SMOKE—OH!

NZ Truth, Issue 1192, 4 October 1928, Page 6

SMOKE— OH!

What of AucklanH'sr Nuisance? (From "N.Z. Truth's" Auckland Rep.J With all their activities there are those -who. often wonder why ,_ that most peculiar' body known t asy the Auckland City Council have,, to date, passed no regulation m the matter of the smoke nuisance. - HURING the last few years many im- - posing buildings have raised their seven or more stories, white and un" . blemished, towards the skies, but it is not very long before they are grey and tarnished with the smoke from belching chimneys m their vicinity. In one or two cases protests have been made, but without result. Granted that the Queen City is not a centre of vast manufacturing industries, it nevertheless is located m a hollow, and only open, towards the sea. Should the clarity ~of the city.s atmosphere be advanced, such a delusion can easily be dissipated by viewing it on a calm, sunny day from one of the- surrounding heights. Does Auckland's council know Jthat there is one chimney m Queen Street, right m the heart of the city, which belches "offensive smoke into the air, not one inch higher than sixty feet above the pavement, bestowing a liberal coating of smut on ail the buildings m its immediate. vicinity, and at times filling the street with its sooty fumes? Has that same singularly obtuse body ever observed a chimney about three chains off Queen Street which daily broadcasts volumes bf rich, black smoke into the atmosphere befouling the walls of some of the handsomer structures but recently erected, to say nothing of the discomfort of those who rent offices and flats therein? Of course it is possible that the way m which Auckland city is be- ';•-'' grimed with the. smoke of dozens of chimneys without hindrance is but a reflex of the minds which permit such a state of things. ._-■- Smoke screens have been used m war most effectively, why not m peace? And could there be any time when a smoke screen could be more acceptable to our civic legislators than at present? Whatever may be said it does seem remarkable that some effort should not be made by those responsible to givej the city the very clearest atmosphere possible, and there is not any use boasting of the beauty of the Queeni.. City of the North, which of late has' seen some fine edifices completed m white or grey, if fear of offending vested interests is to stand m the way of preserving a clean appearance at least. Auckland cannot brag about ita clean streets, m winter they are a quagmire, and m summer a desolation • of dust. As it seems impossible for this state of things to be rectified by those m whose hands the fate of the . city rests,, is it beyond the scope of their civic pride to see that the citizens have at least air as pure as is possible?' Pure air after all is more within their scope than mpral purity, arid they might direct some bf their diverted energies m that direction; rather than raising scares about the morality ' of cabarets, pictures, or' Sunday amusements, m respect to which their strictures are more a reflection' on their fellow citizens than an indication of their own intelligence.