BEAUTIFYING THAMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20116, 29 November 1928, Page 17

BEAUTIFYING THAMES.

[GREAT NEED OF. ACTION, I» UNSIGHTLY OLD BUILDINGS.

Relics of mining days.

fat TELEGRAPH.— OWN CORRESPONDENT.] 1 ; THAMES. Wednesday.

The bridging of the Waihou Ri\jr this *eai, together with roading facilities for quick transaction of business with Jatfraki Plains residents, has greatly stimulated the progress of Thames ns a commercial centre fo. the Thames Valley. Thd town HO longer bears tho appearance of a straggling mining centre. In the dny« of '' lo S°'d rush the northern part of t,ho town, still known ns Orahamstown, wa 4 tiio chief centro of activity, but of later years Oralianistown, with its illdesigned wooden structures, has been Viu'&tod by business men, particularly all of whom have acquired now premises in Pollen Street, South.' nearer to the linking point of Thames and the Hauraki Plains.

This drift I" a nioro centralised area has'presented the Thames Borough Council with a problem of civic management that has caused some hesitation in tho joint ion. Tho removal of the business area to Pollen Street has left a pile of slowly decaying, unsightly old wooden Structures unfit for future use. Blot at Victoria Park. An examplo of what is called "tho hesitancy of tho council to progress" is proTided G.b Victoria Park. This is a beautiful expanse of carefully-tended ground well planted in trees, shrubs and lawns, near the Thames Railway Station. In one corner stands an unpainted, ugly, unoccupied structure which, viewed from the street, destroys tho appearance of the only "breathing space" in a congested area. Several years ago Mr. E. N. Miller, a former Mayor of Thames, propounded a scheme 10. tho beautifying of Thames by the removal of tho antiquated, disused apartments and offices of tho days of tho gold rush.

Mr. Miller visualised the day when IThafties would assert, its right of recognition as a port of rising importance to the provinco of Auckland, and stated that. Thames could not hope to progress until it first, put its house in order by tho iiioption. of a town-planning scheme. Using tho argument that town is valued by the neatness and attractiveness of its entranco Mr. Miller suggested tho beautifying of tho wharf entrance to Thames by the laying out of Grahamstown as a domain overlooked by tho Thames 'war memorial, erected on an eminence at a cost of £2OOO, and one of tho most beautiful of its typo in tho Dominion. Borough Council's Difficulty. The adoption of such a scheme at the time would havo greatly added to the charm of Thames which has never quite lost the glory and romance of the golden days of tho middle "eighties." Mr. Miller's scheme fell on barren soil, however, and in spito of legislation for town planning is not now likely to bo adopted in tho immediate future. Faced oil March 31, 1928, with a public debt of £239,293, on a ratepaying population of rather less than 1200, to which has yet to be added the cost of the harbour improvement scheme, tho Borough Council has not been in a position to consider townplanning on the lines suggested bv Mr. Miller.

In tho meantime visitors complain of the lack .qfj)|'«gr§sß. of Thames business people in making" no*"e.l!ort To Vferiove or publicly condemn the old buildings concerned. A former resident of Thames discussing this point yesterday said : —"I cannot understand why your local authority does not instruct its building inspector to condemn these moth-eaten structures. It has the power to do so, and should use it—that is, if it is really concerned with the futuro welfare of Thames."