The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1909. PLANNING A TOWN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2609, 17 September 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1909. PLANNING A TOWN.

There are many things which are urgently needed in Gisborne; indeed, our only important municipal asset is the recently established water supply. Our roads are abominable, our lighting: facilities are costly and inefficient, whilst provision for the carriage of to and from the suburbs is restricted to the antiquated and inconvenient bus service. And then we have no drainage, with the result that in a semi-tro-pical climate the health of the community is largely a- question of luck, with all the chances against the community. At last, however, we have discovered a Council with sufficient energy and imagination to, at all events, conskier projects which are calculated to remove the past reproaches against the town, and place Gisborne on the same plane with the progressive centres of the Dominion. In the past it has been our unpleasant duty to draw attention to the shortcomings of local Councillors who have displayed a penchant for lengthy sittings and a tendency to waste time in petty squabbles over minor and sometimes purely personal issues. Important works have not been entirely neglected, but they have been temporarily obscured in the mask, of endless verbiage which has characterised such useless discussions as that upon the Mayor’s policy, etc. Now, however, the members have got down to solid work, and there is every prospect that they may at the end of their term leave behind an unequalled record of work done for the advancement of the town. It is much too early yet to give a definite pronouncement concerning the various schemes that are now under discussion, but considerable satisfaction can be derived from the fact that they are actually receiving the intelligent consideration of the borough’s representatives. If the estimates provided by the local engineer, Mr J. R. Jones, are correct, then there is no sound reason why Gisborne should not shortly undertake a tramway and electric fighting scheme in addition to the road construction and drainage systems which it is generally conceded must be carried into effect. As a matter of fact, all these branches of publio utilities, if not actually interdependent, can be easily made to coordinate one with the other. Thus the laying down of a tramway bed will involve the proper construction of from six to eight feet of roadway upon which the lines will be placed. This would noturally decrease the cost of road construction along the tram route. Then again, the drainage scheme must dovetail into the plan of road construction, for the streets and footpaths must he properly formed under a permanent level system before the sewerage pipes and channelling can be laid down. It is true that the total cost of all these works amounts to a tidy sum —no less than £150,000 —but it must likewise be borne in mind that the corresponding advantages are very great. For the expenditure mentioned we are promised properly formed roads throughout the town and suburbs, a sewerage scheme over the same area, a bridge over the Waimata, recreation grounds, double the quantity of street lighting, and a tramway scheme providing for lines from Taruheru to Waiiiui beach, and through Wliataupoko. The figures are approximately ais follows : £ Drainage (with street connections) Waimata Bridge ... ... 5,000 Recreation Grounds ... 6,000 Reads ... ... ••• 45,000 Trams ... ... 25,000 Lighting 10,000 Total £153,000 When we remember that less than eighteen months ago the people of Gisborne were being seriously asked to spend almost an equal amount of money upon the Mestayer scheme for drainage, it will be seen how reasonable the present proposals are from the financial aspect. The estimates at present available must necessarily be received with some caution, but at the same time Mr. Jones, in asserting that a tramway scheme can be devised to show a profit even with our existing population, is only confirming an opinion that has long been held by may local residents. We shall be quite prepared to find that tramway and electric light schemes can both be worked at a i>rofit, and the surplus revenue thus derivable would help to reduce the interest payable on the road and drainage loans 1 . If it be found on further investigation that the different. schemes at present outlined are financially sound, we shall have no hesitation in cordially recommending their acceptance as a whple, for in tKeir operation they would transform Gisborne and awaken it to a civic existence that is at present scarcely dreamed of. The drainage schenie at a cost of £62,000' can now be accepted as justifiable from every point of and it is to be hoped that closer investigation wall ‘permit the same to b© said of the other proposals. The de-

.tails of the scheme of road construction are not yet available, but we have reason to believe that they will prove much more reasonable and practical than those which were very properly rejected by the ratepayers at the beginning of the year. There is certainly ample scope for an improvement in the municipal affairs of the town, and we are sanguine enough to believe that at last a forward step is about to be made.