IMPROVING THE CITY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 73, 20 December 1918, Page 6

IMPROVING THE CITY

! ENGINEER SUBMITS A REPORT

'DISCUSSION BY COUNCIL '

it tho meeting of the Cily, Council t evening the Mayor' (Mr. J. P. Luke) ;\v 'attention 'to the Minister's stateht regarding the number of deaths m the epidemic in the centres, which iwed the low rate of deaths in Welgton. Councillor A. R. Atkinson said i figures quoted could, not have been aplete on the evidence of those which I been placed before the Health Comttce. Tho Mayor said that tlu> figjs would be correct. , The others [ild be totals including the ordinary Iths. The Mayor resented the stricies which had been passed on the City lincil.in certain quarters, which he [intained were not justified. One of j 'reasons for the congestion of houses Wellington was the way the city was d out" originally, and by some acts [previous councils. He wished to say it he was fully seized of his responilities, but it was well known they J not had the finance for some years it. : 'He hoped'that would be altered n. giving them the chance to do iit had been in their niinds for so X. After giving praise to tho work- : in the recent epidemic, !he Mayor Steel that as soon as the rush was ir he had asked the City Engineer to jparo a report and draw up a plan :■ the improvement of the crowlled rts of the city on right and proper es. The report was before the counI as was also the plan, and he hoped tt before long something practical hid bo done. He was prepared to ad the report (which could not be 'de public) to ,a committee or a special nmittee should be se£ up to consider \ The council had tho power to do at-Avas proposed, even ,to the acquisiji of 'land to enable it to widen out he of the lanes and alleys in conted areas. iouncillor M. F. Luckie agreed with (.Mayor that the fault lay with the ginal planning of the city. It had >n drawn out in London without any 'ard to local conditions Councillor R. A- Wright drew, attennto a contributing cause'to the conItion, that of the rating upon unimSv'ed values. He could remember sev,l places which had beautiful gardens ached to them, and which had been ilt on as the Tesult of that system of ;ing. ■Councillor W. H. P. Barber said that was not. so much the number of uses, as it was the number of families 4ch were accommodated in the u ,ie use. His solution of the-difficulty-'s to get tliD people out, into the subbs by. means of good, quick transit !vices. The Upper Hutt offered the it climate for residence in the Domin- '• - - i ■ Councillor Wright: Run the trams out! Councillor Barber said that sqmeIng of the sort was needed, but the ,"s would have to have trailers. He jtanced the wonderful sight presented 'the railway stations in Melbourne ien the people were coming in to work, ellington was unfortunate in its subbs. It was hemmed in on the south '.'the. sea, and on all other .sides by js hills—except to the Hutt Valley, [ere there was a lot of land if it were ide. available by means of a quick |yice. ; , ' i ponncillor L. M'Kenzie rated the couni for its inertia in regard to the ques■A under review, and instanced the inner in which • the council had iozled" with the question of taking in s' surrounding bprcj.'ghs. They could (nothing until Wellington was a metroHtan' area with land for settlement, d to become a metropolis they had to ke in the surrounding boroughs. Confuting reasons for the existing state (affairs were the high cost of building d the high price of land. He resentthe imputations cast upon the coun- !. •' As soon as the epidemic broke out ? Wellington the Mayor had gone • to e Health Department, and ha.l asked fat the council's duties were, and was Id "to keep the streets and backyards ia'n." '■ Yet when the epidemic came re it was the 'Mayor and the officials i-Mie* council'who had actually underkeh the work of the Health Departed. ■ Councillor W. '11. Bennett pointed' Out at one of the bars to "the people movg out northwards to Ngaio, Khandalh, and the Hutt was the policy of the jyernment in preventing tramway com.tition with the railways. Until they lild do away with that' policy ' they jiild have trouble. Councillors Shorland and -Frost'said 'ere was land within tho city tliat proded plenty of opportunity 'for building • the means of access were provided. Councillor ,T, E. Fitzgerald said that ■ellington had every reason to be proud i the prompt niannce in which the epijmic had been stamped out. Later on, in committee, a special comSttee was set tip to consider the report Id plans prepared by Mi\ Morton.