TOWN PLANNING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16485, 26 February 1914, Page 9

TOWN PLANNING.

MUNICIPAL ECONOMIES. PRE-DESIGN MAKES CHEAPER HOUSES. PRESENT SYSTEM BREEDS SLUMS. ■ '.., Touring through the dominion after having attended the Medical Congress in Auckland, I>r J. W. Barritt, of iviel.bourne, arrived in Christchurch yesterday.- A little while ago he made a trip to Britain and the Continent, and while in the Old Land he took a keen interest in town planning, which isi his hobby. - Since his return to Australia he has lectured often on the subject he is so interested in. > FAULTS IN ROADS! Speaking to a" Lyttelton Times" reporter yesterday Dr Barritt said that one of the most promin-. ent defects, in the Australasian cities was- in connection with the construction of roads. A great deal of money;was wasted in thoroughfares simply because there was no definite system followed. In the English \X,>vm Planning Act of 1909 the.roads wt>ro classified into three divisions, primary, secondary. and residential, and according to the duties required of the reads their construction was varied.. Where free design was acted on the widths of the roads were measured by the requirements. If a street was in a business" centre or was a main artery to another town it. was iriade widel to accommodate heavy traffic, but in factory quarters the thoroughfare was narrower, and the residential roadways were narower again: The factory roads were a chain in width, but in the residential areas, although the street was a chain wide, the metalled roadway was only sixteen feet. Trees flanked . the formed portion and small footpaths rail under them. The saving was enormous. Macadam cost from 3s to 4s per. square: yard and it was easy to see that the extra six-feet in width would make a great difference in the cost, to a municipality. The wide roads, he felt sine, were due to the fact that in the early days they.were stock roads. The people have not grown out of the habit. FENCES ALSO A HABIT, The early days of stock driving were also' largely responsible for the presence of fences; which were usually unsightly and represented ai considerable item in the cost of construction and of-paint-ing, " Ihave aphotograph," he went on, "of a house in Melbourne where the fence is six inches in front of the house. The owner has not lost the habit of the fence, and he has put it up, although it is useless and an expense." The advantages of pre-design in the lay-out of suburbs, said Dr Barritt, were generally ■ recognised. In ' England great •'."■ economies were effected -by co-ordination. Groups of owners, or groups of contractors were able to cut down costs very largely by means of the standardisation of parts in buildings. The designs of the varipus houses were not alike, but there was a uniformity about them which helped to lower the charges and at the same time add to the beauty. He found that in England and on the Continent outhouses were dispensed with. They were put under the 1 one roof with the main house. "I know that many people object to the scheme in Australasia because steam penetrates into the rooms i from the. washhouse, but that is overcome by the use of efficient means to lead the steam away. POKEY LITTLE KITCHENS. "In Australia, and doubtless it is the same in New Zealand, the kitchen and the washhouse are usually contained in a pokey little lean-to or are email, dark and unsightly. . The drawingroom, on the other hand, occupies the most space and is never entered except for dusting - purposes. This is where big mistakes are made. The kitchen' should "really be the largest and best ventilated room in the house. In ; English. working homes the kitchen is a living r6om,:this enabling the fullest use to beniade of the heat in the kitchen. \' It would be better if the drawing-room . were left out or relegated "to the little lean-to. It is in matters of this 6ort that the townplanner effects big economies."

THE PROCESS OF TOWN-PLAN-NING. Dealing with the methods employed in towrtrplanning, Dr Barritt said that under the English Act, which he s'idered. to be the best for adoption in Australasia,: a centralauthority, ."■', a Local' Government Board,\ was appointed to take charge of the general application of the Town Planning Act, but the details. were left to the looal authorities. . Where an area was to bo cut up for residential purposes the municipality met... the owner and arranged a definite plan, for the subdivision/fixing the sites for the houses, 'the widths of the street -and-* their positions, the most economical .lay-out for drainage,, lighting:'and - water, supply, and the 'general designs for. houses. When these were agreed on the plan was submitted to the.central authority for approval, .The owner, proceeded with his building, and under the plan he was able to obtain advances from the Government, at the Government fate of. interest;up. to two-thirds of the cost of tho';.worlv. . . He was insured against lossj-' but if the. building increased'the Rvalue, of the land, the local authority took half of the. increment and spent it oh the property. .By these, means the expenditure was made lower. Compulsion was used "as a last resource.

