SAVING THE TREES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 200, 24 August 1937, Page 6

SAVING THE TREES.

LONDON'S EXAMPLE.

(By XELLE M. SCAXLA2C.)

LOXDOX, July 29. Near where I live in Hampstead there is one of ?he worst cross-roads in London, at Swiss"Got laze. Here sis roads meet., and some of these are far too Barrow for the present flow of traffic, a-s it is the main exit from London to the North of England. At present the transport authorities are extending the underground railway, providing anothe-r tube to take some of ihis traffic from the surface of the road. It will be & five-year job, and for the past year portions of this road hare been blocked with dumps of earth removed from the tunnel below, and all the underground sewer and water pipes, etc-, have had to be changed and reset. When the underground work is finished the surface will be reconstructed, the bank on the corner will be pulled down, and several shops removed, to enable a big round about to facilitate traffic going through. I have been ■watching with interest the erection of a big block of flats and shops on one wedge of land which formerly was the site of a fine old college, now torn down by the wTeckers. There are "hatif a dozen trees at the very point of this section which jute out into the cross-roads. The /building is now Hearing completion, but still these trees stand. Xot a leaf has been harmed throughout all these months of building. The cranes which have swung the materials hirh into the air. for it is seven storeys high, have always been so placed as to avoid Hbe trees. In all this complicated planning and reconstruction I feel confident that a way will he found of preeerring these trees. When they widen the road they will probably so cont-rive that the trees from being inside the fence will be on the edge of the new footpath, for it is always inside the kerb that trees are planted, so ae to give shade to pedestrians, and not interfere with road traffic A few yards from my door there is an old ash tree, its trunk at least four or five feet in girth, which is right in the middle of the footpath, and yon always have to split up into single file when walking past it. But no one would suggest for a moment that it should be removed for the convenience of pedestrians. The pavement comes to within a few inches of the trunk, and so allows air and moisture to penetrate. In many parts of Hampstead there are whole rows of old trees down the middle of the footpath, and in several places you will find a fine old tree in the middle of tie road, which curves round it on either side. When laying out new roade and cutting up rural land it is not necessary to clear every tree, and the oldeT generation recognise this. It is the speculative bnilder who makes his money there, but has no personal interest beyond profit, who is, the culprit as a rule. And it is to defeat this new ruthlessnees that organised socieiies are being formed for the preservation and planting of trees.