PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 555 



An unique opportunity presents itself in the projected capital 

 city at Canberra of dealing with all these and kindred matters 

 on an absolutely clean slate, no other similar circumstance (bear- 

 ing in view the application of modern knowledge in matters of 

 science and art) has in any country in the world presented itself. 

 It will be deeply interesting to stand by and watch its develop- 

 ment, and observe what effective and broad-minded steps are 

 taken, avoiding the Charybdys of Politicalism on the one side, and 

 the Scylla of Socialism on the other, to evolve the modern city 

 renowned alike for the application of the highest skill, the most 

 refined taste, and the most common of common sense. 



The Australian State capitals are, m their municipal Acts, 

 regulations, and by-laws, with some exceptions, fairly well up to 

 date. These are so framed as to permit of engineers and archi- 

 tects adopting modern methods of construction, though in no case 

 is legal power given to approve or reject on matters of purely 

 architectural design. No doubt, decisions on questions of taste 

 are decisions on an unknown quantity; but the establishment of 

 Boards consisting of professional men who have made their mark, 

 and are deputed to act in such matters, would be in the interests 

 of the community. Paris has long adopted this special control, 

 with evident success, and Australian cities would have been saved 

 the disfigurement of some architectural abortions, if designing 

 along the lines of the canons of art could be insisted upon. 



It is a somewhat curious reflection that the oldest and most 

 populous city of Australia is the most antiquated in its Municipal 

 Building Act; and urgent reforms are hung up from year to year 

 owing to accidental political situations, and the city is disad- 

 vantaged by regulations quite out of touch with modern require- 

 ments and principles of construction. 



Height of City Buildings. 



An interesting situation has arisen with regard to the regula- 

 tion of the height of buildings within the city boundaries. Mel- 

 bourne and Adelaide, and, to a modified extent, Brisbane and 

 Perth, are laid out on a liberal scale, the depth of building areas 

 from street to street being so ample that for years to come their 

 commercial and industrial requirements can, to a considerable 

 extent, be provided for by the expansion of buildings on these 

 areas, rather than by a multiplication of floors. Melbourne has 

 recently been restricted to a height of 130 feet for its buildings. 



On the contrary, Sydney, like New York, laid itself out in the 

 good old-fashioned, haphazard way, and confined, in the city 

 proper, within a narrow area bounded on both sides by deep 

 water, its building areas between the streets are very restricted; 

 consequently its buildings must have an upward tendency, and 



