NEW CITY'S GROWTH

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 228, 26 September 1934, Page 9

NEW CITY'S GROWTH

LESS THAN TEN YEA&S

INDUSTRIALISING BRITAIN.

LOCAL BODY BUILDS HOUSES.

(By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.")

WELLINGTON, this day.

A new light on the industrialisation of Britain since the war is brought to New Zealand by Mr. J. Drummond Jackson, of Dagenham, London, an English industrialist who is now visiting the Dominion. In less than teii years, says Mr. Drummond Jackson. Dagenham has risen from, a country village to a city the size of Christcliurcli, and this, striking change has been brought about as the result of a policy of local body built houses. "Dagenham is a tribute to the fact that London is becoming a now manufacturing centre for all England," said Mr. Jackson. "Year after year it has shown expansion in an industrial direction, and last year more than 300 new factories were started there. Localities which used to be largely residential are now being swept up into the industrial stream. This fact has aggravated the housing problem which the London County Council has been forced to face, and the deliberately-designed housing policy which was begun to give the people better homes has been extended and pushed ahead even faster as the result of workers coming to London to seek the jobs which were known to be offering there.

"Dagenham was carefully chosen from tho point of view of health, convenience and transport, and the result has proved to be one of the triumphs of British organisation. More than 120,000 people have been rehoused in the period since your All Black team visited our shores, and this great operation has been put through without a single hitch. Official Name "Becontree." "The official name of this new development is Becontree. It has been planned most carefully, so that there is the maximum of convenience to its inhabitants. The streets arc not unduly wide, modern thought tending to restrict this feature of the development of previous times to places where it is of most use. But shops are placed into relation to dwellings, trade areas are defined, and schools are placed so that children run a minimum of risk from transport on their way to and from their classes. In addition, there is light and air in plenty, gardens are provided and the place is within easy distance of London by rail.

"It is thought more than probable that the plan of Dagenham may be the working model for future suburbs of the same sort and that there will be notable developments in the creation of such suburbs, on a smaller scale, throughout England. Thirteen years ago the London County Council was merely thinking* of going ahead with the creation of such a township. The accomplishment of the original design with such rapidity and smoothness of administration has pointed to larger possibilities in the direction of such settlements than were thought possible. It is a considerable feat to create a city the size of Norwich in such a short time, and has opened new prospects in English housing. More and Smaller Towns. "It is beginning to be believed that the tendency of cities to grow at the expense of the surrounding country is undesirable and that, if people must drift to the towns it would be far better to have more and smaller towns. For one thing this would solve some of the enormous problems of transport which today have to be faced bv all civilised, countries. For another thing it would mean a great paving in time for the people and a more congenial life for them. Instead of being forced to choose between living in old, often undesirable, dwellings close to the city, or making long journeys with untold wasting of time as a result, they can live near their work and use that time saved for rest or enjoyment. In addition they arc assured of better living conditions, cheaper living, fewer distractions and probably less disturbance. Crime, in England, is largely a product of the cities and undesirable elements are attracted to the larger places because of the larger opportunities which are afforded by mere size of the field.

"The dwellers in Dagcnham (or Becontree) are so satisfied with their change from other parts of London that the scheme has been the best possible argument for such collective attacking of the housing problem. If, within the next twenty years, that portion of the population which is now living in undesirable houses is transferred to fresher garden suburbs it will be due to the example of Dagenham and its revelation of what can be accomplished by an English municipal authority in spite of all the objections from the more conservative of the English people."