CENTRALISATION

New Zealand Times, Volume LIV, Issue 12652, 12 January 1927, Page 3

CENTRALISATION

WEAKNESS OF MELBOURNE; “NEW ZEALAND SHOULD BE THANKFUL” IMPRESSIONS OF A SOUTHERNER That centralisation is a marked feature and a weakness of Melbourne, was the opinion expressed by Professor W. Hewitson, master of Knox College, Dunedin, after spending some considerable time in the Victorian State. Nevertheless, the professor has returned to the Dominion greatly impressed with tile growth of the big Australian city, which he had not visited for any length of time for over thirty years. He considers that New Zealand should be thankful that geographically it must be decentralised. Melbourne, he pointed out to a “Times” reporter, had a population of round about a million, and, after Ballarat, Geelong, and Bendigo, with populations of between 40 and 60 thousands, the populations of townships dropped down to about six thousand. “There is nothing to correspond with our second-grade cities and towns, such as Wanganui. Palmerston North, and Hamilton in the North, and Timaru and Invercargill in fhe South.” he said. TRAFFIC PROBLEM The trailic problem in the Commonwealth, in parts, compared with anything he had seen in New York or London, and he was struck with the enormous number of motor-cars on the road, which were for the most part well constructed and maintained. Electrification of suburban railways in Melbourne was relieving congestion and making remote parts quickly accessible to business men. The railway system generally was efficient, and some of the methods used in this connection were decidedly American. The wide gauge of the lines in the Cominonwealtn enabled certain comforts and conveniences to be placed at the disposal of passengers that were not possible with the narrow gauge of the Dominion. “I do not, however, criticise our own railways adversely; and the thing we need most in this connection is a better railway bed, which would make running smoother, and, perhaps, more expeditious. Professor Hewitson was naturally much interested in the educational system of the country he visited, and found that the universities were developing, and a considerable amount Of research work was being accomplished in connection with the institutions and the Walker and Eliza Hall Institute at the hospital in Melbourne. “One of the great features of Vctorian education is the great public schools, which are denominationally owned and controlled. . . . The Roman Catholic colleges may be taken as distinct examples, being very powerful institutions, in some instances catering for some 1100 boys.”