Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6820, 26 September 1883, Page 4

"We have much pleasure in; -" another column, the letter of our correspondent " Fair Play is a Jewel •> . exculpation of the objects of then!..."! ■'* the Surrey Hills Estate. In view ] prompt response of public feeling-'to 1 previous remarks, and the effective s!p that have been taken to prevent the i k* culation of little streets, this is noV'tv ' moment for returning to the subject sift any kind of warmth.; but the statement I of out correspondent, very I temperately put. necessarily place I the defensive as to the action we j, 011 fi taken. Our correspondent rather a/ 8 « plains of our having borne down * heavily on the matter, and if: w e j,/ 0 I' dons so we are sorry. It is so difficult r f know at all times what is the measur. { | force requisite for cx>mpasssing.tl) 6 3 I moval of an abuse. Public sentiment j! at all times a difficult thing to can™ Jf I 'we could hardly be expected' to 'l anticipated that it would so suddenly kJ 9 l' reached the white heat at which it 6 t !2 3 on Monday last. In such circQtoatJr | of uncertainty, if a great evil i g to? P repaired, it seems safest to apply adeqnii ® force, and then the wrong being rinW? r if requisite, heal the wounds with a gent'' hand. Let our correspondent view f- : other case. Had the work beenonb yl done, and the public remained in a - indifferent state of feeling,' the nlanl ll Surrey Hills would have had to endu re slow and lingering agony of weeks, peru! I months of embittered controversy . dvif! I slowly by inches. Whereas it is kinder fa - it, and better for all, tbat under the or» ft whelming force of public opinion, it W I' received, the happy dispatch. So aa I for the manner of it. , Now for the subijS I matter. J f

Our correspondent says: "The ek. prietors—or rather read,. the sauLr —I will undertake to say, never dreamt for one moment that these back-entrain lane 3 would be converted into streets \and peopled." We : entirely- accept the absolute innocence of. the dreams of both proprietors and surveyor ;' but have unhappily to deal with wafe realities; and though the intentions | the promoters may have been as sort, as snowdrifts, we have the stern logic of facts, and the teachings of experience to toll us, that this is what would inevitablv have occurred had the plan been carried out as proposed. Anyone that has any extensive knowledge of the growth of colonial towns, knows what has become of such back entrances in the progress of the settlement of population. In tha more valuable sites they become throng with business places; in the legs valuable, they are the localities in which nestle tie vilest of the people. Take one illustration of Bcores that may be adduced thai of Melbourne. Take the lanes in order. Flinders' Lane, intended to give accesr at the rear to buildings in Flindens-stre It is flanked by blue stone warehouse of great height, from the entrances' of wh h one dray must move out of the str s before another one can pass. Kext comes Little Collins-street. Part of it Jg as Flinders' Lane, part is similar to tie next in order, Little Bourke-street, which is simply the aggregation of; the hells of Melbourne, reeking with physical as wellu -noral pollution, for the literature of which vide "The Vagabond," the "NightSideqf Melbourne," the recently published papers on the Rack Slums of Melbourne," &c. Next comes Little Lonsdale-street, aadio on, partaking of a similar character; and thus in every case in that city the streets laid off as back 'approaches to the buildings of_ the wide streets, hate developed either into thoroughfares of great icaonvenience, or the rendezvous of tie of scouringsof society ; a terror to sanittrj reformers, and moral plague spots to the community. There is not a Tic(orian f speaking of his capital—of which they are all so proud—who does not deplore thesa narrow streets as the only blunder 153& by its founders. Melbourne is tie cnlr colonial city we know -where the- systematic alternation of lanes and streets exhibited on the Surrey Hills plan, la been thoroughly tried ; but Sydney la its narrow lanes too, which were mi I intended originally as streets; and tt j know not of a single one of them thalia j not developed into a nuisance, which inos-1 own colony findsjthe parallel in the selfe | ment euphoniously called "The DeriT* f Half-acre" in Dunedin. " |

