NEW REGENT STREET.

TRIAL OF LIGHTING SYSTEM. OFFICIAL OPENING ON FRIDAY. The first definite intimation to the public that' New Regent street has been completed was given on Thursday evening when the lighting system was tried out for the first time. Hundreds of people took their first walk through the new thoroughfare, in the light of 400 powerful lamps. The flood-lights and street lamps made the most of the colouring of the buildings, and accentuated tho lines of the Spanish architecture. But' the oxtensive lighting system, it is claimed, has more than an aesthetic value, in that light can be an important business factor, and a flood-lighted trade thoroughfare has more than a passing lure. Mr A. F. Stacey, with whom originated the. idea of constructing this new street, told a reporter of The Pkess that New Begent street would be officially opened on Friday, April Ist, at 7.30 p.m., by the Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.). The ceremony will include the cutting of a ribbon across the entrance to the street, and a number of citizens will speak. Mr Stacey claimed that New Begent street was the most modern in Australia or New Zealand, and embodied the very latest in town planning idoas. The contractors had completed the buildings well under the stipulated time, and various tenants were already putting their shops in readiness for the opening evening.

"There has beon a steady enquiry for the shops, and in some cases, where more than two classes of business have applied, offers have had to be turned down," Mr Stacey said. He believed that a time of economic depression -Stored the best period in which to build, and quoted as an instance New Regent street, on the construction of which many thousands of pounds had been saved on tho original contract price owing to tho keen competition of contractors. Thero had resulted the establishment of a wholo street of modern shops, rentable at a very low figure, and yet,still showing a return to the investors.

Mr Stacey also pointed out that over 80 per cent, of the building costs had been spent in wages and salaries, and labour had been employed at a time when men most needed the work. Splendid Lighting. Tho splendid lighting of the new street of shops embodies the latest in illumination engineering practice. The whole system is automatically controlled by a time-clock, which is switched on at sunset and off at midnight. Each shop has three exteriw lights and whatever interior lighting necessary. Floodlights on the roof of tho overhanging verandah brilliantly illuminate the coloured dabs brilliantly illuminate the coloured system helping to tone down tnu glaro from such powerful lamps. There will bo special evening displays of the illuminations during the Easter week.