WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1905. THE EXHIBITION SITE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8248, 22 February 1905, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1905. THE EXHIBITION SITE.

The sub-committee appointed to select a site for next year's international exhibition lost no time in performing its task. It had four spots from which to make a choice. Three of them were in the North Park and the fourth was the site of the 1881 exhibition in the South Park. The committee had no difficulty in eliminating two of the four. It rejected that part of the North Park knbwn as the "Pilgrims' Corner" on the ground that it is not sufficiently accessible, and a site on the north-west shore of Victoria Lake for the same reason. Finally it had to decide between the old exhibition site and' a spot in the North Park between the Armagh Street bridge and Victoria Lake, and it ohose the latter. We will not quarrel with the . sub-committee's selection. The site chosen is in many respects an admirable one, and from some points of view is eminently suitable. But it has certain drawbacks which are not to be found in the South Park site. For instance, it has only one frontage, and that one is.separated by the river from the adjoining thoroughfare. The only direct means of access to the site is over a bridge, and one' entrance being inadequate the building of a second bridge would be necessary. Furthermore, though that is a minor consideration, the ground selected is not level. On the other hand, the South ' Park site is perfectly flat 1 , and therefore ready for the foundation stoned and is bounded on two sides by wide thoroughfares. Its main frontage is already served by a tramline, and though the line is to bo abandoned under the new electrical tramway scheme it could very easily be retained until after the exhibition. It would certainly be less costly and troublesome to leave the rails in their present position than to lay a fresh line up Armagh Street. For wherever the exhibition is situated it will have to be connected with the tram routes. Public convenience and financial considerations alike demand that the Tramway Board should establish a regular and cheap service to the exhibition gates. The Board will be obliged", therefore, to lay lines from Cook and Ross's corner to the Armagh Street bridge, as well as to provide for the extra traffic which the exhibition will, entail. The cost of this work would be saved if the South Park site had been chosen. But, as we have said, we will not find fault with the sub-committee's selection. In many respects the North Park site is superior to any other that we can uiink of, and in other respects it was .certainly second among the four sites which the committee had under consideration.