The Hutt News Wednesday, September 1, 1948 FUTURE LOWER HUTT

Hutt News, Volume XII, Issue 12, 1 September 1948, Page 7

The Hutt News Wednesday, September 1, 1948 FUTURE LOWER HUTT

Points which emerged from discussions at a recent meeting o the council of the Hutt Valle. Chamber of Commerce and Indus try are of vital interest to res • dents of Lower Hutt, especial.l; those residing in the present con. mercial area. One was the state ment that the Railway Depart ment, which some time ago con templated providing up-to-date and much-needed storage accom modation at the Lower Hutt rail way station, has now; decided U drop that proposal and to erect comprehensive goods sheds a. Naenae. Everyone realises that the electrification of ’the railway and the despatch of the mam railway business to the - eastern side ox the city instead of the western side, as, at present, imisl have far-reaching effects. Jusi what does the Railway Department’s decision, with all that it suggests, mean to'the future of Lower Hutt’s. main business centre?

' The second important point was a statement by a film corporation, in reply to the Chamber’s request for the earlier release of films in the Hutt Valley, that the potential return was far greater in other cities of smaller population than in Lower Hutt, owing to Lower Hutt’s population being scattered over a wide area. “We are informed by residents in the district,” wrote the corporation, “that in some eases it is at-least as easy to travel to Wellington as it is to travel into the shopping centre of Lower Hutt.” If films were released earlier in the Hutt Valley local people would probably not travel to Wellington to see them. The view expressed, however, has a wider significance than that. It may apply to other things besides films, and business people generally need to keep alert to the necessity of making things so attractive in Lower Hutt that people will not be tempted to do their shopping in Wellington. It takes more than a large population scattered over a wide area to make a city.