OTHER CITIES

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12042, 21 January 1925, Page 7

OTHER CITIES

MAYOR S OBSERVATIONS AUSTRALIAN- An 6 NEW ZEALAND CONDITIONS COMPARED. GROWTH OF SYDNEY,. “Sydney has grown romf-rkably in the iaet 10 or 15 years, -and is still going ahead at a tremendous rate,’ stated the Mayor (Mr R. A. Wright, M.P.i, to the'“Times” representative yesterday. Mr Wright returned to Wellington hy the Marama yesterday ' from Australia where he has been holi-day-making for the past five weeks, end in the course of a brief interview gave some interesting particulars of Vis impressions gained duripg the trip. £14,000,000 IN BUILDINGS. To gain some idea of the manner in which Sydney is developing it was only necessary. lu> said, to glance at the building figures for last year, when permits for buildings to tho value of £14,000.000 were issued. Everywhere at tho present time smaller buildings were being pulled down to make, wav for hugo blocks of shops and offices, so that the present year would be no way behind the last in building achievements WHOLE STREETS DEMOLISHED. Besides the demolition of isolated buildings for the purpose of replace ment. there might he witnessed at the present time the destruction of whole streets ‘of houses on the North .Shore 1 in connection with the construction of the new, harbour bridge. Magnificent three-storey stone buildings these wore in which the tenants had been. -. given notice to quit, or, if the people were already gone, the process of demolition was actually underway. At present over one hundred ouch buildings were marked for destruction, ana thfirc would probably be more before the work was completed. GOOD STREETS—AND BAD. The streets in the city proper were excellently pared and maintained, said Mr Wright, but this did not apply to the suburbs, where many* of the streets and suburbs were in Cy shocking; condition. Tlje c>tv authorities.were not to blame for this, because these suburbs were under the control of local borough councils who did not seem equal to the task of properly , maintaining the ’ streets.' Muny efforts had been made , in the past, to effect an amalgamation between' these ’boroughs and the "city area, hut none of them had home fruit - TRAFFIC PROBLEMS. Sydney streets are always clean, sahl Mr Wright, and in this .the citiaens themselves lend valuable aid. No rub- , b>sh is thrown oh footpaths or streets; • even tram tickets are, fol* the most Dart, placed in the proper receptacles bv the pvssengera when they alight. Although the traffic problem is* a serious one yet it fe»ms to be very well managed. The nolice controlling the traffic do their work with great patience and still. s«uinu tb- enormous crowds with which they had to cope. * TRAMWAYS EFFICIENT —BUT T'ue Sydney tramway system was evidently blessed with ample rolling stock to meet the peak load times l remarked the Mayor. They shifted the people quickly and efficiently, but tho trams tiiemselves were neither .comfortable nor beautiful, being high and ungainly as compared with oure. BUSINESS CONDITIONS DULL. Business conditions in the Australian - cities are rather' dull at the present,, time, this being to some extent the reflection of the previous year’s indif-. ferent season, and also to the'unseasonably cool breather which, has been experienced .during the. past , two months. This has to Borne extent destroyed the market for the usual summer goods. Nevertheless, the present high prioes ruling for staple products will undoubtedly . result in a marked improvement uf trade shortly, of that business people Were confident. ' i • • COST OF LIVING. As far as prices went, there appeared to be little difference between the cost of living in Australia and in New Zealand, Mr Wright concluded. There were some items, however, notably boot# and some other articles of clothing, which were markedly cheaper there than they werp here. Stents were certainly high, especially in Sydney, and added to this, there was to be taken into consideration the heavy cost, of transport for those living in the more distant portions of the city. By.the time a worker residing on the North Shore paid train . fare, steamer farq, and tram fare to his place of employment in the city, it added very materially to the cost of living. BEAUTIFUL MELBOURNE. Melbourne, said Mr Wright, was a beautiful city, with' . splendidly kept streets; fine, substantial buildings, and plenty of open spaces. They had their troubles there,, too, for just- now. their tramway department was beginning to suffer from considerable ’bus competition, and the department had. determined to make a fight. They ; were meeting their competitors on their own ground and wherever the ’buses were new running the department was putting its own ’buses on side by side' with them. The private proprietors were very indignant, and complained bitterly of the treatment being meted out, to them by the Tramway Board. ELECTRIFICATION. . The board was now l entering on a policy of electrifying; the remaining cable lines in use in the city, in order to obtaih a uniform system. One thing - worth noting in connection 1 with -Melbourne transport services was the «iigtanding success which had attended the electrification of the suburbag railways. Under the new electric the Railway , Department was running more trains than before, they were faster and more comfortable, end the system was paying interest and sinking fund»charges on the cost of installation, and leaving a handsome surplus into tho bargain.