AUCKLAND'S PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14586, 24 January 1911, Page 6

AUCKLAND'S PROGRESS.

SOUTHERN EYES OPENED.

MR. , WILFORD'S WARNING.

beware of a land boom:

[by telegraph.—own correspondent.]

Wellington, Monday. Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P. (Mayor of Wellington), has just returned from Auckland with a bundle of impressions. " I travelled through the whole of the Auckland district between Rotorua and the city, a.nd took numerous excursions from the city round the suburbs," he told a Wellington Post reporter to-day. "There is no doubt whatever Auckland has made wonderful progress. It is most, marked. All down the main line there is a distinct improvement, and settlement is proceeding apace. Auckland appeared to me at Christmas time to-be dressed at her best without any hobble skirts, if I may say so, to hinder her free and full development. The prosperity of tho place is universal, bnt the streets are dirty, and the roads outside the main streets truly execrable. An up-to-date tarring machine would contribute to the comfort of citizens and save shopkeepers a great deal of annoyance and loss. I spent Saturday evening in Auckland asking various tradesmen how business was, and on all sides I found enthusiasm.' "The growth of the suburbs of Auckland is phenomenal," continued Mr. Wilford. '' I may say this too, that the style of architecture is distinctly in advance of anything we have here. The city is clearly in the throes of a land boom. You can see it wherever you go, and the papers are full of. it.. It is the talk of the cars, the ferry boats, trains, and on the street corners. It strikes yon in the face when you visit the suburbs. j When I argued with a leading man that the boom existed he pooh-poohed the idea. I contended that you could not feel the boom when the deposit on the purchase of a section was paid, but you could, and would, when the main amount was required some few years afterwards. The stress does not come until then. I noticed, moreover, in several instances that the locus in quo did not answer to the description in tho advertisements but that's an old) story. " It is a pity that such a state of things should exist. I sincerely hope that Auckland will not feel the pinch as Wellington has done, and sniffer by being blind to the fact that land is selling at boom prices. It is not a healthy thing, and' the whole problem should be looked fairly and squarely in, the face. Taking all in all, however, I should say that Auckland has made distinct progress even in the last year. I believe it will expand further, and that the city has a great future before it. Without doutst it is a beautiful place for the retired man to choose for the home of his declining days." LABOUR MEMBER'S VIEWS.

FINEST CITY IN THE COUNTRY.

[BY TELEGRAPH.OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Wellington, Monday.

"I was delighted to see the progress that is being made in. the city of Auckland," Mr. D. McLaren, M.P., told a Wellington Post reporter to-day. '"Though belonging to Wellington, I can readily agree with those who say that Auckland is the finest city in the country. The only thing I fear is that the method of appraising land at excessive values seems to have got hold •of the city and its surroundings, and though the land agents deny that anything in the nature of a boom exists, I see considerable evidence of land outside the city being held out of use and fictitious values placed on it in the hope that those lands will later on be taken up as Building ! allotments. Trade and business in Auckland is in a more flourishing condition than I have ever seen it before. The improvements at the wharves are going ahead rapidly, and the port of Wellington has got a competitor that it can't afford to smile at. I was interested in the erection of a large shed there "which the Harbour Board is providing for the use of the employees. The area of this building is 80ft by 80ft, and it will provide offices, waiting-room, baths and all necessary accommodation: for the men. The officers of the Board and the chairman (Mr. A. J. Entrican) were exceedingly kind both to Mr. J. Hodge, M.P., and myself, and placed their launch at our disposal, so that we might see their harbour thoroughly. It is certainly a harbour worth seeing,: in my opinion coming second only to thht glorious stretch of water—-Sydney Harbour."