TOWN PLANNING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12646, 2 June 1919, Page 5

TOWN PLANNING.

THE EXHIBITION OPENED. Ihe exhibition of the town planning exhibits, which were displayed at the 1 v\' (:C Bkinuing Conference iiL i Wellington, was opened in the .Art Gal- i cry this morning by the Mayor (Dr ■ i hacker, M.P.). ; .1 lio Mayor said it was through tho < energy of “the ” town planner of A us- • tralasia, Mr S, Hurst Sc ago r—(ap- 1 plfiiiso) and with tho assistance of the 1 Jlon G. AV. Russell and Air K F. Kelly, i tho Governii/ont architect and super- ' visor of town planning, that tho ex- i hi hits wore made available for exhibition in Christchurch. Air Kelly would give oral demonstrations daily, describing the exhibits and tho necessity for town planning. In Christchurch wo oould make a start in town planning by taking clown tho “ horrible” galvanised iron fences about the city, The speaker said ho was going to take his fence down next week for a start. Another thing necessary in Christchurch was to get tho trams away from tho centre of tho city, where the traffic in tho streets made them unsafe for pedestrians. Our schools and school grounds were for tho most part in a deplorable condition. AVo could get right to work and townplan them. There was under offer to Hie city, | said tho Mayor, a block of about ■ eighteen acres. If tho city would take ; it over, and Air Russell would lend the ! money, probably from 120 to 160 houses v would be built on it in the immediate future, with proper lighting, drainage and sanitation systems. It had been said that there were no slums in Christchurch, but in the speaker’s ! opinion there was one in the centre of the city. Ho referred to the right-of-way between Cashel and Colombo Streets, off the Triangle. Ho was going to see to it that such places as these were removed. The Hon G. AV. Russell said the j Mayor had mentioned the efforts of the j people in. connection with securing the exhibits for Christchurch, but had not mentioned tho great part he (the .Mayor) had played in getting the clis- ! play for exhibition here.- AVe were the j most fortunate city in New Zealand as regards town-planning, as the men who j laid out Christchurch had laid it out j broad and strong. Consequently we ; had not the disabilities of AVellingkm | and Auckland, where land was not available. The object of tho exhibition was to educate people to - the necessity for town-vdanning. His duties took him all over New Zealand, among towns practically cut out of tho hush The population of some of these places ■ was between 2000 and 3000. hut in : years to come th.ev would probably he towns of from 20,000 to 30 000 inhabitants. It was the duty of the Public Health Department to see that proper sanitation, lighting and drainage systems were provided, especially in the North Wand towns, and to see that provision was made for these in any extensions. At present tho horougns and cities were largely . in _excess of the rural population in New Zea-. Wnd The la't census showed the figures to be 54 in the cities and boroughs, as against 46 in the rural areas. If the suburbs of the cities were included the figures would probably represent at least 60 per cent ui the urban areas- That showed the necessity for making provision for adequate lighting, draining and sanitation ; also that no man should sell land just to put money into his pocket. Any land sold must fit into a town planning scheme- The' last census showed that there were over 9000 tenements in New Zealand of one room, over 9000 of two rooms and over 14,000 of five rooms and less. This showed how urgently town planning was needed. In the speaker’s opinion tho great need in New Zealand Was the provision of a strong system of finance to enable a comprehensive housing and town planning scheme to bo carried out together. Out of the men called up under the military service ballots 64 per cent were unfit. This meant that in their early life they had not had proper housing, clothing, food and the other necessities of life. There were from 10,000 to 13,000 marriages in New Zealand every year. AVhere were the houses for these young people? The people must take tho matter in hand, and see that decent homes were provided for those taking upon themselves the responsibility of parenthood. The speaker dealt at some length with the conditions under which the miners lived. If those present had seen these conditions they would not wonder why hundreds of them had abandoned their occupation and were now working on the wharves. The men who turned Bolsheviks were not the men who lived in comfortable homes. The miners should he provided with comfortable homes Mid given a superannuation scheme similar to that of the railwayman. The Alining Department had decided to build a new mining township on the West Coast, and bad asked for tho assistance of Air Hurst Soager The speaker had also asked the public health officers to go into the question of proper drainage, etc., so already the work, of town-planning bad been begun by ‘"’This dreadful Government-” Tlie Government must nationalise the coal mines and the miners’ homos if the coal problem was to be solved. In conclusion the ATinirter paid a tribute to the work don» bv Air Hurst Senger. To him and to AD N oT rtcu ''ms entirely due the very fine town-plan-ning exhibition recently held in AA rellington.