SEASIDE RESORTS AS MUNICIPAL INVESTMENTS

Evening Star, Issue 16351, 17 February 1917, Page 11

SEASIDE RESORTS AS MUNICIPAL INVESTMENTS

THE EXAMPLE OP MARVELLOUS BLACKPOOL. [By Mr W. Warren, of Napier.] 11. Let me say at the outset that I was resident in Blackpool for some years, but health reasons compelled me to emigrate to Australia, whence three years ago I found my way to Napier under medical advice. Thanks to the bracing climate of Napier I am thoroughly restored to health. My main purpose in this paper is to tell you the story of the rise and progress of Blackpool, which to-day stands unrivalled among the seaside -resorts of Great Britain as an exponent of municipal enterprise. It is a veritable object lesson of what can bo done when a people make np their minds to work together-—not against one another—and determine to always keep a bit ahead of the other fellow.

Away back in the sixties Blackpool was on a par with the Napier of to-day, and having about the same population. At about that period Messrs Bickerstaffe, Ward, and Caldwell were elected to the Borough Council—just three ordinary men who sought to serve the interests of their town. They at once set to work, and by their united and untiring efforts Blackpool, at tbs dawn of the present century, was the leading and most popular health resort in tho British Isles, with a normal population of 60,000. Considering that the town had no industries or shipping of any kind, but relied upon holiday-makers entirely, this increase in population is wonderful. Those three men soon gained the confidence of tho ratepayers, and put various propositions before them which were endorsed. The first important one of those was tho acquiring of 10 acres of land near the centre of tho town which was known as " Raike’s Hail Gardens.” A large amount of entertainment and pleasure was provided. There was a ball room, open-air dancing floor, a menagerie, aviary, apiary, plenty of seating accommodation and shelter in beautiful grounds, and plenty of music; there was a fireworks display every evening 0 f the season. These gardens were an entirely novel and original venture for a municipality, and they proved a profitable attraction for the town. The venture was only in the nature of an experiment, and being such a success it set the ratepayers and those responsible for its achievement to work in real earnest, and from that period the town steadily progressed until it had become what it is to-day. .And now follow the details of only a few of the chief improvements and attractions of Blackpool, most of which are now owned by the ratepayers. There are three piers, each about half a. mile long, with seating and shelter accommodation along each side, and with large pavilions at the deep-water ends. Pleasure steamers, several of them municipally-owned, ply to and from the piers to the Isle of Man, Landudno, Barrow, etc., etc. Half a crown is the return fare to these places. In the centre of the town a magnificent structure has been erected. It is known as the “ Tower Buildings,” and they have —An Eiffel Tower—• reaching out above it to a height of 564 ft. At the summit of the tower, which is reached by a huge electric lift, are three tiers of floors, each with an overhanging balcony, capable of holding 1.500 people, together with shops, stalls, etc.’ The main building is a house of entertainment, including a ball room, circus hall, theatre, restaurant and buffet, museum, menagerie. and an aquarium second to none in, the British Isles, apiary, aviary, and otnei items too numerous to particularise. This enterprise alone provides a whole day's entertainment and pleasure for the modest sum of eighteenpenoe. There are also —“ Winter Gardens ” centrally situated and open all the year round. This is a veritable, botanical garden under glass, where many native and tropical plants thrive wonderfully well. Connected with the gardens is His Majesty’s Opera-house, where the leading artists of the day perform. Patrons o'? the Opera-house are permitted to visit the gardens for the one payment. Also connected with the gardens' is the Empress ball room, the finest in the world, there being beautiful gardens and lounges for the dancers to repair to, making the ball room very popular. During the busy season it requires 12 masters of ceremonies I to conduct the patrons, who dance to the music of 80 musicians comfortably concealed behind a wealth of palms and exorics. Hi tho gardens are also a variety theatre and mountain railway and hosts ot other forms of interior'amusements and entertainments. Sixpence admits one to the gardens, variety theatre, ball room, and gallery seats in the opera-house. In gardens is a gigantic' wheel, nearly oOOit m height, supporting 60 oscillating cars to seat 50 people each. Threepence pays i Qr a trip round the wheel, which provides one with a view of the country for many miles around. There are three' —Very Fine Theatres—centrally situated in the town. At the southern end is the pleasure beach for outdoor amusements, with waterebutes, toboggans, switchback railways, figurecignt railways, flying machines, aerial railways roundabouts, swing-boats, maze joy-wheels, and an endless variety of amusements. Both young and old can derive a whole day’s amusement from this -each The late Auguste Van Bien displayed a keen interest in this pleasure beach and to him must be given the credit ot the vast improvements and stability ot the whole enterprise. Ev the year 1900 this town had the ‘

