THE CITY BEAUTIFUL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1075, 14 March 1911, Page 9

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL.

TOWN-PLANNING AND BEAUTIFYING. COMFOKT FIRST. (By Sylvius.) "Town-planning" is ti catch-word, of which much is being said, one way and another. Some of the ideas that are being wrapped round the words are extremely wild, and others are absurdly tame. The trouble appears to be that town-planning and town-beautifying are being associated as the one thing , . In one.respect they are, for in planning a brand-new town much could bo. done, no doubt, by a person capable -of blending the artistic with the utilitarian towards beautifying. fhVplace, But, without the esr penditiire of vast .sums" town-planning can scarcity ■■ receive much consideration where the town is already built—jammed, packed tight between hills, and harbouras in the caSe of:. Wellington. The only "planning"-possible is to expend money here, arid' there in widening a' street or. creating- a' reserve. It is' all very ->vell-. to . theorise .on what' a , , town:might be—how ideal it could 'have been made"." for.. us if the people of 70 years ago had tho brains and. artistic ideas we are blessed with, but'the probability is that our ideas will be a deal more remote from those of 70 years hence than they are from iupse of the sturdy pioneers who squatted originally in ti-tree whares on Thorridoii Flat.: It -is a costly .business to reVplan" a 'city 70 years old, which' has grown gradually, l and at times swiftly, with, the years. Wellington can. do little in-the way of toirn-plauning save'widening, a street here and there, and insisting on a high class of building of good material '.before ?-issuing .a permit. Sydney is; looking ahead "in"'■ this regard. I ,\ras speaking .the other, day to d friend who knCrecently-'purchased a section at Tfose Biiy— now "a populai-.and populous suburb of tiydney—and-happened 'to'-'remark that he , -would now:be erecting a whare and getting out there for his week-ends. "There's nothing like that allowed at Kqse Bay," said he. "There is a covenant in the deed that if I build at ..all it must be a building of a certain clnss—well and truly built, and all that sort of thing.'" Admitting then that Wellington city could onlv be replanned at an enormous expense—by sweeping av;ay blocks of dwelling-houses, and pushing the street lines back, the attention -must be turned to-the next best thing—to make the be=t and most of what we have. Wonderful work has been done in some places by ■beautifying associations'and local bodies with some respect'.for the aesthetics. Melbourne has. been transformed in the. past live or six years; Sydney the .same. As regards--Wellington-it.did not take very long to overplant the little garden beside tho Free Public Library in Victoria Street. Note the luxuriance of the growth there. Why should there not be dozens of such eye-rests in different parts of the city? Why should there not be an oval in front of the General Post Office? There is one in the middle of Circular Quay, Sydney, where tljere is ten times tho traffic. Oriental Bay is one of the sweetest spots to beautify in New Zealand, and it has been neglected.: There is n vast space o£ barren roadway between the northern end of Kent Terrace and the butt end of the Te Aro Railway Station grounds. Anoasis is needed there. There is a bank- of cinders-, between the approach fo.the Clyde Quay Wharf and the Boat Harbour. That should bo a. bank of green turf, with an-oval ; or cross of bedding flowers here arid there (if. the salt spumo would permit), and. a few garden seats where ono could sit. at.ease in. the sun and watch the .yachts skimming in and out.:- There - , is: a-.stiff.formality and comfortless'habit'-about = tie Httlejthat'-is done ternary ■'■ the'-niohotoriy' of : -thprdrab streets.■■ .' ... ..'.. ' .;.•... "Citizens, protect-your own property!" says an announcement in Kent Terrace.. There is a feeling that it is not your own property and an absence of desire for it to be so.. Here is .a. solid bed of plants of all;"kinds, planted so closely that they, still in their youth, are pressed for roonv. There are no walks among them, no seats, no arborial retreats.; for quiet rest. No—there is a good stout 4ft., Bin. wire fence, and outside the rushing tramcars.. The best view of this patch of garden is from the roof of a car which has had an accident. The Basin B«serve, with its 40-year-old pavilion, is unbeautiful apart from the eye-rest the sward affords. The sand at Lyall. Bay threatens... to. obliterate a. structure at the tram termimis. Wh.Vr not plant-lupins and bind the sand?; The glorious beach deserves a better backing than the shifting Sandhills which are-anathema - to tho settler. Our-Botanical'Gardens 1 are very beautiful —having a beauty all their own, and Newtown Park is also a natural-beauty-spot, which-has been.- much improved' lately. There is only, one.lack.— tea-rooms for the Indies. , What Wellington wants to seriously content! with before it town-plans or beautifies is to lay, the dust. It-is. everybody's worst enemy. Ask the shopkeeper, ask the fashionable lady whose dress account ambunts to more than' 2s. Gd. a year; ask the'toiling housewife who the destroyer and toil-maker is? Thoy will all say—the dust. I am-quite aware that Mr. "Mortal 'the' city engineer) is just as keenly alive to the importanco of this matter as any shopkeeper or housewife, and the tar-sprinkler has done KOod work. -But its work, must be. continuous, and if that does not do another sprinkler should be obtained, and this together with .a..good. ; stree.t-clfa.ning..sys-tem, properly directed, and'a bit of. honest asphnlt added., to-, the ■: worst streets (those arteries which feed the city with dust) year after year l should in time effect the desired 'end.-.-' ...