THE RUINED TOWNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20819, 11 March 1931, Page 13

THE RUINED TOWNS.

DANGEROUS BUILDINGS.

DEMOLITION DIFFICULTIES.

OWNERS AND AUTHORITIES. REBUILDING OPERATIONS. [FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.] HASTINGS, Tuesday. It is apparent that unless some overriding authority is appointed the local bodies in the earthquake area of Hawke's Bay will have trouble in compelling owners of damaged and dangerous buildings to remove them. It yet remains to be seen whether the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act are sufficient to meet, the t special circumstances that have arisen from the disaster. The committee of experts from the Public Works Department appointed by the Government to act as surveyors and furnish to,the local bodies reports on the condition of structures that might be

ii danger to the public have already examined about 200 buildings in the business area of Hastings. They then pro-

ceeded to Wairoa and carried out an inspection there. At Wairoa the experts found that a number of buildings had already been demolished by their owners. Thirty-five ether buildings were examined. Most of them were of one storey and it will be necessary to order the removal of only one or two of them. Report Concerning Napier. The committee will later report to the Special committee of management on the condition of partly-wrecked buildings in Napier. Many buildings are so obviously wrecked that the owners are taking the common-sense view and demolishing them on the advice of their own architects. There are already evidences of disagreement with the reports of the experts in Hastings and a number of owners have declined/to demolish their buildings when the Borough Council, acting on the advice of the surveyors, has requested them to do. so. Hastings is contemplating a replanning of the borough, but difficulties are already foreseen and not the least of these is the attitude of several owners of properties in Heretaunga Street, the main thoroughfare, which it is hoped to widen to a. chain and a-half. The method of procedure being adopted by the surveyors and the council in Hastings will, no doubt, be applied to Napier when the committee of management, Messrs. J. S. Barton and L. B. Campbell, takes over the affairs of that borough. Reports of the Experts.

The experts, for the purposes of the 'Act called surveyors, examine the buildings indicated by the council, taking first those considered dangerous. Their report to the council states whether the building is safe or can be safely restored. They consider first whether the building in its present state is a menace to street traffic, and. secondly, whether it can be made available for future occupation. The surveyors will in no case design or be responsible for the alterations or restoration of buildings. That is entirely the responsibility of the architects subsequently employed by the owners. A copy of the report is forwarded by the Borough Council to the owner, together with a request that the recommendation, \vhere it applies to demolition, be given effect to, or that some other remedial steps to the approval of the council be taken without delay. The council further announces that unless action be •taken within three days of the receipt of the notice it will have to consider the question of exercising the powers it possesses under the Act. In the event of an owner being unable to carry out this work from his own resources the council offers to pay /the wages of all labour, provided Jhe owner supplies lorries and necessary machinery. The owner, however, is required to indemnify the council against oil claims from mortgagees, tenants and others, including adjoining owners. Should the powers of section 297 of the Act have to be invoked, the owner will be given seven days in which to lodge a protest. He will then be required to eupply plans and specifications of the work to be undertaken, accompanied by a report from 'his own architect. As the position is now understood, these will havo to be passed by the surveyors before the proposed work can proceed. Temporary Structures.

In th? meantime the Borough Council is granting permits for the erection of temporary buildings to enable traders to resume/business, but these permits, which are almost entirely for structures of wood and iron, are for a period of ]2 months, at the end of which the owners will have to remove them at their own expense if called upon by the council to do so. Before that period expires the question of replanning will have to be dealt with should the community still be desirous of laying the basis of the future city which they now visualise.

Th 6 Mayor, Mr. G. F. Roach, has stated that if town-planning can be carried out at all in New Zealand it can be done in Hastings, where the bulk of the buildings in the/main street aro down, and while he does not wish it to he said in the future that he lacked vision he can see enorm<?uj? difficulties ahead. In the widening of Heretaunga Street alone the interests of mortgagees and s will have to be considered, and it is a question whether the town will be able to face the enormous compensation that may he involved. The Prime Minister has promised, however, that at a. later stage the advice of the Town planning Board will be available.

SAFETY OF FIREMEN.

DANGERS FROM PARAPETS,

[BY TKLEGRAFH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

NELSON, Tuesday.

At the conference of fire brigades today Mr. T. Hugo, inspector of brigades, referred to the lessons to be learned fiom the Hawke's Bay disaster. There was the matter of walls coming down and of fnemeu being killed. The association should take some action in these matters. Parapets a,nd cornices were still being erected, notwithstanding the lessons already learned. The matter tame up after the Murchiion earthquake, but, nothing was done. The president of the Institute of Architects had stated that in one or two instances in Wellington ornamentations had been removed from buildings. In one case ten tons had been taken off. When Mr. Hugo took the question up the opinion !seemed to prevail that overhanging parapets dropped straight down. When there was a wall swaying with the immense weight on it, however, it must throw itself across the road. This was only too well exemplified at Napier, where parts of cornices and parapets were lying right across the streets, and many lives were lost. Mr. Hugo, in paying a tribute to the work of til® fire brigades at Napier and Hastings, at the time of the disaster, said little had been said of the splendid work of the fire brigades. As an eye-witness of ♦ha disaster, he could say he did not believe any body of men had done finer Svork,