The Old Auckland-and the New

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 654, 4 May 1929, Page 17

The Old Auckland-and the New

==j ===jj==g| OR the past few i- ' "weeks the city has ===*>,= been treated to a j ■- spate of words on : —: matters munici- ■ - pal. We have been : : bombarded with ljj figures and facts ■ ==i and near - facts about this and that and the other thing. Whatever our views may be on the sins of the outgoing council or the virtues that may he expected of the incoming one, we cannot hut be impressed by the unanimity with which aspirants for civic honours have each and every one of them stressed the growth and progress of our city and the potentialities that lie before it. A comparison of Auckland to-day with Auckland in her youth should not be amiss at the present time. About 40 years ago a small manual bearing the title, “The Household Guide” was published. Not the least interesting of its features was the official description of Auckland. A glance at this article provides illuminating evidence of the marvellous growth of our city. The boundaries of the Auckland we expect to see, in a few years, stretching from the Waitemata to the Manukau and for many -miles north and south were, in the days of the “Household Guide,” Cox’s Creek on the west; Khyber Pass, Boston and Basque Roads on the south, and the Domain on the east. Parnell was then, and for some years later, a separate borough, while Eden Terrace had its own road board. The small plan in the guide book looks ludicrously insignificant beside a map representing the present city area, embracing St. Heilers on the east and Avondale on the west.

Forty years ago the city proper comprised an area of 1,762 acres, as compared with its present 8,592 acres and the huge area of 18,700 acres which Greater Auckland will eventually cover. There has been a corresponding increase in population. The figures have grown from 28,000 to 100,900 over the period mentioned, while the totals for Auckland and suburbs have swelled to 206,810. Property in the city in the earlier period was assessed at. £292,386. To-day the figures stand at £2,572,023.

In the early days, the City Council had jurisdiction over one playing area only—the Domain cricket ground. Today such necessary adjuncts to com-

munity life are scattered far and near and cover an area approximating 150 acres, while the cry is for more playing fields. Formerly the city was divided into six wards, each being represented by three councillors holding office for three years. An election was held each December, when these councillors, or burgesses, as they were then named,, chose one of their number to occupy the Mayoral chair. When the “Guide” was actually a guide there were two small public baths in -Auckland —a salt water pool on the waterfront near the Kauri Timber Company’s premises, and another bath in Albert Street behind the site of the old City Markets. In the ’nineties women did not take the active interest in swimming that they now display, and the handbook informs us that “the waterfront baths are separated, the larger area being set apart for men and a much smaller area for women.” No mixed bathing in those discreet days! Certain “restrictions and reservations” for the good conduct of citizens are set forth in quaint terms. We learn that it was unlawful to keep goats, to allow anything offensive to fall on the footway from verandahs, to beat carpets after 8 a.m. and before 10 p.m., to fly kites,- drive furiously, leave a vehicle (without animal attached) in a public street unless this should be the direct consequence of an accident. It was illegal, also, to “drive a goat or dog harnessed to a vehicle,” to ring a bell, blow a horn or beat a drum in any street for the purpose of “crying or calling any matter whatsoever.’." To drive sheep or cattle through the public thoroughfares was a breach of a by-law, and riders of bicycles and tricycles were obliged to keep bells ringing while in motion and to dismount when approaching any horse or beast of burden which became restive and to remain dismounted as long as was reasonably necessary. There was a scale of charges laid down for watermen, reminding us that, facilities for harbour transport were not what they are to-day. And so we come to realise the growth of the Auckland that is ours to-day—a splendid record of progress —and it is well that we of this generation should not forget entirely the contributions of pioneers who looked far into the future and saw the city that was to come. M. B. SOLJAK.