PERFECT VILLAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 April 1939, Page 11

PERFECT VILLAGE

EXHIBITION OF SOCIAL PROGRESS. GUIDE FOR FUTURE BUILDERS. One of the most interesting exhibits of the great Exhibition of Social Progress. in Lille, is that described as the “perfect village.” It is intended as a guide for future town builders and it incorporated all those things which a community should have. Architects, social scientists and plain country folk combined in its creation, and their motto was ‘‘Perfection is not a matter of money but of brains.” The perfect village is not to be one that could only be built at a perfectly impossible price. Within this model community must be hygiene, good working conditions, and architecture in keeping with local traditions. Visitors could see a model school, a church, an open-air market, a general playground, a community club premises, and the town hall served also as a community centre. Some of the meetings of the association of the mayors of France were held within the "perfect village.” The Social Progress Exhibition, where this model village was seen, held many surprises for the visitor. It was the first exhibition of its kind to be held in Europe, and revealed what France was doing to make conditions on the land more healthy and more pleasant. One section of the exhibition was devoted to the ‘‘Family. Mother and Child,” another to sports and another to personal and communal hygiene. Travel as an essential factor in social progress was also demonstrated by a tourist section, under the supervision of Dr. A. Pouget, Mayor of Le Touquet.