LIVE IN SUBURBS!

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 83, 29 June 1927, Page 12

LIVE IN SUBURBS!

WHAT AUCKLAND OFFERS ROMANCE OF DEVELOPMENT FROM HARBOUR TO HARBOUR CEVENTY-FIVE years ago what we know as the City of Auckland and its suburbs was open country, with a few houses clustered round one or two bays on the harbour. In fact the residential and business area could be included within a line drawn up Princes Street from the beach, across Victoria Street and down Hobson Street to the bay again.

SOUTH and west of the “town” were only a few scattered dwellings. Patches of scrub and tea-tree were in between. Hobson Street, up the hill from Victoria Street, had scarcely a house in it, while Pitt Street and Karangahape Road existed only on the map.

Many people have said: “If I knew which way these new suburbs would grow, I could make up my mind.” It often happens, of course, that an entirely unknown place will spring into fame, but usually the growth of a suburb is governed by one main outstanding factor—transport. Districts which are quite desirable from many points of view languish for want of transport facilities, and new suburbs are brought into being because of it. There are three kinds of transport available—trains, trams, and buses. Tramways are more or less limited in working area, because of the time

Upper Queen Street was a footpath leading through tangled fern. Upper Symonds Street and Khyber Pass Road had not been formed by military working parties. The only “suburb” consisted of a few huts clustered round the road leading out of the town, through Par-

nell. Places like Newton and Ponsonby were out in the country. There was an occasional settler’s residence in the expanse of fern. A small steamer ran a weekly service up the Tamaki River as far as Otahuhu. WAITEMATA TO MANUKAU To-day Auckland is a modern city of 200,000 people, with prosperous suburbs extending for miles in every direction, reaching from the Waitemata to the Manukau. Truly its growth is one of the romances of colonisation. With the growth of the suburbs in so many different directions, however, prospective home-builders are faced with the task of deciding which suburb they will choose. Each has its advantages, but each is not equally well known. One may be tempted to decide on a situation, without being aware of other suburbs which may be more suitable, and not so well known. A brief history of the recent growth of the suburban area, with a short description of some new suburbs, may therefore be of value. At first glance one is impressed with the fact that while the greatest recent development has been out on the flat plateaux between the conical hills behind the city—such as round Mount Eden, Mount; Albert and Three Kings—latest tendencies are to go further afield. MODERN TENDENCIES Three quite clear examples of this can be seen at Point Chevalier, St. Heliers and Avondale. All break new ground. NOTES ON SUBURBS THE SUN hopes to have in this column each week a short account of the development of some new suburbs or subdivisions. ORAKEI Inquiries made at the Crown Lands Department indicate that this loqg-looked-for subdivision will not take place until the spring. Meantime, the work on the roadway is being hurried forward and should be completed at an early date. TAMAKI A description of the garden suburb at Tamaki was published in “The Where to Live Page” last Wednesday. Since then the result of the amalgamation poll has been made known, showing a heavy majority in favour of linking with the city. One decided advantage that the residents of Tamaki can now obtain is the making of good roads. The City Council’s backing and experience will make possible good concrete roads right through there. City drainage and water supply will, of course, be assured, and nothing is now lacking to make Tamaki a first-class garden suburb. That the “garden” part of the title is no ornament is supported by information available during the >veek —it

they absorb In travelling—no one would think of coming in say 80 miles by tram; but for short distances they are distinctly useful. TRAMS OR BUSES? Buses are the greatest factors in future transportation. There is no doubt that their development is one of the causes of the growth of Greater Auckland. A bus will convey one more quickly than any other means of cheap transportation. The huge increase in the mileage of concrete roads in and about Auckland has no doubt contributed materially to the popularity of the bus services. It is the intention of the City Council to build even more concrete roads. The effect this will have on the suburbs beyond a. tram terminus, such as New Lynn and Mount Roskill, can readily be imagined. The third means of transportation is one that has more or less suffered an eclipse since the development of bus services: but it still remains true that railway transport is the cheapest. A worker’s weekly ticket, or even a monthly concession ticket, makes for remarkably cheap travelling. WORKERS’ CONCESSIONS The railway serves only a few suburbs, but the new Main Trunk deviation will bring an added area within its range, particularly St. Heliers. Ivohiraarama, Tamaki and Panmure. These suburbs will then be within 15 or 20 minutes of Queen Street. The railway already serves the suburbs of Otahuhu and Papatoetoe. and an investigation of the time-table and fares would well repay time spent. appears that the ground there is so rich that anj'thing will grow without fertilisers. TAKAPUNA People whose fancy leads them over the harbour will be interested in the result of a poll taken last week, which decided that henceforth rating in Takapuna will be on unimproved values. It is thought by many that this will be the beginning of a building area in Takapuna. Progress in transportation has also been made there for fine new motorbuses now run in place of the steamtrams, and the time-table of the ferry service has, we understand, been revised. GLEN EDEN Glen Eden is another suburb which has made rapid advances recently, having doubled its population between the two last census periods. Once known as Waikumete, and considered at that time to be beyond the suburban area, it has now, since the concreting of the Great North Road, and the development of the bus service, contingent with a splendid train service, become easily one of Auckland’s pretti€>st suburbs. The idea of using a train service to suburbs on the North line is not much thought about, but the fact that Glen Eden is only 20 minutes from Queen Street by rail, and that a weekly ticket can be obtained for 2s 9d, will cause many to think of this means of transportation. [Many fine new houses are being built, and the suburb will well repay a visit.