CONDUCT OF CITY AFFAIRS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 173, 19 April 1937, Page 14

CONDUCT OF CITY AFFAIRS

Mr. Luke’s Quest in Australia The Wellington city engineer, Mr. K. E. Luke, stated on Saturday that he hoped to leave on a visit to Sydney and Melbourne in about six weeks’ time. As there were several matters of importance, including the completion of the quantity survey for the new central library and other works to be attended to, he could not get away before May. . Mr. Luke has not been out of New Zealand since he returned from Europe after serving with the Expeditionary Force in the Great War. He has not previously visited Australia. Both Sydney and Melbourne are very forward in matters of traffic control, both vehicular and pedestrian, and as the citv engineer is now in charge of the traffic department, there are phases of traffic control in the Commonwealth which may be worth emulating in "Wellington. There are also many other considerations in the conduct of city affairs from the city engineer’s point of view which call for careful observation and inquiry. With the Centennial Exhibition in view, Mr. Luke, as one of two engineers appointed to the exhibition, will absorb any ideas which he may think of value to the directors during his stay in Australia. One of the major considerations in a modern exhibition is the amusement park. Wellington has never had an amusement park of exhibition dimensions. There was a notable one at the Christchurch Exhibition in 1905-6, and an excellent one at the more recent Dunedin and South Seas Exhibition. Those parks are a vital factor nn the success or failure of an exhibition, and the fact that there was no space for an amusement park at Thorndoii went against that site as one for the exhibition. There is a continuous amusement park on the beach at St. Kilda, Melbourne, which Mr. Luke will see, though he will only he interested in it as an en-gineer—lay-out, safety, convenience of public, etc.