TOWN PLANNING

Otago Witness, Issue 3403, 4 June 1919, Page 42

TOWN PLANNING

DOMINION CONFERENCE

SPEECHES BY MINISTERS.

WELLINGTON, May 20. The Town Planning Conference was Sjened this morning by the Governorereral the Hon. G. W. Russell (Minister of Internal Affairs) presiding. The Acting Prime Minister welcomed the *llfJ*i>. Luke, M.P, the Mayor of Wellington, also extended a welcome |o the delegates. , . ■ i ' Th« Hon. G. W. Russell, in his presidential Address, emphasised the practical nature of the conference, and the importance of its ftlmti. Figures showed the great grovvtn 01 borough population in New Zealand as compared with county population. Ihe problems of town planning were accentuated by the growth of the cities. Land speculators had no regard for the future and it ,was time that legislation was passed making it impossible for any person to sell residentiaL areas unless provision were made for properties fitting, into a dearly-defined; scheme of loading, drainage, and water supply. He was satisfied that this country 'must embark upon a groat scheme for housing the people, and must talk in millions •if wo were to have a happy, contented people. The transit problem was also very important in preventing overcrowding, and he suggested that the zonal system must be applied to encourage people to live at a distance from their employment. Ihe financial problem, could bo met only by graduated, subsidies to assist the- smaller towns '■ or by special assistance from the State's advances. The financial aspect was the crux of tho whole question, it resolved itself 'into, two questions: (U. Should the entire responsibility of town planning be laid upon the poople of the localities? or (2) should the State in the national interest accept at least a share of the financial responsibilities? His considered view was that while the direct responsibility of improvement in the cities in the way of abolishing slum areas and creating parks and open spaces was a responsibility that must rest upon the people of that town or district the State should be prepared to assist minor borough and town districts and growing localities by expert advice and financial assistance in order that those places might be advised" and assisted by the trained staff at the disposal of the Government or Local Government Board and the necessary finances provided for them. There were two methods by which this could bo done —(1) By a process of graduated sub«dy such as he proposed in the Local Government Bill of 1912, by which,' according to the richness or poverty of the area affected ihe State subsidy should increase to poor districts and gradually taper off to a diminishing point for rich cities and towns; (2) •Abat through the State Advances Office a ■scheme should be established by which apecial assistance should be given to local authorities for town planning purposes at the lowest possible rate of interest and on even longer terms as regards sinking funds than obtained under the present system. Mr Parr, M.P.,. stressed tho necessity for action. Land-owners and speculators were, being allowed to., cut up residential r land in a haphazard fashion, regardless of the future of a city and the comfort of the people. More powers were needed by local bodies. Mr Parr condemned a cast-iron rule for streets, and stated that 66ft was not wide enough for a main thoroughfare and too wide for a residential street. Curved streets adapting themselves to the contour of tho land were an enormous improvement on the streets laid out in a chess-board fashion.

In the evening the programme included kinematograph pictures and lantern slides illustrating city and town improvements In the older lands. The Hon. Mr Russell, in welcoming visitors to~the exhibition, said the desire of the Government was .to create a sound publio opinion. ■ He need scarcely tell the audience that there would be a general election this year. The Government wanted the electors to impress upon candidates the importance of the town-planning and housing problem in order that the" next Government might have public opinion behind it when reform on town-planning lines was proposed. New Zealand had made mistakes in the laying out and development of cities, and those mistakes must be corrected where possible, and avoided h>. the future. ' f DOMINION CONFERENCE. WELLINGTON, May 21. 'The To wn-plaiming Conference was continued to-day, Mr Hurst-Seager reading a paper on "Garden Cities" in relation to the problems of reconstruction and repatriation. He dealt at great length with the English »oheries, notably Letehworth, and urged that '.he decentralisation of industries by idP&as ol establishing self-contained cities Vks »h« o>\ilv proper solution of the present bousing prouleir.. .A general discussion followed, several speakers urging that the large schemes of England were not needed in New Zealand, where, however, there was great room for town unprc-ycrnent. The delegates expressed some dissatisfootion at the method of conducting the conference, saying that there ■were too many lengthy papers and selected speakers, and not enough opportunity for general discussion. The remainder of the morning was given to general discussion. Dr Reakes (Director-general of Agriculture) said tho difference between the price received by the producer for vegetables and tho price paid by the consumers was far too large, and garden villages ought to help in solving this problem. Fruit farming settlements ought to benefit both the producer and the consumer, and the same principles of concentration and co-opera-tion oould be applied to poultry, pig, end bee farming. 'ADDRESS BY MINISTER OF MINES. WELLINGTON, May 22. -The Minister of Mines addressed the Town Planning Conference to-day. Mr 'MacDonald said the people needed not only good houses but good surroundings, and ho was of opinion that the subject could be handled best by one central body armed with proper powers and having at its disposal the advice of an expert. If the dominion was to have not a mere cluster of houses, but properly planned towns, special State action was needed.

