Building Notes.

Progress, Volume XVI, Issue 3, 1 November 1920, Page 70

Building Notes.

AUCKLAND. A number of plans for the new University College at Auckland have been received by the Education Department, Wellington, from the College Council. Dr. Anderson, Director of Education, went to Auckland last month. His recommendations are now at the disposal of the Department. Some of the plans are on an elaborate scale, says the local paper. Two instances of communities being- prepared to help themselves in respect to education facilities were reported at a recent meeting of the Auckland Education Board. The people of Matamata, it was stated, had .guaranteed to find £ i,ooo toward the cost of purchasing 15 acres of land as a site for a technical high school. ' The total sum being .£3,720. On these terms the purchase was approved. The other case was' that of the Whangarei High School Board, which has purchased a site of 40 acres. Twelve houses are being erected at Ellerslie under the Government housing scheme, and arrangements have been made for the building of a further 100 houses in' Auckland. Negotiations are now in progress for the purchase of suitable land, and as soon as this has. been settled the buildings will be put in hand. An important sale of city property has just been completed, involving a change of ownership' of the Brunswick Buildings, Queen Street. The purchase price was ,£07,000, the purchasers being J.. Wiseman and Sons, Ltd. ; The

building-, which is at present occupied by Messsrs. Hardie Brothers, ironmongers, was completed in 1914, and has a frontage to Queen Street of 42ft. ioin. The property runs back to High Street. The shop on the ground floor has one of the largest. unsupported spans in the Dominion, there being no pillars from wall to. wall. The building comprises six floors and a basement, and contains 40 to 50 offices. Messrs. Wiseman and Sons, who at present occupy a shop almost opposite the Brunswick Buildings, expect to be transferred to their hew premises in a few weeks' time. The sale was negotiated by Mr. Neville Newcomb and Samuel Vaile and Sons, Ltd. CHRISTCHURCH. Reference to the War Memorial to be erected to the boys of Christ's College who participated in the late war was made at the annual meeting of the Old Boys' Association by Mr. G. A. U. Tapper. He stated that the amount originally aimed at was ,£IO,OOO, but at a later date the executive found that, owing to the increased cost of building, the amount would- be insufficient to erect a memorial worthy of the school and of all those who had fallen in the war. After a consultation with the architect, it was found that ,£17,000 would be necessary. The amount promised to date was ,£15,672, of which £14,577 had been collected. Government restrictions, coupled with the' scarcity of building material, had delayed matters, but the architect considered that a start might be made during the next six months. Through the courtesy of the headmaster of Harrow School, the committee had been supplied with the design of the chairs used in the speechroom at the school. At Harrow each past or present boy was allowed to present one chair bearing his name and date, and it was proposed to place similar chairs in the Memorial Hall of the College. Mr. P. T. Graham, the Chief Housing Architect in the Department of Labour, writing to the Waimairi County Council regarding the "lav-out" plan for a housing scheme at Papanui, stated that he could not understand the Council's criticisms, as published in "The Press." It

seemed that the wrong - scale had been taken, and the plan on the whole had not been understood. It must be admitted, added the writer, that the following points were correct: (1) That sufficient outlets for future development had been allowed; (2) that through traffic in a housingscheme was inexpedient; (3) that a carrying way 16 feet wide would take two lines of modern traffic moving quickly, and that. 24 feet wide would allow three vehicles to pass one another; (4) that the carriage ways, as shown in the plans, were of more than ample width to take the traffic was was likely to be thrown on to them; (5) that a road for a housing scheme having a narrow carriage-way, with broad grass margins, and planted with trees, looked better, was more economical, and caused less dust than the type of road with 42 feet macadamised and the balance gravelled and tarred; (6) that modern engineers and town planners all agreed that it was better to throw a extra strip of land into the fore-courts of the houses than to waste it unnecessarily on the roads; (7) that the distance between the houses was sufficient to admit sunlight, and air. (The English standard was 70 feet apart, and the minimum distance in the Papanui lay-out was 106 feet. The by-law width was 66 feet) ; (8) that there was more open space provided than the usual suburban sub-division, and that the frontages (average 60 feet) were of sufficient width; (q) that four houses per acre was a liberal allowance, and would not create a slum; (10) that the only objection that could be taken to the lay-out by the Council was the position of the front fence, or, in other terms, the width of the road; (11) that it was not the width of a road that caused a slum. On the letter being read to the Waimairi Council, Councillor W. J. Walter said that the Government was making a mistake in not laying out a threequarter of a chain road. The Government should have conferred with the Council with regard to the lay-out, and should also have applied through the Council for building permits. The chairman (Councillor W. P. Spencer) said he understood from a reliable source that the road would be made a chain wide. On Councillor Walter’s motion it was resolved to write to the Government, stating that the Council considered it should have been approached for the building permits, and also should have been consulted with regard to the “lay-out” and the ,reading in connection with the housing scheme at Papanui. The following tenders for the erection of workers homes on the City Council’s land in Huxley Street, Sydenham, have been received by Messrs. Greenstreet and Anderson:

Tenders i, 2,3, 4, and 7 were subject to an increase to correspond with an increase in the cost of labour or material. No stipulation was attached to tender 5, whilst tender 6 was not subject to an increase. The Housing Committee recommended that the tender of Mr. A. F. W. Jones be accepted, it being- the lowest. Councillor J. W. Beanland. who moved the acceptance of the tender, said that the prices were a little higher than expected, but they were the best that could be obtained. Practically everything necessary for a well-appointed house was provided for. The motion for the acceptance of the tender was seconded by Councillor A. Williams. After a considerable amount of discussion and a motiom being put and lost to the effect that the question of accepting a tender be postponed for six months, Mr. C. E. Wright's tender was accepted on the voices. The Government has granted ,£2,900 for the erection of a temporary Training College owing to the big increase of students expected next year. ■ , WAITAKI. ... The result of a deputation of the Waitaki Board of Governors to the Minister of Education at Wellington was that a grant of ,£7,000 would be placed before Cabinet for favourable consideration.

Type i. Type 3. Type 8. Total. ' £ . £ £ £ I. Walter Hayes ... ■ ii4if 1325 1204 9687 2. N. McGillivray ... 1107 1293 1198 QSOi 3G. L. Bull ... 1100 1232 1213 9403 4A. Rennie ... 1605 1104 1080 9659 5A. T. Mutton ... 1067 1079 1072 8575 6. C. E. Wright ... 1094 1047 1051 8485 7A. F. W- Jones ... 990 1050 1124 8204