TOWN PLANNING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11764, 31 July 1916, Page 2

TOWN PLANNING.

MR HURST SEAGER'S LECTURES ______ Tho series of lectures by Mr S. Hurst Scager on "Town Planning," delivered in tho old chemical lectrdre theatre at Canterbury College on Saturday evenings, are. evidently finding much favour, for on Saturday night, when the fourth lecture was delivered, there was an excellent attendance, including several ladie3. Mr Seager devoted his lecture to places of rest in cities, arcades, tho width of streets in modern towns, garden cities; and architecture in relation to trees, foliage, lakes, streams and fountains.

! The feature of the lecture was the number of magnificent lantern slides shown by Mr Seager to illustrate his arguments The glimpses of garden • cities, places of rest, and particularly architecture in relation to trees, foliage and fountains, were singularly beautiful and exceedingly interesting, and made a great impression on the audience. Lovely tree-clad vistas in English, French and Gorman _ calm and restful places of retirement from the traffic, and pictures-of many beautiful fountains made the lecture one of the most popular of the series. Dealing with places of rest in cities, Mr Seager said that as far as possible they should be'enclosed, and formed in several parts of a town. Main lines of traffio should not pass through them. As regards the width of streets, the regular sixty-six feet road was absurd. It was too narrow for the traffic part of tho city and too wide for the resii dential areas. It was not tho width of the streets that should concern the authorities, but the width between the houses. (Hear, hear.) Main arterial roads should be the-King's highway. All great main arterial roads, such as the Riccarton, Papanui and Ferry Roads, should be ..Government concerns. For instance, it was a futile policy to make tho Woolston Borough Council responsible for a certain part j of the Ferry Road and some other I local body responsible for another part and so on. Such roads should be entirely under the State and kept up as !'national highways. (Applause.) I Comparing Christchurch streets with those of garden and Continental cities, Mr Seager condemned the full width macadamised road. Not only was it an eyesore without a tree or any redeem'inig artistic feafcire, but it was i costly of upkeep, and they should bear | in mind that all street upkeep was increasing the cost of living. _ (Hear, 1 hear.) In the comparative views he showec 1 they could see what wasteful methods of work were in vogue. _ Streets should bo proportionate in width to the amount of traffic they had to carry. Hence tho law of uniformity should be altered. (Applause.) In showing many views on the subject of the relation of foliage and trees to architecture, Mr Seager said that the architecture was improved by the foliage of trees. Many of the cities of which ho was showing views spent large sums of money in beautifying then- streets and public places, yet all that was' asked to beautify Cathedral Square was £3OOO. Tho beauty of streets was -increased very largely by trees. Water particularly fountains, \ivers and lakes, had always beon a great aid to architecture, as they could realise bv the views on the screen. In showing'how many old English homes and castles harmonised with the rivers and foliage. Mr Seager displayed what they had done in Christchurch with similar materiafs at their hands—the Avon with its bare banks and in the background a building with I.M.UA. in whito letters ten feet high on a blue background glaring inartistica-lly all j over the picture i At the conclusion of his address Mr Seager answered a number of questions and was accorded a hearty vote of thanks by acclamation.