TOWN PLANNING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1506, 31 July 1912, Page 7

TOWN PLANNING.

V AND OTHER CIVIC QUESTIONS. ADDRESS BY THE GOVERNOR. An interesting address on municipal administration, with special reference to town planning, was delivered by his Excellency the Governor, Lord Islington, to tho delegate!', at tho Municipal Conference yesterday morning. Lord Islington expressed his pleasure in being able to bo present, for the second time, at a Municipal Conference. Since last conference he had had the opportunity of meeting many of the members in their various towns, and lie wished in all sincerity to say how much lie had apEreciated the, spirit of welcome in which e had always been received. The Übiquitous Ratepaysr. On his visits to the various towns of the Dominion he had been deeply impressed with the well-ordered oondition of those towns, giving evidence of tho active and progressive spirit animating'.tho civic authorities responsible for • thei<r administration. After Parliament, he regarded municipalities as the most important governing bodies in any country. The function of Parliament was to make tho laws,' and of municipalities to interpret and administer those laws. And the importance of such conferences as tho present one could not bo over-estimated. Nowadays the functions of municipal government did not tend towards greater simplicity, but rather tho contrary. The duties devolving on them must increase in complexity and in variety, and in carrying out these duties members of thb municipalities had to face at every turn the prejudices and complaints of residents, who we.ro only too apt to criticise in a somewhat superficial manner. In addition to these functions the councils had tooonsider always the burning question of finance. , This was the foundatiou of efficient administration, and to bo efficiently dealt with it must demand the best business intelligence available. Members of the conference knew that they could not leave their homes without meeting that übiquitous individual—the ratepayer—who was apt to assume two capacities. For all save two davs of the year ho was the importunate prodigal son, and .he must have everything regardless of expense, but on two days of the year —tho days when the rate collector vent round—he was a frigid economist. Ho could fully understand the difficulties of of. the local governing bodies, and could sympathise with tham.

Town-Planning Must Come. Ho urged tho delegates to turn their minds immediately to the question' 'of town-planning. The minds of civil administrators throughout the whole world had been turned to this subject, hut tho people of New Zealand had not advanced in town-planning some of their fellows in other parts of the world. Townplanning must come to New Zealand .as it had come to other countries, and the members of local bodies were- eminently the people to give attention to it, because they would be the people who would have to administer the scheme when it carao into operation. What was townplanning? It was the-laying cut, or tho Extending, of a city to the very best advantage of tho population, as regards I economy, beauty, comfort, and health. I All the amenities of the daily life of the occupants of a town depended, very largely on those factors ho liad enumerated. Tho character of a population was very much influenced by' surroundings and environment in which that population was placed, and' this was the principle underlying town-planning. He ventured to speak on this subject because he had intimate acquaintance with it in the Old World; he had presided a few years ago at an international conference on housing and townrplanmng, at _which representatives from the principal countries of Europe and from the United' States had been present .'Tit-might, be said that-New Zealand was a new country, and had not the problems of tho Old Country,: but. some of tho larger towns were growing up in n,somewhat .indiscriminate fashion, and in a fashion which might be materially improved if town-planning were introduced. They must take timo by the forelock, and avoid the terrible problems which beset their colleagues in the old congested countries. ■. The Evils of Slumi. The question of housing afWr all was at the very foundation of the whole social fabric. In the Old Country, with the terrible congeries of slums in tho centres, the poor rates were increasing, and tho cost of administering hospitals, asylums, and all those institutions which were the

unhappy corollaries of bad and congested districts, w«3 also increasing. It was' well that in this country, with its greatfuture lieforo it, all these things should be avoided by tho establishment of a scientific system of laying out towns, and the estonsion of new suburbs. It might be said that he was trenching on politics, bnt ho refused to regard this matter as a party political question,' (Applauso.) There might be political difficulties when the Bill came to be drawn, but municipalities must not be discouraged by detail difficulties. Let such a system bo established, and they would bo making a great movement forward in social reform. They would be doing more for the poorer classes of people who had to live in humble dwellings, than anything else that had been done in the present generation. Thero was a feeling that something must be done to' check the concentration of population in the towns. A great deal might be done, but the movement of (ho people into the towns was a world-wide movement, and it could only be checked partially. But what could be done would be to make those centres of population as comfortable, as attractive, as healthy, and as_ convenient as it was possible for administration to make them. If they got rid of kill-joy streets and slums they would go a long way to mitigato tlio evils that had arisen in the Homo countries. 110 would like to have seen during his term in New Zealand a garden city established. He hoped that a city of this kind would soon bo established, and then other municipalities would soon be tumbling over .each other in their eagerness to introduce .such a system in their"towns. "I may bo hauled over the coals by some people for saying all this to you." he said, but I'll risk it—(Laughter)—because ' I know that what I am venturing to suggest to you to-day is for the very best use arid advantage of New Zealand in the years to come." (Applause.) His \Ex"r>llnnny concluded bv repeating most cordially his invitation to the delegates to visit him at Government House thi<i (Wednesday) afternoon.

The confidence accorded Lord Islington a vote of thank'*, carried with hearty acclamation, for his address.