DOMAINS AND PLAYING FIELDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 285, 2 December 1925, Page 6

DOMAINS AND PLAYING FIELDS.

The Minister of Lands stood on top of Mount Victoria yesterday and combined appreciation of the view with uncomplimentary remarks on the condition in which the Devonport Borough Council kept the reserve. He was told that the council was short of money, but how deeply he was impressed by this it is not possible to tell. There is, however, at least this much to say for the council, that it has to administer a borougli in which there is a large area of Government property - which pays no rates. The Minister naturally enough declined to accept the responsibility for rates, but the fact remains that some boroughs are worse off in this respect than others, and therefore have a claim for some special assistance from the Government. Devonport is one of these, because within its boundaries space is provided for the greater part of the defence facilities of Auckland. It is also notably deficient in level reserves fit for playing areas. This is being remedied ill one part of the borough by the publicspirited action of the ratepayers, who arc. making a recreation ground at Stanley Bay. This action demonstrates Devonport's difficulty. Tlie Minister's visits of inspection on both s:_es of tlie harbour yesterday redirect attention to the need for making the best use of reserves of all kinds. Auckland is well off for reserves, but it is not nearly so well equipped as it should be with flaying fields, and unless provision is made in good time the problem will become acute with the increase in population. We do not believe in going to the State for everything. Provision of recreation and game areas is primarily a local duty, and it is due to the founders of the city and their successors to say that in reservation of land for reserves Auckland has been well served. More, however, must be done, both in setting aside land for future parks in the outer suburbs and in making the best of existing reserves. It is noteworthy that the city owes some of its playing areas—Eden Park, for example—to the enterprise of private citizens. It may not be wise to depend entirely upon such enterprise for future developments. Here, of course, is where systematic townplanning would be valuable; there would be an authority to study the needs of Greater Auckland and look ahead.