582 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 



2._C0MMENTS BY THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN INSTI- 

 TUTE OF SURVEYORS, INCORPORATED. UPON 

 MR. SULMAN'S PAPERS' ON "THE LAYING 

 OUT OF TOWNS." 



Read by JOHN H. PACKARD, Hon. Secretary South Amtralian ImtUute 

 of Surveyors, Incorporated. 



Whilst complimenting Mr. Sulman on the interesting and able 

 manner in which his paper on " The Laying Out of Towns " is 

 written, and expressing a desire that the subject so well initiated 

 by him should be discussed with widely beneficial results, it being 

 well known that in all the colonies many sites of towns have been 

 ill chosen, we wish to take exception to some of his statements, 

 which are fairly open to criticism, and which must strike many 

 practical men as somewhat inconsistent and Utopian. 



LOCATION. 



With regard to location he states '• that in the first place a town 

 should only be laid out where the conditions for its growth are 

 present, such as a considerable area of surrounding agricultural 

 land, subterranean mineral wealth, an important railway junction, 

 or a port of shipment." It will readily be admitted that the above 

 conditions are desirable and would be apt enough if sites were 

 always obtainable with these advantages, but it must be remembered 

 that in the majority of cases in a new settlement most of them are 

 absent, railway lines are yet unmade, and mineral wealth undis- 

 covered. 



A shipping place, for instance, in the neighborhood of some 

 agricultural or pastoral district may not possess all the essentials of 

 a good site for a town, but is the best place on the coast for a 

 small port ; consequently a few blocks are laid out in the simplest 

 form, which would possibly answer all requirements for very many 

 years, but what would be thought of that man who should lay out 

 a town in Mr. Suhnan's approved " spider-web plan" ? Not 

 knowing its future possibilities, of course it must be laid out to 

 suit the population of, say, Adelaide or Melbourne. The post office, 

 telegraph station, and other public buildings must be in or near the 

 centre, and consequently nearly a mile from the shipping jjlace, 

 causing great inconvenience to those using them, and a standing- 

 monument for, perhaps, scores of years to the folly of the designers. 



In a new country it is impossible to foretell which places will be 

 important, and, therefore, to carry out Mr. Sulman' s views all 

 towns should be laid out the same size. The existence of large- 

 towns is frequently the result of accidental circumstances, such us 

 the discovery of a mine, as witness Ballarat and Broken Hill. In 



•Read at the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, held 

 in Melbourne, January, 1890. 



