The Advocate. [Established 1888.] MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1908. COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 64, 14 September 1908, Page 4

The Advocate. [Established 1888.]

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1908. COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE.

{PUBLISHED DAILY.]

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The architecture of Now Zealand has at times excited adverse comment from several distinguished visitors. If wo remember- rightly, Mr Bullen, the popular novelist, made some uncomplimentary references to the "red stucco" which is such a prominent feature of the more- notable buildings of the cities of the dominion, but it has remained for his Excellency the Governor to utter the most caustic criticism of the architecture of the country that has yet been published. At the opening of the Palmerston Art Society's initial exhibition, last week, Lord Plunket tgpk advantage of the occasion to ssiy that "there was nothing more contemptible than the average house which is perpetrated in New Zealand." His Excellency's love of the picturesque has been offended by the sameness which is characteristic of many private houses— "they are all exactly the san\e — the same tin roof, painted the same red, and probably the wrong red, the same drab mud color on tho front, and the same horrible tin thing to hold the water in at the back." Lord Plunket added, "I can't think that these abominations are built purely for the purpose of saving money. You can't be so needy in Palmerston North. I am not trying to abuse New Zealand, because you all know that I have a very great regard for the country and the people. I" am simply referring to this one point which demands attention," These remarks, as may be expected, have attracted a great deal of attention, and the references, on the whole, have been in support of the Governor's ideas. To our mind his Excellency must have spoken without having given the subject that full consideration which has hitherto characterised his public utterances. Had

Lord Pluuket looked below the surface ho must hove recognised that the ruling factor in this matter is that of the almighty, dollar, and many people will be disposed to think that his wholesale condemnation is hardly justified by fact and is in rather questionable • thste. It is true that there is a sameness in the appearance of many of the buildings in the cities and larger country towns, but this experience is not confined to NewZealand. His Excellency softened the shock of his remarks to his auditors by stating that he. had seen one or two charming houses in the neighborhood of . Palmerston, and in Hawke's Bay, but he could have gono much further than this. In Canterbury^ for instance, there are many very fine private residences, while in both Wellington and Auckland much money has been expended in the erection of houses of attractive design. The same statement may be made with truth with regard to Dunedin, and to many of the country districts. It may be stated as a fact that the. architecture of the dominion has kept pace • with the general prosperity of the country. A sameness in design is bound to be apparent in centres like Pahnerston, on account of its rapid growth and of the fact that the place has been built up, "by, the enterprise of the people, who have been all— or nearly all— engaged in the process' of building vi) their own fortunes. It is to; the credit^ef-the residents that -nothing ; in . the shape of slums- have been permitted to obtrude their unwelcome presence* and it is generally, admitted that the business houses are a credit to the town. The ordinary working resident has to build his house according to liis means, and Arbitration Court awards play no small part in limiting the extent to which his love of the aesthetic can "be cultivated. Even with these draw-backs',^-the "tin roofed houses," which havo . excited the contempt of the vice-regal mind; are invariably surrounded by a neat garden, and, as a Tule,, there is plenty of yard room for the children, and these, after all, are of more importance than the absence of those ornamentations and adornments of which the. Governor so querulously complains.