I "There can be. no doubt that without, a system of town-planning the formation .of slums cannot *be prevented. The ordinary systems of by-Jaws will riot stop the evil, .because it is^ no use Wiping out slum tenements until additional . .residences are provided. You see,.if an house.is destroyed and a' family is driven out they must go somewhere else where rents are higher. They cannot afford to pay and then two families live in one house. Under the English Act the municipality can either order the destruction of an insanitary house or can resume the land at the land value and build a house itself on the property. But before slums are pulled down you must have other houses ready." A GREAT WORLD MOVEMENT GARDEN CITIES v. SLUMS. DR BARRITT AT THE KING'S THEATRE. At the King's Theatre last evening Dr J. W. Barritt, of Melbourne* delivered a lecture on " Town Planning,'' under the auspices of the City Council. There was an attendance of about two hundred. . '■'■."'..

The Mayor (Mr H. Holland) presided, and in introducing the lecturer said that the small attendance that the people of Christchurch were either very busy, or were too apathetic to take an interest in matters of high civic importance. He dealt briefly with the splendid results which had attended the demolition of slums and the improvement of housing in older cities. Both the crime rate and the death rate had been decreased so markedly as te emphasise the tremendous importance of environment in its effect on physical and moral health. Dr Barritt said his task that evening was a very simple one. He did not propose to show them an ideal city or an icfeal condition of society, but he would confine himself to a simple statement of existing facts. H* would

