THE CIVIC SQUARE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18939, 10 February 1925, Page 11

THE CIVIC SQUARE.

SCHEME OF IMPROVEMENTS. NEED FOR NEW BUILDINGS. PROVISION FOR THE FUTURE. The site of the proposed civic square is rapidly being improved in appearance. Filling material is being carried on to the area and the surface which was broken up by large depressions, formerly the basements of buildings, is being brought up to a general level. This work should occupy the next three or four weeks, after which it is the intention of the City Council to make the plot more pleasing to the eye. Workmen aro now engaged on construction of the footpath along the alignment of the new frontage which is 30ft. back from the old line. The Telegraph Department has yet to remove the old telegraph poles on the edge of the present path, and when this work is completed within the next, few days pedestrian traffic will bo transferred to tho new path and Queen Street at this point widened by 30ft. The present operations include considerable improvement to the corner of Wellesley Street West on the southern side where tho kerb is being laid on a generous curve to make more room for vehicular traffic. " There seems to be some misconcep- ; tion about the council's policv with re- | gard to this area," said tho 'Mayor, Sir j James Gun son, yesterday. "As far as ; the present administration is concerned, | tho_ old market site has been set aside as i a civic square. Although tho council has j yet to consider the date for the poll tho ; ratepayers will in due course be asked : to authorise an amount suffcient for the erection of the first instalment of the buildings proposed, but the square itself js definitely and, it is hoped, irrevocably set aside for the purpose. There is no doubt that tho buildings for which com- | petitive designs were invited, are required i now in part and will eventually be wholly j needed for the city's essential requirements. It would be nothing but. shortsightedness and folly to fail to make provision for tho very much greater needs of tho largo city that is to be. These needs are greater than is generally realised today," Sir James mentioned that the Health Department was stronglv representing to the council the desirability of demolishing tho remaining old buildings on the site, but as the leases had some eight years to run, the council did not propose to take any action. Tho lessees would have to see that their properties met the requirements of tho health authorities, otherwise they would be in danger of having their buildings condemned, and under a decision of this nature by the health authorities, the council would have no alternative but. to take action.