IN BRICK AREA

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 111, 3 February 1939, Page 10

IN BRICK AREA

Contravention Of City By-laws

COMMENT BY MAYOR

Reference to the contravention ot the Wellington city bylaws in the erection of the wooden building by the Government in Aitken Street was made yesterday by the mayor. Air. Hislop. "This and two other buildings, the former Base Records Office and the top story added to the General Post Office, were wooden buildings built in the brick area outlined in the city bylaws." said Air. Hislop. Last night’s disastrous tire should be a lesson to be remembered for a long time to come. It affords outstanding evidence of the necessity of the bylaws and their observance by every individual and every authority, the Government included. "The area in which the fire occurred is in the inner city, to which restrictions as to building materials have applied for the last twenty or more years, and no permit would have been issued by the corporation to any individual, company or organization for a building in other than brick, concrete, or other fire-resisting material. Unfortunately this power to refuse permits does not apply to Government structures..

individual, company or organization for a building in other than brick, concrete, or other fire-resisting material. Unfortunately this power to refuse permits does not apply to Government structures.. "In this particular building the fire danger was much greater than in a wooden building of usual design, because of the extensive use made of a sheathing impregnated with bitumen. "It is sincerely to be hoped that as one result of this fire the requirements of the city corporation will in future be observed in the interests of the whole community.” "A full and complete statement on the whole situation will be made tomorrow.” said the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Semple, when invited last evening to comment on the mayor’s statement. The "Brick” Area. The "brick” area, which up to 1936 extended only as far as Aitken Street, was in that year greatly widened, and now includes the whole of Thorndon beside extending some distance along the Hutt Road. It includes Tinakori Road up to Glenbervie Terrace, takes in The Terrace and skirts the Town Belt to Newtown. It runs back to the hospital and down the line of Brougham Street to the waterfront. Marked in red on the map, it is seen to embrace a big residential area as well as the whole of the business area of the city. Permits for wooden buildings in this area are occasionally issued under special circumstances, such as conversion of a dwelling into fiats, though a rigid cheek is- maintained. The same applies to temporary permits. These were formerly issued for temporary buildings in wood for a period of six m.onths. It was found difficult to decline the applications for their renewal, and a year or two ago the regulations were tightened. Temporary buildings must now be of fire-resisting material, and permanent buildings to replace wooden ones in the brick area are subject to strict enforcement of the bylaws WERE REGULATIONS IGNORED? Sir, —I live on the hills a mile away from the scene of the fire in Aitken Street. My garden and the gutters are strewn with charrings and I hesitate to think of what might have happened to other residences, besides mine, if everything had not been wet because of fog and rain. The local authority very wisely proclaimed a brick area, and the Government, in its haste to push on with its fancy schemes, rides roughshod over the bylaws, which are made for the protection of citizens, by erecting a wooden building, on the principle that everything a Labour Government does must be right. In other countries, and at former times in New Zealand, there would have been a demand for the resignation of any Minister of Public Works who authorized such a piece of stupidity as the erection of the wooden building which has now been destroyed.—l am, etc,, TAKE WARNING. Wellington. February 2.