—Finest Promenade in the. World fiv-e miles in length and a f ur i ong ’ wide I w °, f le - distance, with a snlendid asphalted anrtaee always kept in first-class order and having a special reserve for cram tracks. The promenade is banked on one side with a sea wall, and on the othei ate built beautiful stone residences ol five or six stones, the frontages all being in hne. At the northern end of the toun is a bluft hill about, one and a half miles rn length and 3Coft high, at the loot of which is a sea wall " Tu„ whole face of the bluff is cut out'in terraces and gardens, with an abundant display ot flowers and shrubs, and these with many rocky nooks, kiosks, and shelters have made this bluff into a perfect paradise, approbated by rich and poor Mike. Blackpool was one of the first towns to install the electric trolly system oi tramways, and trains ran out to all the suburbs along good mads. The progress of the town was so rapid, its popularity growing almost dally. that the railway company could not cbpo with the traffic over the metal laid down, so new hues in another direction were constructed, these terminating in a station with 18 platforms, which, with the eight in the °ld station, made 26 platforms to deal with the 200 long trains that came in daily ironi all parts of England in the festival season. The Borough Council, it may be added, gave the land needed for the new railway station.

—Breaking New Ground,— Blackpool was the first municipality that held its own aviation meetinn- and it was inaugurated in the off season. 0 Fly. mg was then in its infancy, and was erratic, but the town decided to “ foot the bill.” The ‘'Blackpool Aviation Week” was talked of and advertised everywhere Tho expenses amounted to nearly £IOO OOT which was expected to be more "than recovered from the “gates.” It solidly the whole week, so there was no hying nncl no “gate” money I The m*ot mg showed a book loss to ‘the ratepayers of Blackpool of £IOO.OOO, yet Blackpool only smiled. Now, nearly a. million people had poured into Blackpool especially to see the aviators and their feats. At the end oi the u eck there was only mon-w left in the town, for all (he shopkeoners had sold out their stocks ! Thus, wo have here a magnificent example of successful municipal enterprise. What amount of credit was duo to the men who had the pluck to initiate and carry out such a gigantic enterprise? —Still More Experiments. —

To extend the “season” and add to its attractions the town established a huge bowling tournament, which is thrca-ji Qr.on

to all howlers in the British Isles. This has proved a great success, and quite 2,000 entries have been received for it. It extends over five weeks, and creates interest far and wide! It is safe to say that there is no other town in England that, so frequently borrows such large sums for amusement purposes, or that so rapidly repays them out of the profits of these developments as does Blackpool. Many craft (some owned by the town) ply on the for hire at small prices, and there are numerous bands that play under contract to the borough, so that the “hat” is never passed round. The whole of the above works and many others that I have not mentioned have been built up to meet a short “season” of only four months, which is quite sufficient to make the normal population of Blackpool one of the most prosperous of all holiday resorts in the British Tales. [ln this relation I may mention that in the summer of 1907 I spent part of my holiday in Blackpool during the height of its “season.” In the company of some friends—one of whom is at the head of a big woollen mill at Oldham—l journeyed to Blackpool in a train that conveyed there huge parties of Yorkshire operatives, who had been gathering (as is their -custom) funds for a whole year with the object of defraying the expenses of this outing, which is admirably organised and financed with surprising completeness. It was estimated by competent authorities that at the time of my visit fully 200,000 Yorkshire people were domiciled in Blackpool, and that their spending power represented over a-quarter of a million sterling.—Ed. E.S.] —Go and Do Likewise.— The success gained by the municipality of Blackpool, led by a small band of men who gained the confidence of the rate- ’ payers, is wonderful, and affords an object lesson in the development of a town by far-seeing, wise, and courageous municipal enterprise. Blackpool had no greater (it as great) natural advantages than other towns on the Lancashire coast nearby; but it alone has created itself into what I have tried to give you some vaguo impression of in this paper. “ First and Foremost ” was the motto that the town adopted, and it bad the courage to act up thereto, with the result that Blackpool is to-day without a peer in Great Britain as a holiday resort. Verb Kip.

Willie: “Pa, what comes after a million?’’ Mr Roxlcigh : “ The fortune-hunter, my sou.” '•And this,” said the teacher, “is the rhinoceros. Look carefully at his armored hide.” “I see,’’ said the small boy. “An’ what’s this one?” “That,” answered the teacher, “is a giraffe.” “Oh, I see, he’s got a, periscope.”