A DOUBLE OPPORTUNITY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 120, 17 November 1937, Page 12

A DOUBLE OPPORTUNITY

To three out of the four main centres of New Zealand the approach by rail is along the waterfront of their harbours, but Wellington is unique in having the road entrance to, the city also flanked by water. In itself this is a precious aesthetic advantage, but it cannot be said that up to the present Wellington has made as much of its double opportunity with road and rail as Auckland and Dunedin have with rail alone. From the spot on the Hutt Road where the Main Trunk railway emerges from its last tunnel and debouches on the harbour front right to the vicinity of the new railway station the surroundings are no credit to the Capital City. The Wellington Beautifying Society, whose activities, since its establishment, have been so beneficial in contributing to the amenities of the city, has done another service in drawing the attention of the authorities mainly concerned—the Railway Department and the Harbour Board—to the existing state of affairs which detracts so much from the dignity of the new station. The suggestions made for a removal of old unsightly fences and hoardings and their replacement by suitable brick or stone walls with grass verges, together with a general clean-up to make the city presentable

on its Centenary, are all to the good. There is absolutely no reason, as is pointed out by the Chamber of Commerce in supporting, the proposals, why an area designed for commercial purposes should not also be planned to be aesthetically pleasing. What happens when similar waterfront areas are left to a haphazard growth is shown at the other end of the city between Taranaki Street Wharf and Clyde Quay, all a fairly recent development and certainly not prepossessing. In many respects the appearance of Wellington has been vastly improved in the last decade or so. It would be a pity to mar the effect by leaving the main gateway ugly and unkempt.