I show what had ( been done in British ' and- Australian cities. '- -;. T ',,, THE GARDEN CITY MOVEMENT. ; Dealing with the "garden city" movement in Britain, Dr Barritt said that it was of comparatively recent growth. The concentration of popu- ; lation in the great cities of the Old World had been attended by a deca- j . dence in the - physique of the people. Those who studied:the. causes of this-1 ''decadence came to the conclusion that j , the best cure was a new- and better way i of living for the masses of the people,, i and the garden city movement was-the I form the cure took. Born in Britain, the movement received it® earliest practical application in Germany. LETCHWORTH AND BOURNEVILLE. - \ The lecturer then showed a number of lantern slides depicting the houses,: factories, gardens.: andv recreation grounds in Letchworth, the first, and at present the only garden city in the worldj and in the model towns of Bourneville apd Port Sunlight. An especially interesting feature of this part of the lecture was Dr Barritt's . demonstration that the attractive spacious convenient houses at Letchworth and Bourneville, with their wide areas of: common land and prettj' gardens were, even from the standpoint of the jerry-builder and land speculator, not so very much less profitable than the most congested and dreariest of slums. He showed side by side two plans of a twelve or four-teen-acre block of land. One was cut up and built upon in the approved slum style, three hundred and fifty semi-detached dwellings being arranged in five compact double rows, the nouses being crammed back yard to back yard; with streets between.' The other shovyed the same block of land built upon after the Letchworth manner, accommodat- ! ing about one hundred and fifty dwelling houses, arranged so as to border two large rectj angular blocks. The large enclosed . spaces were devoted to bowling greens, i tennis courts and play grounds, for | the common use of all the dwellers in j the block, and each -house had a sufficiency of land to itself. That the i block of land cut up and'built upon jon the Letchworth plan would proI duce nearly as much interest on cost as the. slum block was accounted for by the great saving in the cost of road construction. The block on the Letch- j worth plan involved the construction I of but- three roads, while the slum j : block required six, the saving on the Letchworth plan being estimated at about £SOOO. :; ; ,i i/? : '-}[yi ; : . , AUSTRALiAN'SLtJMS. ' Turning next to Australian slums', Dr Barritt showed pictures of the poorer-class dwellings in Brisbane, i Sydney and Melbourne—cottages of a type only too familiar in this city, but crowded together more closely than in all save a few streets in Christchurch.; In dealing with the defects of the average Australian cottage, the lecturer, made a' little excursion into. j meteorology, and produced' a wet bulb | temperature chart of Australia at mid- | summer, showing that the wet bulb temperature rose above 80 only in a ' small portion of the Northern Territory of West Australia. He said that research had shown that the. wet bulb temperature was the best, test of temperature with respect to the influence of heat on the human;system. A dry bulb - 'Fahrenheit could be endured for; a short while, but lieat apoplexy invariably resulted when . the wet-bulb temperature got in the neighbourhood of 80 or 90• degrees. In.: the average small, ill-ventilated, un-scientifically-planned Australian kitchen the wet bulb temperature in summer rose to altitudes extremely injurious to health, and to this cause could be ascribed the faded, washed-out appearance of most Australian women of the working 1 class when past their first youth. " ■■'_ ■' '/;'•"';' ' . TRAINING IN RECREATION. One of the facts which was becoming slowly but surely recognised throughout the World, Dr Barritt con-, tinued, was that it was just as important to train people how to use their leisure time a* to train them in efficient methods of .working. This applied to both young and old. The garden city, with its play gymnasia and swimming baths, bowling greens and tennis, courts, went far • to solve the problem so far as those. • towns were concerned, but it was necessary to do something in less favoured cities. In America the evils of making squalid lanes and dingy 6tfeets the playground of the juvenile population was being widely recognised and in the great cities millions sterling were being expended upon the construction and equipment of up-to-date, playgrounds, gymnasia, swimming baths, baseball and football grounds for the use of children. " GERMAN HOUSING SYSTEM. Taking his audience to Germany, Dr Barritt reverted to the housing ques- J. tion. The municipalities m that \ country bought up all the . land bordering projected tramway and suburban railway lines, and then leased the land for. residen- , tial purposes, imposing in the lease ' several clauses intended to ensure that the building erected should be a hygienic attractive-looking, comfortable and well-appointed residence. If any of the clauses were not observed the municipality at once resumed possession, ' so the land sneculator had no .chance at; all. The conditions imposed. were generalised rather than particularised, and there was plenty of latitude allowed for individual tastes and requirements. , A VOTE OF THANKS. At the conclusion of Dr 1 Barritt'B

4 } . Councillor J 7 IM'Combs, M.P., moved a hearty vote of'thanks to the p 'lecturer, He feared, that-even Christ- ; church had the beginnings or snch i slums as Dr-Barritt had described as • existing in : Australian -.cities,; but-if; the interest of. the public were aa-aieft** ed by such lectures-as that gifcrt: hp'i; Dr Barritt they-might yetbe able to; : v i avoid the -evils thatrhad ueset } ■ olden:.* cities.--. ■-■.■'.; r / i';.-.V;-. ■ •- :•.:-'J'li-

. The motion was secondedAy Coucfcifej lor G. Scotti who T.eferred to the stow-;.) ing demand among working people in! .this dominion for ; better.-houses . than) wer& at present available, and express--ed the opinion- that the informatiqii 1 ' given by, Dr - Barritt would prove' of; freat value in tackling this • proV leui.. '..:. '•../.■. ;■ . - ! .•■•-,'. ' :') t 's.>*,•; The motion was carried,by acclama» tiori.' .. /.■;-'■ •■-: *'-*■'• -■■ "• ' =-&''

FURTHER LECTURES- PROMISED^

';The Mayor announced that the Bri-' tish Town Plariaing Association intended sending to New Zealand several of' its leading members, experienced engineers, - : . in August next; Plans had been made for a series of five lectures in each of the four cities. Christ-.' church would certainly welcome the opportunity presented, and he hoped \ the lectures would be very largely attended, for Dr Barritt had very ably } indicated the interesting and im- ■ portant character of the subject. ; ?f----"i m i"»» i I