Underground Wiring

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27224, 16 December 1953, Page 10

Underground Wiring

The decision of the Christchurch ' City Council to nsake a start with 1 the burying of its electric wires will ! be applauded by most citizens—perhaps even by many who have sympathised with the long-main-tained view of the Municipal Electricity Department that underground reticulation is an unjustifiable civic luxury. Most ratepayers are prepared to pay something extra , to make their city a better and more ■ pleasant place to live in; and the I report of the engineer-manager of : the department (Mr J. C. Forsyth) I suggests that, spread over a number 'of years, the annual cost to the average ratepayer will be very small- This was a decision that had to be made sooner or later, and better soon than late. It was made long ago by most progressive municipalities in other countries; and it has been made by local authorities in New Zealand with very much smaller financial and technical resources than the Christ-

church City Council. The council was wise to look first to the central area of the city, where the economic and aesthetic arguments for the removal of poles and wires are strongest. It is to be hoped that it wall still be possible to put the wiring of new subdivisions under-

ground—at least where the propertyowners are willing to contribute to

the cost. For the reform must ultimately spread to the whole city; and it would be a pity to spend money now on work which, within a measurable period, will have to be replaced with something better. The City Council is entitled to take much credit for this welcome, although belated, decision, which many of its predecessors have shirked. But the real credit should go to the Christchurch Beautifying Association, and to individuals of like mind, who have striven for years to make councils and citizens aware of the ugliness of poles and wires. When these are gone from the central area Christchurch will have a better claim to call itself the “City Beautiful”.