RECLAIMED LAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22628, 16 January 1937, Page 14

RECLAIMED LAND

AUCKLAND POLICY ATTACK BY ENGINEER GRAVE EARTHQUAKE RISK PROBLEMS OF SUBSIDENCE A warning of the disadvantages and dangers attendant on Auckland s policy of reclamation on the waterfront was given yesterday in a paper to the Science Congress by the city waterworks engineer, .Mr, A. D. Mead, who said while ho did not necessarily condemn reclamation, ho thought the case against it had not received adequate presentation.

The reasons advocated for reclaiming the bays adjacent to the main centre of the city had been that a convenient dump for harbour dredgings was provided and that new land within the commercial and industrial zones of high letting value was vested in a public authority. He considered this argument was based on illusory economics. The final test was the resulting community value, and the actual physical effect was to substitute expensively-produced land for cheap land which was available outside the zone of suburban settlement.

The disadvantages of reclaimed land from the municipal engineer's standpoint were many. A slow settling process continued over many years, leading to increased maintenance costs and to trouble with all the underground services, which further suffered from the corrosive nature of tho filling material. Foundations for any heavy structures needed expensive piling. Storm water drains which discharged at the former waterfront had their hydraulic gradients reduced by extensions until they were excessively Hat. Sewage had to bo pumped. In the event of an earthquake of considerable intensity, the whole of the works on the reclamations, buildings, roads, aerial and underground services would collapse, whereas with simple and relatively inexpensive precautions they wouid remain intact on solid ground. Finally the loss of tidal scour and consequent reduction in harbour depths was important, since the critical section of the harbour entrance was ony fathoms deep at low spring tides.

TOWN PLANNING AUCKLAND PROBLEMS DISHARMONY IN BUILDING The folly of requiring all maris to lw of uniform width was stressed by both a surveyor, Mr. E. V. lilake, and the city waterworks engineer, Mr. A. I). Mead, in papers read to the enand architecture section in the course of a series of lectures on town planning which occupied the section all day. The principle had led to arterial roads being too narrow and side roads too wide in several Auckland districts, Mr. Mead said. -Tt was not only wasteful, but also much more costly than was generally realised. Mr. Mead said Auckland had grown in accordance with the exigencies of the topography and any preconceived theoretical plan would obviously have proved abortive, but in several directions more could have been done in recognising the inevitable direction growth would take and preparing for the consequences. He was a strong advocate of naturalism in town planning. If nature's lead was followed a sense of harmony would he convoyed which could not be obtained by so-called civic features.

Dealing with the surveying side of the subject, Mr. Blake drew attention to the potential shortage of playing fields in Auckland city and suburbs. Already on accepted standards the,re was a deficiency of 1800 acres and difficulty was being experienced by athletic organisations in finding room for their activities.

Mr. 11. A. Lippincott, of Auckland, who gave an architect's view, made an appeal for more effort to beautify the sides and backs of buildings. "Our architecture partakes of the nature of a huge bluff,'' he said. "Queen Anne on one face and Mary Ann on the other three." He also urged that there should be more harmony among adjacent structures. He suggested that in an endeavour to obtain independence and vigour of style without discord and clashing a drawing showing the ultimate relationship of the adjoining buildings with a proposed new structure should be a prerequisite to the issue of building permits and that, decisions as to whether the proposals met the requirements of good design should be vested in suitably qualified persons, with appeal to a competent tribunal.

HIGH EXCHANGE RATE SOME COMMON FALLACIES A denial that the Australian high rate of exchange, which is tho same as that ruling in New Zealand, acted as either p.n export bounty or as a protective tariff on local industries, was made in a paper to the economics, statistics and social sciences section sent by Mr. .J. L. K. Gilford, lecturer in economics at the University of Brisbane. He stated that these two widelyheld fallacies, which had caused a great deal of confusion of thought during the depression, could be seen to be erroneous by a consideration of the economic factors involved.

A third fallacy was that the high exchange caused a special burden on public finance. Academic economists knew that the extra burden was due to tho fall in the world prices of the country's exports and tliat it would have iteen at leatt as great if the balance of payments had been corrected in J0.'50 and by means of more deflation and without a rise in the rate of exchange. This third fallacy had been left chiefly to politicians.

FOOD POLICY URGED

DIET AND DISEASE "Consideration of statistics covering i the household budget of the quarter of the population enjoying a family income of £6 a week or more shows that the weekly expenditure on food is 8s per person a week. The statistics show that for this expenditure an inadequate amount of protective foodstuffs is consumed and the position is worse with the other three-quarters of the population," said Dr. K. J5. Gunson in urging the need for a national food policy to the medical science, national health and physiology sect ions. Infant mortality, defects of children, maternal mortality, and disease in the age group between 15 and 25, were all largely affected by faulty nutrition. Probably the greater part, of the illhealth from which the community suffered could be eliminated in the next generation if it worn possible to ensure that every person in the present generation had a diet fully adequate for health. A nutrition research institute Mas needed, and a food policy in which there was co-ordination between agricultural and public health interests.