DEFACING THE HIGHWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 3000, 19 December 1935, Page 6

DEFACING THE HIGHWAY.

A lead to every local body and civic organisation has been given by the Automobile Association in protesting against the erection of a hoarding on the frontage of the railway property at the entrance to the waterfront drive. Tlie ill-advised action of the railway authorities is an intolerable affront to all standards of public taste. No private firm or individual would have dared to deface the approach to a scenic highway in this manner, and the Railways Department should be brought to realise that it has no special right or privilege to flout the people's sense of decency. The waterfront drive must be kept free from all unsightly additions. It should be the aim of the Railways Department to co-operate with the City Council in the effort to beautify this outlet from the city; the attractions of bay, harbour and tree-fringed cliffs should be preserved unspoiled for all time. It has been the aim of the Council to enhance the beauty of the drive by planting trees and flowers along the seafront. Near the station entrance the cliff face has been treated and planted/ with creeper to improve its appearance. Yet almost before these efforts at "improvement have had time to bear fruit a hoarding is built. The people of Auckland should be emphatic in, expressing through their organisations their disapproval of the Railways Department's action.