ARBOR DAY.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XXII, Issue 1673, 26 July 1892, Page 3

ARBOR DAY.

A meeting convened by the Chairman of the Little River Road Board in compliance with directions from the Department of Agriculture was held in the schoolroom on Saturday evening, 23rd inst., at which there was a fair attendance. The Chairman explained the object of the meeting, and thought that Little River should not bo behind in celebrating Arbor Day (4ib Aug ) in the manner indicated by the circular which he had jost read. Mr Montgomery, said that be considered the step taken by the Government was a very wise one, as New Zealand generally wee becoming every year more denuded of its once numerous forests. Hβ would as an example of the benefits to be derived from the course suggested by the Government ask the meeting to consider what Christ - church would be like had not their fore* fathers with the well-known zeal and forethought of the old settlers taken similar steps to those now suggested in the past, and he had no doubt but the people of Little River would not be behind the other parts of the colony in leaving for the admiration of future generations eometbing by which to be remembered. The epeakor then suggested what steps he thought should be taken to celebrate the firat Arbor Day, and if the meeting was agreeable that eteps should be taken in that direction tie would propose that a working committee be formed to carry out all the necessary arrangements. The meeting having agreed that the day be celebrated by planting some Ueee, the following persons were appointed a committee to attend to the matter :—Messrs W. Coop, Jas. Coop, H. D. Buchanan, W. H. Montgomery. Chapman (2). John end James Reynolds, Sydney Harris, F. Gread. The Chairman and members of School Committee, and the teachers, and Messrs Coop, Montgomery and John Reynolds were alee appointed to mark off the parts in the Church and Cemetery Reserve, where It was decided the public planting should be done ; also to see that the boles for planting were dug in a day or two, and Mr C. Chapman was appointed to supervise the planting on Arbor Day. Mr Montgomery suggested that the holes for planting be dug one week before, and Mr Gread offered to dc one day's work. It was further resolved that Mr C. Chapman, jun., be authorised to collect subscriptions (not to exceed Is per donor) wherewith to purchase trees, and that, in addition to the public planting, a certain number of trees be given to each child at the school to be planted at their homes, and that two prizes be given on Arbor Day, 1893, to the children whose planting was most successful. The Chairman of the School Committee and the teachers were to distribute the trees to the children on the evening of August 3rd. The meeting adjourned, After a vote of thanks to the Chairman.