INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS

Otago Witness, Issue 3384, 22 January 1919, Page 30

INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS

THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY. WELLINGTON;. January 16. Reference to the recent influenza epidemic was made by the retiring president (Mr O. Lawrence), in his address this morning to the annual conference of members of the New Zealand Institute of Architects. The president said: "There is no doubt that th© congestion and overcrowding which have in recent years taken place in the cities and towns of this dominion have in a large measure helped to propagate diseases. However, that this is not the only cause is proved by the fact that the recent epidemio was not confined to crowded cities, but was also found in the open spaces of the country. There is no doubt that the state in which numerous families live, if it did not contribute to the spread of the disease, i 3 not in the best interests of the people themselves or of the community at large. It ij' to be noted with satisfaction that during the last session of Parliament amendments were made to the Public Health Act amendments which gave local bodies increased powers for the inspection and condemnation of buildings which are insanitary —and it is to be hoped that the powers so given may bo used in the best interests of the public. A Royal Commission has been appointed to inquire into and report on the causes of the epidemic, its spread, steps to be taken in the case of a further

visitation, and the housing, surroundings, and health of the masses. The members of the commission are all well-known, and are men highly respected in their walks of life, but the commission would have been strengthened by the inclusion of professional men, who may have made hygiene, townplanning, and other problems relating to the health and well-being of the people their close study." A NOVEL SUGGESTION. WELLINGTON. January 17. At the Institute of Architects' conference Mr Hurst Seager moved a resolution approving the proposal for a national memorial road from Auckland to the Bluff in honour of New Zealand's fallen soldiers, and asking town-planning associations in each district" for co-operation. The motion was ruled out of order, as no notice" had been given, but it was later decided to forward it to all branches of the institute and request their favourable consideration. The conference has concluded. The officers elected arc: —President, Mr J. L. Salmond (Dunedin); members of council —Messrs T.TE. Norman Wade. (Auckland), W. P. Finch (Hawke's Bay-Gisborne), T H. James (Taranaki-Wanganui), J. S. Swan (Wellington). S. Hurst Seager (Canterbury), B. B. Hooper (Otago), E. S. Wilson (Southland), Allsopp, Cummings, and Warren (Auckland), Davis and Burr (Hawke's Bay), Griffiths and West (Taranaki-Wanga-nui), Dawson Turnbull, and Page (Wellington), Collins, Hart, and Brown (Canterbury), Salmond and Maudeno (Otago), C. Lambeth (Southland); secretary, Mr W. Gray Young.