THE DOMAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 308, 30 December 1891, Page 4

THE DOMAIN.

The fair city of Auckland has many attractions. Xot the least of these is tlio beautiful Domain, reserved and set apart by Sir George Grey in the long ago (with that wise consideration for all sorbs and

conditions of men vvhioh still distinguishes him) for the innoconb recreation and nleaeure of the citizens and nllcomors for all fcimo. Art has? done much, Nature more, for this cSeiiplitfal epot. Shady walks and woodland glades, breezy heights and bosky dells, native trooa'aiid English oaks growing gido by side aa if both were to the "country born " Ah one wanders along the !pb»rintl'ino walks one sometimes : P naV» -the hum of machinery n> t ;i, ni*:*:j? «fj% t , " , ;> i? ''VI fi.o ' bur. ," »';■'. *at '-fc- i '•'•wvijwJ-. for qui-'.t:- ->' v

deities which reign in this temple of Nature, and which drive worry and excitement, strife and competition, and greed, away from their happy precincte. Leaving the grateful shade, the rambler, wibh the Auckland Oiympia on his right, treade the grassy lawns, each ascending step revealing some now charm, some distant prospect, until, standing on the swelling summit, he beholds one of the fairest pictures Nabure ever painted for her wean', toil-worn children.

At his feefc, bordered by a fringe of woodland, repose bho sparkling wabers of the Waitemata, dobbod wibh white-winged yachts, and where ship and steamer lie ab anchor. Beyond is tho long stretch of land dotted with trees, gardens, and villas, ending in the fortress-crowned North Head. Beyond again, rise the graceful slopes of Mount Rangitoto, with its double-cratered summit, once the theatre of fierce volcanic energy, now a very picture of majestic repose. . Far and near, sandy beachea, quiet bays, and lovely islands fringe or stud the blue waters of the Gulf of Hauraki, bounded by tho lofty mounbain range of Coromandel, with ono of Nature's rock castles lifting in bold relief its Titanic views against the eastern sky. Northward, on the far-off horizon, may be seen the lofty and picturesque Barrier Islands clothed with primeval forest.

Ab the feet of our wanderer lies a lovely rural landscape studded with villages, spires, faraia, orchards, and villas. Here and bhore vise from the plains numerous volcanic hills, quiet and grass-clothod now, bub in the long ago making the plain a Pandemonium with fiery showers and stroam3 of burning lava. The quiet landscape reposes in the golden sunlight, except ab froquent moments when a passing cloud casts its shadow as it flits across the plains, and flitting onward tints with a deeper blue thegleamingwatersof bheplacid Gulf. On the right our rambler see* the old volcanic fortresses of One Tree Hill and Mount Eden, their terraced sides held in tho old bime by bhousands of Maori warriors. This 13 the picbure painbod by Nature and man, and nobly framed by placid ocean and lofty mountain chains. This is tho picbure seen in the summer sunshine by our rambler in an afternoon's stroll in the Domain.

Full of beauty as tlio whole scene may bo, the wooded portion of the Domain is eaclly spoiled by tho dintry, ugly pines, originally planted as nurses for more valuable trees by Sir Edward Stafford, when he hud out long years ago tho charming walks which now give us so much pleasure. Now, howover, these yloomy pines, having served their purpose, onghb with some exceptions to be removed, so as no longer to mar the lovely foliage with bheir ugly glaucous spines, or injure the growth of far more valuable treoa by crowding their weird and withered shapes into places where beauty only o-jjrhb fco reign.

The City Council now control the Domain, and though bhey have nob yob done vory much io improve ib, what they have done has been well done. At small cost these ugly, useless, and injurious pines might bo removed. They ought to be cut down without delay, for if tho work be postponed much longer many trees which now give promise of becoming noble pictures of Nature's masterwork will soon be irretrievably ruined.

We commend this good and urgentlyneeded work to our newly-elected Mayor, under whose good baste and judgment ib will bo well and rightly done.