MAMMON AND BEAUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 172, 22 July 1922, Page 6

MAMMON AND BEAUTY.

We suspect there was more than a tinge of irony in Mr. Spencer Macky's sfetement, made at the dinner given in lis honour last evening, that many Americans knew this country as "the last word in progress." For Mr. Macky ivcmt on to refer to a department in progress in which New Zealand lags far _el nd some other lands. Returning to lis native city alter an absence of sixteen years, lie is impre6-ed by the improvement in architecture and in the iesire for beauty, but he is also struck by "the lack of plan." There are Aucklanders who have long been worried by this lack, and have tried, with a disheartening lack of success, to awaken the public conscience. There has been and is still, a sad lack of foresight, cpsrdination, and imagination in the treatment of the various problems conneded with transport, provision of rese yes, p eservation of natural beauty, and general development of the city. This springs from two causes, firstly the undue importance attached to purely material considerations, and secondly the absence of any authority that will think in terms ai Auckland, instead of approach ng problems solely from the City Council or Harbour Board or Borough Council point of view. Far too many of the men who have the decision in these matters have thought of Auckland purely as a place where money is made or a conduit through which imports and exports pass. Auckland is not unique in this respect, rhere is no city in the world that in its .xternal aspect hae. not suffered from the idolatry of Mammon. There are cities, however, where there has been a much more powerful revolt against this worship than can be ascertained in Auckland, and where the spirit of civic dignity and beauty has won victories much more striking and important. This distinguished New Zealand artist does well to warn the people of Auckland that where lack of vision might have ibeen excusable in earlier days, it is not excusable now, and to urge them to "plan ahead for big things." if they do not take the advice, they may find some day that priceless natural beauties have been ruined, that the great city is short of playing areas, that its architecture is notable only for the diversity of its ugliness, that opportunity after opportunity has heen thrown away, and that such improvements as can be made can he carried out only at enormous cost. This city needs two things.—an adjustment of values, and, as part of a wider outlook, co-operation between interests. The lack of eo-ope-ation 01 of any check on one particular body is seen in the Harbour Board's and the Railway Department's treatment of the waterfront during the last 20 years. We have one of the loveliest harbours in the world, but we are treating the urban waterfront almost entirely from the commercial point of view. Compare the steady process of shutting the people off from the sea with conditions in Sydney, where th e beautiful public gardens go down to the water. To-day city is in this extraordinary position, that what the Harfjour Board proposes to do to one of its principal streets is quite seriously stated by the Mayor to be no concern of the City Council. The whole subject could easily be discussed at much greater length than we can give to it now. There is also the question of playing areas; if, for example, the city finally lets slip the chance of acquiring the sports ..round in Remuera—to do the City Council justice n-e must mention that it has moved in the matter—it may be very sorry some day. In the meantime, we would plead most earnestly for a new outlook towards all problems of city improvement. No longer should the fate of such questions lie entirely in the hands of individual bodies (hat seldom see anything beyond what they deem to be their own immediate interests, bodies composed for the most part of men who are not eonficuous for imagination or a sense of beauty. Ordinary business ability is very necessary in its proper place, but it is very far inde-ed from meeting every requirement of life, and too often it has been cultivated at the expense of taste and vision. The time seems to be ripe for a local revival of the town-planning idea, expressed bymeans of a vigorous organisation in which the artist and the architect will be strongly represented, and through ivhieh enlightened public opinion can make itself lieardL . _