LATE NEWS

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 98, 1 June 1914, Page 10

LATE NEWS

' J . FIRE AT GORE. . ■ A seven-roomed house in West Gore, ownedliy David Lyttle occupied by W, Adcock, ■was destroyed by fire early on Sunday morning. The house was insured for £3OO in, the Victoria Qompany, and the furniture for £IOO in the Northern Company.— Press Association,

and -Milan as object lessons in what - coulH be done. These cities have wide,, tree-lined boulevards,. plenty of parks and open .spaces, statuary and fountains, .while their public, buildings - are planned and. grouped with deliberate ■■■ } effect, eliminating tlie uiicomeliness .of . / accident/ Paris and Vienna were also i . iotable in this .respect, and as an instance of a .modern . industrial town which had achieved ' beauty >an4xcomfort, \ he mentioned the German, manufacturing ■ town of Dussddorf, which in all : the aims, of town-planning is one of the most advanced in the world.

THE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND.

The pre-arranged designing of cities, instead of haphazard growth, is no new thing. Mr Reade mentioned that recent excavations in Asia Minor show that ancient cities wore so designed, but in these modern years Italy was the . to devise laws for the planning of streets and buildings in 1865. Sweden was next in 1874, and Russia provided such legislation in 1875. With regard to the movement in England, Mr Reade mentioned the founding of the garden city of Letchworth, and the spread of the idea which brought n.bout the Town Planning Act of 1909. Since the passing of that. Act wonderful progress has been made, and now the Local Government Board, which administers the Act, hjis 150 schemes before it, the proposals of various local bodies. The Act • inducing land owners to cut up I properties into suitable areas, and iri so they receive the assistance-of tMilpcai authority, compulsion being repotted to only as a.-last>means of removing eyesores or unhealthy buildings. Asy'design for a building must conform to'the general scheme of the.-town, and must; be approved by the local authority, and then by the experts provided by the Local Government Board. This ensures that the building shall be designed with a proper regard to convenience and beauty as well, and prevents the growth of slum areas. AN EDUCATIVE INFLUENCE. The business of the Town. Planning Association is educative —its object is to educate people to the idea that a town can only develop healthily according to a "pre-arranged plan. Streets must be laid out and spaces for parks and public