SURVEYOR’S INSTITUTE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 210, 19 August 1927, Page 7

SURVEYOR’S INSTITUTE

COUNCIL SITTING TOWN-PLANNING ACT DISCUSSED. Following on the annual meeting of members of the Institute of Surveyors on Wenesday. the council held a lengthy sitting vesterdav. at which a number of. important subjects were considered. The matter of the Town-Planning Act came before the meeting and was discussed at length. Delegates from various parts of New Zealand gave very interesting details regarding the action already taken by local bodies in accordance with the carrying out of the provisions of the Act. Various conferences had been held between the Town-Planning Director and brances of the institute in different centres, and it was hoped that before long certain local authorities would forward the required plans for the approval of the Town-Planning Board The collection of data and preparation of plans in terms of the Yet was dealt with at some length, and it was emphasised that it is impossible to adequately and scientifically plan an area without first collecting and studying all the required data. Great mistakes had arisen in the past throughout New Zealand on account of the lack of emprehensive < r definite plans, and the cost of remedying such errors had already been enonnus.

It is inevitable that the longer the question is deferred the more costlv the cure will become. Although certain boroughs had commenced the preparation of the required data, others were reluctant to proceed with the work on account of the cost entailed. EDUCATING THE PUBLIC. It was decided that the various branches of the Institute. of Surveyors throughout 'New Zealand should be instructed to do all in their power to educate public opinion on tile importance of town-planning to the community, and that the branches should assist in the formation of the Town-Planning Associations in the different centres on the lines of the association recently started in Auckland which alreadv has done much to advance the cause of town-planning in that city. ,The efforts there have been mainly concentrated upon the highly important question of the education of the private citizen to the necessity for taking a direct and personal interest in the carrying out of the Act. for it so closely affects him What is more, he has to pay for all mistakes made although, on the other hand, he mostly will benefit by the execution of a well conceived scheme. SERVICES OF THE INSTITUTE. ' The institute has the opportunity of rendering a great service to rhe community by assisting in everv wav possible the local authorities in the collection of data and the preparation of their schemes, and branches were instructed to do all in their power to that end. After viewing the city of Napier and its environs, under the capable guidance of His Worship the Mayor, Mr J. Vigor Brown great admiration of the natural beauties of the city was expressed hv the visiting delegates, and the possibilities of future development on town-nlanni'i lines were thought to he unequalled in any part of New Zealand,