LOOKING AHEAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 978, 22 May 1930, Page 15

LOOKING AHEAD

IDEAL INDUSTRIAL AREA MR. JOHN PARKS SCHEME “The tremendous potentialities of the Auckland Province and of Auckland City and surroundings, make it a hard proposition for the most optimistic mind to visualise the future saturation point of industrial development.” Such is the opinion of Mr. John Park, as expressed in an address delivered last evening to the Onehunga Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Park has given much thought during the past few years to the question of providing for the industrial development of the city and its environs, and is well qualified to define the policy of future trading activities. He pointed out that with the possibility of mining activities again resuming, agricultural, pastoral, dairying, timber and manufacturing industries of the province still callable of being given impetus, and the steady growth of trade with the Pacific Islands before it, Auckland should bestir itself to have the industrial areas considered for future operations. He contended that the growth of Auckland City during the past 30 or 40 years led to the conviction that the day is fast approaching when the city areas must function as offices, warehouses and distributing depots for the larger manufacturing concerns. Many of the existing manufacturers were even now beginning to find that rates, taxes and overhead charges have reached such proportions that they had to look further afield for sites to which to transfer their plants. The questions then arose, "‘Where shall they go?” “What are the main features the ideal manufacturing area should possess?”

THE IDEAL AREA The ideal industrial area must be located in a position which' included facilities for conducting all forms of manufacturing enterprise. - It must have first-class transport facilities,, good railway communication, good road communication, reasonable water carriage, a plentiful supply of water, coal and electrical energy handy, good foundations for buildings, easy provision for drainage and the disposal of sewage. To say where such an area was available at the present moment was a simple matter, but if prompt action were not taken, an answer to that question would become more and more difficult as the years rolled by. Mr. Park contended that the shores of the Manukau Harbour and the Tamaki River fulfilled all the conditions for an ideal manufacturing area. The setting aside of these lands for such a purpose would in no way overlap or interfere with any deliberations on town or regional planning; on the contrary it would tend to solve many of the existing problems. In the discussion which followed Mr. Park’s address, general agreement was expressed to call a conference of manufacturing interests and the surrounding local bodies for the purpose of developing the plan thus elaborated.