TOWN PLANNING.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 12084, 23 June 1920, Page 4

TOWN PLANNING.

Under the auspices of Martou Chamber of Commerce, Mr Leigh Hunt, President of Greater Wellington Municipal Electors and Town Planning Association, addressed a fair audience in St Andrew’s Hail on Town Planning. His Worship the Mayor (Mr Wm C Kensington, 1.5.0), presided, and in introducing the speaker, said he was an enthusiast on the subject and wanted them to be equally enthusiastic. He hoped that soon a Town Planning. Board would be sot up. Mr Hunt soon convince! the audience that his subject was. as he said, full of fascination, and he was frequently applauded. He stated he was not an expert, but hoped to spread enthusiasm, aud that town planning would soon be started in Marton. The war had brought great changes and now was the golden opportunity to reshape the thoughts of many men. It was found that the spirit of brotherly intercourse was much more marked among tl:« infirm and the poor than among the rich. If a man intended putting a hedge round his house as a protection from high winds, he should se» that those trees did not shut out the sun from his neighbour. Hard headed business men in ,America and Britain had found that it paid to make men happy in their surroundings. He instanced Bouruviile and other towns They wanted to see this movement spreading. Towa planning was not solely a question of beautitiyng. The speaker referred to the gift in 1839 by the New Zealand Company for the benefit of the City of Wellington of 1000 acres as a town belt, aud eulogised the forethought aud statesmanlike action of men who organised the first band of emigrants, and who though 10,000 miles away, reserved a beit for the. Empire City, whilst the laud and forest were in their primeval state, thus making provision for centuries ahead. It was an example which many settlers might well have followed. In town planning we all met on a common platform. But the artificial nature of towns made it difficult to ruralise them. He quoted Cowper’s—

“God made the Country, and Man made the Town; What wonder, then, that health and virtue, gifts, That can alone make sweet *th® bitter draught That life holds oat to all, should most abound, And least be threatened in the fields and groves. ”

All knew that if animals were crowded into a small space, they became prey to'diseaae and vice, and human beings were not more exempt. They should make the towns as much like the country as possible, and leave out the artificiality. Wellington was the most congested of any city south of the line, having 29 houses to the"acre A farmer had said if he put on 21) cow* to the acre most of them w aid be killed, and this applied to human beings. Birmingham had 6 houses to the acre. He considered all should subscribe to have a better state of affairs. Other countries were working on ■■cientific lines, manfully' remedying the mistakes of the past Nature worked to a plan, but cities grow up higgeldv-piggeldy, and in illustration he recited “The Path the Calf Made.” The speaker thought that in years to come this country would have a population of over 10,000,000 people. It was obvious that we must have a large population. In regard to town planning we were 25 to 30 years behind the times. Kngland’s garden cities were an object lesson to the world ; even dor. •••• (he war she had kept on building The death rate in the garden cities v:»s low, 10,86 in Dunedin and fur barbs as against 4.2 in Hampstead Garden Suburb. The remedy lay in spreading the people. Let in the sunlight and have more fresh air. People objected to suburbs because of tram fares, but the speaker thought that' matter could be adjusted in the form of universal tram fares. This might upset tramway balance sheets, but would save an enormous sum in hospital expenditure and ether ways. People wondered why there was disloyalty in this country, Tiuy could see in the slams of Wellington why people were disloyal. Mlu r : d welling was responsible for 10 per cent of the unrest we have. Defter conditions meant we would have better citizens. The children of to-day were the men and women of to morrow. The speaker pointed out the great need for efficiency owing to the enormous burden imposed bv cost of the war. Fifty-three per cent of the population lived in towns or boroughs This was not healthy He touched on the housing problem and stressed the importance of parks, and playing grounds tor children, and also the importance of having industries apart from residential quarters, and suggested tree surgeons should be appointed to save the lives of trees which were beautifying a town. Ho pointed out that town planning was not Ja luxury, that it was <«, omen who suffered most living in uncongenial surroundings, and that we wanted men in Parliament with a vision. We should build up for the future. It whs the duty of everyone to take a keen interest in the country in which they lived The speaker then explained a number of slides which were shown by Rev L H Hunt. Those depicting the slums of Wellington did not need explaining, but those of cities which have been made beautiful and suggestions shown of others were tell of interest, and the speaker was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. A similar compliment was paid the Chairman.