PROPOSED CITY SQUARE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 220, 14 September 1923, Page 9

PROPOSED CITY SQUARE.

(To flic Kditor.) Sir, —In view of the agitation in the Press it is important that the citizens should support the Mayor and councillors in their forward-looking efforts lo re-plan the old market site. Auckland has an opportunity now to generously lay out this area as a plaza or square, which will be lost for probably another fifty years or for all time. Outside observers, and other people who are competent to judge, believe that in the next quarter of a century our population may be trebled, or more. We should plan not only for to-day but for to-morrow. It is therefore wise that steps should be taken to open out the centre of the city to avoid congestion and to improve its appearance. A growing community must have some place where large public gatherings can take place without interfering with traffic. The site near the Town Hall is the focal ]x>int, where in addition to making an open space, provision can he made for the erection of a series of public buildings, such as municipal offices, a municipal theatre, and a new art gallery, all of which are now badly wanted. Every city must have a heart, and a city which has some pride in itself must have a soul. A town is not only a pliice to do business in, but a place to live in. It should, therefore, make the best presentation possible in order to deserve the affection and loyalty of its own citizens and earn the admiration of visitors. Some travellers have commented adversely on the purely material aspect of our main streets. Parks, we have, but away from the main thoroughfares, and not by any means in abundance. Wise planning now for a greater city will save untold trouble and expense in the days to come. Auckland has been made attractive by nature; man must also do something to secure the title of a "city beautiful." Aueklanders who have travelled and seen Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Washington, with their generous open planning, will hardly consider that this city is being reckless in these proposals.—l am, etc., CiEO. M. FOWLDS, Jun. (To the Editor/) Sir, —Mr. A. Sanford, a man of wide successful business experience and reputation, deals squarely with the subject, and his arguments require an answer by the supporters of the Mayor. He very properly opposes what he terms this colossal blunder. Your humorous cortributor, Mr. Emanuel Veyre, attempts to justify the city square as a further breathing space. But his facts, reasonins and comparative analysis are quite wronir. In the first place, Regent's Park has 372 acres, not 472 acres; Hyde Park has 304 acres, and not 480 acres (see Baedeker, 17th Edn., Ixindon and its environs). I in no way referred with pity to London or expressed sorrow for poor Cockneys. My humorous critic failed to answer my contentions that Auckland has more breathing space with its harbours, mountains, and parks, than almost any other town in the world, and the comparisons of London's air space, with its 700 square miles of bricks and mortar, with Auckland, is too absurd to consider, similarly so with Paris. My critic says "he hopes Mr. Gunson will persist in his desire to give a crowded town in an empty country some more hin"s." This is somewhat illogical, but where is the crowded town? Approximated 100,000 in the town proper, scattered around a big harbour with mountain ranges in rear and the broad ocean on either side. Xo, Mr. Veyre, your comparative analysis between London and Auckland will not carry weight. London has about 8,000,000 of people, our city about 100,000; London is an inland town, Auckland stands on an isthmus almost surrounded by seas and the ocean. We have innumerable parks, domains, reserves, and gardens, and sea beaches in all directions, and volcanic peaks dotted all around, with a beautiful climate and a natural beauty that pales all the <rlorics in these directions of your London, wonderful and inspiring as she is in tradition and historical associations. Xo. sir. ibis square is much too valuable and of far greater utility to the citizens than an unnecessary and most expensive lung preserver. Your principle is based on-the carrying coils to

