TOWN PLANNING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10287, 23 May 1919, Page 3

TOWN PLANNING

THE CONFERENCE

IDEAS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF TOWNS AND CITIES.

The Town-planning Conference was continued in Wellington yesterday. Mr John Stead, Mayor of Invercargill, presided in the morning, and Mr 3. A. Nash, Mayor of Palmerston North, in the afternoon.

The Hone W. D. Sv MacDonald, who was present 'for a while In the morning, said that it'was pleasing to see the interest which was being taken in the conference, particularly the part which was being taken by women. THE CITY BEAUTIFUL.

Mr J. F. Muntiings presented a paper on ’’The City Beautiful.” Ho said that it was a common .ianlt of enthusiasts in dealing with the work of the past.'to overlook the conditions which governed those works i It was a fact that the ancient works were done by monarchs, the Church, and the wealthy, not by the people. The wOjfks of the past- were the expressions ol aristocrats, and those of the lutufo must be the expressions _of democracies. Under the old regime the bestand the most talented artists were employed, and every effort was made to secure the best work that could he got, and if New Zealand was to produce beautiful towns with beautiful works the people must be co-oidiuntcd and directed in a common aim toward the ideal to bo reached. And to do this democracies'must be prepared to pay for their work as aristocracies did of old. All our efforts must rest on a sound financial or commercial basis, or they would be doomed to failure. It was defective criticism to say -that beautification was costly, and it was a mistake -to forget that by far the greater portion of the cost of improvement schemes went in rectifying the past mistakes. The question of supply and demand affected the position; given a' demand for beauty the supply would follow. Whatever our ideas as to the external beautification of a citythe foundation always must be sound engineering, embodying the fundamental works of drainage, water supulv, lighting, roads and traffic control. The first step toward the goal should be the physical welfare of the citizens and the provision of parks, open spaces, playing fields, trees, water, light, and drainage. INDIVIDUAL TASTES.

In the planning of the town or the improving, of it the most complex problem was reached and individual tastes' and opinions would appear to be the controlling factors. While arch!-, tects in this country wpre expected to be well qualified no sfcuidard was set for speculative builders, who were free to design as they liked. As to the disposal of the dead, there was much to be saidMor cremation. The erection of a beautiful city* mausoleum would be worthy of consideration, something toi replace our depressing, insanitary cemeteries. He had planned the new podtion of Patna, . ;in India, and tho fundamental principle underlying its plan was .zoning. Mr J. L, Saimond expressed the opinion that a local authority winch permitted ’people to neglect their frontages was not doing its duty, because this neglect was. a. disfigurement of the town. Children should be taught to do something towards the good appearance- of -their towns.

Dr Charles Chilton said that in New Zealand we had many expensive fountains which did not play. It would be better to have fountains that would cost less and play more. New Zealand should not strive so much to copy the masterpieces'of beauty that could be seen in the older countries, but. rather, should endeavour to do its best within practical limits'. Miss Phoebe 'MyCrs said that civic authorities ttbuld' KaTO to “do more in bho way of providing good food for the people. WAR MEMORIALS. ■ Mr W. Hi Montgomery, Director of Vocational Training, touched on the subject of war memorials. He said that permanent and artistic memorials to our soldiers should bo erected, and he was against the idea of having only utilitarian memorials. . The best talent in the world should be secured to erect those memorials. They should not be put up haphazard, and to secure co-ordination the Government should immediately set up a Commission. He thought the designers might took on the work with the view of people who would live a century later. The memorials should express the emotion of the present memory of the past, and they should he inspirations for the future. Air McKenzie, gardener to tne Wellington City Corporation, road a paper on “Shade Trees in Towns and Cities.” ROADS AND STREETS. Questions concerning roads were dealt with by Mr S. A. R. Mair, who said that town-planning should commence with good location of all streets and roads. The prime location should bo the proper one, and that should be seen to regardless of cost. Faulty location of roads and streets could practically never bo rectified. The proposal to erect a national road as a war memorial should commend itself to the conference. At £SOOO per mile the cost for 1200 miles would be £0,000,000. Mr R. W. Holmes said that most of the congestion in Wellington was due to the original cutting up of the town acres. Borne towns in New Zealand bad been built in wrong places, among them Blenheim, Greymouth, and part of Na.pici. Mr F. W. Furkert also spoke of the importance of the original lay-out of streets. He advocated the banishment from our city streets of tho forests of posts and doing away with verandah poles. Mr L. Birks agreed that posts in the streets wore hideous. The difficulty might be overcome by putting the wires underground, hut there were other things which might' be done before that. Ho favoured cutting off tho corners of suburban roads. Electric power was going to have an enormous influence on town-planning. It would cause the disappearance of tho chimneys and tho coal carts.

NATIONAL MEMORIAL HIGHWAY. Mr P. S. McLean said that all motorists would favour .» national memorial: highway. ‘ln- a now country like this transport was of tremendous importance. There should be good roads throughout the country, especially good arterial roads, and these roads should bo controlled by a national, nonpolitical road board. *Mr H. F. Toogood also advocated improved arterial roads. Ur J. Allan Thomson thought that

geological surveys of areas to be used as town sites should be made. Mr N. Patterson, of the Wellington city engineer's department, urged that a betterment clause should bo included in.the Town-nlanning Bill. Mr S. Jiekell, Palmerston North, blamed rights-of-way for creating slnirs- _ . , City Councillor L. McKenzie, Wellington, said there were no_ local rights-of-way. The kingpin _in the building of a city was the engineer. Mr ,A. D. Hobson, Canterbury, said that it had to be realised Hint the engineer had not come first in the making of towns in the past; the settlors had decided to live in a certain locality, and. Hie engineer bad come afterwards. However, the ■ engineer should be the foundation of all planning of town schemes. To start with beautifying and erecting monuments was a. wrong line to take: a beginning should be made with those things which led to health. Mr N. C. Staveley endorsed Mr Jickell’s denunciation of riahts-of-wnv. and also said a word against deep sections. , '