POPULATION CENTRES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 30, 5 February 1925, Page 6

POPULATION CENTRES

Sydney has reached the million. That does not mean th,at one million people are crowded into Sydney city, hut the" area, which has the city as its heart contains that population. Actually the area considered is 185 square miles, which is aqual approximately to* a, square measuring 13i miles each way. Comparing this with New Zealand urban areas, it is found that the fou;; principal centres here, having a combined area of abqut 154 square miles, contain a^total population of 478,560 (as at Ist April, 1924). The density of population to the square mile in Sydney is 5451, against an average of 3107 for the four principal New Zealand urban areas. Exact areas cannot be given, as we do jiot know what acreage of counties' is included in the statistical urban areas as taken for population purposes, but the following is fairly near:— Auckland, .52 square miles, 172,935 population; Wellington, 40 square .miles, 114,510; Christchurph, 30 square miles, 115,360; Dunedin, 30 square .miles, 75,755. The. urban areas include the "nearby boroughs and town districts in each instance. In New South Wales, Sydney may be said to take the place which is shared by Auckland, Wellington, Ghristchurch, and Dunedin in thi3 Dominion. We have four centres. New South Wales has one.

The arrangement is not of, man's making, but results from geographical conditions. It enables New South Wales to boast a million metropolis; but we are happier here without this boast, for the exceptional concentration in and around Sydney has brought, in its train transport problems much more acute than those which puzzle us. Indeed, we may be reasonably thankful- that our population is not near the million mark. It is hard enough to find a s.eat on the trams as it is with one-tenth ot the number. Of course, it would prpbably please some Lord Mayor of Wellington or Auckland to be Chief Magistrate of a million; but his pride would be submerged with trouble if \the facilities for moving people about were not improved proportionately. There may never be a million in one area in the Dominion, though Sydney 63 years ago had a smaller population than either Auckland or Wellington, or Christchurch has now; but there will certainly be a great. increase. To provide for it we should begin now to plan transport methods and ways which will be capable of extension and development as the population grows.