TOWN PLANNING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 22, 16 June 1914, Page 8

TOWN PLANNING.

ORGANISER IN NEW PLYMOUTH. MR. C. C. READE INTERVIEWED,

3lr. Charles 0. Reade, the apostle of town planning, arrived in New Plymouth last night to make arrangements for a lecture by Mr. W. R. Davidge, F. 5.1., A.M.1., C.E., A.R.1.8.A., on the subject of town planning. He and Mr. Davidge are engaged on a lecturing tour which lias been made possible by the fact that the British Association for the Advancement of Science has invited Mr. Davidge to give lectures at the meetings of the Association in Melbourne and Sydney during August, and at the same time Mr. Reade has been asked to read a paperson Australasian aspects of townplanning. Mr. Davidgo will arrive in Auckland from, London on July 1, and, accompanied oy Mr. Reade, will begin the tour in the north, working southwards with lectures in all the important towns. Imediately the Auckland district has been covered Mr. Davidge expects to be in New Plymouth. The tour will cost about, £ 700, which does not include any remuneration to the lecturers, who will ask only for their out-of-pocket expenses. The Government, through the Minister for Internal Affairs, has promised £3OO, and Mr. Reade has for the past three weeks been engaged in arranging for lectures and financial support to cover the expenses. The science of town-planning, though comparatively unknown in this part of the world, is at present attracting a great deal of attention both at Home and on the Continent, and offers yet another proof of the humanitarian trend of our advancing civilisation. It has for its object the improvement of residence conditions in large cities, and though the need for amelioration is infinitely more urgent in the Old World than it is here, there is, as Mr. Reade remarked to a Daily News representative last night, much that can be done even ill this young country. , "The town-planning movement in Britain," said Mr. Reade, "began in its modern aspect with the founding of the Letchworth garden city. This originated with Mr. Ebenczer Howard, who founded the Garden Cities and Townplanning Association for that purpose in 1899. Letchworth and other places subsequently gave rise to the Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909. Since the passing of that Act the movement has made wonderful strides. There are now nearly 150 scheme before the Local Government Board (which is the controlling authority for that work in England) prepared 'by various local bodies. Modern town-planning," continued Mr. Reade, "seeks to do for the city what the architect does for the houses. It pM-arranges a plan along the lines of which future roads are to he directed, open spaces and sites for public buildings are secured, as well as garden spaces for each house, and other communal features which go to the making of a fine city and a healthy people. The movement is literally as old as the hills. Recent excavations in Asia Minor show that cities were built on pro-conceived plains five and six thousand years ago."

The Requests for lectures in New Zealand towns were, said Mr. Reade, very encouraging, but unfortunately far too numerous for tile limited time at the disposal of Mr. Davidge, who lias only six months' leave from his duties as engineer to the London County Council. In conclusion, Mr. Reade made it clear that the application of town-planning principles was a matter for local experts witlj a knowledge of New Zealand conditions, and there was no attempt to belittle the work which they had already done. The lectures will be illustrated with lantern slides. Mr. Reade leaves for Wanganui today,.