LOWER HUTT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1941, Page 9

LOWER HUTT

FROM FARMS TO CUT

ITS INDUSTRIAL GROWTH

A LEADING POSITION

Today, as Lower Hutt crowns its century of history by the attainment of city status, it can be claimed with justifiable pride that no place in New Zealand has spanned the years between infancy and maturity with the rapidity of this young metropolis of the valley. Due in large measure to the speedy development of modern • transport and the widespread installation of electric power, tlie town which 25 years ago . was hardly more than the market garden of Wellington city has become a leader among the Dominion's industrial communities. The growth of manufacturing industries in the Hutt Valley has been phenomenal; there is no other adequate word. And, profiting by the recent swing towards the advancement of local industries, the valley city has blossomed swiftly and soundly. It is a far call to the day in March, 1840, when a boiler for a 20 h.p.i steam engine was floated up the river, intended for use in grinding flour or cutting timber —historians are unsure on the point. Yet this was the birth . of mechanical industrialisation, in the , Hutt, where ship-building, timber-mill-ing, and small-scale industry were carried on for a time/on- the shores of the harbour. . ■ In those days water wheels were a means of power, and, one of them, I erected in 1894, still operates at a flock mill. The loweri valley had, however, * early taken to agriculture, and such industries as there were were on a small scale. RAPID EXPANSION. Industrially the Hutt Valley did not shown signs of "growing pains" until well into the present century, when its obvious suitability as a large-scale manufacturing centre became apparent to capitalists in New Zealand and overseas who held money to invest in progressive undertakings. The first indication of real progress was given by the reclamation of the estuary, started in 1936, and the opening of Seaview Road in . 1939. With .foresight that has brought great reward to the city, the Mayor and councillors of the day set apart the estuary area for industry i alone, and in tfie . few years since that time the district has been a magnet for industries of} many kinds: ; OVERSEAS CAPITAL. | Capital from overseas and within New Zealand was attracted by the large area set apart for industry arid by the rail, road, power (gas, and electric),; and water facilities, reasonably priced land and \ rating, and almost unlimited areas for the residential settlement of employees. The transfer of the railway workshops to Wpburn in 1928-29, after 50 years at Petone, was the first important step towards the industrial,importance of Lower Hutt. Now there are representative industries on a large' scale. Their products go by road, rail; and steamer to all. parts of New Zeaf land, and the weekly payroll is a sUb^ stantial 'contribution to the spending ; v power^of; wprJfcei^. in ;thevaUey^and « in. Wellington city": --'""-Jr>flfV* ' ' """-' ') At the present time the Hutt Valley employs moire than 6600 persons in industry—a quarter of-the total of industrial workers within the Wellington provincial area. From/1935 to 1940 £274,264 was spent in the construction of the industrial buildings in the borough area, and their sites occupy : 42 acres. One factory cost £90,000, another £45,000, one £30,000, two others £13,000 each. -' A MODEL CITY. While the Hutt Valley was advancing in the seven-league boots of in- . dustrial expansion, its municipal governors were fully alive to the necessity for town planning, and the valley city is now growing according to a scheme which is not eclipsed anywhere in the Dominion. WELL-PLANNED AREAS. In this design the city is divided into six zones: special residential (exclusively for houses); general residential (houses and flats); commercial (general commercial and ; shopping area); local commercial (lock-up shop' areas in residential parts); light industrial (industries where there is nothing of an offensive nature such as smell from products or smoke, and without noise), and heavy industrial (confined to the area round the reclamation in the Seaview Road vicinity; this has been so controlled for 12 years). New buildings are scrutinised with the closest care, and provision is made for the preservation of all interests in any scheme of development. The care devoted to these questions has ensured the building of a model city, whose expansion is limited only by the size of the valley itself. POWER AIDS PROGRESS. Some idea of the part played by electric power- in this panorama of progress is given by a survey of the Hutt Valley Electric Power Board's activities, which show a sevenfold increase in revenue in the past 15 years, and 14 times as many units sold. When the board first met in 1922 the proposal to reticulate for a possible supply of, 4650 consumers was considered ambitious, but actually this figure was exceeded by 1927. The growth of the board's services and that of industry in the valley have been similarly rapid. In 1925-26 the board was catering for a district with a population of 27,275. There were 3892 consumers, a maximum load of 1342 k.v.s, 3,681,720 units sold, and the revenue from electricity sales was £24,413. The 1939-40 figures were: Population of district, 53,000; consumers, 15,421; maximum load, JLI44 k.v.a.; units sold, 53,041,350. Today, Lower Hutt crosses the threshold of city status without pause in its stride towards greater progress and more rapid expansion. Its record to date already appears in the chronicles of industrial romance in this Dominion; its future lies in safe and ambitious hands. Today, besides being the occasion of Lower Hutt becoming a city, is also the jubilee of the borough, and reports of the appropriate celebrations will be found elsewhere.