A NEW CAPITAL.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 185, 12 August 1911, Page 6

A NEW CAPITAL.

WILL IT COME?

"The day is coming sure enough when we will move our political capital from Wellington." • This statement was made by the Member for Lyttelton Mr G. Laurenson, when speaking on the Town Planning Bill in the House of Representatives on Thursday night (reports the N.Z. Times.) Some members laughed unbelievingly, but Mr Laurenson assured them that he was speaking in all seriousness. ' '.■•-. Wellington, he pointed out, was very badly laid out, its area was very circumscribed and owing to its geographical situation, it was bound to grow into a very large and overcrowded city. These were the facts which made him believe so firmly that sooner or later the capital would have to be shifted. Under the Town Planning Bill the Government could easily secure a. block of suitable land, say 10,000 acres, up the Wairarapa Valley, in the Manawatu, or at the back of Blenheim—he did not care which— and establish there a capital which would be a joy for all time. "Imagine