FUTURE OF HUTT

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 68, 13 December 1932, Page 10

FUTURE OF HUTT

Wellington’s Development

RAILWAY EXTENSION Commercial Exodus from City Discussing transport and traffic problems in relation to the development of town and regional areas last evening, Mr. H. F. Butcher, late town-planning officer to the Wellington City Council, suggested that in the future, owing to the loss of free movement of traffic at an economic speed, commerce and industry in Wellington would be forced into the lower end of the Hutt Valley. People of to-day might well witness a gradual migration from Wellington to the Hutt. The address was given at a meeting of the Wellington branch of the Town Planning Institute last night, at which Mr. M. G. C. McCaul presided. Mr. Butcher dealt with general considerations, such as political, transport, planning, and density of population, the economy of mass transport facilities, underground and other railways, the relation of waterways to rail transport, etc. Eastern Hutt Railway. The address gained more local interest when Mr. Butcher proceeded to apply the principles of town and regional planning to the proposed extension of the Eastern Hutt railway. Proposals had been considered for the extension of the double line of railway from Waterloo Road to link up with the existing main line system at Silverstream. Presumably the primary object was to open up additional lands for suburban settlement. At its widest part the distance between the existing line and the proposed extension was only a little over a mile, the average being from a quarter to three-quarters of a mile, and the length from Waterloo Road to Silverstream a little over four- miles. The railway was essentially a long haul agency, and must have a large population adjacent to the line and of a' fairly close density. There w T as also the influence of the motor-car to be considered. The estimated future population of the Hutt Valley was 334,000, of which approximately one-tenth would be served by the proposed extension. Therefore the population to be served by the line would be 33,400, or 8350 workers. As a railway was a long haul agency it would probably operate from the proposed terminus at Silverstream to Wellington. If that was so, then it was necessary to consider the present and future conditions in Wellington, as that had a most important bearing on the case. The present population of Wellington was 111,000, and the approximate future population was estimated to be 250,000.

Ail Underground System. Having regard to present speeds in the heart of the city, there was not far to go before it would be impossible to employ motor vehicles at an economic speed, which was in his opinion the determining factor in estimating the capacity of a street. Even if assisted financially by surrounding local authorities, he doubted if Wellington could finance a wholesale street-widening policy to cater for the increase in the population in the metropolitan area. Neither would it be in the interests of the country to expend large sums on such measures. An alternative—also expensive—was a complete alteration of the transport system through the mid-city area from trams and buses to an underground system, so as to give additional road space, now occupied by trams , and buses, to the motor vehicle. Whether Wellington would be justified in abandoning the capital invested in the tramway system to secure those advantages was a debatable point. In his view it would not be justified, apart from the fact that the system would cost over £1,000,000 between Government Buildings and Courtenay Place, and would probably not pay. Migration from Wellington.

“As soon as the two arteries in Wellington cease to provide free movement at an economic speed, remarked Mr. Butcher, “commerce and industry will be forced into the lower end of the Hutt Valley, or we may even witness a gradual migration of commerce and industry from Wellington to the Hutt on account of the prevailing conditions. This movement has already taken place, but is probably due to the cheaper land available and a better connection between factory site and rail and road. The movement of industry must, therefore, have a big effect on the distribution of population within the AVellington metropolitan area, with a corresponding reduction on the passenger movement on our suburban lines. “The result of all these conditions, which are quite beyond the control of the Railways Board, will be a change in the economic function of the proposed railway extension; in other words, it will become a short-haul agency, yet its characteristics and functions, caused largely by the enormous capital involved in its construction, are essentially long haul.”