CITY IMPROVEMENTS

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 124, 26 May 1920, Page 8

CITY IMPROVEMENTS

TOWN-PLANNING AND THE CITY ENGINEER TO IHE EDITOR. Sir,—"ls Saul aJso among the prophets?" Is the City Engineer also among the town-planners ? Clearly so, from his report, although he evidently does not like the term "town-planning," and suggests that the question of town-plan-ning has not been properly represented by its advocates in New Zealand. An extraordinary statement, if correctly reported, and only to be accounted for by the fact that Mr. Morton is too busy a man to read what New Zealand townplanners have been saying. Why, the main ideas expressed in his report are merely a repetition of the axioms that have been laid down by members of the Wellington Town-Planning Association for years .past. Mr. Morton says that we must be bold, and make provision for the future, that there is necessity for sub-divisions of land for residential purposes and the planning of roads being .subject to the approval of the local authorities. The 1 own-Planning Conference held a year ago resolved : ''That every sub-division sliouid be subject to .approval." (Page 202 of the report of the | conference.)

Proper provision should be made in all subdivisions, says Mr. Morton, for the reservation of space,for recreation; limitations legarding the number of houses to the acre should be insisted on. These are two of the chief matters for which provision is made in town-planners' schemes (see page 33 of the report of the conference).

Mr. Morton calls attention to the widening of the arterial roads in Liverpool and Birmingham, and the ring and concentric roads distributing the traffic from, the radial roads. "It has been estimated that in the course of fifty years not less than £25,000,000 has been expended by British local authorities in the work of street widening, whereas if a proper town-planning scheme were prepared well in advance, all requirements, including facilities for traffic, and transport to and from centres of resort and attraction, could be obtained at practically no expense." (Page 78,. report.)

"Modern Corporations attach great importance to circular roads or boulevards round a city at some distance from the centre, such as the Queens-drive, Liverpool." (Report of Conference, page 88.) It is advisable, Mr. Morton says, to determine as soon as possible what are to be the main lines of traffic from the city to the various suburbs, and to determine upon the locations of all necessary main roads and of all probable future tramway extensions.

It is obvious that .Saul is .at last among the prophets, Tjut he does not realise that his present 'prophesying is only a very belated repetition of their continued and unheeded prophesies. "Having ventured the contention that town-planning 1 should commence with, the location of all roads." (Report of' Conference, page 173.) . ' "To-day a. town-plahner sits down before his contour map or model with no preconceived idea, of a subdivision upon geometrical'lines.sout with the intention of carefully studying the topographical conditions before, making any decision. He realises the vital importance of the reading question to the community which■is to be settled in the suburbs. Only through a comprehensive and well-order-ed system of streets and roads can the functions of the town or village be performed with economy and efficiency, fitc." (Eenort of the Conference, page 182.) This question of arterial lines of traffic is one of the main reasons why (a) we require a Town-planning Act, and (b) every municipality should be under ar, obligation to prepare a town-plan-ning scheme within a stated time. Mr. Morton seems to have discovered two things: — (1) That town-planning and town improvement should not ■be con"fused. (2) That the harmonious development of garden suburbs can only be achieved, where there is control over the building operations by the private companies owning the settlements, and by control being i maintained over the suburb by a system of leasing the houses instead of selling them outright. Wellington town-planners have not been under delusions or made any misrepresentations on either point.

1. "Town-planning includes both preplanning and replanning. By replanning we mean deciding and carrying out these alterations in a city already built up that are necessary, etc. But this replanning is for the most part only remedial—the correction at enormous cost of the consequence of lack of pre-sight, co-operation, and co-ordination in the past. It is- to obviate the necessity for and to save the expense of repHining that pre-planning is advocated, -'.town-planning, as the term is used in its most frequent application at the present day, has been thus defined : 'Town-planning is the science of pre-planning all unimproved land, in or adjoining towns or cities, likely to be used for building or other civic purposes within the next thirty or fifty years.' " —(Report of conference, page 78.) 2. The Wellington Town-planning Association fully realised the necessity of a garden suburb being constructed either by the municipality or by a, public utility society for the very reasons stated by Mr. Morton. In a paper i;ead by me to the association a week or two before last year's conference, I pointed out that any society formed to establish a. garden suburo should be " a public utility or co-partnership society, whose aim is to make the tenants of the village partners in the undertaking in one form or another," and explained that the theory on which this class of society is based is that the tenants will by degrees extinguish all the liabilities of the society so far as outside ca-pital is concerned, so that the houses will belong not to any individual member but to the members as a community, the right of individual property to the tenant so long as he conforms to the rules, and the profits distributed among them so that they live rent free.' 7

. The association, with a view to establishing such a suburb, obtained an option over a suitable site beyond Khandallah, but very wisely the City Council took over the option from the association. It was with the idea of establishing public utility societies of this kind in New Zealand that the association endeavoured (but vainly) to ha-ve a clause inserted in the Housing Bill last session, enabling the Government to make advances to such societies. In England, as was pointed out at the conference (Eeport, page 85), these societies' are entitled to receive loans from the Public Works Commissioners up to two-thirds (in some cases up to nine-tenths)' of the value of their property. It was also pointed out at the conference that if a local authority or company sold the freehold, it should "be empowered to take back the house at the original selling price, plus the value of subsequent improvements, if the purchaser makes default in his payments, does not himself Jive in it, and sublets' it or wants to sell the house." (Report, p. 89.)

But I have taxed your space too imich already in pronf of my main proposition as to the enrolment of Saul among the prophets. If you will permit me later, I should like to point out that town-plan-ning and the garden suburb system nre by no means synonymous ; why we need a Town-planning; Act, and why" it should

be obligatory on a. municipality to prepare a town-planning scheme within a reasonable time. . As Saul, when he did begin to prophesy, was able, owing to his being the anointed king, to do so more effectively than the other prophets, so I trust that Mr. Morton,, by virtue of his position as City Engineer, will now lead the way in a far-sighted town-planning scheme for Wellington.—l am, etc., H. F. yon HAAST.