Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Area, Divisions and Streets

Area, Divisions and Streets.

Though what is known as Greater Auckland may be described as extending
Auckland from Ponsonby.

Auckland from Ponsonby.

page 46 from the eastern extremity of Remuera to the western limit of Ponsonby, and from the North Shore to Onehunga, the City of Auckland proper is confined to a mere patch of this vast area. Bounded on the north by the harbour, on the east by the borough of Parnell, on the south by the borough of Newmarket and the Mount Eden Road district, and on the west by the borough of Grey Lynn, the City stands on an area of 1772 acres, more than fifty per cent. larger than that of Wellington, where the City population is almost a fifth greater than in Auckland, and more densely crowded than in any other part of the Colony; the number of persons to the acre at the time of last census being thirty-four in Wellington and just half that ratio in Auckland.

The borough is divided into six wards, namely, Central, East, Grafton, South, Karangahape, and Ponsonby, and each ward is represented in the City Council by three members.

Unfortunately the site of Auckland was not one very easy to lay out, but few towns have suffered, or are likely to suffer, more severely from the bungles of their founders—bungles from the very first move. With a few truly awful exceptions, Auckland, in the width of her streets, has a great advantage over Wellington; but many of them, including Queen Street, are disgracefully crooked, while the levels and grades can hardly have been seriously considered. Thus it happens that, in the town where, more than in any other in New Zealand, easy and comfortable locomotion for man and beast should have been a first consideration, this desideratum seems to have been entirely overlooked. Not only has the best not been made of a difficult undertaking, but it would seem as if strenuous efforts had been put forth to make the very most of the natural difficulties, and to preserve them for all time. The main roads follow the ridges and gullies, and the others make the shortest and therefore the steepest and “stupidest” cross connections. In the cases of Parnell Road, Grafton Road, Khyber Pass Road, Symonds Street, New North Road, Hobson Street, Pitt., Street, Karangahape Road, Great North Road, Ponsonby Road, and five times as many streets of less importance, the ridges along which they wander are in the main no wider than the roads themselves, and nearly every cross street drops abruptly on both sides. The cutting down of all these ridges for even a few feet, would have been too great an undertaking for the founders of Auckland; but a little forethought and wise provision might have saved past, present, and future generations of Aucklanders many miles per day of weary hill climbing. Nevertheless, much of the pity lavished by visitors on their Auckland friends in this matter of hill climbing is wasted, for both old and young will confidently point to streets graded at about one in sixteen as excellent samples of level reading. Only those who ride bicycles, and the few who push hand-carts, realise that, outside the reclamations, there is hardly a mile of really level roadway in the whole City. Even in those roads which are fairly level, quite unnecessarily sudden pinches occur, over which jaded horses distress themselves every day in the year.

These remarks are not intended to lead those who have not yet seen the Northern Capital to suppose that any of the Auckland streets are as steep as many of those of Wellington or Dunedin. Yet each of these cities contains much more level roadway, and both have done much more to abolish natural difficulties than has ever been attempted in Auckland.

It is probably too late now to make very great improvements in the grades of the Auckland streets, yet a great work remains to be accomplished, which, if well done, will do much to minimise the present difficulties of locomotion. The provision of good beach roads to Ponsonby, Parnell, and Remuera would be like a gift from the gods to the thousands who live on low enough levels yet have to climb hill after hill to get home. It is the opinion of some who have given much consideration to the matter, that the provision of these beach roads would do more to popularise Auckland than her people can at all realise. But beach roads progress slowly in Auckland. For over thirty years the patient people doing business in Queen Street were content to reach Mechanics' Bay by the heart-breaking route of Shortland Street, Eden Crescent and Constitution Hill. Freeman's Bay was similarly “walled off”; yet, though the beach roads east and west to these respective bays must have paid for themselves a score of times, further installments are hardly in progress, and tired horses are still being whipped up hills which might long ago have been similarly avoided.

The condition of the roads and streets, though far from first-class, is still much better than might be expected in view of the enormous omnibus traffic. Many of these vehicles when loaded weigh a ton for every wheel, yet the tires are destructively narrow. The City Council spends £13,000 per year on the maintenance of the roads, and it is probably an under-estimate that the 'bus traffic is the cause of more than half that expenditure. Loose stones in the streets are dangerously common, and in other respects the streets are less cleanly than is either desirable or quite healthy. In summer they are very dusty, and in winter very muddy. If the Aucklanders could have the roads of Napier for one winter, they would cheerfully spend £40,000 a year, if necessary, rather than return to the mud and dirt to which they are now so much accustomed; and the difference in the traffic is not the true explanation of the variance in condition.

But though nothing very creditable can be said of the roads, the footpaths are all that can reasonably be desired. They are broad and smooth, and in the main delightful to walk on. If the people of Wellington could have the Auckland footpaths for twelve months, they would never again be contented with the apologies for sidewalks which everywhere disgrace the capital city. Smooth, and even tarred and sanded, paths are the rule throughout Auckland and suburbs. For about seven-eighths of the distance between the Auckland and Onehunga wharves—a greater distance than from Wellington to Petone—the pedestrian finds tarred footpaths fit for a queen. Yet these paths are much less costly than the half-asphalted, half-gravelled-footpaths of Wellington. They are tarred and sanded every year, and nothing further seems to be needed to keep them in splendid condition. The vastly improved condition of the footpaths encourages the thought that there is yet hope for the roads. The Auckland footpaths in the celebrated Thatcher's day called forth one of his page 47 most amusing ditties, with a catching refrain, of which the last two lines were: “And then we use a wicked word beginning with a ‘d,’ Whilst we go marching on the scoria.”

These words awoke a responsive echo at the time, though now only the “old hands” can attaen any meaning to them. Yet the song, by the same writer, beginning—“Beautiful Auckland! City of Mud,”is comprehensible even to the present generation, though it would now be accorded a very different degree of appreciation from that which greeted its appearance thirty years ago. No doubt much improvement has been effected; and, from the efforts of the newly-formed ratepayers' association, and the growing influence of cyclists, the rate of advance is likely to be accelerated. Even now the streets are kept in better repair than the majority of the Wellington streets, though their condition is much less cleanly; because, while the dry air and high winds of the capital are the natural enemies of mud, the humid and comparatively still atmosphere of Auckland tends rather to cherish it.

Until within the last few years the streets of Auckland were very poorly lighted, but the recent furnishing of the lamps with incandescent burners, and the addition of a number of new lights, have made good the deficiency, and it may now be said that the city is fairly lighted. Electric lighting by the municipality is one of the many things talked about, but the Auckland Gas Company is not only a very powerful institution but a thoroughly go-ahead concern, capable of entering into very keen competition with any other lighting agent which may seek to gain a foothold.