XXV111. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



parks and gardens. 19. Hygienic elements of design. 20. The 

 preliminaries of design. 21. Conclusion. 



After shewing geometrically that the radial system, especially 

 the hexagonal form of it, possessed great advantages in reducing 

 the distance of travel ; that the rectangular system of roads and 

 streets so much in vogue in the States of Australia, is inconsistent 

 with what may be properly called, not merely the natural position, 

 but also the position of maximum efficiency; the author went on 

 to discuss the question of the proper position for the centres from 

 which the main radiating lines of street should diverge, and which 

 should be united by those lines of street which constitute the 

 main arteries of traffic. 



As typical examples of centres, the Capitol and White House 

 at Washington, the Arc de Triomphe between the Avenue de la 

 Grand Armee and the Avenue des Champs Elysees were cited. 

 The position of the centres and the main streets, were said to be 

 dependent, partly on the topographical limitations of the site, 

 partly on the position of outlying centres and the existing or 

 potential roads and railways thereto, and partly also upon the 

 suitableness of certain localities within the site for the special 

 purposes or activities, for which provision must be made ; and 

 their selection required not only a comprehensive view of the 

 administrative, educational, industrial, residential, military and 

 other needs of a capital city, not only a due regard for its com- 

 munication with the outer world and for all the contingencies 

 both in times of peace and war, which that communication involves, 

 it required also a nice appreciation of the topographical adapt- 

 abilities of the site, so that in the design the interdependence and 

 mutual influence of every element shall be fully estimated and the 

 general arrangement made the most convenient possible, and 

 therefore the most economical. Further the arrangement should 

 allow of that expansion which the future will certainly require. 



The introduction of curved streets to alleviate gradients and 

 enhance artistic effects, the use of what have been called ring 

 streets, as at Karlsruhe, and the best cardinal directions for 



