FENTON STREET PROPOSAL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 152, 19 February 1932, Page 4

FENTON STREET PROPOSAL

One of the most important policy matters which has been clealt with by the present Borough Council was the deeision which was arrived at on Wednesday night regarding the scheme to be adopted in the lay-out of Fenton Street as the main approach to the town. Since the inception of the beautification scheme, for which the landscape architect, Mr. F. Tschopp has been preparing plans, opinion both within the council and among the ratepayers outside, has been sharply divided upon the advisability of Rotorua committing itself definitely to the comprehensive plan which Mr. Tschopp has enunciated. We have very fully outlined the nature of Mr. Tschopp's proposals in oiir news columns, and the ratepayers have now had an opportunity of appreciating the nature of the suggestions which Mr. Tschopp has advanced. We do not propose at this juncture, to discuss the merits or otherwise of the proposals as a whole, beyond stressing the obvious point that they are at present nothing more than suggestions, and that there can be no intention on the part of the council of committing the ratepayers to expenditure upon these schemes without an opportunity being taken of sounding the feeling of the people who will be required to find whatever expenditure may be necessary in putting into effeet the whole or portion of the recommendations. This much may be said, however. The people of Rotorua, as the citizens of a town which must strive to attain a definite individuality, cannot alford to take any narrow view of proposals of this nature. If Rotorua is to realise its future as one of the main tourist centres of the ISouthern Hemisphere, its people must be prepared to give it the environment which such a claim must legitimately entail. The wonderful natural assets which have been bestowed upon this town and district will make its future, if their development is viewed with vision and an outlook not confined by parochial prejudices. On the other hand, however, theory must be aligned with practice, and particularly in the present, the ratepayers cannot be asked to carry any burden which will not, when finally assessed, yield a commensurate return. A town of the size of Rotorua cannot alford white elephants, and it must walk before it can run. Caution in approaching extensive proposals of this nature is essential, and a lively and constructive criticism to be encotiraged. Viewed from a narrow standpoint, the proposals which the council has adopted in regard to the lay-out of Fenton Street may appear unduly ambitious. But when they are viewed with a wider outlook, they need at present occasion no alarrn, in the most eonservative. The council has, so far, only adopted the general principle of a boulevard lay-out as suggested by Mr. Tschopp. It has reserved to itself the right to decide measurements and has not yet approached any question of committments upon the ratepayers. The position, as we understand it, is. this. There can be no question of putting any portion of the work in hand until full estimates have been prepared and the extent of the expenditure has been fully discussed and placed before the ratepayers. That being so, it is premature to raise protests regarding expenditure until the exact extent of the suggested committments is made known, and the means of meeting them have been discussed. So far as the general proposal itself is coiicerned, it is incorrect to regard it as an experiment-. Street layout on the lines suggested by Mr. Tschopp has already been tried and successfully proved in centres inlinitely larger than Rotorua, while the mere fact that the scheme is new so far.as New Zealand is concerned, is an advantage rather than a disadvantage from Rotorua's point of view. Rotorua must strive, to be ,diff erent from other towns. Its future does not lie solely as a business and farming centre, although these mterests must. play their part,. but as a place and a district. which must come to be regarded as. the playground of New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere. It would be both short-sighted and foolish to condemn the proposals before they have been fully discussed^ and the extent of the expenditure which they will entail, made known. It then becomes a question of deciding whether the value of the schemes will be sufficient to justify the expenditure whatever it may be. The fact that relief- labour can be used, for the work, has a very important bearmg upon the question of cost, and the fact that opporturiities iii . this connee.tion which exist at present, may not continue indefinitely, should be borne in mind. , , , ...