FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22226, 28 September 1935, Page 10

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ACCESS TO QUEEN STREET The lack of adequate access to Queen Street and the traffic congestion there formed the subject of an article in the New Zealand Herald of September 29, 1885. "A few days ago we called attention to the present state of the locality at Emily Place and the old site of St. Paul's with the view to showing that something must at once be done," stated the article. "The great object to be gained is to give a good access to the sea front and an easy grade up Symonds Street. Of late years the business.carried on at the sea frontage has been greatly increased, and has extended from Mechanics' Bay to Freeman's Bay. Land has been reclaimed along that entire distance and large warehouses have been erected. But there is as yet only the one access to the city for all this additional cciu merce "Everything converges to Queen Street, not because the . traffic has its destination there, but because it must come there to got to any other part of tho city. There is no road for heavy traffic in Mechanics' Bay or Freeman's Bay. It is to bo hoped that the difficulty will be partly solved, as regards the western side, by a judicious treatment of Hobson Street and adjacent streets, and in the meantime a capital opportunity presents itself to make a great city improvement on the eastern side."