El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-25
Australia to Build Capital
American Draws the Plans For the
City of Canberra, Which, Is to Be
the Most Modern in World.
:, rcderEr J. HaskEn
AsHINGTON, D. C., Sept.

w a mighty nation is in the max
ing, and it is just now laying the
| foundations of a capital whose mag
nificence will be worthy of its hopes
and aspirations. The commonwealth
I of Australia, with a continent and its
/ attendant islands for its domain, is
! that nation and Canberra is its capital
! to be. Here we may see a country
as new as the United States was WRen
| Washington was founded, and as IulI
| of possibilities, going far out into the
[ country and founding there a capital
which vii some day vie with London,
| Washington, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna
! situated Like washington.
| And this capital will have a history
| almost like that of Washington 1t
| was chosen after a long contest, ana
| after 40 places had offered themselves
I as sites 1t was planned by a for
| eigner, just as Washington was, only
| a Frenchman laid out Washington,
while an American laid out Canberra-
] 1t was designed primarily and essen
| TALLY as a capital, just as Washington
/ was. It is situated in a federal dis
/ trict. Just as Washington is.
! Australia has two rival cities, Mel
/ bourne and Sydney, just as the new
! America had in Philadelphia and New
York. Melbourne once was the metrop-
/ oils, just as Philadelphia was once
| the metropolis But latterly it has
( been outgrown by Sydney, just as
I Philadelphia was forced to yield the
! place of primary 20 New York Each
! aspired to be the permanent national
capital, and each kept the other from
! realizing its aspirations.
The result was that Canberra was
eventually chosen, a site nearly midway
between the two rival cities. There
is a railroad connecting the capitals
of Victoria and New South Wales.
Melbourne and Sydney. The part OF
! the road lying in New South Wales
is of one gage and that in Victoria OF
another gage, so that it is impossible
to run through trains between the
two cities. Canberra is about a days
journey by stage from YaSS, on the
New South Wales section This stage
trip Is across a country not unlike
the prairies of western Kansas. When
the journey ends the pilgrim finds
himself at a little village made up or
a church, a school, q pOstoffice, a few
houses, and an embryonic military
school that is destined to be the West
Point of Australia There is a little
river called the MOlOnglO, which is en-
titled to be called a river only by
courtesy. AS for the rest it is simply
sweeping rolling country, a little
inclined to aridity, but yet susceptible
of much establishment at the hands
of the landscape gardener.
American Plans Capital.
Canberra was planned by a Chicago
landscape gardener and architect,
Walter Burley Griffin. After the site
had been chosen the Australian author
tiles called for the submission OF
plans. There were innumerable en-
tries, but the plan submitted by Crit
fin easily won the first prize. The
architectural Institutes of England and !
America denounced the contest, but
that did not prevent the submission Of
many excellent plans. That of Crit /
fin provides for a series of polygOnal
groups with a capitol hill as the hub. /
There are number of avenues diverg- J
ing from the capitol hill, but the gem /
eraI street effect is that of a series OF !
isolated groups rather than ~ checker ]
board The federal buildings viii be .
located in a triangle, of which the |
capitol will constitute the apex II /
the triangle between Maryland and /
Pennsylvania avenues in Washington, /
extending to the Potomac river, were !
the site of all the federal buildings, I
the effect would be much like that I
proposed for Canberra, only the MOlOn- |
gle will be beautified in the scheme. |
It is proposed to construct two great !
ponds, one at each of the other two 1
corners of the federal buildings trian-
gle; and to connect these with a cres-
cent shaped river channel
To District City.
One section of the city will be set /
aside for a residential district, another /
section for markets and shops, and /
another for the habitations Of the /
working classes. One part of the su-
burbs will be for a manufacturing !
district and another part for truck
gardening and intensified farming, /
while there will be a plentiful supply /
of parks both within the city and in /
the suburbs.
The city is surrounded by a federal
district Is times as large as our own
District of Columbia, and which COM
prises the basins Of two other rivers
with water supply great enough for
a city of 100000 The British parlia-
ment PROVIDED that the new capital
should be far enough inland to be i'm
mune from sea attack, and yet near
enough to the sea to afford ready com
munication with England. Jervis Bay
has been chosen as the port of the cap
ital.
The site of the new capitaI was
chosen in 1909, and it was not until
March Il, 1913, that it was formally 1
dedicated For four years it was a
place without a name. There was !
great speculation as to what name
would be chosen The national govern
ment named it, put the name in a gold |
casket, and it was not until this casket
was opened by lady Denman in the
dedlcatory ceremonies, that the name /
was made known. One of the three
men who stood on the pedestal which
marks the site of the proposed can't
tol, on that occasion was King
O'Malley, who boasts of the fact that
ne missed being president of the
United States by only 500 feet. He
was born just that far across the line
IN Canada, and at the tender age of
two INDUCED his pioneer spirit bv go
ing to California He grew up there
and then went to Tasmania. and is now
The minister of home affairs of the
Australian commonwealth
Many Capitals Proposed.
There was as much trouble in choos-
ing site for the Australian federal
capital as Uncle Sam experienced in
choosing route for the Isthmian
ANAL The first royal commission
nose Monaro, while the second one !
those Albury. In 1903 the Australian !
house of representatives voted for Tn
nut, while the senate amended the Hill
~ inserting BOmbala in lieu of Tn
nut In 1908 the government favored
Oalgety, but the house voted for Cam
1erra- The senate eoncurred. and so /
will be the capital
The Australian commonwealth dates
rom the first day of the goth century ]
When New South Wales. the mother ,
tate of Australia adopted its first
constitution there was provision in {
[ looking forward to a confederation !
# the states The plan felI tbrouab
however. Finally the British parlia3,
III NJ