BESEAECH COMMITTEES. 543 



5. Letter from Professor W. C. Kernot, M.A., C.E., &c. 

 As to the question in hand, my views are briefly as follow : — - 



1. I consider that the laying-out of both town and coun- 

 try lands in the colonies with which I am most familiar 

 has in time past been conducted in a most unsatisfactory 

 fashion, and has given rise to most serious, and in many cases 

 incurable, evils, which might have been avoided had a little 

 intelligent consideration been given to the conditions of the 

 problem. Who is to blame, it is perhaps now hardly worth 

 while to discuss. As far as I can gather, however, in many 

 cases a rigid rule or system has been laid down by high 

 oflicials who were unacquainted with the nature of the ground, 

 while field officers who did see the difiiculties were snubbed 

 when they recommended modifications. After being once so 

 treated, the field surveyor would naturally carry out his 

 instructions to the bitter end, no matter what the absurdity of 

 the result. Hence we have roads charging straight up preci- 

 pices, running for many chains or even furlongs along the beds 

 of creeks, and passing exactly over the summits of isolated 

 conical hills which might have been avoided with little or no 

 extra distances. 



2. With reference to towns, I have come to the following 

 conclusions, from my experience in municipal and sanitary 

 matters in Victoria : — 



(a.) The site should be carefully chosen. It should be 

 well above flood-level, sufliciently sloping for efficient drainage, 

 sufficiently elevated to afford a good outfall for underground 

 sewers, and yet not so steej) as to impede traffic. A general 

 slope — after small irregularities have been removed in the 

 process of grading the streets — of at least 1 in 100, and not more 

 than 1 in 30, is to be desired. Ground too steep and rugged 

 for buildings and streets may be utilised with splendid effect 

 as public parks and gardens. Also, low-lying alluvial flats 

 liable to occasional floods may be similarly employed, and are 

 usually exceptionally fertile. 



(&.) For the central business portion of the town, I think 

 the chessboard system might be continued, but under restric- 

 tions. Eectangular blocks are very convenient, allowing a 

 simple and regular type of building, and giving straight streets, 

 suitable for tramway purposes. The spider's-web system has 

 no doubt been used with grand effect in Paris ; but, to my 

 mind, it is rather too n-regular. A central square, round which 

 the principal public buildings may be clustered, and a street of 

 extra width dividing the towii into two halves, as at Adelaide, 

 are good features. Add to the Adelaide plan two diagonal 

 streets, so as to produce a Union Jack ; "■ and I think it would 



* The plan of the City of Christchurch, New Zealand, is a near 

 approach to this arrangement. 



