544 REPORT — 1891. 



be perfect. The diagonal streets %vould reduce the length of 

 many a journey, and add interest. 



3. With reference to the orientation of the plan, I consider 

 a most grave mistake has been made in the vast majority of 

 colonial cities and towns. The streets have been run north- 

 and-south or east-and-west. Consequently, the front rooms of 

 the houses on the north side of the east-and-west streets, and 

 the back rooms of those on the south side of the same streets, 

 are deprived of the purifying action of sunshine. No building 

 should, if it can be avoided, face the south or the w^est : in 

 the former case the rooms are almost entirely deprived of 

 sunshine, in the latter they get too much. Nearly all our 

 tow^ns would be improved greatly could they be turned 45° 

 in azimuth. In the case of detached houses with windows on 

 all sides, the evil does not specially press. It is in the case of 

 long rows of houses, having light at the front and back only, 

 that it is serious. My attention was first directed to this 

 point by a prominent Melbourne architect, and reflection has 

 convinced me of its importance. Strange to say, the city of 

 Melbourne is correctly laid out from this point of view, while 

 nearly all the suburban tow-ns and up-country places are 

 wrong. 



4. From most towns from five to ten main lines of road 

 radiate. In Melbourne, eight well-marked ones are traceable. 

 At from three to six miles out these generally bifurcate. 

 Along these roads the suburbs cluster like beads on a string, 

 while between them the population is but scanty. These lines 

 of road should be laid out as carefully as a railway. In 

 locating them, it should be remembered that easy grades are 

 most desirable, while a little extra length on a good road is not 

 of much importance. There is a main road leading out of 

 Melbourne that is an excellent example of what to avoid in 

 this respect. Being a cyclist of long experience, as well as an 

 expert in road matters, I speak with some authority when 

 I say that a little care in locating four miles in length of this 

 road would have saved 40 per cent, of the labour of driving a 

 bicycle over it, would have reduced the time needed to travel 

 it by 20 per cent., and would have increased its length only 

 5 per cent. And what is true of the bicycle is true of the waggon. 

 Only cyclists really know what an enormous addition is made 

 to the labours of the poor beasts that drag their heavy loads up 

 and down the utterly unnecessary hills that disfigure some of 

 our main roads. I would not, however, have these main roads 

 perfectly level ; gentle undulations of about 1 in 70, each grade 

 not being more than a quarter of a mile long, are a positive 

 advantage ; and grades of even 1 in 30, if not more than 

 10 chains long, are not a serious impediment ; but steeper 

 grades than that involve excessive labour in ascending, and 



