BOTANIC GARDENS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 248, 19 October 1928, Page 11

BOTANIC GARDENS.

SEARCH FOR A SITE.

AUCKLAND DOMAIN SUGGESTED.

RECOMMENDATION TO CITY

COUNCIL

A committee, consisting of Messrs. T. E. Pearson, T. L. Lancaster, and W. H. Rice, presented a report to the City Council last evening recommending the Auckland Domain as a site for the proposed botanic garden which has been under discussion for some time.

After stressing the keen demand for botanic instruction, the committee said that the chief difficulty was a site and maintenance. The decision was that the object could be achieved most readily and economically by adopting portion of the Auckland Domain. It was suggested that there should be a botanic bias in connection with all work contemplated. Certain - parts of the Domain called for attention to put them in a state which would reflect the utmost credit on the city, and some work would have to be done in the near future to improve the surroundings of the Auckland War Memorial Museum and in the vicinity of the Winter Gardens.

The committee pointed out that native plants formed a very important part of botanic gardens, and that New Zealand was well endowed with such plants, three-fourths of which occurred nowhere else in the world. Many were of unique scientific interest. It should be possible to grow about 600 species in Auckland, and accommodation for these, in suitable surroundings, could be found at the Domain. It would be possible to establish in the heart of the city a representative collection of the New Zealand native flora which could not fail to be interesting and instructive.

The committee's recommendation was adopted.