12 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
NNING IN AUSTRALIA 
CITY P L A 
Australian commonwealths have 
formed a federation. A district in 
the southeastern section of the insular 
domain has been set aside as a federal 
district to contain the new national 
capital. 
Topographic surveys of the city site 
composing about fifteen square miles 
have been prepared by the govern- 
ment and this with supplementary 
data — historical, meteorological and 
geological — has been distributed 
throughout the world as a basis of 
receiving plans for the new city. 
Necessary data whereon to develop 
the desired plans has been compiled 
with extreme thoroughness and 
leave nothing to be desired. 
As presented, the problem is almost 
idealistic in that the assurance and 
wealth of a nation is back of it to 
attend to its ultimate completion. 
That complex field of city planning 
will find in this open competition a 
clearing house of the world’s ideas. 
Many of the incorporated proposals 
of the plans to be submitted will 
probably be Utopian, ultra-theoretical 
and capricious, but withal there will 
doubtless be many meritorious com- 
positions showing superior designing 
capacity. 
We as a nation are charged with 
making picture plans rather than prac- 
tical working schemes of city plans. 
Let us at least hope that among our 
American competitors the beautifica- 
tion of utilitarian objects will predom- 
inate over plans proposed on a basis 
of endeavoring to utilize beauty. 
We shall expect to learn that prin- 
ciples in deduction shall gain head- 
way as a result of these plans — prin- 
ciples such as the size of block, the 
unit of street width, the cubical lim- 
itations of buildings on land areas, 
the basis of intercommunication by 
rail, and similar forms of utility hav- 
ing a bearing on congestion of city 
dwellers. The whole realm of orderly 
arrangement devised to suit the 
dwellers’ needs and withal be con- 
venient, economical and beautiful will 
so harmonize as to give an advanced 
example of the best in city planning. 
Besides the Torrens system of land 
titles, and the so-called Australian 
ballot, the means adopted by the Aus- 
tralian government in securing a city 
plan for its capital city, is but an- 
other indication that she has some- 
thing to teach us. 
United States Consul John F. 
Jewell, of Melbourne reports to the 
State Department that the Minister 
for Home Affairs for the Common- 
wealth of Australia, Melbourne, has 
issued a memorandum in connection 
with the designs for the federal cap- 
ital city, to be constructed in a federal 
district, which will be the permanent 
seat of government of the Common- 
wealth of Australia. 
A copy of invitation to the com- 
petitors, embodies the conditions of 
competition, historical and introduc- 
tory matters relating to the district 
of Yass-Canberra and its selection as 
the federal district, and the require- 
ments for the consideration of de- 
signers, the allocation of appropriate 
areas embracing sites for the follow- 
ing buildings, viz: 
House of Parliament; residence of the 
governor general ; residence of the prime 
minister. 
Public offices, as follows: The department 
of the prime minister; the department of 
external affairs; the attorney general’s de- 
partment; the department of home affairs; 
the department of the treasury; the depart- 
ment of trade and customs; the department 
of defense; the postmaster general’s depart- 
ment; courts of justice; places of public 
worship; mint; national art gallery and 
library; statehouse; printing office; govern- 
ment factories; university; technical college; 
city hall; general post office; museum; cen- 
tral railway station; railway marshaling 
yards; military barracks; criminal and po- 
lice courts; Gaol (jail); hospitals; national 
theater; central power station; gas works; 
markets; stadium; parks and gardens, etc. 
A description of the site selected is 
also given, and a model of the city 
site on a horizontal scale of 400 feet 
to 1. inch with a vertical scale of 
about 100 feet to 1 inch has been pre- 
pared, and a cast of the model will 
be sent to each of the centers of dis- 
tribution for inspection. The invita- 
tion to competitors states that — 
(1) The government of the Common- 
wealth of Australia invites designs for the 
laying out of its capital city, and under- 
takes to remunerate the authenticated au- 
thor or authors of the designs that may 
be placed, respectively, first, second, and 
third in order of merit at the final adjudi- 
cation upon the designs, in accordance with 
the ‘‘conditions of competition,” as follows: 
For the design placed first, premium £1,760; 
for the design placed second, premium £750; 
for the design placed third, premium £500. 
(2) The conditions under which designs 
are invited and will be received by the Com- 
monwealth follow under the heading, "Con- 
ditions of competition.” 
(3) Information and particulars are also 
given, solely to assist intending competitors, 
under the respective headings: "Histori- 
cal and introdutory "Requirements;” 
and "Description.” The statements con- 
tained therein do not form part of the con- 
tract between the Commonwealth and the 
competitor. 
(4) Information for the guidance of in- 
tending competitors will be available, free 
of cost, at the following places: Australia, 
the department of home affairs and the pub- 
lic works department of each State; New 
Zealand, public works department, Welling- 
ton; Canada, public works department, Ot- 
tawa; South Africa, public works depart- 
ment, Pretoria, and public works depart- 
ment, Cape Town ; London, office of the high 
commissioner of Australia; Paris, the Brit- 
ish embassy; Berlin, the British embassy; 
Washington, the British embassy; New York, 
the British consulate general; Chicago, the 
British consulate general. 
(5) Applicants must establish their bona 
fides as intending competitors before being 
supplied with information. 
(6) The information comprises the fol- 
lowing: (a) Historical notes, conditions of 
competition requirements, general informa- 
tion, descriptive matter, and statistics re- 
lating to meteorology and climatology; (b> 
map of preliminary contour survey of coun- 
try about Canberra; scale, 20 chains=l inch ; 
(c) map of contour survey of site of fed- 
eral capital at Canberra (two copies) ; scale, 
400 feet=l inch; contours, 5 feet vertical in- 
tervals: the trigonometrical meridian may 
practically be regarded as the local true 
meridian; (d) topographical map of fed- 
eral territory of about 900 square miles;, 
scale, 6,000 feet=l inch (approximately) ; 
(e) map of the State of New South Wales; 
(f) map of the southeastern portion of the 
State of New South Wales; (g) geological 
map of the city site, scale 800 feet=l inch, 
and two reports by the government geol- 
ogist of New South Wales; (h) map show- 
ing rainfall and temperature statistics of 
the site for the Federal capital and sur- 
rounding district; (j) report by the Com- 
monwealth meteorologist on the climate of 
the Yass-Canberra district; (k) reproduc- 
tions of landscape sketches taken from 
points within the city site. 
(7) Competitors will be bound only by 
the "conditions of competition,” a copy of 
which must accompany any designs for- 
warded by any competitor. 
A feature of this world-wide com- 
petition contemplates that immediate- 
ly after the announcement by the 
minister of the adjudication of the 
premiums, which will be made at 
Melbourne within two months of the 
date of receipt of designs, it is in- 
tended to publicly exhibit in Mel- 
bourne for a reasonable period all de- 
signs admitted to competition. 