" The City Beautiful " was the subject of a paper read by Mr J. F. Munnings, architect to the Government of Bihar and _ Orissa. He said if New Zealand was to produce beautiful towns tho efforts of tho paoplo must bo co-ordinated on a sound financial or commercial basis. By

far the greater pari 6f ihe cost was that covering rectification or past mistakes and compensation to vested interests. Mr Munnings referred to the advantages of cremation over ordinary burial. Ho jaid the disposal of the dead was a problem with which all were concerned, and after a prolonged residence in India, where one was brought into touch with other systems than ours, he "could rot help feeling that there was much to be said for cremation. With the growth of our cities the problem would require greater attention than ever and greater foresight in planning for the future. He had often been struck by tho enormous wealth and by the enormous expenditure of skilled labour that cemeteries, with their monumonts and tombstones, represented. He had seen the Taj Mahal at Agra, a royal tomb ereoted -by the Shah Jehan in memory of his wife. He felt sure the nobility of its conception would appeal to all, and he was_ tempted to suggest that tho adoption of cremation and the election of a beautiful oivil mausoleum to the memory of the dead would be worthy of consideration.

Tho conference to-night adopted the following recommendation of tho committee appointed to consider the financial aspect of the town-planning problem:—"That tho total cost of a town-planning department, including the salary of the expert, should be paid by the Government; that the cost of carrying out local schemes should be borne by districts affected, but that the money required should be provided by the Dominion Government at the lowest possible rate of interest, the local bodies being called upon to pay only interest and sinking fund; that provision should be mado for assisting out of the Consolidated Fund smaller local authorities in special circumstances." The following recommendation was rejected:—"That clause 24, subsection 2d, of the Town-planning Bill be amended to provide for the assessment of all the rates required for the payment of interest and sinking fund on the cost of town-planning schemes on the unimproved value of land."

GOVERNMENT ACTION NECESSARY. . WELLINGTON, May 23.

The committee of the Town Planning Conference set up to" consider the Town Planning Bill made, amongst other suggeslions, the . following, which were adopted by . the conference: —

That the principles of town planning be applied to New Zealand, and that town planning schemes be prepared without delay;; that a Town Planning and Housing Act is necessary j that a depart-ment-be established and an expert town

planner be .appointed, to have supervision of town planning schemes. The housing problem formed the subject of a paper prepared by Mr F. W. Rowley, superintendent of workers' dwellings, read at the conference. The paper dealt more particularly with the erection of homes for workers. It was stated that now the workers' dwellings system had passed the experimental-stage it must be developed on a much larger scale. Some of the occupants of rural had done exceedingly well out of their land. To mako the- scheme of erecting workers' dwellings really successful, it must be made possible to erect them in wholesale fashion, thereby reducing the initial'cost materially. In this connection the paper mentioned the great advantage from, all. points of view of building new villages in a suburb close to the railway line, but outside any existing borough; and on what was at the time of the erection of the village merely farming land. In a settlement of that_ sort all town planners' ideals. could be incorporated. During the discussion on the paper Mr Campbell, the Government architect, said the day of the entirely -wooden house was passing. To reduce the cost of building the size of the sections could be reduced with advantage, while the building .by-laws should be remodelled to enable new material to be used. Mr Howard (Christcburch) said the housing scheme was an immediate necessity. There was need for 10,000 new houses. The Government could allocate £3,000,000 free of interest to start the movement.

The committee appointed to consider the housing problem recommended that the Government should recognise the housing shortage as one of the pressing national questions, and' should co-operate with the local authorities in carrying out housing schemes on town planning lines, the Stat© to undertake the financing of the schemes; subsequently full control to be in the hands of the municipalities. It was suggested that the Government should subsidise local bodies up to one-third of the cost of the building with £1,000,000 as a subsidy to be at once set aside. The report was adopted. The committee set up to consider the improvement of towns and cities recommended that "on the passing of a townplanning act it should be made compulsory, when any area exceeding five acres was subdivided, for the owner to make over to a local body 10 per cent, at least of the total saleable area to be subdivided. —The report was adopted.