The "dream" of the Surrey Hillsje- | veyor ia pretty, but the reality hi | horror. If the dream could only b | realised, and these lanes for ever p ; served as entrances to the rear, 8 I would be admirable. But no power oi | legislation or contract could ever ens® » it, not even the scheme of leasehold cca- § tract, suggested by our correspondent, S which could be very readily comfit- i mised ; and certainly there was nothisj 5 ensuring it in the plan of the esUi».•: at present under review. Our ccr-:• respondent supposes the existence oi; Ci mews" to be unknown, and speaks d j the requirements of horses in getting b ; the stables, and so on. We admit tb existence of such things, and scchreqnin-g ments, but people who want coaeh-hoosi | and stables don't build on thirty-tars ? feet frontages, in. these colonies at leas i More than this, we venture to say iW | if the plan had remained, there isnonw J with carriage-and-horses aspirations wfe 3 would have touched Surrey Hills, eve ;| though he might have added two or thrt:! lots together for his mansion, deterred" :| such would inevitably have been ty $1} absolute certainty of being surrounded k ] a low neighbourhood which these aliej l l would have created. Our | reprobates the side passages as means ci | access. One thing, however, must k 5 admitted : they could not generate to abuses of which the little streets §': capable ; and if the surveyor, instead a f dreaming" about these alleys, Is* clipped a piece off the leugth of theaW" rneut and stuck it to the side, so f neighbouring owners could have J between them, no great violence have been done to. the artistic beaoty«| the hamlet, but on the contrary twpseparation of the residences wonld added as much to the beauty ol t®| suburb, as it would to its freedom frc c | fi.ro, ■ and to its salubrity. We fre«'J| admit that; such back entrances, so served from being converted into tages, would have many advantag £i | but man's heart .is deceitful all • things, and so desperately, that human ingenuity is inc3paW e I devising any means of holding it/if, i n 'H lapse of years and the increase in ® \ value of land, it set itself on mating ; most profitable use of such fronts?® • ■ The conditional leasehold for £99 \ ■ suggested. by our correspondent, | not do it, because before one of the ntf | had disappeared, the proprietors wouk-;, ready to change the conditional lessen. = into a freehold- -for a consideration i u3 \ indeed, they may be gentlemen of e»* s| tional conscientiousness, and ona®e^{Jfto the ordinary influences that 9C ' ? <i, the common forms of human n&' : J;' Our correspondent suggests as a overcoming the objections raised lj. run all the lots back to back, obliterate all these rights-of-way. this would never do, as any increa;« | their longitude would be absard. -M? stick it on to the side ; and as the t»'j| away of the back entrance would tate access someway, let it bo .^ oD ®; increasing the width so as to givo for a passage. . J», We fully accept the assurance 0> j| correspondent that it wasnotfrpia rested motives, and "to squeeze aJI farthing possible out of the land ,Sj this extraordinary network of 3: • streets was designed, but solely conveniences to the purchaser. Be ® I,Jfiv that the plan was a " financial and indeed it was 30 cleaily so, thing considered, that some reason y demanded for our thinking tliat •; ■

.. „ _ a o to net aa much as possible n tentwn The inordinate length of * ronl fmpnts in proportion to their th8 i i« su2 o estea, as naturally as pos—knntheir breaking into halves ; and a •«bI'V"J tlloU ght occurred to us that posreasonableness of its so suggesting * lW £l purchasers might have itself to , _] a ted by the authors of the been f, °? J ee d ) in fancy we saw the lively ■plan.. merry twinkle in his eve -auction® ■ crow d of bidders, "Ladies saying __You see the length of jind = e .? .' me nts, and that they abut'on a thesei ai j little street. Bat you are not to -gre*!; 3 ®r cottage on this street, and then ther little cottage on the other one 'P u * ? n t °.- t for ten or fifteen shillings a week, a In sit free ; no, ladies and gentlemen, f, n . ®lj e there is nothing to prevent you , 13 /loinc so, but it is my duty as aucg" conducting this important sale to IdH vou that these minor streets are 7, A there for the accommodation of users, so that they may have access allotments by the rear » This . rtin idea that presented itself a few lifvs a"0, and we are glad to be assured •rtatstich mercenarymotiveswere notattha 'bottom of this very extraordinary plan, th<«t it was the result of the proprietors and the surveyor supposing that these back entrances would not be converted into streets; in fact, that the plan and proposals. startling as they were, were but &e baseless fabric of a " dream. In his postscript, our correspondent says- fflil t0 find in the plan ■any lots which have only a frontage to the right-of-way." We. shall assist him. See section 1, lot 37; section 8, lot '55 ; section 27, lot 38; section 15 lot 33; section 52, lot 39; section 53, lot 38 - these bave fr.onta<res to sixteen-feet streets alone, which -in their turn communicate with the 1 world without by stretches of alleys or streets of the same width of sixteen feet. They may be " reserved," but they 'certainly are not "evident!l/ reserved," as our correspondent .assumes ; for they are numbered, and measurements given, as in the case of the others ; nor is, there anything to indicate that they will not be sold, excppt their extraordinary position in fronting streets of sixteen feet wide. And what are they reserved for, in that extraordinary position of back lanes 1 What is *he first one—section 1, lot 37—reserved for 1 A church ?or a manure depot ? It is too small for the former, for it is of about the average size of the other lots, and would be conveniently situated for the latter ; but the surveyor should not have frightened us by numbering it as if it was going to be sold. However, ve now gladly retire from the Surrey Hills Estate, 3nd leave it to others to look after. The Newton Highway Board will mind it; and -we confidently believe that Surrey Hills will yet be one of the most picturesque and the healthiest of Auckland's lovely suburbs.