THE SECOND TUNNEL

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 131, 7 June 1927, Page 10

THE SECOND TUNNEL

DEPENDENT ON TOWN-PLAN

REFERENCE BY THE MAYOR

A brief reference was made by the Mayor, Mr. G. A. Troup, to-day to the controversy that has broken out again over the second tunnel through Mount Victoria. In short, Mr. Troup maintains that the decision in regard to-the tunnel must wait upon the city plan. "A great deal cannot be said at the present time,:) said Mr. Troup, "beyond that the council recognises that there is an obligation upon it in this matter, and it wants to meet that obligation in a way ivhich will not be followed by regrets. A town plan is being prepared and it. is very necessary to see that that plan and highway connections fit in together. When that plan is available in a form accepted as sound there should be no difficulty:in coming to a decision. / "Any route, whetber-by tunnel or highway, must serve, not only' Hataitai, but the whole of the eastern suburbs to the best advantage. It would be quite impossible, on' account of the configuration of the land about Wellington, to provide separate highways for each of the twenty or more separate suburban districts. Even where the nature of the surrounding country doss not offer the difficulties to be overcome in Wellington, such a radial system is not adopted in New Zealand; towns are laid out upon the rectangular system." There was no desire to allow the tunnel item authority of the 1920 loan schedule to lapse, concluded Mr. Troup, but the counetl must know what was to be done with the city as a whole before deciding upon a work of such major magnitude as a second tunnel through Mount Victoria.