sydney has four, each about one and a half miles long, equally busy. Tram-lines are laid in each street, two of which are .wholly given over to cope with the enormous traffic between Circular Quay and the railway station. “I was fortunate in being able to see a good portion' of the various parts of the city,” continued Mr North “and after an absence of sixteen years the growth of dwellinghouses seemed to me to be phenomenal. Large areas which I remember as vacant sections are now covered with substantial dwellings. In places near the beaches sandhills have been levelled and are now covered with handsome bungalows of unique and attractive design. Sydney folk during the season, which lasts from six to eight months, live on thq beaches. All round the harbour and its arms, together with the oceaai beach, there are at least fifty public reserves and beaches. In a ten-miles walk round the southern foreshores of the harbour I was much impressed by the many handsome residences of the better class. The sloping lawns, rockeries, and tennis courts just -above high-water mark, and over a sea wall private baths and boat sheds, all kept in excellent order and repair, make an inspiring sight, and one that adds great beauty to the natural charm and general appearance’ of the. harbour.

“The State Government has recently passed an Act through the Legislative Assembly concerning good roads. You should note that there ares already some thirty to forty miles of tarred macadam roads, but these have been found to be not altogether satisfactory, and the new Act is to provide for reconstruction in concrete and bitumen. These new roads are to be arterial in the county of Cumberland, and are also to extend to the Blue Mountains, a distance of some seventy miles from Sydney. A new method of taxation to provide for interest and sinking fund is buin.g adopted, by which means the. city is to be a partner in the construction and maintenance of such roads by being taxed one half-penny in the pound on its unimproved value, which tax, it is estimated, will produce something like £50,000 annually.

“You ask what I think Jf Sydney’s neW railway station. Well,” informed Mr North, “the railway traffic is a big problem, especially when one considers that in twenty-four hours nearly, four hundred trains leave, the twentytwo platforms for various destinations, and during tlie rush hours trains depart at less than two-minute intervals. There are three doubleline tracks. Then there are also a large number of motorbuses running in competition with the trams and trains, Some of the buses run a distance of fourteen miles from the city and charge the same fares as the State railways. “It struck me that there were one or two matters in which Auckland is ahead of Sydney,” hes aid. “For instance, there is the matter of wharf equipment. I did not see a single electric crane on any of the wharves. The street pavement in the heart of Auckland is far superior to Sydney, where wooden paving blocks are still used extensively and one sees very little concrete. “I visited one dairying district while I was away, but I did, not see anything like the growth of grass that we have in this district,” concluded Mr North. “Nothing I saw while away can compare with the luxuriant growth viewed in the Waikato and Thames Valley on my return to Paeroa.”