The conference concluded to-night. In replying to a resolution of thanks for calling the delegates together, the Hon. Mr Russell said it would bo his duty to bring the proposals of tho conference before the Cabinet. Cabinet could, out of tho unauthorised vote, agree to appoint a townplanner, and he would _ therefore bring the question of an appointment before" the Cabinet 'without waiting for Parliament. LOCAL DELEGATES RETURN.

The Otago delegates to the Town-planning" Conference in Wellington returned to Dunedin on Saturday night. This is the first conference of the kind, and the most representative of any conference every held in tho dominion. Over 400 delegates were present, representing all descriptions of public bodies and institutions, women's societies, etc. The conference was very successful, although programme was much too heavy for the average delegate. Four papers, more or less technical, were read every day, and with lengthy discussions and frequent committee meetings the week might well be termed a strenuous one. A feature of the proceedings were tho exhibitions and picture shows. There were exhibited architectural plans of towns already in existence and of others yet to bo built; pictures of slums within and without New ZeaJand ; examples of the world's famous statuary; and a variety of views of innumerable subjects of the same order. The object of the corserenco was to consider the necessity of town-planning legislation, and the application of town-planning principles to all new towns and to future extensions of present towns and cities. Tho delegates were unanimous in expressing

the opinion that the result of the conference would be widespread, and tha£ ite educational value would be great. The full proceedings are to be published, and the facts, figures, and photographs will form the basis of all future consideration of townplanning in the dominion. There was a remarkable collection of examples of poster work, representing the highest development of the printers' and lithographer's art." The attendance at the exhibition, which was held in the Town Hall at Wellington, was large, though not so large as it might have been if judicious advertising had been done. Among the visitors were several thousand children.

During the course of the conference, papers were read dealing with various aspects of town-planning, including roads. Some of the papers came from acknowledged experts in Australia, and many of them were illustrated by lantern slides. Some of the garden cities which formed the subject of illustrated papers were an inspiration to delegates, and gave them a comprehensive idea of the tremendous advancement of town-planning principles in the extension of old and the building of new cities.

Very interesting proposals were made with regard to the future main arterial roads. One suggestion was a road from Invercargill to Auckland, and the method of construction and the materials to be used were fully discussed. The estimated cost of this road was £6,000,000. The conference considered the Townplanning Bill introduced by the Minister of Internal Affairs last session; suggested certain amendments, and strongly urged that the - BilJ should bo passed into law as speedily as possible. The effect _of the Bill would be the immediate appointment of an expert town-planner. Associated_ with him would be a town-planning commission, which would consist of experts in architecture, engineering, surveying, and public health. The business of the expert in the commission would be to confer with local bodies on the question of extensions, and .this would obviate a repetition of the present evils associated with city extension. The aim of the Bill, in short, is the building of new cities and new towns free from the old evils.

An interesting raport was that of the Committee on Housing, of which the chairman was the Hon. J. T. Paul, M.L.C. The committee reported as follows:—"There is ample evidence that a pronounced shortage of houses, numbering many thousands, exists throughout the dominion. Many of the existing houses are not up to a standard of civilised comfort, a fact which intensifies the acuteness of the problem. We recommend that the Government recognise the housing shortage as one of pressing national necessity, that the Government cooperate with the local authorities in carrying out housing schemes on town-planning lines, and that the State undertake to finance the schemes, while leaving a reasonable degree of initiative and subsequent full control in the hands of the municipalities; that the Government subsidise local bodies up to one-third of the cost of approved building schemes; that the Government be recommended to at onoe set aside the sum of £1,000,000 as a subsidy to carry out the above resolution; that the Government"be earnestly requested to undertake the building of a garden city on the lines laid down by Mr S. Hurst Seager in his paper. We are of opinion that the housing problem can be materially assisted in this way, that the prosperity of the country will_ be increased, and the comfort and happiness of the worker secured ; ! that the Government should restore the pre-war railway service as early els possible." In the evenings continuous picture exhibitions were given, at which films were shown of Continental cities, and also some story films, which were interesting because set "in\ surroundings of town-planning interest.