Teo PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J, 
should not be forgotten a modern town is an organism with 
distinct functions for its different members requiring separate 
treatment, and it is just as easy to allot these to suitable 
positions at first, as to allow them to be shaken with more or less 
difficulty into place, while the final result obtained under the 
latter system is not to be compared with that of the first—either 
on the score of convenience, utility, or beauty. It will be 
conceded without dispute that the centre round which town life 
revolves is the seat of its government, hence the town-hall should 
be allotted the best and most central position. Closely adjoining 
it sites should be reserved for other public buildings, such as the 
post-office, court-house, and district land office, and near by 
opportunities should be given for the erection of semi-public 
buildings, such as banks, offices of public companies, theatres, and 
places of amusement, hotels, clubs, and possibly one or two 
churches, though the latter are best located in the residential 
districts. The buildings most used by the population would thus 
be grouped together, and a great saving in traffic effected, as 
compared with the present plan of haphazard distribution. To 
prevent congestion, the absolute centre should form an open 
reserve, and from this broad and direct roads, or boulevards, 
should radiate to the surrounding country, the railway station, or 
navigable river. The exact lines these should take can only 
be determined after careful study of each specific case. 
Now fill in between these radiating boulevards with ordinary 
streets, and with the addition of a few diagonal lines 
we shall obtain a plan far more useful for inter-communication 
than any arranged on a _ rectangular basis. In fact, it 
will resemble that marvel of ingenuity, a spider’s web, than 
which nothing could be better devised for rapid access to all 
parts of its surface. Immediately around the central nucleus the 
business quarters would be located, while retail trade would 
naturally extend for some distance along the main arteries of 
traffic; and farther out, as the spaces between the main lines 
became wider, the residental quarters would find their place. 
But these ehould not be extended too far without a break, and if 
the admirable example of Adelaide could be followed by 
introducing a belt of parklands, the gain to the health of the 
town or city would be great. Beyond this belt of open ground, 
as the town increased in size, suburbs would naturally spring up, 
and these, according to local conditions of soil, elevation and 
accessibility to rail or water communication, would naturally 
subdivide themselves into residential or manufacturing. One of 
the latter should, in all cases, be restricted to the use of noxious 
trades. The question how far the heart of the town should be 
placed from the railway or river is an open one, and it would 
probably result, in many cases, that rail or river would form a 
chord, cutting off a considerable part of the complete circle. The 
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