ARTHUR'S PASS AND OTIRA GORGE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18927, 16 February 1927, Page 11

ARTHUR'S PASS AND OTIRA GORGE.

10 Till: EDITOU OF TUT. :r.E33. Sir.—Being a groat lover of the road between Arthur's Pass and Utita and of all the Mirious plants and llowcrs that grow and bloom along it, I would appreciate a little of your spaco to express my regret thai such vandalism and destruction that accompanies tire excursions to this beautiful spot is allowed to bo committed. One has only to follow in the steps oi the excursionists to understand what damage really is done. The ruthless tearing up of valuable young plants, the pulling olf of the llowcrs, and the breaking otf of the branches of tho trees which arc finally thrown in the road unwanted require severe measures to be put down, On one occasion a young man was trying to get a great tree-fern into tho carriage, but, being unable to get it in, he dropped it down and left it beside the railway line. On account of this sort of thing, the beautiful flowers that once lined the roadside arc year by year receding further and further, and now one has to forage in tho most .ditlicult places to obtain even a view of them. There is it difference between the person who will take n few plants for the real love of them and for what ho can learn by properly cultivating them and the person who takes them because they look pretty. Already the Arthur's PassOtira road seems to be losing its beauty and quietness, and the only way to prcservo it as it is, is for the Government to create it a reserve, with severe i>enalties for the wilful offenders.—Yours, etc., ANOTHER LOVER OF BEAUTY.