THE LIGHT CURE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 71, 24 March 1915, Page 9

THE LIGHT CURE.

:'.*-;p MEND THE MORALS OF * GREY STREET. PBOPOiED NEW THOROUGHFARE. OOUNCILLOtR'S SCHEME TO ABOLISH ; 'HIDDEN HOUSES.. 'It is now several weeks since a depu.iation of Grey Street owners and tenants waited on the Mayor, and asked that, in v.i?w of the reputation that was Jjeing ;.:'. lied to the sreet. he City Council, or other authority concerned, should, take drastic action w"Hh a view to clearing out -undesirable tenants. Since then_various suggestions for mendfag the. moral? of the thoroughfare have been under consideration: but so far it hag not been found possible to devise' anything beyond police supervision as a jemedy.

7 'One of the steps taken as the result of ihe deputation to the Mayor was an faqniry oi the Wellington City Council for,a copy of by-laws which were specially fiamed for th e purpose of dealing with ionses of Hi-fame in that city. _Chese have been referred -to theJßy-laws tkttnmittee, but have not yet been considered. -~, r . "PUNISHING THE OWNER. . 'The Mayor (Mr. C. J. Parr) this morning informed a "Star" representative ■that the by-laws in question were' much more stringent than those of Auckland, _tod provided for heavy penalties where "itwas proved that tenants were keeping nouses of ill-fame. Tt also provided for upon persons letting houses to 'persons of ill-repute, or, having 7 let-them. "continuing the tenancy after being duly urarned. The Mayor added that he had forwarded the Wellington b.y-laws,-srhich f had.been in operation for some years, to fthc»Bylaws Committee, with the suggestion that they should consider the advisability or otherwise of adapting them to Auckland.

' ' The chairman of the Bylaws Commit- . tee is Mr. A. J. Entrican. who, when Been by a " Star" representative, ex- . pressed doubt to whether such bylaws as those obtaining in Wellington could be enforced here, owing to a legal point tint was involved. He proceeded to -outline a scheme which he thought . would be the only effective way oi presenting Grey Street and the vicinity from degenerating into a neighbourhood »f 31-fama. "To mv mind." said Mr. ■iEntrican, " the whole question is one of light. 'Wherever houses of ill-repute exist it is generally owing to the diffiieuhy of ae.-ess and supervision by the police. Grey Street is a beautiful thoroughfa re. STREET CONTOUR. There is only one reason for its present reputation, namely. ' its peculiar street formation. The right angle formed sby Queen Street and Cook- Street is intersected by Grey Street and Vincent gtreet in,such a way that the depth of the properties in Grey Street gradually increases until it is sufficient for two frontages, -it the poTnt of the two forks formed the uepth is short. At th c cxi. J-tende'cr end" of the., fork it 7< hundreds or t -fee.*-.. There ,is no dividing street to •f: give another frontage, and. the result ha s been that owners of property, in order to make use of the abnormal depth of their sections, have created right of ways and" hav P _ built cottages on the rear of the land. In conseqnence all sorts of queer lanes and hidden terraces have been formed. On the left hand side of the street the remedy has been found in the gift of Mvers Park. This has ensured that the gully on that side will' not degenerate into a slum of the worst type. "The si mc remedy must T>e applied to the other ,-ide of the street, and in my opinion the only way is to run a good -Thoroughfare right through'the gulby commencing in Cook Street, opposite Albert Street, and running right up to Pitt Street. In that way: we -should let light tfpon all those nooks-and crannies where hidden vice now lurks. - ""The work would, of course, be. car- - .Tied out under the Public Works Act, and ought to be put in hand almost immediately. At the present time there are 'practically no valuable properties in the line of the -proposed new road. Its formation would, in.the main, cleaF-out of-the way a lot of old shanties and dilapidated cottages. If there is delay ■Jtew brick warehouse may be built on •part, of the route. The benefit to the city would be incalculable. It would ■form an alternative . short and unbroken route from Newton to the city, would greatly- relieve the congesttion of Queen Street. It need not necesbe a hundred-foot road. Sixty feet probably would be wide enough. ---Sneh a street would give valuable fron- - toges to the. remainder of the land, i which in itself would, to a great extent, • compensate for the properties that might have to be destroyed." ' To illustrate his argument. Mr. Entrican, accompanied a "Star" representative to the i.eighbourhood. and pointed ont several instances of where properties had been erected at the back of .houses with frontages. In some cases short narrow lanes had been made as approaches to houses hidden away in the gully, while in-others there was simply a. footpath. COURTS AXD ALLEYS.

In nearly every case the access was of the cul-de-sac variety, and Mr. Entrican pointed out that it wanted no stretch of the imagination to realise . that such places in a few years would degenerate into shims very little better than, and almost precisely similar to. the courts and alleys in the older cities of the Homeland. may do some good," commented Mr. Entrican. '"but aslong as you have these places hidden away like this you will not eliminate "the house of ill-repute." " Asked what was th? difficulty of adopting the Wellington by-laws, the Town -Clerk (Mr. H. W. Wilson) expressed the fear that if any attempt were made to pint such by-la-wa into operation they ■would not "be upheld in a Court oi law. Municipal airtioftties ccmid make as many by-laws as fthey liked, but whether -fee law would uphold them was a different matter. Mr. Wiison pointed out that as a matter of fact Auckland at one •time possessed a similar series of by-.. , Jaws to deal with this problem, but years ago they were abolished as untenable in "aw. The wholp difficulty of dealing with - 'fconses of iH-fcime by by-laws, as by dealing with them under the Police Offences Act, was proof. Would the Court allow tbe operation <>i by-lawe unless the same "P>oof were forthcoming against the owner ■s was required in an ordinary police .prosecution? The Municipal Colorations Act laid it down that, no by-law should oA valid if a haeneh thereof iad involved • breach only of some religious OT moral •oftis* _ _ ,

CRIME COMMITTED.'" ''KNOWINGLT.-' Under the Crimes Act, howevef it was iHntl *!* V* ™* * o* sw£ or amy part thereof, who knowingly perOT an y P . , < ? c ? u P» ed or used a disorderly house » hable to be prosecuted as if he were the real keeper of such house." Thus it became a matter of police prosecution and proof. He woe inclined to think that legal opinion would have to betaken before the Council attempted to use the power assumed by. the \YeUington bylaws. J

■' Tn connection -with the agitation raised by the teirante of the street, it is interesting to note that the saarteury deparament 'las.a'ready taken action, aud that notice has been served on several owners to effect repairs to property.