MAKING OR MARRING THE CITY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17171, 15 October 1923, Page 6

MAKING OR MARRING THE CITY.

It is a real pleasure to publish matter such as Mr E. ,1. Howard, M.P., delivered on Saturday in liis lecture on “The City Beautiful.” It is refreshing, also, to hear a Labour member taking it as bis text that “ man cannot live by bread alone,” and the pity is that more public men have not tiie flair to interest themselves in matters of genuine public interest, such as the beautifying of cities and the real improvement of living conditions from an aesthetic as well as a practical standpoint. Mr Howard speaks from a love of the beautiful, and although he says that lie is interested in the subject as a member of the City Council, the combination appears to be almost fortuitous, since the generality of City Councillors, if not blind to the beautiful in city planning, at least give is a very unimportant place in the catalogue of their civic responsibilities. “ The Star ” has been hammering away at city beautifying with rather negatiye results, and the most that can be done, apparently, is occasionally to prevent some piece of vandalism, such as the erection of electric light sub-stations on public reserves, the desecration of the riverbanks, the cutting of trees, the raising of hoardings and so on. The Beautifying Association is a moribund association, and virile organisations like the Progress League are too closely engaged with other matters affecting both town and country to undertake a purely local reform. However, if public men like Mr Howard are prepared to arouse public interest in these matters, much may be accomplished. The citizens would not be so apathetic if somebody would give them a lead, say, in Hie matter of defining residential areas. Possibly the City Council itself could do something useful in this direction.