The Press. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1911. THE TRAMWAY BOARD AND CATHEDRAL SQUARE.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 13986, 8 March 1911, Page 8

The Press. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1911. THE TRAMWAY BOARD AND CATHEDRAL SQUARE.

A very great deal in this world depends Upon the point of view. Ay"hen Blucher first saw London, it was not its historic associations, or the magnificence of its ancient buildings which appealed to him. He said—" Mem Gott! AVhat ft "place to sack!" There was a time in the history of Rome when the utilitarian spirit seized ite inhabitants to such an extent that they saw nothing in the temples and arches of the Forum but a supply of cheap building material, and when they had carted away most of the buildings and burned a good many of the beautiful marble columns to make lime, they used it ns the city "tip" for all kinds of rubbish and refuse. There are some very shrewd ami practical-minded persons to-day who would turn St. Paul's Cathedral into a skating rink or a hall for" moving pictures if they were allowed the opportunity of doing 60. As for the Place do la Concorde, in Paris, or the Piazza di San Piotro, in Rome, what could be better, looked at from a strictly utilitarian point of view, than to convert these fine open spaces into markets for pigs, er. at any rate, let them bo tho happy hunting-grounds of itinerant preachers and lecturers and agitators, of blind men with gramaphoues and of all those whose business it is to make discord and mar the fair face of Nature? The early settlers of Canterbury, men with old-fashioned ideas of beauty and peace and the fitness of things, laid out a noble open space in what they wished to become the artistic focus of Christchurch. They built in it a cathedral, designed by the greatest architect of Gothic churches in the middle of the last century, and

on a pleasant grass plot in the centre of the open space thoy erected a statue of the founder of Canterbury, vrrou-jht in bronze, by one of the £.-<*-atest .English sculptors. In many ways they were men of great foresight, and because they looked ahead in their town-planning and their provisions of pleasarnces and open spaces for the people, some of us hold their memory in grateful remembrance. But they <lid not, fortunately, foresee everything. They did not foresee that in time to come Christchurch would be ruled over by n. City Council who thought it a i-racefiil act to plant public latrines just under the shadow of the founder's eftigy, and by a Tramway Board who conceived the equally happy notion that the best use to which Cathedral square could be put was to make it into a miniaturo Clapham Junction for its tram lines, .nnd a dumping-ground for so-called tramway shelters of the most hideous design, especially if they could ftlso be made to contain ticket offices, telephone boxes, parcels offices, and other public conveniences; all extremely central, and possessing the further inestimable advantage of being held rent-free, thanks to the complaisance of a City Council also of a most utilitarian turn of mind. The Chairman of the Tramway Board, most practical of men, is delighted with the whole arrangement. He declares, as will be seen from an interview which we publish in another column, that if a plebiscite were taken of our readers on the subject it would be an eyeopener to us. We presume this is his very "practical" way of saying that the majority of them would approve what has been done. If this is his meaning we candidly admit that we should bo exceedingly astonished if that were tho result. Indeed we regard it as a serious aspersion on the intelligence, the good taste, and we will add the good feeling of -the readers of "The Press" which we utterly repudiate on their behalf. But Mr Pearce should have rested content with his official pronouncement as to the proper uses of Cathedral square and the canons of art and eood taste which should properly guide the actions of a colonial Tramway Board. He should not have raised the question of the running of the trams. Ho is only tempting the public to ask why tlio Board do not devote some of their superfluous stores of "practical" ideas to making the different services fit in with each other, instead of concentrating the whole of their utilitarian powers on the disfigurement of tho Square?