Newcastle idea. You may depend on it the citizens want some very cogent arguments before the Mayor's policy will be given effect to. So far the stock argument of "another breathing space" will not convince any thoughtful people.— 1 am, etc., HALL SKELTON. BENEFITS OF SHIPPING TRADE •To the Editor.l -^ir.—ln his otherwise unexceptionable letter on this subject, W. Wanklyn is "barking up the wrong tree,'' when he infcrcntially accuses mc of belittling or ignoring the undoubted services rendered not only to New Zealand but to the world at large by the British Navy and mercantile marine. My sole contention was the economic one that all the money spent in Auckland by merchant shipping of every country, including our own, does not come from the bulging pockets of the ship owners, but from those of the New Zealand public. ] do not. think he will dispute the fact that all the vast expenditure, so-called, is |)aid by the people at large, who also find the big profits earned by the ship owners; in short, that Auckland is happy and prosperous, not because she is a pauper receiving (benefactions from philanthropists, but because she is able, from her rich natural products, industry and enterprise, to confer huge benefits on the ship owners who pander to her pride and luxury.—l am. etc., '.I. LIDDELL KELLY. DISASTER TO DAIRY INDUSTRY. (To the K'lltnr.l Sir. — If is quite obvious that the little coterie which engineered the Dairy Produce Export Control Hill through Parliament do not wish to sec the compulsory clauses of the measure brought into operation af once. They know perfectly well that such a step would bring about an irresistible demand for the repeal of the bill. But disaster to the dairying industry ill the near future is none the less inevitable, because the promoters of the measure fear to carry their scheme to its logical conclusion. Our dairying industry has developed amazingly under a system which, though doubtless not perfect in some respects, has encouraged free individual effort and healthy competition. But now a party of rash experimenters, who already have led the producers into many disastrous ventures, have conceived the idea that they are wizards of finance, shipping experts, and prodigies of mercantile knowledge all rolled into one, and capable of revolutionising the whole ,course of British trade to the abiding advantage of the dairy farmer. Many of these gentlemen have no authority whatever to act for the producers. They represent only themselves. Yet if no one speaks out on the matter plainly some of them will be found occupying seats on the controlling body. Throughout the efforts to bring about this combine there have been persistent attempts to discredit the honesty and business capacity of the British firms that handle our produce. A campaign of this kind has been going on for years, and its promoters have redoubled their activities since they have received the countenance of people in high places who ought to have known better. jinny of these British firms have been established for very many years, and their organisation and equipment are unrivalled, and their connections are wor-ld wide. Their operations cover many lilies of produce, of which butter and cheese arc but two, and of which New Zealand butter and cheese are but a portion, in come cases only a small portion. The basis of their system is honest trading on lines of healthy, open competition, and they abhor the suggestion of combines of any sort. The conduct of their business rests on the very highest traditions of British commerce, and they offer facilities for trade which are not excelled in any part of the world. They either purchase our produce outright, or they handle it on consignment, in most cases preferring the latter course. They are able, because of the \aried nature and extent of their operations, to render the dairy farmer extensive and efficient services for a charge of only 2_ per cent commission. These services are much greater than the uninitiated imagine. They include all the generally recognised services of agents, the payment of many charges, the risk of bad debts, and the most liberal financing free of interest. With the advent of the Control Board, an additional and amateur middleman, these charges will be at least doubled. Tic- British firms have served us well and .. iiiestly, and have assisted to build up our industry rapidly and on sound lilies, and now they are being told in effect that they are unscrupulous rogues, who have been robbing us for years, and that we have set up a great combine, which will decide which of them shall be allowed to handle our produce, what quantities they shall be allowed to have, at what time, at what price, and how it shall be sold. Is it conceivable that the matter will rest there? Can anyone imagine for one moment that these long-established trading linns, which have been accustomed to manage their own affairs, and which have large, unrestricted business dealings with many other countries, will risk the destruction of their whole business by placing themselves at the mercy of a combine, which one day may become a socialistic instrument for the abolition of all private ownership? The mere suggestion is ludicrous. These firms will assuredly turn the whole of their enterprise, experience, and financial resources towards the development of other sources of supply. Such sources are right at their hand waiting for their attention and capital. The Argentine already has appeared as a formidable prospective rival to New Zealand, and Siberia is emerging from its days of darkness. Their immense areas, the great fertility of their soil, their nearness to the Home markets, and their facilities for constant supplies give our competitors enormous advantages. Surely we are not going to combat them by sc.rapping the successful system we have built up by years of pr*ient toil. if we do so, for a certainty the firms that have stood by us, without delay will withdraw their experienced representatives from this country, and use them and many others with abundance of capital in developing the dairying industry of the Argentine or of some other country. In addition to the immediate ill effects of the loss of the goodwill of the distributors through the passing of the Control Bill, we shall be faced in a very short time with a serious permanent lowering of prices that inevitably will follow upou the marketing of heavy supplies at the season that hitherto has been our special opportunity. Our only hope of escape from disaster lies in an immediate and emphatic repudiation of the control measure by the actual producers who do not subscribe to the fantastic ideas of the professional chairmen Fortunately the producers have an opportunity to save the industry an ,i representing a great number of producers who are sincerely convinced that nothing but disaster can come of the controller ' schemes. I strongly urge every produ " to record his vote on the measure an/f think well for himself before he do vote. If control is once brought into force there will be no hope of eS ca n from the consequences.—l am etc Opunake, G> MAXYVEIJ,,