The Dominion FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1926. LOOKING BACK AND FORWARD

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 100, 22 January 1926, Page 8

The Dominion FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1926. LOOKING BACK AND FORWARD

Anniversary Day is an occasion on which it is appropriate not only to spare a thought of gratitude to the pioneers, but to take stock of the continuing growth of our city. At its present stage of development, Wellington is in many respects a remarkable vindication of the judgment and foresight of those who settled on its site eighty-six years ago, but it is only by setting higher standards of civic progress and achievement as time goes on that the traditions of the founders of the city can be worthily continued.

Loyal Wellingtonians will be the last to deny that the development of their city has been uneven and leaves at some points a good deal to be desired. From a commercial standpoint, the city has made and evidently will continue to make tremendous progress. There is jpuch still to be done, however, in making it worthy of its magnificent site, and in this matter its people might well take a lead, not only from the other principal centres of the Dominion, but from some of the leading provincial towns. It is a complaint of old standing that in Wellington the community spirit is at a low ebb. The city perhaps could not have attained its present growth and standing had not a large proportion of its more progressive citizens been habitually preoccupied with commercial affairs and interests. It is becoming plainer every day, however, that a broader outlook and spirit are needed' to enable the Capital City to realise its full possibilities. In the minds of all thinking people to-day there is a clear perception of the fact that much more than commercial expansion and the utilitarian development it occasions go to the making of a great city. Wellington has developed to its present stage rather under a policy of meeting immediate necessities than in accordance with any considered plan. There are prospects of future expansion at least as great and rapid as that of past years, and already serious problems of traffic congestion are beginning to arise on the principal traffic routes. Within the metropolitan area no attempt has yet been made to institute the “zoning” system for industrial, commercial, and other buildings that is regarded as indispensable in all wellplanned modern cities. The continued postponement of the clearance of congested areas of which To Aro flat is the most conspicuous example is storing up problems for the future. It is' a noteworthy fact that this Anniversary Day finds a townplanning scheme under way, not in Wellington, but in the area at the lower end of the Hutt Valley on which the founders of Wellington at first proposed to establish their settlement. There is splendid scope for the application of similar methods to the metropolitan area and to areas still beyond its limits. By orderly and methodical planning, paying due regard to aesthetic as well as to utilitarian considerations, much may be done within a comparatively limited period at once to give added dignity and beauty to the city and to solve or greatly modify traffic problems that are now threatening to get out of hand. Apart from what may be done to effect improvements and find a remedy for the results of past mistakes, a comprehensive development plan covering the present metropolitan area and the districts it will ultimately absorb would at once set a period to the unsatisfactory process of haphazard growth.