PUBLIC OPINION.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 7538, 15 December 1920, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION.

As Others See Us

(To th. Editor.)

Sir, —As a stranger to this town it was with mixed feelings I stood this morning in admiration of the exceedingly fine memorial erected in your Domain perpetuating the memory of Canon Jordan. I found myself... wondering if it would cost as many cents to tidy the surroundings as it cost pounds to put it there. I wondered too what the good folks—who. must have dived their hands pretty deep into their pockets in pro-' N viding such a handsome tribute and intrinsically valuable ornament —would think of the Tauranga of to-day that cannot find time to remove the besmirching fungus-growth from the head and features of the statute, despite all the town and district owes to the memory of the man. If there is anything in the gospel accord ing to Conan Doyle how the soul of the worthy Canon must writhe as it sees the surroundings of its material counterpart, the wire! entanglements, the riot of weeds and (after the rain) the greasyclay bog at its feet, to say nothing of the wrecked entrancegates immediately in front, and thenr directly behind two rusting relics (ships canon with possibly a history) thrown into the mud. But perhaps I should have been prepared for something like this, when, on my way to the Domain, I saw peeping out here and there from amongst tangled weeds and overgrowth evidence on some of the. footpaths I traversed of costly anH trim concrete kerbing. Whats the matter, Mr Editor, that with your climatic and national advantages, your pretty harbour, and some of the finest specimens south of the line of Old England's trees, and so man\ of them that there is such evidence of cobwebs everywhere. Its a shame and a sin and I offer no apology for this growl.— Yours,*etc,

e W. P. Stewart. Tauranga, December 14th, 1920.