Evening Post. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1808. CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1898, Page 4

Evening Post. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1808. CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

Last night the City Council dealt with the report of its Public Works Committee, on the plans for the Grainger-street and Allenstreet works, to be carried out by the Harbour Board under the Empowering Act of this session. That Act limited to six months the time allowed to the Board for determining what lands between Courtenayplace and Victoria-street it would take over compulsorily under the Public "Works Act. The Board, with its usual promptness, has already begun to take steps for carrying out the duties imposed upon it, and the proposals submitted to the Council outline the improvements it contemplates effecting in the neighbourhood in question. The origin of the Board's obligations and privileges in the matter were concisely explained by the Hon. Dr. Grace when moving in the Legislative Council the second reading of the Harbour Board and Corporation Empowering Bill. It appears that for the construction of the proposed dock the Harbour Board requires more land than the reclamation gives, and it was therefore provided, with a view to giving full length to the dock, that power should be granted to the Board to take over under the Public Works Act a block of land tying between Victoria-street and Conrteuay-plaee. The Board was not limited to the exact amount required for the dock, but was empowered to lake what it ohose of the whole block. The reasons for this extended power were that, if the Board were confined to the lots actually needed in whole or in part for its works, the balance of the irregularly broken lots left after the completion of the dock would be a poor asset for the Board, and it further seemed reasonable that the Board should have an opportunit}* of gaining full advantage of the increased values due to the improvements it effected. The district referred to in this portion of the Act is one of the worst c} r esores in the city. The land itself is in part below the general level of the reclamation, and the closely-packed, ill-built houses on it, with the narrow blind street running through part of it, constitute a veritable slum. For a long time there have been vague schemes for improving this undesirable neighbourhood, but the City Council has done nothing towards abolishing slums that should never have been permitted to grow up in a new city. It is useless, however, to moan over tlie sins of the past, and the proper course now is for our citizens to make up their minds once for all to root out as promptly as they can the iucipient slums that will otherwise form before long the nucleus of such a quarter as the East End of London or tlie rookeries of other cities of older lauds. The improvements entrusted to the Harbour Board under the Empowering Act are an earnest of what must sooner or later be done. in other parts of Wellington, and as such they are of the first importance to the city. Grainger and Allen streets as they now exist are to give way to a new open street 66ft wide running up the centre of the 9lum district. At the instigation of the Mayor, who took a great interest in the matter and appeared personally before the Local Bills Committee of the Legislative Council to support this section of the measure, the lands taken over by the Board are to be exempted from rates so long as they remain unused. The Board intends, as soon as it has purchased the land it requires aud has had the buildings now standing on it removed, to raise the level to a uniform grade between Victoria-street and Courtenayplace. Those who know this part of the city in its present deformity can easily understand what a great deal the proposed changes mean. AYe notice that the Public Works Committee of the Council recommended that the district to be affected by the Harbour Board's alterations should be brought within the regulation that orders any new buildings within it to be erected iv brick or stone. While the rest of the Committee's report was accepted by the Council, this special recommendation was postponed for further consideration. It would seem that if the slums are to be done away with at all they should be done away with altogether, and we have little doubt the- Council, after consultation with the Board, if that be necessary, will take measures to prevent anything like hovels being again put up there. The Mayor took a good deal of trouble over this part of the arrangement with the Harbour Board, and it is both to' the city authorities and the Board that we owe the introduction of this excellent proposal in the Act recently passed. In this we have evidence that our leading citizens are not asleep to the, danger we are running of creating slums in certain congested districts of the cit3\ They devised a plan, when the opportunity presented itself, of doing away with one of those objectionable blots on the city, and it is to be hoped that their efforts in this direction will be extended to other fields. It is especially necessary that a careful watch should be kept upon building and other such operations within the city limits, for timely prevention is far better than waiting until drastic remedies are needed. To our own knowledge there are several streets in the city that are worse than a public hiiisance, and it is possible that the Municipal authorities will be able to find some means of changing their form and character.