July 6. ecesr issues of the Municipal Gazette have contained two peti tions in favour of delaying the Bund improvement scheme, and one in favour of pushing on with it. The former were signed by two hundred and twenty-eight ratepayers, many of them fre-quanters of the Public Gardens. The latter was signed by twenty, of whom we dare swear the majority have not been seen in the gardens within the memory of man—unless they have gore there recently to find arguments in support of their preconceived opinions. Meanwhile the Council delays its decision, having indeed more agitating business to occupy it. The first heat of controversy having a little cooled, we venture to review the two sides as. dispassionately as we may without sacrifice of our original attitude.
The position of those who are for cutting sixty feet off the west side of the Public Gardens is that traffic urgently requires such enlarging of the road. The motor-lorries that travel between Yangtszepoo and the Markham Road manufacturing district in ever rising numbers need more space. The railless trams that are presently to come to the bottom of Peking Road will bring an additional volume of passengers on to the Bund. The growing importance of Soochow Road requires greater width in the artery leading to its southern end. And the widening of this artery by means of taking a strip from the Public Gardens (compensation being made by reclaiming a piece from the river) is part of a long-thought-out scheme, which also contemplates widening the Garden Bridge by extra sidewalks supported on brackets. Finally, it is contended that the magnolia trees planted by Fortune can be moved without injury to themselves, so that an improvement much needed for reasons of utility cannot be objected to on aesthetic grounds.
Now there is one very important fact which has not yet, we think, been noticed. And that.is that the road alongside the Public Gardens is the one road which (unless the British Consulate raise ''ancient rights'' objections) the Council can widen whenever it pleases. There are no expensive Jand-owners to be bought out, no financial outlay beyond that of the work itself, which, in tum, could hardly occupy more than a few weeks. This being so, we would further argue that no harm can come of delaying the work for some months. Admitting all that is said of the future growth of traffic at the northern end of the Bund, the congestion is not yet so great as to demand its instant widening. Without ignoring traffic on Soochow Road, it is safe to say that by far the greater part passing by the Public Gardens is going to or coming from the Garden Bridge, which there is no appropriation to widen this year, nor any thought, we believe, of widening until the new Szechuen Road bridge is finished. And without decrying the wisdom of looking ahead, this is not a case of seizing an opportunity which will not recur (as in the instance of the north side of Nan-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.