BRIGHT IDEAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 307, 28 December 1935, Page 7

BRIGHT IDEAS.

LESSONS OVERSEAS.

CAR PARKING UNDERGROUND. SHOP WINDOWS AND LIGHTS. Some of the things about which New Zealanders might learn much from other countries are street and shop lighting, window dressing and car parking, according to Mr. E. G. Thompson, of Auckland, who, with Mrs. Thompson, returned by the Mariposa yesterday after a twelve months' tour round the world. "It was in Hastings, in England, that I saw the best system of car-parking that I saw anywhere," said Mr. Thompson, "and it is a system that could well be adopted here, as I intend to point out to the Auckland City Council. This is a huge underground parking station, with entrances at street level, which is able to- accommodate several, hundred cars. I thought when I saw it 'That's just what Auckland needs, and just the sort of thing that .we could easily make.' Victoria Street came immediately to my mind. A horizontal tunnel could be driven from the level of Queen Street into the hill up which Victoria Street climbs, and the hill could be hollowed out and lined with concrete to make an ideal underground garage, situated right in the heart of the city. A similar site, though not so- centrally situated, is in Customs Street West.

Speaking of shops in the British, continental and American cities, Mr. Thompson said that he realised, after seeing their windows, that Auckland shop windows were overcrowded with goods. "There is no need for municipal lighting in the main shopping centres. The shopkeepers see .to that, but 'much more is spent in cities overseas on the lighting of suburban streets than is spent here. ; J • .._